TITANIC SHIP
Titanic Crew
There were over 900 of a crew on board Titanic, ranging from the officers who took command of the various watches or shifts right down to glass washers and galley staff. In between were engineers, deck staff, pursers, stewards, restaurant staff and postal staff. Just over two hundred crew members survived the Titanic disaster.
Senior Crew
At the top of the tree, directly under Captain Edward J Smith were the Chief Officer, Henry Wilde and First Officer, William Murdoch. Murdoch was on duty when Titanic struck the iceberg. Wilde and Murdoch were experienced officers; Wilde had been in charge of Titanic’s sister ship, Olympic before being moved to be chief officer of Titanic’s maiden voyage. The Captain, Wilde and Murdoch were all lost in the disaster and their bodies were not recovered. The most senior crew member to survive was second officer, Charles Lightoller. He got away from the sinking ship in one of the collapsible Englehardt life rafts.
Keeping the ship on the move
Those responsible for actually making the ship move were on the next rung of the ladder in the ship’s crew hierarchy. They included assistant engineers, deck engineers and the engine room crew who stoked the boilers, brought the coal to the engine room and kept the fires lit. An assistant deck engineer would earn between £9 and £10 per month.
Feeding the Passengers
Next were the victualling department including bakers, butchers, cooks, porters, pantrymen and storekeepers. The job of keeping over a thousand passengers fed and looked after fell to this department. Working alongside were the restaurant staff including stewards, waiters and wine waiters. Many of these staff were Italian and few lived to tell of their experiences. For first class passengers, White Star aimed to provide the same standards of service as the best Parisian restaurants so those serving in the first class restaurant would be experienced and highly trained.
Within the crew there were many random jobs which do not fit into a particular category. Titanic and Olympic were the first ships to have facilities such as swimming baths, Turkish baths and squash courts which meant that attendants and instructors had to be employed to staff these areas. There were also the members of the orchestra, the Marconi radio operators and various cleaners.
Captain of the Titanic
One of the most frequently debated issues concerning the fate of RMS Titanic is whether or not the Captain, EJ Smith, was at fault for steering the ship into an ice field whilst travelling too fast for the conditions. Subsequent inquiries into the tragedy absolved the captain of any blame but history has tended to paint a less favourable picture of EJ. Could he have acted more quickly? Should he have steered a safer course through the ice? Was he really in command of the vessel as White Star’s flagship officer or was he a figurehead, mixing with the rich and famous and looking towards retirement?
All the above questions seem unfair when the Titanic’s captain has never been able to defend himself in any forum of debate. He can hardly be put on trial for the manslaughter of fifteen hundred souls when he cannot outline his own defence. So who exactly was this man on whom so many unanswered questions hinge?
Captain Smith's Early Years
Edward J (Ted) Smith was born in the Staffordshire Potteries town of Hanley, now part of Stoke on Trent. He was not an academic child and rather than follow his father into the pottery industry, he chose a life at sea. From the age of 13 he served an apprenticeship with Gibson and Company at Liverpool. He joined White Star’s junior officer ranks in 1880 and was given his first command of a vessel seven years later. History records early mishaps involving White Star ships, Republic and Coptic, both of which he ran aground in New York harbour and Rio de Janeiro respectively. After a spell as a Commander during the Boer War, he returned to White Star duties, taking charge of the Majestic, Baltic and Adriatic. When Titanic’s sister ship, RMS Olympic began her service in the summer of 1911, EJ was again in command.
Last Voyage before Retirement
There is some debate as to whether Titanic was scheduled to be Captain Smith’s last voyage before retirement. Some accounts record that he would have been expected to take charge of the Britannic, Titanic’s younger sister when she came into service. Others argue that at 62, he had served his time and Titanic was to be the pinnacle of his career before returning to family life in Southampton. White Star records do not produce any answers but neither do they shed any light on who would succeed Captain Smith at the helm of Titanic if he were to retire.
Performance
Opinions are also varied on Captain Smith’s performance as chief officer during Titanic’s maiden voyage. There is little doubt that part of a captain’s role on board a flagship liner would be to entertain the more rich and famous of her passengers in the hope of repeat business. On the night of the collision, EJ was dining at a party given by the Wideners, the Philadelphia family closely connected with the bank which had financed Titanic. Also present were John B. Thayer and Mrs Thayer, also of Philadelphia, Major Archibald Butt who was an aide to US President Taft, Clarence Moore a friend of Archie Butt and William Carter and his wife Lucile Carter, also from Pennsylvania. After dinner, Captain Smith returned to the bridge to check in with his officer of the watch. While it may seem that EJ was hobnobbing with the rich and famous, he was legally responsible for the ship no matter which of his officers was in charge at any given moment, and it seems unlikely that such an experienced captain would simply have stood back and “coasted” his way across the Atlantic.
Where he comes in for most criticism in the history books is in the length of time he took to take stock of the dire situation once the collision had occurred and to give the order to uncover the lifeboats and abandon ship. During that time, he was waiting for a fuller assessment of the damage to the ship from chief designer and Harland and Wolff managing director, Thomas Andrews. While his control and command over the evacuation procedure does not appear to be seemless, is that the fault of the Captain, or of the procedures themselves which were not well rehearsed or familiar to either passengers or crew?
The Last Sightings
Last sightings of Captain Smith in the final moments of Titanic’s life portray him as swimming over to place a baby in a lifeboat or standing nobly at the bridge, prepared to do his duty and go down with the ship. This is the iconic image which has remained of Edward Smith. He has been portrayed in film by Laurence Naismith, George C Scott and Bernard Hill.
There are two principle memorials to Captain Edward J Smith. The first is a brass plaque which is now housed in Hanley Town Hall along with his portrait. A statue of him was also put up in the South Staffordshire city of Lichfield, about 40 miles from his birthplace. He had one daughter, Helen Melville, known as Mel. She died in 1973.
Frederick Fleet
If Titanic’s story can be summed up in three words, it would be the phrase which changed everything for 2200 passengers and crew on the night of 14th April, 1912. The words communicated to the bridge by lookout, Frederick Fleet, “Iceberg, right ahead.” After that, Titanic’s fate was sealed.
As one of six lookouts employed by White Star on board Titanic, Frederick Fleet worked as part of a two man team in shifts which kept watch around the clock. He and Reginald Lee took up their position in the Crow’s Nest at 10pm, replacing George Symons and Archie Jewell. As the two crews swapped over, the message was passed on to keep an eye out for icebergs in the area during their two hour stint. They had no idea what was to happen during their shift.
His Early Life
Fleet was born in Liverpool in 1887. He had a difficult start in life. His father was never known to him and his mother abandoned him to a series of children’s homes including Dr Barnardos . In 1903, he went to sea, first as a deck boy and latterly as an able seaman. Before joining Titanic, he had worked aboard another great White Star liner, the Oceanic.
Iceberg, Right Ahead
Fleet and Lee were nearing the end of their shift when, at 11.40pm a great mass of ice loomed into view. It was a calm night so there were no waves to wash against the massive structure and warn of its presence. When he saw the iceberg, Fleet grabbed the cord of the Crow’s Nest warning bell and gave it three sharp tugs. At the other end of the phone line on the bridge was Officer Moody who asked him, “What do you see?” Those three words were then communicated to Moody…Iceberg right ahead… 30 seconds later Titanic collided with the ice.
Moody gave the command, “hard to starboard” which turned the rudder right and the ship left. But with the ship travelling flat out at 22 knots, there was not enough time to avoid the iceberg. Experts reckon that if Fleet had seen the berg just five seconds earlier, or if Titanic had been travelling two knots slower, Titanic’s encounter would have been nothing more than a near miss. Analysis also suggests that if Titanic had absorbed the impact with the tip of her bow rather than exposing the side of the ship to a long, fast rip, she would have stayed afloat for much longer. As it was, Fleet had only his naked eye with which to spot icebergs from his position. The keys for the binocular case had inadvertently been taken away by Officer David Blair when he was transferred to another ship. One wonders why Fleet or one of the other lookouts did not simply break into the case.
Escape to the Lifeboats
Frederick Fleet was one of the lucky ones. He got away from the sinking liner on board lifeboat number 6, the first to be launched from the port side. There were between 24 and 28 people in his lifeboat, including Molly Brown. There were 17 first class passengers, two first class servants, one third class male and four crew, two of whom were women. Fleet was on board to row, commanded by Robert Hichens who had been at the wheel when the collision happened.
In fact, all six of the lookouts survived Titanic’s foundering. This is perhaps the only section of crew to have a one hundred per cent survival record. When they arrived in New York aboard the rescue ship, Carpathia, all were immediately corralled at the harbour so that their evidence could be given to the hastily arranged enquiry. Any hopes of a speedy return home to England were dashed by the need to know what had gone so badly wrong.
Giving Evidence
Much of Fleet’s evidence is given in the form of diagrams. Although crude representations of a large ship hitting an immovable mountain of ice, they do give clear indication as to where the iceberg struck Titanic and how such a huge hole was ripped into her starboard side. The drawings are reproduced in Jack Eaton and Charles Hass’ excellent book, “Titanic, Triumph and Tragedy.”
Eventually, the lookouts were shipped back to Britain aboard another White Star vessel, the Celtic. They arrived into Liverpool on May 6th. Fleet continued to serve at sea and was active in World War One and Two. After White Star’s merger with Cunard, Fleet worked for the Union Castle line. At Christmas, 1964, Fleet’s wife died and it is said that he became depressed. He had been down on his luck for some years. He took his own life in January 1965. Some say that he was plagued by guilt about escaping from Titanic, others imply that he had given up on life after a turn of fortune.
Laid to Rest
Fleet was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery in Southampton but the grave remained without a headstone until the early 1990’s. The Titanic Historical Society decided that the man who first spotted the iceberg deserved more of a memorial and they paid to have a headstone erected for him in 1993.
Titanic Crew Story: Thomas Millar
Thomas Millar was a 33 year old assistant deck engineer on Titanic. He was travelling to New York where he planned to base himself while continuing to work for the White Star Line. Thomas Millar is unique in that he worked at Harland and Wolff as an engine fitter and helped build the engines of Olympic and Titanic. In early 1912, he left the shipyard and signed on with White Star. His signing on record on 2nd April shows that he had made one previous voyage on a Red Star liner called Gothland.
A Change of Life to America
Thomas Millar’s decision to uproot from Belfast to New York was spurred on by the death of his wife, Jeannie in January of 1912. That left him with two small children to bring up and he decided that the best future for them was to bring them out to America once he had got settled. When he left Belfast on Titanic on 2nd April, the boys were left in the care of an aunt in a country village outside Belfast. They expected to see their father again in a few months’ time when they would be brought to either Queenstown or Southampton to board a White Star ship. The children, Thomas Junior aged 11 and William Ruddick, aged 5 were given two new pennies each by their father before he boarded Titanic. He told them not to spend them until he came back.
Thomas Millar did not survive Titanic’s sinking. His body was never recovered and the boys were left orphaned. They remained with their Aunt Mary until they were old enough to make their own way in life. An allowance of 5 shillings a week was paid to the family from the National Disasters Relief Fund. Thomas Millar’s name is on the Titanic Memorial at Belfast City Hall and there is an inscription dedicated to him at his wife’s grave in Carrickfergus. William Ruddick Millar never spent the two pennies given to him by his father before he sailed on Titanic and they remain with the Millar family to this day.
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