Albert Edward Akerman was part of the victualling crew on the Titanic.
Background[]
Albert Edward Akerman was the fourth son to be born into the family of Joseph Akerman and his wife, Fanny Palmer. It was at Salibury, Wiltshire in England where Albert came into existence on November 13, 1880. His father and mother married in Wiltshire. They promised their love for life in 1871. They were both from Wiltshire originally themselves and soon, children spung from their bond. William Henry was their first. He appeared in 1872. After him came Joseph Francis, in 1874. In 1875, they had a girl named Eliza, before being blessed with their third son, which was Arthur Wallace in 1877. Albert was next. He had only one younger sibling, a sister. Her name was Alice Maud and she was conceived in 1882.
Joseph senior did manual labor and was later driving tractors. Two of his sons went to sea when they grew up. Albert was one of them, his older brother Joseph junior was the other. In the beginning of the 20th century, Albert was gone from his parental home for a long time, likely working on the waters, still a single man while Joseph Francis sought a wife and in 1901, he had made the eternal promise to Emily Kate Francis, with whom he had 5 children.
Albert and his brother Joseph had their stay in Southampton. It’s likely that Albert could lodge with Joseph and his family at 25 Rochester Street as that was the adress he gave when he set out of his next passage, which was with the RMS Titanic.
Titanic[]
He had been working on the Oceanic just before switching over to the grand, new liner, like Joseph. They both appeared at the Southampton harbor for officially signing up to be an employee for the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic. It was April 4 by then.
Titanic made her way from her delivery trip in Belfast to get to Southampton harbor for her very first Atlantic crossing. After 12:00 P.M on April 10, she left Hampshire behind. Albert and Joseph were both part of the victualling crew but had a different job. As Joseph worked in the pantry, Albert was a Third Class steward. He was 31 years old during the crossing.
Titanic, a powerful and mighty ship, enjoyed a pleasant sailing. To many, she seemed unstoppable. The first thing to really unsettle her, was immediately her last. On the night of April 14, Titanic steamed through an icefield and unbeknownst to everyone, was headed straight for an iceberg, until that one moment that Frederick Fleet, her lookout, saw it in front of the bow. But Titanic was going fast and the berg was already very close. He instantly alerted the bridge with three bell strikes and phoned the bridge. The Officers on watch turned the rudder to hard starboard and the engines to full astern. This could not stop Titanic in time or get her clear from the iceberg entirely. A glancing blow was the result and the ship rumbled while it made contact with the frozen. Leaks appeared on starboard underneath the water line over a great length of her hull. She was taking on water fast.
On April 15, the captain and the ship designer were in a bit of a situation. They had to evacuate the ship as they could not see the Titanic survive the massive inflow of water. The signal for the lifeboats to be untightened came at 12:05 A.M.
There was no way out for the brothers. Many of her crew had to stay behind and had wait till her last moments came. Some others jumped overboard prematurely. The actions of Albert during the catasthrophe are not known, but he was not on a lifeboat and was killed along with his brother when the Titanic slid down into the cold Atlantic, 2 hours and 40 minutes after hitting the iceberg. Many poor souls ended up in subzero waters. No human being could last long in those conditions.
Only Joseph’s body could be found later.