Albert Ernest Witcher was a Fireman on the Titanic.
Background[]
Albert Ernest Witcher was given life by Hampshire’s John Witcher and Mary Ann Lancaster, both from Hampshire originally, with John being raised in Hordle, and Mary Ann growing up in Boldre. They received him in the Spring of 1873 in Everton, Hampshire. John was a agricultural worker and herdsman and had taken up vows with Mary Ann in 1853. They had already seen a son appear from their love in 1850: John.
The year 1854 saw the mother have her own namesake as well, naming her daughter Mary Ann. She was the sister of William George who saw the light in 1856, before they welcomed Fanny in 1857. In 1859, it was the turn of Emma while another girl was added to the family in 1861: Ellen Eliza. George was welcomed in 1863, preceeding Susan Alice, who originated from 1864 and was followed by Alice in 1865 before Caroline was born in 1866. Harry was next in 1867 and the Witchers begot Amelia Dorcas in 1869 as the last elder sibling of Albert. He was the youngest.
In 1881, Albert was aged 8, and his family lived in a cottage in Milford parish. The exact location was at Everton, near the local public house (Crown Inn), grocer's shop and Harts Farm House.By 1891, the family had moved closer to Lymington, and lived near Pennington Cross, with his father's occupation still described as 'shepherd'. Albert was 18 at the time and working as both a gardener and domestic servant.
On the 8th of September, 1893, the Saint Thomas’s Church in Lymington saw a union formed between Albert and Nellie Louise Gilbert. Her father had a martime background too while Albert would be a victualler onboard some ship. Albert and Nellie moved to 9 Nelson Place, Lymington, sometime prior to 1912.This address was where other members of the Witcher family had lived in 1891. They were: William, a 'manner' wo had wed a woman named Susannah. By now, there was an aunt of William, who had lost her husband, resident. She was Norah May Rumsey.
With Albert, Nellie brought fourth two daughters in 1895 and 1897, respectively named Mary Louise and Norah May.
Titanic[]
Albert was familiar with the sistership of the Titanic: the RMS Olympic. He had done a crossing with her just before he put down his name for the application as a Fireman on the RMS Titanic in Southampton, on the 6th of April in 1912.
Albert was scheduled to work with the first watch, which were shifts between 12:00 and 4:00 A.M. as well as 12:00 P.M. till 4:00 P.M. The bunks of this group were on F-Deck.
RMS Titanic left Southampton docks for New York on the 10th of April after being loaded with the majority of crew, cargo and passengers. Just after noon, the horns blazed and she glided away, nudged by the tenders into the right direciton, after which she would pick up more passengers in France and Ireland.
Although Titanic was deemed unsinkable, many events turned out different. Planned to cross the Atlantic Ocean within a week, Titanic met an unforeseen obstacle on her way. Her captain, E.J. Smith, was well aware of risk of the Spring-time icebergs. To try and keep his ship out of harms way, he plots a more southern route than usual. Titanic had to rely on the lookouts in the crow’s nest to be aware of anyhing in front and pass through any sightings of ice.On April 14, she had developed more speed. Titanic was on a direct collision course with one large iceberg, as the Look Out Men found out at 11:39 P.M. Frederick Fleet discovered the berg at close distance, when it was almost right on top of them and telephoned to the bridge. First Officer Murdoch took evasive action. He had the Titanic pointed in the port direction but it took too much time for her to respond, after the ship’s engines were also stopped. Titanic struck the iceberg and small sliths, as narrow as a zipper being unzipped, makes the water flood the lowest deck.
Moments later, Captain Edward J. Smith had Titanic’s designer, Thomas Andrews, summoned to help examine the damage. Andrews and Captain Smith discussed the damage to the ship shortly after the collision and toured the damaged section of the ship, receiving several reports of the vessel's damage. Andrews determined that the first 5 of the ship's 16 watertight compartments were rapidly flooding, more than the four that the vessel was supposed to withstand. He relayed this information to Captain Smith, adding that in his opinion, the vessel had only over an hour to two hours before foundering. As the ship’s had become clear, Captain’s orders to deploy the lifeboats followed on April 15, 12:05 A.M, and the crew ordered passengers up on deck. Albert’s shift began at midnight, but the ship stood still and he was likely told to do something else.
There was a large group of Engineering Crew, also consisting of stokers, who gave their all to pump water out of the Titanic and feed the dry boiler rooms to supply Titanic with enough electricity. A good amount of these men stuck around and didn’t board the lifeboats, like some Firemen did. Yet we can’t make out where Albert Witcher was in all the chaos. He could not get off the ship safely.
With the water rampaging the open public spaces on higher decks, the fate of the ship was sealed and the end drew near. Titanic’s bow had dipped far below the surface and her stern was hoisted up high into the air. The stern could not sustain this pressure and snapped off from the middle part. The rest of the ship sank, before the stern righted itself. But within two minutes, it was gone as well. That night, the last would be seen of Albert Witcher, but how his life ended is unsure. Most victims stemmed from the cold waters, which was not fit for a human to survive for long.
After his death[]
Though there was no body to return to land, the Titanic Relief Fund paid out the widowed Nellie Witcher who had two daughters to feed and raise while there was also something for Nellie’s aunt Norah May Rumsey. Albert remained the only man to have been married to Nellie when her life on earth was finished in 1950.