Albert Vale Barker was an Assistant Baker on the Titanic.
Background[]
Alber Vale Barker began his life in 1893, as the second son of Wallace Barker and Emily Vale, both Essex-born who confirmed their love for eachother in 1883 through marriage.
Albert. was received in in Abbots Worthy near Winchester, Hampshire, England . Father Wallace produced flour with his mill and with Emily, he had dropped three children before Albert. The first of them was Lancelot Wallace, who made them parents in 1886. The Barker’s also parented a daughter since 1889, Elsie Louise, who was the sister of Ethel, another girl, who was born in 1891. In 1899 and 1900 respectively, two younger brothers of Albert saw the light: Donald William and Cecil.
Albert was a christian and choir boy in the Saint Mary's Church, Kings Worthy, Hampshire. Kings Worthy was the place that the family had drawn to in 1901. As a young lad, Albert found an occupation at the local bakery of a mister Holdaway. This man owned other small businesses as well. In his younger days, Albert also distributed mail on a bicycle within the range of the villages of Kings Worthy and Abbots Worthy, which made him highly esteemed and he gained a name in these communities.
He was later lured by the salty waters. In 1911, he no longer lived with his parents. He was still young, probably just before his twenties and single as he traveled on the ships of White Star Line as part of their crew.
Titanic[]
On the 6th of April, Albert had just returned to Southampton after a traverse with the company’s Oceanic. Now, the Titanic lay waiting for her crew, among which were also the victuallers. They had a spot available for Albert as an Assistant Baker. He was still officially from Kingsworthy as he added his name to the crew’s list.
On April 10, there was a large crowd gathered to have a last look at Titanic before she would be on her way from Southampton to New York.
April 14, late at night saw Titanic well over halfway into her voyage, when the temperatures at sea had dropped and an iceberg surprised the looksouts, who couldn’t detect it any sooner until the ship was already less than a minute away. The lookout that spotted it first warned the Officers on the bridge. The First Officer acted instinctively, making the ship rotate to port with her steam power cut off in a bid to get her to stop. Titanic closed in on the iceberg and wouldn't be stopped so easily, she did however make a small slight dab to port before she clipped the wall of ice with her starboard bow. A series of pierced holes was the outcome of this collision, appearing over a great lenght of her body, below the surface. Metal plates and steal had buckled and bent. A stream of water followed through.
Too many compartments of Titanic were opened up. With the way things were going at the lowest decks, her buoyancy would be effected negatively. Her designer, Thomas Andrews, had spoken to Captain Edward Smith at midnight, April 15. Andrews knew by now that all hope was lost for his ship. They had to get as many passengers off as they could. There were only 20 lifeboats. The captain ordered them out shortly after Andrews told him the bad news.
Titanic sank bow first. With the evacuation not even finished, her two last boats were taken off the ship’s bridge when a wave crashed unto the Boat Deck when she dipped her nose under the surface. Less than 10 minutes after that, her stern started to angle up ever so slightly. The keel was strained by the massive forces of the heavily tilting ship. It broke, with the ship sinking in two parts, with the aft part coming up once more to drop down vertically. It took her 2 hours and 40 minutes to disappear from the surface of the ocean since the iceberg had ruptured her.
Barker would no longer seen since then. How he met his end is unknown, but there were many crewmembers who didn’t live to see the day during the Titanic disaster, including a lot of bakers and their helpers. Fatalies were mostly caused by the North Atlantic being so cold, which was a temperature that felt like knives cutting through a body. Many of the 1503 deaths at Titanic’s downfall were caused by hypothermia, which occured often within half an hour after a poor soul had landed in the water. Not a glimpse of a body. Barker was just a memory since.