Albert Victor Pearcey was a crew member on Titanic.
Biography[]
Albert Victor Pearcey was the son of a Southampton couple consisting of Jesse Pearcey, a brick maker and builder and his wife Elizabeth Whitlock.
Albert was born on 23 January 1887 in Southampton like his parents. He was one of eleven children. During most of Albert’s childhood he lived on Winchester Road, South Stoneham.
By 1901 the family had moved to 23 Kent Road, a little semi-detached cottage still standing today. By this time Albert had already left school and began work as a gardener’s boy. Ten years later he had joined the White Star Line as a steward, still unmarried and living with his parents.
Titanic[]
In 1912 he was working on Oceanic but was transferred to Titanic as the only Third Class Pantry Steward, earning £4 a month.
On April 14 at late night, Titanic hit an iceberg.
Albert didn’t feel the collision and only found out about it when he heard the order to close the watertight doors. After he had helped to close several of those doors on F-Deck, he was ordered to take passengers to the Boat Deck. He helped some passengers to put on lifebelts and guided them through the emergency door into the First Class Main Compagnion Way, which ran from the Boat Deck to the Upper Deck. Assisted by his colleagues, William Denton Cox and John Edward Hart, he then led groups of Third Class passengers up to the Boat Deck.
When he was on the Boat Deck he found two unattended babies. He picked them up and placed them into Collapsable lifeboat C, which had been fitted into the empty davits after lifeboat 1 had been launched about 45 minutes earlier. First Officer Murdoch must have come along at this time because he told Albert to get into the boat and take charge of the babies, which he did.
Standing close to the boat, along with several Third Class passengers from the Middle East, were J. Bruce Ismay, Quartermaster Rowe and William Carter. They all boarded her. It was then lowered, the ninth and last boat to leave the starboard side.
Albert handed the babies to other passengers and took an oar. Albert watched the ship sink. He described how Titanic was listing heavily to port side. Then he witnessed her go down, head first and her stern upright with her keel visible. The sight upset him so much he couldn’t properly describe it later at the English inquiry but confirmed that her lights were burning to the end. She sank just 33 minutes after Collapsible C was launched. Collapsible C was the tenth or twelfth boat to reach Carpathia.
After the disaster[]
Pearcey testified at the British Inquiry. He was a little rattled when he gave his account, which was probably due to the emotions that went through him.
Later life[]
Albert returned to Southampton and carried on working at sea. He had various jobs, including as a ship’s baker and worked on various ships including the Empress of Britain, Aquitania and Titanic’s sister Olympic. He married in Southampton in early 1918 to Ella V. Lee but there is no record of him having any children.
He was unfairly judged in 1918 as abstinee when he couldn’t do military service due to being ill.
In 1939 he was no longer married, the reason unknown.
Albert Pearcey died in Southampton on 17 July 1952 and is buried in South Stoneham Cemetery.
Sources[]
Special thanks and credits to Marie Keates for allowing me to use a large part of this information on her blog:
https://iwalkalone.co.uk/the-final-titanic-tales-from-portswood-part-one/ The final Titanic tales from Portswood part one – I Walk Alone