Arthur Veal was a Greaser on the Titanic.
Background[]
Arthur Veal would be part of the life outside the womb in the hotter periods of 1876, having been conceived and carried by a Sontonian woman. Arthur’s mother was the wife of his father John Veal. Her name was Emily Kemp and she had her origin in Southampton as well. Later, she crossed paths with John, who was also from here and their love was dyed in the wool when they said ‘I do’ on November 10, 1861.
John managed a tavern-like establishment while he dropped several kids with Emily Kemp. Arthur was their last. In 1865, there was a new Emily. She was the first. Anna Amelia was the next to be introduced in 1869, but her time on earth was short-lived. That same year, the family had to bear a devastating loss, before they were acquainted to their first boy, Charles, in 1870. The last of Arthur's silbings presented himself in 1872: John Henry.
Arthur and the other Veals lived in the auberge in 1881. There was more sorrow to endure for the young man, as his mother’s life was cut short in 1883 and his father followed her in death in 1885.
The orphan was then fostered by his uncle, who bedwelled the West Common part of Hampshire town Langley, the southwestern area of the town, a few miles from the Solent. The river was closed and in his later teenage years, Arthur had decided to see more of the sea.
In 1905, Arthur got hitched with Louisa Minnigin, a localer, with Italian pedigree from father’s side. Her father was an expert in flowers. Arthur would have to share space with his father-in-law Minnigin, who had been deprived of his English wife, as per premature destiny. He had also brought his son with him. Arthur and Lousia didn't have any clutch of their own, so they could probably afford to give away some of the vacant area.
In 1911, Arthur scooped up any vacancies that eveloped a function as a greaser on ships.
Titanic[]
In 1912, Arthur was employed by White Star Line. Fresh from a trip on the Adriatic, he looked for another spot and landed the function of Greaser, for White Star Line's pride and joy. This was a ship that had set new standards in luxury and comfort, as well as size, space and safety. On April 6, in Southampton, Arthur was part of the lower ranked Engineering Crew on the 'unsinkable' RMS Titanic.
Titanic was untied and pushed along by tugs on the 10th of April, as she would be on her initial voyage to New York, transitting most people from England and would take on more customers and crew in France and Ireland. It was an exciting time and many came to port to see the liner off.
Arthur would be embrocating the upper gears of the engine’s machinery would be put on standby in case an Engineer had need of him to perform a task. Greasers would move between the Main Recipocrating Room and the Turbine Engine Room.
In the Spring of 1912, a current had displaced a lot of ice, unusual lot for the time of the year or for the year itself. Titanic coursed straight for one perticular iceberg without anyone able to pay heed to it, until that one deciding moment on the later night of April 14, when it revealed itself to the ice watch in the crow’s nest high above the decks. The man who spotted it first, drew the attention of the officers first by sounding the bell and then convey the discovery via telephone.
The First Officer, Murdoch, was aware of the risk before his Sixth Officer had finished speaking with Fred Fleet, the lookout. He ran to the bridge and yelled at the helmsman to aim the ship’s bow away into port direction, full on. The Titanic also had to ease off and if possible, go backwards. They had less of a minute to do all that. Not enough time, as the ship only started to point further into the right direction when they were almost on top of the glacial mass. The Titanic’s starboard bow scoured the iceberg below the water line and there were at least 5 narrow slits spread out over a length of roughly 300 feet. Titanic was devided in 16 compartments, but 6 of them would now have to deal with water coming through.
Captain Smith and Thomas Andrews, the ship’s mastermind, did a perlustration on the parts of the ships framework that had been comprimised. They peeked into all holds and when he was finished, Andrews’ face became very grave, as many survivors remembered later. Around midnight, Andrews had an important message to tell to Smith, but a very difficult one.
Somehow, they had managed to collide with the iceberg in such a way that the ship had been opened up more than she could handle. Titanic was going away from their control and they had 2 hours to save lives.
Smith tried to keep everything calm and orderly when he demanded his deck men to be up top and prepare an evasion. The First Class passengers had to be called first, to give them a chance to escape. The lifeboats had to be uncovered and turned outboard. Shorthly after 12:05 A.M on April 15, the sailors went on their way to get it done. The first boat was taken down at 12:25 A.M.
Titanic graudally leaned to starboard side and had a slight slope forwards, but with the collapse of a coal bunker around 1:00 A.M, between two Boiler Rooms, water flowed more on port side and she then began listing the other way. By 2:00 A.M, 18 of 20 boats were succesfully launched, but not with enough people. The last two were a trial as they were fastened one feet above the Boat Deck. The evacuation had taken too long and the sea crawled over the bridge as the boats had been dropped, one of them upside down. The bridge tipped under and caused a flow of water to grab the remaining collapsibles and throw people out of them. These were Titanic’s last 13 minutes.
Larger amounts of water drew through all the dry parts in the forward section of the bridge. By 2:15 A.M, the propellors were clearly visible and as the prow was going down, her hindpart became further clear of the water and Titanic looked ever more gigantic. By 2:18 A.M, her lights had given up and she was half-flooded. With enormous racket, her structure gave way to two opposing forces and the stern freed itself from the bow. Only attached by keel, the stern corrected itself from her large angle only momentary before the large rear was heaved up once more, to disappear from few at 2:20 A.M.
A rabble of people had still been onboard. Now they no longer had any deck to stand on. Instead, they had to fend for their survival in the most barren atmosphere. With temperature below, many lives ended in the water that had also claimed their vessel.
One could only wonder what the ordain was for Arthur Veal, as there’s no account of his motion and moods on the last hours of Titanic. He didn’t board a lifeboat. All of the Engineers were lost, but there were a good deal of the lower-paid group of men that didn’t refrain from giving all their energy to a stable evacuation, which cost their life. They were stokers, trimmers and greasers, still inside the ship as she made her way down. They fought incoming water, stoked up the dry Boiler Rooms to supply electricity to the power stations. Only 4 Greasers could have a story to tell later. There was no body left of Arthur that could tell any tale.
After his death[]
Louisa was still symbolically bound to Arthur even through his death. She had no other spouse through decades.
Louisa’s life was finished in 1959. Arthur's name would appear on her tombstone.