Charles Edward Andrews was a steward on the Titanic.
Illustration of an older Charles Edward Andrews in later life
Background[]
Charles Edward Andrews was begotten on January 18, 1893, by the English pair Henry Jeremiah Andrews and Emily Ann Roberton, two Sontonians at birth, but they gave life to their son in Liverpool, Lancashire, after they had made the oath to stick together as husband and wife, in 1879. They then had chosen the Kirkdale district of Liverpool as their place to reside.
From their love, a direct posterity of 8 would be produced. The first they put on earth was George Henry, in 1881. In 1885 it was Amy Jane’s turn to. The family was further livened up with Laura Annie in 1887, the elder sister of 1891’s child, Alex. Charles had two younger brothers. They were Albert, who was named in 1895 and Harry, who was delivered in 1898, as a twin, but he was the sole survivor of the two. Father Henry was a matlow and his son Charles would also get into this line of work, with his father opening the doors for him.
Between 1891 and 1911, the family had made a move back to the parents’ native town: Southampton, while Charles had probably grown out of the household to have his own life there, at the littoral zones. Southampton was an essential harbor and most work could be find there. He must have been 16 years old when he chose the adventure at the deep blue and he could physically move around in the waters very well. The White Star Line had scooped him up in 1908. He would be a steward for them since.
In 1912, he played a role on the Olympic, a fantastic ship. He would have a first taste of what a tribulation on a ship could be like. The mighty liner was creating lots of suction one day, leaving the port of New York. A warship, the HMS Hawke, came out of nowhere and smashed her bow into the starboard aft of the Olympic, which had a gaping hole. Water could enter the Olympic, but she was watertight and unsinkable enough, that the flooding could be contained. She would have to limp back, while Hawke’s bow was crumpled.
Titanic[]
White Star Line’s brand new flagship, Titanic, had come over to Southampton from Belfast for her inaugrual voyage and was waiting for crew on the 4th of April. For her trip, they needed many stewards. Charles was attained in the capacity of Second Class Saloon Steward. He had been stewarding on the Oceanic just prior.
He would work together with someone he could be familiar with. Charles’ mother Emily Ann, whose maiden name was Roberton, was the sister of longshoreman Thomas Alexander Roberton, who was married to Alice Lydia Bickers. They had a son of the same age as Charles and he would be an Assistant Second Class Saloon Steward. His name was George Edward Roberton and he also came over from the Oceanic.
The two men would rendez-vouz with the Oceanic sooner than they expected. On Wednesday morning, April 10, it was the day of the sailing. Andrews got aboard and the ship started her engines around 12 o’clock. The whole Andrews family had ventured down to the dock amid the crowds.
Tense moments came later when the Titanic made haste and her prowess caused an incident. She made so much steam that in her wake, the New York was caught and was steerlessly aiming for Titanic’s hull. Oceanic was moored besides her and her moorings held on just enough to not be pulled along.
It was an hour delay when she was sighted in the next port in France. The next day, they docked in Ireland and then the Atlantic Ocean beckoned. The maiden trip of Titanic was mostly routine despite being a new ship. She seemed to have an easy time and the crossing was comfortable for most. The environment helped too. By April 14, the balmy ocean was like a small lake. The commander of Titanic felt safe enough to get her up to more speed. Titanic hit 22,5 knots later that night and Captain Smith had altered her course slightly in a hope to avoid the icefields a little bit. They still had to make it through one icefield since 10:00 P.M.
In the morning, a friend of Charles, also a steward, had told him to go an see what his lifeboat was, as there was supposed to be a drill. This knowledge would later be very essential.
It was 11:39 P.M. when the lookouts saw that they were bearing down on a huge, rogue iceberg. The Officers found out just seconds later after being alerted to it by one of the lookouts, who made the bell chime three times and communicated with the bridge by telephone. They tried to steer the ship to port to take the bow out of the way, but she did not turn fast enough. They also authorised maximum speed in reverse. With the propellers now spinning in the other direction, Titanic’s line wasn’t tight enough and she couldn't escape contact. Her starboard side brushed against the ice, leaving a set of openings for the seawater to come through. In seconds, the whole floors of the holds and Boiler Rooms were soaked and the level was rising significantly after that.
The force of the impact had prevented Charles Andrews from dozing off completely while he lay in his bunk, but it wasn’t a crude collision in his experience. His first thought was that the engines had hit trouble. He took a quick look at the upper decks but discovered nothing noteworthy. He thought all should be good and tried to catch some sleep again.
He left his bunk again as he couldn’t sleep and heard some water seeping in somewhere down below. It was well past midnight on April 15 by then. Moments later, somebody said, "All hands on deck." With that, he walked up on deck and stood by lifeboat 16. There were lots of people around him and he saw stores brought to the boat, as well as bread. Andrews coördinated the ladies and children into the boat. After the boat was full, the officer called out for Able Seamen, or any skilled individuals, to man the boat. After several had got into the boat, Charles was asked to grab an oar. He believed there were 6 crew members in the boat. Lifeboat 16 was launched at 1:10 A.M.
Lifeboat 16, controlled by Master-At-Arms Joseph Bailey, got linear with lifeboat 6 at some point while taking distance from the ship and allotted one of her Firemen into boat 6, as she had a shortage of crew.
Titanic managed to last 2 hours and 40 minutes, yet it was still not enough time to get more than a third of the people off the ship, with the last boats falling victim to the final phase of Titanic’s downfall. Two collapsibles were not ready for launch and had fallen off the Officer’s Quarters minutes before the ocean took over the Boat Deck, the highest deck. With that moment, Titanic’s momentum and downward trend got more extreme. In about 8 minutes, her propellors began to move upward and leave the water altogether.
Her stern would be towering out of the water in a short amount of time. A loud noise, like an explosion was then heard when her lights had gone. The ship had come apart and a huge tear came through the superstructure which cracked and then the ship snapped in two. The largest part disappeared soon while the aft part had come down to nearly a normal level. With the stern still bound with the rest of the ship via the keel, she was pulled to an even higher level whilst being filled with water faster then ever. Titanic bobbed a bit as she stood straight up and she made her way down to her eternal grave.
Andrews would hear the cries of many hundreds that woud have to suffer in the icecold ocean. More than 1500 people were lost. Andews, could luckily still breathe. His cousin was another tragic loss. His body was spotted floating at sea by another ship that had been sent by White Star Line to find Titanic’s corspes.
After the sinking[]
When daylight came, Andrews saw a light and they knew rescue was on its way. It was the Carpathia. The wireless on Titanic had proved crucial and when learning of Titanic’s peril, her captain Arthur Rostron had given everything to get there on time. Sadly she was 58 miles off and could only make it as early as 4:00 A.M. Lifeboat 16 proceeded to row to her. All those who were saved by the boats were high and dry on the Carpathia by 9:30 A.M. Carpathia had to abort her initial trip to Europe. First she had to bring the Titanic survivors by land. New York had already anticipated the arrival of the heroic ship on April 18, when she was bound to the piers in the evening.
The Americans wanted to groom this event and get to the bottom of what led to Titanic's sinking, so they set up an inquest led by Senator William Alden Smith. A subpoena was also given to Charles Edward Andrews.
Later life[]
Andrews kept doing a large variation of victualling activities on other liners and was back with the Oceanic on July 10. As he had skill in swimming he gave lessons onboard ships. Sometimes he was a physical therapist and Turkish Bath steward onboard a vessel. His career survived the First World War.
Charles found the love of his life and they had their ceremony of consolidation in Romsey, Hampshire at the Millbrook Church on the 26th of November 1932. Her name was Ivy Winifred Powell and she had her roots in Eling, Totton in Hampshire. The union brought forth two little ones, a son and daughter. Ann Marina was the one that made parents out of them in 1934. Her brother was John Edward since 1937.
Charles’ career was long and had made it through another World War On his resume would also be the Aquitania, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, as he had offered his services to the Cunard Line later, which had fused with White Star Line in the 1930s, but the latter company died shortly after the fusion.
Andrews' adventures at sea ended in 1959, when he retired.
Charles Edward Andrews made it to age 67 when his time to leave earth came on the second day of the year 1961. Southampton could see the last of their notable resident on January 2.
His wife’s last day came many year later, in 1979.
His granddaughter Marina Andrews would sadly never meet him, as his death was 2 years before her birth, but having grown up, she became fascinated by her grandfather’s story and wrote a book about his life.