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Frank Marmaduke Goree was a Greaser on the Titanic.

Background[]

Frank Marmaduke Goree was biologically placed into a relatively big, growing family and ended up as the middle of the pack that was the progeny of an English couple. In the Bitterne district of Southampton, he saw the light on November 28, 1871, with George Edward Goree being the father. He was released in the world by Clara Elizabeth Smith. Clara would go through life as Mrs. Goree since 1865, the day she and her husband made their promises of eternal fate in Chertsey, the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, just outside London on the westside.

George could be traced back Horsham in Sussex, while Frank’s mother, as an infant, was an inhabitant of Durnford, Wiltshire. Another George Edward was introduced in 1864, their first son. Their first daughter also was seen for the first time that and took her mother’s name as her second name: Clara Agnes. Frederick Samuel was next in 1867 and Ellen was delivered in 1869.

Frank Marmaduke was followed by a sister in 1874: Matilda Gertrude. Next up, they were blessed with William in 1877. Rose Emma made her appearance in 1879. In 1881, the family had their stay in South Stoneham, near Southampton, with the father working as a chippy. Their expansion was concluded with Annie Augusta, in 1882.

In 1891, Frank was 19 and not engaged in any paid job, with the Gorees having displaced their condominium to Southampton. In Southampton, he swore his fidelity to to Emily Jane Scammell in the second half of 1892.

In 1896, Frank had a namesake: his first son. The year 1898 saw Harold and William come into the limelight, on the same date. The total of their litter was cut in half when 4 children’s lives were shortened. The grim reeper was around the corner and cut the lines of 4 boys, starting with the identical Harold and William in 1899. They were further endowed with George Albert in 1900, who didn’t survive either. The year 1902 saw him disappear. Luckily this was not the case with 1903’s Lily Matilda.

In 1905, it was the turn of another boy who received the name of one the deceased brothers: William Maurice, only to be cursed with the same fate. His time on earth ended in 1909, after Ernest Frederick left the womb in 1907. In 1910, Margaret Emily was the last addition to the Gorees progeny.

While their procreation and the mournful decemation took place, Frank and Emily had their commorancy in the Northam region of Southampton, not having changed from their adress between 1901 and 1911, with Frank having garnered income as a stoker.

Titanic[]

Frank Goree was tendered as a Greaser on the 6th of April, for the Maiden Voyage of Titanic, in Southampton.

With her whistles roaring over the Southampton docks, Titanic imparted everyone that it was time, to get onboard. It was April 10 and Titanic would go on her trip to America. Frank had seen 28 seasons pass at that moment.

Titanic would never see the other side of the pond. Although her captain had plotted a route that was slightly south-bound as he had heard of upcoming ice, the menace had gone further down the latitude than usual as well.

On Sunday, April 14, a slight chilling breeze was felt during the night. The lookouts also peered into that slight cold wind, to keep watch for ice. One iceberg, taller than Titanic’s Boat Deck, was somehow missed until it was near enough to see it grow visually bigger. It was 11:39 P.M. when lookout Fred Fleet established the sighting first and the ship’s bell hummed three times to apprise the bridge. Fleet then clued the Sixth junior Officer in with the telephone in the crow’s nest. The young Officer wanted to pass it through to senior Officer Murdoch, but he could already tell what was happening and urged the quartermaster at the helm to avert Titanic all the way to portside, away from the mass. While helmsman Hichens was doing that, Murdoch pulled the switch of the telegraph to ‘Full Astern’. The ship’s sheer output of power had to be kept in check as they hard hardly any time, which was when the iceberg had bumped along the ship’s hull, shearing off rivetheads and penetrating parts of the hull, opening overlapping plate seams, while tons of ice clattered over the railing of the Forward Well Deck. What had looked to some passengers as a near-miss, was a mortal thump.Over 300 feet of the ship, 6 or 7 all-deciding gashes had been made.

The impact had stirred up the captain, who made sure that the main watertight doors were closed, after he learned it was an iceberg.The ship had an unwanted guest sauntering her belly: salt water, tons of it. The captain ushered some of his men, like the Fourth Officer and the carpenter to the place of the consternation. The Officer turned up with nothing but one of the Mail Clerk came to the bridge with an unhappy look on his face. The Mail Room had been drenched and the water was not far away from the Post Office itself.

With the master ship designer Thomas Andrews, Captain Smith went to canvass the mess by himself. Both men went via different routes and were displeased with what they discovered. When they were back on the bridge, Andrews filled Smith in about his analysis, which went as followed: the water would rise above the bulkheads and spill into the next, which would press Titanic at a downward angle. This event would take 2 hours, he reckoned, as she was designed to stay afloat with the 4 forward bulkheads breached, but not 5, or perhaps even 6.

Smith knew that his designer would know better than himself, so with the dread of it all inside his head, he conducted his men to line up the lifeboats in a position to receive passengers. This order was given at 12:05 A.M. on April 15.

Although Titanic’s sinking rate was slower than her creator had foreseen, her crew still hadn’t managed to get all 20 lifeboats away when the water came over them and gobbled up the entire bridge. The sinking was now preceeding at a more alarming rate. It was well past 2:00 A.M, when two lifeboats, who were tough to get off the higher part of the Boat Deck, were swamped and engulfed in the deluge that rambled across the deck, with her incline also getting more severe.

As the water hit the base of the second funnel in 7 minutes, her first funnel had fallen and her rump was pushed further upwards, her propellors were exposed and visible for the first time for many. In the next minutes, the aft part climbed further and was well clear of the water by 2:18 A.M, when she was covered in total darkness. Her structure gave way under the pressure and the rear snapped off, with many people clinging on for dear life. Titanic was in two parts and one sank rapidly. The rest filled up with water violently and then stood up, pointing at the heavens, where many people would go moments later. Many of her items were scattered across the Atlantic when she went down.

More than 1400 people were in the excrusiatingly cold waters and most lasted only 20 minutes. Many lifeboats didn’t come back to help despite having additional room. The total death toll would be over 1500, with all her Engineers making the ultimate sacrifice to keep the ship working to the last moments. Many would have still been inside. Frank Goree’s fate was unknown for a while.

After his death[]

The crew of the Mackay-Bennett had established that one of their bodies that were brought up, was Frank Goree. He had been hauled aboard in the days following the disaster. The Mackay-Bennett had sailed out for this gruesome task. They labeled him as number #222. Although he did a lower-class job, they didn’t give him a sea burial like so many others of lesser status, due to the fact that the ship had not enough room aboard. They had recovered a total of 306 to identify them, but when they were done, they had let some souls take their final rest at sea. They initially thought Frank was a Fireman and he was inked on his right arm.

There was no indication on how he died, but at least he was found and likely was not inside the ship at the last moment. On May 6, the Mackay-Bennett saw to it that he was given a resting place among other Titanic victims at Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia on 6 May 1912.

George Goree would also be lamented in 1912, merely weeks after his sons demise. The sorrow was piled on the poor Emily Goree that year, who also had to deal with the loss of daughter, Margaret, the youngest, who had crually been taken from her on October 15. This was the fifth child she would have to miss.

When Emily found out about what happened to her husband is unknown, but he was confirmed as a loss on May 22, by the newspaper Southern Daily Echo. Emily wouldn’t officially declare her love for any other men in the rest of her life. The Titanic Relief Fund offered a helping hand and bestowed her with disbursements for her sustainance.

Emily's last year was 1956. Her three surviving children all had families on their own and begot off-spring. One son, Ernest, would also have a sea career like his father, but in the victualling department instead.

The Saint Augustine’s Church knew Frank well and keep his memory alive to this day.

Popular Culture[]

Curiosity: What Sank Titanic?[]

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Paul Hornsby as Frank Goree in Curiosity: What Sank Titanic?

Frank Goree was portrayed by Paul Hornsby in Curiosity: What Sank Titanic? and is mostly seen with Bell opening the watertight doors so the ship can "sink level" in order to launch the lifeboats. This is where a myth of him climbing the fourth funnel originates.

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