Frank Herbert Morris was with the Victualing Crew on Titanic.
Background[]
On the 30th of November 1883, the town of Stoke Newington in Middlesex, England saw a boy begotten by the pair of William Barton Morris and Esther Mary Lawson. The Welshman William, originally from Pembrokeshire, had wed his sweetheart Esther, who was way younger than him and derived from Poplar in Middlesex As they were being bound by law in London in 1873, William owned and ran a cafe. In 1875, they had dropped their first child: William Barton Luke. He preceeded Ernest Charles Russell, who came into view in 1878. In 1881, the boys had a sister: Alice Maud Mary. It’s not a given that he was the youngest. There was maybe another, unidentified sibling that had died prematurely.
In 1901, the family had taken up home to Fulham in South West London.
In the summer of 1907, he was committed to the White Star Line and was their sea steward in 1911, while staying in the town of Southampton, at a place that he shared with Ernest Hamilton and Wilfred Seward, two colleagues in the seafaring business. They were probably paying rent. He would meet them again in 1912.
Titanic[]
In 1912, aged 28 and presumably single, Frank was appointed as First Class Bathroom Steward for the initial crossing of the RMS Titanic, in Southampton, on the 4th of April. Bath Stewards would make 15 shilling more than regular stewards. The two other men, who had the same address as Frank, were also onboard. He and his roommates had already recently travelled as a crewmember of the Olympic, the sistership of Titanic. Ernest Hamilton was a Assistant Smoke Room Steward in First Class, while Wilfred Seward would be in Second Class to function as their Pantry Steward.
Titanic weighed anchor and lost her bunches on the midday of 10th of April. Her inaugrual trip was planned to go to New York within just a week, with 2 sojourns in France and Ireland to pick up additional cargo, passengers and crew.
Titanic had made great progress on the night of April 14. Her voyage had gone so much like clockwork for most of the time, that everyone was totally shaken up and surprised when she was unprepared to be faced with a scenario that had her trip go bottoms up. An optical illusion had misguided her lookout crew who thought they were fine but then discovered quickly, to their dismay, that they were about to clash with an iceberg that had been hidden from view. It was nearby and they were going at 22,5 knots. One lookout mentioned the sighting to the bridge via the ship’s bell and a telephone call to the bridge, where the First Officer had also seen the danger they approached. He told his Quartermaster to pivot the ship to port side, with a hard-a-starboard order for the rudder. He also selected ‘Full Astern’ to relay to the Engine Room to cut power.
The Titanic made a slight jab to port side but just a second later, large part of the starboard side skimmed against the ice and holes appeared underneath the sea level, on various places. The steel caved in slightly and water gushed through these oppenings, filling the ship with tons of it within a minute.
Meanwhile Morris had no idea what had occured. He must have not sensed anything, likely he was dormant. The Saloon Stewards came to his Glory Hole, wanting his presence op top. He took his sweet time however and still lingered in the cabin for more than 10 minutes. It was then George Charles Dodd, the Second Steward, who had to motivate the men to get themselves present at the Boat Deck, as Captain Smith had ordered for evacuation around midnight, April 15, after designer Thomas Andrews had forecast that the ship would founder in 2 hours.
Morris first had to go to the Baker’s Pantry further aft, to see to it that breads were brought for the lifeboats. Morris obeyed and on his way there, he came across Herbert Henry Thompson, who was the Second Storekeeper, gathered there with other men. They could not discover any crum of bread so Morris decided to make himself useful at the top deck and was soon standing near lifeboat 16, as he knew he would be there. He remembered seeing his name listed for this boat on Thursday, as a paper for the crew was hanging at the First Class Pantry.
Morris, after having assisted in filling lifeboat 16, gave his attention to lifeboat 12 and then lifeboat 14. While the women were reluctant to board, as well crying with their children, some Third Class men, who looked like they were from alien countries, were difficult to contain. Fifth Officer Lowe ordained Morris into boat 14 after he had agreed with Sixth Officer Moody that Lowe would take leadership for this boat.
At 1:15 A.M, lifeboat 14 descended along the dark, black hull of Titanic, which was trimmed at the head, so the aft Boat Deck was higher from the surface then what was usual. She was also listing a good bit to port. Through Morris we learn that the lifeboat’s tackle got stuck a bit. He estimated the load of 14 to be consisting of 53 individuals, mostly female Irish Third Class passengers.
The Titanic laid down her bow part, when another compartment overflowed as one bulkhead had collapsed and she went down ever more gradually. With the Boat Deck ever more awash and the sea reaching the second funnel, The stern of the ship rose up and reached a high angle of 45-70 degree before part of her support structure failed and with metal twisting and disintegrating, she broke in two sections, which were unable to stay afloat for more than 2 minutes. The ship had left the scene and was silent at 2:20 A.M. Many people were still onboard till the last seconds. Now, they found themselves in the ocean, struggling for dear life.
After the sinking[]
Lifeboat 14 became one of the, if not most heroic boats under the guide of Lowe and didn’t hang back forever to set up a rescue mission, with no risk of any suction left now the ship had died. People were in the water and would die very soon as well, as the Atlantic was unbearably cold, probably below zero. No ordinary human could last long there. They did however pick up very few people as they took time to reorganize the boats.
The boat wouldn’t have to stay on the ocean for more than some hours. Wireless proved to be vital during Titanic’s loss. They had made contact with a Cunard Liner, the RMS Carpathia. She was now on her way to be of assistance but the distance was too large to get there before Titanic was gone. The rescue vessel arrived at 4:00 A.M. There was solice for the men who had maintained themselves on the sinking Collapsible A when lifeboat 14 was on its way to row and literally sail to the Carpathia. The men left on boat A were all given a place in lifeboat 14.
The Carpathia delivered her extra human cargo to New York in the rainy evening of April 18. Morris could now feel solid ground underneath him. His elders must have lived in constant fear and the family wasn’t spared any unnessecary grief as they had falsely been given disclosure that Frank was dead. Of course this wasn’t the case. Frank had taken the SS Lapland, like many other former Titanic crew, to get back to England. All his dear ones could greet their kinsman on a Monday.
On a Friday, May the 10th, Morris was sitting in the Scottish Drill Hall in London where he had to explain his movements and all that was happening during the night of April 15, as he was testifiying for the Board of Trade Enquiry. This was the first time that the examiners heard of a port list on the ship.
Later life[]
The terrible tragedy hadn’t kept Frank away from the sea, where his career continued. Frank found love with a Portsea girl named Isabel Margaret Maddick and promised his loyalty to her in 1920. They chose Poole in Dorset as their hometown.
The year 1922 saw the first of two daughters appear: Marion. Her sister would be Freda Doroty, brought forth in 1923. In 1928, they had a brother: William. The fourth and last child, raised since 1929, was Ernest Frank.
In 1954, the last of Frank was seen, still a Poole resident. Isabel saw two more decades till her time of passing in 1975.
Their son Ernest Frank would get as far as 2005.