Frederick Charles Godwin was a Greaser on the Titanic.
Background[]
Frederick Charles Godwin’s first day, June 16, 1878, was lived in Eling, Hampshire. He was brought forth by the former Lyndhurst resident, Mary Ann Godwin, as Lyndhurst was where her crib was placed. Frederick came into existance at Eling’s New Forest Union Workhouse. Mary’s mother, also named Mary, already was in a state of with having a spurial daughter during Mary’s childhood.
Mary was in her own sticky wicket, being impounded in the infirmary for her disarrayed life and for being unable to get her head above the water, nor her row of younglings. There was no stability in Frederick’s youth either, as the bond between Mary and Thomas became wretched. Mary was an hireling and also an incorrigible cheater which drove Thomas away from her at the end of the 1860’s or beginning of 1870s, as well as from his own elders. Between 1871-1878, Emily and Thomas were well apart.
It got worse for Mary with her next interest, Tom Taylor, as she parked in his gaff since 1871. He was an inebriate and roughed her up. That year, she also instilled new life on earth in the form of Charles Henry. She would raise more sprouts in the following years, with her family tree being quite a disorder, as there could have been several fathers.
Frederick was begotten also by Charles Keeping from Emery Down, who was dragged before the judge by Emily as he didn’t supply her with the needs for raising him. He was way older than Emily and already in conjugality. The year 1872 saw the arrival of Robert, as Samuel was next in 1874. Keturah Charlotte was given life in 1875, the last elder (half)sibling of Frederick.
A decision came for the Keeping case in Emily’s favor, who had to be given aliment for the boy weekly afte they found that he was the real biological father.
The New Forest Union Workhouse had to register a new child in 1881, also sprouted from Emily, named Alice Maud Mary. Mary and her chits had not left the place yet, but things went for the better before 1891. Inbetween, they saw another wean brought into life, in 1885. He was named John.
In 1891, Mary Ann had taken yet another surname, this time of a John Kitcher, a tiller with far more life experience than her, as much as 20 years. The newly formed family were inhabitants of Sway, also in Hampshire.
Frederick was meanwhile growing up himself. July the 8th in 1897 marked a big day for Frederick as he had found himself a woman who he joined in matrimony in Lymington. She was Emily Elizabeth Hine and she had har earliest background in Marsh Gibbon, Buckinhamshire. She was a maid when she became espoused to Godwin. With Emily, he sired a number of sons. Their parenthood started with Phyllis Flintham in the Summer of 1898. The next Spring, in 1899, they saw Geoffrey Reginald come into existance.
In 1901, the family could be found in Netley Marsh. The countryside of Hampshire stimulated Frederick to preen prize horses as his daily graft before he made the big promise to Emily and continued when they had sealed the deal, as he saw his future there. In the Summer of 1902, Emily dropped their youngest, Frank George.
In 1911, Frederick was no longer preparing steeds for judgment, but had commenced his efforts on the open brine, as a stoker on ships. The year that he started, is somewhere between 1901 and 1911, but not established.
Titanic[]
Godwin had been with the White Star Line passengership, the Oceanic, sometime in March. With the coal strike, he would no longer find employment with this vessel.He was about to go on a liner that was recently introduced by White Star Line. It was a sistership of another huge liner of the Olympic-Class. It was three and a half times as big as Oceanic and would begin her voyage on April 10. On April 6, Godwin had given an signature and stated where he lived, which was still Totton like the year before. That day, in Southampton, he was contracted as a Greaser of the Titanic’s Engineering Crew. This mammoth needed quite a good crew so many Sontonians where amongst them. Southampton had recently been appointed as the most important starting point for White Star Line, contrary to Liverpool, which was still the main base for Titanic.
Godwin was 33 years old when he was onboard and the last boarding door of the ship had closed, around 12 o’clock on that Wednesday, April 10. There was a man on the Olympic who could have known Godwin and would now be a Third Baker on Titanic: William Edward Hine. William was Emily’s sibling.
When Titanic was on her own and no longer guided by tugboats, her captain, the most prominant skipper of his company, wanted to waste no second and went Full Ahead. At speed, the vessel hurled past Fred’s former ship, the Oceanic. Next to her was the New York, which became quite enthousiastic when Titanic’s ripple-effect had captured her. Titanic’s propellor wash prompted the ship to roam free with all her ropes broken violently. Within moments, she was about to ram Titanic, but this was apprehended at the last second. Titanic had stopped and lost an hour but was spared from any damage.
We don’t know if Frederick was on duty at that time or if he had seen the New York coming towards them perilously close, but many excited passengers did. This incident was a sign for things to come, as a small about of people also felt. Some where already off the ship in Cherbourg and Queenstown, the next to ports she visited. If only the captain had taken a lesson out of it, he would know that haste makes waste. Greaser Godwin would make a good amount of coins in a month’s time, should the voyage be succesfull. It’s not specified if he had a leading role. There was a cabin for 4 higher placed Greasers on F-Deck at the starboard bow, whilst the rest, 29 men, had their cabin on G-Deck in the starboard under the forecastle.
From Queenstown, Titanic cast her moorings to initate the crossing to New York. As Titanic had hardly been trialled, so her company director and captain both felt that this was a good opportunity to boost her speed a little bit. On April 14, she was not far off her maximum, but something had changed since the last few days.
Up in the crow’s nest, later at night, the pair of watchmen must have noticed it too. It was not only a lull, it was freezing as well. The moon was abscent, but ice was close. It even gave off a certain scent. They had no binoculars, but kept watch since 8:00 P.M. It was now 11:39 P.M. They would be relieved in 21 minutes, as their was a disturbance as one of them, Frederick Fleet had made note of an iceberg directly in front of her tip. With the ship’s bell and the telephone he clued in the Officers on watch. They then angled her off all the way to port side and brought the engines to a halt, also wanting to get them turning the other way.
There was not even a minute passed since the sighting when the Titanic had a less than brisk clash with the tall frozen mass.With a rattling sound felt by many crewman in the bow, Titanic scourred over the iceberg with her imposing hull, which was not strong enough to face this kind of abuse. Small cuts appeared and the seems were seperated into an entrance for water.
It was small, but enough for the water to quickly draw into it. It’s very hard to say if Godwin was with the Engineers by that time. The shunt brought the captain onto the bridge immediately. After it was clarified what had come to pass, the captain wanted to know how bad the state of affairs down below were. He conducted a search and weighed his options. The designer Thomas Andrews was also onboard. He had worked everything out by midnight, April 15, when both men had taken a good look at the inflow of water. Thomas Andrews knew that Titanic was dealing with an extreme situation. She could not keep herself buoyant like this. Andrews passed this fact through to Smith who got into a state of haze. Yet, he knew that at least half of 2209 people had to be saved. Carefully, he started to give orders, without distributing too much information.
Smith coördinated a evacuation at 12:05 A.M. Deck crew drudged away and got the boats ready for receiving passengers. Twenty minutes later, the first boat could be taken down to the water. With Titanic’s portholes gradually touching the water one by one, it took still over 2 hours to get 18 boats off. Before the last ones were ready, a rush of water plummeted on the forward Boat Deck and the two boats were caught in the stream. It was clear to everyone by now that Titanic could not stay afloat for long.
Titanic entered the last fase of her sinking process. The sea gobbled up large parts of her deck and her bronze propellers had surfaced by now. Minutes later, they were high above the water. Titanic’s curved end cantilevered in the air, unsupported. It couldn’t stay like that for long. Within seconds when she lost her lighting, she had her aft part detached via a crack through the entire middle of the ship, which now came unravelled, apart from the keel. With the rostrom making its way down, the keel brought the stern to an even higher stance before disintegrating. What was left of Titanic stood on end and then, she retreated into the sea.
Over 1500 people were designated to a hellecious death. The Atlantic Ocean had no pleasant temperature that night, with all the ice everywhere. Many boats didn’t help the swimmers, who simply froze.
It’s impossible to tell where Frederick Godwin was at the moment Titanic hit the iceberg, or inbetween the collision and her demise. A large group of Greasers didn’t make it, including him. With no body left of him when cableships came to seek for corpses to label them, there was nothing that could shed light on any premis of what he did during the night, but many Engineers were still in the ship as it was coming apart. Nothing would be seen of his brother-in-law William Hine either since that night.
After his death[]
In 1918, Emily picked up the special connection with another man. She devoted her life to Alfred Knight.
Emily’s life was concluded in 1929.