George Alfred Bennett was a dashing chap.
George Alfred Bennett was a Fireman on the Titanic.
Background[]
George Alfred Bennett was given to Joseph Bennett and Elizabeth, who lived Chapel district of Southampton. George had dropped into earth’s life on the 23rd of July, 1881.
The pair had sealed the deal for life in 1868. Two years later, in 1870, they could welcome their first child, a son named William John. The second was a girl, Elizabeth Ann who had been given her named in 1871. Her sister Hannah was begotten in 1873 and Joseph Henry followed her in 1874, before the pair had Robert Edward in 1876, a brother of 1878’s Jane Susan. Albert James saw the light next, in 1880. Florence Lily was George’s first younger sibling, emerging in 1883, with Ada Annie coming after her in 1885. The last of their children was Edith Mabel. One of them, not sure who, had not made it through the first few years.
George grew up with the same occupation as his father, who was a seafarer. During the 1900s, George was away from home, an indication that he might have chosen the briny depths as his new home. By 1911, he was a stoker. He had no partner.
Titanic[]
In Southampton, George appeared to give his name for the crew of Firemen on the Titanic. He was added on the 6th of April, 1912. For George, this ship must have looked familiar as she was closely related to the Olympic, his last ship. The Olympic was the first of three new generation vessels, uniquely large in size, comfort, space and luxury. The Titanic was built more than a half a year after her. This would be her Maiden Voyage.
George was a single man of 30 years old when he was on the Titanic when she sailed off, casting her moorings in Southampton on the 10th of April to go to the Channel via the river Test. Her first trip should lead her to New York before making two stops in France and Ireland. George would be grovelling away with the tedious job of dropping hot coal into the ship’s huge boilers, his shift being the night’s watch, from 0:00 A.M to 4:00 A.M. as well as the day-time schedule from 12:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.
On April 14, deep in the night, the passengers and crew of the Titanic would be facing a traumatic situation, especially for those who lived to tell the tale. It had occured completely out of the blue. Ever so sudden, the two lookouts in the crow’s nest, placed on watch for icebergs, detected one right in front of the bow at 11:39 P.M. George’s shift would began at 12:00 A.M. as per usual, but circumstances would now lead the firemen to a difficult task later. As the iceberg had come into view, the first lookout rang the bell and telephoned the bridge rapidly, as Titanic was closing in fast. The First Officer now saw the iceberg too and slammed on the anchors, after he had ordered helmsman Hichens to clear the iceberg on port side. The rudder was put to hard starboard to take the ship around port, which took too much time as Titanic ran alongside the iceberg, but underneath the waterline, an outlier of the iceberg had cracked parts of the hull open on starboard side, with narrow clefts appearing over 100m of Titanic’s body. These gaps were instantly suseptable for sea water going straight through them. Now, Titanic would take tons of ocean water inside her and it climbed very swiftly as well. The lowest decks in the forward bow were blanked in 20 minutes.
On April 15, midnight, the captain had taken a tour down the ship with Titanic’s very own designer. Thomas Andrews determined that, as the ship’s forward compartments filled with water, its bow would drop deeper into the ocean, causing water from the ruptured compartments to spill over into each succeeding compartment, thereby sealing the ship’s fate. Captain Smith was convinced that this was to be taken seriously and put his deck crew to work. They had to assemble other men to organise an evacuation and put the boats to deck level whilst persuading passengers to get into them.
With 18 boats launched properly and the last two floating of the submerged bridge at her final 13 minutes, George was not on any of them. That night, he left the land of the living, we don’t know how, but we do know that the ship itself had it’s first half sunken first, which created a leverage effect and with a great noise, the mighty, heavier stern roared upward and was as a great angle, before splitting off due to the massive strain that rested on it. Gravity did the rest. The broken stern went after the front section 2 minutes later. It was 2:20 A.M. when the sound of groaning had ceased. Titanic was no more.
A large mass of people had gathered at the stern and all of them were now in the water. Only a handful had made it to a lifeboat. Fifteen hundred and three weren’t so fortunate. Some had died inside the ship, but most were lost in the waters, which were freezing and the majority of victims held out for 20 to 30 minutes, many even less.
George could have been one of them. There were Firemen that had stayed at their post to keep feeding the ship coal to make the electricity work as long as possible and it did till 2 minutes before Titanic had gone, a testomony of great effort, selflessness and dedication. Those brave men died saving many others. Bennett could also have been one of them.
After his death[]
His body was never located for identification. Still, his death was recognized and from the Titanic Relief Fund, a donation was sent to Joseph and Elizabeth Bennett, the parents. Both would not live long after that. His father was last seen alive in 1915, having lost another son in 1912, which was Alfred, but he was not on the Titanic. George’s mother was gone in 1917.