George Combes was part of the Engineering Crew of the Titanic, as a stoker.
Background[]
George Combes was born and raised in Southampton, like his parents, William Combes, a stone craftsman, who was wed to Elizabeth Staples in 1863.
George was one of the youngest of their children, having one youngest sistern named Rachel and a younger brother named Charles, who appeared in 1880 and 1882 respectively. William and Elizabeth had George on November 11, 1977.
Early deaths of the children struck the family, so George had never met some of his siblings. John was his eldest brother, who was dropped in 1864. In 1866, William James was conceived but didn’t make it through the first year. Elizabeth kept bearing children and Harry saw the light in 1868. Alice Elizabeth was the first daughter in 1870, but couldn’t live long either. She had to be let go in 1872. After her came Walter William, expanding the family in 1873. He was followed by Eliza Rachel in 1875.
Father William had died in 1891. When grown up, George married Emma Jane "Imogen’ Taylor, a girl from Poole in Dorset. On Christmas Day, the 25th of December 1900, they were bound by law. Her father was also a seafarer, like George who as working as a stoker. His mother Elizabeth was no longer alive in 1901.
The couple settled in Southampton, where six children sprang from their love. The first 5 were born before George would be onboard Titanic. The eldest sister was Rosalie stemming from April 18, 1901. A son, George Walter William, joined them in 1903. George junior was fated to die while not even being 2 years old in 1905. The eldest living son would now be Charles Frederick as he was delivered in 1906. William Henry was next in 1908. The Combs’ were blessed with a second girl, Catherine Imogen Alexander, aptly given the nickname of her mother when she left the womb in 1909.The family had to endure more grief in 1911, as their other son and brother, William was on his last terms and his life ended too soon as well.
Titanic[]
In his career, father George worked for White Star Line during those times and had experience on the Oceanic, the last vessel where he had worked on before he was contracted for the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic in 1912.
In Southampton, George put down his signature to be employed as a Fireman for the new liner. She was in Southampton on April 10, from where her passage to America began. Combes was 34 years as he stepped onboard the impressive ship.
Titanic was in a happy place for the last days when all things changed on the night of April 14. The lookouts were caught off guard when they suddenly had their eyes on an upcoming iceberg that had somehow manifested itself in Titanic’s course but could not be recognized from the surroundings earlier. They had no time to contemplate as they rang the bells and called the bridge. The Officer on watch had seen it too and made sure the ship changed course, to port side and pulled the telegraph to ‘full astern’. The iceberg was less than 600 metres away when they altered course. The Titanic reacted but didn’t turn sharp enough to keep away from the iceberg. The starboard side scuffed the solid mass and that led to the hull being opened up over 100 metres, on various places. The seawater could now find its way in and over the course of the next minutes, it climbed the different staircases up to the next decks.
The captain and ship designer had taken a look at the damage and the large inflow of water in various compartments. From what they had gathered, the Titanic was too weakened to keep the water out. It was now April 15, midnight when Thomas Andrews advised the captain to get as many passengers of the ship as he could. The lifeboats were prepared. Lifeboat 3, the third boat to be launched, was designated as the boat that Fireman George Combs would take.
Titanic's bow dipped down below the surface in the late hours of the night, to then have her balance completely weighed down at the front. Her stern got lifted out of the water in the last 10 minutes. At 2:18 A.M, the lights went out when she was completely broken apart. The two large sections soon sank. The Titanic left many poor souls behind that had to endure the cold of the icey waters. They couldn’t last that long, which caused a huge loss of 1503 people. Her wireless operators had called out to other ships for help. One of them, the RMS Carpathia, had promised she would come as fast as she could.
The distance was too great to get to Titanic before her ending, but the liner could at least rescue 706 former Titanic occupants when she wat Titanic’s former position around 4:00 A.M. Later in the morning, she had collected everyone from all the lifeboats, of which more than half was taken aboard. Combes and other survivors were carried over to New York, where Titanic was once expected to sail to. She got there on the 18th of April.
Combes was never called upon to share his experience with either of the enquiries that were held later. Combes returned to England on the Lapland.
Later life[]
George Combes kept working on various vessels in his later years. His last son came in 1913: Albert George.
Sadly, Mr. Combes health took a rapid decline in the years that followed, he had to fight tuberculosis and was just 38 years old when he left Earth’s life on August 13, 1916.
Emma Jane Combes lived on until 1942. She would not leave Southampton nor would she get another husband.