James Carter was a Fireman on Titanic who had taken a different name.
Background[]
James Carter was begotten by George Carter and a woman whose name is missing in this story. James' life began in 1865 in Berkshire, England.
As a young man, James was with the British Forces before he traded the land for the sea.
On September 1909, James put the ring on Marianna Pester. Marianna was from the Channel Island Guernsey, as she had started her life in Vale, a few years before James was born. This was not Marianna’s first wedding, as she was bound by law with a man whose last name was Kestell. The newlyweds settled down in Southampton and had no off-spring.
In 1911, James made an income for him and his wife with the merchant navy. Marianna had another sailor, Alfred Sutton, pay rent so he could stay in their home.
Titanic[]
A 35-year old man, W. Ball, was registered in Southampton on the crew list of the Titanic, on April 6. This was in fact James Carter, but he was much older. There are no clues why he chose to give the White Star Line a pretend-name and false birthdate. He had the function of a Fireman and had already met the giant’s almost equally large sistership: Olympic.
Only a few short days later, on April 10, it was time to weigh anchor. The blast of the horn bellowed its final goodbye as thousands of exciteted Englishmen watched stood on the dry docks waving , to see the Titanic off, as well as possible friends and family. The ship headed to New York on its first voyage. James was placed on the third watch. This group of stokers did shifts from 8:00 P.M. to 12:00 P.M as well as 8:00 A.M. till 12:00 A.M. This mean his sleeping accomodation would on the portside of D-Deck.
It was a very clear night one the 14th of April, weather seemed perfect and there were many stars. The crew were suddenly shaken up by the sight of an iceberg. Frederick Fleet was the first to see it, just in the close vicinity of the mighty ship. He didn’t hesitate and made the bridge aware of the object that he had spotted, with First Officer Murdoch also now having gazed upon the large mass. He wasted no second and made Quartermaster Hichens place the ship on a course sharply to port while Murdoch ordered the Engineers to reverse the engines.
To put the engines at full reverse, the ship needed to slow its propellors down to fire them up in the opposite direction, which took time. The Titanic didn’t have the manouvrability. Not even their best efforts were able to steer the ship away from her grim destiny. The seams ended up bursting and when iron rivets popped out as the liner had her starboard hull shaved by the very hard ice. The ship now made water on various places.
Thomas Andrews, the ship’s designer, had been down to see the damaged parts of the ship for himself, and around midnigt, he had a conversation with Captain Smith in which he relayed his prognosis of doom. Captain Smith then ordered to clear the boats, on April 15, 12:05 A.M. The 20 lifeboats were readied to take as many passengers off the stricken liner.
Carter would have been active during the collision according to the offical schedule. How he experienced the hit, we probably will never find out. There were some Firemen who knew that the ship was sinking. They had made their way to the Boat Deck and into a lifeboat. James Carter was not among them, it seems. What he did during this night is impossible to confirm. Many Firemen were down below and in their act of immolation, shoveled coal to make Titanic’s lights burn bright till 2 minutes before the end, helping the Electricians to keep her electricity going as well, which was essential for the evacuation.
Two last lifeboats were not launched as their was no time. The sea took them off the submerged ship with a large wave. As the rest of the bow sank, her large stern was lifted out of the water until it reached an angle of 45 degrees. Then, it snapped in half. The remaining stern followed the forward part just minutes later. More than 1500 people were killed, most when they were dropped in the Atlantic Ocean, either dieing. James Carter was among the deceased. Some bodies were encountered by other ships later, but not Carter’s body.
After his death[]
The Titanic Relief Fund provided with Marianna with a small sum of income so she could keep her head above water.
Marianna had a sister, Amy Alice Knight, with whom she shared a household, also in Southampton, which was forever her place to be. She did not make another promise to another man. Before the end of World War 2, her life ended at the age of 82, on January 7, 1945.