James Henry Billows was one of Titanic’s Trimmers.
Background[]
James Henry Billows expierenced the outside world for the first time in Southampton in 1892, having been conceived by Joseph Billows and Ellen Proudley. His father was a local who had grown up in Shirley. Ellen stemmed from the town of Droxford, also in Hampshire.
In 1872, they took the plunge together, which resulted in a lineage of 9 children, which started off with William in 1873. William had a brother in 1876 named Joseph, the same name as the father, who was a longshoreman.
In 1879, the family expansion continued with Thomas. In 1884 it was time for a girl to show herself, also named Ellen. In 1888, Henry was brought forth. Norah was given life next, in 1890. Their likely first fireside was likely in Bournemouth, Dorset county. Throughout the first decade, they had changed places to be insconsced in Southampton. They were still living there by the time James came along, who was one of their last, with only Andrew being his younger sibling since 1895. They were situated in the Saint Michael parish of Southampton in 1891. That year also saw the arrival of Laura. There was an indication that one child had not made it through. It could have been her.
Ten years later, they could still be found there, at the same dwell.
James was still with his family in 1911, as he made himself useful as a boiler cleaner, a very unpleasant and hot job, as he needed to remove tar from a very hot boiler of a vessel. It’s not a wonder that he would have a similarly job, just a year later. He had no official love in his life.
Titanic[]
In April 1912, James had returned to Southampton as he was back from a New York-Southampton trip with the arduous RMS Olympic, White Star Line’s proudest investment, until her equally monumental sister came along. James was a Trimmer on the Titanic, when she stirred the rivers outside Southampton for the first time on April 10. Too much in fact, that it brought a stagnant ship nearby into motion. All stops had to be pulled out to calm this twin screwer, the SS New York and get her away from Titanic’s stern. Titanic lost valuable time and the people at Cherbourg, Titanic’s next harbor, had an hour longer of waiting to do before they could see her.
James was either below or just in his 20th year when he was available to the maiden trip. The man was placed with the second watch, as Trimmers were devided in three groups and must have their bunk places allotted in a similary fashion. He would toil away with the Firemen in one or two of the Boiler Rooms between 4:00 and 8:00 o’clock, twice a day, wheeling coal from place to place. If he didn’t have to be on duty, he could retreat to one of the quarters on E-Deck, in the prow. He would sit with the Firemen at their Mess if he wanted to knock off for meals.
James didn’t have to exert himself on the later night of April 14, when Titanic was well on its way, gunning straight for New York. She made a lot of steam and was not far off her topspeed. Since 10:00 P.M, she was inside an icefield, despite a course change slightly further south, earlier in the day.
The lookouts stumbled upon an iceberg at 11:39 P.M. It was a mondo floater, which exceeded Titanic’s Boat Deck in size. It came to a clash between two giants, as there had only been a minute since the to act. The telephone was used, as well as the ship’s bell, to alert the bridge. The men in the lookout looked in anguish as the First Officer got busy inverting the propellors while curving Titanic’s trajectory to port side. The brush that came was felt my many in the bow. Her starboard side hadn’t managed to get out of harm’s way and now was scraped below the surface, with Titanic sustaining 6 narrow slits, spread over a large portion of her forward bodywork.
What many people onboard were lulled into believing was impossible, was taking place right now. The ship was in danger of losing her ability to float in just hours. After combing over the sighting of water in the water, Captain Smith and master designer Thomas Andrews had both accepted that the skirmish with the ice was fatal, as water penetrated the Mail Room, Boiler Rooms 6 and 5 as well as cargo spaces. The weight of the bow would spill seawater over her bulkheads that ended mostly at E-Deck. At midnight, they were sure that the ship would sink.
Only 20 lifeboats had been given to the sizeable ship that carried 2209 souls on that night, as by regulation it was established that it was the only amount needed and their company, the White Star Line, didn’t want too many. Now they were faced with a dire predicament, as only half the lives onboard the ship could be saved at best. In the end, they could only save 706, which meant a loss of 1503.
When time came that Titanic's highest decks were bathed in the ocean water completely, the last two boats were grabbed by a sudden increase that resulted in a sort of mix between a wave and a whirlpool. As the bow and bridge perked up and pointed downwards, her rears became visibly larger. An extreme situation occured with objects and people falling and crashing through the ship, as her backside was half out of the water, as the only thing lightening the sky apart from so many stars. There was no moon, which had been the one object that could've made the difference in seeing the iceberg in time. That light was dimmed too. Then the ship had a structural failure as the stern was disjointed from the rest of the ship, aft midships. It took two additional minutes for the rest to flood. The cold water is what claimed many lives.
As many of her Engineering Crew had stayed behind to work on the pumps and the electricity, the death toll among them was great. Not a single Engineer came out alive, nor most the Trimmers, Greasers and Firemen. James was also a mortality, but how he fared during the entire voyage is an unknown, so there isn't much to say about his death other than how tragic it was. Although the White Star Line later attempted to imploy the services of some cableships to grab as many victims from the water, it didn’t result in salvaging more than 335. Well over 1000 were still unaccounted for, including Mr. Billows.