James Witter was on board the Lapland. When this ship arrived in Plymouth, he talked to First Class Stewardess Annie Robinson.
James William Cheetham Witter was a Steward of the Second Class Smoking Room on Titanic.
Early life[]
James William Cheetham Witter was born on 23 June, 1888 in Aughton, Lancashire, where both his parents were also born. His father, James Cheetham Witter had a job in the agriculture. His mother was Ann Dutton. He had 3 sisters and 1 brother.
He got married on 10 April 1908 to the Scottish Hannah Greaves, who was the daughter of wool weaver Edward Greaves, her mother was also named Hannah.
James had lived in Walton at this point, and moved to Woolston with his wife. They had a son. He was named James Richard and was born on 21 August 1911. He lived directly next to another Titanic crew member, Ernest Archer who would become an Able Seaman on the ship later.
Titanic[]
He had sailed on Majestic and Adriatic as well as the new RMS Olympic before enlisting on sister ship Titanic on April 4.
On the night of April 14, he served his shift in the Second Class Smoking Room and was busy cleaning up, ready to close the facility at midnight. Still roughly 40 men were in there, talking to eachother and three groups played cards. A certain rule of the White Star Line dictated that playing cards was prohibited on the Sunday. The closing time was also 11:00 P.M. A Second Class Steward was more lenient and told James that they could go on for a little while longer.
But before closing time, there was a shock and he felt a vibration. He figured this couldn't be a wave as the sea was calm as a millpond.
Everything went calm but some passengers asked James questions, so he said he thought it to be a lost propellor blade, like several other passengers also believed. He had experienced this before while working on Olympic.
He then promised to gather information and went down a few decks. Fifteen to twenty minutes later he returned to clarify that they had scratched an iceberg. The men who were playing, heard the news and they left the Smoke Room in an orderly fashion, without a hint of panic. Witter then closed the Smoke Room.
He was heading to his cabin on E-Deck when he saw that several people had gathered on Scotland Road. Among them was carpenter John Hutchinson, who remarked that "the bloody Mail Room is filling up with seawater." James decided that something needed to be done and fellow steward William Moss agreed with the words: "Jim, it's serious."
Witter had a berth in a cabin for 32 crew members. He tried to convince the men to get out and evacuate themselves but he wasn't believed, they mocked him, even going as far as throwing somethign at thim, so he gave up trying. He took his own cigarettes and some belongings and left. Some of his colleagues did actually get up, but he never saw them again, by his account.
Making his way to the upper decks, Second pursor Reginald Barker ordered him to get the passengers ready and to make sure they put lifebelts on.
Having taking care of that, he went up on the Boat Deck to aid in the preparation of lifeboat 11. One hystrical woman tried to climb in the boat just before the launch but when James stood by the railing trying to come to her aid she slipped and dragged him along in her fall. This is how he survived the disaster. In that same boat, Edith Russel was playing with a toy pig and when she thwirled its tail, music came out. The two would meet eachother again in the 1950's, when Walter Lord was writing his famous book, 'A Night to Remember'. They were in a group of Titanic survivors that gave interviews. Before that he had never spoken to anybody about his voyage on Titanic. It horrified him and his memories were plaguing him.
Later life[]
James continued to work for White Star Line for a long time. The next vessel he took sail on after Titanic was Oceanic. In 1914 his second child was born, a daughter that was named Betty. Jack, his third child, followed in 1917. Inbetween the births they had switched from living in Liverpool to Southampton in 1916. James had also sailed on the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth after White Star Line and Cunard Line had fused together.
He lost his wife Hannah in 12 September 1956. James Witter died when he reached the age of 81, in Southampton on October 23, 1961. It is said that with his last breaths, his mind was taking him back to 1912, to that fateful night.