Francis James Young was a Fireman on Titanic.
Background[]
Francis James Young became visible on the 14th of November in 1879. Francis Young senior and Louisa Young were his parents and had grown up in Southampton, where Francis junior also came into this world. He was their first child. The pair begot more children, starting with Maud Louise in 1881, Nellie being next in 1883. Their second son would be Hugh Percy from 1885 onwards and Ralph was welcomed in 1886, preceding May, a sister born in 1889 and Sarah Louisa was their last, raised since 1891.
The saltwater was running in the family, with father Francis being a mariner. His namesake and eldest son would do the same work later, including some of his brothers. In 1881, because of his occupation, the father was often away from home, which was in Saint Mary, Southampton.
His son Francis became the husband of Amy in 1901. With Francis being out in the open waters, Amy was resident at the home of her sister Florence Kate Kellaway. Francis was the father of three daughers. The eldest was Amy Beatrice, who made the Young couple into parents in 1902. Elsie Mary was her sister from 1905 onwards, with Ellen Meta joining in 1908. The last girl to expand the family was Violet Blanche in 1911. Francis meanwhile accepted jobs as Firemen on ships.
Titanic[]
Aged 32, Francis was back from a trip with the SS Oratova when he made his name appear on a crew's list on April 6 in Southampton, as part of the Engineering Crew of one mighty new ocean steamer of the White Star Line company. Lots of coal would be carried by the Titanic since leaving Southampton on April 10, 1912, bound for New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown. Young’s working hours would be 4:00 A.M-8:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M.-8:00 A.M. He was with the second scheduled group of Firemen who stayed on D-Deck in the bow, on starboard side.
One of the stewards onboard could possibly know Francis. The familiarity lay in the fact that his sister Maud had married one of them, Lewis Owen. Another man Francis could have been familiar with was William Ewart Caunt. Francis’ younger brother Ralph had made Emily Gertrude Caunt his wife, with Emily being William’s sister. Caunt was the Titanic’s Grill Cook.
Titanic sadly would not ever reach New York. On the night of April 14, Titanic was nearly plowing straight into an iceberg. Titanic’s lookouts didn’t see that they were headed for it, for a long time. At 11:39 P.M, one of the lookouts rang the bell to indicate the deadly object directly ahead of them. He also called Sixth Officer Moody and identified it as ice. They now had to navigate around this obstacle. They put the helm hard over to starboard, to make Titanic move into the opposite direction: port. The engine order telegraph was slothed into ‘Full Astern’.
The ship nevertheless connected with the iceberg on her broadside, as the distance was too short to make Titanic veer enough, and her starboard bow, which was still not turned away, received a glancing blow. The trails of damage continued backwards and stopped at just about parallel to the first funnel, below the waterline. These gaps now were like a few opened doors for the ocean, which went on an exploring trip into Titanic.
Captain Smith had sped his way to the bridge right afterwards. He told one of his quartermasters to go down and find the carpenter and sound all the wells forward, before he went down himself to have a look, with ship’s designer Thomas Andrews in his wake.
It was now April 15, midnight, when the Captain had returned to the bridge. Thomas reportedly told Smith that the Titanic could only last another 60 to 90 minutes with the way she was taking on water. With his knowledge, he could comprehend that Titanic was designed to withstand the flooding of 4 forward compartments, but not 6, as was the case.
Once it was clear that this was going to be Titanic’s last night, the order was given to uncover the lifeboats by Captain Smith, to be lowered level with the Boat Deck and take on passengers as soon as those were esembled.
There were Fireman that had made it to the lifeboats, some were ordered to crew them or help rowing. They were a large group however, with a significant amount keeping at their post to still fuel the bunkers as it was necessary to keep the lights and electricity servicable. This made the evacuation a lot easier. The plucky deeds of those men need not to be forgotten. Many died as heroes but didn’t get the recognition they deserved.
The story of Francis is incomplete as his positions and activity that night are lost with the ship itself. He would not be at work during the time she hit. But he did not make it into a lifeboat and thus was lost at sea forever. Two lifeboats were still not launched when Titanic’s forward Boat Deck went under, taking those boats with them.
At 2:20 A.M, the Titanic sank to the bottom of the ocean, with her dislodged stern pointing upwards. The sinking of the Titanic led to the death of over 1500 people, including Francis. Most died of hypothermia after the Titanic left them to suffer in the very cold waters. Others would be still inside the ship.
Afther his death[]
More bad news would hit Amy that same year. It was her youngest daughter. She lost her life just weeks after her father’s death.
Southampton was a small world. Another victim of the Titanic’s demise, Frederick Marsh, had a younger brother who made things work with Amy Young. He was Ernest Marsh and replaced Francis as the head of her household in 1913. As he was no longer alive in 1922, the former Mrs. Young tried again and a third breadwinner came into view later: Francis John Davis.
Amy Davis' life came to an end in 1951, still Southampton-bound.