Joseph Francis Akerman was a Pantry Steward on the Titanic.
Background[]
Joseph Francis Akerman's origin lay in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. He was the second of six children born into the Akerman family, with the father being his namesake, Joseph Akerman. His wife was Fanny Palmer. They were both from the Wiltshire region and got wed in 1871. Their first son saw the light in 1872: William Henry. He had a brother on May 14, 1874: This was Joseph. The parents were blessed with a girl in 1875, Eliza. Arthur Wallace was the next child in 1877. Then it was Albert Edward, conceived in 1880. Another daughter, Alice Maud, followed suit in 1882.
The father, Joseph Senior, did manual labor and later, he worked with tractor engines.
Growing up, one of Joseph’s earlier jobs was delivering milk. Joseph put the ring on Emily Kate Francis on Decmeber 25, 1898. She was a woman from Warminister, Wiltshire. Joseph became a father of 6. The first of his off-spring was Lilian. She came into this world in 1899. Two sisters followed her. The first was Gladys, born in 1901, with Doris being born next in 1904. A major heartbreak happened as she died within a year, being only an infant. William Frank was their first son in 1906, preceeding Very May, who arrived in 1909. They also raised Herbert George, who was from May 1911.
In 1901, they had their their household in Southampton. Also living in Southampton was Albert, his younger brother. He was a seafarer. Joseph allowed him to stay with them, presumably.
He had been together with his brother on the Oceanic as well, when he could be appointed for the Maiden Voyage of a new liner, both Akermans being made into part of her crew in April 4, 1912.
Titanic[]
It was the RMS Titanic where both Joseph and Albert would work on, Albert as a Third Class Steward while Joseph became an Assistant Pantryman. His role beheld that he would help in the organisation of the storage of the supplies for the kitchens and dining rooms, the utensils, plates and silverware in all classes. He had 7 colleagues, who were guided by the Chief and Second Pantryman. Titanic steamed out of harbor after 12 o’clock on the Wednesday afternoon of April 10.
Titanic glided through the water and her crew didn’t have a care in the world, but her limits would soon be tested. At the night of April 14, Titanic navigated her way through an icefield, still at 22,5 knots.
Fate had determined that an iceberg would be in her way and the conditions made it hard to see anything. The bridge reacted as quick as they could, with the rudder to hard-a-starboard and the engines reversed, but it was wasted effort as the ship couldn’t turn that fast on such short notice. She collided with the wall of ice on her starboard side. It was a glancing blow, but her construction beneath sea level was comprimised. A few holes led the ocean water get into the ship at a fast race.
On April 15, on the bridge were Captain Smith and Thomas Andrews to discuss further action regardin the ship’s inflow of water. It wasn’t pretty. The compartments were all flooding fast. Andrews had to deliver an unfortunate, but undeniable verdict. The Titanic would not live through the ordeal. They had to evacuate the passengers and fast. The order for the evacuation came at 12:05 A.M.
Joseph Francis Akerman, as well as his brother, both were caught up in the sinking of the ship. Neither of the two left the vessel alive, becoming one of 1503 deaths. The ship’s struggle was over at 2:20 A.M. Titanic now belonged to the sea. Many people were still on the ship when she went down. Most died in the cold water which was below 0° Celsius.
Joseph was the 205th victim to be hauled up by the Mackay-Bennett. Albert’s body was lost, while Joseph was later laid to rest in Halifax’ Fairview Cemetery. He became the father of a son he would never met, as on December 26, 1912, Joseph Francis was born, named after his late father.
Having already lost one of her daughters at infancy and her husband in the sinking of the Titanic, Emily Kate had to endure the pain of letting go of another daughter in 1918. It was Vera May, less than 10 years old.