Matthew Henry Brewer was a Trimmer on the Titanic.
Background[]
Matthew Henry Brewer was an Englishman whose origin can be found in Birmingham, Warwickshire, where he was living his first day in the first years of the 1880s. People who knew him called him ‘Harry’, but any profile of the people who parented him is absent.
At an unknown date, Matthew made things happen with a girl and at an unknown date, declared himself husband of Edith Wordon, who hade been brought forth in the Lamberth district of London. She was far younger than him and by 1911, her chambers were in All Saints, Southampton, probably taken in as a maid and flask cleaner.
Titanic[]
Matthew was in Southampton in 1912, quartered in a condo close to the city centre. Southampton got a visit from an important ship that would provide plenty of work. She was the White Star Line’s new supreme supersteamer, the RMS Titanic, a ship oozing with innovation, luxury and oppulence. The ship had to be run by an Engineering Crew. Matthew declared himself ready for sailing at April 6, from which date his contract as one of Titanic’s Trimmers, began. His missus back home carried some extra weight around, as a son was conceived and would come into existance months later. Meanwhile, Matthew had parted ways with most colleagues of the Saint Paul, where he had been crewing just before. Now, he was part of a team distributing coal throughout the Boiler Rooms. For his services, he would get 5 pounds, 10 shillings at the end of the month. The accomodations of the trimming crew were on E-Deck far forward in the ship. Matthew had the last watch of the day along with 21 other men, who were clocked at 8:00-12:00hr, both P.M. and A.M.
On April 10, it was time for Titanic to leave the port behind her. Titanic’s blades corkscrewed happily into the water which was barely deep enough for her. She threw up quite some water and also had induced the Inman liner SS New York into a rumpus as she was propelled by the wash toward the liner. She nearly broadsided Titanic, but was mandhandled when she was mere meters away. This could’ve given Titanic significant damage and cancel her voyage. This could have altered things later.
Then, she was on route for France. The next day, she pulled up in Ireland. From there, it was a vast ocean that needed to be crossed, which should take 6 days. She was expected in New York on April 17.
This crossing on the Atlantic was not without peril, as history would substantiate. The hubris surrounding Titanic ultimately translated into her termination. Extraordinary weather on the 14th of April, which was very mild, combined with another series of events, like the wish of White Star Line director Bruce Ismay to snap it up with the engine output, to maybe shave off half a day of the voyage, led to Titanic’s big infelicity.
Icebergs formed a consistent headache in these days for the oceanliner business and Titanic had to watch out just the same. Two lookout sailors took care of that. Their watch duties were cut in three as well, just like with the Trimmers. Two men stood in the crow’s nest since 8:00 P.M, when they had roughly 20 minutes of eyeing yet to do. The breaking of waves on an iceberg was missing and the watchmen could not pay heed to it before it was straight in front.
The instinct of one of the lookouts set in and he appraised the bridge immediately. The bridge reacted and tried to escape a frontal collision. They managed to, while the ship was averted to portside with the engine order given as ‘Full Astern’. The ship drew her portside away from danger but her starboard side was not diverted yet ran over the iceberg. Titanic was impinged and the load of this collision, which was felt like a bump or thud by the captain, caused wrought iron rivets to pop and deformed some steel, which was now accesible to the sea in 6 different places, all devided by a bulkhead, a tough steel wall.
The Captain hurried to the bridge and took command. He wanted to know what happened and sent some of his men down, before having a look himself. He also inquired the master shipbuilder, who was onboard as well. His name was Thomas Andrews, the right man to ask an analysis on the ship he helped create.
Andrews attested that the Titanic’s structural integrity was not good enough for this set of cirucumstances. With the first two decks slipping already away underneath their feet at the front, Titanic would seriously go down fast, which could take as little as an hour. Captain Smith knew what to do. At 12:05 A.M, on April 15, the evacuation was in effect. Lifeboats had to be rustled up and placed in position to receive passengers.
Matthew’s watch would have just ended moments ago. His movements on the ship are sadly unclear. As the first of the crew’s quarters were glutting with saltwater in the bow, the first boat touched the water outside the ship, with the water level already visible at the lowest portholes. Between 12.25 A.M. and 1:55 A.M, 18 boats were brought while Titanic detruded further and was forced further downward.
Over the course of the next 12 minutes, they had to get 2 boats from a higher ground to the deck. A hefty list and of course the forward slant made it hard to get it done and people could hardly stand up straight. At 2:07 A.M, Titanic hastened on her way down and her Boat Deck was engulfed, with the boats being grabbed and cast aside, onto the water.
As a large chunk of Titanic was imbued, the dome over the First Class Staircase and in the next minutes, the first funnel, were both ruined. The weight of the ship was transferred forward and the dorsal decks were elevated in an askew manner. The Poop Deck, where most of the people gathered as there was no other way off the ship, was soon at a camber of over 9 degrees, which climbed to 45 in the next 3 minutes. Then, her demarcation came, when the ship was no longer emitting light. At 2:20 A.M, it was all over. The railing of the stern immersed as the ship slithered down all the way up.
Nothing would be left of Brewer in the end. The shipbreach signaled his quietus. How he came to pass, is probably never told. He wasn’t seen by some of the ships that were procured a week later to look out for bodies.
After his death[]
On July 6, Matthew became the posthumus father of Harry Marks Brewer as Edith engendered him that day, she had her place west of the river Itchen, in the Chapel block of Southampton. Harry was also a Sontonian by birth.
With this child no longer being able to enjoy the care of his father, the dowager was thrown a lifeline by the Titanic Relief Fund, as to help the growing-up of this child. Edith didn’t allow her status to linger on and in February 1913, she gave the word of faith to William Edward James Prewitt, also from the town of Southampton and a blast furnace technician. He too, was much older than Edith. Together, they initially produced one daughter and three sons between 1914 and 1923: Dorothy, Reginald, Ronald and Joseph.
It was no secret in this next generation of the Brewer family, that Harry’s father had been a Trimmer and his nephews were later engrossed in the annal of Harry’s life as he was linked to one of the greatest tragedies in human history through his father Matthew. Prewitt’s children recollected also that this made Harry extra dear to his mother Edith.
In 1925, they had migrated to Canada. In Welland, Ontario, the last son was born: Vernon Lincoln Edward, in 1928. That same year, they had drawn to the USA. In the next decades, they had been residents of various of patches of New York.
Both mother and son were bequeated with many years. Edith spent her last 10 years without her dear William, as he was in the eternal. She lasted until 1991, leaving earth in May that year, in Madison, Florida.
In 2001, Harry Marks Brewer’s long life ended, also in Florida, where he had lived his last years.
Ronald Hector Prewitt, the third youngest child of Edith, even made it as far as June 15, 2010.