Percy Snowden Ahier was a Steward on the Titanic.
Background[]
Percy Snowden Ahier stemmed from a small family, consisting of his two parents, John William Payn Ahier, and Clara Tostevin, two English islanders whose youth began in Saint, Jersey, one of the two islands in the Channel belows the British Isle and an Charles John, who came before Percy in 1889. The pair had found eachother to be spliced in 1888 in Saint Savior on Jersey. Saint Hallier was also the birthplace of Percy, who had presented himself to the wide world in 1896. John Ahier owned a wood workshop and was a handyman in houses. Clara also had a job. She was a tailoress.
By 1891, the Ahiers had obtain another, new address in another street. Before 1901, they had taken the domestic to the town of Southampton. John likely would have had to leave his workplace behind.
In 1911, Percy had elected to try his luck at the world lying behind the shore line. Between 1911 and 1912, he was employed by White Star Line.
Titanic[]
Percy Snowden Ahier was chosen as a First Class Saloon Steward for the Titanic, on April 4, 1912, in Southampton, still his place of residence at the home of his elders. This new vessel was a four-stacker, unlike the liner that he was on the last time he was sailing, the Oceanic, which was smaller and carried only two. Percy was without a spouse as she was moored off.
On April 10, Titanic’s large whistles were sounding and their tune carried over over all of Southampton. It was the signal that anyone who was not yet aboard, should make haste, as she would leave without them.
Moments later, Titanic would take distance from the mass growing crowd that wished her the best luck in the world. Percy was then very close to the Oceanic once more, as she became involved with a narrow miss between Titanic and another ship. This jeopardy started with Titanic’s speed had gone up to early in the harbor, which drew New York almost into her hull. Oceanic was nearby but her moorings were still holding her, despite the ship responding to the suction that was coming off Titanic’s storm. With one of Titanic’s engines reversed and the assistance of tugboats, a coming together was avoided. It’s an uncertainty if Percy had noticed any of it. From the Dining Saloon in First Class, which was the large area were Percy must have facilitated the tables with all requirements for the mealtimes, one would definitely have a good chance to see the New York’s body get perilously close.
On April 14, Titanic was running well according to her schedule, but she needed to move to an alternate course further south. This was a measure taken by Captain Smith, to try an avoid any icefield. Titanic was coursing further west with impressive speed, which ended up being too much, as her upcoming adversity would show, later that night.
Her quagmire began with her lookouts being tricked by the weather pattern in thinking they had nothing in front. Titanic steamed into the path of an iceberg and it was when she was moments away, that they registered it. Without lingering, one of the men picked up the phone and rang the ship’s bell to warn them of the danger. After confirming the sighting, the Officer on the bridge tried to guide Titanic away to port side and lessened the pace to a degree that she should go the other way. This couldn’t go any sooner and Titanic’s nose made a sharp turn as soon as they were on top of the iceberg. The iceberg was still close enough alongside on starboard, that a part of it under the water line rubbed against the iron and steel of Titanic’s hull and made thin, shallow grooves over a considerable length. These gashes were a gateway for the ocean to meddle with the inside of 6 large areas of Titanic’s forward section. The water became a very unwelcome guest when she pressed on Titanic’s bow with tons of weight, which was a large number that grew by the second.
Suddenly, her captain was right with the crew on the bridge, just out of his bed. The hit had alarmed him and he sent a couple of officers, the carpenter and other crew down to peek into the affected areas and report their findings. With designer Thomas Andrews, who knew Titanic better than anybdoy, Smith combed over the compromised holds and they withdrew when they had seen enough.
It was midnight, April 15, when Smith and Andrews discorsed over the torrents of water that flushed in at six places. Andrews stated that he had no high hopes for any chance Titanic would survive this breach. She would not be able keep her nose up and the results would be that the water would jump over the compartments in the ship. By decree, Captain Smith initiated the ‘abandon ship procedure. This meant that the sailors and officers, had to handle the coördination of the twenty lifeboats.
The ship’s forward end pitched further down and she developed a port list after a significant bulkhead had cavid in. As the sea was inches away from the first set of davits, the crew had struggled to drag the last boats to their davit on both sides, when Titanic’s Boat Deck became awash with a. As more of the top deck was drenched, Titanic heaved her aft part higher, well above the surface. Her angle increased gradually in the next minutes.
The pressure became too much to bear for the metal, so with a loud bang, described by some as heavy a sound as thunder, Titanic was crunched in two halves, with her upper decks being cut, crumbling, while they were split wide open. The forward end of her structure sank while the other floated for a few more minutes before positioning itself for its gentle dip to the world beneath the surface.
Over 1500 people were carried into their deaths by the ship’s demise. Some had been trapped inside, most had been onboard till the last second and were then exposed to the biting cold of the ocean, which sucked the life out of many unfortunate souls in 20 minutes, the strongest would hold on for perhaps 45 minutes.
Where Percy Snowden Ahier ended up and where he was during those hours, is a vaccuum. We know only that he would not live on. April 15 would be his day of passing, with no body to give evidence how he met his tragic end.
After his death[]
There was confusion and chaos in the aftermath of the sinking. Before Carpathia would bring survivors to New York, the newspapers had to report at least something and that often was incomplete information.
The local newspaper of Jersey had spoken too soon when they declared Percy Ahier as alive and well just one day after the ship had nestled her two seperate hulls on the seabed. The Hampshire Independent set the record straight a while later.
The stricken family were not on their own in their lament. The Titanic Relief Fund offered a helping hand and felt that Clara was fit for subventing and gave her alms.
Heart-break occured once more when her other son Charles was battling in the big war in 1918 and was killed, a long way from home in Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq. He left a wife and two children behind. Impressively, Emily Mary Mintram, as was her full name before she wed Charles, would never have another official partner and had become 92 years old when her time on earth was up.
Father John Ahier was gone by 1936 and Clara’s last day was lived in 1941.