Samuel Solomon Williams was a Fireman on the Titanic.
Background[]
Samuel Solomon Williams was from Southampton like his father, who had a connection with the shipping service already. He was Richard Williams, a longshoreman and his wife Rebecca Boyle, who he had bounded to him in Saint Matthews Church in February 1873, gave him his son on October 21, 1884 in Southampton, where the family lived for a while now. Rebecca was raised in Wiltshire.
Samuel was not the first. The Williams pair saw their family grow with Richard John, the same year that they were married, Charles William became his brother in 1875. In 1877, they were blessed with a first daughter named Rebecca, who was the sister of 1878’s Elizabeth. Another daughter was Emma Jane who stemmed from 1879 with Albert as the last of the elders siblings preceeding Samuel in 1882.
Three younger brothers followed Samuel: Edward appeared in 1885, Bertram showed up in 1888 and Harold emerged as the last of off-spring in 1889
In 1891, Samuel had not left Southampton as native town and by 1901 he lived in another street. In those 10 years he got himself educated by attending school. Now, he was qualified to work on boiler and did this. In 1911, he was no longer at the elderly home and possible had switched land work for seafaring.
A heated argument during one passage landed him outside the merchant shipping.
He solved this by taking advantage of the fact this borther Edward was in the same line of work. It’s not a given wether his brother would have agreed with this, but he took his identity and wage document to avoid any trouble finding new employment.
Titanic[]
It had worked, as he had done at least one crossing for the White Star Line on Titanic’s sistership Olympic in 1912, before the Titanic was open to take on stokers and he grabbed this opportunity on April 6, when he was in Southampton where he wrote down the name of Edward Williams and was a Fireman officially since then. He as 27 years old as Titanic saw Southampton for the last time on April 10, when she was set-up for departure. Samuel also had a sweetheart back in Southampton, who was in delicate condition, but they had not pledged any vows.
With the third group, Williams worked from 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 A.M as well from 8:00 P.M. till 12:00 P.M. This meant his bunk was placed on the portside of D-Deck. The Titanic's route across the North Atlantic was not without danger, which one famous incident on the night of April 14 underlined. Icebergs would drift further south than normal and Titanic’s captain had taken precautionary messages to go a bit further south as well, but it wasn’t enough. Destiny decided that one large iceberg and this magnificent liner would still meet.
Samuel Williams must have been on watch according to the offical schedules as the iceberg reared its sharp head. The lookouts were instructed to pay particular attention to ice but could only find it when it was nearby. Some special circumstances contributed to that. The lookouts wasted no second when they laid eyes on the tall tip of the iceberg and communicated with the bridge, where the iceberg was also seen by the First Officer. He gave orders to veer sharply to part and have the engines stopped. The Titanic was still able to steer slightly to port just before she came into physical contact with the iceberg, within a minute of her sightining on starboard side. It caused her outer skin to develop narrow, elongated leaks. Water made its way through the ship on several parts. Tons of water were inside within minutes.
On April 15, midnight, Captain Smith listened to the ship’s builder, Thomas Andrews, who reported that all of the first five of the ship's watertight compartments had been breached and that Titanic would sink in under two hours. All hands were called on deck and they had to take the covers of the lifeboats, setting them up for loading.
During the evacucation, some Firemen helped and got passengers into to boats, mostly women and children. Several of them were needed as rowers or just jumped in themselves and were thus saved. After all, the Firemen had seen first-hand what was going on down below. What Samuel did is just a blank. Where he was and what he did is never reported.
Two hours and forty minutes after the impact, the ship sank. Samuel could not have found a lifeboat for himself and didn’t make it. He became one of those that were confirmed as an enormous deathtoll, 1503 out of 2209 souls.
Some of the Firemen were most honorable to stick to their posts and shovel coal to keep the ship’s lights and electricity still functional. Many others had gotten to the highest decks but they could not get off the ship, which had then taken them down with her or thrown them in the water, which was where most of the passengers and crew died. The water was frigid and no human could last there long.
After his death[]
Richard and Rebecca Williams, the parents, could count on financial aid from the Titanic Relief Fund. The pair could not bury their child as he was forever gone, but at least they weren’t left in the cold.
While making the Maiden Voyage with Titanic, Samuel had left his girl at home expecting. Her identity is missing, but she made him a posthumus father on April 30.
The Mansion House Fund was willing to help her and her child sustain themselves. With written statements from Samuel’s fellow Firemen, who lived to tell the tale, she could prove he was on Titanic and therefore was allotted a sum to subsist.