| “ |
I'm sorry I dropped the keys. |
” |
—Stairwell Steward | ||
Stairwell Steward was a fictional Third Class steward in Titanic (1997). He was portrayed by Chris Byrne.
Role in the film[]
| “ |
Wait, sir! Sir, open the gate, please! Help us, please! Help us! Please!" |
” |
—Jack Dawson and Stairwell Steward | ||
This man signed on to the RMS Titanic as a Third Class Steward during its Maiden Voyage. On April 14, at around midnight, the ship struck an iceberg and began to sink.
During the sinking, he tried to flee to a higher deck as the ship began to fill with water. On his way escaping a Third Class stairwell, as the water was pouring in, he accidentally came across a desperate Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson, who were trapped behind a Bostwick gate as the water began to rise to dangerous levels.
The steward almost abandoned them, but, after hearing their desperate cries, he felt he couldn't leave them to drown and decided to unlock the gate. They began to call for him to hurry, as the freezing waters swirled up to his waist, causing him to exclaim "Jesus!". However, as his wet fingers tangled together, he dropped the keys. Unable to find them, he apologized, turned around and fled before the water rose too high, abandoning Jack & Rose who had to find the keys themselves.
It was very late in the sinking when he reached the Boat Deck, around 2:00 A.M. Only 2 lifeboats were left: Collapsible A & B. By then the crew was attempting to get Collapsible B off the Officer's Quarters. The Stairwell steward helped keep the mob back as it was thrown down, but the boat tumbled upside-down, and he fell into the crowd of people. He then tried to overturn the boat the right-way up with the help of the others, but at 2:08 the deck flooded and the lifeboat started to sink. The Stairwell steward was pushed aside when passengers and crew tried to float off the lifeboat. The Stairwell steward ended up in the water but when the lifeboat floated off, he managed to crawl on it. Suddenly, the forward funnel (which was very close to Boat B) collapsed and created a huge wave, soaking the steward and others on the boat and nearly pushing him off. After a long trip, he safely made it to the Carpathia and hung out where the steerage were located.
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