William Fisher Hoyt was an American First Class passenger and a victim in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. He was the first victim of the disaster officially declared dead.
Biography[]
He was born on January 24, 1869, in Wadsworth, Medina, Ohio. He was the son of carpenter Charles E. Hoyt and his wife Helen Maria Fisher. He had two younger brothers, Gordon and Charles and one older brother: Carl. In the 1880s the family moved to Cleveland.
In 1910, William resided in Manhattan, New York and had been working for several years as a buyer for the firm Houghton, Lee & Hoyt, a position that had made him cross the Atlantic several times. He was also associated with Lozier Bicycle Company and Sterling & Welch, Co, and had been the captain of the Lakeside Bicycle Club.
In early 1912, Hoyt was returning from one of his frequent business trips to Europe, embarking on April 10, 1912 on the Titanic in Cherbourg, France.
Death[]
Hoyt was one of hundreds of passengers left floating in the icy waters when Titanic sank away beneath them. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe returned to the wreck area with lifeboat 14 to search for survivors and heard a whimper in the water. The occupants of the boat found a motionless man almost unconscious, afloat thanks to the life preserver, bleeding from his nose and mouth. Hoyt was a large and burly man, so they had difficulty getting him on board, requiring the participation of all the crew present. Lowe reported, "After we put him on the boat, we removed his neck to give him more chance to breathe, but unfortunately, he died. He was too lost when we picked him up."
He was returned to sea at sea burial on April 16 by sailors of the RMS Carpathia, having been identified by the contents of his pockets: cards that included a New York Athletic Club membership card and an identification card from New York's Fidelity and Casualty Company, as well as a pocket watch and its chain both of peculiar invoice. His brother Gordon traveled to Washington, D.C. to ask the crew members about him, initially without success.