William Francis Witts was a Trimmer on the Titanic.
Background[]
William Francis Witts saw the light for the first time in 1877. He was one of the last children begotten by James Witts and Emily Gough. ‘Frank’ as he also went by, had 5 elder sisters and 6 elder brothers. The first of him of could be seen in Guildford, Surrey.
James was a locomotive operator that had started his early days in Manton, Wiltshire. Twenty-five later, he was also in Wiltshire to be hitched to the much younger Somerset girl Emily, who had sprung in Tiverton.
For about three decades, they brought many children, starting with John, who was dropped in 1853. James senior had a namesake in 1854, also called James, the brother of 1857’s Henry George. In 1859, they saw the first of Edwin. In 1861, a first daughter was welcomed and named Kate. Since 1862, Kate shared a household with Mary Ann, who was a few years older by the time Elisabeth arrived. The lineage also held a set of identical, who left the womb at the same day, in 1869. They were girls and given the names Rose and Emily.
In the first years of the 1870s, they had displaced thesmelves and were situated in Hampshire. Another son came into the limelight in 1874: Walter. Alfred trailed him in 1876. Then of course it was William Francis who made his entry. He had one baby sister in 1881: Florence Emily. That year, they had taken the unit to Winchester.
In 1891, the Witts’ had chosen Eastleigh in Hampshire as their new. This was not too far off Southampton, a very large town and the heart of the shipping industry. As a teenager, Frank had to follow education.
The year 1899 marked a big setback. The family had to say goodbye to Emily, whose life ended. In 1901, Frank had gone his own way and trekked to Southampton, where he was taken in somewhere as a paying guest.
In the 1890s, the slums of this town had been broken down in favor of better living conditions. In their place came a large building where people could abide for a fee. In 1911, Frank had his stay there. He was a blue colar worker at the Southampton jetties by that time. He had no official partner. His father had also been taken out of his life in 1907.
Titanic[]
He was still single in April 1912 when he wrote down his name for the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic. This special occasion came with a prize. There had been a strike in the country. Frank had already been on a ship before which was now laid off as it didn’t have enough coal due to miners refusing to work as to request better negotiations. From April 6, onwards, William was with the Engineering Crew. He was designated as Trimmer, a job to regarded as a high standard, but still essential for this ship, which had a large turbine and some 9 metres high Reciprocating Engines. Those, although more efficent than the rivals from Cunard Line, still needed to be fed a lot of coal. White Star Line had gathered coal from other ships, as their big ship was not only going to take on many crew and passengers, she also was going to make great public relations.
A Trimmer had to wheel coal from place to place in a barrow to make the life of a Fireman as easy as possible. Their cabin was on E-Deck underneath the Forecastle, in the bow. Frank was scheduled in the second of the three groups, his group consisting of 22 men. Those men had 2 shifts of 4 working hours, from 4:00 to 8:00 twice a day. The payment was lesser than that of a Firemen but still more than adequate on average.
On April 10, Titanic’s voyage was at hand. The dockside was packed with a large bustle of people seeing the ship off. They wished her all the luck in the world. One lucky moment shortly fell on them, when Titanic dispersed a lot of water as her propellers gyrated rapidly. The outwash from this caught onto an inactive ship at the portside when Titanic went away from the tugs. It was the SS New York, tied together with Oceanic, a ship 4 times lighter than Titanic, which had provided work for Frank not so long ago before joining Titanic. With a last gasp, they had managed to withold the drifting vessel, with the gap between the two ships mere feet.
There were a handful of people who didn’t feel secure on Titanic because of this, as they were superstitious. Most however had an infrangible faith in this ship’s safety, which was held to the higher standards. The ship’s commander was a lauded man, heralded for his presence, his good way’s with the passengers and his skill in navigating. He was however a man who liked to show off and go fast.
They took a risk by steaming at 22,5 knots, on the 14th of April, when ice warnings came streaming in. Titanic would be close to the Labrodor Current later at the night. They had no doubt that they would see the icebergs in time, but that was misplaced confidence. The two lookouts were tricked into thinking that what lay ahead of them was just horizon but one iceberg was indescernible until they were going straight at it in close distance. Three strikes on the ship’s bell followed. A telephone call was made to the bridge.
To not plough into the pointy monster, the liner’s First Officer attempted to divert Titanic to port side and he put the engines in reverse while his quartermaster was turning. Time had fallen short. The starboard was taking the blow instead of the front, which proved lethal. The iceberg sliced into the Titanic’s hull in 6 areas that had been all seperated by bulkheads. Normally, these bulkhead could have saved the vessel from foundering, but too many of them were taking on water.
Captain Edward John Smith perceived the bump and came forward. As soon as heard what had ensued, he led an investigation to ensure there wasn’t too many damage.
When he had witnessed the tons of water entering on several parts below sea level, he knew it was serious. Another man who was aware of the danger was Thomas Andrews. He had designed this ship from the ground up. Now though, he knew it was going to be broken down, to become another wreck in the Atlantic Ocean.
With difficulty, he delivered the scale of this corollary to the master. The captain’s soul must have been crushed, as he was about to retire and this was his last voyage. Now, he was facing the most difficult and dire situation, something he had never experienced before. At 12:05 A.M, he called out to the hands, to order them to start working on the lifeboats. They had to be moved to deck level and then fitted with provisions and lamps. Andrews had given the ship a maximum of 2 hours to live. It was paramount to get as many people into the boats in that timespan. It should have been enough time, but things didn’t materialize in the way that the commanding crew had envisioned.
At 12:25 A.M, the rescue was finally underway. The marconists meanwhile had picked up a ship that was going straight for them, but she was too far away. The first boat was now lowered.
There was not enough structure and the passengers had not been honestly told what was going on. Many didn’t feel like boarding a boat, which was sturdy enough to survive the worst waves, but most didn’t know that and thought Titanic was unsinkable. Men who had been in Third Class, which was getting soaked first at the front, were not allowed in on one side of the ship.
At 2:05 A.M, nearly everyone knew that this was Titanic’s final hour. The ship had just 15 minutes to go. While the last two boats were still not in position, the brow of the ship was no longer visible and the water was seeping on the highest deck.
Everyone at the fore part had to watch their step as the ship was canting forward. It was within minutes, that the entire bridge was immersed and the two boats, still on deck, were swamped in the deluge.
The rush of water established itself further and further backwards and pushed the steamer’s anterior deeper and deeper. One chimney was knocked aside like a play-thing while the surge slumped and slurged, almost like a whirlpool.
Minutes later, the stern section of the ship felt like an elevator for most who had ran aft, as that part was still dry. At a steep angle, it came out of the water and it was within moments that a jump from there could be lethal, as it stood at 45 degrees or more. Soon, Titanic was no longer whole. As the strain on her stell construction built up, the backbone of the ship sunder and crashed down on the surface, as the rest of the ship made the dive to the bottom. The stern followed and after standing tall, it was immersed two minutes later.
Frank Witts went down with the ship. If he was outside, in the water, or trapped under her decks is something no one can even guess. When the tragedy was over, most bodies were claimed by the sea, including Witts’.