William Henry Lyons was one of Titanic’s Able Seamen.
Background[]
William Henry Lyons was a native of Cork City, County Cork in Ireland, born into a his family on September 4, 1886. It was a common family, with Roman Catholic faith. He stemmed from a father who was a clerk, wine maker and later, a publician. He was Henry Lyons. His mother was Catherine O’Keeffe.
William had two younger brothers: Denis James, who was born in 1888 and John Frederick who was born in 1890. All children received a good education.
William started his career as an Able Seaman sometime before 1907. That year he was working on the Kaffer Prince and the Astyamax.
Titanic[]
As he came from the Oceanic, White Star Line could use his further services and made him an Able Seaman on their new flagship, the Titanic. His contract was signed on April 6 in Southampton, from where this mammoth steamship would start her Maiden Voyage on the 10th. Lyons was 25 years old when he left the port on board this vessel.
On the late night of April 14, there was calm before the storm in the story of the RMS Titanic. As the sea was gentle, danger loomed for the large Titanic, which had developed a good pace. This giant seemed unstoppable, but it had the misfortune of being in an icefield full with icebergs that didn’t let themselves been seen so easily. This is what Frederick Fleet, the lookout of Titanic, experienced. He and his colleague saw the iceberg eventually, but it was already close. They warned the bridge, whose officers took action and try to sway her to port, while slowing her down. It wasn’t to be. The Titanic had the worst collision possible: a parallel one. The hull on starboard side had small ruptures under the waterline on various places, which caused the vessel to have water entering her bowels. In the next 20 minutes, the water level inside the ship rose fast.
On April 15, midnight, Captain Smith and the ship’s designer, Thomas Andrews, had descended to the belly of the ship to investigate her leaks. It was not good. Thomas Andrews could not see a way out of it. Titanic was soon lost. He estimated her to stay afloat for 2 more hours. The Titanic’s captain knew what he had to do: He ordered his crew to get as many people of the ship.
For William Lyons, there was seemingly no lifeboat available. Many other Able Seamen were assigned to specific boat. As Titanic’s final 20 minutes were at hand, he leapt into the sea with several colleagues. They managed to get to lifeboat 4. They plucked him from the water but he passed out. The people in lifeboat 4 saw the mighty liner go down at 2:20 A.M. Taking many souls with her. He was still in the same state in when the lifeboat was picked up by the Carpathia, but alive. The next day, he couldn’t recover and passed away. This is the only victim of the sinking that died on April 16.
The crew of the Carpathia let him go.
After his death[]
Fate was not kind to his family. After losing their son, his parents also died within a few years. His father succumbed to heart problems in 1913 while his mother had a stroke which ended her life in March 1916.