William Jarvis was a Fireman on the Titanic.
Background[]
William Jarvis was a false name, as he was actually Wiliam Henry Worthman. The household of William Worthman and Mary Jane Jackson, saw him appear for the first time in 1875. It’s logical to think that William was the son of William senior but hard to be certain of, as the background of the parents is incomplete. Their marriage is an unknown.
Mary Jane did have a former husband, George B. Hepplewhite, with whom she had 4 sons, who must have been William’s half-siblings. She had pledged her loyalty to George in 1860. The first child she had with him was John William, in 1861. Next was Ralph Jackon in 1863, preceeding 1868’s Robert Jackson. James Urwin was their last in 1872.
William Henry Worthman lived a life of small crimes. He kept stealing various items and was even punished for cruelty against cows and ruining their milk. This is what he was found guilty of on April 24, 1883. They made him drudge dull work for 14 days at Dartmouth. It was not long after that he transgressed again and had to appear in front of a judge in on May 16, just over 3 weeks since his last violation.
The authorities transposed him for 5 years to a sort of place that could remodel citizens like him, who overstepped bounds and rules regularly. It made no difference and he didn’t learn. William continued his wrongdoings between 1888 and 1891, doing offenses like burglery each year, so he had to visit the jailhouse multiple times.
Meanwhile, William’s mother had a new suitor by 1886. He was Thomas Jarvis. No evidence exists if the pair had met William since.
Much later, he found his own special lady. This, woman, that became his love for life, was also in trouble with the law regularly and led a depraved and pitiable life. Curiously, she had exactly the same name as his dear mother, Mary Jane Jackson, but that seems to be coincidence. At first glance, this didn’t look like a case of ‘opposites attract’. Mary Jane regularly abused alcohol and was indicted on account of being under influence and being potty-mouthed, possibly a result of the intoxication. She also committed harlotry. The law, that they broke so much, connected them in 1906.
The media told a story of a possible child that had been taken out of their hands, given the irresponsible actions and lifestyle of both parents, but there’s no confirmation that they had off-spring.
It’s unestablished if they were together by 1911, when Williams address could be found in Southampton, at a pension where he paid rent to be taken in.
Titanic[]
For the Maiden Voyage of Titanic, he was accepted as a Fireman on April 6 in 1912, in Southampton, still his place of residence, but he had put down a different adress than the one he had in 1911. No stranger to questionable things, he elected to take his stepfather’s last name, Jarvis.
Six tugs were employed to assist the Titanic into getting in the right direction on the day of departure, April 10. As Jarvis was with the Firemen’s first group, he would shovel coal from 12:00 A.M. till 4:00 A.M as well as from 12:00 to 4:00 P.M. He would’ve been busy when Titanic set off, as it was after noon that she would leave Southampton behind. Her route would lead via France and Ireland, where two stops were made, to the open Atlantic Ocean and her destiny would be New York.
Within 5 days, Titanic had ramped up her tempo and she was at 22,5 knots on the night of April 14, when she was well over halfway into her voyage. The captain had altered her course slightly, in the hopes of missing the worst of the icefields. Still, the ice had gone further south than usual and by 11:39 P.M, First Officer Murdoch was startled by the sound of 3 strikes on the bell of the crow’s nest and soon found out why they made noise. Lookout Fred Fleet had spotted an iceberg and was now on the phone with Sixth Officer Moody to relay this information. It is still not solved why the lookouts couldn’t perceive the iceberg sooner with what should’ve been a good sight. Special circumstances that night, provided them with a weird perspective and it had hidden the iceberg from view. By the time Moody had put the horn back on the phone, Murdoch was shouting orders to helmsman Robert Hichen to get Titanic’s bow out of the way of the mass, to port side, whiling walking up to the telegraph and select ‘Full Astern’. This was all done within a minute but that was all that Titanic had as they were almost on top of the iceberg. The ship was spared from a direct impact, but not from a glancing blow on her side. The hull rumbled across the frozen obstacle and left a red stripe of paint, while lacerations appeared in her holds, forepeak and two Boiler Rooms. The ocean had found at least 6 ways into the ship.
In Boiler Room 6, many Firemen saw a stream of water coming towards them. Worthman would not be active during this time. He needed to be ready for duty at midnight, but things now had changed.
Captain Smith, with Thomas Andrews, the man who created the ship, headed below to inspect in what state Titanic's lower hull was. On April 15, midnight, Andrews informs the old skipper that his vessel was too severly damaged and the inflow of water could not be managed. He told Smith in no uncertain terms, that Titanic would be sinking, no matter what they would do, in a few hours. Captain Smith then told his officers and crew to get the boats ready for lowering while rousing as many passengers.
For many, it was everyone for themselves as the lifeboats had not enough occupation and were launched half full. Worthman wasn’t in one of the lifeboats.
The last two lifeboats were out of time and not connected to the davits. The sea came to get them and the ship made a plunge, her bridge well below the surface at that point. Her balance move further forward. It was well past 2:00 A.M. as Titanic’s metal groaned and creaked. Her propellors and rudder were well clear out of the water at quarter past two. The Titanic was not designed for forces on her hull when she came to stand up at 45 degrees angle, or perhaps higher, out of the water. It was precisely at 2:18 when the hull broke in two. The bow sank away rapidly as the stern came down again, but because the keel was not seperated, the stern was heaved up once again.
Titanic’s aft part detached completely, stood vertical and bobbed a bit, then disappeared forever. Many hundreds were subjected to the very cold water and were in shock and panic. At best, many held out for 45 minutes, but most succumbed in 20. Titanic would be shrouded in darkness for many decades.
So would many of her crew and her passengers come to their end. Lots of Firemen were needed on the ship and hundreds of them were not rescued. A noble group found their death inside the ship as they had contributed to keeping the elctricity and lighting going for as long as 2 minutes before the ship’s demise. They died most honorably. Worthman’s final hours are a story yet to be written. Without a body, there was no evidence of what he did when the fate of Titanic was sealed. Most of her 1500 victims met their end in very cold waters.
After his death[]
Mary Jane Jackson was eligibile for the financial aid from the Titanic Relief Fund following the loss of Mr. Worthman. The Titanic Relief Fund had demands however and requested immaculate behaviour. Of course Mary Jane wasn’t the type to adhere by these standards and they cut off her allowances after more shenanigans. She was warned beforehand and had to accept the guidance of a representative of the police court, a Miss Carpenter, to get to a special consortium where people were being helped to sober up.
Sources[]
Special thanks to Encyclopedia Titanic contributor Brian J. Ticehurst for the information about Mrs. M.J. Worthman’s Titanic Relief Fund case.