William Nutbean was a Fireman aboard Titanic.
Early life[]
William Nutbean in 1920
William Nutbean was the son of William Lionel Nutbean and Georgina James, natives of Southampton. He was born in Sherborne, Dorset on September 16, 1881. A further four siblings would follow. Esmerelda, Lionel, Arthur and Amy Ethel.
William Lionel was abusive and mistreated his wife Georgina. Their marriage was not a happy one and they argued about him being away from home till late in the night. One day, when he went too far with hitting her, he was sentenced to jail for 4 months. They would still remain together and later had several incidents with other people, for which they had to go to court.
Their son William soon would lead a life of escalating crime, starting from the age of 8 and he served at least 10 periods in prison as well, mostly for stealing various items and sometimes for assault.
He became friends with another criminal, Anthony Marlow, probably in 1895, as Nutbean was hanging around with Marlow’s brother when they were charged for obstruction. William and Anthony continuously caused trouble and in 1898, they joined the Hants and Isle of Wight Artillery Militia, but they were already discharged before 1901 for terrible behaviour, stealing and disertion, for which they served several short periods in prison.
After their time in the militia, Nutbean and Marlow continued to make the Southampton streets unsafe, one notorious example being the time they were with a group of four as they robbed a man, attacking him with belts. The crime occured somwhere in December of the year 1900.
William married Emily Heard in 1908, but the couple were to remain childless. It seems that William was no longer participating in wrongdoings after his prison sentence following his crime in December 1900. In 1911, he still lived with his mother. What became of Emily Heard is unknown, but it seems she was no longer there at that point. The same could be said of William senior, who must have left his wife Georgina on her own. William junior was now 30 years old and worked at the docks.
Titanic[]
The story of his job on the Titanic was just as colourful as his previous exploits. He was 31 years old when he was mustered to work on this ship in 1912, transferring from the Parana to the Titanic on April 6. He was employed as a Fireman, being 31 years old at the time.
On the morning of April 10, the day of Titanic’s departure, William was in Southampton drinking with his friend and fellow crew member John Podesta. He would also serve as a Fireman on Titanic. Years later, in 1968, Podesta said the pair went to the Newcastle Hotel on East Street and then stopped in The Grapes on Oxford Street, where they met up with three other crewmates, the Slade brothers; Bertram, Thomas and Alfred and their lodger Alfred Penney.
They left the pub with a few minutes to make the short walk to the ship gangway before departure but as they crossed the docks a train approached. The Slade brothers and their lodger opted to let the train pass while Nutbean and Podesta jumped in front of it. That delay possibly saved their lives. Second Class passenger Lawrence Beesley, who wrote extensively about the ship after the disaster, recalled seeing a gang of stokers approaching the gangway with their kit bags over their shoulders. The officer at the gangway refused to let them board and despite their protests the ship sailed without them onboard. Those were the guys that didn’t jump in front of the train.
Nutbeans and Podesta would work on the same shifts, which were the working hours of 4:00 A.M. till 8:00 A.M in the early morning as well as from afternoon 4:00 A.M. till 8:00 P.M. in the evening.
Nutbean and Podesta came off shift from the bowels of the ship on the evening of April 14, and made their way to the Mess to eat. After leaving, Podesta heard the crow's nest inform the bridge of ice ahead. The pair went foreward to look but saw nothing and then they returned to their bunkroom and talked for a while before turning in. After the collision the pair attempted to wake other crewmen before Boatswain Nichols arrived to order men to their boat stations.
On April 15, after midnight, it was clear that the ship was sinking due to her damage from the iceberg and the captain ordered for evacuation and to prepare the boats.
A good while later, Nutbean assisted in lowering lifeboat 7. At the late stages of the sinking, he and other crewmen were ordered into a lifeboat by an officer, most likely lifeboat 4, as the 'Western Daily Mercury' would report. The two stokers were saved.
The Carpathia came to the rescuee and picked up Titanic's survivors. Nutbean and Podesta did their best in helping the people on board. Carpathia took the survivors to New York. Both Nutbean and Podesta returned to England on the SS Lapland.
Later life[]
Nutbean continued to work at sea and he would also be honoured for his service in the Merchant Navy during the Great War. He was a seafarer until at least 1931. In 1939 he was living as a lodger in College Street, Southampton while doing work as a single, general labourer. William passed away on 7 May 1947. He was 65 years old.