Crewing a Vessel

Building and outfitting a ship as colossal as the Titanic is one thing. Captaining, crewing, and operating the ship was another matter entirely. Led by bearded patriarch, Edward John Smith, at its full operating power, a crew of 892 ensured the clear and efficient operation of the ill-fated vessel.

Captain of the Titanic, Edward John Smith

No one was better equipped to captain the Titanic than Smith. A natural leader, Smith was born in central England on January 27, 1850. At the age of 13, Smith went to nearby Liverpool to begin his seafaring career as an apprentice with shipping company Gibson & Co. He would go on to join White Star in 1880, gaining his first command in 1887 at the age of 37. Among the ships he would command were the first Republic, the Coptic, Majestic, Baltic, Adriatic and the Olympic.

As he rose in seniority, Smith gained a reputation amongst passengers and crew for quiet professionalism. Some passengers would only sail the Atlantic in ships commanded by him. After he became commodore of the White Star fleet in 1904, it became routine for Smith to command the line's newest ships on their maiden voyages. It was therefore no surprise that Smith took Titanic for her maiden voyage in April 1912.

 Smith’s main team consisted of seven officers who each oversaw their own area of the ship:

                        Henry Tingle Wilde Jr. – Chief Officer

a.    The chief officer is responsible to the Captain for the safety and security of the ship. Responsibilities include the crew's welfare and training in areas such as safety, firefighting and search and rescue. The actual title used will vary by ship's employment, by type of ship, by nationality and by trade. Informally, the Chief Mate will often simply be called "The Mate." The term "Chief Mate" is not usually used in the Commonwealth, although Chief Officer and First Mate are.  

       William McMaster "Will" Murdoch – First Officer

   a.    The first officers’ duties are similar to that of the Chief Officer, albeit of a slightly lower rank. He is notable as the officer in charge on the bridge the night when the Titanic collided with the iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. Murdoch had originally been assigned as the ship's Chief Officer, though when the Titanic's skipper, Edward J. Smith, brought Henry Wilde, his Chief from his previous command, Murdoch was temporarily reduced to First while First Officer Charles Lightoller was in turn reduced to Second.

                         Charles Lightoller – Second Officer

a.    The second mate is a watch keeping officer and customarily the ship's navigator. Other duties vary, but the second mate is often in charge of maintaining distress signaling equipment.

Herbert “Bert” Pitman – Third Officer

a.    The third officers’ duties included working out celestial observation and compass deviation, general supervision of the decks, looking to the quartermasters, and relieving the bridge officers when necessary.

 Joseph Groves Boxhall, Harold Godfrey Lowe and James Paul Moody – Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Officers (Junior Officers)

a.    Regular duties included scheduled watches, aiding in navigation, and assisting passengers and crew when necessary. They are under the guidance of the First – Third Officers.

In addition to the senior staff on the ship, other duties were carried out by the following people of note and positions:

                       Robert Hitchens – Quartermaster

   a.    A seaman who functions as the helmsman. In harbor, the quartermaster is the senior member of the gangway staff and is responsible for supervising the boatswain's mate and the security of the brow. Hitchens was one of six quartermasters on board the vessel and was at the ship's wheel when the Titanic struck the iceberg.

                                                Joseph Bell – Chief Engineer

   a.    The Chief Engineer is responsible for all operations and maintenance that have to do with all machinery and equipment throughout the ship. He may be paid on par with the captain, although he is never responsible for the action of ship.

                                                                     
                                                                        Harold Bride –Assistant Wireless Operator

a.    Bride was the junior member of the two-man wireless team aboard the Titanic. They were both responsible for incoming and outgoing communications from the ship. Bride remained at his post with his supervisor until the ship's power was almost completely out.

                                          Frederick Barrett – Lead Stoker           

a.    Barrett was assigned one boiler and three furnaces. Of the Titanic's six boiler rooms, each leading stoker was assigned to two of them with 10 to 15 firemen under him. Next to each boiler was a coal chute that deposited coal from the overhead coal bunkers, and a stoker with a shovel would constantly feed coal into the three furnaces.

                Frederick Fleet – Lookout

a.    A lookout is crewmember in charge of the observation of the sea for hazards, other ships, land, etc. Lookouts report anything they see and or hear. It was Fleet who first sighted the iceberg, ringing the bridge to proclaim, "Iceberg, dead ahead!" Fleet testified at the inquiries that had he been issued binoculars, "We could have seen it a bit sooner." When asked how much sooner, he responded, "Well, enough to get out of the way."

                                      Trimmers

a.    The trimmers worked inside the coal bunkers located on top of and between the boilers. The trimmers used shovels and wheelbarrows to move coal around the bunker to keep the coal level, and to shovel the coal down the coal chute to the firemen below to shovel it into the furnaces. Trimmers had some of the most grueling and low paying jobs aboard the titanic.

                                    Greasers

a.    The greasers worked in the turbine and reciprocating engine rooms alongside the engineers and they were responsible for maintaining and supplying oil and lubricants for all the mechanical equipment.

With these hands on and below the many decks of the Titanic, the ship was due to be the finest of the era, a remarkable and splendid sight, a wonder of the world that few would soon forget!