Crew of The RMS Titanic - Engineering Crew

Engineering Crew

The engineers were responsible for keeping the engines, generators, and other mechanical equipment on the Titanic running. They were the highest paid of the crew and had the education and technical expertise to operate, maintain, and repair the engineering plant. All 25 engineers as well as the 10 electricians and boilermakers were lost for most (if not all) of them remained below decks in the engine and boiler rooms fighting a losing battle to keep the ship afloat by operating the pumps in the forward compartments as well as keeping the steam up in the boiler rooms and kept the generators running to maintain power and lights throughout the Titanic up until two minutes before the ship sank. It is speculated that their actions delayed the sinking for over an hour and helped keep the ship afloat for nearly all the lifeboats to be launched.

Shortly after leaving Southampton, a fire was discovered in the coal bunker of No 6 Boiler Room. For a number of days, coal trimmers were detailed to trace the source of the fire and extinguish it.

On the night of 14 April, the Second Engineering Officer, James (John) Hesketh – the senior engineer on duty, and Leading Fireman Fred Barrett were in No 6 Boiler inspecting the coal bunker and confirming the fire was out when the Titanic struck the iceberg at 11.40 pm. It ripped this part of the ship and the pair escaped through the connecting tunnel to No 5 Boiler Room, closing the bulkhead doors.

Barrett later gave evidence at the Southampton Enquiry.

There were 13 leading firemen (Stoker Foremen) and 163 firemen (Stokers) assigned to the Titanic. The ship had 29 boilers, each containing three furnaces for a total of 159 furnaces. Each fireman was assigned one boiler and three furnaces. Of the Titanic's six boiler rooms, each leading fireman 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 fireman with a shovel would constantly feed coal into the three furnaces. Shifts for all the firemen and their foremen were four hours on and eight hours off. The heat in the boiler rooms usually exceeded 120 °F (49 °C), so a four-hour shift was very demanding. Most of the firemen worked wearing only their undershirts and shorts. Of the firemen, only three leading firemen and around 45 other firemen survived. Several of the firemen that survived got into the lifeboats dressed only in their undershirts and shorts in 28 °F (−2 °C) weather.

There were 73 trimmers, or coal trimmers, on the Titanic, and around 20 survived. Of the engineering crew, the trimmers were paid the least and had probably the worst job of the crew. 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. If too much coal built up on one side of a coal bunker, the ship would actually list to that side. All the residual heat from the boilers rose up into the coal bunkers, and inside, the bunkers were poorly lighted, full of coal dust, and extreme heat from the boilers.

There were 33 men employed as greasers. They 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. Only four of them survived.

Also of note, six men were employed as mess hall stewards in the crew's kitchen to cook and serve food for the crew; four to serve the engineering crew, two to serve the deck crew. Just one steward from engineering survived.

A memorial to the 244 engineers, firemen, trimmers, and greasers who lost their lives during the sinking of the Titanic is located in the ships port of registry, Liverpool. It is named the Memorial to the Engine Room Heroes of the Titanic. There is also a memorial to the Titanic Engineers in Southampton, from where many of the crew members came.