Robert William Pusey

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/robert-willia...

• Name: William Robert Holland Pusey (Signed on as Robert William Pusey)
• Age: 24 years
• Last Residence: in Southampton Hampshire England
• Occupation: Fireman / Stoker
• Engine crew
• First Embarked: Southampton
• Rescued (boat 1)
• Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
• Died: Tuesday 28th May 1918
• Reference: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-lifeboat-1/ Emergency Boat No. 1
• Reference: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-deckplans/ R.M.S. Titanic deck plans

Mr Robert William Pusey, 24, was born in Hythe.

When he signed-on to the Titanic, on 6 April 1912, he gave his address as 18 Briton Street, (Southampton). His last ship had been the St. Paul. As a fireman he received monthly wages of £6.

Pusey was rescued in Emergency Lifeboat 1.

Available Documents Crew Particulars of Engagement

Inquiry Testimony (Courtesy of the Titanic Inquiry Project) Board of Trade Hearings, Day 11, Testimony

References Agreement and Account of Crew (PRO London, BT100/259) Wreck Commissioners' Court, Proceedings before the Right Hon. Lord Mersey on a Formal Investigation Ordered by the Board of Trade into the Loss of the S.S. Titanic

• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: May 18 2019, 18:18:43 UTC

William Robert Holland "Robert" Pusey was a fireman of the Titanic. He survived the sinking.

He was born in Hythe, Hampshire on March 1st, 1890. He was the son of William Pusey (b . 1866), a mariner, and Florence Ellen Holland (b. 1863). His father was from Hampshire and his mother from Staffordshire and they had married in Southampton in 1889. He had one known sibling, Vernon Charles Holland (1893 - 1956).

Robert first appears on the 1891 census when he and his family were living at Rose Cottages, Titchfield, Hampshire. His mother died in 1895 aged 32 and his father was remarried in early 1900 to Emily Lucy Gregory (b. 1875 in Beaulieu, Hampshire). The couple had at least one more child, a daughter named Irene Mary (b. 1900).

The family would move to the village of Fawley, Hampshire by the time of the next census in 1901 and would be listed as living at Chapel Street, his father now described as a fisherman. His father died around 1910 and his stepmother apparently remarried.

Robert was married in Southampton in 1908 to Edith Kate Prince (b. 1887 in Shrivenham, Berkshire) and the couple had four children: Eric Prince (1909-1946), Florence Edith (b. 1910), Olive Ellen (b. 1912) and Marjorie (b. 1915).

On the 1911 census Robert is absent from his home at "The Marsh," Hythe, Hampshire where his wife and first two children are listed. He is listed elsewhere as a fireman aboard the Osceola, then docked off Southwick, Sussex.

When he signed-on to the Titanic, on April 6th, 1912; Robert gave his boarding address as 18 Briton Street, (Southampton). His last ship had been the St. Paul. As a fireman he received monthly wages of £6.

Pusey was, controversially, one of only a dozen occupants rescued in Emergency Lifeboat 1.

He testified at the British Inquiry and recalled how Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon oferred to reimburse the crew for their lost kit. An action that some interpreted as a bribe not to return to the scene of the sinking.: "Lady Gordon said to Miss Franks, "There is your beautiful nightdress gone," and I said, "Never mind about your nightdress madam, as long as you have got your life"; and then I heard someone forward at the fore end of me say - I said we had lost our kits and that our pay was stopped from the time she was a wreck - "We will give you a little to start a new kit." That was all I heard." He returned to England and continued to live at "The Marsh" in Hythe, serving in the Mercantile Marine Reserve following the outbreak of WWI.

Robert was serving as a fireman on the trawler H.M.S. Dirk, a patrol boat, when that ship was torpedoed by UC75 off Flamborough Head, Yorkshire on May 28th, 1918. Robert's body was never recovered but he is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

His widow Edith was remarried in 1928 to Victor Edward Pusey (1896 -

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13302717/robert-william-pusey Survivor of the Titanic.

Mr Robert William Pusey, 24, was born in Hythe.

When he signed-on to the Titanic, on 6 April 1912, he gave his address as 18 Briton Street, (Southampton). His last ship had been the St. Paul. As a fireman he received monthly wages of £6. Pusey was rescued in Emergency Lifeboat 1.

Son of William and Ellen Florence Pusey, of Hythe; husband of Edith Kate Pusey, of The Marsh, Hythe, Southampton.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: May 18 2019, 18:31:11 UTC
• Reference: Full text- https://archive.org/details/truthabouttitani00grac/page/n6 "The Truth About the Titanic" by Colonel Archibald Gracie, IV 1913 pp. 261-279

EMERGENCY BOAT No. 1*

No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.

This was the fourth boat to leave the starboard side. Passengers: Lady Duff Gordon and maid (Miss Francetelll). Men: Lord Duff Gordon and Messrs. Solomon and Stengel. Total: 5. Crew: Seamen: Symons (in charge), Horswell. Firemen: Collins, Hendrickson, Pusey, Shee, Taylor. Total: 7. Grand Total: 12.

INCIDENTS

G. Symons, A. B. (Br. Inq.) :

Witness assisted in putting passengers m Nos. 5 and 3 under Mr. Murdoch's orders, women and children first. He saw 5 and 3 lowered away and went to No. i. Mr. Murdoch ordered another sailor and five firemen in. Witness saw two ladies running out of the Saloon Deck who asked if they could get in the boat. Murdoch said : "Jump in.'* The officer looked around for more, but none were in sight and he ordered to lower away, with the witness in charge. Before leaving the Boat Deck witness saw a white light a point and a half on the port bow about five miles away.

Just after boat No. i got away, the water was up to C Deck just under where the ship's name is. Witness got about 200 yards away and ordered the crew to lay on their oars. The ship's stern was well up in the air. The foremost lights had disappeared and the only light left was the mast light. The stern was up out of the water at an angle of forty-five degrees; the propeller could just be seen. The boat was pulled away a little further to escape suction; then he stopped and watched.

After the Titanic went down he heard the people shrieking for help, but was afraid to go back for fear of their swarming upon him, though there was plenty of room in the boat for eight or a dozen more. He determined on this course himself as 'master of the situation,'" * About a day before landing in New York a present of five pounds came as a surprise to the witness from Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon.

The President: You state that you were surprised that no one in the boat suggested that you should go back to the assistance of the drowning people?

Witness : Yes.

The President: Why were you surprised?

Witness: I fully expected someone to do so.

The President: It seemed reasonable that such a suggestion should be made?

Witness: Yes; I should say it would have been reasonable.

The President: You said in America to Senator Perkins that you had fourteen to twenty passengers in the boat?

Witness: I thought I had; I was in the dark.

The President : You were not in the dark when you gave that evidence.

Witness said he thought he was asked how many people there were in the boat, all told.

The Attorney General: You meant that the 14 to 20 meant everybody?

Witness : Yes.

The Attorney General: But you know you only had twelve all told?

Witness : Yes.

The President: You must have known perfectly well when you gave this evidence that the number in your boat was twelve. Why did you tell them in America that there were fourteen to twenty in the boat?

Witness: I do not know; it was a mistake I made then and the way they muddled us up.

The Attorney General: It was a very plain question. Did you know the names of any passengers?

Witness: I knew Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon's name when we arrived in America,

The Attorney General : Did you say anything in America about having received the five pounds?

Witness: No, sir; and I was not asked.

The Attorney General : You were asked these very questions in America which we have been putting to you to-day about going back?

Witness: Yes, sir.

The Attorney General : Why did you not say that you heard the cries, but in the exercise of your discretion as "master of the situation" you did not go back?

Witness: They took us in three at a time in America and they hurried us through the questions.

The Attorney General : They asked you : "Did you make any effort to get there," and you said: "Yes; we went back and could not see anything." But you said nothing about your discretion. Why did you not tell them that part of the story? You realized that if you had gone back you might have rescued a good many people?

Witness: Yes.

The Attorney General : The sea was calm, the night was calm and there could not have been a more favorable night for rescuing people?

Witness : Yes.

The testimony at the American Inquiry above referred to, because of which this witness was called to account, follows :

G. Symons, L. O. (Am. Inq., p. 573) :

I was in command of boat No. i.

Senator Perkins: How many passengers did you have on her?

Mr. Symons : From fourteen to twenty.

Senator Perkins: Were they passengers or crew?

Mr. Symons: There were seven men ordered in; two seamen and five firemen. They were ordered in by Mr. Murdoch.

Senator Perkins: How many did you have all told?

Mr. Symons: I would not say for certain; it was fourteen or twenty. Then we were ordered away.

Senator Perkins : You did not return to the ship again?

Mr. Symons : Yes ; we came back after the ship was gone and saw nothing.

Senator Perkins: Did you rescue anyone that was in the water?

Mr. Symons: No, sir; we saw nothing when we came back.

Witness then testified that there was no confu- sion or excitement among the passengers. It was just the same as if it was an everyday affair. He never saw any rush whatever to get into either of the two boats. He heard the cries of the people in the water.

Senator Perkins : Did you say your boat could take more? Did you make any effort to get them?

Mr. Symons: Yes. We came back, but when we came back we did not see anybody or hear anybody.

He says that his boat could have accommodated easily ten more. He was in charge of her and was ordered away by Officer Murdoch. Did not pull back to the ship again until she went down.

Senator Perkins : And so you made no attempt to save any other people after you were ordered to pull away from the ship by someone?

Mr. Symons : I pulled off and came back after the ship had gone down.

Senator Perkins: And then there were no people there?

Mr. Symons: No, sir; I never saw any.

C. E. H. Stengel, first-class passenger (Am. Inq., p. 97i)-

There was a small boat they called an Emergency boat in which were three people. Sir Duff Gordon, his wife and Miss Francatelli. I asked to get into the boat. There was no one else around that I could see except the people working at the boats. The officer said: "Jump in.** The railing was rather high. I jumped onto it and rolled into the boat. The officer said: "That's the funniest thing I have seen to-night," and laughed heartily. After getting down part of the way the boat began to tip and somebody "hollered" to stop lowering. A man named A. L. Soloman also asked to get in with us. There were five passengers, three stokers and two seamen in the boat.

Senator Smith: Do you know who gave in- structions ?

Mr. Stengel: I think between Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and myself we decided which way to go. We followed a light that was to the bow of the ship. . . .Most of the boats rowed toward that light, and after the green lights began to burn I suggested that it was better to turn around and go towards them. They were from another lifeboat. When I got into the boat it was right up against the side of the ship. If it had not been, I would have gone right out into the water because I rolled. I did not step in it; I just simply rolled. There was one of the icebergs particularly that I noticed — a very large one which looked something like the Rock of Gibraltar.

THE DUFF GORDON EPISODE

Charles Hendricksen, leading fireman (Br. Inq.) :

When the ship sank we picked up nobody. The passengers would not listen to our going back. Of the twelve in the boat, seven were of the crew. Symons, who was in charge, said nothing and we all kept our mouths shut. None of the crew objected to going back. It was a woman who objected. Lady Duff Gordon, who said we would be swamped. People screaming for help could be heard by everyone in our boat. I suggested going back. Heard no one else do so. Mr. Duff Gordon upheld his wife.

After we got on the Carpathia Gordon sent for them all and said he would make them a present. He was surprised to receive five pounds from him the day after docking in New York.

Hendricksen recalled.

Witness cross examined by Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon's counsel.

What did you say about Sir Cosmo's alleged statement preventing you from going back?

Witness : It was up to us to go back.

Did anyone in the boat say anything to you about going back?

Witness: Lady Duff Gordon said something to the effect that if we went back the boat would be swamped.

Who was it that first said anything about Sir Cosmo making a presentation to the crew?

Witness : Fireman CoUins came down and said so when we were on board the Carpathia.

Before we left the Carpathia all the people rescued were photographed together. We members of the crew wrote our names on Lady Duff Gordon's life-belt. From the time we first left off rowing until the time the vessel sank, Lady Duff Gordon was violently seasick and lying on the oars.

A. E. Horswell, A. B. (Br. Inq.) : Witness said it would have been quite a safe and proper thing to have gone back and that it was an inhuman thing not to do so, but he had to obey the orders of the coxswain. Two days after boarding the Carpathia some gentlemen sent for him and he received a present.

J. Taylor, fireman (Br. Inq.) :

Witness testifies that No. i boat stood by about 100 yards to avoid suction and was 200 yards off when the Titanic sank. He heard a suggestion made about going back and a lady passenger talked of the boat's being swamped if they did so. Two gentlemen in the boat said it would be dangerous.

Did your boat ever get within reach of drowning people?

Witness: No.

How many more could the boat have taken in?

Witness: Twenty-five or thirty in addition to those already in it.

Did any of the crew object to going back?

Witness : No.

Did you ever hear of a boat^s crew consisting of six sailors and one fireman?

Witness: No.

Lord Mersey: What was it that Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon said to you in the boat?

Witness : He said he would write to our homes and to our wives and let them know that we were safe.

Witness said he received five pounds when he was on board the Carpathia.

R. W. Pusey, fireman (Br. Inq.) :

After the ship went down we heard cries for a quarter of an hour, or twenty minutes. Did not go back in the direction the Titanic had sunk. I heard one of the men say: "We have lost our kit," and then someone said: "Never mind, we will give you enough to get a new kit. I was surprised that no one suggested going back. I was surprised that I did not do so, but we were all half dazed. It does occur to me now that we might have gone back and rescued some of the strugglers. I heard Lady Duff Gordon say to Miss FrancatelH: "You have lost your beautiful nightdress/' and I said: "Never mind, you have saved your lives; but we have lost our kit"; and then Sir Cosmo offered to provide us with new ones.

Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon (Br. Inq.) : No. 7 was the first boat I went to. It was just being filled. There were only women and the boat was lowered away. No. 3 was partially filled with women, and as there were no more, they filled it up with men. My wife would not go without me. Some men on No. 3 tried to force her away, but she would not go. I heard an officer say : "Man No. 1 boat." I said to him : "May we get in that boat?" He said: "With pleasure; I wish you would." He handed the ladies in and then put two Americans in, and after that he said to two or three firemen that they had better get in. When the boat was lowered I thought the Titanic was in a very grave condition. At the time I thought that certainly all the women had gotten off. No notice at all was taken in our boat of these cries. No thought entered my mind about its being possible to go back and try to save some of these people. I made a promise of a present to the men in the boat.

There was a man sitting next to me and about half an hour after the Titanic sank a man said to me: "I suppose you have lost everything?" I said: *Tes.'* He said: "I suppose you can get more." I said: ^Tes." He said: "Well, we have lost all our kit, for we shall not get anything out of the Company, and our pay ceases from to-night." I said: Very well, I will give you five pounds each towards your kit."

Were the cries from the Titanic clear enough to hear the words, "My God, My God"?

No. You have taken that from the story in the American papers.

Mr. Stengel in his evidence in New York said, "Between Mr. Duff Gordon and myself we decided the direction of the boat."

That's not so ; I did not speak to the coxswain in any way.

Lady Duff Gordon (Br. Inq.) :

After the three boats had been gotten away my husband and I were left standing on the deck. Then my husband went up and said, might we not get into this boat, and the officer said very politely: *'If you will do so I should be very pleased." Then somebody hitched me up at the back, lifted me up and pitched me into the boat My husband and Miss FrancatelH were also pitched into the boat; and then two Americans were also pitched in on top of us. Before the Titanic sank I heard terrible cries.

Q. Is it true in an article signed by what purports to be your signature that you heard the last cry which was that of a man shouting, "My God, My God"?

A. Absolutely untrue.

Address by Mr. A. Clement Edwards, M. P., Counsel for Dock Workers' Union (Br. Inq.) :

Referring to the Duff Gordon incident he said that the evidence showed that in one of the boats there were only seven seamen and five passengers. If we admitted that, this boat had accommodation for twenty-eight more passengers.

The primary responsibility for this must necessarily be placed on the member of the crew who was in charge of the boat — Symons, no conduct of anyone else in the boat, however reprehensible, relieving that man from such responsibility.

Here was a boat only a short distance from the ship, so near that the cries of those struggling in the water could be heard. Symons had been told to stand by the ship, and that imposed upon him a specific duty. It was shown in Hendricksen's evidence that there was to the fullest knowledge of those in the boat a large number of people in the water, and that someone suggested that they should return and try to rescue them. Then it was proved that one of the ladies, who was shown to be Lady Duff Gordon, had said that the boat might be swamped if they went back, and Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon had admitted that this also represented his mental attitude at the time. He (Mr. Edwards) was going to say, and to say quite fearlessly, that a state of mind which could, while within the hearing of the screams of drowning people, think of so material a matter as the giving of money to replace kits was a state of mind which must have contemplated the fact that there was a possibility of rescuing some of these people, and the danger which might arise if this were attempted.

He was not going to say that there was a blunt, crude bargain, or a deal done with these men: "If you will not go back I will give you five pounds" ; but he was going to suggest as a right and true inference that the money was mentioned at that time under these circumstances to give such a sense of ascendancy or supremacy to Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon in the boat that the view to which he gave expression that they should not go back would weigh more with the men than if he had given it as a piece of good advice. There were twenty-eight places on that boat and no one on board had a right to save his own life by avoiding any possible risk involved in filling the vacant places. To say the least of it, it was most reprehensible that there should have been any offer of money calculated to influence the minds of the men or to seduce them from their duty.

From the address of the Attorney-General, Sir Rufus Isaacs, K. C, M. P. (Br. Inq.) :

In regard to boat No. 1, I have to make some comment. This was the Emergency boat on the starboard side, which figured somewhat prominently in the inquiry on account of the evidence which was given in the first instance by Hendricksen, and which led to the calling of Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon. Any comment I have to make in regard to that boat is, I wish to say, not directed to Sir Cosmo or his wife. For my part, I would find it impossible to make any harsh or severe comment on the conduct of any woman who, in circumstances such as these, found herself on the water in a small boat on a dark night, and was afraid to go back because she thought there was a danger of being swamped. At any rate, I will make no comment about that, and the only reason I am directing attention to No. i boat is that it is quite plain that it was lowered with twelve persons in it instead of forty. I am unable to say why it was that that boat was so lowered with only five passengers and seven of the crew on board, but that circumstance, I contend, shows the importance of boat drill.

As far as he knew from the evidence, no order was given as to the lowering of this boat. He regretted to say that he was quite unable to offer any explanation of it, but he could not see why the boat was lowered under the circumstances. The point of this part of the inquiry was twofold — (1) the importance of a boat drill; (2) that you should have the men ready.

No doubt if there had been proper organization there would have been a greater possibility of saving more passengers. What struck one was that no one seemed to have known what his duty was or how many persons were to be placed in the boat before it was lowered. In all cases no boat had its complement of what could be carried on this particular night. The vessel was on her first passage, and if all her crew had been engaged on the next voyage no doubt things would have been better, but there was no satisfactory organization with regard to calling passengers and getting them on deck. Had these boats had their full complement it would have been another matter, but the worst of them was this boat No 1, because the man, Symons, in charge did not exercise his duty. No doubt he was told to stand by, but he went quite a distance away. His evidence was unsatisfactory, and gave no proper account why he did not return. He only said that he '^exercised his discretion,'^ and that he was "master of the situation." There was, however, no explanation why he went away and why he did not go back except that he would be swamped. That was no explanation. I can see no justification for his not going back. From the evidence, there were no people on the starboard deck at the time. They must have been mistaken in making that statement, because, as they knew, four more boats were subsequently lowered with a number of women and children. The capacity of this boat was forty. No other boat went away with so small a proportion as compared with its capacity, and there was no other boat which went away with a larger number of the crew. I confess It is a thing which I do not understand why that boat was lowered when she was. Speaking generally, the only boats that took their full quantity were four. One had to see what explanation could be given of that. In this particular case it happened that the officers were afraid the boats would buckle. Then they said that no more women were available, and, thirdly, it was contemplated to go back. It struck one as very regrettable that the officers should have doubts in their minds on these points with regard to the capacity of the boats.