John William Thompson

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/john-william-...

Mr John William Thompson

• Titanic Survivor
• Born: Friday 6th October 1876 in Liverpool Merseyside England
• Age: 35 years
• Nationality: English
• Last Residence: at 2 House, Primrose Hill Liverpool Merseyside England
• Occupation: Fireman / Stoker
• Last Ship: "Castleford"
• Engineering crew
• First Embarked: Southampton
• Rescued (boat "A" Transferred to Boat 14 by Mr. Lowe)
• Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
• Reference: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-lifeboat-a/ (Collapsible) A
• Reference: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-deckplans/ R.M.S. Titanic deck plan

Mr John William Thompson, 42, was born in Liverpool on 6 April 1871 (1).

When he signed-on to the Titanic 6 April 1912, he gave his address as 26 Howe St., Liverpool. He had previously served on the Castleford. As a fireman he received monthly wages of £6.

John Thompson later recalled that, after he and some other firemen had gone on deck after the collision, Leading Fireman William Small ordered them back below, apparently to go back to the boiler rooms.

Thompson was rescued in the swamped collapsible A, he was later transferred to lifeboat 14. Somehow he broke his arm in his struggle to survive in the water, but didn't notice until he had to climb up the rope ladder into the Carpathia.

Notes 1. It is likely that his parents were Robert Thompson (dock labourer) and his wife Ann.

Documents Crew Particulars of Engagement

References British Census 1881

Contributors Brian Ticehurst, UK Bill Wormstedt, USA Chris Dohany, USA

• Reference: Full text- https://archive.org/details/truthabouttitani00grac/page/n6 "The Truth About the Titanic" by Colonel Archibald Gracie, IV 1913 pp. 311-323 ENGELHARDT BOAT "A".

Floated off the ship.

Passengers: T. Beattie,* P. D. Daly,{ G. Rheims, R. N. Williams, Jr., first-class; O. Abelseth,t W. J. Mellers, second-class; and Mrs. Rosa Abbott, { Edward Lindley,t third-class.

Crew: Steward: E. Brown. Firemen: J. Thompson, one unidentified body,* Seaman: one unidentified body.*

An extraordinary story pertains to this boat. At the outset of my research it was called a "boat of mystery/' occasioned by the statements of the Titanic' s officers. In his conversations with me, as well as in his testimony, Officer Lightoller stated that he was unable to loosen this boat from the ship in time and that he and his men were compelled to abandon their efforts to get it away. The statement in consequence was that this boat "A" was not utilized but went down with the ship. My recent research has disabused his mind of this supposition. There were only four Engelhardt boats in all as we have already learned, and we have fully accounted for *'the upset boat B," and "D,'* the last to leave the ship in the tackles, and boat "C, containing Mr. Ismay, which reached the Carpathians side and was unloaded there. After all the mystery we have reached the conclusion that boat A" did not go down with the ship, but was the one whose occupants were rescued by Officer Lowe in the early morning, and then abandoned with three dead bodies in it. This also was the boat picked up nearly one month later by the Oceanic nearly 200 miles from the scene of the wreck.

I have made an exhaustive research up to date for the purpose of discovering how Boat A left the ship. Information in regard thereto is ob- tained from the testimony before the British Court of Inquiry of Steward Edward Brown, from first-class passenger R. N. Williams, Jr., and from an account of William J. Mellers, a second cabin passenger as related by him to Dr. Washington Dodge. Steward Brown, it will be observed, testified that he was washed out of the boat and yet "did not know whether he went down In the water." As he could not swim, an analysis of his testimony forces me to believe that he held on to the boat and did not have to swim and that boat "A" was the same one that he was in when he left the ship. I am forced to the same conclusion in young Williams' case after an analysis of his statement that he took off his big fur overcoat in the water and cast it adrift while he swam twenty yards to the boat, and in some unaccountable way the fur coat swam after him and also got into the boat. At any rate it was found in the boat when it was recovered later as shown in the evidence.

I also have a letter from Mr. George Rheims, of Paris, indicating his presence on this same boat with Messrs. Williams and Mellers and Mrs. Abbott and others.

INCIDENTS Edward Brown, steward (Br. Inq.) : Witness helped with boats 5, 3, 1 and C, and then helped with another collapsible; tried to get it up to the davits when the ship gave a list to port. The falls were slackened but the boat could not be hauled away any further. There were four or five women waiting to get into the boat. The boat referred to was the collapsible boat "A" which they got off the officers' house. They got it down by the planks, but witness does not know where the planks came from. He thinks they were with the bars which came from the other boats; yet he had no difficulty in getting the boat oft the house. The ship was then up to the bridge under water, well down by the head. He jumped into the boat then and called out to cut the falls. He cut them at the aft end, but cannot say what happened to the forward fall. He was washed out of the boat but does not know whether he went down in the water." He had his lifebelt on and came to the top. People were all around him. They tore his clothes away struggling in the water. He could not swim, but got into the collapsible boat "A." Only men were in it, but they picked up a woman and some men afterwards, consisting of passengers, stewards and crew. There were sixteen men. Fifth Officer Lowe in boat No. 14 picked them up.

O. Abelseth (Am. Inq.) :

Witness describes the period just before the ship sank when an effort was made to get out the collapsible boats on the roof of the officers' house. The officer wanted help and called out: "Are there any sailors here?" It was only about five feet to the water when witness jumped off. It was not much of a jump. Before that he could see the people were jumping over. He went under and swallowed some water. A rope was tangled around him. He came on top again and tried to swim. There were lots of men floating around. One of them got him on the neck and pressed him under the water and tried to get on top, but he got loose from him. Then another man hung on to him for a while and let go. Then he swam for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Saw some- thing dark ahead of him; swam towards it and it was one of the Engelhardt boats ("A"). He had a life-preserver on when he jumped from the ship. There was no suction at all. "I will try and see," he thought, "if I can float on the lifebelt without help from swimming," and he floated easily on the lifebelt. When he got on the boat no one assisted him, but they said when he got on:"Don't capsize the boat" so he hung on for a little while before he got on.

Some were trying to get on their feet who were sitting or lying down; others fell into the water again. Some were frozen and there were two dead thrown overboard. On the boat he raised up and continuously moved his arms and swung them around to keep warm. There was one lady aboard this raft and she (Mrs. Abbott) was saved. There were also two Swedes and a first- class passenger. He said he had a wife and child. There was a fireman also named Thompson who had burned one of his hands; also a young boy whose name sounded like Volunteer." He and Thompson were afterwards at St. Vincent's Hospital. In the morning he saw a boat with a sail up, and in unison they screamed together for help. Boat A was not capsized and the canvas was not raised up, and they could not get it up. They stood all night in about twelve or fourteen inches of water* — their feet in water all the time. Boat No. 14 sailed down and took them aboard and transferred them to the Carpathia, he helping to row. There must have been ten or twelve saved from boat A; one man was from New Jersey, with whom he came in company from London.

At daybreak he seemed unconscious. He took him by the shoulder and shook him. *'Who are you?" he said; "let me be; who are you?" About half an hour or so later he died.

In a recent letter from Dr. Washington Dodge he refers to a young man whom he met on the Carpathia, very much exhausted, whom he took to his stateroom and gave him medicine and medical attention. This young man was a gentleman's valet and a second cabin passenger. This answers to the description of William J. Mellers, to whom I have written, but as yet have received no response. Dr. Dodge says he believes this young man's story implicitly: He, Mellers, *'was standing by this boat when one of the crew was endeavoring to cut the fastenings that bound it to the vessel just as the onrush of waters came up which tore It loose. It was by clinging to this boat that he was saved."

R. N. Williams, Jr., in his letter writes me as follows :

"I was not under water very long, and as soon as I came to the top I threw off the big fur coat I had on. I had put my lifebelt on under the coat. I also threw off my shoes. About twenty yards away I saw something floating. I swam to it and found it to be a collapsible boat. I hung on to it and after a while got aboard and stood up in the middle of it. The water was tip to my waist." About thirty of us clung to it. When Officer Lowe's boat picked us up eleven of us were alive; all the rest were dead from cold. My fur coat was found attached to this Engelhardt boat *A' by the Oceanic and also a cane marked 'C Williams! This gave rise to the story that my father's body was in this boat, but this, as you see, is not so. How the cane got there I do not know.*'

Through the courtesy of Mr. Harold Wingate of the White Star Line in letters to me I have the following information pertaining to boat "A" :

"One of the bodies found in this boat was that of Mr. Thompson Beattie. We got his watch and labels from his clothes showing his name and that of the dealer, which we sent to the executor. Two others were a fireman and a sailor, both unidentified. The overcoat belonging to Mr. Williams I sent to a furrier to be re-conditioned, but nothing could be done with it except to dry it out, so I sent it to him as it was. There was no cane in the boat. The message from the Oceanic and the words 'R. N. Williams, care of Duane P Williams/ were twisted by the receiver of the message to "RIchard N. Williams, care of Duane Williams" which got into the press, and thus perpetuated the error.

"There was also a ring found in the boat whose owner we eventually traced in Sweden and restored the property to her. We cannot account for its being in the boat, but we know that her husband was a passenger on the Titanic — Edward P. Lindell, a third-class passenger. The widow's address is, care of Nels Persson, Helsingborg, Sweden."

Rescue of the occupants of boat "A" at daylight Monday morning is recorded in the testimony of Officer Lowe and members of the crew of his boat No. 14 and the other boats 12, 10, 4 and *'D" which were tied together. No. 14 we recall was emptied of passengers and a crew taken from all the boats referred to went back to the wreck. The substance of the testimony of all of them agrees and I need only cite that of Quartermaster Bright, in charge of boat "D," as follows:

A. Bright, Q. M. (in charge) (Am. Inq., 834) : Just at daylight witness saw from his place in boat D one of the other collapsible boats, A," that was awash just flush with the water. Ofiicer Lowe came and towed witness's boat to the other collapsible one that was just awash and took from it thirteen men and one woman who were in the water up to their ankles. They had been singing out in the dark. As soon as daylight came they could be seen. They were rescued and the boat turned adrift with two dead bodies in it, covered with a lifebelt over their faces.

Admiral Mahan on Ismay's duty:

Rear Admiral A. T. Mahan, retired, in a letter which the Evening Post publishes, has this to say of J. Bruce Ismay's duty:

In the Evening Post of April 24 Admiral Chadwick passes a distinct approval upon the conduct of Mr. Ismay in the wreck of the Titanic by characterizing the criticisms passed upon it as the "acme of emotionalism.

Both censure and approval had best wait upon the results of the investigations being made in Great Britain. Tongues will wag, but if men like Admiral Chadwick see fit to publish anticipatory opinions those opinions must receive anticipatory comment.

Certain facts are so notorious that they need no Inquiry to ascertain. These are ( i ) that before the collision the captain of the Titanic was solely responsible for the management of the ship; (2) after the collision there were not boats enough to embark more than one-third of those on board, and, (3) for that circumstance the White Star Company is solely responsible, not legally, for the legal requirements were met, but morally. Of this company, Mr. Ismay is a prominent if not the most prominent member.

For all the loss of life the company is responsible, individually and collectively: Mr. Ismay personally, not only as one of the members. He believed the Titanic unsinkable; the belief relieves of moral guilt, but not of responsibility. Men bear the consequences of their mistakes as well as of their faults. He — and Admiral Chadwick — justify his leaving over fifteen hundred persons, the death of each one of whom lay on the company, on the ground that it was the last boat half filled; and Mr. Ismay has said, no one else to be seen.

No one to be seen; but was there none to be reached? Mr. Ismay knew there must be many, because he knew the boats could take only a third. The Titanic was 882 feet long; 92 broad; say, from Thirty-fourth street to a little north of Thirty-seventh. Within this space were congregated over 1,500 souls, on several decks. True, to find any one person at such a moment in the intricacies of a vessel were a vain hope; but to encounter some stragglers would not seem to be. Read in the Sun and Times of April 25 Col. Gracie's account of the "mass of humanity, men and women" that suddenly appeared before him after the boats were launched.

In an interview reported in the New York Times April 25 Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, a very distinguished officer, holds that Mr. Ismay was but a passenger, as other passengers. True, up to a certain point. He is in no sense responsible for the collision; but when the collision had occurred he confronted a wholly new condition for which he was responsible and not the captain, viz., a sinking vessel without adequate provision for saving life. Did no obligation to particularity of conduct rest upon him under such a condition?

I hold that under the conditions, so long as there was a soul that could be saved, the obligation lay upon Mr. Ismay that that one person and not he should have been in the boat. More than 1,500 perished. Circumstances yet to be developed may justify Mr. Ismay's actions completely, but such justification is imperatively required. If this be "the acme of emotionalism" I must be content to bear the imputation.

Admiral Chadwick urges the "preservlng a life so valuable to the great organization to which Mr. Ismay belongs." This bestows upon Mr. Ismay's escape a kind of halo of self-sacrifice. No man is indispensable. There are surely brains enough and business capacity enough in the White Star company to run without him. The reports say that of the rescued women thirty-seven were widowed by the accident and the lack of boats. Their husbands were quite as indispensable to them as Mr. Ismay to the company. His duty to the ship's company was clear and primary; that to the White Star company so secondary as to be at the moment inoperative.

We should be careful not to pervert standards. Witness the talk that the result is due to the system. What is a system, except that which individuals have made it and keep it? Whatever thus weakens the sense of individual responsibility is harmful, and so likewise is all condonation of failure of the individual to meet his responsibility.

• Residence: Apr 2 1911 - House Attd to Carriage Stables Rose Lane Mossley Hill, Garston, Lancashire, England
  • Reference: 1911 England & Wales Census - SmartCopy: Oct 10 2019, 18:12:53 UTC