RMS Titanic — Crew Profiles

Violet was a stewardess on the RMS Titanic. She was the oldest of nine children and as she grew up she developed tuberculosis. She was born from Irish parents in Argentina. Along the years her condition worsened and after her father died along with three of her siblings her mother and six children moved to the UK.

She wanted to become a nurse but after her mother grew ill she started working as a stewardess on the White Star Line after being fired from another company. As one of the twenty three female staff she worked as a stewardess designated to 1st class.

A stewardess's job consisted of primarily being responsible for the comfort of women and children in first and second class. Duties mirrored male stewards very closely: tidying cabins, replenishing linens and toiletries, and serving meals.

On the day of the Titanic tragedy she boarded lifeboat sixteen where a woman thrust a baby in her arms. She continued to work at sea for four decades before retiring after another two major maritime disasters, earning her the nickname "Miss Unsinkable." She eventually died on May 5, 1971, aged eighty three.

The ship's dogs have become an interesting footnote in the tragic tale. Less is known about the cat that was aboard the vessel in its final weeks. Like so many aspects of the Titanic saga, the story of Jenny the cat is hidden in legend.

Titanic's resident feline, who joined the ship while it was still in Belfast, didn't receive the same first-class treatment as the canine passengers that boarded the ocean liner with their owners. Jenny was a ship cat, meaning she was allowed to roam the decks freely and help keep the rat population under control. With no one to smuggle her into a lifeboat — as was the case with 3 dogs on board — Jenny's story likely didn't have a happy ending. The cat never turned up after the ship sank into the Atlantic, and she was assumed dead.

But rumours attached to Jenny put a brighter spin on her voyage. Stewardess Violet Jessop reported that the cat gave birth to a litter of kittens in early April 1912, before the Titanic departed for New York. Once on board the ship, Jenny claimed a cozy corner of the galley where she and her newborns were cared for by an Irish stoker named Joseph Mulholland. It is said she got off with her kittens. She was most possibly a grey or brown tabby though some people described her as a calico.

Dr. William Francis Norman O'Loughlin, born 1849, was the Senior Surgeon on the Titanic, a 62-year-old Irish doctor with over 40 years of experience at sea. Known for his calm demeanour, he was transferred from the Olympic to the Titanic with his assistant, Dr. John Edward Simpson. Both doctors perished in the 1912 sinking.

Before sailing, O'Loughlin inspected Third Class passengers for infectious diseases to meet immigration regulations. The hospital was located on D-Deck, and the surgery was on C-Deck. The doctors treated illnesses and injuries across all classes, with 1st/2nd class usually treated in their cabins, while 3rd class utilised the hospital. Though there was no dentist, the surgeons carried dental equipment for emergency extractions.

The job of a Sea Post Clerk on the Titanic was an elite position reserved for the "best of the best" within the postal services of the United States and Great Britain. Their primary goal was to ensure all mail was fully sorted and ready for delivery the moment the ship arrived in New York.

The five clerks were responsible for over 3,300 bags containing an estimated 7 million pieces of mail. As the cherry on the top they were expected to sort an average of 60,000 pieces of mail per day with near-zero errors. They managed a fully functional on-board Post Office, selling stamps and processing letters posted by passengers and crew during the voyage.

Every clerk used personal routing labels hand-stamped with their name, ensuring every sorted bundle could be traced back to the individual who handled it.

Frederick William Hopkins was a plate steward on the RMS Titanic. At just 14 years old, he was one of the two youngest crew members on board. He served as a Plate Steward and tragically perished in the disaster.

They continuously cleaned and polished the thousands of silver-plated items — including condiment containers, sauce boats, and cutlery — to ensure they "shone" for every meal. After scullions (dishwashers) washed and dried the plates, platemen were responsible for re-stowing them in specialised racks to prevent breakage and ensure they were ready for the next service. They also managed the stock levels of specific dishware required for the multi-course evening meals that could include up to a dozen courses.

Charles Joughin was the English-American Chief Baker aboard the RMS Titanic, recognised as a key, calm-headed survivor who lasted over two hours in the freezing Atlantic water on April 15, 1912. He was the head of thirteen bakers, responsible for bread production and was famously one of the last people to leave the ship, stepping off the stern as it sank.

Lightoller was the most senior officer to survive. His story is probably the happiest out of all the survivors as he went on to have a very productive career at sea, including taking part in both world wars.

He was very calm and collected when he was helping people onto lifeboats on the Titanic as shown in most movies made of this tragedy, where he saved around twenty eight men on upturned Collapsible lifeboat B. He was Second Officer on the Titanic.

John George "Jack" Phillips was a British wireless telegraphist, who served as the chief wireless operator aboard RMS Titanic during her ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912. Before the doomed ship sailed, he told a friend he would have preferred to be aboard a smaller ship for Jack had a dread of icebergs.

Nonetheless the twenty five year old's actions in the early hours of 15 April 1912, as Titanic sank in the Atlantic, ensured that he was remembered as a hero of the disaster. He did not make it.

Stokers (or firemen) who worked on the Titanic were part of the "black gang" working in the boiler rooms, tasked with shovelling over 600 tonnes of coal daily into 29 boilers working in intense heat. 48 out of 176 survived the 1912 sinking, including lead stoker Frederick Barrett and stoker Arthur John Priest.

John Coffey was a 23-year-old fireman (stoker) on the RMS Titanic who famously deserted the ship at its final port of call in Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland, just days before it sank. A native of Queenstown, he is often called one of the luckiest men associated with the disaster.

Hugh Richard Walter McElroy was the Chief Purser on the RMS Titanic. Known for his personality and "big, jolly" demeanour, he died in the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912.

A purser on the RMS Titanic was basically the hotel manager and chief administrator of the Titanic. While deck officers focused on navigation, the Purser oversaw the Victualling Department, which was the largest department on the ship with over 500 staff members, including stewards, cooks, and even the ship's band.

He is remembered as a hero on the ship saving countless lives during the sinking.

Fleet was the Titanic lookout who first sighted the iceberg on the night of 14 April 1912. He is most famous for ringing the warning bell three times and telephoning the bridge to report the now-iconic words: "Iceberg, right ahead!".

He was one of the six professional lookouts who did nothing but keep watch throughout the voyage. Lookouts worked two-hour watches followed by four hours off. They relied solely on human eyesight, a bell, and a telephone to the bridge, as they were not provided with binoculars.