Stokers, Firemen and Trimmers

[Beckey Payne]

(oh MY)...

What, if any, is the difference between a stoker, a firemen, and a trimmer? And what exactly was the job of each? Probably an elementary question I know, but I'm clueless.

Beckey

 

[Jemma Hyder]

I have no idea either but I'm guessing that Trimmers hacked up the coal fireman shovelled it in and stokers poked it about a bit, but theres a woman's logic for you lol

 

[Ben Holme]

Beckey and Jemma,

The Trimmers brought the coal from the bunkers to the boiler rooms on wheelbarrows (quite possibly hacking it into smaller pieces beforehand!). Trimmers and Greasers were the lowest wage-earners among the crew.

I believe "Fireman" and "Stoker" referred to the same task, namely shovelling coal into the furnaces.

Hope this helps,

Ben

 

[Beckey Payne]

Thanks Ben. Which leads me to a new question... What's a greaser?

Jemma - Woman's logic works for me! First thing I pictured when I saw the word "Greaser" was a cool dude in a leather jacket and slicked back hair. Second thing was a man actually greasing the mechanical parts of the ships engine. ;-)

Beckey

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Beckey, I think you'll find the second definition for greaser is the correct one. Quite a bit of the machinary had to be lubricated manually.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[David G. Brown]

Greasing the machinery was a never-ending task. The main bearings in the large reciprocating engines had to be checked while the machine was rotating. A man would reach in and "slap" the bearing as the crank and rod turned. If the metal felt warm, everything was OK. If the bearing was hot--TROUBLE.

Many years ago I had a long talk with the chief engineer on the Mississippi Queen about steam engines. He had served on the tanker Meteor, which was the last "whaleback" ship on the Great Lakes. He stood up to mimic the action of slapping the bearings.

I told him about his old ship, which is now a museum in Superior, Wisconsin. They have disconnected the triple expansion "up-and-down" engine from the propeller. It is now connected it to compressed air so that during the tour of the engine room visitors can see the machine actualy run.

-- David G. Brown

 

[Dave Gittins]

Ben's a bit off track about wages. The engine room crew were actually better paid than almost everybody else, as you'll find on the crew signing on sheets. That was because their work was just plain hard and they got no tips, unlike the stewards, who were paid very little but got tips, at any rate in first class.

The 'black gang' worked 4 hours on and 8 hours off, which gave them the shortest hours of anybody except the senior officers.

Fred Barrett distinguished between firemen and stokers. He said that the stokers were the leading hands among the firemen.

 

[John M. Feeney]

The engine room crew were actually better paid than almost everybody else, as you'll find on the crew signing on sheets. That was because their work was just plain hard and they got no tips, unlike the stewards, who were paid very little but got tips, at any rate in first class.

Hi, Dave: This may be something that needs to be scrutinized in ET's version of the Crew Particulars. I was recently corrected in a similar impression by a *very* reliable source, who explained to me that the Stewards' pay basis was actually WEEKLY. (ET's tables indicate MONTHLY throughout.) That being the case, stewards actually earned about £14 per month -- £3,10 X 4 -- even *before* tips, as he stated.

I have very little reason to doubt this source. So does anyone have a facsimile copy of the Signing On Sheets that could be checked for the necessary corrections?

Cheers,
John

 

[Dave Gittins]

I hear a lot of stewards crying, 'If only!'

A quick reference will be seen on page 135 of the illustrated ANTR. On Steward Witter's Account of Wages you'll see that he got 15 shillings for the 6 days of the voyage. (Yes, they paid for April 15th) The other £1/12/6 is payment for his time away from England. Technically, the crew's pay stopped when Titanic sank but Bruce Ismay agreed to pay for the time spent away from home.

£14 per month was more than most of the officers got.

 

[Beckey Payne]

Being a Greaser sounds like an extremely dangerous job if I understand David's description correctly. The man had to reach in and "slap" the bearings on moving machinary?? I would assume there were more than a few job related injuries.

Beckey

 

[David G. Brown]

Becky -- I've never seen a bearing "slapped" in all of my life. Just relating a story. However, I did notice the man had all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs.

--David G. Brown

 

[John M. Feeney]

Hi, Dave: Son of a gun! Thanks for that clarification. (Boy I hate when that happens.) ;-)

Cheers,
John

 

[Cal Haines]

Becky,

Titanic's bunkers were set up so that the trimmers did not need to wheel the coal to the firemen as they did on some ships. There was a bunker door opposite each boiler, so that the fireman could just turn around and scoop up the coal. Trimmers were still needed to haul away the ash from the boilers. About once a watch the ash would be pulled out of each furnace and dumped on the plates in front of the boiler. The trimmer would have to cool the ash with a hose and cart it to the ash ejectors, where it was fired into the sea by a high pressure jet of water. Trimmers were also needed to move coal from remote parts of the bunkers and keep the supply near the boilers full.

As near as I have been able to determine, there were four trimmers per boiler room, one fireman for each boiler end (10 in most boiler rooms) and a leading fireman in overall charge of the boiler room. All the boiler rooms were in turn supervised by a fairly senior engineer. Each fireman had three furnaces to tend and it was hard but skilled work. A good fireman could use half the coal of a unskilled man; there was a heck of a lot more to it that just shoveling coal. Most movies get this wrong. They usually show a bunch of guys feverishly shoveling coal into the furnaces, with all the doors standing open. In fact, the doors were kept closed as much a possible. They were probably close 5 to 10 minutes at a time.

On the topic of the greasers slapping the bearings to check the them, I've seen it done and it's even scarier to watch than I can describe. Imagine a block of metal the size of a car engine, revolving so quickly that you can't really follow it with your eye, then imagine trying to stroke it as it flashes by. I have a photo of a greaser on the SS Jeremiah O'Brien doing it that I can post if there is interest. It's pretty daunting to watch...

Cal

 

[Jane Barrett]

Hello

I learnt last night that Leading Fireman Frederick William Barrett on the Titanic could be my Great Uncle. I am interested to learn if this is correct. The only details that I have is my Grandfather had a brother by the same name (my grandfather passed away before I was born), he would have come from the Vauxhall Area in Liverpool and was born in 1884. I telephoned the Liverpool Echo to see if they had a web site to access old editions of the paper, but unfortunately they do not and to find out any history I will need to visit the Picton Library in Liverpool.

Awaiting your reply

Kind Regards,

Jane Barrett

[email protected]

 

[Cal Haines]

Hi Jane,

Frederick Barrett is one of my favorite Titanic persons. It would be most exciting if it turns out that you are related! Based on the date and place of birth you may well be. Do you have any more information on your Grand Uncle? Religion, date and place of death, etc.? I'm not an expert on this, but as I understand it, there are British census records that are helpful given a local and date. There may also be some church records, such as marriage and christening if you know which church.

Cal