Mr Robert Triggs was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, around 1871.¹ Little is known about his early life and whether he was married or had children.

Merchant seaman records describe him as standing at 5' 10" with brown hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion and he sported numerous tattoos: an anchor and woman on his left forearm, a woman and a dagger on his right forearm and an anchor and star on his right hand.

When he signed on to the Titanic on 4 April 1912 Triggs gave his local address as 3 Canal Walk, Southampton. His previous ship had been the Maise and as a fireman he could expect monthly wages of £6.

Triggs survived the sinking (in which boat is unclear, some researchers place him in lifeboat 3). He was not called to testify at either the British or American Inquiries into the sinking and following a brief spell of illness after the disaster he returned to his seafaring life.

In October 1913 Triggs was working as a fireman aboard SS Rotorua, bound for New Zealand. Upon his return to Britain and with Europe at war he joined the Army Service Corps and was sent to France. He survived the conflict and returned to working at sea throughout the 1920s and into the early 1930s.

Triggs' final ship was the British Enterprise; he departed her due to illness on 1 January 1931 and was sent to the Tynemouth Infirmary in Northumberland. He died there several days later¹; he is not known to have had any surviving relatives.

Robert was buried on the 10 January 1931 in Preston cemetery, Tynemouth, Tyneside (Section Gen E, plot 7247). For many years the grave was unmarked, but a black, engraved granite marker has since been added, indicating his having been a Titanic survivor.