Thomas Ranger, 81 Middle Road, Sholing:
Saved
Thomas Ranger was born in Northam in 1882 and was 30 years old in 1912. He
signed on to the Titanic as a greaser and gave his address as 81 Middle Road,
Sholing. The 1911 census shows him living at this address with his wife Isobel. At
the time of the Titanic disaster, Thomas had been at sea for about 16 years: he had
served on Royal Mail ships as well as White Star, although the 1911 census shows he
was also working as a dock’s labourer when he couldn’t get a ship. His last ship had
been the Adriatic.
Thomas’ particular job as a greaser was to oil and repair the ship’s electric fans. At
20 minutes to midnight on the 14 April 1912, he was in the electric workshop on E
deck, towards the stern. He had been on watch since 6pm. He told the Board of Trade
Inquiry that, when the ship hit the iceberg:
“there was just a slight jar – just lifted us off our feet. It just moved us like that.
The chief electrician ordered us to go and stop all the electric fans, the stokehold
fans first. - There were 45 working. It took about three quarters of an hour. I
went up the dummy funnel. There are four fans situated up the dummy funnel.
I had stopped all the fans, and I went on deck to see what was being done. There
were about 20 more men there; 20 men stood there. Firemen mostly. We heard
that all the boats had left the ship then. There were no boats for any one to get
into unless they climbed down the davits, or jumped into the sea.”
Thomas was saved when lifeboat 4 returned to the Titanic to pick up more
people and he was able to climb down the davit to get into the boat. Another
greaser, Frederick Scott, also attempted to climb down a davit to get into the
boat but fell into the sea. He was quickly pulled into the boat.
After landing in New York on the Carpathia most of the surviving crew
members were transported back to England on the 20th April aboard the
Lapland, arriving in Plymouth on the 29th April.
On arrival in Plymouth the crew members were met by White Star officials
and detained to give depositions. Much to their annoyance, the crew members
were held in the dock’s third class waiting room while their families and
friends waited outside to see them. When eventually released they were
transported back to Southampton by rail. Right is a photograph showing some
crew members interned behind gates at Plymouth docks.
The British Inquiry began on 2nd May and Thomas gave his evidence on the 9th May.
Thomas was not happy when he gave his testimony as he had waited several days to
give it. Along with other survivors, he had been retained on 7/6 a day while he waited to
give his evidence. In a letter (left) to the Board of Trade (now in the National Archives),
he wrote:
“When we arrived at Waterloo, we was
informed that we were to be at court at
10.30 next morning. We asked him
where we was to stop and he told us we
were free men but he advised us to stop
at the Sailors’ Home as it would be
handy for him.” When the men
arrived, they were given “a meat tea
and a cabin each.”
But the Sailors’ Home was undergoing
considerable structural alterations and the
cabins were filthy and infested with rats
and bugs. So Thomas decided he
“preferred to walk about rather than sleep there.” After spending another night
sleeping rough his story reached the unions, and through them the Labour MP George
Barnes, who raised a question in Parliament. As a result, the Board of Trade
Superintendent was asked ‘to take a little trouble over the seamen witnesses, who come as
complete strangers to London,’ and a Labour Party representative (possibly William Henry
Wickham of Avenue Road, Itchen) visited Thomas on his return to Sholing. After this
visit, Thomas wrote:
“Now they have finished with us we must do the best we can but I was given to
understand the Stewards were getting 10 shillings a day, if it is so I don’t think it was
hardly right for we all counts as one in a case like this”
The photograph (above right) was taken in London as he waited to give evidence to the enquiry.