British Merchant seaman (1877?1961)
Herbert "Bert" Pitman
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Born
| Herbert John Pitman
(
1877-11-20
)
20 November 1877
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Died
| 7 December 1961
(1961-12-07)
(aged 84)
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Occupation
| Merchant Navy Officer
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Known for
| Third Officer of RMS
Titanic
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Herbert John "Bert" Pitman
MBE
(20 November 1877 ? 7 December 1961) was an
English
Merchant Navy
seaman, who was the
Third Officer
of
RMS
Titanic
when it
sank
in the
North Atlantic Ocean
with heavy loss of life after striking an iceberg during the night of 14 April 1912 on its maiden voyage. Pitman was the only member of the command crew of the Titanic who was not a member of the
Royal Naval Reserve
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Pitman was born in the
Somerset
village of
Sutton Montis
in England. He was the son of farmer Henry Pitman and Sarah (nee Marchant) Pitman. After his father's death in 1880, his mother remarried, to Charles Candy. In 1881, a census shows Herbert Pitman was living on a 112-acre (45 ha) farm on Sutton Road with his brother, sister, and widowed mother.
Sea career
[
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]
Pitman first went to sea in 1895 at the age of 18 after joining the
Merchant Navy
. He received the shore part of his nautical training in the Navigation Department of the
Merchant Venturers' Technical College
, under Mr. E. F. White, and qualified as a
Master Mariner
in August 1906. He served a four-year apprenticeship with
James Nourse Ltd
. followed by five years as a Deck Officer. From 1904, he served one year as a Deck Officer with the
Blue Anchor Line
before moving to the Shire Line, with whom he served for six months. He moved to the
White Star Line
in 1906. While employed with White Star, he served as Fourth, Third and
Second Officer
on the vessels
Delphic
and
Majestic
, and as Fourth Officer on the
Oceanic
.
[
citation needed
]
RMS
Titanic
[
edit
]
Like the other junior officers Pitman received a telegram early in 1912 directing him to report to White Star's
Liverpool
office at nine in the morning on 26 March of that year. There he collected his ticket for
Belfast
; he arrived there at noon the following day and reported to (then) Chief Officer
William Murdoch
. As the
Titanic
departed
Southampton
on 10 April, Pitman was assisting (now First) Officer Murdoch at the stern of the ship in supervising the casting-off of mooring ropes and taking on of tug lines. While the
Titanic
was at sea, Pitman's duties included working out celestial observation and compass deviation, general supervision of the decks, looking to the quartermasters, and relieving the bridge officers when necessary.
At the time of the
Titanic
'
s collision with the iceberg, Pitman was off-duty, half-asleep in his bunk in the Officers' Quarters. He heard and felt the collision, later testifying that it felt like the ship "coming to an anchor." He was dressing for his watch when Fourth Officer
Boxhall
rushed in and informed him they had struck an iceberg and were taking on water. Pitman was then ordered to report to the starboard side of the ship to assist in uncovering lifeboats. After receiving the command to lower the boats, Murdoch ordered Pitman to take charge of
Lifeboat No. 5
. Before Pitman entered the lifeboat, Murdoch shook his hand saying "Goodbye; good luck." Pitman at this point did not believe that the
Titanic
was seriously endangered, and thought the evacuation of passengers was precautionary. He stepped into the lifeboat and it was lowered to the water. Murdoch had ordered Pitman to take the lightly loaded lifeboat to the gangway doors to take on more passengers there, but (as Pitman later testified) the doors failed to open as the lifeboat waited for this about 100 yards off from the ship.
[1]
Up to this point Pitman had expected the ship to remain afloat. After an hour in the lifeboat however, he realised that
Titanic
was doomed, and withdrew the lifeboat 300 yards further off from the descending ship. He watched
Titanic
sink from about 400 yards distance, and was one of the few to state afterwards in the official enquiries that he thought she sank in one piece. As the stern slipped under water, he looked at his watch and announced to the lifeboat's occupants, "It's 2.20,". Hearing the cries of those in the water after the ship had gone, Pitman decided to row back to them to rescue whomever he could. However, after announcing this course of action to the passengers in the lifeboat he was confronted with voluble protests from amongst them against the idea, with the expression of fear that the lifeboat would be mobbed and capsized by the panicking multitude in the water. Faced with this Pitman acquiesced and kept the lifeboat at its station several hundred yards off whilst the passengers and crew in the water perished swiftly in the cold. (In later life Pitman admitted to bearing the burden of a bad conscience for his failure to take the lifeboat to the rescue of those dying in the water that night).
Lifeboat No. 5 was picked up by the next morning by the rescue ship
RMS
Carpathia
along with the other survivors from the sinking, and Pitman arrived at Pier 54 in
New York City
with the rest of the survivors on 18 April 1912. While in New York he testified as a witness in the American Government's inquiry into the sinking. He and his fellow surviving officers left New York City on the
Adriatic
on 2 May 1912. On returning home to England, he testified as a witness to the sinking for a second time before a British Governmental inquiry.
Later years
[
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]
Pitman continued to serve with the White Star Line following the
Titanic
disaster. He served on the liners
RMS
Oceanic
and
Titanic
'
s older sister
Olympic
, later moving from deck officer to
purser
because of his failing eyesight. In the early 1920s, he moved from White Star to Shaw, Savill and Albion Company Ltd. and also took a wife in 1922 ? Mildred "Mimi" Kalman from New Zealand. During the Second World War, he served as purser on board the
SS
Mataroa
[
fr
]
, and finally retired in the spring of 1946 after over fifty years at sea. He spent his retirement living in the village of
Pitcombe
, in the county of
Somerset
, with his niece (his wife having preceded him in death).
Death
[
edit
]
Pitman died of a
subarachnoid hemorrhage
on 7 December 1961 at the age of 84 years. His body was buried in the graveyard of Pitcombe Parish Church, Somerset.
[2]
Media
[
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]
- In the 1997
Titanic
film, Pitman was portrayed by film producer Kevin De La Noy.
[3]
References
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]
Further reading
[
edit
]