Men who worked as coal stokers, also called firemen, had the most exhausting job on the ship. It was also the most dangerous job. Steam ships whose boilers were heated by coal required the constant feeding of coal into furnaces (or ovens) to keep the ship operational. The position came under the purview of the Engineering department.
On most steam-powered ships, ideally there were no less than 100 stokers who worked in shifts and kept shoveling a never-ending supply of coal into the furnaces. Assisting them were trimmers who kept the bins filled with coal using wheelbarrows to move the coal from the bunkers to the firemen. They also loaded the coal onto the ship and kept it distributed evenly in the coal bins so the ship did not list. Trimmers also put out fires that broke out in the coal bins while waiting to be shoveled into the furnaces. Trimmers were the lowest-salaried workers in the Engineering department.
These were considered "skilled" jobs but not every stoker or trimmer on Titanic was skilled. Basically trimmers had to be able to handle the weight of the coal-filled wheelbarrows, so the job wasn't for the weak, and they had to evenly distribute the weight of the coal so the ship stayed balanced. This is where the "trimmed" part comes in. The firemen were considered skilled because they had to assess just the right amount of coal to be shoveled into the furnaces in order for the ship to maintain its ever-changing speed.
All ages were hired for the job and their only requirement was the ability to keep coal in the furnaces around the clock. If they were to get any kind of a break for food or sleep, it was imperative to have enough men hired on to a voyage, including trimmers.
Titanic had 29 boilers and each one had 3 furnaces. The 29 boilers required over 5000 tons of coal for the voyage, using about 600 tons a day. Titanic hired 176 firemen and 73 trimmers.
"The Black Gang" earned their nickname because their clothes were always full of black coal dust and diesel. Like men who worked in coal mines, these workers were at risk for pneumonia, pleurisy, rheumatism, heat stroke and long term, what is now called Black Lung Disease. Most had hacking coughs they most likely attributed to smoking cigarettes but it was aided by their job environment.
Because they worked in the hold of the ship, they lacked proper ventilation and constantly breathed in the fumes of the fires. They often stripped off their shirts because it was so hot in the hold. The life expectancy was two to five years if they worked steadily and even less when they quit working at that job or when they retired.
Autopsies revealed that their lungs were as badly damaged as coal miners and had the consistency of leather. Black Lung Disease was known in the 1890s but it wasn't until the 1950's that it became an acceptable disease with medical associations. In a time when people needed jobs, they were assured that there was no danger when inhaling coal dust and some medical experts claimed it even protected against developing tuberculosis, which of course was bogus.
The men who worked in these jobs were soon phased out when ships changed from coal to oil. That is when stokers saw a rise in lung ailments because they were no longer feeding their lungs with coal dust . . . it was sort of like being addicted to a drug or to cigarettes. They felt fine (or the same each day) as long as they fed their bodies with a steady supply of the drug or cigarettes, but once they stop taking the drug or quit smoking, all kinds of symptoms came to light.
How often have you heard of former smokers getting cancer even if they had quit smoking ten or more years before diagnosis? Cancer is still there, but it lays dormant. The less dangerous or less exposure to harsh elements on their jobs, like office work for example, disease can lay dormant for years. With coal stokers, the dormancy was two to five years.
When Titanic hit the iceberg around midnight on Sunday April 14, 1912, few passengers were aware until the engines stopped. The coal stokers and trimmers stayed at their tasks until it looked like there were no more lifeboats. Making their way through the corridors to the deck, they found that most of the lifeboats had been lowered. Although a few men found space in some lifeboats, the rest of them jumped into the freezing cold water bare-chested, dressed only in their pants or shorts and life vests.
About 48 firemen and 20 trimmers survived.
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