Archie Jewell was an AB seaman (Able-Bodied Seaman), and one of six lookouts. Having previously served on the Oceanic for eight years, Archie was one of 70 experienced crew of the 800 employees on the Titanic.
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| Archie Jewell, 1888-1917 |
Archibald Jewell was born on December 4, 1888 in Cornwall, England. His father was also a sailor who was away at sea a lot. Nevertheless he supported seven children - Archie as the youngest, two older sisters and four older brothers. Archie's mother died on April 9, 1891 when he was two.
In 1903, when Archie was 15, he started working on smaller ships to learn the trade. In 1904 he was hired by the White Star Line as a full AB seaman on the RMS Oceanic.
Archie signed on to work on the Titanic on April 6, 1912 as one of the six lookouts. Lookouts worked in pairs. On the night of April 15, 1912, he was scheduled for lookout duty twice: once between 20:00 and 22:00 and again from 2:00 to 4:00 with another sailor named George Symons who had transferred from the Oceanic at the same time as Archie. They were to be relieved by lookouts Reginald Lee and Frederick Fleet.
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The Carpathia moored in New York at Pier 54 on the evening of Thursday April 18. Archie took the Lapland back to England on April 29, 1912 which docked at Plymouth. His home was in Southampton. The crew was detained overnight to be questioned by the Board of Trade Commission. He was released at 1:30pm on April 30, 1912. He took the train back to Southampton for a few days of respite before going to Scottish Drill Hall in London to testify at the British Wreck Commission on May 3, 1912.
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Archie Jewell testified British Wreck Commission |
Archie was one of the first survivors to testify. The Solicitor General asked him 331 questions. Here's an excerpt:
Question: About the glasses (binoculars), why they were not provided on the Titanic and did it hinder your ability to do your job?
Archie explained:
"We asked for glasses (binoculars), which normally would have been provided on the ship. But the Captain had removed an officer from his post and put him off the ship. Whether for spite or by accident, he took the lockbox key with him when he left the ship. Some of the other lookouts thought that the glasses might have been locked in his cabin, but after the Captain said to break in and look, the glasses were not there. We broke into the lockbox in the crow's nest and they were not there either. We did our job without them."
Question: Titanic was scheduled to have a lifeboat drill on the first Sunday of the voyage. Was the drill conducted on Sunday?
"No, the Captain said the wind was too strong that day and he canceled the drill."
(The testimony from quite a few witnesses at the Senate Committee in the USA was that the Captain was attending a 'millionaire's dinner' where alcohol was consumed and he canceled the drill because of that.)
Question: Trace your steps on the night of the collision.
"On the night of April 14, 1912, George Symons and I were on our two hour watch from 8pm to 10pm. At 9:30pm we received a call from the bridge: "Keep a sharp lookout for all ice, big and small." Up to that time, we had seen no ice and we told the next watch when Reginald Lee and Frederick Fleet relieved us at 10pm.
"When the collision happened, I had turned in for the night and was awakened by a noise. I went up on deck to investigate, saw ice on the deck, but didn't think anything of it. I went back to my cabin and a few minutes later, the bosun knocked on the door and said 'All hands on deck.'
"That morning, assignments for the lifeboat stations were posted for the crew. I went to my assigned station which was Lifeboat #7. All women and children that were in the vicinity were put in the lifeboat. All but four passengers were women and children. It was the first boat to be lowered with 28 people. It wasn't full to capacity of 65. It could have taken a few more if there had been more women and children waiting on deck to board.
"I was one of four crewmen who was told to get in Lifeboat #7 and row. Titanic was listing and it was best to row the lifeboats away from the sides. About an hour and a half later, we watched Titanic disappear into the sea."
Question: Describe what you saw happen to the Titanic before she went down.
"I could see her gradually sinking. We could see people running about on deck. As she went down by the head, all her lights had been brightly shining and now they began to go out a few at a time. We could hear some explosions as she was going down. All the lights went out for the last time, the stern remained in the air only a few moments. We could see nothing but a black object in front of us, as Titanic descended into the sea."
After surviving the sinking of the Titanic, Archie served as crew on the HMHS Britannic. He got married in 1915 to Bessie Heard and they had one child, Raymond Hope Jewell, in the fall of 1916.
Archie served on the HMHS Britannic which was commissioned during World War I as a hospital ship. It hit a deep sea mine and sunk on November 21, 1916. Of the 1065 people on board, 30 to 35 people died. It was found in about 400 feet of water by explorer Jacques Cousteau in December 1975.
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| HMHS Britannic sunk in 1916 |
Archie survived the sinking of the Britannic along with two former Titanic crew members - Violet Jessop, a stewardess, and Arthur John Priest, a stoker, who survived on the Olympic when it collided with the HMS Hawke.
Arthur John Priest was on the RMS Asturias when it sunk on her maiden voyage in 1907 and he survived the Merchant Cruiser Alcantara when the German SMS Greif sank each other in February 1916.
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| Damage on HMS Hawke after collision with Olympic |
In 1917, with a new baby boy at home, Archie left White Star Line and was hired on a passenger ship, the SS Donegal. His friend and coworker from Titanic, Arthur John Priest, also transferred to the Donegal.
During World War I, the SS Donegal had been converted into a hospital ship and was used primarily to transport wounded soldiers from France to England.
On March 1, 1917, with the SS Donegal clearly marked as a hospital ship, a torpedo from a German submarine badly damaged the ship. The Donegal managed to survive by outrunning the German sub. However, it wasn't repaired properly before going back into service less than two weeks later.
The German Navy attacked a number of hospital ships. Toward the end of the war, the British Government stopped identifying those ships because the Germans were targeting them without regard for their safety status.
They are a few unwritten rules of war:
-Clearly mark all emergency transport vehicles
-Clearly mark hospitals and treatment facilities
-Don't bomb the hospital vehicles or treatment facilities
-Don't kill the medical people.
On April 17, 1917, with a full Royal Navy escort, and displaying proper placards and flags, the SS Donegal was making its way to Southampton with 610 non-critical wounded soldiers and about 70 crew members when it was torpedoed by a German submarine. This time the torpedo sunk the ship. Archie Jewell died with 12 other crew members and 29 British soldiers. Archie's body was never found.
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| SS Donegal torpedoed by German Submarine |
His friend, Arthur John Priest, survived the SS Donegal sinking and was awarded the Mercantile Marine Ribbon for his service.
In May 1917, Archie's wife, father, son, friends, shipmates, and his six siblings attended a service at the Tower Hill Memorial in Trinity Square (war graves memorial site) where a plaque bears Archie's name and joins the other casualties of war.
His son Raymond contracted a serious illness while attending Exeter Academy. He died on December 10, 1930 at the age of 14.
Archie's father outlived him and died on January 19, 1936.
Interesting Reading
Violet Jessop - Stewardess
Joseph Scarrott - Crew
Daniel Buckley - Crew
Salaries and Duties of Lookouts
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https://thehistorybuff-titanic.blogspot.com
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