Samuel Ernest Hemming was a lamp trimmer of the RMS Titanic. He was also the last person to see Sixth Officer James Moody alive.
Samuel Ernest Hemming was born on December 24, 1868 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire as the son of John William Hemming, a coachman who was married to Elizabeth Abbott. Samuel was getting lessons in school in 1881.
At 15 years of age, in 1884, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. He would go on to serve aboard more than 15 different vessels, before reaching the rank of Able Seaman in 1888.
Samuel was married to Miss Elizabeth Emily Browning on June 4, 1903, and they had three children. They were Ernest Harry (b. 1904), Jessie Dorothy (b. 1906) and Thomas Robert. In 1911 they were living in Shirley, Hampshire. In 1907 he was employed by the White Star Line.
Titanic[]
Hemming had worked on Adriatic, Teutonic and lastly, Olympic before signing on Titanic on April 6, 1912 in Belfast.
At 7.15 P.M. on the night of April 14th, Hemming arrived on the bridge of the Titanic to report to First Officer Murdoch that the ship's navigation lights had all been lit. As he left, Murdoch called him back and asked if he would close the fore scuttle hatch. Murdoch had noticed that light was coming from the hatch and was concerned that it might interfere with the lookout’s ability to spot ice.
After the collision, Hemming and Boatswains Mate Albert Haines heard air escaping from the forepeak tank. They reported it to Chief Officer Wilde who was busy making an inspection. Hemming told Wilde that water was filling the forepeak tank but that the storeroom was still dry. Wilde left to report back to Captain Smith on the bridge.
Hemming was the last survivor to see sixth officer Moody, when he was on top of the officers' quarters, trying to launch Collapsible A (a collapsible canvas lifeboat) just a few minutes before the final sinking. When Hemming entered the bridge seconds after Captain Smith was seen walking towards it, he found the bridge apparently empty.
Daniel Allen Butler has an explanation for the seeming disappearance. He writes: "If Smith did indeed go to the bridge around 2:10 A.M. as Steward Brown said, and took refuge inside the wheelhouse, that would explain why Trimmer Hemming did not see him when he went onto the bridge a few minutes later. Earlier, at nightfall, the shutters on the Titanic‘s wheelhouse windows would have been raised, to keep the lights of the wheelhouse from interfering with the bridge officers’ night vision: Trimmer Hemming would have been unable to see Captain Smith had the captain indeed been inside the wheelhouse, awaiting his end."
Hemming didn't enter a lifeboat before the sinking of the Titanic. It is unknown when he entered the water, but he had been in it for quite a long time.Finally, he was pulled out of the water in a bad condition by lifeboat 4. He made a full recovery.
Later life[]
Hemming died in Southampton on 12 April 1928, aged 59.
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Sources[]
Image: http://hercolano2.blogspot.be/2012/04/titanic-lifeboats-extinguished-their.html