Another Titanic, Britannic Survivor, Archie Jewel-- Part 2: Not So Lucky On the Donegal

In 1916, Jewel left the White Star Line and was hired onto the SS Donegal, a passenger  ship put into service in 1904.

It was converted into a hospital ship during World War I which transported wounded soldiers between France and England.

On 1 March 1917, one of these voyage encountered a German U-boat and the Donegal was torpedoed.  Badly damaged, the Donegal was able to get away, but was not repaired.  On 17 April 1917, another German submarine torpedoed the Donegal without warning and the ship sank 19 nautical miles  south of Dean.

Twelve crew members and  29 British soldiers died.  Archie Jewel was one of the dead crew members.  he was only 28 years old.  His body was never recovered.  

John Priest was also on board the Donegal, but survived.

--Cooter

Another Titanic, Britannic Survivor: Arthur Jewel-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

While looking up stuff about Arthur John Priest, I came across this man's name.  The Wikipedia article said that besides Priest, there were two others who survived both the Titanic and Britannic's sinkings, Violet Jessup and Arthur Jewel.

And, there was one more ship he was on, the SS Donegal, a hospital ship that was sunk by a German U-boat, but this one he did not survive.

He started working for the White Star Line in 1904 at the age of 16 and was a seaman on the Oceanic for eight years.  On April 6, 1912, he was transferred to the RMS Titanic as one of six lookouts along with George Symons.  They were in the lookout station in the crows next right before the collision with the iceberg but had been relieved by Reginald Lee and Frederick Fleet.

He survived by being put in command of Lifeboat 7.

He was working on the HMHS Britannic  and survived its sinking on  21 November 1916, along with  stewardess Violet Jessup and stoke Arthur John Priest.

--DaCoot

Here Is Another Triple White Star Survivor, John Arthur Priest (Olympic, Titanic and Britannic)

From the March 23, 2021, ListVerse  "Top 10 luckiest unlucky  people whose luck nearly killed them.

The subject of the last two posts, Violet Jessup is also in this list.  But, this is a different person who also survived the Titanic and the Britannic sinkings.  And, he was on the Olympic as well.  Plus, he had two other ships sink while he was on it.  A true "unsinkable" as it were.

His name was Arthur John Priest.

Arthur John Priest worked as a stoker, or "fireman," whose job it was  to keep the boilers of a ship constantly steaming  by shoveling coal into them.    As such, they were well below the waterline and near the bottom of one of those massive triple sisters of the White Star Line.

While serving on the Olympic in 1911,  he survived when the ship was struck and holed by the HMS Hawke below the waterline, but did not sink.

The following year, he got a job on the Olympic's sister ship, the you-know-what.

--Cooter

'Miss Unsinkable' on Three Ships That, Well, You Know-- Part 1: Miss Violet Jessup

All of these recent posts have been from History Channel's "6 famous coincidences."

"Miss Unsinkable" Violet Jessop was on board three giant  sister ships (Titanic, Olympic and Britannic) when disaster struck them... and lived to tell about it.

Born in Argentina to Irish immigrants, Jessop left  convent school back in Britain after her mother, a stewardess  on the Royal Mail Line, became ill.  To provide for her family, the 21-year-old became a ship stewardess as well, working for the Royal Mail Line as well before moving on to the White Star Line

Locked in a huge competition with the Cunard Line,  the White Star launched  a trio of gigantic luxury liners, the Olympic, Titanic and Britannic

In September 1911, Violet Jessop was serving aboard the Olympic on its fifth commercial voyage when the ship collided with the HMS Hawke near the Isle of Wight in Southern England.  (It was later determined that the suction from the Olympic had pulled the Hawke into the liner.)

But, That's Not All.  --Cooter

White Star Line-- Part 2: Joined With Cunard Line

In 1934, the White Star Line merged with its chief rival, the Cunard Line and the two then became known as the Cunard-White Line.  I always get the two two confused and often refer to the Titanic as a Cunard ship.

In 1950, the Cunard Line then began to operate solely by itself and did so until 2005.  It is now part of the Carnival Corporation.  So, when you go on a Carnival Cruise, you are on s hip whose company history goes back to the Titanic and into the 1800s.

Cunard ships now use the term White Star to describe the level of customer care expected.  In other words, a lot.

The first White Star Company was established in 1845 in Liverpool and focused on the United Kingdom-Australia trade routes.

Crusing With the Coot--  Cooter

White Star Line-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Since I have been doing several blog entries of late on the Titanic, I might as well talk about the company that owned the big ship.

The official name of the company was the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, or White Star Line of Boston Packet, more commonly known simply as the White Star Line.

The company was a prominent British shipping endeavor, known for its ground-breaking vessel, the Oceanic in 1870, the RMS Titanic and the World War I loss of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic.  Their ships generally ended with the letters "ic."

--DasCoot

The Titanic's Lifeboats After the Sinking

From Wikipedia.

Thirteen lifeboats were retrieved by the Carpathia and taken to the White Star Line's Pier 59 in New York where souvenir hunters soon began stripping much of their equipment.  The Titanic nameplates were removed by the company.

The boats were inventoried by C,M. lane Lifeboat Co. of Brooklyn.  Their assessed salvage was $4,972 collectively and they were the only salvageable items from the Titanic.

They may have been taken back to England on the Olympic which left 23 May 1912.  there, they were either destroyed or redistributed to other ships of the company.

Nothing remains of the life boats but fitting taken by souvenir hunters.  One of them is a bronze White Star Line bungee now at the museum of the Titanic Historical Society.

A full-size replica of a lifeboat is on display at the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction.

--Cooter

SS Germanic

Back on June 18, 2012, I wrote about the remains of the British submarine E-14 being found off the Turkish coast back then.  It had two commanders who received the distinguished Victoria Cross during its operations in World War I.

This is a follow up[ on it.

The first captain won his VC when he slipped his ship through heavily guarded straits during the Gallipoli Campaign and over three weeks sank 2 Turkish (Ottoman) warships and a White Star cruise liner carrying 6,000 Turkish troops.

That White Star liner (same company as the Titanic) had been the SS Germanic and built by Harland & Wolff (same ones who built the Titanic) in 1875.  In 1893, it was sold to an American company and in 1910, bought by Turkey and given the name Gul Djemal.

During World War I it became an Ottoman troopship before being sunk by the E-14.  It was raised and continued carrying Turkish troops to the end of the war.

After the war, it was in the Ottoman-American Line and carried immigrants to America for a new life.  It stopped that in 1931 and became the Gulcemal, survived World War II and eventually became a floating hotel before being scrapped in 1950.

During its career, the ship survived three major mishaps, two world wars and is the second-longest serving ocean liner in history.

--Cooter