Many of them, no doubt, could not get
to the deck, but they had equally as good a chance as the
firemen, sixty-nine of whom were saved.
The supposition of those who manned the Titanic was that
the engineers, working below, were the first to know the desperate
character of the Titanic's injury. The watch called
the others, and from that time until the vessel was ready for
her last plunge they were too hard at work to note more than
that there was a constant rise of water in the hull, and that
the pumps were useless.
It was engineers who kept the lights going, saw to the proper
closing of bulkhead doors and kept the stoke hole at work
until the uselessness of the task was apparent. Most of them
probably died at their post of duty.
The Titanic carried a force of about sixty engineers, and in
addition she had at least twenty-five "guarantee" engineers,
representatives of Harland and Wolff, the builders, and those
who had the contract for the engineering work. This supplementary
force was under Archie Frost, the builders' chief
engineer, and the regular force was under Chief Engineer William
Bell, of the White Star Line.
On the line's ships there is the chief engineer, senior and
junior second, senior and junior third, and senior and junior
fourth engineers.
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