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List of crew who deserted or failed to sail on Titanic

For whatever reason, a number of people who signed on to be crew aboard Titanic deserted or failed to sail aboard the maiden voyage of the ship to New York. Most of those who deserted or failed to join signed on as a member of crew on 4th or 6th April 1912. Those who reported to the ship and did what was required, but then left the ship and didn’t return, were considered to be deserters; those who failed to report to the ship and do what was required were considered as failed to join.

The List below, mostly sourced from the United Kingdom's Board of Trade’s Account of changes in the crew of a foreign-going ship (BT 100/259, The National Archives, Kew), gives the name, job and reason why they were not on-board Titanic by the time the ship departed land for the last time:

Deserted ship in Queenstown, Titanic’s last port of call, on 11th April 1912:

John Coffey – Fireman – Deserted

Crew who were supposed to be aboard Titanic at the time of her departure from Southampton on 10th April 1912, but were not:

C. Blake – Trimmer – Failed to join

F. T. Bowman - Assistant Cook - Failed to join

B. Brewer – Trimmer – Deserted

W. Burrows – Fireman – Left by consent

F Carter – C.T – Failed to join

W. W. Dawes – Steward – Discharged

P. Dawkins – Assistant Cook - Failed to join

P. Ettlinger – Steward – Discharged

B. Fish – Steward –Failed to join

R. Fisher – Plate Steward – Failed to join

A. Haveling – Junior Assistant 4th Engineer – Transferred

F. Holden – Fireman – Deserted

P. Kilford –Steward – Left sick

A. Manby – Steward – Failed to join

W. J. Mewe – Sauce Cook - Failed to join

E di Napoli - Assistant Waiter – Failed to join

V. Penny – Trimmer – Deserted

J. Shaw – Fireman – Deserted

W. Sims – Fireman – Left by consent

Alfred Slade – Fireman – Deserted (Returned to Titanic only just too late after drinking in a nearby pub.)

Bertram Slade – Fireman – Deserted (Returned to Titanic only just too late after drinking in a nearby pub.)

Thomas Slade – Fireman – Deserted (Returned to Titanic only just too late after drinking in a nearby pub.)

Not considered to be a deserter or a failed to join the ship, but another person who was supposed to be on board Titanic, and indeed was on her trip from Belfast to Southampton, was David Blair, who was originally Titanic’s 2nd Officer. At near the last moment he lost his place on the maiden voyage due to an officer reshuffle to allow Henry Wilde, Olympic’s Chief Office, to become the Chief Officer of Titanic; William Murdoch was demoted from chief to first, Charles Lightoller from first to second, and the one who lost out, or potentially had his life saved, was David Blair.

Related pages - Titanic Lifeboats, All Titanic Pages

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