Joseph Bell

Joseph Bell (4 May 1861 – 15 April 1912) was a British engineer who served as chief engineer of the during the ship's ill-fated maiden voyage. All the engineers died in the sinking; his body, if recovered, has never been identified.

Early life Joseph Bell was born in May 1861 in Farlam, Cumberland. He was the first son of John Bell Sr. and Margaret Watson, both agricultural entrepreneurs. He had three siblings: Jane (born 1864), Richard (1865) and John Jr. (1868). His mother, Margaret, died shortly after giving birth to her last child.

Following a coal bunker fire in Boiler Room No. 5, extinguished on 13 April, Bell ordered Leading Fireman Frederick Barrett to arrange an inspection of the watertight bulkhead. While anchored in Queenstown, White Star Line Chairman J. Bruce Ismay called Bell to his cabin and discussed the matter of the ship's performance.

On the night of 14 April, shortly before Titanic hit the iceberg, the engine crew received an order from the bridge to stop the engines in an attempt to slow the ship. Despite the crew's best efforts, Titanic could not avoid the iceberg and just scrapped by it. After the collision, Ismay, while returning from the bridge met Bell near the "main companionway" and asked him if he believed that the ship was seriously damaged. Bell told him, "he thought the damage was serious, but that he hoped the pumps would be able to control the water."

Quartermaster Alfred Olliver entered the engine room to find Bell at work and gave him a message from Captain Smith. Bell looked at the note and went back to work. When Bell asked what he wanted, Olliver stated that he was waiting for a response to the Captain's message. Bell told him to tell the Captain that "he would get it done as soon as possible." According to coal trimmer Thomas Dillion, Bell ordered the watertight doors forward of the engine room until Boiler Room no. 4 to be open to allow the engineers to do their duty with the valves and pumps.

Bell's last possible sighting was by Second Officer Charles Lightoller, who wrote in his autobiography that he saw all the engineers on deck before the ship went down. Titanic sank at 2:20 A.M. on 15 April. Bell and all the other engineers aboard the ship were among the approximately 1,500 people who perished. His body was likely never recovered.

Death Bell and the engineers are believed to have remained in the engine room, urging the stokers and firemen to keep the boilers active, allowing the pumps to continue their work and ensuring the electricity remained on as long as possible. Popular belief persisted that Bell and his men stayed below decks, never abandoning their posts, working to keep the lights and the power on in order for distress signals to get out, and they all died inside of Titanic. However, there is evidence to suggest that at least some of the engineers were released to come on deck when the flooding by 1:20 A.M. became severe; between approximately 1:50 and 1:55 A.M., Greaser Frederick Scott testified to seeing eight engineers standing up against the electric crane on the starboard Boat Deck; by then, all the lifeboats had gone with the exception of two collapsible rafts which were subsequently washed off deck before they could be launched.

Personal life Bell married Maud Bates in 1892, and they moved to Tottenham, Middlesex. The couple had four children: Frances John, called Frank (1896), Marjorie Clare (1899), Eileen Maud (1901), and Ralph Douglas (1908). Shortly after the birth of Eileen, the family moved to Crosby, Lancashire.

In 1911, Bell found lodging in Belfast, along with his wife and younger son. Their two daughters remained in Crosby, cared for by both a housekeeper and their aunt and uncle, Bell's sister Jane and brother-in-law William Hugh Lowthian. while the then fifteen-year-old Frank was studying at the Grosvenor College in Carlisle and later did an apprenticeship at the Harland & Wolff shipyards. The Titanic Engineers' Memorial in Southampton names and commemorates Bell and the other engineers of the ship.

Portrayals Harry Cording (1953) - Titanic Emerton Court (1958) - A Night to Remember (British film) Tony Haygarth (1979) - S.O.S. Titanic (TV Movie) Stephen Dimopoulos (1996) - Titanic (miniseries) Terry Forrestal (1997) - Titanic Rhidian Bridge (2011) - Curiosity: What Sank Titanic? (TV episode) David Wilmot (2012) - Saving The Titanic; PBS TV Movie