Would you sail on a historic ocean liner if it meant you had to work as a fireman during the voyage? If so, what ship would you choose?

My grandfather was a Cunard Fireman, never knew what he actually did until now. After finishing his time at sea, he went to work on the docks and then a shipbuilders yard.

Engineers "disappeared" Translation: he got battered over the head with a shovel and then thrown in the furnace to hide the evidence.

I love channels like yours, because they discuss lesser-known topics with such detail and passion that shows how those obscure parts of history are just as interesting and poignant as the popular ones. These men had a life just as much as any other, and channels like yours bring awareness to that. So, thanks for doing what you do!

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="215">3:35</a> guy is smoking a cig on top of a pile of coal next to a furnace. Fuckin legend

I'm a Licensed Chief Engineer and I started at the bottom over 40 years ago. Even in a modern engine room, 50C (122F) is not unheard of, and if you are below 40C (103F) you're generally sailing in a cold ocean. There are even a few coal fired vessel left - though the fireman is no longer shoveling into the furnace - he has to monitor the fire and keep the equipment operating. Coal still needs to be shifted and trimmed by hand. There is still plenty of hot, dirty, hard work involved in keeping ships operating. Not quite what it once was - berthing has come a long way. But its a good thing to remember where we've come from.

My great-grandfather was a fireman on Titanic (one of the few lucky enough to survive, certainly from my perspective!) Just wanted to say thanks for putting this together, as I don't really know much about what kind of life he had on the ship, only what his job was.

i have preformed this job. Shovel 1 3/4 tons of coal a hour into 2 scotch marine boilers on the SS J.Clare Miller...6 furnaces....3 each boiler.

I'm so glad that when I was a Boiler Tech in the Navy in the 70s, We burned Oil, rather then coal on the Gearing Class Destroyer I was serving on.

They used to die. Invariably 1 or 2 would die every voyage. “boys” were put in charge of the ships cook, and had to report to him at the end of their watch. The cook would strip them, stand them in a bowl and sponge them down. Thus they would survive. I was a stoker, for a while, in an oil-fired ship. It was a doddle! Very hot, yes, but no physical strength was required. And of course we cleaned the burners, changed the nozzles, and cleared the carbon from the furnace crowns and walls. It was burned up by the fire.

Arguably the most important responsibility of a Fireman, even more important than actually firing the boiler from a safety standpoint which you didn't mention, was maintaining the water level in the Boilers. You can't make Steam without water (and it is indeed fresh water since all ocean going vessels have to run Condensing in a closed loop to prevent corrosive saltwater from getting into the system). It's one thing to fire the boiler, but if she runs dry, then KABOOM! is what immediately follows. At <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="135">2:15</a> you can see the duplex feed pumps mounted vertically to the wall which took their water from the Hotwell, and at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="707">11:47</a> you can see the sight glass fixtures right next to the smoke ducts on the Scotch Boilers. It was sometimes difficult to read the glass in the dim, smokey confines of the boiler room, and the glass had to be blown down every watch to make sure they were reading accurately and not blocked with rust or sediment. Usually the boiler water levels were maintained by the most senior Fireman on the watch, known as the "Top Watch" or the "Boiler Tender" of the watch.

I can only imagine how tough and extremely difficult it was to be a fireman and a trimmer on a coal fired steamship. No modern ventilation or air conditioning, backbreaking work, having to share the crew quarters in a barracks style arrangement in the bow of the ship. I bet in some of those ships a bath consisted of standing over a drain and having someone pour a bucket of water over you, lathering up and then pouring water over you to rinse.

Left out one thing, firemen did have one privilege, due to the conditions they were given their own private promenade where they could go up on deck and get fresh air. This area was clearly viewed on the Titanic by first class passengers to their distaste.

As someone who’s been a fireman on a steam locomotives I know how lucky I’ve got it compared to these troopers

Thanks for sharing. The engine room is basically a prison on a ship. But at the same time they powered society within the ship.

I remember from a previous video, of yours, that firemen was suggested were better paid than this video seems to suggest. Terrible nature of the work, I wouldn't last 1 day there! Respect for those men

My grandfather was a Firefighter on a few WW2 submarines. He would tell me stories about the war time, the subs conditions & I was mesmerized. I wanted to be a Firefighter so bad, but I was super tiny. I was 5'0 and 80 pounds in my mid teens. I Ended up taking EMS courses & working with the ambulance service. I had a growth spurt & grew 6 inches gained over 20 pounds & a lot more muscle tone. I managed to work with the Volunteer Firefighters in a few very small towns/villages for a few seasons doing videotaping of the scenes & first-aid to anyone who needed it. I spent 23 years in EMS & I thank my grandpa for giving me an adventurous spirit & absolute fearless side.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="81">1:21</a>, <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="705">11:45</a> Look at the muscles on those men. The stoker with his shovel in the furnace at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="81">1:21</a>, the biceps and the veins on him. These men were likely never inside a purpose-built gymnasium in their lives, but they have muscles of iron. It gives an inkling of how arduous their labor was.

“Captain the ship is on FIRE!” “Call the fireman.” !?!

Awesome video. I never knew how much work those men did. I was definitely ignorant by thinking they just shoveled coal. Again awesome video.

Adding to a previous comment I left here: I know the common adage is "Wooden ships and iron men, iron ships and wooden men", but in all honestly this work sounds far more grueling than hauling ropes and climbing rigging. Sign me the hell up for crewing on a tall ship, but no way in hell you'll convince me to work in a steamship's boiler room. Diesel engines must've been a godsend.

Great video (I was probably one of the last firemen to work in a stokehold on the NSW coast). Great treatment of social and technical matters. Initially they tried to get the firemen to work sailors hours - 4 hours on / 4 hours off, but exhausted firemen lying about the deck meant the ships couldn't steam, hence the 4 hours on / 8 hours off system. The video mentions big ships could have Irish or Glaswegian/Gorbals firemen. Other ships had Lascars, Chinese or African crews, but never mixed. Small ships though might have 2 boilers and 6 furnaces, but with only 3 firemen, therefore 4 hours on and 8 hours off. The 3rd fireman had to be employed to make the ship go, but there might be only 2 engineers though (who worked the 24 hours on system). Often no trimmer was carried. Firemen also complained about companies buying cheap rubbish coal (low heat, high ash, clinkers), which greatly increased their workload. On smaller ships, the fireman was also expected to grease the engines and assist deckhands during berthing. The complete story must also mention what life ashore in the slums was like. Firemen at least needed food to work, and they had the "Black Pan" of galley leftovers to pick at. Like Navvies ashore, firemen needed a lot of food to do the work. Crowded tenements often had street toilets, which was normal for the time. Heads on ships were poor, but superior to toilets ashore. People washed in tubs, and baths were only for rich people.

Amazing video man. If you allow me to suggest some topics, if not for videos, for you to read about: - sinking of the principe de asturias, de Brazilian titanic - that Italian ship that sank literally after being launch, I forgot the name - classism in Ocean liners - longest serving ocean liners

One must love the unfortunate irony in the end there. Tale as old as time. "WE DEMAND BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS!" "Alright, we have improved the working conditions and efficiency. half of you are now no longer necessary, good luck with your job hunt."

I found your channel by accident and it is honestly already my favorite history channel. I absolutely love how much research goes into your videos and how informative and easy to understand you make them. As a sailor myself, it's always important to know the roots of maritime travel.

germans hiring hungarians and romanians in order to avoid tensions... oh boy, it must have been a fun work environment

Fascinating! In Sea Cadets I was lucky enough to get a 2 week sea phase on a Canadian Destroyer, the Iroquois, It was just me and 1 other cadet so life was normal on the ship, the Stokers were a different breed of people... I couldn't stand in the turbine room for more than 5 min with ear protection, I can't imagine a whole deployment!!!!!

My Great Grandfather was a fireman at sea for a few years after leaving the farm where he grew up in Ireland. It was the hard work of being a fireman that taught him how to work boilers so when he decided to stay in the US permanently he was able to be hired to work and maintain the boilers in a small factory.

Great video, my Grand Father was a Royal Navy Stoker in the 1890s and I often wonder about the working conditions he faced. He was invalided out due to health issues and I wonder how much of that was due to his work in the stokehold of a warship.

Fascinating video. Although the firemen certainly worked extremely hard,.. It seem by your description that the trimmers maybe had it worse because on top of the work on board they had to coal the ship in dock.

Finally someone that speaks for us. I was a fireman on oil fired ships, and then went to solid fueled stationary boilers. It was easy to learn, but it was constant work. The only difference between us and automation was automation didn't have unions or families. Thank you!

Thank you for another informative video. I've read firemen had to learn skills which would mean the difference of a crucial extra knot when navies burned coal. Also, Mississippi River boats often burned wood up until the 1880's. When at high speed they often burned a cord or more of wood an hour. They would go ashore and load wood on the ship. A term, known as wooding ship. Sometimes sparks would exit the stacks when racing. As evidenced on Currier & Ives prints. During races, the pressure relief valves were often tampered with so they did not release.

This was an insanely informative video. I can’t believe the care that goes into keeping those boilers running efficiently

As a retired Boiler Tech and Gas Turbine Mechanic (best of both worlds!) ... I can say USNavy Engineers had the respect they deserved! Especially the BTs!!!

Firemen: Proof that the men stayed iron when the ships became iron.

Theres no way those guys wouldve been nice and accepting, straght edge dudes. The working conditions are hell to bare, just imagine being exploited like that, working in these conditions and not being drunk all fkin day lol. People would probably just jump in the burners for free

Mention in this well made Documentary should have been made of the 'Lascar Seaman' Employed by British Shipping companies to work as Stokers and trimmers and what became of them upon the transition from Coal to Fuel

Thanks, dude for covering these fascinating and ignored aspects of maritime history.

That "suprisingly populair video" is also the first one that i got recommended xD since then ive been happily watching every recommendation :P

"Kilroy Stoking Regulator" much like the shirtless "horator" pounding on a drum in a rowing galley, some things didn't change in the galley even after steam.

Before I watched this video, I thought it will be about the people who extinguish flame in case of fire on the ship.

Thank you for not adding background music. Great vids

Amazing these men worked in 120F on a ship while some workers today complain about 90F indoors on solid ground.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="683">11:23</a> you sold that pun so hard man 🤪

Love every single of your videos, so great to get a better understanding of that time period. A question related to that: in the Titanic movie when they are about to hit the iceberg one of the firemen says: „close all the dampers?!“ Do you know what that means and why they do that?

Wonderful, wonderful video. I’d always been so curious about them and yours is the first video I’ve come across on here that has been dedicated to this topic. Amazing job, and thank you so much for compiling this information for us!

I work in a hot sweaty warehouse all night loading trailers for trucks. There's a lot of similarities between my job and this and it's frightening. We go unseen and unheard As long as your package gets there on time nobody cares. But for the most part that's how we like it we show up we do our job and we go home.

Well this kinda fireman love a hot one! Not like you’re neighborhood ones!

Since you have made a video on the great German liners, would you be willing to make a video on Bremen and Europa, the two Liners of the Lloyd in the 30s? Both do have pretty interesting stories

@the great big move I feel u have a lot of respect for these people and I appreciate it a lot

Well said. Thanks to this channel for preserving this important history. Love the reciprocating steam marine engines which are probably still the torquiest and strongest engines of any type to this day.

^^^^^^^^Engineer, US Merchant Marine (ret).........I once had a Chief Engineer that had worked on coal burners running between Seattle and Alaska back in the 1950's. Having sailed on plenty of WW2 steam ships I can attest to the nature of the Black Gang even up through the Viet Nam War and later.

The amount of trouble we have to go through to just make steam always astonished me.

Great video. Super informative on a subject that's been virtually invisible.

Above decks, graceful and harmonious full of comfort and joyous lovelyness and niceness with little baby angels singing. Below deep within the bottom bowls of the ship. Hell on Earth!

Absolutely excellent. And the black gang didn't entirely change as long as ships were powered by steam.

Great video! When I first started reading books about the Titanic and ships during this time period ... your videos would have been a HUGE help in understanding the jobs/duties of each specific ship worker. Perfect length of video ... really great work!

These are great videos. I really enjoy this series on ships. Thank you!

Being a power plant firemen this gives me pride

I love every bit of these engineering details, along with the tidbits of food and logistical stats on the Titanic. This is greater entertainment for me than watching music videos all day every day.

so interesting! thanks much! was always wondering about these things

Great video, this subject is fascinating for me, but rarely gets looked at, so thank you.

For a great story about lead fireman Frederick Barrett of the Titanic, check out Saving the Titanic. Awesome story

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="219">3:39</a> I find it funny that they’re smoking.

Well done!!

Great feature video! Pitty how people view fireman at the time I wonder if the Titanic disaster and the near mutiny on the Olympic changed that?

Thank you for another great video.

I subscribed after the bunkering video, this channel is absolutely wonderful and a total guilty pleasure of mine

Very informative, great stuff, thanks!

Very educational. Thanks!

great and informational video!

Thanks for the video! The story of my people.

At least the Titanic's stokers didn't have to suffer their awful accommodation for very long.

In today's money, Captain Smith made around £116,698.09 or $160,637.84 annually.

This is my favorite and most reliable source of ship information, thank you so much for the reliable information. Also I have a request, can you make a video about the first superliner Kaiser Whilhelm Der Grosse? I love the ocean liner and I have not seen a video of it on youtube yet :(.

Did not need the HD roach footage today

i wanted to watch this vid but it is premiered so it got buried so deep in my sub. glad i found it again.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and many of your videos. MORE PLEASE !!!!

Lol I clicked for the eye candy in the thumbnail, stayed for the historical lesson. 😊

i would choose the titanic and be one of the survivors that got through the doors before they closed

I might be seeing things but one of those dock photos looks like it has the Southwestern hotel in Southampton in the background (opposite side of the road to the White star HQ) both buildings still stand btw.

I just started watching 1899 & the First episode "The Ship" had me thinking abt the Firemen. & wow Ur Video developed my interest more. I'll be watching alot more of ur videos.

Very well done video.

Your channel is awesome keep up the great content,a request perhaps you could do a video on Titanics little sister Britanic

Was there ever any coal dust explosions in the boilers, or in the Coal bunkers?

God bless those men.

Very informative!

I'm thrilled for this one!

Well done brother and family .....that is the million dollar idea congratulations

Very fascinating!

My FIRST hour/day on a Navy ship was on an old training destroyer (USS English). When asked where the new guys wanted to work for that 2 weeks, I asked what were the options. The chief mentioned Engineering. I always wanted to be an Engineer so I raised my hand (for the last time in the Navy). I didn't realize that the Navy's definition of "Engineering" was different than mine. Engineering in the Navy was the fire (boiler) room. I learned an important lesson that day.

What is not mentioned here, is that ocean liners were not the only ships requiring stokers. So did all of the freight and packet steamers around the world that had taken over from the sailing vessels (not to forget utility vessels such as tugs). They too, would eventually either be pensioned off or converted to oil-firing, but the employment opportunities for ocean-going stokers did not end with the conversion of the liners. It did end, though... that much can be acknowledged.

you earned a sub.

Great lecture. Period

The actual topic here is the state of labor relations at sea. Not much has changed since then. There are yet people who's labor is essential, but they are still treated with contempt.

These men were absolute beasts! I wouldn’t wanna go up against anyone of them. One of the first pics.. my god. The dude is absolutely STACKED. Huge pecs, big biceps, huge forearms. If a bunch of guys like that mutinied, I’d give them whatever the hell they wanted and go lock myself behind a safe door! Lmao

Full view Liked, watched several of your vids

One of the stories I've read (from Lightoller if I remember correctly) has always stuck with me; the writer describes one of those hard-nosed engineers who went below to give the firemen a tounge-lashing, or maybe to "encourage" a better performance then he was currently satisfied with. He was never seen again, the rumor going around (according to the author) that he was brained in the head with a shovel, and his body shoved in one of the furnaces.

Very interesting.

Thanks for telling the stories of the black gangs