Joseph Boxhall

Boxhall was born in Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, the second child of Miriam and Captain Joseph Boxhall. He was born into an established seafaring tradition: His grandfather had been a mariner, his uncle was a Trinity House buoymaster and Board of Trade official, and his father was a respected master with the Wilson Line of Hull.

Boxhall followed in the footsteps of his ancestors on 2 June 1899, when he joined his first ship, a barque of the William Thomas Line of Liverpool. Boxhall's apprenticeship lasted four years, during which time he travelled extensively. He then went to work with his father at Wilson Line, and obtained his Master's and Extra-Master's certifications in September 1907, giving him the highest marine certificate of any officer aboard Titanic.{{Cite web |title=RMS Titanic Fourth Officer, Joseph G. Boxhall |url=https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/Titanic/02-Officers.html |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=www.ggarchives.com}} Afterwards, he joined the White Star Line.{{Cite web |title=United States Senate Inquiry Day 3 |url=https://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq03Boxhall01.php |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=Titanic Inquiry Project}} On 1 October 1911, he was confirmed as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve.{{Cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28587/pages/1663|title=London Gazette, 5 March 1912}} He served on White Star's liners {{RMS|Oceanic|1899|6}} and Arabic before moving to Titanic as Fourth Officer in 1912; he was then 28 years old.{{Cite web |title=RMS Titanic: Fourth Officer Boxhall |url=https://web.kamihq.com/web/viewer.html?state=%7B%22ids%22%3A%5B%221RtHVhpIDEq3MXdM4WWwoUGy_znCAriPG%22%5D%2C%22action%22%3A%22open%22%2C%22userId%22%3A%22116323042245880596608%22%7D&filename=undefined&kami_user_id=19085093 |access-date=February 28, 2025 |website=A Quiet Sea}}

Like the ship's other junior officers, Boxhall reported to White Star's Liverpool offices at nine o'clock in the morning on 26 March 1912, and travelled to board the ship at Belfast the following day. Before Titanic departed Southampton on 10 April, Boxhall assisted with the ship's brief lifeboat test. Following that, he settled into his regular duties; these included scheduled watches, aiding in navigation, and assisting passengers and crew when necessary. On the evening of 14 April, Boxhall began his last watch at 8:00 PM, set to last until midnight, and spent "a great deal of time in the chartroom, evaluating previous navigational data and stellar fixes from Third Officer [Herbert] Pitman." He updated Titanic{{'}}s position and reported the information to Captain Smith. He updated the ship's position once again at 10:00, incorrectly determining that any ice was to the north of the ship.

When Titanic collided with an iceberg at 11:40 pm on 14 April, Officer Boxhall was on duty but was not on the bridge. At the two inquiries held into the sinking in 1912 he stated he was standing on the boat deck just outside the officers' quarters. However, in his 1962 BBC interview he stated that he was in his cabin, having gone there to make tea.{{Cite news |date=2012-04-04 |title=Titanic: 'I heard the screams' recalls officer |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-17608915 |access-date=2025-02-28 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Hearing the lookout bell, he headed immediately to the bridge, arriving just after the impact. Captain Smith, who had also just arrived on the bridge, assessed the situation as best he could while the senior officers gathered in the bridge. Boxhall went off to inspect the damage and on his way down he came across passengers on the forward well-deck playing with ice.{{Cite news |last=Leased Wire |first=The United Press |date=April 23, 1912 |title=Vivid Stories Told of how Great Ship Sank |url=https://web.kamihq.com/web/viewer.html?state=%7B%22ids%22%3A%5B%221fy4LuqupgNF2xxVJ3ZjFZc1dMhHUPN3x%22%5D%2C%22action%22%3A%22open%22%2C%22userId%22%3A%22116323042245880596608%22%7D&filename=undefined&kami_user_id=19085093 |access-date=February 28, 2025 |work=The Tacoma Times |pages=1}} He went as far as F-Deck and found no damage, but was later intercepted by the ship's carpenter, John Hutchinson, who informed him that the ship was taking water, which was later confirmed by a mail clerk to Boxhall and Captain Smith. On the return trips up, he also noticed light ice scattered across the forward well deck.

Officer Boxhall sighted lights in the distance, possibly the masthead light of the cargo steamer SS Californian, and attempted in vain to signal by using the morse lamp located atop Titanic{{'}}s starboard bridge wing cab.{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Special to The New York |date=1912-04-24 |title=LIGHTS MAY HAVE BEEN STARS; Gen. Uhler Thinks Titanic's Officers May Have Been Deluded by Them. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/04/24/archives/lights-may-have-been-stars-gen-uhler-thinks-titanics-officers-may.html |access-date=2025-02-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Milford |first=Joshua Allen |title=Timeline Article: Fourth Officer Boxhall Notices A Light in the Distance |url=https://www.jmilford-titanic.com/2014/10/april-15-1912-fourth-officer-boxhall.html |access-date=2025-02-28 |language=en}} Boxhall once again charted Titanic{{'}}s position so that a distress signal could be sent out, incorrectly finding it as 41° 46' N, 50° 14' W.Bartlett 2011, p. 120. He assisted in firing eight distress rockets from the starboard bridge wing in an attempt to signal to the distant ship, though that task also proved fruitless. After asking Captain Smith about Titanic{{'}}s condition, he was told that she would sink in about an hour.Fitch, Layton & Wormstedt 2012, p. 183.

Officer Boxhall was placed in charge of lifeboat No. 2, which was lowered from the port side at 1:45 am with 18 people aboard out of a possible 40. Despite being ordered to pull towards the starboard aft gangway doors, the lifeboat rowed away from the ship for fear of being pulled down by suction. Boxhall did not actually see Titanic founder, as her lights had gone out and his lifeboat was about {{convert|3/4|nmi|km|round=0.5|abbr=off}} distant. Boxhall spotted the {{RMS|Carpathia}} on the horizon around 4:00 am and guided her towards Titanic{{'}}s lifeboats with a green flare. As the lifeboat pulled alongside Carpathia, a passenger in the boat named Mrs. Douglas called out "Titanic has gone down with everyone aboard!" Boxhall quickly replied with "Shut up, lady!" Boxhall later apologised for his outburst, but both he and Brown agreed that it was acceptable, given the circumstances they had just endured and their current conditions.Lord, Walter (2005) [1955]. A Night to Remember. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. {{ISBN|978-0-8050-7764-3}}.

After arriving in New York on April 28, Boxhall was examined by a doctor and was excused from testifying in the American inquiry into the sinking, but nonetheless he testified about a week later. He and his fellow surviving officers were allowed to leave New York on the Adriatic on 2 May.Othfors, Daniel (23 March 2018). "Adriatic (II)". The Great Ocean Liners. After returning to England, Boxhall bore witness again, this time at the British inquiry. Much of his testimony concerned details of the lifeboat lowerings and Titanic{{'}}s navigation, including the many ice warnings. He was also the first person to testify that he saw another vessel in proximity while Titanic sank.{{Cite web |title=British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry, Day 13 |url=https://www.titanicinquiry.org/BOTInq/BOTInq13Boxhall01.php |access-date=February 28, 2025 |website=Titanic Inquiry Project}}

Following the sinking of Titanic, Boxhall briefly served as Fourth Officer on White Star's Adriatic. He was promoted to lieutenant in the RNR on 27 May 1915.{{Cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29206/pages/6168|title=London Gazette, 25 June 1915}} During the First World War, he was commissioned to serve for one year aboard the battleship {{HMS|Commonwealth|1903|6}} before being dispatched to Gibraltar, where he commanded a torpedo boat.

Boxhall returned to White Star following the war in May 1919, having married Marjory Beddells two months prior.{{Cite web |title=Joseph Groves Boxhall - The Last Man Standing |url=http://museumcollections.hullcc.gov.uk/collections/storydetail.php?irn=152&master=454 |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=museumcollections.hullcc.gov.uk}} On 27 May 1923, he was promoted to lieutenant-commander in the RNR.{{Cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/32833/pages/4133|title=London Gazette, 12 June 1923}} He signed on as second officer on board {{RMS|Olympic}}{{snd}} the lead ship of the three Olympic-class vessels which Titanic was the second ship constructed{{snd}} on 30 June 1926. After the White Star-Cunard merger in 1933, he served in senior capacity as First and later Chief Officer of the {{RMS|Aquitania}}, although he was never made a captain in the merchant marine. He also served as First Officer on SS Berengeria and as Chief Officer on RMS Scythia.

File:Joseph Boxhall on the set of A Night To Remember.png as the Technical Advisor for the film]]

After 41 years at sea, Boxhall retired in 1940. Boxhall was a generally taciturn and quiet man, usually reluctant to speak about his experiences on Titanic. However, in 1957, he acted as a technical advisor for the film adaptation of Walter Lord's historical account, A Night to Remember—later to attend the film's worldwide premiere in Odeon Leicester Square alongside Third Officer Pitman—and also gave a BBC interview in 1962.Ward, Greg (2012). The Rough Guide to the Titanic. London: Rough Guides Ltd. {{ISBN|978-1-4053-8699-9}}{{Cite web |date=April 11, 2012 |title=Belfast's MacQuitty made unsinkable film |url=https://www.irishecho.com/2012/4/belfast-e2-80-99s-macquitty-made-unsinkable-film |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=Irish Echo Newspaper |language=en}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44HJ5ggTPfQ |title=Titanic's Fourth Officer, Joseph Boxhall - BBC Radio Interview (1962) |date=2023-09-04 |last=Titanic Archive |access-date=2025-02-28 |via=YouTube}}

His health deteriorated rapidly in the 1960s, and he was eventually hospitalised. The last surviving deck officer of Titanic, Boxhall died of cerebral thrombosis on 25 April 1967 at the age of 83. His body was cremated and according to his last wishes, his ashes were scattered to sea at 41°46N 50°14W—the position he had calculated as Titanic{{'}}s final resting place over 50 years earlier.Encyclopedia Titanica (2003) Obituary (Southern Evening Echo, Thursday 27th April 1967, ref: #391, published 28 August 2003, generated 28th February 2025 04:21:06 PM); URL : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/obituary-1.html

He is commemorated with a green plaque located at his former home at The Avenues, Kingston upon Hull.{{Cite web |last=Plaques |first=Open |title=Joseph Groves Boxhall (1884-1967) Fourth Officer of RMS Titanic and survivor of the disaster lived here |url=https://openplaques.org/plaques/9278 |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=openplaques.org |language=en-GB}}

• Jack Watling (1958) (A Night to Remember) Boxhall himself acted as a technical consultant to the film's writers and set designers.
• Warren Clarke (1979) (S.O.S. Titanic) (TV movie)
• Gerard Plunkett (1996) (Titanic) (TV miniseries) Boxhall is inaccurately portrayed as going down with the ship (due to his character being merged with that of Sixth Officer James Moody.)
• Simon Crane (1997) (Titanic) Boxhall appears in scenes such as on the bridge and being ordered by Captain Smith to put the ship's engines to a stop following the collision. He's also in charge of firing the flares and lifeboat No. 2. Boxhall only has two lines which occurs in the scenes: "Aye-aye, sir!" on the bridge and "Bloody pull faster and pull!" when he orders lifeboat No. 2 to row away from Titanic's stern, which rises dangerously behind him.
• Glen McDougal (1998) (Titanic: Secrets Revealed) (TV documentary)
• Emmett James (1999) (The Titanic Chronicles) (TV documentary; voice only)
• Cian Barry (2012) (Titanic) (TV miniseries)

{{reflist}}

• Bartlett, W.B. (2011). Titanic: 9 Hours to Hell, the Survivors' Story. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-4456-0482-4}}
• Fitch, Tad; Layton, J. Kent; Wormstedt, Bill (2012). On A Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of the R.M.S. Titanic. Amberley Books. {{ISBN|978-1-84868-927-5}}

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110105070213/http://www.titanic-titanic.com/joseph_boxhall.shtml Titanic-Titanic]
• [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/biography/1321/ Encyclopedia Titanica]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060511163420/http://www.titanicinquiry.org/usinq/AmInq03Boxhall01.html US Senate Inquiry]

{{RMS Titanic}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boxhall, Joseph}}

Category:1884 births

Category:1967 deaths

Category:Military personnel from Kingston upon Hull

Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I

Category:Deaths from cerebral thrombosis

Category:Sailors from Kingston upon Hull

Category:British Merchant Navy officers

Category:RMS Titanic survivors

Category:Royal Naval Reserve personnel

Category:Burials at sea