Arthur John Priest: The Unsinkable Stoker

If there was anyone on board the Titanic that truly deserved the title “unsinkable” it was a coal stoker named Arthur John Priest, who survived no fewer than four ship sinking, including that of the Titanic and its sister ship Britannic, as well as living through two ship collisions.

Priest was born in Southampton, England in 1887 and worked most of his life as a member of "the black gang"— a term given to the coal stokers that toil in the bowels of steam-powered ships stocking the furnaces and keeping the boilers hot. They were so called because they were always covered in coal dust from shoveling coal. This grueling labor was often carried out shirtless due to the intense furnace heat.

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Titanic departing Belfast for sea trials.

Source: amusingplanet.com

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