The lucky fireman

There are many stories of people surviving more than one shipwreck, but Southampton fireman Arthur John Priest was miraculously rescued from four shipwrecks in just five years.

Arthur signed up to join the Titanic in 1912, aged 22, and was paid £6 a month as a fireman. He probably considered himself fortunate to get a job because lots of men were being laid off at the time. After the ship hit the iceberg, Arthur raced up on deck, but when he got there the lifeboats had gone and so he had to swim for it in the freezing waters of the Atlantic. Luckily, he was picked up by a lifeboat and survived.

When the First World War started, Arthur served as a merchant navy fireman, and in early 1916 he was aboard the Alcantara. A fast German assault ship called a raider attacked the Alcantara and after a short battle, both ships went to the bottom. Over 70 members of the crew died, but Arthur survived once again.

His next brush with death came whilst on another White Star liner, the Britannic, which was acting as a hospital ship. The liner struck a mine off the coast of Greece and sank, and although Arthur’s survival was touch and go for a while, he escaped once more.

Finally he served as fireman on the Donegal, another hospital ship, which was torpedoed by a U-boat in the English Channel. But Arthur got away yet again. He later said that men refused to serve with him because he was unlucky.