Samuel Ackerley was born in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England on 6 September 1887. He was one of thirteen children born to William Ackerley, a mariner, and Emily Elizabeth Ward. 

Ackerley went to sea as a young man and served as an assistant ship’s cook aboard numerous voyages of the Ivernia between 1908 and 1911; by 1911 the family address was 60 Wykeham Street in Kirkdale but Samuel was not listed, perhaps at sea at the time.

In April 1912 Ackerley was serving as a ship’s cook aboard the eastward-bound voyage of the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic. 

Samuel continued to serve at sea during WWI and in the following years; in January 1917 he married Lucy Westell (b. 1892) and with her had three daughters. Widowed in 1938, Ackerley was remarried to Ada Ridings but was left a widower again when Ada died in December 1953 aged 65.
Samuel Ackerley died in Chelsmford, Essex in 1970 at the age of 82.