Mr Giacomo Sesia, 24, was an Italian national. On the 1911 census he gave his birthplace as Cavagnolo near the city of Turin, Piemonte, Italy. An Italian newspaper (Il Lavoro, 25 May 1912) states that he was born in Narbonne, France but was a resident of Cavagnolo in the following years.
Sesia Giacomo di Secondo, d'anni 24 nato a Narbone (Francia), oriundo di Cavagnolo, cameriere.
No records for his birth have yet been located and little to nothing is known of his family or early life.
He left Italy as a young man and headed to Britain where he garnered work in one of Luigi Gatti’s London restaurants. He appeared on the 1911 census living as a lodger at 3-4 Pultenay Chambers in St James, Westminster and he was described as an unmarried waiter.
When he signed-on to the Titanic as a waiter on 6 April 1912 Sesia gave his address a 3 Little Pulteney Chambers, Pulteney Street, London. The Titanic was his first working sea voyage and as a member of the à la carte restaurant he was employed and therefore paid by Luigi Gatti.
Several of the surviving crew recall observing a large crowd of the largely continental members of staff of the à la carte restaurant out on Scotland Road during the evacuation, many waiting around the doors leading to one of the second class stairwells which was situated near their own quarters. A group of four to six stewards stood guard at these doors, refusing to let their fellow crewmen pass. Two more fortunate members of the restaurant staff that did get through were Paul Maugé and chef Pierre Rousseau who both waited at the E-deck landing of the second class stairwell for around thirty minutes before ascending, Maugé noting that no other members of the restaurant came through whilst they were there.
Giacomo Sesia died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
