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Title: Sinking of the Titanic
and Great Sea Disasters
Author: Various
Editor: Logan Marshall
Release Date: January, 1997 [Etext #781]
Posting Date: November 5, 2009
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SINKING OF THE TITANIC ***
Produced by Charles Keller and Mike Lough
SINKING OF THE TITANIC
AND GREAT SEA DISASTERS
By Various
Edited by Logan Marshall
Pre-Frontispiece Caption: THE TITANIC
The largest and finest steamship in the world; on her maiden voyage,
loaded with a human freight of over 2,300 souls, she collided with a
huge iceberg 600 miles southeast of Halifax, at 11.40 P.M. Sunday April
14, 1912, and sank two and a half hours later, carrying over 1,600 of
her passengers and crew with her.
Frontispiece Caption: CAPTAIN E. J. SMITH
Of the ill-fated giant of the sea; a brave and seasoned commander who
was carried to his death with his last and greatest ship.
Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters
A Detailed and Accurate Account of the Most Awful Marine Disaster in
History, Constructed from the Real Facts as Obtained from Those on Board
Who Survived..........
ONLY AUTHORITATIVE BOOK
INCLUDING Records of Previous Great Disasters of the Sea, Descriptions
of the Developments of Safety and Life-saving Appliances, a Plain
Statement of the Causes of Such Catastrophes and How to Avoid Them, the
Marvelous Development of Shipbuilding, etc.
With a Message of Spiritual Consolation by REV. HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D.
EDITED BY LOGAN MARSHALL
Author of "Life of Theodore Roosevelt," etc.
ILLUSTRATED With Numerous Authentic Photographs and Drawings
Dedication
To the 1635 souls who were lost with the ill-fated Titanic, and
especially to those heroic men, who, instead of trying to save
themselves, stood aside that women and children might have their chance;
of each of them let it be written, as it was written of a Greater
One--"He Died that Others might Live"
"I stood in unimaginable trance And agony that cannot be
remembered."--COLERIDGE
Dr. Van Dyke's Spiritual Consolation to the Survivors of the Titanic
The Titanic, greatest of ships, has gone to her ocean grave. What has
she left behind her? Think clearly.
She has left debts. Vast sums of money have been lost. Some of them are
covered by insurance which will be paid. The rest is gone. All wealth is
insecure.
She has left lessons. The risk of running the northern course when it
is menaced by icebergs is revealed. The cruelty of sending a ship to
sea without enough life-boats and life-rafts to hold her company is
exhibited and underlined in black.
She has left sorrows. Hundreds of human hearts and homes are in mourning
for the loss of dear companions and friends. The universal sympathy
which is written in every face and heard in every voice proves that man
is more than the beasts that perish. It is an evidence of the divine in
humanity. Why should we care? There is no reason in the world, unless
there is something in us that is different from lime and carbon and
phosphorus, something that makes us mortals able to suffer together--
"For we have all of us an human heart."
But there is more than this harvest of debts, and lessons, and sorrows,
in the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic. There is a great ideal.
It is clearly outlined and set before the mind and heart of the modern
world, to approve and follow, or to despise and reject.
It is, "Women and children first!"
Whatever happened on that dreadful April night among the arctic ice,
certainly that was the order given by the brave and steadfast captain;
certainly that was the law obeyed by the men on the doomed ship. But
why? There is no statute or enactment of any nation to enforce such an
order. There is no trace of such a rule to be found in the history of
ancient civilizations. There is no authority for it among the heathen
races to-day. On a Chinese ship, if we may believe the report of an
official representative, the rule would have been "Men First, children
next, and women last."
There is certainly no argument against this barbaric rule on physical or
material grounds. On the average, a man is stronger than a woman, he is
worth more than a woman, he has a longer prospect of life than a woman.
There is no reason in all the range of physical and economic science,
no reason in all the philosophy of the Superman, why he should give his
place in the life-boat to a woman.
Where, then, does this rule which prevailed in the sinking Titanic come
from? It comes from God, through the faith of Jesus of Nazareth.
It is the ideal of self-sacrifice. It is the rule that "the strong
ought to bear the infirmities of those that are weak." It is the divine
revelation which is summed up in the words: "Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
It needs a tragic catastrophe like the wreck of the Titanic to bring out
the absolute contradiction between this ideal and all the counsels of
materialism and selfish expediency.
I do not say that the germ of this ideal may not be found in other
religions. I do not say that they are against it. I do not ask any man
to accept my theology (which grows shorter and simpler as I grow older),
unless his heart leads him to it. But this I say: The ideal that the
strength of the strong is given them to protect and save the weak,
the ideal which animates the rule of "Women and children first," is in
essential harmony with the spirit of Christ.
If what He said about our Father in Heaven is true, this ideal is
supremely reasonable. Otherwise it is hard to find arguments for it. The
tragedy of facts sets the question clearly before us. Think about it. Is
this ideal to survive and prevail in our civilization or not?
Without it, no doubt, we may have riches and power and dominion. But
what a world to live in!
Only through the belief that the strong are bound to protect and save
the weak because God wills it so, can we hope to keep self-sacrifice,
and love, and heroism, and all the things that make us glad to live and
not afraid to die.
HENRY VAN DYKE.
PRINCETON, N. J., April 18, 1912.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I FIRST NEWS OF THE GREATEST MARINE DISASTER IN HISTORY
"The Titanic in collision, but everybody safe"--Another triumph set
down to wireless telegraphy--The world goes to sleep peacefully--The sad
awakening
CHAPTER II THE MOST SUMPTUOUS PALACE AFLOAT
Dimensions of the Titanic--Capacity--Provisions for the comfort
and entertainment of passengers--Mechanical equipment--The army of
attendants required
CHAPTER III THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE TITANIC
Preparations for the voyage--Scenes of gayety--The boat sails--Incidents
of the voyage--A collision narrowly averted--The boat on fire--Warned of
icebergs
CHAPTER IV SOME OF THE NOTABLE PASSENGERS
Sketches of prominent men and women on board, including Major Archibald
Butt, John Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, Isidor Straus, J. Bruce
Ismay, Geo. D. Widener, Colonel Washington Roebling, 2d, Charles M.
Hays, W. T. Stead and others
CHAPTER V THE TITANIC STRIKES AN ICEBERG!
Tardy attention to warning responsible for accident--The danger not
realized at first--An interrupted card game--Passengers joke among
themselves--The real truth dawns--Panic on board--Wireless calls for
help.
CHAPTER VI "WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST"
Cool-headed officers and crew bring order out of chaos--Filling the
life-boats--Heartrending scenes as families are parted--Four life-boats
lost--Incidents of bravery--"The boats are all filled!"
CHAPTER VII LEFT TO THEIR FATE
Coolness and heroism of those left to perish--Suicide of
Murdock--Captain Smith's end--The ship's band plays a noble hymn as the
vessel goes down.
CHAPTER VIII THE CALL FOR HELP HEARD
The value of the wireless--Other ships alter their course--Rescuers on
the way.
CHAPTER IX IN THE DRIFTING LIFE-BOATS
Sorrow and suffering--The survivors see the Titanic go down with their
loved ones on board--A night of agonizing suspense--Women help to
row--Help arrives--Picking up the life-boats.
CHAPTER X ON BOARD THE CARPATHIA
Aid for the suffering and hysterical--Burying the dead--Vote of
thanks to Captain Rostron of the Carpathia--Identifying those
saved--Communicating with land--The passage to New York.
CHAPTER XI PREPARATIONS ON LAND TO RECEIVE THE SUFFERERS
Police arrangements--Donations of money and supplies--Hospital and
ambulances made ready--Private houses thrown open--Waiting for the
Carpathia to arrive--The ship sighted!
CHAPTER XII THE TRAGIC HOME-COMING
The Carpathia reaches New York--An intense and dramatic
moment--Hysterical reunions and crushing disappointments at the
dock--Caring for the sufferers--Final realization that all hope for
others is futile--List of survivors--Roll of the dead.
CHAPTER XIII THE STORY OF CHARLES F. HURD
How the Titanic sank--Water strewn with dead bodies--Victims met death
with hymn on their lips.
CHAPTER XIV THRILLING ACCOUNT BY L. BEASLEY
Collision only a slight jar--Passengers could not believe the vessel
doomed--Narrow escape of life-boats--Picked up by the Carpathia.
CHAPTER XV JACK THAYER'S OWN STORY OF THE WRECK
Seventeen-year-old son of Pennsylvania Railroad official tells
moving story of his rescue--Told mother to be brave--Separated from
parents--Jumped when vessel sank--Drifted on overturned boat--Picked up
by Carpathia.
CHAPTER XVI INCIDENTS RELATED BY JAMES McGOUGH
Women forced into the life-boats--Why some men were saved before
women--Asked to man life-boats.
CHAPTER XVII WIRELESS OPERATOR PRAISES HEROIC WORK
Story of Harold Bride, the surviving wireless operator of the Titanic,
who was washed overboard and rescued by life-boat--Band played ragtime
and "Autumn".
CHAPTER XVIII STORY OF THE STEWARD
Passengers and crew dying when taken aboard Carpathia--One woman saved
a dog--English colonel swam for hours when boat with mother aboard
capsized.
CHAPTER XIX HOW THE WORLD RECEIVED THE NEWS
Nations prostrate with grief--Messages from kings and
cardinals--Disaster stirs world to necessity of stricter regulations.
CHAPTER XX BRAVERY OF THE OFFICERS AND CREW
Illustrious career of Captain E. J. Smith--Brave to the
last--Maintenance of order and discipline--Acts of heroism--Engineers
died at posts--Noble-hearted band.
CHAPTER XXI SEARCHING FOR THE DEAD
Sending out the Mackay-Bennett and Minia--Bremen passengers see
bodies--Identifying bodies--Confusion in names--Recoveries.
CHAPTER XXII CRITICISM OF ISMAY
Criminal and cowardly conduct charged--Proper caution not exercised when
presence of icebergs was known--Should have stayed on board to help
in work of rescue--Selfish and unsympathetic actions on board the
Carpathia--Ismay's defense--William E. Carter's statement.
CHAPTER XXIII THE FINANCIAL LOSS
Titanic not fully insured--Valuable cargo and mail--No chance for
salvage--Life insurance loss--Loss to the Carpathia.
CHAPTER XXIV OPINIONS OF EXPERTS
Captain E. K. Roden, Lewis Nixon, General Greely and Robert H. Kirk
point out lessons taught by Titanic disaster and needed changes in
construction.
CHAPTER XXV OTHER GREAT MARINE DISASTERS.
Deadly danger of icebergs--Dozens of ships perish in collision--Other
disasters.
CHAPTER XXVI DEVELOPMENT OF SHIPBUILDING
Evolution of water travel--Increases in size of vessels--Is there any
limit?--Achievements in speed--Titanic not the last word.
CHAPTER XXVII SAFETY AND LIFE-SAVING DEVICES
Wireless telegraphy--Water-tight bulkheads--Submarine
signals--Life-boats and rafts--Nixon's pontoon--Life-preservers and
buoys--Rockets.
CHAPTER XXVIII TIME FOR REFLECTION AND REFORM
Speed and luxury overemphasized--Space needed for life-boats devoted to
swimming pools and squash-courts--Mania for speed records compels use of
dangerous routes and prevents proper caution in foggy weather--Life
more valuable than luxury--Safety more important than speed--An aroused
public opinion necessary--International conference recommended--Adequate
life-saving equipment should be compulsory--Speed regulations in bad
weather--Co-operation in arranging schedules to keep vessels within
reach of each other--Legal regulations.
CHAPTER XXIX THE SENATORIAL INVESTIGATION
Prompt action of the Government--Senate committee probes disaster and
brings out details--Testimony of Ismay, officers, crew passengers and
other witnesses.
FACTS ABOUT THE WRECK OF THE TITANIC
NUMBER of persons aboard, 2340. Number of life-boats and rafts, 20.
Capacity of each life-boat, 50 passengers and crew of 8. Utmost capacity
of life-boats and rafts, about 1100. Number of life-boats wrecked in
launching, 4. Capacity of life-boats safely launched, 928. Total number
of persons taken in life-boats, 711. Number who died in life-boats, 6.
Total number saved, 705. Total number of Titanic's company lost, 1635.
The cause of the disaster was a collision with an iceberg in latitude
41.46 north, longitude 50.14 west. The Titanic had had repeated warnings
of the presence of ice in that part of the course. Two official warnings
had been received defining the position of the ice fields. It had been
calculated on the Titanic that she would reach the ice fields about 11
o'clock Sunday night. The collision occurred at 11.40. At that time the
ship was driving at a speed of 21 to 23 knots, or about 26 miles, an
hour.
There had been no details of seamen assigned to each boat.
Some of the boats left the ship without seamen enough to man the oars.
Some of the boats were not more than half full of passengers.
The boats had no provisions, some of them had no water stored, some were
without sail equipment or compasses.
In some boats, which carried sails wrapped and bound, there was not a
person with a knife to cut the ropes. In some boats the plugs in the
bottom had been pulled out and the women passengers were compelled to
thrust their hands into the holes to keep the boats from filling and
sinking.
The captain, E. J. Smith, admiral of the White Star fleet, went down
with his ship.
CHAPTER I. FIRST NEWS OF THE GREATEST MARINE DISASTER IN HISTORY
"THE TITANIC IN COLLISION, BUT EVERYBODY SAFE"--ANOTHER TRIUMPH SET
DOWN TO WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY--THE WORLD GOES TO SLEEP PEACEFULLY--THE SAD
AWAKENING.
LIKE a bolt out of a clear sky came the wireless message on Monday,
April 15, 1912, that on Sunday night the great Titanic, on her maiden
voyage across the Atlantic, had struck a gigantic iceberg, but that
all the passengers were saved. The ship had signaled her distress and
another victory was set down to wireless. Twenty-one hundred lives
saved!
Additional news was soon received that the ship had collided with a
mountain of ice in the North Atlantic, off Cape Race, Newfoundland, at
10.25 Sunday evening, April 14th. At 4.15 Monday morning the Canadian
Government Marine Agency received a wireless message that the Titanic
was sinking and that the steamers towing her were trying to get her into
shoal water near Cape Race, for the purpose of beaching her.
Wireless despatches up to noon Monday showed that the passengers of the
Titanic were being transferred aboard the steamer Carpathia, a Cunarder,
which left New York, April 13th, for Naples. Twenty boat-loads of the
Titanic's passengers were said to have been transferred to the Carpathia
then, and allowing forty to sixty persons as the capacity of each
life-boat, some 800 or 1200 persons had already been transferred from
the damaged liner to the Carpathia. They were reported as being taken to
Halifax, whence they would be sent by train to New York.
Another liner, the Parisian, of the Allan Company, which sailed from
Glasgow for Halifax on April 6th, was said to be close at hand and
assisting in the work of rescue. The Baltic, Virginian and Olympic were
also near the scene, according to the information received by wireless.
While badly damaged, the giant vessel was reported as still afloat, but
whether she could reach port or shoal water was uncertain. The White
Star officials declared that the Titanic was in no immediate danger of
sinking, because of her numerous water-tight compartments.
"While we are still lacking definite information," Mr. Franklin,
vice-president of the White Star Line, said later in the afternoon, "we
believe the Titanic's passengers will reach Halifax, Wednesday evening.
We have received no further word from Captain Haddock, of the Olympic,
or from any of the ships in the vicinity, but are confident that there
will be no loss of life."
With the understanding that the survivors would be taken to Halifax the
line arranged to have thirty Pullman cars, two diners and many passenger
coaches leave Boston Monday night for Halifax to get the passengers
after they were landed. Mr. Franklin made a guess that the Titanic's
passengers would get into Halifax on Wednesday. The Department of
Commerce and Labor notified the White Star Line that customs and
immigration inspectors would be sent from Montreal to Halifax in
order that there would be as little delay as possible in getting the
passengers on trains.
Monday night the world slept in peace and assurance. A wireless message
had finally been received, reading:
"All Titanic's passengers safe."
It was not until nearly a week later that the fact was discovered that
this message had been wrongly received in the confusion of messages
flashing through the air, and that in reality the message should have
read:
"Are all Titanic's passengers safe?"
With the dawning of Tuesday morning came the awful news of the true fate
of the Titanic.
CHAPTER II. THE MOST SUMPTUOUS PALACE AFLOAT
DIMENSIONS OF THE TITANIC--CAPACITY--PROVISIONS FOR THE COMFORT AND
ENTERTAINMENT OF PASSENGERS--MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT THE ARMY OF ATTENDANTS
REQUIRED.
THE statistical record of the great ship has news value at this time.
Early in 1908 officials of the White Star Company announced that they
would eclipse all previous records in shipbuilding with a vessel of
staggering dimensions. The Titanic resulted.
The keel of the ill-fated ship was laid in the summer of 1909 at the
Harland & Wolff yards, Belfast. Lord Pirrie, considered one of the
best authorities on shipbuilding in the world, was the designer. The
leviathan was launched on May 31, 1911, and was completed in February,
1912, at a cost of $10,000,000.
SISTER SHIP OF OLYMPIC
The Titanic, largest liner in commission, was a sister ship of the
Olympic. The registered tonnage of each vessel is estimated as 45,000,
but officers of the White Star Line say that the Titanic measured 45,328
tons. The Titanic was commanded by Captain E. J. Smith, the White Star
admiral, who had previously been on the Olympic.
She was 882 1/2 long, or about four city blocks, and was 5000 tons
bigger than a battleship twice as large as the dreadnought Delaware.
Like her sister ship, the Olympic, the Titanic was a four-funneled
vessel, and had eleven decks. The distance from the keel to the top of
the funnels was 175 feet. She had an average speed of twenty-one knots.
The Titanic could accommodate 2500 passengers. The steamship was divided
into numerous compartments, separated by fifteen bulkheads. She was
equipped with a gymnasium, swimming pool, hospital with operating room,
and a grill and palm garden.
CARRIED CREW OF 860
The registered tonnage was 45,000, and the displacement tonnage 66,000.
She was capable of carrying 2500 passengers and the crew numbered 860.
The largest plates employed in the hull were 36 feet long, weighing 43
1/2 tons each, and the largest steel beam used was 92 feet long, the
weight of this double beam being 4 tons. The rudder, which was operated
electrically, weighed 100 tons, the anchors 15 1/2 tons each, the center
(turbine) propeller 22 tons, and each of the two "wing" propellers 38
tons each. The after "boss-arms," from which were sus-pended the three
propeller shafts, tipped the scales at 73 1/2 tons, and the forward
"boss-arms" at 45 tons. Each link in the anchor-chains weighed 175
pounds. There were more than 2000 side-lights and windows to light the
public rooms and passenger cabins.
Nothing was left to chance in the construction of the Titanic. Three
million rivets (weighing 1200 tons) held the solid plates of steel
together. To insure stability in binding the heavy plates in the double
bottom, half a million rivets, weighing about 270 tons, were used.
All the plating of the hulls was riveted by hydraulic power, driving
seven-ton riveting machines, suspended from traveling cranes. The double
bottom extended the full length of the vessel, varying from 5 feet 3
inches to 6 feet 3 inches in depth, and lent added strength to the hull.
MOST LUXURIOUS STEAMSHIP
Not only was the Titanic the largest steamship afloat but it was the
most luxurious. Elaborately furnished cabins opened onto her eleven
decks, and some of these decks were reserved as private promenades that
were engaged with the best suites. One of these suites was sold for
$4350 for the boat's maiden and only voyage. Suites similar, but which
were without the private promenade decks, sold for $2300.
The Titanic differed in some respects from her sister ship. The Olympic
has a lower promenade deck, but in the Titanic's case the staterooms
were brought out flush with the outside of the superstructure, and the
rooms themselves made much larger. The sitting rooms of some of the
suites on this deck were 15 x 15 feet.
The restaurant was much larger than that of the Olympic and it had a
novelty in the shape of a private promenade deck on the starboard side,
to be used exclusively by its patrons. Adjoining it was a reception
room, where hosts and hostesses could meet their guests.
Two private promenades were connected with the two most luxurious suites
on the ship. The suites were situated about amidships, one on either
side of the vessel, and each was about fifty feet long. One of the
suites comprised a sitting room, two bedrooms and a bath.
These private promenades were expensive luxuries. The cost figured out
something like forty dollars a front foot for a six days' voyage. They,
with the suites to which they are attached, were the most expensive
transatlantic accommodations yet offered.
THE ENGINE ROOM
The engine room was divided into two sections, one given to the
reciprocating engines and the other to the turbines. There were two
sets of the reciprocating kind, one working each of the wing propellers
through a four-cylinder triple expansion, direct acting inverted engine.
Each set could generate 15,000 indicated horse-power at seventy-five
revolutions a minute. The Parsons type turbine takes steam from the
reciprocating engines, and by developing a horse-power of 16,000 at 165
revolutions a minute works the third of the ship's propellers, the one
directly under the rudder. Of the four funnels of the vessel three
were connected with the engine room, and the fourth or after funnel for
ventilating the ship including the gallery.
Practically all of the space on the Titanic below the upper deck
was occupied by steam-generating plant, coal bunkers and propelling
machinery. Eight of the fifteen water-tight compartments contained the
mechanical part of the vessel. There were, for instance, twenty-four
double end and five single end boilers, each 16 feet 9 inches in
diameter, the larger 20 feet long and the smaller 11 feet 9 inches long.
The larger boilers had six fires under each of them and the smaller
three furnaces. Coal was stored in bunker space along the side of the
ship between the lower and middle decks, and was first shipped from
there into bunkers running all the way across the vessel in the lowest
part. From there the stokers handed it into the furnaces.
One of the most interesting features of the vessel was the refrigerating
plant, which comprised a huge ice-making and refrigerating machine and
a number of provision rooms on the after part of the lower and orlop
decks. There were separate cold rooms for beef, mutton, poultry, game,
fish, vegetables, fruit, butter, bacon, cheese, flowers, mineral water,
wine, spirits and champagne, all maintained at different temperatures
most suitable to each. Perishable freight had a compartment of its own,
also chilled by the plant.
COMFORT AND STABILITY
Two main ideas were carried out in the Titanic. One was comfort and the
other stability. The vessel was planned to be an ocean ferry. She was
to have only a speed of twenty-one knots, far below that of some other
modern vessels, but she was planned to make that speed, blow high or
blow low, so that if she left one side of the ocean at a given time she
could be relied on to reach the other side at almost a certain minute of
a certain hour.
One who has looked into modern methods for safeguarding
{illust. caption = LIFE-BOAT AND DAVITS ON THE TITANIC
This diagram shows very clearly the arrangement of the life-boats and
the manner in which they were launched.}
a vessel of the Titanic type can hardly imagine an accident that could
cause her to founder. No collision such as has been the fate of any ship
in recent years, it has been thought up to this time, could send her
down, nor could running against an iceberg do it unless such an accident
were coupled with the remotely possible blowing out of a boiler. She
would sink at once, probably, if she were to run over a submerged rock
or derelict in such manner that both her keel plates and her double
bottom were torn away for more than half her length; but such a
catastrophe was so remotely possible that it did not even enter the
field of conjecture.
The reason for all this is found in the modern arrangement of
water-tight steel compartments into which all ships now are divided
and of which the Titanic had fifteen so disposed that half of them,
including the largest, could be flooded without impairing the safety
of the vessel. Probably it was the working of these bulkheads and the
water-tight doors between them as they are supposed to work that saved
the Titanic from foundering when she struck the iceberg.
These bulkheads were of heavy sheet steel and started at the very bottom
of the ship and extended right up to the top side. The openings in the
bulkheads were just about the size of the ordinary doorway, but the
doors did not swing as in a house, but fitted into water-tight grooves
above the opening. They could be released instantly in several ways,
and once closed formed a barrier to the water as solid as the bulkhead
itself.
In the Titanic, as in other great modern ships, these doors were held
in place above the openings by friction clutches. On the bridge was
a switch which connected with an electric magnet at the side of the
bulkhead opening. The turning of this switch caused the magnet to draw
down a heavy weight, which instantly released the friction clutch, and
allowed the door to fall or slide down over the opening in a second.
If, however, through accident the bridge switch was rendered useless the
doors would close automatically in a few seconds. This was arranged by
means of large metal floats at the side of the doorways, which rested
just above the level of the double bottom, and as the water entered
the compartments these floats would rise to it and directly release the
clutch holding the door open. These clutches could also be released by
hand.
It was said of the Titanic that liner compartments could be flooded
as far back or as far forward as the engine room and she would float,
though she might take on a heavy list, or settle considerably at one
end. To provide against just such an accident as she is said to have
encountered she had set back a good distance from the bows an extra
heavy cross partition known as the collision bulkhead, which would
prevent water getting in amidships, even though a good part of her bow
should be torn away. What a ship can stand and still float was shown a
few years ago when the Suevic of the White Star Line went on the rocks
on the British coast. The wreckers could not move the forward part of
her, so they separated her into two sections by the use of dynamite, and
after putting in a temporary bulkhead floated off the after half of
the ship, put it in dry dock and built a new forward part for her. More
recently the battleship Maine, or what was left of her, was floated out
to sea, and kept on top of the water by her water-tight compartments
only.
CHAPTER III. THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE TITANIC
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE--SCENES OF GAYETY--THE BOAT SAILS--INCIDENTS
OF THE VOYAGE---A COLLISION NARROWLY AVERTED--THE BOAT ON FIRE--WARNED
OF ICEBERGS.
EVER was ill-starred voyage more auspiciously begun than when the
Titanic, newly crowned empress of the seas, steamed majestically out of
the port of Southampton at noon on Wednesday, April 10th, bound for New
York.
Elaborate preparations had been made for the maiden voyage. Crowds
of eager watchers gathered to witness the departure, all the more
interested because of the notable people who were to travel aboard her.
Friends and relatives of many of the passengers were at the dock to bid
Godspeed to their departing loved ones. The passengers themselves were
unusually gay and happy.
Majestic and beautiful the ship rested on the water, marvel of
shipbuilding, worthy of any sea. As this new queen of the ocean moved
slowly from her dock, no one questioned her construction: she was fitted
with an elaborate system of
{illust. caption = STEAMER "TITANIC" COMPARED WITH THE LARGEST
STRUCTURES IN THE WORLD 1. Bunker Hill Monument. Boston, 221 feet high.
2. Public
{illust. caption = J. BRUCE ISMAY
Managing director of the International Mercantile Marine, and managing
director of the White....}
{illust. caption = CHARLES M. HAYS
President of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railways, numbered among the heroic
men....}
water-tight compartments, calculated to make her unsinkable; she had
been pronounced the safest as well as the most sumptuous Atlantic liner
afloat.
There was silence just before the boat pulled out--the silence that
usually precedes the leave-taking. The heavy whistles sounded and the
splendid Titanic, her flags flying and her band playing, churned the
water and plowed heavily away.
Then the Titanic, with the people on board waving handkerchiefs and
shouting good-byes that could be heard only as a buzzing murmur on
shore, rode away on the ocean, proudly, majestically, her head up and,
so it seemed, her shoulders thrown back. If ever a vessel seemed to
throb with proud life, if ever a monster of the sea seemed to "feel its
oats" and strain at the leash, if ever a ship seemed to have breeding
and blue blood that would keep it going until its heart broke, that ship
was the Titanic.
And so it was only her due that as the Titanic steamed out of the harbor
bound on her maiden voyage a thousand "God-speeds" were wafted after
her, while every other vessel that she passed, the greatest of them
dwarfed by her colossal proportions, paid homage to the new queen
regnant with the blasts of their whistles and the shrieking of steam
sirens.
THE SHIP'S CAPTAIN
In command of the Titanic was Captain E. J. Smith, a veteran of the
seas, and admiral of the White Star Line fleet. The next six officers,
in the order of their rank, were Murdock, Lightollder,{sic} Pitman,
Boxhall, Lowe and Moody. Dan Phillips was chief wireless operator, with
Harold Bride as assistant.
From the forward bridge, fully ninety feet above the sea, peered out the
benign face of the ship's master, cool of aspect, deliberate of action,
impressive in that quality of confidence that is bred only of long
experience in command.
From far below the bridge sounded the strains of the ship's orchestra,
playing blithely a favorite air from "The Chocolate Soldier." All went
as merry as a wedding bell. Indeed, among that gay ship's company were
two score or more at least for whom the wedding bells had sounded in
truth not many days before. Some were on their honeymoon tours, others
were returning to their motherland after having passed the weeks of the
honeymoon, like Colonel John Jacob Astor and his young bride, amid the
diversions of Egypt or other Old World countries.
What daring flight of imagination would have ventured the prediction
that within the span of six days that stately ship, humbled, shattered
and torn asunder, would lie two thousand fathoms deep at the bottom of
the Atlantic, that the benign face that peered from the bridge would
be set in the rigor of death and that the happy bevy of voyaging brides
would be sorrowing widows?
ALMOST IN A COLLISION
The big vessel had, however, a touch of evil fortune before she cleared
the harbor of Southampton. As she passed down stream her immense
bulk--she displaced 66,000 tons--drew the waters after her with an
irresistible suction that tore the American liner New York from her
moorings; seven steel hawsers were snapped like twine. The New York
floated toward the White Star ship, and would have rammed the new ship
had not the tugs Vulcan and Neptune stopped her and towed her back to
the quay.
When the mammoth ship touched at Cherbourg and later at Queenstown
she was again the object of a port ovation, the smaller craft doing
obeisance while thousands gazed in wonder at her stupendous proportions.
After taking aboard some additional passengers at each port, the Titanic
headed her towering bow toward the open sea and the race for a record on
her maiden voyage was begun.
NEW BURST OF SPEED EACH DAY
The Titanic made 484 miles as her first day's run, her powerful new
engines turning over at the rate of seventy revolutions. On the second
day out the speed was hit up to seventy-three revolutions and the run
for the day was bulletined as 519 miles. Still further increasing the
speed, the rate of revolution of the engines was raised to seventy-five
and the day's run was 549 miles, the best yet scheduled.
But the ship had not yet been speeded to her capacity she was capable of
turning over about seventy-eight revolutions. Had the weather conditions
been propitious, it was intended to press the great racer to the full
limit of her speed on Monday. But for the Titanic Monday never came.
FIRE IN THE COAL BUNKERS
Unknown to the passengers, the Titanic was on fire from the day she
sailed from Southampton. Her officers and crew knew it, for they had
fought the fire for days.
This story, told for the first time by the survivors of the crew, was
only one of the many thrilling tales of the fateful first voyage.
"The Titanic sailed from Southampton on Wednesday, April 10th, at noon,"
said J. Dilley, fireman on the Titanic.
"I was assigned to the Titanic from the Oceanic, where I had served as
a fireman. From the day we sailed the Titanic was on fire, and my sole
duty, together with eleven other men, had been to fight that fire. We
had made no headway against it."
PASSENGERS IN IGNORANCE
"Of course," he went on, "the passengers knew nothing of the fire. Do
you think we'd have let them know about it? No, sir.
"The fire started in bunker No. 6. There were hundreds of tons of coal
stored there. The coal on top of the bunker was wet, as all the coal
should have been, but down at the bottom of the bunker the coal had been
permitted to get dry.
"The dry coal at the bottom of the pile took fire, and smoldered for
days. The wet coal on top kept the flames from coming through, but down
in the bottom of the bunkers the flames were raging.
"Two men from each watch of stokers were tolled off, to fight that fire.
The stokers worked four hours at a time, so twelve of us were fighting
flames from the day we put out of Southampton until we hit the iceberg.
"No, we didn't get that fire out, and among the stokers there was
talk that we'd have to empty the big coal bunkers after we'd put our
passengers off in New York, and then call on the fire-boats there to
help us put out the fire.
"The stokers were alarmed over it, but the officers told us to keep our
mouths shut--they didn't want to alarm the passengers."
USUAL DIVERSION
Until Sunday, April 14th, then, the voyage had apparently been a
delightful but uneventful one. The passengers had passed the time in the
usual diversions of ocean travelers, amusing themselves in the luxurious
saloons, promenading on the boat deck, lolling at their ease in steamer
chairs and making pools on the daily runs of the steamship. The smoking
rooms and card rooms had been as well patronized as usual, and a party
of several notorious professional gamblers had begun reaping their usual
easy harvest.
As early as Sunday afternoon the officers of the Titanic must have known
that they were approaching dangerous ice fields of the kind that are
a perennial menace to the safety of steamships following the regular
transatlantic lanes off the Great Banks of Newfoundland.
AN UNHEEDED WARNING
On Sunday afternoon the Titanic's wireless operator forwarded to the
Hydrographic office in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and elsewhere
the following dispatch:
"April 14.--The German steamship Amerika (Hamburg-American Line)
reports by radio-telegraph passing two large icebergs in latitude 41.27,
longitude 50.08.--Titanic, Br. S. S."
Despite this warning, the Titanic forged ahead Sunday night at her usual
speed--from twenty-one to twenty-five knots.
CHAPTER IV. SOME OF THE NOTABLE PASSENGERS
SKETCHES OF PROMINENT MEN AND WOMEN ON BOARD, INCLUDING MAJOR ARCHIBALD
BUTT, JOHN JACOB ASTOR, BENJAMIN GUGGENHEIM, ISIDOR STRAWS, J. BRUCE
ISMAY, GEORGE D. WIDENER, COLONEL WASHINGTON ROEBLING, 2D, CHARLES M.
HAYS, W. T. STEAD AND OTHERS
THE ship's company was of a character befitting the greatest of all
vessels and worthy of the occasion of her maiden voyage. Though the
major part of her passengers were Americans returning from abroad, there
were enrolled upon her cabin lists some of the most distinguished
names of England, as well as of the younger nation. Many of these had
purposely delayed sailing, or had hastened their departure, that they
might be among the first passengers on the great vessel.
There were aboard six men whose fortunes ran into tens of millions,
besides many other persons of international note. Among the men were
leaders in the world of commerce, finance, literature, art and the
learned professions. Many of the women were socially prominent in two
hemispheres.
Wealth and fame, unfortunately, are not proof against fate, and most
of these notable personages perished as pitiably as the more humble
steerage passengers.
The list of notables included Colonel John Jacob Astor, head of the
Astor family, whose fortune is estimated at $150,000,000; Isidor Straus,
merchant and banker ($50,000,000); J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of
the International Mercantile Marine ($40,000,000); Benjamin Guggenheim,
head of the Guggenheim family ($95,000,000): George D. Widener, son of
P. A. B. Widener, traction magnate and financier ($5,000,000); Colonel
Washington Roebling, builder of the great Brooklyn Bridge; Charles
M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railway; W. T. Stead. famous
publicist; Jacques Futrelle, journalist; Henry S. Harper, of the firm
of Harper & Bros.; Henry B. Harris, theatrical manager; Major Archibald
Butt, military aide to President Taft; and Francis D. Millet, one of the
best-known American painters.
MAJOR BUTT
Major Archibald Butt, whose bravery on the sinking vessel will not soon
be forgotten, was military aide to President Taft and was known wherever
the President traveled. His recent European mission was apparently to
call on the Pope in behalf of President Taft; for on March 21st he was
received at the Vatican, and presented to the Pope a letter from
Mr. Taft thanking the Pontiff for the creation of three new American
Cardinals.
Major Butt had a reputation as a horseman, and it is said he was able
to keep up with President Roosevelt, be the ride ever so far or fast.
He was promoted to the rank of major in 1911. He sailed for the
Mediterranean on March 2d with his friend Francis D. Millet, the artist,
who also perished on the Titanic.
COLONEL ASTOR
John Jacob Astor was returning from a trip to Egypt with his
nineteen-year-old bride, formerly Miss Madeline Force, to whom he was
married in Providence, September 9, 1911. He was head of the family
whose name he bore and one of the world's wealthiest men. He was not,
however, one of the world's "idle rich," for his life of forty-seven
years was a well-filled one. He had managed the family estates since
1891; built the Astor Hotel, New York; was colonel on the staff of
Governor Levi P. Morton, and in May, 1898, was commissioned colonel
of the United States volunteers. After assisting Major-General
Breckinridge, inspector-general of the United States army, he was
assigned to duty on the staff of Major-General Shafter and served in
Cuba during the operations ending in the surrender of Santiago. He was
also the inventor of a bicycle brake, a pneumatic road-improver, and an
improved turbine engine.
BENJAMIN GUGGENHEIM
Next to Colonel Astor in financial importance was Benjamin Guggenheim,
whose father founded the famous house of M. Guggenheim and Sons. When
the various Guggen-heim interests were consolidated into the American
Smelting and Refining Company he retired from active business, although
he later became interested in the Power and Mining Machinery Company of
Milwaukee. In 1894 he married Miss Floretta Seligman, daughter of James
Seligman, the New York banker.
ISIDOR STRAUS
Isidor Straus, whose wife elected to perish with him in the ship, was a
brother of Nathan and Oscar Straus, a partner with Nathan Straus in R.
H. Macy & Co. and L. Straus & Sons, a member of the firm of Abraham &
Straus in Brooklyn, and has been well known in politics and charitable
work. He was a member of the Fifty-third Congress from 1893 to 1895,
and as a friend of William L. Wilson was in constant consultation in the
matter of the former Wilson tariff bill.
Mr. Straus was conspicuous for his works of charity and was an ardent
supporter of every enterprise to improve the condition of the Hebrew
immigrants. He was president of the Educational Alliance, vice-president
of the J. Hood Wright Memorial Hospital, a member of the Chamber of
Commerce, on one of the visiting committees of Harvard University, and
was besides a trustee of many financial and philanthropic institutions.
Mr. Straus never enjoyed a college education. He was, however, one of
the best informed men of the day, his information having been derived
from extensive reading. His library, said to be one of the finest and
most extensive in New York, was his pride and his place of special
recreation.
{illust. caption = ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ICEBERG THAT SUNK THE
TITANIC
Lady Duff Gordon, a prominent English woman who was aboard the...}
{illust. caption = HEART-BREAKING FAREWELLS
Both men and women were loaded into the first boats, but soon the cry of
"Women first" was raised. Then came the real note of tragedy.
Husbands and wives clung to each other in farewell; some refused to be
separated.}
GEORGE D. WIDENER
The best known of Philadelphia passengers aboard the Titanic were Mr.
and Mrs. George D. Widener. Mr. Widener was a son of Peter A. B. Widener
and, like his father, was recognized as one of the foremost financiers
of Philadelphia as well as a leader in society there. Mr. Widener
married Miss Eleanor Elkins, a daughter of the late William L. Elkins.
They made their home with his father at the latter's fine place
at Eastbourne, ten miles from Philadelphia. Mr. Widener was keenly
interested in horses and was a constant exhibitor at horse shows. In
business he was recognized as his father's chief adviser in managing the
latter's extensive traction interests. P. A. B. Widener is a director of
the International Mercantile Marine.
Mrs. Widener is said to be the possessor of one of the finest
collections of jewels in the world, the gift of her husband. One string
of pearls in this collection was reported to be worth $250,000.
The Wideners went abroad two months previous to the disaster, Mr.
Widener desiring to inspect some of his business interests on the other
side. At the opening of the London Museum by King George on March 21st
last it was announced that Mrs. Widener had presented to the museum
thirty silver plates once the property of Nell Gwyn. Mr. Widener is
survived by a daughter, Eleanor, and a son, George D. Widener, Jr. Harry
Elkins Widener was with his parents and went down on the ship.
COLONEL ROEBLING
Colonel Washington Augustus Roebling was president of the John A.
Roebling Sons' Company, manufacturers of iron and steel wire rope. He
served in the Union Army from 1861 to 1865, resigning to assist his
father in the construction of the Cincinnati and Covington suspension
bridge. At the death of his father in 1869 he took entire charge of the
construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, and it is to his genius that the
success of that great work may be said to be due.
WILLIAM T. STEAD
One of the most notable of the foreign passengers was William T. Stead.
Few names are more widely known to the world of contemporary literature
and journalism than that of the brilliant editor of the Review of
Reviews. Matthew Arnold called him "the inventor of the new journalism
in England." He was on his way to America to take part in the Men and
Religion Forward Movement and was to have delivered an address in Union
Square on the Thursday after the disaster, with William Jennings Bryan
as his chief associate.
Mr. Stead was an earnest advocate of peace and had written many books.
His commentary "If Christ Came to Chicago" raised a storm twenty years
ago. When he was in this country in 1907 he addressed a session of
Methodist clergymen, and at one juncture of the meeting remarked that
unless the Methodists did something about the peace movement besides
shouting "amen" nobody "would care a damn about their amens!"
OTHER ENGLISHMEN ABOARD
Other distinguished Englishmen on the Titanic were Norman C. Craig,
M.P., Thomas Andrews, a representative of the firm of Harland & Wolff,
of Belfast, the ship's builders, and J. Bruce Ismay, managing director
of the White Star Line.
J. BRUCE ISMAY
Mr. Ismay is president and one of the founders of the International
Mercantile Marine. He has made it a custom to be a passenger on the
maiden voyage of every new ship built by the White Star Line. It was Mr.
Ismay who, with J. P. Morgan, consolidated the British steamship lines
under the International Mercantile Marine's control; and it is largely
due to his imagination that such gigantic ships as the Titanic and
Olympic were made possible
JACQUES FUTRELLE
Jacques Futrelle was an author of short stories, some of which have
appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, and of many novels of the same
general type as "The Thinking Machine," with which he first gained a
wide popularity. Newspaper work, chiefly in Richmond, Va., engaged his
attention from 1890 to 1909, in which year he entered the theatrical
business as a manager. In 1904 he returned to his journalistic career.
HENRY B. HARRIS
Henry B. Harris, the theater manager, had been manager of May Irwin,
Peter Dailey, Lily Langtry, Amelia Bingham, and launched Robert Edeson
as star. He became the manager of the Hudson Theater in 1903 and the
Hackett Theater in 1906. Among his best known productions are "The Lion
and the Mouse," "The Traveling Salesman" and "The Third Degree." He was
president of the Henry B. Harris Company controlling the Harris Theater.
Young Harris had a liking for the theatrical business from a boy. Twelve
years ago Mr. Harris married Miss Rene Wallach of Washington. He was
said to have a fortune of between $1,000,000 and $3,000,000. He owned
outright the Hudson and the Harris theaters and had an interest in two
other show houses in New York. He owned three theaters in Chicago, one
in Syracuse and one in Philadelphia.
HENRY S. HARPER
Henry Sleeper Harper, who was among the survivors, is a grandson of John
Wesley Harper, one of the founders of the Harper publishing business. H.
Sleeper Harper was himself an incorporator of Harper & Brothers when the
firm became a corporation in 1896. He had a desk in the offices of the
publishers, but his hand of late years in the management of the business
has been very slight. He has been active in the work of keeping the
Adirondack forests free from aggression. He was in the habit of spending
about half of his time in foreign travel. His friends in New York
recalled that he had a narrow escape about ten years ago when a ship in
which he was traveling ran into an iceberg on the Grand Banks.
FRANCIS DAVID MILLET
Millet was one of the best-known American painters and many of his
canvasses are found in the leading galleries of the world. He served as
a drummer boy with the Sixtieth Massachusetts volunteers in the Civil
War, and from early manhood took a prominent part in public affairs. He
was director of the decorations for the Chicago Exposition and was, at
the time of the disaster, secretary of the American Academy in Rome. He
was a wide traveler and the author of many books, besides translations
of Tolstoi.
CHARLES M. HAYS
Another person of prominence was Charles Melville Hays, president of the
Grand Trunk and the Grand Trunk Pacific railways. He was described by
Sir Wilfrid Laurier at a dinner of the Canadian Club of New York, at the
Hotel Astor last year, as "beyond question the greatest railroad genius
in Canada, as an executive genius ranking second only to the late Edward
H. Harriman." He was returning aboard the Titanic with his wife and
son-in-law and daughter; Mr. and Mrs. Thornton Davidson, of Montreal.
CHAPTER V. THE TITANIC STRIKES AN ICEBERG!
TARDY ATTENTION TO WARNING RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENT--THE DANGER NOT
REALIZED AT FIRST--AN INTERRUPTED CARD GAME--PASSENGERS JOKE AMONG
THEMSELVES--THE REAL TRUTH DAWNS--PANIC ON BOARD--WIRELESS CALLS FOR
HELP
SUNDAY night the magnificent ocean liner was plunging through a
comparatively placid sea, on the surface of which there was much mushy
ice and here and there a number of comparatively harmless-looking floes.
The night was clear and stars visible. First Officer William T. Murdock
was in charge of the bridge The first intimation of the presence of the
iceberg that he received was from the lookout in the crow's nest.
Three warnings were transmitted from the crow's nest of the Titanic
to the officer on the doomed steamship's bridge 15 minutes before she
struck, according to Thomas Whiteley, a first saloon steward.
Whiteley, who was whipped overboard from the ship by a rope while
helping to lower a life-boat, finally reported on the Carpathia aboard
one of the boats that contained, he said, both the crow's nest lookouts.
He heard a conversation between them, he asserted, in which they
discussed the warnings given to the Titanic's bridge of the presence of
the iceberg.
Whiteley did not know the names of either of the lookout men and
believed that they returned to England with the majority of the
surviving members of the crew.
{illust. caption = A GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION OF THE FORCE WITH WHICH A
VESSEL STRIKES AN ICEBERG}
"I heard one of them say that at 11.15 o'clock, 15 minutes before the
Titanic struck, he had reported to First Officer Murdock, on the bridge,
that he fancied he saw an iceberg!" said Whiteley. "Twice after that,
the lookout said, he warned Murdock that a berg was ahead. They were
very indignant that no attention was paid to their warnings."
TARDY ATTENTION TO WARNING RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENT
Murdock's tardy answering of a telephone call from the crow's nest is
assigned by Whiteley as the cause of the disaster.
When Murdock answered the call he received the information that the
iceberg was due ahead. This information was imparted just a few seconds
before the crash, and had the officer promptly answered the ring of the
bell it is probable that the accident could have been avoided, or at
least, been reduced by the lowered speed.
The lookout saw a towering "blue berg" looming up in the sea path of the
Titanic, and called the bridge on the ship's telephone. When, after the
passing of those two or three fateful minutes an officer on the bridge
lifted the telephone receiver from its hook to answer the lookout,
it was too late. The speeding liner, cleaving a calm sea under a
star-studded sky, had reached the floating mountain of ice, which the
theoretically "unsinkable" ship struck a crashing, if glancing, blow
with her starboard bow.
MURDOCK PAID WITH LIFE
Had Murdock, according to the account of the tragedy given by two of the
Titanic's seamen, known how imperative was that call from the lookout
man, the men at the wheel of the liner might have swerved the great ship
sufficiently to avoid the berg altogether. At the worst the vessel would
probably have struck the mass of ice with her stern.
Murdock, if the tale of the Titanic sailor be true, expiated his
negligence by shooting himself within sight of all alleged victims
huddled in life-boats or struggling in the icy seas.
When at last the danger was realized, the great ship was so close upon
the berg that it was practically impossible to avoid collision with it
VAIN TRIAL TO CLEAR BERG
The first officer did what other startled and alert commanders would
have done under similar circumstances, that is
{illust. caption = THE LOCATION OF THE DISASTER}
he made an effort by going full speed ahead on the starboard propeller
and reversing his port propeller, simultaneously throwing his helm
over, to make a rapid turn and clear the berg. The maneuver was not
successful. He succeeded in saving his bows from crashing into the
ice-cliff, but nearly the entire length of the underbody of the great
ship on the starboard side was ripped. The speed of the Titanic,
estimated to be at least twenty-one knots, was so terrific that the
knife-like edge of the iceberg's spur protruding under the sea cut
through her like a can-opener.
The Titanic was in 41.46 north latitude and 50.14 west longitude when
she was struck, very near the spot on the wide Atlantic where the
Carmania encountered a field of ice, studded with great bergs, on her
voyage to New York which ended on April 14th. It was really an ice pack,
due to an unusually severe winter in the north Atlantic. No less than
twenty-five bergs, some of great height, were counted.
The shock was almost imperceptible. The first officer did not apparently
realize that the great ship had received her death wound, and none of
the passengers had the slightest suspicion that anything more than a
usual minor sea accident had happened. Hundreds who had gone to their
berths and were asleep were unawakened by the vibration.
BRIDGE GAME NOT DISTURBED
To illustrate the placidity with which practically all the men regarded
the accident it is related that Pierre Marechal, son of the vice-admiral
of the French navy, Lucien Smith, Paul Chevre, a French sculptor, and A.
F. Ormont, a cotton broker, were in the Cafe Parisien playing bridge.
The four calmly got up from the table and after walking on deck and
looking over the rail returned to their game. One of them had left his
cigar on the card table, and while the three others were gazing out on
the sea he remarked that he couldn't afford to lose his smoke, returned
for his cigar and came out again.
They remained only for a few moments on deck, and then resumed their
game under the impression that the ship had stopped for reasons best
known to the captain and not involving any danger to her. Later, in
describing the scene that took place, M. Marechal, who was among the
survivors, said: "When three-quarters of a mile away we stopped, the
spectacle before our eyes was in its way magnificent. In a very calm
sea, beneath a sky moonless but sown with millions of stars, the
enormous Titanic lay on the water, illuminated from the water line to
the boat deck. The bow was slowly sinking into the black water."
The tendency of the whole ship's company except the men in the engine
department, who were made aware of the danger by the inrushing water,
was to make light of and in some instances even to ridicule the thought
of danger to so substantial a fabric.
THE CAPTAIN ON DECK
When Captain Smith came from the chart room onto the bridge, his first
words were, "Close the emergency doors."
"They're already closed, sir," Mr. Murdock replied.
"Send to the carpenter and tell him to sound the ship," was the next
order. The message was sent to the carpenter, but the carpenter never
came up to report. He was probably the first man on the ship to lose his
life.
The captain then looked at the communicator, which shows in what
direction the ship is listing. He saw that she carried five degrees list
to starboard.
The ship was then rapidly settling forward. All the steam sirens were
blowing. By the captain's orders, given in the next few minutes, the
engines were put to work at pumping out the ship, distress signals
were sent by the Marconi, and rockets were sent up from the bridge by
Quartermaster Rowe. All hands were ordered on deck.
PASSENGERS NOT ALARMED
The blasting shriek of the sirens had not alarmed the great company of
the Titanic, because such steam calls are an incident of travel in seas
where fogs roll. Many had gone to bed, but the hour, 11.40 P. M., was
not too late for the friendly contact of saloons and smoking rooms. It
was Sunday night and the ship's concert had ended, but there were many
hundreds up and moving among the gay lights, and many on deck with their
eyes strained toward the mysterious west, where home lay. And in one
jarring, breath-sweeping moment all of these, asleep or awake, were at
the mercy of chance. Few among the more than 2000 aboard could have had
a thought of danger. The man who had stood up in the smoking room to say
that the Titanic was vulnerable or that in a few minutes two-thirds of
her people would be face to face with death, would have been considered
a fool or a lunatic. No ship ever sailed the seas that gave her
passengers more confidence, more cool security.
Within a few minutes stewards and other members of the crew were sent
round to arouse the people. Some utterly refused to get up. The stewards
had almost to force the doors of the staterooms to make the somnolent
appreciate their peril, and many of them, it is believed, were drowned
like rats in a trap.
ASTOR AND WIFE STROLLED ON DECK
Colonel and Mrs. Astor were in their room and saw the ice vision flash
by. They had not appreciably felt the gentle shock and supposed that
nothing out of the ordinary had happened. They were both dressed
and came on deck leisurely. William T. Stead, the London journalist,
wandered on deck for a few minutes, stopping to talk to Frank Millet.
"What do they say is the trouble?" he asked. "Icebergs," was the brief
reply. "Well," said Stead, "I guess it is nothing serious. I'm going
back to my cabin to read."
From end to end on the mighty boat officers were rushing about without
much noise or confusion, but giving orders sharply. Captain Smith told
the third officer to rush downstairs and see whether the water was
coming in very fast. "And," he added, "take some armed guards along to
see that the stokers and engineers stay at their posts."
In two minutes the officer returned. "It looks pretty bad, sir," he
said. "The water is rushing in and filling the bottom. The locks of the
water-tight compartments have been sprung by the shock."
"Give the command for all passengers to be on deck with life-belts on."
Through the length and breadth of the boat, upstairs and downstairs,
on all decks, the cry rang out: "All passengers on deck with
life-preservers."
A SUDDEN TREMOR OF FEAR
For the first time, there was a feeling of panic. Husbands sought for
wives and children. Families gathered together. Many who were asleep
hastily caught up their clothing and rushed on deck. A moment before the
men had been joking about the life-belts, according to the story told by
Mrs. Vera Dick, of Calgary, Canada. "Try this one," one man said to her,
"they are the very latest thing this season. Everybody's wearing them
now."
Another man suggested to a woman friend, who had a fox terrier in her
arms, that she should put a life-saver on the dog. "It won't fit," the
woman replied, laughing. "Make him carry it in his mouth," said the
friend.
CONFUSION AMONG THE IMMIGRANTS
Below, on the steerage deck, there was intense confusion. About the time
the officers on the first deck gave the order that all men should stand
to one side and all women should go below to deck B, taking the children
with them, a similar order was given to the steerage passengers. The
women were ordered to the front, the men to the rear. Half a dozen
healthy, husky immigrants pushed their way forward and tried to crowd
into the first boat.
"Stand back," shouted the officers who were manning the boat. "The women
come first."
Shouting curses in various foreign languages, the immigrant men
continued their pushing and tugging to climb into the boats. Shots
rang out. One big fellow fell over the railing into the water. Another
dropped to the deck, moaning. His jaw had been shot away. This was the
story told by the bystanders afterwards on the pier. One husky Italian
told the writer on the pier that the way in which the men were shot down
was horrible. His sympathy was with the men who were shot.
"They were only trying to save their lives," he said.
WIRELESS OPERATOR DIED AT HIS POST
On board the Titanic, the wireless operator, with a life-belt about
his waist, was hitting the instrument that was sending out C. Q. D.,
messages, "Struck on iceberg, C. Q. D."
"Shall I tell captain to turn back and help?" flashed a reply from the
Carpathia.
"Yes, old man," the Titanic wireless operator responded. "Guess we're
sinking."
An hour later, when the second wireless man came into the boxlike room
to tell his companion what the situation was, he found a negro stoker
creeping up behind the operator and saw him raise a knife over his head.
He said afterwards--he was among those rescued--that he realized at
once that the negro intended to kill the operator in order to take his
life-belt from him. The second operator pulled out his revolver and shot
the negro dead.
"What was the trouble?" asked the operator.
"That negro was going to kill you and steal your life-belt," the second
man replied.
"Thanks, old man," said the operator. The second man went on deck to get
some more information. He was just in time to jump overboard before the
Titanic went down. The wireless operator and the body of the negro who
tried to steal his belt went down together.
On the deck where the first class passengers were quartered, known as
deck A, there was none of the confusion that was taking place on the
lower decks. The Titanic was standing without much rocking. The captain
had given an order and the band was playing.
{illust. caption = WAITING FOR THE NEWS
A Bird's eye view of the great crowds...}
{illust. caption = WIRELESS STATION AT CAPE RACE
Where the first news of the Titanic disaster was received.}
CHAPTER VI. "WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!"
COOL-HEADED OFFICERS AND CREW BRING ORDER OUT OF CHAOS--FILLING THE
LIFE-BOATS--HEARTRENDING SCENES AS FAMILIES ARE PARTED--FOUR LIFE-BOATS
LOST--INCIDENTS OF BRAVERY--"THE BOATS ARE ALL FILLED!"
ONCE on the deck, many hesitated to enter the swinging life-boats. Tho
glassy sea, the starlit sky, the absence, in the first few moments,
of intense excitement, gave them the feeling that there was only some
slight mishap; that those who got into the boats would have a chilly
half hour below and might, later, be laughed at.
It was such a feeling as this, from all accounts, which caused John
Jacob Astor and his wife to refuse the places offered them in the first
boat, and to retire to the gymnasium. In the same way H. J. Allison, a
Montreal banker, laughed at the warning, and his wife, reassured by
him, took her time dressing. They and their daughter did not reach
the Carpathia. Their son, less than two years old, was carried into a
life-boat by his nurse, and was taken in charge by Major Arthur Peuchen.
THE LIFE-BOATS LOWERED
The admiration felt by the passengers and crew for the matchlessly
appointed vessel was translated, in those first few moments, into a
confidence which for some proved deadly. The pulsing of the engines had
ceased, and the steamship lay just as though she were awaiting the order
to go on again after some trifling matter had been adjusted. But in a
few minutes the canvas covers were lifted from the life-boats and the
crews allotted to each standing by, ready to lower them to the water.
Nearly all the boats that were lowered on the port side of the ship
touched the water without capsizing. Four of the others lowered to
starboard, including one collapsible, were capsized. All, however, who
were in the collapsible boats that practically went to pieces, were
rescued by the other boats.
Presently the order was heard: "All men stand back and all women retire
to the deck below." That was the smoking-room deck, or the B deck. The
men stood away and remained in absolute silence, leaning against the
rail or pacing up and down the deck slowly. Many of them lighted cigars
or cigarettes and began to smoke.
LOADING THE BOATS
The boats were swung out and lowered from the A deck above. The women
were marshaled quietly in lines along the B deck, and when the boats
were lowered down to the level of the latter the women were assisted to
climb into them.
As each of the boats was filled with its quota of passengers the word
was given and it was carefully lowered down to the dark surface of the
water.
Nobody seemed to know how Mr. Ismay got into a boat, but it was assumed
that he wished to make a presentation of the case of the Titanic to his
company. He was among those who apparently realized that the splendid
ship was doomed. All hands in the life-boats, under instructions from
officers and men in charge, were rowed a considerable distance from the
ship herself in order to get far away from the possible suction that
would follow her foundering.
COOLEST MEN ON BOARD
Captain Smith and Major Archibald Butt, military aide to the President
of the United States, were among the coolest men on board. A number of
steerage passengers were yelling and screaming and fighting to get to
the boats. Officers drew guns and told them that if they moved towards
the boats they would be shot dead. Major Butt had a gun in his hand and
covered the men who tried to get to the boats.
The following story of his bravery was told by Mrs. Henry B. Harris,
wife of the theatrical manager:
"The world should rise in praise of Major Butt. That man's conduct will
remain in my memory forever. The American army is honored by him and
the way he taught some of the other men how to behave when women and
children were suffering that awful mental fear of death. Major Butt was
near me and I noticed everything that he did.
"When the order to man the boats came, the captain whispered something
to Major Butt. The two of them had become friends. The major immediately
became as one in supreme command. You would have thought he was at a
White House reception. A dozen or more women became hysterical all at
once, as something connected with a life-boat went wrong. Major Butt
stepped over to them and said:
"'Really, you must not act like that; we are all going to see you
through this thing.' He helped the sailors rearrange the rope or chain
that had gone wrong and lifted some of the women in with a touch of
gallantry. Not only was there a complete lack of any fear in his manner,
but there was the action of an aristocrat.
"When the time came he was a man to be feared. In one of the earlier
boats fifty women, it seemed, were about to be lowered, when a man,
suddenly panic-stricken, ran to the stern of it. Major Butt shot one arm
out, caught him by the back of the neck and jerked him backward like a
pillow. His head cracked against a rail and he was stunned.
"'Sorry,' said Major Butt, 'women will be attended to first or I'll
break every damned bone in your body.'
FORCED MEN USURPING PLACES TO VACATE
"The boats were lowered one by one, and as I stood by, my husband said
to me, 'Thank God, for Archie Butt.' Perhaps Major Butt heard it, for he
turned his face towards us for a second and smiled. Just at that moment,
a young man was arguing to get into a life-boat, and Major Butt had a
hold of the lad by the arm, like a big brother, and was telling him to
keep his head and be a man.
"Major Butt helped those poor frightened steerage people so wonderfully,
so tenderly and yet with such cool and manly firmness that he prevented
the loss of many lives from panic. He was a soldier to the last. He was
one of God's greatest noblemen, and I think I can say he was an example
of bravery even to men on the ship."
LAST WORDS OF MAJOR BUTT
Miss Marie Young, who was a music instructor to President Roosevelt's
children and had known Major Butt during the Roosevelt occupancy of the
White House, told this story of his heroism.
"Archie himself put me into the boat, wrapped blankets about me and
tucked me in as carefully as if we were starting on a motor ride. He,
himself, entered the boat with me, performing the little courtesies as
calmly and with as smiling a face as if death were far away, instead of
being but a few moments removed from him.
"When he had carefully wrapped me up he stepped upon the gunwale of the
boat, and lifting his hat, smiled down at me. 'Good-bye, Miss Young,'
he said. 'Good luck to you, and don't forget to remember me to the folks
back home.' Then he stepped back and waved his hand to me as the boat
was lowered. I think I was the last woman he had a chance to help, for
the boat went down shortly after we cleared the suction zone."
COLONEL ASTOR ANOTHER HERO
Colonel Astor was another of the heroes of the awful night. Effort was
made to persuade him to take a place in one of the life-boats, but he
emphatically refused to do so until every woman and child on board
had been provided for, not excepting the women members of the ship's
company.
One of the passengers describing the consummate courage of Colonel Astor
said:
"He led Mrs. Astor to the side of the ship and helped her to the
life-boat to which she had been assigned. I saw that she was prostrated
and said she would remain and take her chances with him, but Colonel
Astor quietly insisted and tried to reassure her in a few words. As she
took her place in the boat her eyes were fixed upon him. Colonel Astor
smiled, touched his cap, and when the boat moved safely away from the
ship's side he turned back to his place among the men."
Mrs. Ida S. Hippach and her daughter Jean, survivors of the Titanic,
said they were saved by Colonel John Jacob Astor, who forced the crew of
the last life-boat to wait for them.
"We saw Colonel Astor place Mrs. Astor in a boat and assure her that he
would follow later," said Mrs. Hippach.
"He turned to us with a smile and said, 'Ladies, you are next.' The
officer in charge of the boat protested that the craft was full, and the
seamen started to lower it.
"Colonel Astor exclaimed, 'Hold that boat,' in the voice of a man
accustomed to be obeyed, and they did as he ordered. The boat had been
lowered past the upper deck and the colonel took us to the deck below
and put us in the boat, one after the other, through a port-hole."
{illust. caption = LOADING THE LIFE-BOATS
Here occurred the heart-rending separation of husbands and wives, as the
women were given precedence in the boats.}
HEART-BREAKING SCENES
There were some terrible scenes. Fathers were parting from their
children and giving them an encouraging pat on the shoulders; men
were kissing their wives and telling them that they would be with them
shortly. One man said there was absolutely no danger, that the boat was
the finest ever built, with water-tight compartments, and that it could
not sink. That seemed to be the general impression.
A few of the men, however, were panic-stricken even when the first of
the fifty-six foot life-boats was being filled. Fully ten men threw
themselves into the boats already crowded with women and children. These
men were dragged back and hurled sprawling across the deck. Six of them,
screamed with fear, struggled to their feet and made a second attempt to
rush to the boats.
About ten shots sounded in quick succession. The six cowardly men were
stopped in their tracks, staggered and collapsed one after another. At
least two of them vainly attempted to creep toward the boats again. The
others lay quite still. This scene of bloodshed served its purpose.
In that particular section of the deck there was no further attempt to
violate the rule of "women and children first."
"I helped fill the boats with women," said Thomas Whiteley, who was a
waiter on the Titanic. "Collapsible boat No. 2 on the starboard jammed.
The second officer was hacking at the ropes with a knife and I was being
dragged around the deck by that rope when I looked up and saw the boat,
with all aboard, turn turtle. In some way I got overboard myself and
clung to an oak dresser. I wasn't more than sixty feet from the Titanic
when she went down. Her big stern rose up in the air and she went down
bow first. I saw all the machinery drop out of her."
HENRY B. HARRIS
Henry B. Harris, of New York, a theatrical manager, was one of the men
who showed superb courage in the crisis. When the life-boats were first
being filled, and before there was any panic, Mr. Harris went to the
side of his wife before the boat was lowered away.
"Women first," shouted one of the ship's officers. Mr. Harris glanced up
and saw that the remark was addressed to him.
"All right," he replied coolly. "Good-bye, my dear," he said, as he
kissed his wife, pressed her a moment to his breast, and then climbed
back to the Titanic's deck.
THREE EXPLOSIONS
Up to this time there had been no panic; but about one hour before
the ship plunged to the bottom there were three separate explosions of
bulkheads as the vessel filled. These were at intervals of about fifteen
minutes. From that time there was a different scene. The rush for the
remaining boats became a stampede.
The stokers rushed up from below and tried to beat a path through the
steerage men and women and through the sailors and officers, to get into
the boats. They had their iron bars and shovels, and they struck down
all who stood in their way.
The first to come up from the depths of the ship was an engineer. From
what he is reported to have said it is probable that the steam fittings
were broken and many were scalded to death when the Titanic lifted. He
said he had to dash through a narrow place beside a broken pipe and his
back was frightfully scalded.
Right at his heels came the stokers. The officers had pistols, but they
could not use them at first for fear of killing the women and children.
The sailors fought with their fists and many of them took the stoke bars
and shovels from the stokers and used them to beat back the others.
Many of the coal-passers and stokers who had been driven back from
the boats went to the rail, and whenever a boat was filled and lowered
several of them jumped overboard and swam toward it trying to climb
aboard. Several of the survivors said that men who swam to the sides of
their boats were pulled in or climbed in.
Dozens of the cabin passengers were witnesses of some of the frightful
scenes on the steerage deck. The steerage survivors said that ten women
from the upper decks were the only cool passengers in the life-boat, and
they tried to quiet the steerage women, who were nearly all crazed with
fear and grief.
OTHER HEROES
Among the chivalrous young heroes of the Titanic disaster were
Washington A. Roebling, 2d, and Howard Case, London representative of
the Vacuum Oil Company. Both were urged repeatedly to take places in
life-boats, but scorned the opportunity, while working against time to
save the women aboard the ill-fated ship. They went to their death, it
is said by survivors, with smiles on their faces.
Both of these young men aided in the saving of Mrs. William T. Graham,
wife of the president of the American Can Company, and Mrs. Graham's
nineteen-year-old daughter, Margaret.
Afterwards relating some of her experiences Mrs. Graham said:
"There was a rap at the door. It was a passenger whom we had met shortly
after the ship left Liverpool, and his name was Roebling--Washington A.
Roebling, 2d. He was a gentleman and a brave man. He warned us of
the danger and told us that it would be best to be prepared for an
emergency. We heeded his warning, and I looked out of my window and saw
a great big iceberg facing us. Immediately I knew what had happened and
we lost no time after that to get out into the saloon.
"In one of the gangways I met an officer of the ship.
"'What is the matter?' I asked him.
"'We've only burst two pipes,' he said. 'Everything is all right, don't
worry.'
"'But what makes the ship list so?' I asked.
"'Oh, that's nothing,' he replied, and walked away.
"Mr. Case advised us to get into a boat.
"'And what are you going to do?' we asked him.
"'Oh,' he replied, 'I'll take a chance and stay here.'
"Just at that time they were filling up the third life-boat on the port
side of the ship. I thought at the time that it was the third boat which
had been lowered, but I found out later that they had lowered other
boats on the other side, where the people were more excited because they
were sinking on that side.
"Just then Mr. Roebling came up, too, and told us to hurry and get into
the third boat. Mr. Roebling and Mr. Case bustled our party of three
into that boat in less time than it takes to tell it. They were both
working hard to help the women and children. The boat was fairly crowded
when we three were pushed into it, and a few men jumped in at the last
moment, but Mr. Roebling and Mr. Case stood at the rail and made no
attempt to get into the boat.
"They shouted good-bye to us. What do you think Mr. Case did then? He
just calmly lighted a cigarette and waved us good-bye with his hand.
Mr. Roebling stood there, too--I can see him now. I am sure that he knew
that the ship would go to the bottom. But both just stood there."
IN THE FACE OF DEATH
Scenes on the sinking vessel grew more tragic as the remaining
passengers faced the awful certainty that death must be the portion of
the majority, death in the darkness of a wintry sea studded with its ice
monuments like the marble shafts in some vast cemetery.
In that hour, when cherished illusions of possible safety had all
but vanished, manhood and womanhood aboard the Titanic rose to their
sublimest heights. It was in that crisis of the direst extremity that
many brave women deliberately rejected life and chose rather to remain
and die with the men whom they loved.
DEATH FAILS TO PART MR. AND MRS. STRAUS
"I will not leave my husband," said Mrs. Isidor Straus. "We are old; we
can best die together," and she turned from those who would have forced
her into one of the boats and clung to the man who had been the partner
of her joys and sorrows. Thus they stood hand in hand and heart to
heart, comforting each other until the sea claimed them, united in death
as they had been through a long life.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends."
Miss Elizabeth Evans fulfilled this final test of affection laid down
by the Divine Master. The girl was the niece of the wife of Magistrate
Cornell, of New York. She was placed in the same boat with many other
women. As it was about to be lowered away it was found that the craft
contained one more than its full quota of passengers.
The grim question arose as to which of them should surrender her place
and her chance of safety. Beside Miss Evans sat Mrs. J. J. Brown, of
Denver, the mother of several children. Miss Evans was the first to
volunteer to yield to another.
GIRL STEPS BACK TO DOOM
"Your need is greater than mine," said she to Mrs. Brown. "You have
children who need you, and I have none."
So saying she arose from the boat and stepped back upon the deck. The
girl found no later refuge and was one of those who went down with the
ship. She was twenty-five years old and was beloved by all who knew her.
Mrs. Brown thereafter showed the spirit which had made her also
volunteer to leave the boat. There were only three men in the boat
and but one of them rowed. Mrs. Brown, who was raised on the water,
immediately picked up one of the heavy sweeps and began to pull.
In the boat which carried Mrs. Cornell and Mrs. Appleton there were
places for seventeen more than were carried. This too was undermanned
and the two women at once took their places at the oars.
The Countess of Rothes was pulling at the oars of her boat, likewise
undermanned because the crew preferred to stay behind.
Miss Bentham, of Rochester, showed splendid courage. She happened to be
in a life-boat which was very much crowded--so much so that one sailor
had to sit with his feet dangling in the icy cold water, and as time
went on the sufferings of the man from the cold were apparent. Miss
Bentham arose from her place and had the man turn around while she took
her place with her feet in the water.
Scarcely any of the life-boats were properly manned. Two, filled with
women and children, capsized immediately, while the collapsible boats
were only temporarily useful. They soon filled with water. In one boat
eighteen or twenty persons sat in water above their knees for six hours.
{illust. caption =
In the darkness and confusion, punctuated by screams, sobs and curses,
the boats were lowered after being filled with women, children and a
few men. The sketch, drawn from description of eye-witnesses, shows the
lofty side of the stricken vessel and the laden boats descending.
THE LIFE-BOATS BEING LOWERED}
{illust. caption = Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
{illust. caption = Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. LIFE-BOATS,
AS SEEN FROM THE CARPATHIA
Photographs taken from the rescue ship as she reached the first boats
carrying the Titanic's sufferers.}
heard it, but have forgotten it. But I saw an order for five pounds
which this man gave to each of the crew of his boat after they got
aboard the Carpathia. It was on a piece of ordinary paper addressed to
the Coutts Bank of England.
"We called that boat the 'money boat.' It was lowered from the
starboard side and was one of the first off. Our orders were to load the
life-boats beginning forward on the port side, working aft and then back
on the starboard. This man paid the firemen to lower a starboard boat
before the officers had given the order."
Whiteley's own experience was a hard one. When the uncoiling rope, which
entangled his feet, threw him into the sea, it furrowed the flesh of
his leg, but he did not feel the pain until he was safe aboard the
Carpathia.
"I floated on my life-preserver for several hours," he said, "then I
came across a big oak dresser with two men clinging to it. I hung on to
this till daybreak and the two men dropped off. When the sun came up I
saw the collapsible raft in the distance, just black with men. They were
all standing up, and I swam to it--almost a mile, it seemed to me--and
they would not let me aboard. Mr. Lightoller, the second officer, was
one of them.
"'It's thirty-one lives against yours,, he said, 'you can't come
aboard. There's not room.'"
"I pleaded with him in vain, and then I confess I prayed that somebody
might die, so I could take his place. It was only human. And then some
one did die, and they let me aboard.
"By and by, we saw seven life-boats lashed together, and we were taken
into them."
MEN SHOT DOWN
The officers had to assert their authority by force, and three
foreigners from the steerage who tried to force their way in among the
women and children were shot down without mercy.
Robert Daniel, a Philadelphia passenger, told of terrible scenes at
this period of the disaster. He said men fought and bit and struck one
another like madmen, and exhibited wounds upon his face to prove the
assertion. Mr. Daniel said that he was picked up naked from the ice-cold
water and almost perished from exposure before he was rescued. He and
others told how the Titanic's bow was completely torn away by the impact
with the berg.
K. Whiteman, of Palmyra, N. J., the Titanic's barber, was lowering boats
on deck after the collision, and declared the officers on the bridge,
one of them First Officer Murdock, promptly worked the electrical
apparatus for closing the water-tight compartments. He believed the
machinery was in some way so damaged by the crash that the front
compartments failed to close tightly, although the rear ones were
secure.
Whiteman's manner of escape was unique. He was blown off the deck by the
second of the two explosions of the boilers, and was in the water more
than two hours before he was picked up by a raft.
"The explosions," Whiteman said; "were caused by the rushing in of the
icy water on the boilers. A bundle of deck chairs, roped together, was
blown off the deck with me, and I struck my back, injuring my spine, but
it served as a temporary raft.
"The crew and passengers had faith in the bulkhead system to save the
ship and we were lowering a collapsible boat, all confident the ship
would get through, when she took a terrific dip forward and the water
swept over the deck and into the engine rooms.
"The bow went clean down, and I caught the pile of chairs as I was
washed up against the rim. Then came the explosions which blew me
fifteen feet.
"After the water had filled the forward compartments, the ones at the
stern could not save her, although they did delay the ship's going down.
If it wasn't for the compartments hardly anyone could have got away."
A SAD MESSAGE
One of the Titanic's stewards, Johnson by name, carried this message to
the sorrowing widow of Benjamin Guggenheim:
"When Mr. Guggenheim realized that there was grave danger," said the
room steward, "he advised his secretary, who also died, to dress fully
and he himself did the same. Mr. Guggenheim, who was cool and collected
as he was pulling on his outer garments, said to the steward:--
PREPARED TO DIE BRAVELY
"'I think there is grave doubt that the men will get off safely. I am
willing to remain and play the man's game, if there are not enough boats
for more than the women and children. I won't die here like a beast.
I'll meet my end as man.'
"There was a pause and then Mr. Guggenheim continued:
"'Tell my wife, Johnson, if it should happen that my secretary and I
both go down and you are saved, tell her I played the game out straight
and to the end. No woman shall be left aboard this ship because Ben
Guggenheim was a coward.
"'Tell her that my last thoughts will be of her and of our girls, but
that my duty now is to these unfortunate women and children on this
ship. Tell her I will meet whatever fate is in store for me, knowing she
will approve of what I do.'"
In telling the story the room steward said the last he saw of Mr.
Guggenheim was when he stood fully dressed upon the upper deck talking
calmly with Colonel Astor and Major Butt.
Before the last of the boats got away, according to some of the
passengers' narratives, there were more than fifty shots fired upon the
decks by officers or others in the effort to maintain the discipline
that until then had been well preserved.
THE SINKING VESSEL
Richard Norris Williams, Jr., one of the survivors of the Titanic, saw
his father killed by being crushed by one of the tremendous funnels of
the sinking vessel.
"We stood on deck watching the life-boats of the Titanic being filled
and lowered into the water," said Mr. Williams. "The water was nearly
up to our waists and the ship was about at her last. Suddenly one of the
great funnels fell. I sprang aside, endeavoring to pull father with me.
A moment later the funnel was swept overboard and the body of father
went with it.
"I sprang overboard and swam through the ice to a life-raft, and
was pulled aboard. There were five men and one woman on the raft.
Occasionally we were swept off into the sea, but always managed to crawl
back.
"A sailor lighted a cigarette and flung the match carelessly among the
women. Several screamed, fearing they would be set on fire. The sailor
replied: 'We are going to hell anyway and we might as well be cremated
now as then.'"
A huge cake of ice was the means of aiding Emile Portaleppi, of Italy,
in his hairbreadth escape from death when the Titanic went down.
Portaleppi, a second class passenger, was awakened by the explosion of
one of the bulkheads of the ship. He hurried to the deck, strapped a
life-preserver around him and leaped into the sea. With the aid of the
preserver and by holding to a cake of ice he managed to keep afloat
until one of the life-boats picked him up. There were thirty-five other
people in the boat, he said, when he was hauled aboard.
THE COWARD
Somewhere in the shadow of the appalling Titanic disaster slinks--still
living by the inexplicable grace of God--a cur in human shape, to-day
the most despicable human being in all the world.
In that grim midnight hour, already great in history, he found himself
hemmed in by the band of heroes whose watchword and countersign rang out
across the deep--"Women and children first!"
What did he do? He scuttled to the stateroom deck, put on a woman's
skirt, a woman's hat and a woman's veil, and picking his crafty way back
among the brave and chivalric men who guarded the rail of the doomed
ship, he filched a seat in one of the life-boats and saved his skin.
His name is on that list of branded rescued men who were neither picked
up from the sea when the ship went down nor were in the boats under
orders to help get them safe away. His identity is not yet known, though
it will be in good time. So foul an act as that will out like murder.
The eyes of strong men who have read this crowded record of golden
deeds, who have read and re-read that deathless roll of honor of the
dead, are still wet with tears of pity and of pride. This man still
lives. Surely he was born and saved to set for men a new standard by
which to measure infamy and shame.
It is well that there was sufficient heroism on board the Titanic to
neutralize the horrors of the cowardice. When the first order was given
for the men to stand back, there were a dozen or more who pushed forward
and said that men would be needed to row the life-boats and that they
would volunteer for the work.
The officers tried to pick out the ones that volunteered merely for
service and to eliminate those who volunteered merely to save their own
lives. This elimination process however, was not wholly successful.
THE DOOMED MEN
As the ship began to settle to starboard, heeling at an angle of nearly
forty-five degrees, those who had believed it was all right to stick by
the ship began to have doubts, and a few jumped into the sea. They were
followed immediately by others, and in a few minutes there were scores
swimming around. Nearly all of them wore life-preservers. One man, who
had a Pomeranian dog, leaped overboard with it and striking a piece of
wreckage was badly stunned. He recovered after a few minutes and swam
toward one of the life-boats and was taken aboard.
Said one survivor, speaking of the men who remained on the ship. "There
they stood--Major Butt, Colonel Astor waving a farewell to his wife,
Mr. Thayer, Mr. Case, Mr. Clarence Moore, Mr. Widener, all
multimillionaires, and hundreds of other men, bravely smiling at us all.
Never have I seen such chivalry and fortitude. Such courage in the face
of fate horrible to contemplate filled us even then with wonder and
admiration."
Why were men saved? ask: others who seek to make the occasional male
survivor a hissing scorn; and yet the testimony makes it clear that for
a long time during that ordeal the more frightful position seemed to
many to be in the frail boats in the vast relentless sea, and that some
men had to be tumbled into the boats under orders from the officers.
Others express the deepest indignation that 210 sailors were rescued,
the testimony shows that most of these sailors were in the welter of ice
and water into which they had been thrown from the ship's deck when she
sank; they were human beings and so were picked up and saved.
"WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST"
The one alleviating circumstance in the otherwise immitigable tragedy
is the fact that so many of the men stood aside really with out the
necessity for the order, "Women and children first," and insisted that
the weaker sex should first have places in the boats.
There were men whose word of command swayed boards of directors,
governed institutions, disposed of millions. They were accustomed merely
to pronounce a wish to have it gratified. Thousands "posted at their
bidding"; the complexion of the market altered hue when they nodded;
they bought what they wanted, and for one of the humblest fishing smacks
or a dory they could have given the price that was paid to build and
launch the ship that has become the most imposing mausoleum that ever
housed the bones of men since the Pyramids rose from the desert sands.
But these men stood aside--one can see them!--and gave place not merely
to the delicate and the refined, but to the scared Czech woman from the
steerage, with her baby at her breast; the Croatian with a toddler by
her side, coming through the very gate of Death and out of the mouth of
Hell to the imagined Eden of America.
To many of those who went it was harder to go than to stay there on the
vessel gaping with its mortal wounds and ready to go down. It meant that
tossing on the waters they must wait in suspense, hour after hour even
after the lights of the ship were engulfed in appalling darkness, hoping
against hope for the miracle of a rescue dearer to them than their own
lives.
It was the tradition of Anglo-Saxon heroism that was fulfilled in the
frozen seas during the black hours of Sunday night. The heroism was that
of the women who went, as well as of the men who remained!
CHAPTER VII. LEFT TO THEIR FATE
COOLNESS AND HEROISM OF THOSE LEFT TO PERISH--SUICIDE OF
MURDOCK--CAPTAIN SMITH'S END--THE SHIP'S BAND PLAYS A NOBLE HYMN AS THE
VESSEL GOES DOWN
THE general feeling aboard the ship after the boats had left her
sides was that she would not survive her wound, but the passengers who
remained aboard displayed the utmost heroism.
William T. Stead, the famous English journalist, was so litt{l}e alarmed
that he calmly discussed with one of the passengers the probable height
of the iceberg after the Titanic had shot into it.
Confidence in the ability of the Titanic to remain afloat doubtlessly
led many of the passengers to death. The theory that the great ship was
unsinkable remained with hundreds who had entrusted themselves to the
gigantic hulk, long after the officers knew that the vessel could not
survive.
The captain and officers behaved with superb gallantry, and there was
perfect order and discipline among those who were aboard, even after all
hope had been abandoned for the salvation of the ship.
Many women went down, steerage women who were unable to get to the upper
decks where the boats were launched, maids who were overlooked in the
confusion, cabin passengers who refused to desert their husbands or who
reached the decks after the last of the life-boats was gone and the ship
was settling for her final plunge to the bottom of the Atlantic.
Narratives of survivors do not bear out the supposition that the final
hours upon the vessel's decks were passed in darkness. They say the
electric lighting plant held out until the last, and that even as they
watched the ship sink, from their places in the floating life-boats, her
lights were gleaming in long rows as she plunged under by the head. Just
before she sank, some of the refugees say, the ship broke in two abaft
the engine room after the bulkhead explosions had occurred.
COLONEL ASTOR'S DEATH
To Colonel Astor's death Philip Mock bears this testimony.
"Many men were hanging on to rafts in the sea. William T. Stead and
Colonel Astor were among them. Their feet and hands froze and they had
to let go. Both were drowned."
The last man among the survivors to speak to Colonel Astor was K.
Whiteman, the ship's barber.
"I shaved Colonel Astor Sunday afternoon," said Whiteman. "He was a
pleasant, affable man, and that awful night when I found myself standing
beside him on the passenger deck, helping to put the women into the
boats, I spoke to him.
"'Where is your life-belt?' I asked him.
"'I didn't think there would be any need of it,' he said.
"'Get one while there is time,' I told him. 'The last boat is gone, and
we are done for.'
"'No,' he said, 'I think there are some life-boats to be launched, and
we may get on one of them.'
"'There are no life-rafts,' I told him, 'and the ship is going to sink.
I am going to jump overboard and take a chance on swimming out and being
picked up by one of the boats. Better come along.'
"'No, thank you,' he said, calmly, 'I think I'll have to stick.'
"I asked him if he would mind shaking hands with me. He said, 'With
pleasure,' gave me a hearty grip, and then I climbed up on the rail and
jumped overboard. I was in the water nearly four hours before one of the
boats picked me up."
CAPTAIN WASHED OVERBOARD
Murdock's last orders were to Quartermaster Moody and a few other petty
officers who had taken their places in the rigid discipline of the ship
and were lowering the boats. Captain Smith came up to him on the bridge
several times and then rushed down again. They spoke to one another only
in monosyllables.
There were stories that Captain Smith, when he saw the ship actually
going down, had committed suicide. There is no basis for such tales. The
captain, according to the testimony of those who were near him almost
until the last, was admirably cool. He carried a revolver in his hand,
ready to use it on anyone who disobeyed orders.
"I want every man to act like a man for manhood's sake," he said, "and
if they don't, a bullet awaits the coward."
With the revolver in his hand--a fact that undoubtedly gave rise to
the suicide theory--the captain moved up and down the deck. He gave the
order for each life-boat to make off and he remained until every boat
was gone. Standing on the bridge he finally called out the order: "Each
man save himself." At that moment all discipline fled. It was the last
call of death. If there had been any hope among those on board before,
the hope now had fled.
The bearded admiral of the White Star Line fleet, with every life-saving
device launched from the decks, was returning to the deck to perform the
sacred office of going down with his ship when a wave dashed over the
side and tore him from the ladder.
The Titanic was sinking rapidly by the head, with the twisting sidelong
motion that was soon to aim her on her course two miles down. Murdock
saw the skipper swept out; but did not move. Captain Smith was but one
of a multitude of lost at that moment. Murdock may have known that the
last desperate thought of the gray mariner was to get upon his bridge
and die in command. That the old man could not have done this may have
had something to do with Murdock's suicidal inspiration. Of that no man
may say or safely guess.
The wave that swept the skipper out bore him almost to the thwart of
a crowded life-boat. Hands reached out, but he wrenched himself away,
turned and swam back toward the ship.
Some say that he said, "Good-bye, I'm going back to the ship."
He disappeared for a moment, then reappeared where a rail was slipping
under water. Cool and courageous to the end, loyal to his duty under the
most difficult circumstances, he showed himself a noble captain, and he
died a noble death.
SAW BOTH OFFICERS PERISH
Quartermaster Moody saw all this, watched the skipper scramble aboard
again onto the submerged decks, and then vanish altogether in a great
billow.
As Moody's eye lost sight of the skipper in this confusion of waters it
again shifted to the bridge, and just in time to see Murdock take his
life. The man's face was turned toward him, Moody said, and he could
not mistake it. There were still many gleaming lights on the ship,
flickering out like little groups of vanishing stars, and with the
clear starshine on the waters there was nothing to cloud or break the
quartermaster's vision.
"I saw Murdock die by his own hand," said Moody, "saw the flash from
his gun, heard the crack that followed the flash and then saw him plunge
over on his face."
Others report hearing several pistol shots on the decks below the
bridge, but amid the groans and shrieks and cries, shouted orders and
all that vast orchestra of sounds that broke upon the air they must have
been faint periods of punctuation
BAND PLAYED ITS OWN DIRGE
The band had broken out in the strains of "Nearer, My God, to Thee,"
some minutes before Murdock lifted the revolver to his head, fired and
toppled over on his face. Moody saw all this in a vision that filled his
brain, while his ears drank in the tragic strain of the beautiful hymn
that the band played as their own dirge, even to the moment when the
waters sucked them down.
Wherever Murdock's eye swept the water in that instant, before he drew
his revolver, it looked upon veritable seas of drowning men and women.
From the decks there came to him the shrieks and groans of the caged and
drowning, for whom all hope of escape was utterly vanished. He evidently
never gave a thought to the possibility of saving himself, his mind
freezing with the horrors he beheld and having room for just one central
idea--swift extinction.
The strains of the hymn and the frantic cries of the dying blended in a
symphony of sorrow.
Led by the green light, under the light of stars, the boats drew away,
and the bow, then the quarter, then the stacks and last the stern of the
marvel ship of a few days before passed beneath the waters. The great
force of the ship's sinking was unaided by any violence of the elements,
and the suction, not so great as had been feared, rocked but mildly the
group of boats now a quarter of a mile distant from it.
Just before the Titanic disappeared from view men and women leaped from
the stern. More than a hundred men, according to Colonel Gracie, jumped
at the last. Gracie was among the number and he and the second officer
were of the very few who were saved.
As the vessel disappeared, the waves drowned the majestic
{illust. caption = DEPTH OF OCEAN WHERE THE TITANIC WENT DOWN
The above etching shows a diagram of the ocean depths between the shore
of Newfoundland (shown at the top to the left, by the heavily shaded
part) to 800 miles out, where the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank.
Over the Great Bank of Newfoundland the greatest depth is about 35
fathoms, or 210 feet. Then there is a sudden drop to 105 fathoms, or
630 feet, and then there is a falling away to 1650 fathoms or 9900 feet,
then 2000 fathoms or 12,000 feet, and about where the Titanic sank 2760
fathoms or 16,560 feet.}
hymn which the musicians played as they went to their watery grave. The
most authentic accounts agree that this hymn was not "Nearer, My God, to
Thee," which it seems had been
{illust. caption = CARPATHIA
The Cunard liner which brought the survivors of the Titanic to New
York.}
{illust. caption = THE HERO WIRELESS OPERATOR OF THE TITANIC
Photograph of Harold...}
played shortly before, but "Autumn," which is found in the Episcopal
hymnal and which fits appropriately the situation on the Titanic in the
last moments of pain and darkness there. One line, "Hold me up in mighty
waters," particularly may have suggested the hymn to some minister
aboard the doomed vessel, who, it has been thought, thereupon asked
the remaining passengers to join in singing the hymn, in a last service
aboard the sinking ship, soon to be ended by death itself.
Following is the hymn:
God of mercy and compassion!
Look with pity on my pain:
Hear a mournful, broken spirit
Prostrate at Thy feet complain;
Many are my foes, and mighty;
Strength to conquer I have none;
Nothing can uphold my goings
But Thy blessed Self alone.
Saviour, look on Thy beloved;
Triumph over all my foes;
Turn to heavenly joy my mourning,
Turn to gladness all my woes;
Live or die, or work or suffer,
Let my weary soul abide,
In all changes whatsoever
Sure and steadfast by Thy side.
When temptations fierce assault me,
When my enemies I find,
Sin and guilt, and death and Satan,
All against my soul combined,
Hold me up in mighty waters,
Keep my eyes on things above,
Righteousness, divine Atonement,
Peace, and everlasting Love.
It was a little lame schoolmaster, Tyrtaeus, who aroused the Spartans by
his poetry and led them to victory against the foe.
It was the musicians of the band of the Titanic--poor men, paid a few
dollars a week--who played the music to keep up the courage of the souls
aboard the sinking ship.
"The way the band kept playing was a noble thing," says the wireless
operator. "I heard it first while we were working the wireless, when
there was a rag-time tune for us, and the last I saw of the band, when I
was floating, struggling in the icy water, it was still on deck, playing
'Autumn.' How those brave fellows ever did it I cannot imagine."
Perhaps that music, made in the face of death, would not have satisfied
the exacting critical sense. It may be that the chilled fingers faltered
on the pistons of the cornet or at the valves of the French horn, that
the time was irregular and that by an organ in a church, with a decorous
congregation, the hymns they chose would have been better played and
sung. But surely that music went up to God from the souls of drowning
men, and was not less acceptable than the song of songs no mortal ear
may hear, the harps of the seraphs and the choiring cherubim. Under the
sea the music-makers lie, still in their fingers clutching the broken
and battered means of melody; but over the strident voice of warring
winds and the sound of many waters there rises their chant eternally;
and though the musicians lie hushed and cold at the sea's heart, their
music is heard forevermore.
LAST MOMENTS
That great ship, which started out as proudly, went down to her death
like some grime silent juggernaut, drunk with carnage and anxious to
stop the throbbing of her own heart at the bottom of the sea. Charles H.
Lightoller, second officer of the Titanic, tells the story this way:
"I stuck to the ship until the water came up to my ankles. There had
been no lamentations, no demonstrations either from the men passengers
as they saw the last life-boat go, and there was no wailing or crying,
no outburst from the men who lined the ship's rail as the Titanic
disappeared from sight.
"The men stood quietly as if they were in church. They knew that they
were in the sight of God; that in a moment judgment would be passed
upon them. Finally, the ship took a dive, reeling for a moment, then
plunging. I was sucked to the side of the ship against the grating over
the blower for the exhaust. There was an explosion. It blew me to the
surface again, only to be sucked back again by the water rushing into
the ship
"This time I landed against the grating over the pipes, which furnish a
draught for the funnels, and stuck there. There was another explosion,
and I came to the surface. The ship seemed to be heaving tremendous
sighs as she went down. I found myself not many feet from the ship, but
on the other side of it. The ship had turned around while I was under
the water.
"I came up near a collapsible life-boat and grabbed it. Many men were
in the water near me. They had jumped at the last minute. A funnel fell
within four inches of me and killed one of the swimmers. Thirty clung to
the capsized boat, and a life-boat, with forty survivors in it already,
finally took them off.
"George D. Widener and Harry Elkins Widener were among those who jumped
at the last minute. So did Robert Williams Daniel. The three of them
went down together. Daniel struck out, lashing the water with his arms
until he had made a point far distant from the sinking monster of the
sea. Later he was picked up by one of the passing life-boats.
"The Wideners were not seen again, nor was John B. Thayer, who went down
on the boat. 'Jack' Thayer, who was literally thrown off the Titanic
by an explosion, after he had refused to leave the men to go with his
mother, floated around on a raft for an hour before he was picked up."
AFLOAT WITH JACK THAYER
Graphic accounts of the final plunge of the Titanic were related by two
Englishmen, survivors by the merest chance. One of them struggled for
hours to hold himself afloat on an overturned collapsible life-boat,
to one end of which John B. Thayer, Jr., of Philadelphia, whose father
perished, hung until rescued.
The men gave their names as A. H. Barkworth, justice of the peace of
East Riding, Yorkshire, England, and W. J. Mellers, of Christ Church
Terrace, Chelsea, London. The latter, a young man, had started for this
country with his savings to seek his fortune, and lost all but his life.
Mellers, like Quartermaster Moody, said Captain Smith did not commit
suicide. The captain jumped from the bridge, Mellers declares, and he
heard him say to his officers and crew: "You have done your duty, boys.
Now every man for himself." Mellers and Barkworth, who say their names
have been spelled incorrectly in most of the lists of survivors, both
declare there were three distinct explosions before the Titanic broke in
two, and bow section first, and stern part last, settled with her human
cargo into the sea.
Her four whistles kept up a deafening blast until the explosions,
declare the men. The death cries from the shrill throats of the
blatant steam screechers beside the smokestacks so rent the air that
conversation among the passengers was possible only when one yelled into
the ear of a fellow-unfortunate.
"I did not know the Thayer family well," declared Mr. Barkworth, "but I
had met young Thayer, a clear-cut chap, and his father on the trip. The
lad and I struggled in the water for several hours endeavoring to hold
afloat by grabbing to the sides and end of an overturned life-boat.
Now and again we lost our grip and fell back into the water. I did not
recognize young Thayer in the darkness, as we struggled for our lives,
but I did recall having met him before when we were picked up by a
life-boat. We were saved by the merest chance, because the survivors on
a life-boat that rescued us hesitated in doing so, it seemed, fearing
perhaps that additional burdens would swamp the frail craft.
"I considered my fur overcoat helped to keep me afloat. I had a life
preserver over it, under my arms, but it would not have held me up so
well out of the water but for the coat. The fur of the coat seemed not
to get wet through, and retained a certain amount of air that added to
buoyance. I shall never part with it.
"The testimony of J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star
Line, that he had not heard explosions before the Titanic settled,
indicates that he must have gotten some distance from her in his
life-boat. There were three distinct explosions and the ship broke in
the center. The bow settled headlong first, and the stern last. I was
looking toward her from the raft to which young Thayer and I had clung."
HOW CAPTAIN SMITH DIED
Barkworth jumped, just before the Titanic went down. He said there were
enough life-preservers for all the passengers, but in the confusion many
may not have known where to look for them. Mellers, who had donned a
life-preserver, was hurled into the air, from the bow of the ship by the
force of the explosion, which he believed caused the Titanic to part in
the center.
"I was not far from where Captain Smith stood on the bridge, giving full
orders to his men," said Mellers. "The brave old seaman was crying, but
he had stuck heroically to the last. He did not shoot himself. He
jumped from the bridge when he had done all he could. I heard his final
instructions to his crew, and recall that his last words were: 'You have
done your duty, boys. Now every man for himself.'
"I thought I was doomed to go down with the rest. I stood on the deck,
awaiting my fate, fearing to jump from the ship. Then came a grinding
noise, followed by two others, and I was hurled into the deep. Great
waves engulfed me, but I was not drawn toward the ship, so that I
believe there was little suction. I swam about for more than one hour
before I was picked up by a boat."
A FAITHFUL OFFICER
Charles Herbert Lightoller, previously mentioned, stood by the ship
until the last, working to get the passengers away, and when it appeared
that he had made his last trip he went up high on the officers' quarters
and made the best dive he knew how to make just as the ship plunged down
to the depths. This is an excerpt from his testimony before the Senate
investigating committee:
"What time did you leave the ship?"
"I didn't leave it."
"Did it leave you?"
"Yes, sir."
Children shall hear that episode sung in after years and his own
descendants shall recite it to their bairns. Mr. Lightoller acted as an
officer and gentleman should, and he was not the only one.
A MESSAGE FROM A NOTORIOUS GAMBLER
That Jay Yates, gambler, confidence man and fugitive from justice, known
to the police and in sporting circles as J. H. Rogers, went down with
the Titanic after assisting many women aboard life-boats, became known
when a note, written on a blank page torn from a diary: was delivered to
his sister. Here is a fac-simile of the note:
{illust.}
This note was given by Rogers to a woman he was helping into a
life-boat. The woman, who signed herself "Survivor," inclosed the note
with the following letter.
"You will find note that was handed to me as I was leaving the Titanic.
Am stranger to this man, but think he was a card player. He helped me
aboard a life-boat and I saw him help others. Before we were lowered I
saw him jump into the sea. If picked up I did not recognize him on the
Carpathia. I don't think he was registered on the ship under his right
name."
Rogers' mother, Mrs. Mary A. Yates, an old woman, broke down when she
learned son had perished.
"Thank God I know where he is now," she sobbed. "I have not heard from
him for two years. The last news I had from him he was in London."
FIFTY LADS MET DEATH
Among the many hundreds of heroic souls who went bravely and quietly to
their end were fifty happy-go-lucky youngsters shipped as bell boys
or messengers to serve the first cabin passengers. James Humphreys, a
quartermaster, who commanded life-boat No. 11, told a li{t}tle story
that shows how these fifty lads met death.
Humphreys said the boys were called to their regular posts in the main
cabin entry and taken in charge by their captain, a steward. They were
ordered to remain in the cabin and not get in the way. Throughout the
first hour of confusion and terror these lads sat quietly on their
benches in various parts of the first cabin.
Then, just toward the end when the order was passed around that the ship
was going down and every man was free to save himself, if he kept away
from the life-boats in which the women
{illust. caption = "WHO HATH MEASURED THE WATERS IN THE HOLLOW OF
HIS HAND."--Isaiah XL:xii}
were being taken, the bell boys scattered to all parts of the ship.
Humphreys said he saw numbers of them smoking cigarettes and joking with
the passengers. They seemed to think that their violation of the rule
against smoking while on duty was a sufficient breach of discipline.
Not one of them attempted to enter a life-boat. Not one of them was
saved.
THE HEROES WHO REMAINED
The women who left the ship; the men who remained--there is little to
choose between them for heroism. Many of the women compelled to take to
the boats would have stayed, had it been possible, to share the fate of
their nearest and dearest, without whom their lives are crippled, broken
and disconsolate.
The heroes who remained would have said, with Grenville. "We have only
done our duty, as a man is bound to do." They sought no palms or crowns
of martyrdom. "They also serve who only stand and wait," and their first
action was merely to step aside and give places in the boats to women
and children, some of whom were too young to comprehend or to remember.
There was no debate as to whether the life of a financier, a master
of business, was rated higher in the scale of values than that of an
ignorant peasant mother. A woman was a woman, whether she wore rags
or pearls. A life was given for a life, with no assertion that one was
priceless and the other comparatively valueless.
Many of those who elected to remain might have escaped. "Chivalry" is a
mild appellation for their conduct. Some of the vaunted knights of old
were desperate cowards by comparison. A fight in the open field, or
jousting in the tournament, did not call out the manhood in a man as did
the waiting till the great ship took the final plunge, in the knowledge
that the seas round about were covered with loving and yearning
witnesses whose own salvation was not assured.
When the roll is called hereafter of those who are "purged of pride
because they died, who know the worth of their days," let the names of
the men who went down with the Titanic be found written there in the
sight of God and men.
THE OBVIOUS LESSON
And, whatever view of the accident be taken, whether the moralist shall
use it to point the text of a solemn or denunciatory warning, or whether
the materialist, swinging to the other extreme, scouts any other theory
than that of the "fortuitous concurrence of atoms," there is scarcely a
thinking mortal who has heard of what happened who has not been deeply
stirred, in the sense of a personal bereavement, to a profound humility
and the conviction of his own insignificance in the greater universal
scheme.
Many there are whom the influences of religion do not move, and upon
whose hearts most generous sentiments knock in vain, who still are
overawed and bowed by the magnitude of this catastrophe. No matter what
they believe about it, the effect is the same. The effect is to reduce
a man from the swaggering braggart--the vainglorious lord of what he
sees--the self-made master of fate, of nature, of time, of space, of
everything--to his true microscopic stature in the cosmos. He goes in
tears to put together again the fragments of the few, small, pitiful
things that belonged to him.
"Though Love may pine, and Reason chafe,
There came a Voice without reply."
The only comfort, all that can bring surcease of sorrow, is that men
fashioned in the image of their Maker rose to the emergency like heroes,
and went to their grave as bravely as any who have given their lives
at any time in war. The hearts of those who waited on the land, and
agonized, and were impotent to save, have been laid upon the same altars
of sacrifice. The mourning of those who will not be comforted rises from
alien lands together with our own in a common broken intercession. How
little is the 882 feet of the "monster" that we launched compared with
the arc of the rainbow we can see even in our grief spanning the frozen
boreal mist!
"The best of what we do and are,
Just God, forgive!"
THE ANCIENT SACRIFICE
And still our work must go on. It is the business of men and women
neither to give way to unavailing grief nor to yield to the crushing
incubus of despair, but to find hope that is at the bottom of
everything, even at the bottom of the sea where that glorious virgin of
the ocean is dying. "And when she took unto herself a mate
She must espouse the everlasting sea."
Even so, for any progress of the race, there must be the ancient
sacrifice of man's own stubborn heart, and all his pride. He must
forever "lay in dust life's glory dead." He cannot rise to the height it
was intended he should reach till he has plumbed the depths, till he has
devoured the bread of the bitterest affliction, till he has known the
ache of hopes deferred, of anxious expectation disappointed, of dreams
that are not to be fulfilled this side of the river that waters the
meads of Paradise. There still must be a reason why it is not an unhappy
thing to be taken from "the world we know to one a wonder still," and so
that we go bravely, what does it matter, the mode of our going? It was
not only those who stood back, who let the women and children go to
the boats, that died. There died among us on the shore something of the
fierce greed of bitterness, something of the sharp hatred of passion,
something of the mad lust of revenge and of knife-edge competition.
Though we are not aware of it, perhaps, we are not quite the people that
we were before out of the mystery an awful hand was laid upon us all,
and what we had thought the colossal power of wealth was in a twinkling
shown to be no more than the strength of an infant's little finger, or
the twining tendril of a plant.
"Lest we forget; lest we forget!"
{"illustration", really "music" Lyrics =
God of mercy and compassion, Look with pity on my pain; Hear a mournful,
broken spirit Prostrate at Thy feet complain; Many are my foes and
mighty; Strength to conquer I have none; Nothing can uphold my goings
But they blessed Self alone. AMEN
{2nd Stanza} Saviour, look on Thy beloved, Triumph over all my foes,
Turn to heavenly joy my mourning, Turn to gladness all my woes; Live
or die, or work or suffer Let my weary soul abide, In all changes
whatsoever, Sure and steadfast by Thy side:
{3rd Stanza} When temptations fierce assault me, When my enemies I find,
Sin and guilt, and death and Satan, All against my soul combined, Hold
me up in mighty waters, Keep my eyes on things above--Rightousness,{sic}
divine atonement Peace and everlasting love,}
{illust. caption = LATITUDE 41.46 NORTH, LONGITUDE 50.14 WEST WHERE
MANHOOD PERISHED NOT}
{illust. caption = LOWERING OF THE LIFE-BOATS FROM THE TITANIC
It is easy to understand why...}
{illust. caption = PASSENGERS LEAVING THE TITANIC IN THE LIFE-BOATS
The agony and despair which possessed the occupants of these boats
as they were carried away from the doomed giant, leaving husbands and
brothers behind, is almost beyond description. It is little wonder that
the strain of these moments, with the physical and mental suffering
which followed during the early morning hours, left many of the women
still hysterical when they reached New York.}
WHERE MANHOOD PERISHED NOT
Where cross the lines of forty north
And fifty-fourteen west
There rolls a wild and greedy sea
With death upon its crest.
No stone or wreath from human hands
Will ever mark the spot
Where fifteen hundred men went down,
But Manhood perished not.
Old Ocean takes but little heed
Of human tears or woe.
No shafts adorn the ocean graves,
Nor weeping willows grow.
Nor is there need of marble slab
To keep in mind the spot
Where noble men went down to death,
But manhood perished not!
Those men who looked on death and smiled,
And trod the crumbling deck,
Have saved much more than precious lives
From out that awful wreck.
Though countless joys and hopes and fears
Were shattered at a breath,
'Tis something that the name of Man
Did not go down to death.
'Tis not an easy thing to die,
E'en in the open air,
Twelve hundred miles from home and friends,
In a shroud of black despair.
A wreath to crown the brow of man,
And hide a former blot
Will ever blossom o'er the waves
Where Manhood perished not.
HARVEY P. THEW
{spelling uncertain due to poor printing}
CHAPTER VIII. THE CALL FOR HELP HEARD
THE VALUE OF THE WIRELESS--OTHER SHIPS ALTER THEIR COURSE--RESCUERS ON
THE WAY
"WE have struck an iceberg. Badly damaged. Rush aid."
Seaward and landward, J. G. Phillips, the Titanic's wireless man, had
hurled the appeal for help. By fits and starts--for the wireless was
working unevenly and blurringly--Phillips reached out to the world,
crying the Titanic's peril. A word or two, scattered phrases, now and
then a connected sentence, made up the message that sent a thrill of
apprehension for a thousand miles east, west and south of the doomed
liner.
The early despatches from St. John's, Cape Race, and Montreal, told
graphic tales of the race to reach the Titanic, the wireless appeals
for help, the interruption of the calls, then what appeared to be a
successful conclusion of the race when the Virginian was reported as
having reached the giant liner.
MANY LINES HEAR THE CALL
Other rushing liners besides the Virginian heard the call and became on
the instant something more than cargo carriers and passenger greyhounds.
The big Baltic, 200 miles to the eastward and westbound, turned again
to save life, as she did when her sister of the White Star fleet, the
Republic, was cut down in a fog in January, 1909. The Titanic's mate,
the Olympic, the mightiest of the seagoers save the Titanic herself,
turned in her tracks. All along the northern lane the miracle of the
wireless worked for the distressed and sinking White Star ship. The
Hamburg-American Cincinnati, the Parisian from Glasgow, the North
German Lloyd Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, the Hamburg-American liners Prinz
Adelbert and Amerika, all heard the C. Q. D. and the rapid, condensed
explanation of what had happened.
VIRGINIAN IN DESPERATE HASTE
But the Virginian was nearest, barely 170 miles away, and was the first
to know of the Titanic's danger. She went about and headed under
forced draught for the spot indicated in one of the last of Phillips'
messages--latitude 41.46 N. and longitude 50.14 W. She is a fast
ship, the Allan liner, and her wireless has told the story of how she
stretched through the night to get up to the Titanic in time. There was
need for all the power of her engines and all the experience and skill
of her captain. The final fluttering Marconigrams that were released
from the Titanic made it certain that the great ship with 2340 souls
aboard was filling and in desperate peril.
Further out at sea was the Cunarder, Carpathia, which left New York
for the Mediterranean on April 13th. Round she went and plunged back
westward to take a hand in saving life. And the third steamship within
short sailing of the Titanic was the Allan liner Parisian away to the
eastward, on her way from Glasgow to Halifax.
While they sped in the night with all the drive that steam could give
them, the Titanic's call reached to Cape Race and the startled operator
there heard at midnight a message which quickly reached New York:
"Have struck an iceberg. We are badly damaged. Titanic latitude 41.46
N., 50.14 W."
Cape Race threw the appeal broadcast wherever his apparatus could carry.
Then for hours, while the world waited for a crumb of news as to the
safety of the great ship's people, not one thing more was known save
that she was drifting, broken and helpless and alone in the midst of a
waste of ice. And it was not until seventeen hours after the Titanic
had sunk that the words came out of the air as to her fate. There was a
confusion and tangle of messages--a jumble of rumors. Good tidings were
trodden upon by evil. And no man knew clearly what was taking place in
that stretch of waters where the giant icebergs were making a mock of
all that the world knew best in ship-building.
TITANIC SENT OUT NO MORE NEWS
It was at 12.17 A. M., while the Virginian was still plunging eastward,
that all communication from the Titanic ceased. The Virginian's
operator, with the Virginian's captain at his elbow, fed the air with
blue flashes in a desperate effort to know what was happening to the
crippled liner, but no message came back. The last word from the Titanic
was that she was sinking. Then the sparking became fainter. The call
was dying to nothing. The Virginian's operator labored over a blur of
signals. It was hopeless. So the Allan ship strove on, fearing that the
worst had happened.
It was this ominous silence that so alarmed the other vessels hurrying
to the Titanic and that caused so much suspense here.
CHAPTER IX. IN THE DRIFTING LIFE-BOATS
SORROW AND SUFFERING--THE SURVIVORS SEE THE TITANIC GO DOWN WITH THEIR
LOVED ONES ON BOARD--A NIGHT OF AGONIZING SUSPENSE--WOMEN HELP TO
ROW--HELP ARRIVES--PICKING UP THE LIFE-BOATS
SIXTEEN boats were in the procession which entered on the terrible hours
of rowing, drifting and suspense. Women wept for lost husbands and sons,
sailors sobbed for the ship which had been their pride. Men choked back
tears and sought to comfort the widowed. Perhaps, they said, other boats
might have put off in another direction. They strove, though none too
sure themselves, to convince the women of the certainty that a rescue
ship would appear.
In the distance the Titanic looked an enormous length, her great bulk
outlined in black against the starry sky, every port-hole and saloon
blazing with light. It was impossible to think anything could be wrong
with such a leviathan, were it not for that ominous tilt downwards in
the bows, where the water was now up to the lowest row of port-holes.
Presently, about 2 A. M., as near as can be determined, those in the
life-boats observed her settling very rapidly with the bows and the
bridge completely under water, and concluded it was now only a question
of minutes before she went. So it proved She slowly tilted straight on
end with the stern vertically upwards, and as she did, the lights in
the cabins and saloons, which until then had not flickered for a moment,
died out, came on again for a single flash, and finally went altogether.
At the same time the machinery roared down through the vessel with a
rattle and a groaning that could be heard for miles, the weirdest sound
surely that could be heard in the middle of the ocean, a thousand miles
away from land. But this was not yet quite the end.
TITANIC STOOD UPRIGHT
To the amazement of the awed watchers in the life-boats, the doomed
vessel remained in that upright position for a time estimated at five
minutes; some in the boat say less, but it was certainly some minutes
that at least 150 feet of the Titanic towered up above the level of the
sea and loomed black against the sky.
SAW LAST OF BIG SHIP
Then with a quiet, slanting dive she disappeared beneath the waters, and
the eyes of the helpless spectators had looked for the last time upon
the gigantic vessel on which they had set out from Southampton. And
there was left to the survivors only the gently heaving sea, the
life-boats filled with men and women in every conceivable condition of
dress and undress, above the perfect sky of brilliant stars with not a
cloud, all tempered with a bitter cold that made each man and woman long
to be one of the crew who toiled away with the oars and kept themselves
warm thereby--a curious, deadening; bitter cold unlike anything they had
felt before.
"ONE LONG MOAN"
And then with all these there fell on the ear the most appalling
noise that human being has ever listened to--the cries of hundreds of
fellow-beings struggling in the icy cold water, crying for help with a
cry that could not be answered.
Third Officer Herbert John Pitman, in charge of one of the boats,
described this cry of agony in his testimony before the Senatorial
Investigating Committee, under the questioning of Senator Smith:
"I heard no cries of distress until after the ship went down," he said.
"How far away were the cries from your life-boat?"
"Several hundred yards, probably, some of them."
"Describe the screams."
"Don't, sir, please! I'd rather not talk about it."
"I'm sorry to press it, but what was it like? Were the screams
spasmodic?"
"It was one long continuous moan."
The witness said the moans and cries continued an hour.
Those in the life-boats longed to return and pick up some of the poor
drowning souls, but they feared this would mean swamping the boats and a
further loss of life.
Some of the men tried to sing to keep the women from hearing the cries,
and rowed hard to get away from the scene of the wreck, but the memory
of those sounds will be one of the things the rescued will find it
difficult to forget.
The waiting sufferers kept a lookout for lights, and several times it
was shouted that steamers' lights were seen, but they turned out to be
either a light from another boat or a star low down on the horizon. It
was hard to keep up hope.
WOMEN TRIED TO COMMIT SUICIDE
"Let me go back--I want to go back to my husband--I'll jump from the
boat if you don't," cried an agonized voice in one life-boat.
"You can do no good by going back--other lives will be lost if you try
to do it. Try to calm yourself for the sake of the living. It may be
that your husband will be picked up somewhere by one of the fishing
boats."
The woman who pleaded to go back, according to Mrs. Vera Dick, of
Calgary, Canada, later tried to throw herself from the life-boat. Mrs.
Dick, describing the scenes in the life-boats, said there were half
a dozen women in that one boat who tried to commit suicide when they
realized that the Titanic had gone down.
"Even in Canada, where we have such clear nights," said Mrs. Dick, "I
have never seen such a clear sky. The stars were very bright and we
could see the Titanic plainly, like a great hotel on the water. Floor
after floor of the lights went out as we watched. It was horrible,
horrible. I can't bear to think about it. From the distance, as we rowed
away, we could hear the band playing 'Nearer, My God to Thee.'
"Among the life-boats themselves, however, there were scenes just as
terrible, perhaps, but to me nothing could outdo the tragic grandeur
with which the Titanic went to its death. To realize it, you would
have to see the Titanic as I saw it the day we set sail--with the
flags flying and the bands playing. Everybody on board was laughing and
talking about the Titanic being the biggest and most luxurious boat on
the ocean and being unsinkable. To think of it then and to think of it
standing out there in the night, wounded to death and gasping for life,
is almost too big for the imagination.
SCANTILY CLAD WOMEN IN LIFE-BOATS
"The women on our boat were in nightgowns and bare feet--some of
them--and the wealthiest women mingled with the poorest immigrants. One
immigrant woman kept shouting: 'My God, my poor father! He put me in
this boat and would not save himself. Oh, why didn't I die, why didn't I
die? Why can't I die now?'
"We had to restrain her, else she would have jumped over-board. It was
simply awful. Some of the men apparently had said they could row just to
get into the boats. We paid no attention to cowardice, however. We were
all busy with our own troubles. My heart simply bled for the women who
were separated from their husbands.
"The night was frightfully cold, although clear. We had to huddle
together to keep warm. Everybody drank sparingly of the water and
ate sparingly of the bread. We did not know when we would be saved.
Everybody tried to remain cool, except the poor creatures who could
think of nothing but their own great loss. Those with the most brains
seemed to control themselves best."
PHILADELPHIA WOMEN HEROINES
How Mrs. George D. Widener, whose husband and son perished after kissing
her good-bye and helping her into one of the boats, rowed when exhausted
seamen were on the verge of collapse, was told by Emily Geiger, maid of
Mrs. Widener, who was saved with her.
The girl said Mrs. Widener bravely toiled throughout the night and
consoled other women who had broken down under the strain.
Mrs. William E. Carter and Mrs. John B. Thayer were in the same
life-boat and worked heroically to keep it free from the icy menace.
Although Mrs. Thayer's husband remained aboard the Titanic and sank with
it, and although she had no knowledge of the safety of her son until
they met, hours later, aboard the Carpathia, Mrs. Thayer bravely labored
at the oars throughout the night.
In telling of her experience Mrs. Carter said:
"When I went over the side with my children and got in the boat there
were no seamen in it. Then came a few men, but there were oars with no
one to use them. The boat had been filled with passengers, and there was
nothing else for me to do but to take an oar.
"We could see now that the time of the ship had come. She was sinking,
and we were warned by cries from the men above to pull away from
the ship quickly. Mrs. Thayer, wife of the vice-president of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, was in my boat, and she, too, took an oar.
"It was cold and we had no time to clothe ourselves with warm overcoats.
The rowing warmed me. We started to pull away from the ship. We could
see the dim outlines of the decks above, but we could not recognize
anybody."
MANY WOMEN ROWING
Mrs. William R. Bucknell's account of the part women played in the
rowing is as follows:
"There were thirty-five persons in the boat in which the captain placed
me. Three of these were ordinary seamen, supposed to manage the boat,
and a steward.
"One of these men seemed to think that we should not start away from
the sinking ship until it could be learned whether the other boats would
accommodate the rest of the women. He seemed to think that; more could
be crowded into ours, if necessary.
"'I would rather go back and go down with the ship than leave under
these circumstances.' he cried.
"The captain shouted to him to obey orders and to pull for a little
light that could just be discerned miles in the distance. I do not know
what this little light was. It may have been a passing fishing vessel,
which, of course could not know our predicament. Anyway, we never
reached it.
"We rowed all night, I took an oar and sat beside the Countess de
Rothes. Her maid had an our and so did mine. The air was freezing cold,
and it was not long before the only man that appeared to know anything
about rowing commenced to complain that his hands were freezing: A woman
back of him handed him a shawl from about her shoulders.
"As we rowed we looked back at the lights of the Titanic. There was
not a sound from her, only the lights began to get lower and lower,
and finally she sank. Then we heard a muffled explosion and a dull roar
caused by the great suction of water.
"There was not a drop of water on our boat. The last minute before our
boat was launched Captain Smith threw aboard a bag of bread. I took
the precaution of taking a good drink of water before we started, so I
suffered no inconvenience from thirst."
Mrs. Lucien Smith, whose young husband perished, was another heroine. It
is related by survivors that she took turns at the oars, and then, when
the boat was in danger of sinking, stood ready to plug a hole with her
finger if the cork stopper became loose.
In another boat Mrs. Cornell and her sister, who had a slight knowledge
of rowing, took turns at the oars, as did other women.
The boat in which Mrs. J. J. Brown, of Denver, Col., was saved contained
only three men in all, and only one rowed. He was a half-frozen seaman
who was tumbled into the boat at the last minute. The woman wrapped him
in blankets and set him at an oar to start his blood. The second man was
too old to be of any use. The third was a coward.
Strange to say, there was room in this boat for ten other people. Ten
brave men would have received the warmest welcome of their lives if they
had been there. The coward, being a quartermaster and the assigned head
of the boat, sat in the stern and steered. He was terrified, and the
women had to fight against his pessimism while they tugged at the oars.
The women sat two at each oar. One held the oar in place, the other did
the pulling. Mrs. Brown coached them and cheered them on. She told them
that the exercise would keep the chill out of their veins, and she spoke
hopefully of the likelihood that some vessel would answer the wireless
calls. Over the frightful danger of the situation the spirit of this
woman soared.
THE PESSIMIST
And the coward sat in his stern seat, terrified, his tongue loosened
with fright. He assured them there was no chance in the world. He had
had fourteen years' experience, and he knew. First, they would have
to row one and a half miles at least to get out of the sphere of the
suction, if they did not want to go down. They would be lost, and nobody
would ever find them.
"Oh, we shall be picked up sooner or later," said some of the braver
ones. No, said the man, there was no bread in the boat, no water; they
would starve--all that big boatload wandering the high seas with nothing
to eat, perhaps for days.
"Don't," cried Mrs. Brown. "Keep that to yourself, if you feel that way.
For the sake of these women and chil-dren, be a man. We have a smooth
sea and a fighting chance. Be a man."
But the coward only knew that there was no compass and no chart aboard.
They sighted what they thought was a fishing smack on the horizon,
showing dimly in the early dawn. The man at the rudder steered toward
it, and the women bent to their oars again. They covered several miles
in this way--but the smack faded into the distance. They could not see
it any longer. And the coward said that everything was over.
They rowed back nine weary miles. Then the coward thought they must stop
rowing, and lie in the trough of the waves until the Carpathia should
appear. The women tried it for a few moments, and felt the cold creeping
into their bodies. Though exhausted from the hard physical labor they
thought work was better than freezing.
"Row again!" commanded Mrs. Brown.
"No, no, don't," said the coward.
"We shall freeze," cried several of the women together. "We must row. We
have rowed all this time. We must keep on or freeze."
When the coward still demurred, they told him plainly and once for all
that if he persisted in wanting them to stop rowing, they were going to
throw him overboard and be done with him for good. Something about the
look in the eye of that Mississippi-bred oarswoman, who seemed such a
force among her fellows, told him that he had better capitulate. And he
did.
COUNTESS ROTHES AN EXPERT OARSWOMAN
Miss Alice Farnam Leader, a New York physician, escaped from the Titanic
on the same boat which carried the Countess Rothes. "The countess is an
expert oarswoman," said Doctor Leader, "and thoroughly at home on the
water. She practically took command of our boat when it was found that
the seaman who had been placed at the oars could not row skilfully.
Several of the women took their place with the countess at the oars and
rowed in turns, while the weak and unskilled stewards sat quietly in one
end of the boat."
MEN COULD NOT ROW
"With nothing on but a nightgown I helped row one of the boats for three
hours," said Mrs. Florence Ware, of Bristol, England.
"In our boat there were a lot of women, a steward and a fireman. None of
the men knew anything about managing a small boat, so some of the women
who were used to boats took charge.
"It was cold and I worked as hard as I could at an oar until we were
picked up. There was nothing to eat or drink on our boat."
DEATHS ON THE LIFE-BOATS
"The temperature must have been below freezing," testified another
survivor, "and neither men nor women in my boat were warmly clothed.
Several of them died. The officer in charge of the life-boat decided it
was better to bury the
{illust. caption = SURVIVORS OF THE GREAT MARINE DISASTER
The first authentic photograph,...}
{illust. caption = Copyright by Campbell Studio. N. Y.
COLONEL AND MRS. JOHN JACOB ASTOR
Mrs. Astor, nee Miss Madeline Force, was rescued. Colonel Astor who
bravely refused to take a place in the life-boats, went down with the
Titanic.}
bodies. Soon they were weighted so they would sink and were put
overboard. We could also see similar burials taking place from other
life-boats that were all around us."
GAMBLERS WERE POLITE
In one boat were two card sharps. With the same cleverness that enabled
them to win money on board they obtained places in the boats with the
women.
In the boat with the gamblers were women in their night-gowns and women
in evening dress. None of the boats were properly equipped with food,
but all had enough bread and water to keep the rescued from starving
until the expected arrival of help.
To the credit of the gamblers who managed to escape, it should be said
that they were polite and showed the women every courtesy. All they
wanted was to be sure of getting in a boat. That once accomplished, they
reverted to their habitual practice of politeness and suavity. They were
even willing; to do a little manual labor, refusing to let women do any
rowing.
The people on that particular boat were a sad group. Fathers had kissed
their daughters good-bye and husbands had parted from their wives. The
card sharps, however philosophized wonderfully about the will of the
Almighty and how strange His ways. They said that one must be prepared
for anything; that good always came from evil, and that every cloud had
a silvery lining{.}
"Who knows?" said one. "It may be that everybody on board will be
saved." Another added: "Our duty is to the living. You women owe it to
your relatives and friends not to allow this thing to wreck your reason
or undermine your health." And they took pains to see that all the women
who were on the life-boat had plenty of covering to keep them from the
icy blasts of the night.
HELP IN SIGHT
The survivors were in the life-boats until about 5.30 A. M. About 3 A.
M. faint lights appeared in the sky and all rejoiced to see what was
supposed to be the coming dawn, but after watching for half an hour
and seeing no change in the intensity of the light, the disappointed
sufferers realized it was the Northern Lights. Presently low down on
the horizon they saw a light which slowly resolved itself into a double
light, and they watched eagerly to see if the two lights would separate
and so prove to be only two of the boats, or whether these lights would
remain together, in which case they should expect them to be the lights
of a rescuing steamer.
To the inexpressible joy of all, they moved as one! Immediately the
boats were swung around and headed for the lights. Someone shouted:
"Now, boys, sing!" and everyone not too weak broke into song with "Row
for the shore, boys." Tears came to the eyes of all as they realized
that safety was at hand. The song was sung, but it was a very poor
imitation of the real thing, for quavering voices make poor songs. A
cheer was given next, and that was better--you can keep in tune for a
cheer.
THE "LUCKY THIRTEEN"
"Our rescuer showed up rapidly, and as she swung round we saw her cabins
all alight, and knew she must be a large steamer. She was now motionless
and we had to row to her. Just then day broke, a beautiful quiet dawn
with faint pink clouds just above the horizon, and a new moon whose
crescent just touched the horizon. 'Turn your money over, boys,' said
our cheery steersman, 'that is, if you have any with you,' he added.
"We laughed at him for his superstition at such a time, but he countered
very neatly by adding: 'Well, I shall never say again that 13 is an
unlucky number; boat 13 has been the best friend we ever had.' Certainly
the 13 superstition is killed forever in the minds of those who escaped
from the Titanic in boat 13.
"As we neared the Carpathia we saw in the dawning light what we thought
was a full-rigged schooner standing up near her, and presently behind
her another, all sails set, and we said: 'They are fisher boats from the
Newfoundland bank and have seen the steamer lying to and are standing by
to help.' But in another five minutes the light shone pink on them
and we saw they were icebergs towering many feet in the air, huge,
glistening masses, deadly white, still, and peaked in a way that had
easily suggested a schooner. We glanced round the horizon and there were
others wherever the eye could reach. The steamer we had to reach was
surrounded by them and we had to make a detour to reach her, for between
her and us lay another huge berg."
A WONDERFUL DAWN
Speaking of the moment when the Carpathia was sighted. Mrs. J. J. Brown,
who had cowed the driveling quartermaster, said:
"Then, knowing that we were safe at last, I looked about me. The most
wonderful dawn I have ever seen came upon us. I have just returned from
Egypt. I have been all over the world, but I have never seen anything
like this. First the gray and then the flood of light. Then the sun came
up in a ball of red fire. For the first time we saw where we were. Near
us was open water, but on every side was ice. Ice ten feet high was
everywhere, and to the right and left and back and front were icebergs.
Some of them were mountain high. This sea of ice was forty miles wide,
they told me. We did not wait for the Carpathia to come to us, we rowed
to it. We were lifted up in a sort of nice little sling that was lowered
to us. After that it was all over. The passengers of the Carpathia
were so afraid that we would not have room enough that they gave us
practically the whole ship to ourselves."
It had been learned that some of the passengers, in fact all of the
women passengers of the Titanic who were rescued, refer to "Lady
Margaret," as they called Mrs. Brown as the strength of them all.
TRANSFERRING THE RESCUED
Officers of the Carpathia report that when they reached the scene of
the Titanic's wreck there were fifty bodies or more floating in the
sea. Only one mishap attended the transfer of the rescued from the
life-boats. One large collapsible life-boat, in which thirteen persons
were seated, turned turtle just as they were about to save it, and all
in it were lost.
THE DOG HERO
Not the least among the heroes of the Titanic disaster was Rigel, a big
black Newfoundland dog, belonging to the first officer, who went down
with the ship. But for Rigel the fourth boat picked up might have been
run down by the Carpathia. For three hours he swam in the icy water
where the Titanic went down, evidently looking for his master, and was
instrumental in guiding the boatload of survivors to the gangway of the
Carpathia.
Jonas Briggs, a seaman abroad the Carpathia, now has Rigel and told
the story of the dog's heroism. The Carpathia was moving slowly about,
looking for boats, rafts or anything which might be afloat. Exhausted
with their efforts, weak from lack of food and exposure to the cutting
wind and terror-stricken, the men and women in the fourth boat had
drifted under the Carpathia's starboard bow. They were dangerously close
to the steamship, but too weak to shout a warning loud enough to reach
the bridge.
The boat might not have been seen were it not for the sharp barking of
Rigel, who was swimming ahead of the craft, and valiantly announcing his
position. The barks attracted the attention of Captain Rostron; and he
went to the starboard end of the bridge to see where they came from and
saw the boat. He immediately ordered the engines stopped, and the boat
came alongside the starboard gangway.
Care was taken to get Rigel aboard, but he appeared little affected
by his long trip through the ice-cold water. He stood by the rail and
barked until Captain Rostron called Briggs and had him take the dog
below.
A THRILLING ACCOUNT OF RESCUE
Mr. Wallace Bradford, of San Francisco, a passenger aboard the
Carpathia, gave the following thrilling account of the rescue of the
Titanic's passengers.
"Since half-past four this morning I have experienced one of those
never-to-be-forgotten circumstances that weighs heavy on my soul and
which shows most awfully what poor things we mortals are. Long before
this reaches you the news will be flashed that the Titanic has gone down
and that our steamer, the Carpathia, caught the wireless message when
seventy-five miles away, and so far we have picked up twenty boats
estimated to contain about 750 people.
"None of us can tell just how many, as they have been hustled to various
staterooms and to the dining saloons to be warmed up. I was awakened by
unusual noises and imagined that I smelled smoke. I jumped up and looked
out of my port-hole, and saw a huge iceberg looming up like a rock off
shore. It was not white, and I was positive that it was a rock, and the
thought flashed through my mind, how in the world can we be near a rock
when we are four days out from New York in a southerly direction and in
mid-ocean.
"When I got out on deck the first man I encountered told me that the
Titanic had gone down and we were rescuing the passengers. The first two
boats from the doomed vessel were in sight making toward us. Neither of
them was crowded. This was accounted for later by the fact that it was
impossible to get many to leave the steamer, as they would not believe
that she was going down. It was a glorious, clear morning and a quiet
sea. Off to the starboard was a white area of ice plain, from whose even
surface rose mammoth forts, castles and pyramids of solid ice almost as
real as though they had been placed there by the hand of man.
"Our steamer was hove to about two and a half miles from the edge of
this huge iceberg. The Titanic struck about 11.20 P. M. and did not go
down until two o'clock. Many of the passengers were in evening dress
when they came aboard our ship, and most of these were in a most
bedraggled condition. Near me as I write is a girl about eighteen years
old in a fancy dress costume of bright colors, while in another seat
near by is a women in a white dress trimmed with lace and covered with
jaunty blue flowers.
"As the boats came alongside after the first two all of them contained
a very large proportion of women. In fact, one of the boats had women
at the oars, one in particular containing, as near as I could estimate,
about forty-five women and only about six men. In this boat two women
were handling one of the oars. All of the engineers went down with the
steamer. Four bodies have been brought aboard. One is that of a fireman,
who is said to have been shot by one of the officers because he refused
to obey orders. Soon after I got on deck I could, with the aid of my
glasses, count seven boats headed our way, and they continued to come up
to half past eight o'clock. Some were in sight for a long time and
moved very slowly, showing plainly that the oars were being handled by
amateurs or by women.
"No baggage of any kind was brought by the survivors. In fact, the only
piece of baggage that reached the Carpathia from the Titanic is a small
closed trunk about twenty-four inches square, evidently the property of
an Irish female immigrant. While some seemed fully dressed, many of
the men having their overcoats and the women sealskin and other coats,
others came just as they had jumped from their berths, clothed in their
pajamas and bath robes."
THE SORROW OF THE LIVING
Of the survivors in general it may be said that they escaped death and
they gained life. Life is probably sweet to them as it is to everyone,
but what physical and mental torture has been the price of life to those
who were brought back to land on the Carpathia--the hours in life-boats,
amid the crashing of ice, the days of anguish that have succeeded, the
horrors of body and mind still experienced and never to be entirely
absent until death affords them its relief.
The thought of the nation to-day is for the living. They need our
sympathy, our consolation more than do the dead, and, perhaps, in the
majority of the cases they need our protecting care as well.
CHAPTER X. ON BOARD THE CARPATHIA
AID FOR THE SUFFERING AND HYSTERICAL--BURYING THE DEAD--VOTE OF
THANKS TO CAPTAIN ROSTRON OF THE CARPATHIA--IDENTIFYING THOSE
SAVED--COMMUNICATING WITH LAND--THE PASSAGE TO NEW YORK.
IF the scenes in the life-boats were tear-bringing, hardly less so
was the arrival of the boats at the Carpathia with their bands of
terror-stricken, grief-ridden survivors, many of them too exhausted to
know that safety was at hand. Watchers on the Carpathia were moved to
tears.
"The first life-boat reached the Carpathia about half-past five o'clock
in the morning," recorded one of the passengers on the Carpathia. "And
the last of the sixteen boats was unloaded before nine o'clock. Some of
the life-boats were only half filled, the first one having but two men
and eleven women, when it had accommodations for at least forty. There
were few men in the boats. The women were the gamest lot I have ever
seen. Some of the men and women were in evening clothes, and others
among those saved had nothing on but night clothes and raincoats."
After the Carpathia had made certain that there were no more passengers
of the Titanic to be picked up, she threaded her way out of the ice
fields for fifty miles. It was dangerous work, but it was managed
without trouble.
AID FOR THE SUFFERING AND HYSTERICAL
The shrieks and cries of the women and men picked up in life-boats by
the Carpathia were horrible. The women were clothed only in night robes
and wrappers. The men were in their night garments. One was lifted on
board entirely nude. All the passengers who could bear nourishment were
taken into the dining rooms and cabins by Captain Rostron and given food
and stimulants. Passengers of the Carpathia gave up their berths and
staterooms to the survivors.
As soon as they were landed on the Carpathia many of the women became
hysterical, but on the whole they behaved splendidly. Men and women
appeared to be stunned all day Monday, the full force of the disaster
not reaching them until Tuesday night. After being wrapped up in
blankets and filled with brandy and hot coffee, the first thoughts were
for their husbands and those at home. Most of them imagined that their
husbands had been picked up by other vessels, and they began flooding
the wireless rooms with messages. It was almost certain that those who
were not on board the Carpathia had gone down to death.
One of the most seriously injured was a woman who had lost both her
children. Her limbs had been severely torn; but she was very patient.
WOMEN SEEKING NEWS
In the first cabin library women of wealth and refinement mingled their
grief and asked eagerly for news of the possible arrival of a belated
boat, or a message from other steamers telling of the safety of their
husbands. Mrs. Henry B. Harris, wife of a New York theatrical manager,
checked her tears long enough to beg that some message of hope be sent
to her father-in-law. Mrs. G. Thorne, Miss Marie Young, Mrs Emil Taussig
and her daughter, Ruth, Mrs. Martin Rothschild, Mrs. William Augustus
Spencer, Mrs. J. Stewart White and Mrs. Walter M. Clark were a few
of those who lay back, exhausted, on the leather cushions and told in
shuddering sentences of their experiences.
Mrs. John Jacob Astor and the Countess of Rothes had been taken to
staterooms soon after their arrival on shipboard.
Before noon, at the captain's request, the first cabin passengers of the
Titanic gathered in the saloon and the passengers of other classes in
corresponding places on the rescue ship. Then the collecting of names
was begun by the purser and the stewards. A second table was served in
both cabins for the new guests, and the Carpathia's second cabin, being
better filled than its first, the second class arrivals had to be sent
to the steerage.
TEARS THEIR ONLY RELIEF
Mrs. Jacques Futrelle, wife of the novelist, herself a writer of note,
sat dry eyed in the saloon, telling her friends that she had given up
hope for her husband. She joined with the rest in inquiries as to the
chances of rescue by another ship, and no one told her what soon came
to be the fixed opinion of the men--that all those saved were on the
Carpathia.
"I feel better," Mrs. Futrelle said hours afterward, "for I can cry
now."
Among the men conversation centered on the accident and the
responsibility for it. Many expressed the belief that the Titanic, in
common with other vessels, had had warning of the ice packs, but that in
the effort to establish a record on the maiden run sufficient heed had
not been paid to the warnings.
"God knows I'm not proud to be here," said a rich New York man. "I got
on a boat when they were about to lower it and when, from delays below,
there was no woman to take the vacant place. I don't think any man who
was saved is deserving of censure, but I realize that, in contrast with
those who went down, we may be viewed unfavorably." He showed a picture
of his baby boy as he spoke.
PITIFUL SCENES OF GRIEF
As the day passed the fore part of the ship assumed some degree of order
and comfort, but the crowded second sabin and rear decks gave forth the
incessant sound of lamentation. A bride of two months sat on the floor
and moaned her widowhood. An Italian mother shrieked the name of her
lost son.
A girl of seven wept over the loss of her Teddy bear and two dolls,
while her mother, with streaming eyes, dared not tell the child that her
father was lost too, and that the money for which their home in England
had been sold had gone down with him. Other children clung to the necks
of the fathers who, because carrying them, had been permitted to take
the boats.
In the hospital and the public rooms lay, in blankets, several others
who had been benumbed by the water. Mrs. Rosa Abbott, who was in the
water for hours, was restored during the day. K. Whiteman, the Titanic's
barber, who declared he was blown off the ship by the second of the two
explosions after the crash, was treated for bruises. A passenger, who
was thoroughly ducked before being picked up, caused much amusement on
this ship, soon after the doctors were through with him, by demanding a
bath.
SURVIVORS AID THE DESTITUTE
Storekeeper Prentice, the last man off the Titanic to reach this ship,
was also soon over the effects of his long swim in the icy waters into
which he leaped from the poop deck.
The physicians of the Carpathia were praised, as was Chief Steward
Hughes, for work done in making the arrivals comfortable and averting
serious illness.
Monday night on the Carpathia was one of rest. The wailing and sobbing
of the day were hushed as widows and orphans slept. Tuesday, save for
the crowded condition of the ship, matters took somewhat their normal
appearance.
The second cabin dining room had been turned into a hospital to care
for the injured, and the first, second and third class dining rooms were
used for sleeping rooms at night for women, while the smoking rooms were
set aside for men. All available space was used, some sleeping in chairs
and some on the floor, while a few found rest in the bathrooms.
Every cabin had been filled, and women and children were sleeping on the
floors in the dining saloon, library and smoking rooms. The passengers
of the Carpathia had divided their clothes with the shipwrecked ones
until they had at least kept warm. It is true that many women had to
appear on deck in kimonos and some in underclothes with a coat thrown
over them, but their lives had been spared and they had not thought of
dress. Some children in the second cabin were entirely without clothes,
but the women had joined together, and with needles and thread they
could pick up from passenger to passenger, had made warm clothes out of
the blankets belonging to the Carpathia.
WOMEN BEFRIENDED ONE ANOTHER
The women aboard the Carpathia did what they could by word and act to
relieve the sufferings of the rescued. Most of the survivors were in
great need of clothing, and this the women of the Carpathia supplied to
them as long as their surplus stock held out.
J. A. Shuttleworth, of Louisville, Ky., befriended Mrs. Lucien Smith,
whose husband went down with the Titanic. Mrs. Smith was formerly Miss
Eloise Hughes, daughter of Representative and Mrs. James A. Hughes, of
Huntington, W. Va., and was on her wedding trip. Mr. Shuttleworth asked
her if there wasn't something he could do for her. She said that all the
money she had was lost on the Titanic, so Mr. Shuttleworth gave her $500
DEATHS ON THE CARPATHIA
Two of the rescued from the Titanic died from shock and exposure before
they reached the Carpathia, and another died a few minutes after being
taken on board. The dead were W. H. Hoyte, first cabin; Abraham Hormer,
third class, and S. C. Sirbert, steward, and they were buried at sea the
morning of April 15th, latitude 41.14 north, longitude 51.24 west. P.
Lyon, able seaman, died and was buried at sea the following morning.
An assistant steward lost his mind upon seeing one of the Titanic's
rescued firemen expire after being lifted to the deck of the Carpathia.
An Episcopal bishop and a Catholic priest from Montreal read services of
their respective churches over the dead.
The bodies were sewed up in sacks, heavily weighted at the feet, and
taken to an opening in the side of the ship on the lower deck not far
above the water line. A long plank tilted at one end served as the
incline down which the weighted sacks slid into the sea.
"After we got the Titanic's passengers on board our ship," said one of
the Carpathia's officers, "it was a question as to where we should take
them. Some said the Olympic would come out and meet us and take them on
to New York, but others said they would die if they had to be lowered
again into small boats to be taken up by another, so we finally turned
toward New York, delaying the Carpathia's passengers eight days in
reaching Gibraltar."
SURVIVORS WATCH NEW BOATS
There were several children on board, who had lost their parents--one
baby of eleven months with a nurse who, coming on board the Carpathia
with the first boat, watched with eagerness and sorrow for each incoming
boat, but to no avail. The parents had gone down.
There was a woman in the second cabin who lost seven children out of
ten, and there were many other losses quite as horrible.
MR. ISMY "PITIABLE SIGHT"
Among the rescued ones who came on board the Carpathia was the president
of the White Star Line.
"Mr. Ismay reached the Carpathia in about the tenth life-boat," said an
officer. "I didn't know who he was, but afterward heard the others of
the crew discussing his desire to get something to eat the minute he put
his foot on deck. The steward who waited on him, McGuire, from London,
says Mr. Ismay came dashing into the dining room, and throwing himself
in a chair, said: 'Hurry, for God's sake, and get me something to eat;
I'm starved. I don't care what it costs or what it is; bring it to me.'
"McGuire brought Mr. Ismay a load of stuff and when he had finished
it, he handed McGuire a two dollar bill. 'Your money is no good on this
ship,' McGuire told him. 'Take it.'
{illust. caption = DIAGRAM OF THE TITANIC'S ARRANGEMENT AND EQUIPMENT
The Titanic was far and away the largest and finest vessel ever built,
excepting only her sister-ship, the Olympic. Her dimensions were:
Length, 882 1/2 feet; Beam, 92 feet, Depth (from keel to tops of
funnels), 175 feet Tonnage, 45,000. Her huge hull, divided into thirty
watertight compartments, contained nine steel decks, and provided
accommodation for 2,500 passengers, besides a crew of 890.}
{illust. caption = UPPER DECK OF THE TITANIC, LOOKING FORWARD}
insisted Mr. Ismay, shoving the bill in McGuire's hand. I am well able
to afford it. I will see to it that the boys of the Carpathia are well
rewarded for this night's work.' This promise started McGuire making
inquiries as to the identity of the man he had waited on. Then we
learned that he was Mr. Ismay. I did not see Mr. Ismay after the first
few hours. He must have kept to his cabin."
A passenger on the Carpathia said there was no wonder that none of the
wireless telegrams addressed to Mr. Ismay were answered until the one
that he sent yesterday afternoon to his line, the White Star.
"Mr. Ismay was beside himself," said this woman passenger, "and on
most of the voyage after we had picked him up he was being quieted with
opiates on orders of the ship's doctor.
FIVE DOGS AND ONE PIG SAVED
"Five women saved their pet dogs, carrying them in their arms. Another
woman saved a little pig, which she said was her mascot. Though her
husband is an Englishman and she lives in England she is an American and
was on her way to visit her folks here. How she cared for the pig aboard
ship I do not know, but she carried it up the side of the ship in a big
bag. I did not mind the dogs so much, but it seemed to me to be too much
when a pig was saved and human beings went to death.
"It was not until noon on Monday that we cleared the last of the ice,
and Monday night a dense fog came up and continued until the following
morning, then a strong wind, a heavy sea, a thunderstorm and a dense fog
Tuesday night, caused some uneasiness among the more unnerved, the fog
continuing all of Tuesday.
"A number of whales were sighted as the Carpathia was clearing the last
of the ice, one large one being close by, and all were spouting like
geysers."
VOTE OF THANKS TO CARPATHIA
"On Tuesday afternoon a meeting of the uninjured survivors was called in
the main saloon for the purpose of devising means of assisting the more
unfortunate, many of whom had lost relatives and all their personal
belongings, and thanking Divine Providence for their deliverance.
The meeting was called to order and Mr. Samuel Goldenberg was elected
chairman. Resolutions were then passed thanking the officers, surgeons,
passengers and crew of the Carpathia for their splendid services in
aiding the rescued and like resolutions for the admirable work done by
the officers, surgeons and crew of the Titanic.
"A committee was then appointed to raise funds on board the Carpathia to
relieve the immediate wants of the destitute and assist them in reaching
their destinations and also to present a loving cup to the officers of
the Carpathia and also a loving cup to the surviving officers of the
Titanic.
"Mr. T. G. Frauenthal, of New York, was made chairman of the Committee
on Subscriptions.
"A committee, consisting of Mrs. J. J. Brown, Mrs William Bucknell and
Mrs. George Stone, was appointed to look after the destitute. There
was a subscription taken up and up to Wednesday the amount contributed
totaled $15,000.
"The work of the crew on board the Carpathia in rescuing was most noble
and remarkable, and these four days that the ship has been overcrowded
with its 710 extra passengers could not have been better handled. The
stewards have worked with undying strength--although one was overcome
with so much work and died and was put to his grave at sea.
"I have never seen or felt the benefits of such royal treatment. I have
heard the captain criticised because he did not answer telegrams, but
all that I can say is that he showed us every possible courtesy, and if
we had been on our own boats, having paid our fares there, we could not
have had better food or better accommodations.
"Men who had paid for the best staterooms on the Carpathia left their
rooms so that we might have them. They fixed up beds in the smoking
rooms, and mattresses everywhere. All the women who were rescued
were given the best staterooms, which were surrendered by the regular
passengers. None of the regular passengers grumbled because their trip
to Europe was interrupted, nor did they complain that they were put to
the inconvenience of receiving hundreds of strangers.
"The women on board the Carpathia were particularly kind. It shows that
for every cruelty of nature there is a kindness, for every misfortune
there is some goodness. The men and women took up collections on board
for the rescued steerage passengers. Mrs. Astor, I believe, contributed
$2000, her check being cashed by the Carpathia. Altogether something
like $15,000 was collected and all the women were provided with
sufficient money to reach their destination after they were landed in
New York."
Under any other circumstances the suffering would have been intolerable.
But the Good Samaritans on the Carpathia gave many women heart's-ease.
The spectacle on board the Carpathia on the return trip to New York at
times was heartrending, while at other times those on board were quite
cheerful.
CHAPTER XI. PREPARATIONS ON LAND TO RECEIVE THE SUFFERERS
POLICE ARRANGEMENTS--DONATIONS OF MONEY AND SUPPLIES--HOSPITALS AND
AMBULANCES MADE READY--PRIVATE HOUSES THROWN OPEN--WAITING FOR THE
CARPATHIA TO ARRIVE--THE SHIP SIGHTED!
NEW YORK CITY, touched to the heart by the great ocean calamity and
desiring to do what it could to lighten the woes and relieve the
sufferings of the pitiful little band of men and women rescued from the
Titanic, opened both its heart and its purse.
The most careful and systematic plans were made for the reception and
transfer to homes, hotels or institutions of the Titanic's survivors.
Mayor Gaynor, with Police Commissioner Waldo, arranged to go down the
bay on the police boat Patrol, to come up with the Carpathia and take
charge of the police arrangements at the pier.
In anticipation of the enormous number that would, for a variety of
reasons, creditable or otherwise, surge about the Cunard pier at the
coming of the Carpathia, Mayor Gaynor and the police commissioner had
seen to it that the streets should be rigidly sentineled by continuous
lines of policemen Under Inspector George McClusky, the man of most
experience, perhaps, in handling large crowds, there were 200 men,
including twelve mounted men and a number in citizens' clothes. For two
blocks to the north, south and east of the docks lines were established
through which none save those bearing passes from the Government and the
Cunard Line could penetrate.
With all arrangements made that experience or information could suggest,
the authorities settled down to await the docking of the Carpathia. No
word had come to either the White Star Line or the Cunard Line, they
said, that any of the Titanic's people had died on that ship or that
bodies had been recovered from the sea, but in the afternoon Mayor
Gaynor sent word to the Board of Coroners that it might be well for
some of that body to meet the incoming ship. Coroners Feinberg and
Holtzhauser with Coroner's Physician Weston arranged to go down the
bay on the Patrol, while Coroner Hellenstein waited at the pier. An
undertaker was notified to be ready if needed. Fortunately there was no
such need.
EVERY POSSIBLE MEASURE THOUGHT OF
Every possible measure of relief for the survivors that could be thought
of by officials of the city, of the Federal Government, by the heads of
hospitals and the Red Cross and relief societies was arranged for.
The Municipal Lodging House, which has accommodations for 700 persons,
agreed to throw open its doors and furnish lodging and food to any of
the survivors as long as they should need it. Commissioner of Charities
Drummond did not know, of course, just how great the call would be for
the services of his department. He went to the Cunard pier to direct his
part of the work in person. Meanwhile he had twenty ambulances ready
for instant movement on the city's pier at the foot of East Twenty-sixth
Street. They were ready to take patients to the reception hospital
connected with Bellevue or the Metropolitan Hospital on Blackwell's
Island. Ambulances from the Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn were also
there to do their share. All the other hospitals in the city stood ready
to take the Titanic's people and those that had ambulances promised to
send them. The Charities ferryboat, Thomas S. Brennan, equipped as a
hospital craft, lay off the department pier with nurses and physicians
ready to be called to the Cunard pier on the other side of the city.
St. Vincent's Hospital had 120 beds ready, New York Hospital twelve,
Bellevue and the reception hospital 120 and Flower Hospital twelve.
The House of Shelter maintained by the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant
Aid Society announced that it was able to care for at least fifty
persons as long as might be necessary. The German Society of New York,
the Irish Immigrant Society, the Italian Society, the Swedish Immigrant
Society and the Young Men's Christian Association were among the
organizations that also offered to see that no needy survivor would go
without shelter.
Mrs. W. A. Bastede, whose husband is a member of the staff of St. Luke's
Hospital, offered to the White Star Line the use of the newly opened
ward at St. Luke's, which will accommodate from thirty to sixty persons.
She said the hospital would send four ambulances with nurses and doctors
and that she had collected clothing enough for fifty persons. The line
accepted her offer and said that the hospital would be kept informed as
to what was needed. A trustee of Bellevue also called at the White Star
offices to offer ambulances. He said that five or six, with two or three
doctors and nurses on each, would be sent to the pier if required.
Many other hospitals as well as individuals called at the mayor's
office, expressing willingness to take in anybody that should be sent to
them. A woman living in Fiftieth Street just off Fifth Avenue wished
to put her home at the disposal of the survivors. D. H. Knott, of 102
Waverley Place, told the mayor that he could take care of 100 and give
them both food and lodging at the Arlington, Holly and Earl Hotels.
Commissioner Drummond visited the City Hall and arranged with the
mayor the plans for the relief to be extended directly by the city. Mr.
Drummond said that omnibuses would be provided to transfer passengers
from the ship to the Municipal Lodging House.
MRS. VANDERBILT'S EFFORTS
Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr., spent the day telephoning to her friends,
asking them to let their automobiles be used to meet the Carpathia and
take away those who needed surgical care. It was announced that as a
result of Mrs. Vanderbilt's efforts 100 limousine automobiles and all
the Fifth Avenue and Riverside Drive automobile buses would be at the
Cunard pier.
Immigration Commissioner Williams said that he would be at the pier when
the Carpathia came in. There was to be no inspection of immigrants at
Ellis Island. Instead, the commissioner sent seven or eight inspectors
to the pier to do their work there and he asked them to do it with the
greatest possible speed and the least possible bother to the shipwrecked
aliens. The immigrants who had no friends to meet them were to be
provided for until their cases could be disposed of. Mr. Williams
thought that some of them who had lost everything might have to be sent
back to their homes. Those who were to be admitted to the United States
were to be cared for by the Women's Relief Committee.
RED CROSS RELIEF
Robert W. de Forest, chairman of the Red Cross Relief Committee of the
Charity Organization Society, after conferring with Mayor Gaynor, said
that in addition to an arrangement that all funds received by the
mayor should be paid to Jacob H. Schiff, the New York treasurer of the
American Red Cross, the committee had decided that it could turn over
all the immediate relief work to the Women's Relief Committee.
The Red Cross Committee announced that careful plans had been made to
provide for every possible emergency.
The emergency committee received a telegram that Ernest P. Bicknell,
director of the American Red Cross, was coming from Washington. The Red
Cross Emergency Relief Committee was to have several representatives at
the pier to look out for the passengers on the Carpathia. Mr. Persons
and Dr. Devine were to be there and it was planned to have others.
The Salvation Army offered, through the mayor's office, accommodation
for thirty single men at the Industrial Home, 533 West Forty-eighth
Street, and for twenty others at its hotel, 18 Chatham Square. The
army's training school at 124 West Fourteenth Street was ready to take
twenty or thirty survivors. R. H. Farley, head of the White Star Line's
third class department, said that the line would give all the steerage
passengers railroad tickets to their destination.
Mayor Gaynor estimated that more than 5000 persons could be accommodated
in quarters offered through his orders. Most of these offers of course
would have to be rejected. The mayor also said that Colonel Conley of
the Sixty-ninth Regiment offered to turn out his regiment to police the
pier, but it was thought that such service would be unnecessary.
CROWDS AT THE DOCKS
Long before dark on Thursday night a few people passed the police lines
and with a yellow card were allowed to go on the dock; but reports had
been published that the Carpathia would not be in till midnight, and by
8 o'clock there were not more than two hundred people on the pier. In
the next hour the crowd with passes trebled in number. By 9 o'clock the
pier held half as many as it could comfortably contain. The early crowd
did not contain many women relatives of the survivors. Few nervous
people could be seen, but here and there was a woman, usually supported
by two male escorts, weeping softly to herself.
On the whole it was a frantic, grief-crazed crowd. Laborers rubbed
shoulders with millionaires.
The relatives of the rich had taxicabs waiting outside the docks. The
relatives of the poor went there on foot in the rain, ready to take
their loved ones.
A special train was awaiting Mrs. Charles M. Hays, widow of the
president of the Grand Trunk Railroad. A private car also waited Mrs.
George D. Widener.
EARLY ARRIVALS AT PIER
Among the first to arrive at the pier was a committee from the Stock
Exchange, headed by R. H. Thomas, and composed of Charles Knoblauch, B.
M. W. Baruch, Charles Holzderber and J. Carlisle. Mr. Thomas carried
a long black box which contained $5000 in small bills, which was to
be handed out to the needy steerage survivors of the Titanic as they
disembarked.
With the early arrivals at the pier were the relatives of Frederick
White, who was not reported among the survivors, though Mrs. White
was; Harry Mock, who came to look for a brother and sister; and Vincent
Astor, who arrived in a limousine with William A. Dobbyn, Colonel
Astor's secretary, and two doctors. The limousine was kept waiting
outside to take Mrs. Astor to the Astor home on Fifth Avenue.
EIGHT LIMOUSINE CARS
The Waldorf-Astoria had sent over eight limousine car to convey to the
hotel these survivors:
Mrs. Mark Fortune and three daughters, Mrs. Lucien P. Smith, Mrs. J.
Stewart White, Mrs. Thornton Davidson, Mrs. George C. Douglass, Mrs.
George D. Widener and maid, Mrs. George Wick, Miss Bonnell, Miss E.
Ryerson, Mrs. Susan P. Ryerson, Mrs. Arthur Ryerson, Miss Mary Wick, the
Misses Howell, Mrs. John P. Snyder and Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Bishop.
THIRTY-FIVE AMBULANCES AT THE PIER
At one time there were thirty-five ambulances drawn up; outside the
Cunard pier. Every hospital in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx was
represented. Several of the ambulances came from as far north as the
Lebanon Hospital, in the Bronx, and the Brooklyn Hospital, in Brooklyn.
Accompanying them were seventy internes and surgeons from the staffs of
the hospitals, and more than 125 male and female nurses.
St. Vincent's sent the greatest number of ambulances, at one time, eight
of them from this hospital being in line at the pier.
Miss Eva Booth, direct head of the Salvation Army, was at the pier,
accompanied by Miss Elizabeth Nye and a corps of her officers, ready
to aid as much as possible. The Sheltering Society and various other
similar organizations also were represented, all ready to take care of
those who needed them.
An officer of the Sixty-ninth Regiment, N. G. N. Y., offered the White
Star Line officials, the use of the regiment's armory for any of the
survivors.
Mrs. Thomas Hughes, Mrs. August Belmont and Mgrs. Lavelle and McMahon,
of St. Patrick's Cathedral, together with a score of black-robed Sisters
of Charity, representing the Association of Catholic Churches, were
on the pier long before the Carpathia was made fast, and worked
industriously in aiding the injured and ill.
The Rev. Dr. William Carter, pastor of the Madison Avenue Reformed
Church, was one of those at the pier with a private ambulance awaiting
Miss Sylvia Caldwell, one of the survivors, who is known in church
circles as a mission worker in foreign fields
FREE RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION
The Pennsylvania Railroad sent representatives to the pier, who said
that the railroad had a special train of nine cars in which it would
carry free any passenger who wanted to go immediately to Philadelphia
or points west. The Pennsylvania also had eight taxicabs at the pier for
conveyance of the rescued to the Pennsylvania Station, in Thirty-third
Street.
Among those who later arrived at the pier before the Carpathia docked
were P. A. B. Widener, of Philadelphia, two women relatives of J. B.
Thayer, William Harris, Jr., the theatrical man, who was accompanied by
Dr Dinkelspiel, and Henry Arthur Jones, the playwright.
RELATIVES OF SAVED AND LOST
Commander Booth, of the Salvation Army, was there especially to meet
Mrs. Elizabeth Nye and Mrs. Rogers Abbott, both Titanic survivors. Mrs.
Abbott's two sons were supposed to be among the lost. Miss Booth had
received a cablegram from London saying that other Salvation Army people
were on the Titanic. She was eager to get news of them.
Also on the pier was Major Blanton, U. S. A., stationed at Washington,
who was waiting for tidings of Major Butt, supposedly at the instance of
President Taft.
Senator William A. Clark and Mrs. Clark were also in the company. Dr.
John R. MacKenty was waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Harper. Ferdinand
W. Roebling and Carl G. Roebling, cousins of Washington A. Roebling,
Jr., whose name is among the list of dead, went to the pier to see what
they could learn of his fate.
J. P. Morgan, Jr., arrived at the pier about half an hour before the
Carpathia docked. He said he had many friends on the Titanic and was
eagerly awaiting news of all of them.
Fire Commissioner Johnson was there with John Peel, of Atlanta, Gal, a
brother of Mrs. Jacques Futrelle. Mrs. Futrelle has a son twelve years
old in Atlanta, and a daughter Virginia, who has been in school in
the North and is at present with friends in this city, ignorant of her
father's death.
A MAN IN HYSTERICS
There was one man in that sad waiting company who startled those near
him about 9 o'clock by dancing across the pier and back. He seemed to be
laughing, but when he was stopped it was found that he was sobbing. He
said that he had a relative on the Titanic and had lost control of his
nerves.
H. H. Brunt, of Chicago, was at the gangplank waiting for A. Saalfeld,
head of the wholesale drug firm of Sparks, White & Co., of London, who
was coming to this country on the Titanic on a business trip and whose
life was saved.
WAITING FOR CARPATHIA
During the afternoon and evening tugboats, motor boats and even sailing
craft, had been waiting off the Ambrose Light for the appearance of the
Carpathia.
Some of the waiting craft contained friends and anxious relatives of the
survivors and those reported as missing.
The sea was rough and choppy, and a strong east wind was blowing. There
was a light fog, so that it was possible to see at a distance of only a
few hundred yards. This lifted later in the evening.
First to discover the incoming liner with her pitiful cargo was one
of the tugboats. From out of the mist there loomed far out at sea the
incoming steamer.
RESCUE BOAT SIGHTED
"Liner ahead!" cried the lookout on the tug to the captain.
"She must be the Carpathia," said the captain, and then he turned the
nose of his boat toward the spot on t he horizon.
Then the huge black hull and one smokestack could be distinguished.
"It's the Carpathia," said the captain. "I can tell her by the stack."
The announcement sent a thrill through those who heard it. Here, at the
gate of New York, was a ship whose record for bravery and heroic work
would be a famuliar{sic} name in history.
{illust. caption = Copyright by G. V. Buck. MRS. LUCIEN P. SMITH
Formerly Miss Eloise Hughes, daughter of Representative and Mrs. James
A. Hughes, of West Virginia. Mrs. Smith and her husband were passengers
on the Titanic. Mrs. Smith was saved, but her husband went to a watery
grave. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were married only a few months ago.}
{illust. caption = MAJOR ARCHIBALD BUTT
Military Aide to President Taft. Of Major Butt, who was one of the
victims of the Titanic, one of the survivors said: "Major Butt was the
real leader in all of that rescue work. He made the men stand back and
helped the women and children into the boats. He was surely one of God's
noblemen."}
CHAPTER XII. THE TRAGIC HOME-COMING
THE CARPATHIA REACHES NEW YORK--AN INTENSE AND DRAMATIC
MOMENT--HYSTERICAL REUNIONS AND CRUSHING DISAPPOINTMENTS AT THE
DOCK--CARING FOR THE SUFFERERS--FINAL REALIZATION THAT ALL HOPE FOR
OTHERS IS FUTILE--LIST OF SURVIVORS--ROLL OF THE DEAD
IT was a solemn moment when the Carpathia heaved in sight. There
she rested on the water, a blur of black--huge, mysterious,
awe-inspiring--and yet withal a thing to send thrills of pity and then
of admiration through the beholder.
It was a few minutes after seven o'clock when she arrived at the
entrance to Ambrose Channel. She was coming fast steaming at better than
fifteen knots an hour, and she was sighted long before she was expected.
Except for the usual side and masthead lights she was almost dark, only
the upper cabins showing a glimmer here and there.
Then began a period of waiting, the suspense of which proved almost too
much for the hundreds gathered there to greet friends and relatives or
to learn with certainty at last that those for whom they watched would
never come ashore.
There was almost complete silence on the pier. Doctors and nurses,
members of the Women's Relief Committee, city and government officials,
as well as officials of the line, moved nervously about.
Seated where they had been assigned beneath the big customs letters
corresponding to the initials of the names of the survivors they came to
meet, sat the mass of 2000 on the pier.
Women wept, but they wept quietly, not hysterically, and the sound of
the sobs made many times less noise than the hum and bustle which is
usual on the pier among those awaiting an incoming liner.
Slowly and majestically the ship slid through the water, still bearing
the details of that secret of what happened and who perished when the
Titanic met her fate.
Convoying the Carpathia was a fleet of tugs bearing men and women
anxious to learn the latest news. The Cunarder had been as silent for
days as though it, too, were a ship of the dead. A list of survivors
had been given out from its wireless station and that was all. Even the
approximate time of its arrival had been kept a secret.
NEARING PORT
There was no response to the hail from one tug, and as others closed in,
the steamship quickened her speed a little and left them behind as she
swung up the channel.
There was an exploding of flashlights from some of the tugs, answered
seemingly by sharp stabs of lightning in the northwest that served to
accentuate the silence and absence of light aboard the rescue ship. Five
or six persons, apparently members of the crew or the ship's officers,
were seen along the rail; but otherwise the boat appeared to be
deserted.
Off quarantine the Carpathia slowed down and, hailing the immigration
inspection boat, asked if the health officer wished to board. She
was told that he did, and came to a stop while Dr. O'Connell and two
assistants climbed on board. Again the newspaper men asked for some
word of the catastrophe to the Titanic, but there was no answer, and the
Carpathia continued toward her pier.
As she passed the revenue cutter Mohawk and the derelict destroyer
Seneca anchored off Tompkinsville the wireless on the Government vessels
was seen to flash, but there was no answering spark from the Carpathia.
Entering the North River she laid her course close to the New Jersey
side in order to have room to swing into her pier.
By this time the rails were lined with men and women. They were very
silent. There were a few requests for news from those on board and a few
answers to questions shouted from the tugs.
The liner began to slacken her speed, and the tugboat soon was
alongside. Up above the inky blackness of the hull figures could be made
out, leaning over the port railing, as though peering eagerly at the
little craft which was bearing down on the Carpathia.
Some of them, perhaps, had passed through that inferno of the deep sea
which sprang up to destroy the mightiest steamship afloat.
"Carpathia, ahoy!" was shouted through a megaphone.
There was an interval of a few seconds, and then, "Aye, aye," came the
reply.
"Is there any assistance that can be rendered?" was the next question.
"Thank you, no," was the answer in a tone that carried emotion with it.
Meantime the tugboat was getting nearer and nearer to the Carpathia, and
soon the faces of those leaning over the railing could be distinguished.
TALK WITH SURVIVORS
More faces appeared, and still more.
A woman who called to a man on the tugboat was asked? "Are you one the
Titanic survivors?"
"Yes," said the voice, hesitatingly.
"Do you need help?"
"No," after a pause.
"If there is anything you want done it will be attended to."
"Thank you. I have been informed that my relatives will meet me at the
pier."
"Is it true that some of the life-boats sank with the Titanic?"
"Yes. There was some trouble in manning them. They were not far enough
away from her."
All of this questioning and receiving replies was carried on with the
greatest difficulty. The pounding of the liner's engines, the washing of
the sea, the tugboat's engines, made it hard to understand the woman's
replies.
ALL CARED FOR ON BOARD
"Were the women properly cared for after the crash?" she was asked.
"Oh, yes," came the shrill reply. "The men were brave--very brave." Here
her voice broke and she turned and left the railing, to reappear a few
moments later and cry:
"Please report me as saved."
"What name?" was asked. She shouted a name that could not be understood,
and, apparently believing that it had been, turned away again and
disappeared.
"Nearly all of us are very ill," cried another woman. Here several other
tugboats appeared, and those standing at the railing were besieged with
questions.
"Did the crash come without warning?" a voice on one of the smaller
boats megaphoned.
"Yes," a woman answered. "Most of us had retired. We saved a few of our
belongings."
"How long did it take the boat to sink?" asked the voice.
TITANIC CREW HEROES
"Not long," came the reply? "The crew and the men were very brave. Oh,
it is dreadful--dreadful to think of!"
"Is Mr. John Jacob Astor on board?"
"No."
"Did he remain on the Titanic after the collision?"
"I do not know."
Questions of this kind were showered at the few survivors who stood at
the railing, but they seemed too confused to answer them intelligibly,
and after replying evasively to some they would disappear.
RUSHES ON TO DOCK
"Are you going to anchor for the night?" Captain Rostron was asked by
megaphone as his boat approached Ambrose Light. It was then raining
heavily.
"No," came the reply. "I am going into port. There are sick people on
board."
"We tried to learn when she would dock," said Dr. Walter Kennedy, head
of the big ambulance corps on the mist-shrouded pier, "and we were told
it would not be before midnight and that most probably it would not be
before dawn to-morrow. The childish deception that has been practiced
for days by the people who are responsible for the Titanic has been
carried up to the very moment of the landing of the survivors."
She proceeded past the Cunard pier, where 2000 persons were waiting
her, and steamed to a spot opposite the White Star piers at Twenty-first
Street.
The ports in the big inclosed pier of the Cunard Line were opened, and
through them the waiting hundreds, almost frantic with anxiety over what
the Carpathia might reveal, watched her as with nerve-destroying leisure
she swung about in the river, dropping over the life-boats of the
Titanic that they might be taken to the piers of the White Star Line.
THE TITANIC LIFE-BOATS
It was dark in the river, but the lowering away of the life-boats
could be seen from the Carpathia's pier, and a deep sigh arose from the
multitude there as they caught this first glance of anything associated
with the Titanic.
Then the Carpathia started for her own pier. As she approached it the
ports on the north side of pier 54 were closed that the Carpathia might
land there, but through the two left open to accommodate the forward
and after gangplanks of the big liner the watchers could see her
looming larger and larger in the darkness till finally she was directly
alongside the pier.
As the boats were towed away the picture taking and shouting of
questions began again. John Badenoch, a buyer for Macy & Co., called
down to a representative of the firm that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Isidor
Straus were among the rescued on board the Carpathia. An officer of
the Carpathia called down that 710 of the Titanic's passengers were on
board, but refused to reply to other questions.
The heavy hawsers were made fast without the customary shouting of
ship's officers and pier hands. From the crowd on the pier came a long,
shuddering murmur. In it were blended sighs and hundreds of whispers.
The burden of it all was: "Here they come."
ANXIOUS MEN AND WOMEN
About each gangplank a portable fence had been put in place, marking
off some fifty feet of the pier, within which stood one hundred or more
customs officials. Next to the fence, crowded close against it, were
anxious men and women, their gaze strained for a glance of the first
from the ship, their mouths opened to draw their breaths in spasmodic,
quivering gasps, their very bodies shaking with suppressed excitement,
excitement which only the suspense itself was keeping in subjection.
These were the husbands and wives, children, parents, sweethearts and
friends of those who had sailed upon the Titanic on its maiden voyage.
They pressed to the head of the pier, marking the boats of the wrecked
ship as they dangled at the side of the Carpathia and were revealed in
the sudden flashes of the photographers upon the tugs. They spoke
in whispers, each group intent upon its own sad business. Newspaper
writers, with pier passes showing in their hat bands, were everywhere.
A sailor hurried outside the fence and disappeared, apparently on a
mission for his company. There was a deep-drawn sigh as he walked away,
shaking his head toward those who peered eagerly at him. Then came a
man and woman of the Carpathia's own passengers, as their orderly dress
showed them to be.
Again a sigh like a sob swept over the crowd, and again they turned back
to the canopied gangplank.
THE FIRST SURVIVORS
Several minutes passed and then out of the first cabin gangway; tunneled
by a somber awning, streamed the first survivors. A young woman,
hatless, her light brown hair disordered and the leaden weight of
crushing sorrow heavy upon eyes and sensitive mouth, was in the van. She
stopped, perplexed, almost ready to drop with terror and exhaustion, and
was caught by a customs official.
"A survivor?" he questioned rapidly, and a nod of the head answering
him, he demanded:
"Your name."
The answer given, he started to lead her toward that section of the pier
where her friends would be waiting.
When she stepped from the gangplank there was quiet on the pier. The
answers of the woman could almost be heard by those fifty feet away, but
as she staggered, rather than walked, toward the waiting throng outside
the fence, a low wailing sound arose from the crowd.
"Dorothy, Dorothy!" cried a man from the number. He broke through the
double line of customs inspectors as though it was composed of
wooden toys and caught the woman to his breast. She opened her lips
inarticulately, weakly raised her arms and would have pitched forward
upon her face had she not been supported. Her fair head fell weakly to
one side as the man picked her up in his arms, and, with tears streaming
down his face, stalked down the long avenue of the pier and down the
long stairway to a waiting taxicab.
The wailing of the crowd--its cadences, wild and weird--grew steadily
louder and louder till they culminated in a mighty shriek, which swept
the whole big pier as though at the direction of some master hand.
RUMORS AFLOAT
The arrival of the Carpathia was the signal for the most sensational
rumors to circulate through the crowd on the pier.
First, Mrs. John Jacob Astor was reported to have died at 8.06 o'clock,
when the Carpathia was on her way up the harbor.
Captain Smith and the first engineer were reported to have shot
themselves when they found that the Titanic was doomed to sink.
Afterward it was learned that Captain Smith and the engineer went down
with their ship in perfect courage and coolness.
Major Archibald Butt, President Taft's military aide, was said to have
entered into an agreement with George D. Widener, Colonel John Jacob
Astor and Isidor Straus to kill them first and then shoot himself before
the boat sank. It was said that this agreement had been carried out.
Later it was shown that, like many other men on the ship, they had gone
down without the exhibition of a sign of fear.
MRS. CORNELL SAFE
Magistrate Cornell's wife and her two sisters were among the first
to leave the ship. They were met at the first cabin pier entrance by
Magistrate Cornell and a party of friends. None of the three women had
hats. One of those who met them was Magistrate Cornell's son. One of
Mrs. Cornell's sisters was overheard to remark that "it would be a
dreadful thing when the ship began really to unload."
The three women appeared to be in a very nervous state. Their hair was
more or less dishevelled. They were apparently fully dressed save for
their hats. Clothing had been supplied them in their need and everything
had been done to make them comfortable. One of the party said that the
collision occurred at 9.45.
Following closely the Cornell party was H. J. Allison of Montreal, who
came to meet his family. One of the party, who was weeping bitterly as
he left the pier, explained that the only one of the family that was
rescued was the young brother.
MRS. ASTOR APPEARED
In a few minutes young Mrs. Astor with her maid appeared. She came down
the gangplank unassisted. She was wearing a white sweater. Vincent Astor
and William Dobbyn, Colonel Astor's secretary, greeted her and
hurried her to a waiting limousine which contained clothing and other
necessaries of which it was thought she might be in need. The young
woman was white-faced and silent. Nobody cared to intrude upon
her thoughts. Her stepson said little to her. He did not feel like
questioning her at such a time, he said.
LAST SEEN OF COLONEL ASTOR
Walter M. Clark, a nephew of the senator, said that he had seen Colonel
Astor put his wife in a boat, after assuring her that he would soon
follow her in another. Mr. Clark and others said that Colonel and Mrs.
Astor were in their suite when the crash came, and that they appeared
quietly on deck a few minutes afterward.
Here and there among the passengers of the Carpathia and from the
survivors of the Titanic the story was gleaned of the rescue. Nothing in
life will ever approach the joy felt by the hundreds who were waiting in
little boats on the spot where the Titanic foundered when the lights of
the Carpathia were first distinguished. That was at 4 o'clock on Monday
morning.
DR. FRAUENTHAL WELCOMED
Efforts were made to learn from Dr. Henry Franenthal{sic} something
about the details of how he was rescued. Just then, or as he was leaving
the pier, beaming with evident delight, he was surrounded by a big crowd
of his friends.
"There's Harry! There he is!" they yelled and made a rush for him.
All the doctor's face that wasn't covered with red beard was aglow
with smiles as his friends hugged him and slapped him on the back. They
rushed him off bodily through the crowd and he too was whirled home.
A SAD STORY
How others followed--how heartrending stories of partings and of
thrilling rescues were poured out in an amazing stream--this has all
been told over and over again in the news that for days amazed, saddened
and angered the entire world. It is the story of a disaster that
nations, it is hoped, will make impossible in the years to come.
In the stream of survivors were a peer of the realm, Sir Cosmo Duff
Gordon, and his secretary, side by side with plain Jack Jones, of
Birmingham, able seaman, millionaires and paupers, women with bags of
jewels and others with nightgowns their only property.
MORE THAN SEVENTY WIDOWS
More than seventy widows were in the weeping company. The only large
family that was saved in its entirety was that of the Carters, of
Philadelphia. Contrasting with this remarkable salvage of wealthy
Pennsylvanians was the sleeping eleven-months-old baby of the Allisons,
whose father, mother and sister went down to death after it and its
nurse had been placed in a life-boat.
Millionaire and pauper, titled grandee and weeping immigrant, Ismay, the
head of the White Star Company, and Jack Jones from the stoke hole were
surrounded instantly. Some would gladly have escaped observation. Every
man among the survivors acted as though it were first necessary to
explain how he came to be in a life-boat. Some of the stories smacked of
Munchausen. Others were as plain and unvarnished as a pike staff. Those
that were most sincere and trustworthy had to be fairly pulled from
those who gave their sad testimony.
Far into the night the recitals were made. They were told in the rooms
of hotels, in the wards of hospitals and upon trains that sped toward
saddened homes. It was a symposium of horror and heroism, the like of
which has not been known in the civilized world since man established
his dominion over the sea.
STEERAGE PASSENGERS
The two hundred and more steerage passengers did not leave the ship
until 11 o'clock. They were in a sad condition. The women were without
wraps and the few men there were wore very little clothing. A poor
Syrian woman who said she was Mrs. Habush, bound for Youngstown, Ohio,
carried in her arms a six-year-old baby girl. This woman had lost her
husband and three brothers. "I lost four of my men folks," she cried.
TWO LITTLE BOYS
Among the survivors who elicited a large measure of sympathy were two
little French boys who were dropped, almost naked, from the deck of the
sinking Titanic into a life-boat. From what place in France did they
come and to what place in the New World were they bound? There was not
one iota of information to be had as to the identity of the waifs of the
deep, the orphans of the Titanic.
The two baby boys, two and four years old, respectively, were in charge
of Miss Margaret Hays, who is a fluent speaker of French, and she had
tried vainly to get from the lisping lips of the two little ones some
information that would lead to the finding of their relatives.
Miss Hays, also a survivor of the Titanic, took charge of the almost
naked waifs on the Carpathia. She became warmly attached to the two
boys, who unconcernedly played about, not understanding the great
tragedy that had come into their lives.
The two little curly-heads did not understand it all. Had not their
pretty nineteen-year-old foster mother provided them with pretty suits
and little white shoes and playthings a-plenty? Then, too, Miss Hays had
a Pom dog that she brought with her from Paris and which she carried
in her arms when she left the Titanic and held to her bosom through the
long night in the life-boat, and to which the children became warmly
attached. All three became aliens on an alien shore.
Miss Hays, unable to learn the names of the little fellows, had dubbed
the older Louis and the younger "Lump." "Lump" was all that his name
implies, for he weighed almost as much as his brother. They were
dark-eyed and brown curly-haired children, who knew how to smile as only
French children can.
On the fateful night of the Titanic disaster and just as the last boats
were pulling away with their human freight, a man rushed to the rail
holding the babes under his arms. He cried to the passengers in one
of the boats and held the children aloft. Three or four sailors and
passengers held up their arms. The father dropped the older boy. He was
safely caught. Then he dropped the little fellow and saw him folded in
the arms of a sailor. Then the boat pulled away.
The last seen of the father, whose last living act was to save his
babes, he was waving his hand in a final parting. Then the Titanic
plunged to the ocean's bed.
BABY TRAVERS
Still more pitiable in one way was the lot of the baby survivor,
eleven-months-old Travers Allison, the only member of a family of
four to survive the wreck. His father, H. J. Allison, and mother and
Lorraine, a child of three, were victims of the catastrophe. Baby
Travers, in the excitement following the crash, was separated from the
rest of the family just before the Titanic went down. With the party
were two nurses and a maid.
Major Arthur Peuchen, of Montreal, one of the survivors, standing near
the little fellow, who, swathed in blankets, lay blinking at his nurse,
described the death of Mrs. Allison. She had gone to the deck without
her husband, and, frantically seeking him, was directed by an officer to
the other side of the ship.
She failed to find Mr. Allison and was quickly hustled into one of the
collapsible life-boats, and when last seen by Major Peuchen she was
toppling out of the half-swamped boat. J. W. Allison, a cousin of H. J.
Allison, was at the pier to care for Baby Travers and his nurse. They
were taken to the Manhattan Hotel.
Describing the details of the perishing of the Allison family, the
rescued nurse said they were all in bed when the Titanic hit the berg.
"We did not get up immediately," said she, "for we had
{illust. caption = WHITE STAR STEAMER TITANIC GYMNASIUM}
{illust. caption = Copyright, 1912, Underwood & Underwood. CAPTAIN A. H.
ROSTROM
Commander of the Carpathia, which rescued the survivors of the Titanic
from the life-boats in the open sea and brought them to New York. After
the Senatorial Investigating Committee had examined Captain Rostrom, at
which time this specially posed photograph was taken, Senator William
Alden Smith, chairman of the committee, said of Captain Rostrom: "His
conduct of the rescue shows that he is not only an efficient seaman, but
one of nature's noblemen."}
not thought of danger. Later we were told to get up, and I hurriedly
dressed the baby. We hastened up on deck, and confusion was all about.
With other women and children we clambered to the life-boats, just as a
matter of precaution, believing that there was no immediate danger.
In about an hour there was an explosion and the ship appeared to fall
apart. We were in the life-boat about six hours before we were picked
up."
THE RYERSON FAMILY
Probably few deaths have caused more tears than Arthur Ryerson's, in
view of the sad circumstances which called him home from a lengthy
tour in Europe. Mr. Ryerson's eldest son, Arthur Larned Ryerson, a Yale
student, was killed in an automobile accident Easter Monday, 1912.
A cablegram announcing the death plunged the Ryerson family into
mourning and they boarded the first steamship for this country. If{sic}
happened to be the Titanic, and the death note came near being the cause
of the blotting out of the entire family.
The children who accompanied them were Miss Susan P. Ryerson, Miss Emily
B. Ryerson and John Ryerson. The latter is 12 years old.
They did not know their son intended to spend the Easter holidays at
their home at Haverford, Pa. until they were informed of his death. John
Lewis Hoffman, also of Haverford and a student of Yale, was killed with
young Ryerson.
The two were hurrying to Philadelphia to escort a fellow-student to his
train. In turning out of the road to pass a cart the motor car crashed
into a pole in front of the entrance to the estate of Mrs. B. Frank
Clyde. The college men were picked up unconscious and died in the Bryn
Mawr Hospital.
G. Heide Norris of Philadelphia, who went to New York to meet the
surviving members of the Ryerson family, told of a happy incident at the
last moment as the Carpathia swung close to the pier. There had been
no positive information that young "Jack" Ryerson was among those
saved--indeed, it was feared that he had gone down with the Titanic,
like his father, Arthur Ryerson.
Mr. Norris spoke of the feeling of relief that came over him as,
watching from the pier, he saw "Jack" Ryerson come from a cabin and
stand at the railing. The name of the boy was missing from some of the
lists and for two days it was reported that he had perished.
CAPTAIN ROSTRON'S REPORT
Less than 24 hours after the Cunard Line steamship Carpathia came in as
a rescue ship with survivors of the Titanic disaster, she sailed again
for the Mediterranean cruise which she originally started upon last
week. Just before the liner sailed, H. S. Bride, the second Marconi
wireless operator of the Titanic, who had both of his legs crushed on
a life-boat, was carried off on the shoulders of the ship's officers to
St. Vincent's Hospital.
Captain A. H. Rostron, of the Carpathia, addressed an official report,
giving his account of the Carpathia's rescue work, to the general
manager of the Cunard Line, Liverpool. The report read: "I beg to report
that at 12.35 A. M. Monday 18th inst. I was informed of urgent message
from Titanic with her position. I immediately ordered ship turned around
and put her in course for that position, we being then 58 miles S.
52--E. 'T' from her; had heads of all departments called and issued
what I considered the necessary orders, to be in preparation for any
emergency.
"At 2.40 A. M. saw flare half a point on port bow. Taking this for
granted to be ship, shortly after we sighted our first iceberg. I had
previously had lookouts doubled, knowing that Titanic had struck ice,
and so took every care and precaution. We soon found ourselves in a
field of bergs, and had to alter course several times to clear bergs;
weather fine, and clear, light air on sea, beautifully clear night,
though dark.
"We stopped at 4 A. M., thus doing distance in three hours and a half,
picking up the first boat at 4.10 A. M.; boat in charge of officer, and
he reported that Titanic had foundered. At 8.30 A. M. last boat picked
up. All survivors aboard and all boats accounted for, viz., fifteen
life-boats, one boat abandoned, two Berthon boats alongside (saw one
floating upwards among wreckage), and according to second officer
(senior officer saved) one Berthon boat had not been launched, it having
got jammed, making sixteen life-boats and four Berthon boats accounted
for. By the time we had cleared first boat it was breaking day, and
I could see all within area of four miles. We also saw that we were
surrounded by icebergs, large and small, huge field of drift ice with
large and small bergs in it, the ice field trending from N. W. round W.
and S. to S. E., as far as we could see either way.
"At 8 A. M. the Leyland S. S. California came up. I gave him the
principal news and asked him to search and I would proceed to New
York; at 8.50 proceeded full speed while researching over vicinity of
disaster, and while we were getting people aboard I gave orders to get
spare hands along and swing in all our boats, disconnect the fall and
hoist up as many Titanic boats as possible in our davits; also get
some on forecastle heads by derricks. We got thirteen lifeboats, six on
forward deck and seven in davits. After getting all survivors aboard
and while searching I got a clergyman to offer a short prayer of
thankfulness for those saved, and also a short burial service for their
loss, in saloon.
"Before deciding definitely where to make for, I conferred with Mr.
Ismay, and as he told me to do what I thought best, I informed him,
I considered New York best. I knew we should require clean blankets,
provisions and clean linen, even if we went to the Azores, as most of
the passsengers{sic} saved were women and children, and they hysterical,
not knowing what medical attention they might require. I thought it best
to go to New York. I also thought it would be better for Mr. Ismay to go
to New York or England as soon as possible, and knowing I should be out
of wireless communication very soon if I proceeded to Azores, it left
Halifax, Boston and New York, so I chose the latter.
"Again, the passengers were all hysterical about ice, and I pointed out
to Mr. Ismay the possibilities of seeing ice if I went to Halifax. Then
I knew it would be best to keep in touch with land stations as best I
could. We have experienced great difficulty in transmitting news, also
names of survivors. Our wireless is very poor, and again we have had
so many interruptions from other ships and also messages from shore
(principally press, which we ignored). I gave instructions to send first
all official messages, then names of passengers, then survivors' private
messages. We had haze early Tuesday morning for several hours;
again more or less all Wednesday from 5.30 A. M. to 5 P. M.; strong
south-southwesterly winds and clear weather Thursday, with moderate
rough sea.
"I am pleased to say that all survivors have been very plucky. The
majority of women, first, second and third class, lost their husbands,
and, considering all, have been wonderfully well. Tuesday our doctor
reported all survivors physically well. Our first class passengers have
behaved splendidly, given up their cabins voluntarily and supplied the
ladies with clothes, etc. We all turned out of our cabins and gave them
to survivors--saloon, smoking room, library, etc., also being used for
sleeping accommodation. Our crew, also turned out to let the crew of
the Titanic take their quarters. I am pleased to state that owing to
preparations made for the comfort of survivors, none were the worse for
exposure, etc. I beg to specially mention how willing and cheerful the
whole of the ship's company behaved, receiving the highest praise from
everybody. And I can assure you I am very proud to have such a company
under my command.
"A. H. ROSTRON."
The following list of the survivors and dead contains the latest
revisions and corrections of the White Star Line officials, and was
furnished by them exclusively for this book.
LIST OF SURVIVORS
FIRST CABIN
ANDERSON, HARRY.
ANTOINETTE, MISS.
APPIERANELT, MISS.
APPLETON. MRS. E. D.
ABBOTT, MRS. ROSE.
ALLISON, MASTER, and nurse.
ANDREWS, MISS CORNELIA I.
ALLEN, MISS. E. W.
ASTOR, MRS. JOHN JACOB, and maid.
AUBEART, MME. N., and maid.
BARRATT, KARL B.
BESETTE, MISS.
BARKWORTH, A. H.
BUCKNELL, MRS. W.
BOWERMAN, MISS E.
BROWN, MRS. J. J.
BURNS, MISS C. M.
BISHOP, MR. AND MRS. D. H.
BLANK, H.
BESSINA, MISS A.
BAXTER, MRS. JAMES.
BRAYTON, GEORGE.
BONNELL, MISS LILY.
BROWN, MRS. J. M.
BOWEN, MISS G. C.
BECKWITH, MR. AND MRS. R. L.
BISLEY, MR. AND MRS.
BONNELL, MISS C.
CASSEBEER, MRS. H. A.
CARDEZA, MRS. J. W.
CANDELL, MRS. CHURCHILL.
CASE, HOWARD B.
CAMARION, KENARD.
CASSEBORO, MISS D. D.
CLARK, MRS. W. M.
CHIBINACE, MRS. B. C.
CHARLTON, W. M.
CROSBY, MRS E. G.
CARTER, MISS LUCILLE.
CALDERHEAD, E. P.
CHANDANSON, MISS VICTOTRINE.
CAVENDISH, MRS. TURRELL, and maid.
CHAFEE, MRS. H. I.
CARDEZA, MR. THOMAS.
CUMMINGS, MRS. J.
CHEVRE, PAUL.
CHERRY, MISS GLADYS.
CHAMBERS, MR. AND MRS. N. C.
CARTER, MR. AND MRS. W. E.
CARTER, MASTER WILLIAM.
COMPTON, MRS. A. T.
COMPTON, MISS S. R.
CROSBY, MRS. E. G.
CROSBY, MISS HARRIET.
CORNELL, MRS. R. C.
CHIBNALL, MRS. E.
DOUGLAS, MRS. FRED.
DE VILLIERS, MME.
DANIEL, MISS SARAH.
DANIEL, ROBERT W.
DAVIDSON, MR. AND MRS. THORNTON,
and family.
DOUGLAS, MRS. WALTER, and maid.
DODGE, MISS SARAH.
DODGE, MRS. WASHINGTON, and son.
DICK, MR. AND MRS. A. A.
DANIELL, H. HAREN.
DRACHENSTED, A.
DALY, PETER D.
ENDRES, MISS CAROLINE.
ELLIS, MISS
LIST OF SURVIVORS--FIRST CABIN (CONTINUED)
EARNSHAW, MRS. BOULTON.
EUSTIS, MISS E.
EMMOCK, PHILIP E.
FLAGENHEIM, MRS. ANTOINETTE.
FRANICATELLI, MISY.
FYNN, J. I.
FORTUNE, MISS ALICE
FORTUNE, MISS ETHEL.
FORTUNE, MRS. MARK.
FORTUNE, MISS MABEL.
FRAUENTHAL, DR. AND MRS. H. W.
FRAUENTHAL, MR. AND MRS. T. G
FROLICHER, MISS MARGARET.
FROLICHER, MAY AND MRS.
FROLICHER, MISS N.
FUTRELLE, MRS. JACQUES.
GRACIE, COLONEL ARCHIBALD.
GRAHAM, MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM.
GRAHAM, MISS M.
GORDON, SIR COSMO DUFF.
GORDON, LADY.
GIBSON, MISS DOROTHY.
GOLDENBERG, MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL.
GOLDENBERG, MISS ELLA.
GREENFIELD, MRS. L. P.
GREENFIELD, G. B.
GREENFIELD, WILLIAM.
GIBSON, MRS. LEONARD.
GOOGHT, JAMES.
HAVEN, MR. HENRY B.
HARRIS, MRS. H. B.
HOLVERSON, MRS. ALEX.
HOGEBOOM, MRS. J. C.
HAWKSFORD, W. J.
HARPER, HENRY, and man servant.
HARPER, MRS. H. S.
HOLD, MISS J. A.
HOPE, NINA.
HOYT, MR. AND Mrs. FRED.
HORNER, HENRY R.
HARDER, MR. AND MRS. GEORGE.
HAYS, MRS. CHARLES M., and daughter.
HIPPACH, MISS JEAN.
HIPPACH, MRS. IDA S.
ISMAY, J. BRUCE.
JENASCO, MRS. J.
KIMBALL, MR. AND MRS. ED. N.
KENNYMAN, F. A.
KENCHEN, MISS EMILE.
LONGLEY, MISS G. F.
LEADER, MRS. A. F.
LEAHY, MISS NORA.
LAVORY, MISS BERTHA.
LINES, MRS. ERNEST.
LINES, MISS MARY.
LINDSTROM, MRS. SINGIRD.
LESNEUR, GUSTAVE, JR.
MADILL, MISS GEORGETTE A.
MAHAN, MRS.
MELICARD, MME.
MENDERSON, MISS LETTA.
MAIAIMY, MISS ROBERTA.
MARVIN, MRS. D. W.
MARECHELL, PIERRE.
MARONEY, MRS. R.
MEYER, MRS. E. I.
MOCK, MR. P. E.
MIDDLE, MME. M. OLIVE.
MINAHAN, MISS DAISY.
MINAHAN, MRS. W. E.
MCGOUGH, JAMES.
NEWELL, MISS ALICE.
NEWELL, MISS MADELINE.
NEWELL, WASHINGTON.
NEWSON, MISS HELEN.
O'CONNELL, MISS R.
OSTBY, E. C.
LIST OF SURVIVORS--FIRST CABIN (CONTINUED)
OSTBY, MISS HELEN.
OMUND, FIEUNAM.
PANHART, MISS NINETTE.
PEARS, MRS. E.
POMROY, MISS ELLEN.
POTTER, MRS. THOMAS, JR.
PEUCHEN, MAJOR ARTHUR.
PEERCAULT, MISS A.
RYERSON, JOHN.
RENAGO, MRS. MAMAM.
RANELT, MISS APPIE.
ROTHSCHILD, MRS. LORD MARTIN.
ROSENBAHM, MISS EDITH.
RHEIMS, MR. AND MRS GEORGE.
ROSIBLE, MISS H.
ROTHES, COUNTESS.
ROBERT, MRS. EDNA.
ROLMANE, C.
RYERSON, ALISS SUSAN P.
RYERSON, MISS EMILY.
RYERSON, MRS. ARTHUR, and maid.
STONE, MRS. GEORGE M.
SKELLER, MRS. WILLIAM.
SEGESSER, MISS EMMA.
SEWARD, FRED. K.
SHUTTER, MISS.
SLOPER, WILLIAM T.
SWIFT, MRS. F. JOEL.
SCHABERT, MRS. PAUL.
SHEDDEL, ROBERT DOUGLASS.
SNYDER, MR. AND MRS. JOHN.
SEREPECA, ALISS AUGHSTA.
SILVERTHORN, R. SPENCER.
SAALFELD, ADOLF.
STAHELIN, MAX.
SIMOINUS, ALFONSIUS.
SMITH, MRS. LUCIEN P.
STEPHENSON, MRS. WALTER.
SOLOMON, ABRAHAM.
SILVEY, MRS. WILLIAM B
STENMEL, MR. AND MRS. HELEERY
SPENCER, MRS. W. A., and maid.
SLAYTER, MISS HILDA.
SPEDDEN, MR. AND MRS. F. O., and child.
STEFFANSON, H. B.
STRAUS, MRS., maid of.
SCHABERT, MRS. EMMA.
SLINTER, MRS. E.
SIMMONS, A.
TAYLOR, MISS.
TUCKER, MRS., and maid.
THAYER, MRS. J. B.
THAYER, J. B., JR.
TAUSSIG, MISS RUTH.
TAUSSIG. MRS. E.
THOR, MISS ELLA.
THORNE, MRS. G.
TAYLOR, MR. AND MRS. E. Z
TROUT, MISS JESSIE.
TUCKER, GILBERT.
WOOLNER, HUGH.
WARD, MISS ANNA.
WILLIAMS, RICHARD M., JR.
WARREN, MRS. P.
WILSON, MISS HELEN A.
WILLIARD, MISS C.
WICK, MISS MARY.
WICK, GEO.
WIDENER, valet of.
WIDENER, MRS. GEORGE D., and maid.
WHITE, MRS. J. STUART.
YOUNG, MISS MARIE.
LIST OF SURVIVORS--SECOND CABIN
ABESSON, MRS. MANNA.
ABBOTT, MRS. R.
ARGENIA, MRS., and two children.
ANGEL, F.
ANGLE, WILLIAM.
BAUMTHORPE, MRS. L.
BALLS, MRS. ADA E.
BUSS, MISS KATE.
BECKER, MRS. A. O., and three children
BEANE, EDWARD.
BEANE, MRS. ETHEL,
BRYHI, MISS D.
BEESLEY, MR. L.
BROWN, MR. T. W. S.
BROWN, MISS E.
BROWN, MRS.
BENTHAN, LILLIAN W.
BYSTRON, KAROLINA
BRIGHT, DAGMAR.
BRIGHT, DAISY.
CLARKE, MRS. ADA.
CAMERON, MISS. C.
CALDWELL, ALBERT F.
CALDWELL, MRS. SYLVAN
CALDWELL, ALDEN, infant.
CRISTY, MR. AND MRS.
COLLYER, MRS. CHARLOTTE.
COLLYER, MISS MARJORIE
CHRISTY, MRS. ALICE.
COLLET, STITART.
CHRISTA, MISS DIJCIA.
CHARLES, WILLIAM.
CROFT, MILLIE MALL.
DOLING, MRS. ELSIE.
DREW, MRS. LULU.
DAVIS, MRS. AGNES.
DAVIS, MISS MARY.
DAVIS, JOHN M.
DUVAN, FLORENTINE.
DUVAN, MRS. A.
DAVIDSON, MISS MARY.
DOLING, MISS ADA.
DRISCOLL, MRS. B.
DEYSTROM, CAROLINE.
EMCARMACION, MRS. RINALDO.
FAUNTHORPE, MRS. LIZZIE
FORMERY, MISS ELLEN.
GARSIDE, ETHEL.
GERRECAI, MRS. MARCY.
GENOVESE, ANGERE.
HART, MRS. ESTHER.
HART, EVA.
HARRIS, GEORGE.
HEWLETT, MRS. MARY.
HEBBER, MISS S.
HOFFMAN, LOLA.
HOFFMAN, LOUIS.
HARPER, NINA.
HOLD, STEPHEN.
HOLD, MRS. ANNA.
HOSONO, MASABTJMI.
HOCKING, MR. AND MRS. GEORGE.
HOCKING, MISS NELLIE.
HERMAN, MRS. JANE, 2 daughters
HEALY, NORA.
HANSON, JENNIE.
HAMATAINEN, W.
HAMATAINEN, ANNA.
HARNLIN, ANNA, and Child
ILETT, BERTHA.
JACKSON, MRS. AMY.
JULIET, LUVCHE.
JERWAN, MARY.
JUHON, PODRO.
JACOBSON, MRS.
KEANE, MISS NORA H.
KELLY, MRS. F.
KANTAR, MRS. S.
LEITCH, JESSIE.
LAROCHE, MRS. AND MISS SIMMONE.
LIST OF SURVIVORS--SECOND CABIN (CONTINITED)
LAROCHE, MISS LOUISE.
LEHMAN, BERTHA.
LAUCH, MRS. ALEX.
LANIORE, AMELIA.
LYSTROM, MRS. C.
MELLINGER, ELIZABETH.
MELLINGER, child.
MARSHALL, MRS. KATE.
MALLETT, A.
MALLETT, MRS. and child.
MANGE, PAULA.
MARE, MRS. FLORENCE.
MELLOR, W. J.
McDEARMONT, MISS LELA.
McGOWAN, ANNA.
NYE, ELIZABETH.
NASSER, MRS. DELIA.
NUSSA, MRS. A.
OXENHAM, PERCY J.
PHILLIPS, ALICE.
PALLAS, EMILIO.
PADRO, JITLIAN.
PRINSKY, ROSA.
PORTALTTPPI, EMILIO.
PARSH, MRS. L.
PLETT, B.
QUICK, MRS. JANE.
QUICK, MRS. VERA W.
QUICK, MISS PHYLLIS.
REINARDO, MISS E.
RIDSDALE, LUCY.
RENOUF, MRS. LILY.
RUGG, MISS EMILY.
RICHARDS, M.
ROGERS, MISS SELINA.
RICHARDS, MRS. EMILIA, two boys, and
MR. RICHARDS, JR.
SIMPSON, MISS.
SINCOCK, MISS MAUDE.
SINKKONNEN, ANNA.
SMITH, MISS MARION.
SILVEN, LYLLE.
TRANT, MRS J.
TOOMEY, MISS. E.
TROUTT, MISS E.
TROUTT, MISS CECELIA.
WARE, MISS H.
WATTER, MISS N.
WILHELM, C.
WAT, MRS. A., and two children.
WILLIAMS, RICHARD M., JR.
WEISZ, MATHILDE.
WEBBER, MISS SIJSDD.
WRIGHT, MISS MARION.
WATT, MISS BESSIE.
WATT, MISS BERTHA.
WEST, MRS. E. A.
WEST, MISS CONSTANCE.
WEST, MISS BARBARA.
WELLS, ADDIE.
WELLS, MASTER.
A list of surviving third cabin passengers and crew is omitted owing to
the impossibility of obtaining the correct names of many.
ROLL OF THE DEAD
FIRST CABIN
ALLISON, H. J.
ALLISON, MRS., and maid.
ALLISON, MISS.
ANDREWS, THOMAS.
ARTAGAVEYTIA, MR. RAMON.
ASTOR, COL. J. J., and servant.
ANDERSON, WALKER.
ROLL OF THE DEAD--FIRST CABIN (CONTINUED)
BEATTIE, T.
BRANDEIS, E.
BUCKNELL, MRS. WILLIAM, maid of.
BAHMANN, J.
BAXTER, MR. AND MRS. QUIGG.
BJORNSTROM, H.
BIRNBAHM, JACOB.
BLACKWELL, S. W.
BOREBANK, J. J.
BOWEN, MISS.
BRADY, JOHN B.
BREWE, ARLBLIR J.
BUTT, MAJOR A.
CLARK, WALTER M.
CLIFFORD, GEORGE Q.
COLLEY, E. P.
CARDEZA, T. D. M., servant of.
CARDEZA, MRS. J. W., maid of.
CARLSON, FRANK.
CORRAN, F. M.
CORRAN, J. P.
CHAFEE, MR. H. I.
CHISHOLM, ROBERT.
COMPTON, A. T.
CRAFTON, JOHN B.
CROSBY, EDWARD G.
CUMMINGS, JOHN BRADLEY.
DULLES, WILLIAM C.
DOUGLAS, W. D.
DOUGLAS, MASTER R., nurse of.
EVANS, MISS E.
FORTUNE, MARK.
FOREMAN, B. L.
FORTUNE, CHARLES.
FRANKLIN, T. P.
FUTRELLE, J.
GEE, ARTHUR.
GOLDENBERG, E. L.
GOLDSCHMIDT, G. B.
GIGLIO, VICTOR.
GUGGENHEIM, BENJAMIN.
HAYS, CHARLES M.
HAYS, MRS. CHARLES, maid of.
HEAD, CHRISTOPHER.
HILLIARD, H. H.
HIPKINS, W. E.
HOGENHEIM, MRS. A.
HARRIS, HENRY B.
HARP, MR. AND MRS. CHARLES M.
HARP, MISS MARGARET, and maid.
HOLVERSON, A. M.
ISLAM, MISS A. E.
ISMAY, J. BRUCE, servant of.
JULIAN, H. F.
JONES, C. C.
KENT, EDWARD A.
KENYON, MR. AND MRS. F. R.
KLABER, HERMAN.
LAMBERTH, WILLIAM, F. F.
LAWRENCE, ARTHUR.
LONG, MILTON.
LEWY, E. G.
LOPING, J. H.
LINGREY, EDWARD.
MAGUIRE, J. E.
McCAFFRY, T.
McCAFFRY, T., JR.
McCARTHY, T.
MIDDLETON, J. C.
MILLET, FRANK D.
MINAHAN, DR.
MEYER, EDGAR J.
MOLSON, H. M.
MOORE, C., servant.
NATSCH, CHARLES.
NEWALL, MISS T.
NICHOLSON, A. S.
OVIES, S.
OBNOUT, ALFRED T.
ROLL OF THE DEAD--FIRST CABIN (CONTINUED)
PARR, M. H. W.
PEARS, MR. AND MRS. THOMAS.
PENASCO, MR. AND MRS. VICTOR.
PARTNER, M. A.
PAYNE, Y.
POND, FLORENCE, and maid.
PORTER, WALTER.
PUFFER, C. C.
REUCHLIN, J.
ROBERT, MRS. E., maid of.
ROEBLING, WASHINGTON A., 2d.
ROOD, HUGH R.
ROES, J. HUGO.
ROTHES, COUNTESS, maid of.
ROTHSCHILD, M.
ROWE, ARTHUR.
RYERSON, A.
SILVEY, WILLIAM B.
SPEDDEN, MRS. F. O., maid of
SPENCER, W. A.
STEAD, W. T.
STEHLI, MR. AND MRS. MAX FROLICHER.
STONE, MRS. GEORGE, maid of.
STRAUS, MR. AND MRS. ISIDOR.
SUTTON, FREDERICK.
SMART, JOHN M.
SMITH, CLINCH.
SMITET, R. W.
SMITH, L. P.
TAUSSIC, EMIL.
THAYER, MRS., maid of.
THAYER, JOHN B.
THORNE, G.
VANDERHOOF, WYCKOFF.
WALKER, W. A.
WARREN, F. M.
WHITE, PERCIVAL A.
WHITE, RICHARD F.
WIDENER, G. D.
WIDENER, HARRY.
WOOD, MR. AND MRS. FRANK P.
WEIR, J.
WILLIAMS, DUANE.
WRIGHT, GEORGE.
SECOND CABIN
ABELSON, SAMSON.
ANDREW, FRANK.
ASHBY, JOHN.
ALDWORTH, C.
ANDREW, EDGAR.
BRACKEN, JAMES H.
BROWN, MRS.
BANFIELD, FRED.
BRIGHT, NARL.
BRAILY, bandsman.
BREICOUX, bandsman.
BAILEY, PERCY.
BAINBRIDGE, C. R.
BYLES, THE REV. THOMAS.
BEAUCHAMP, H. J.
BERG, MISS E.
BENTHAN, I.
BATEMAN, ROBERT J.
BUTLER, REGINALD.
BOTSFORD, HULL.
BOWEENER, SOLOMON.
BERRIMAN, WILLIAM.
CLARKE, CHARLES.
CLARK, bandsman.
COREY, MRS. C. P.
CARTER, THE REV. ERNEST.
CARTER, MRS.
COLERIDGE, REGINALD,
CHAPMAN, CHARLES.
CUNNINGHAM, ALFRED.
CAMPBELL, WILLIAM.
COLLYER, HARVEY.
CORBETT, MRS. IRENE.
ROLL OF THE DEAD--SECOND CABIN (CONTINUED)
CHAPMAN, JOHN E.
CHAPMAN, MRS. E.
COLANDER, ERIC.
COTTERILL, HARBY.
DEACON, PERCY.
DAVIS, CHARLES.
DIBBEN, WILLIAM.
DE BRITO, JOSE.
DENBORNY, H.
DREW, JAMES.
DREW, MASTER M.
DAVID, MASTER J. W.
DOUNTON, W. J.
DEL VARLO, S.
DEL VARLO, MRS.
ENANDER, INGVAR.
EITEMILLER, G. F.
FROST, A.
FYNNERY, MR.
FAUNTHORPE, H.
FILLBROOK, C.
FUNK, ANNIE.
FAHLSTROM, A.
FOX, STANLEY W.
GREENBERG, S.
GILES, RALPH.
GASKELL, ALFRED.
GILLESPIE, WILLIAM.
GILBERT, WILLIAM.
GALL, S.
GILL, JOHN.
GILES, EDGAR.
GILES, FRED.
GALE, HARRY.
GALE, PHADRUCH.
GARVEY, LAWRENCE.
HICKMAN, LEONARD.
HICKMAN, LENVIS.
HUME, bandsman.
HICKMAN, STANLEY.
HOOD, AMBROSE,
HODGES, HENRY P.
HART, BENJAMIN.
HARRIS, WALTER.
HARPER, JOHN.
HARBECK, W. H.
HOFFMAN, MR.
HERMAN, MRS. S.
HOWARD, B.
HOWARD, MRS. E. T.
HALE, REGINALD.
HILTUNEN, M.
HUNT, GEORGE.
JACOBSON, MR.
JACOBSON, SYDNEY.
JEFFERY, CLIFFORD.
JEFFERY, ERNEST.
JENKIN, STEPHEN.
JARVIS, JOHN D.
KEANE, DANIEL.
KIRKLAND, REV. C.
KARNES, MRS. F. G.
KEYNALDO, MISS.
KRILLNER, J. H.
KRINS, bandsman.
KARINES, MRS.
KANTAR, SELNA.
KNIGHT, R.
LENGAM, JOHN.
LEVY, R. J.
LAHTIMAN, WILLIAM.
LAUCH, CHARLES.
LEYSON, R. W. N.
LAROCHE, JOSEPH.
LAMB, J. J
McKANE, PETER.
MILLING, JACOB.
MANTOILA, JOSEPEI,
MALACHARD, NOLL.
MORAWECK, DR.
ROLL OF THE DEAD--SECOND CABIN (CONTINUED)
MANGIOVACCHI, E.
McCRAE, ARTHUR G.
McCRIE, JAMES M.
McKANE, PETER D.
MUDD, THOMAS.
MACK, MRS. MARY.
MARSHALL, HENRY.
MAYBERG, FRANK H.
MEYER, AUGUST.
MYLES, THOMAS.
MITCHELL, HENRY.
MATTHEWS, W. J.
NESSEN, ISRAEL.
NICHOLLS, JOSEPH C.
NORMAN, ROBERT D.
OTTER, RICHARD.
PHILLIPS, ROBERT.
PONESELL, MARTIN.
PAIN, DR. ALFRED.
PARKES, FRANK.
PENGELLY, F.
PERNOT, RENE.
PERUSCHITZ, REV.
PARKER, CLIFFORD.
PULBAUM, FRANK
RENOUF, PETER H.
ROGERS, HARRY.
REEVES, DAVID.
SLEMEN, R. J.
SOBEY, HAYDEN.
SLATTER, MISS H. M.
STANTON, WARD.
SWORD, HANS K.
STOKES, PHILIP J.
SHARP, PERCIVAL.
SEDGWICK, MR. F. W.
SMITH, AUGUSTUS.
SWEET, GEORGE.
SJOSTEDT, ERNST.
TAYLOR, bandsman.
TURPIN, WILLIAM J.
TURPIN, MRS. DOROTHY.
TURNER, JOHN H.
TROUPIANSKY, M.
TIRVAN, MRS. A.
VEALE, JAMES.
WATSON, E.
WOODWARD, bandsman.
WARE, WILLIAM J.
WEISZ, LEOPOLD.
WHEADON, EDWARD.
WARE, JOHN J.
WEST, E. ARTHUR.
WHEELER, EDWIN.
WERMAN, SAMUEL.
The total death list was 1635. Third cabin passengers and crew are not
included in the list here given owing to the impossibility of obtaining
the exact names of many.
CHAPTER XIII. THE STORY OF CHARLES F. HURD
HOW THE TITANIC SANK--WATER STREWN WITH DEAD BODIES--VICTIMS MET DEATH
WITH HYMN ON THEIR LIPS
THE Story of how the Titanic sank is told by Charles F. Hurd, who was a
passenger on the Carpathia.
He praised highly the courage of the crew, hundreds of whom gave their
lives with a heroism which equaled but could not exceed that of John
Jacob Astor, Henry B. Harris, Jacques Futrelle and others in the long
list of first-cabin passengers. The account continues:
"The crash against the iceberg, which had been sighted at only a quarter
mile distance, came almost simultaneously with the click of the levers
operated from the bridge, which stopped the engines and closed the
water-tight doors. Captain Smith was on the bridge a moment later,
summoning all on board to put on life preservers and ordering the
life-boats lowered.
"The first boats had more male passengers, as the men were the first
to reach the deck. When the rush of frightened men and women and
crying children to the decks began, the 'women first' rule was rigidly
enforced.
"Officers drew revolvers, but in most cases there was no use for them.
Revolver shots heard shortly before the Titanic went down caused many
rumors, one that Captain Smith had shot himself, another that First
Officer Murdock had ended his life, but members of the crew discredit
these rumors.
"Captain Smith was last seen on the bridge just before the ship sank,
leaping only after the decks had been washed away.
"What became of the men with the life-preservers was a question asked by
many since the disaster. Many of these with life-preservers were seen to
go down despite the preservers, and dead bodies floated on the surface
as the boats moved away.
"Facts which I have established by inquiries on the Carpathia, as
positively as they could be established in view of the silence of the
few surviving officers, are:
"That the Titanic's officers knew, several hours before the crash, of
the possible nearness of the icebergs.
"That the Titanic's speed, nearly 23 knots an hour, was not slackened.
"That the number of life-boats on the Titanic was insufficient to
accommodate more than one-third of the passengers, to say nothing of the
crew. Most members of the crew say there were sixteen life-boats and two
collapsibles; none say there were more than twenty boats in all. The 700
escaped filled most of the sixteen life-boats and the one collapsible
which got away, to the limit of their capacity.
"Had the ship struck the iceberg head on at whatever
{illust. caption = MRS. GEORGE D. WIDENER
Mrs. Widener was saved,....}
{illust. caption = George D. WIDENER
Who with his son....}
{illust. caption = Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. WILLIAM T.
STEAD
The great English writer, who was a passenger on board the ill-fated
White Star Line Steamer Titanic.}
speed and with whatever resulting shock, the bulkhead system of
water-tight compartments would probably have saved the vessel. As one
man expressed it, it was the impossible that happened when, with a shock
unbelievably mild, the ship's side was torn for a length which made the
bulkhead system ineffective."
After telling of the shock and the lowering of the boats the account
continues:
"Some of the boats, crowded too full to give rowers a chance, drifted
for a time. Few had provisions or water, there was lack of covering
from the icy air, and the only lights were the still undimmed arcs and
incandescents of the settling ship, save for one of the first boats.
There a steward, who explained to the passengers that he had been
shipwrecked twice before, appeared carrying three oranges and a green
light.
"That green light, many of the survivors say, was to the shipwrecked
hundreds as the pillar of fire by night. Long after the ship had
disappeared, and while confusing false lights danced about the boats,
the green lantern kept them together on the course which led them to the
Carpathia.
"As the end of the Titanic became manifestly but a matter of moments,
the oarsmen pulled their boats away, and the chilling waters began to
echo splash after splash as passengers and sailors in life-preservers
leaped over and started swimming away to escape the expected suction.
"Only the hardiest of constitutions could endure for more than a few
moments such a numbing bath. The first vigorous strokes gave way to
heart-breaking cries of 'Help! Help!' and stiffened forms were seen
floating on the water all around us.
"Led by the green light, under the light of the stars, the boats drew
away, and the bow, then the quarter, then the stacks and at last the
stern of the marvel-ship of a few days before, passed beneath the
waters. The great force of the ship's sinking was unaided by any
violence of the elements, and the suction, not so great as had been
feared, rocked but mildly the group of boats now a quarter of a mile
distant from it.
"Early dawn brought no ship, but not long after 5 A. M. the Carpathia,
far out of her path and making eighteen knots, instead of her wonted
fifteen, showed her single red and black smokestack upon the horizon. In
the joy of that moment, the heaviest griefs were forgotten.
"Soon afterward Captain Rostron and Chief Steward Hughes were welcoming
the chilled and bedraggled arrivals over the Carpathia's side.
"Terrible as were the San Francisco, Slocum and Iroquois disasters, they
shrink to local events in comparison with this world-catastrophe.
"True, there were others of greater qualifications and longer experience
than I nearer the tragedy--but they, by every token of likelihood,
have become a part of the tragedy. The honored--must I say the
lamented--Stead, the adroit Jacques Futrelle, what might they not tell
were their hands able to hold pencil?
"The silence of the Carpathia's engines, the piercing cold, the clamor
of many voices in the companionways, caused me to dress hurriedly
and awaken my wife, at 5.40 A. M. Monday. Our stewardess, meeting me
outside, pointed to a wailing host in the rear dining room and said.
'From the Titanic. She's at the bottom of the ocean.'
"At the ship's side, a moment later, I saw the last of the line of boats
discharge their loads, and saw women, some with cheap shawls about their
heads, some with the costliest of fur cloaks, ascending the ship's side.
And such joy as the first sight of our ship may have given them
had disappeared from their faces, and there were tears and signs of
faltering as the women were helped up the ladders or hoisted aboard in
swings. For lack of room to put them, several of the Titanic's boats,
after unloading, were set adrift.
"At our north was a broad ice field, the length of hundreds of
Carpathias. Around us on other sides were sharp and glistening peaks.
One black berg, seen about 10 A. M., was said to be that which sunk the
Titanic."
CHAPTER XIV. THRILLING ACCOUNT BY L. BEASLEY
COLLISION ONLY A SLIGHT JAR--PASSENGERS COULD NOT BELIEVE THE VESSEL
DOOMED--NARROW ESCAPE OF LIFE-BOATS--PICKED UP BY THE CARPATHIA
AMONG the most connected and interesting stories related by the
survivors was the one told by L. Beasley, of Cambridge, England. He
said:
"The voyage from Queenstown had been quite uneventful; very fine weather
was experienced, and the sea was quite calm. The wind had been westerly
to southwesterly the whole way, but very cold, particularly the last
day; in fact after dinner on Saturday evening it was almost too cold to
be out on deck at all.
ONLY A SLIGHT JAR
"I had been in my berth for about ten minutes, when, at about 11.15
P. M., I felt a slight jar, and then soon after a second one, but not
sufficiently violent to cause any anxiety to anyone, however nervous
they may have been. However, the engines stopped immediately afterward,
and my first, thought was, 'She has lost a propeller.'
"I went up on the top (boat) deck in a dressing gown, and found only
a few persons there, who had come up similarly to inquire why we had
stopped, but there was no sort of anxiety in the minds of anyone.
"We saw through the smoking room window a game of cards going on, and
went in to inquire if they knew anything; it seems they felt more of
the jar, and, looking through the window, had seen a huge iceberg go by
close to the side of the boat. They thought we had just grazed it with
a glancing blow, and that the engines had been stopped to see if any
damage had been done. No one, of course, had any conception that the
vessel had been pierced below by part of the submerged iceberg.
"The game went on without any thought of disaster and I retired to my
cabin, to read until we went on again. I never saw any of the players or
the onlookers again.
SOME WERE AWAKENED
"A little later, hearing people going upstairs, I went out again and
found everyone wanting to know why the engines had stopped. No doubt
many were awakened from sleep by the sudden stopping of a vibration to
which they had become accustomed during the four days we had been on
board. Naturally, with such powerful engines as the Titanic carried, the
vibration was very noticeable all the time, and the sudden stopping
had something the same effect as the stopping of a loud-ticking
grandfather's clock in a room.
"On going on deck again I saw that there was an undoubted list downward
from stern to bows, but, knowing nothing of what had happened, concluded
some of the front compartments had filled and weighed her down. I went
down again to put on warmer clothing, and as I dressed heard an order
shouted, 'All passengers on deck with life-belts on.'
"We all walked slowly up, with the belts tied on over our clothing,
but even then presumed this was only a wise precaution the captain was
taking, and that we should return in a short time and retire to bed.
"There was a total absence of any panic or any expressions of alarm, and
I suppose this can be accounted for by the exceedingly calm night and
the absence of any signs of the accident.
"The ship was absolutely still, and except for a gentle tilt downward,
which I don't think one person in ten would have noticed at that time,
no signs of the approaching disaster were visible. She lay just as if
she were waiting the order to go on again when some trifling matter had
been adjusted.
"But in a few moments we saw the covers lifted from the boats and the
crews allotted to them standing by and coiling up the ropes which were
to lower them by the pulley blocks into the water.
"We then began to realize it was more serious than had been supposed,
and my first thought was to go down and get some more clothing and some
money, but, seeing people pouring up the stairs, decided it was better
to cause no confusion to people coming up. Presently we heard the order:
"'All men stand back away from the boats, and all ladies retire to next
deck below'--the smoking-room deck or B deck.
MEN STOOD BACK
"The men all stood away and remained in absolute silence leaning against
the end railings of the deck or pacing slowly up and down.
"The boats were swung out and lowered from A deck. When they were to
the level of B deck, where all the women were collected, they got in
quietly, with the exception of some who refused to leave their husbands.
"In some cases they were torn from them and pushed into the boats, but
in many instances they were allowed to remain because there was no one
to insist they should go.
"Looking over the side, one saw boats from aft already in the water,
slipping quietly away into the darkness, and presently the boats near
me were lowered, and with much creaking as the new ropes slipped through
the pulley blocks down the ninety feet which separated them from the
water. An officer in uniform came up as one boat went down and shouted,
"When you are afloat row round to the companion ladder and stand by with
the other boats for orders.'
"'Aye, aye, sir,' came up the reply; but I don't think any boat was
able to obey the order. When they were afloat and had the oars at work,
the condition of the rapidly settling boat was so much more a sight
for alarm for those in the boats than those on board, that in common
prudence the sailors saw they could do nothing but row from the sinking
ship to save at any rate some lives. They no doubt anticipated that
suction from such an enormous vessel would be more dangerous than usual
to a crowded boat mostly filled with women.
"All this time there was no trace of any disorder; no panic or rush
to the boats and no scenes of women sobbing hysterically, such as one
generally pictures as happening at such times everyone seemed to realize
so slowly that there was imminent danger. When it was realized that we
might all be presently in the sea with nothing but our life-belts
to support us until we were picked up by passing steamers, it was
extraordinary how calm everyone was and how completely self-controlled.
"One by one, the boats were filled with women and children, lowered and
rowed away into the night. Presently the word went round among the men,
'the men are to be put in boats on the starboard side.'
"I was on the port side, and most of the men walked across the deck to
see if this was so I remained where I was and soon heard the call:
"'Any more ladies?'
"Looking over the side of the ship, I saw the boat, No. 13, swinging
level with B deck, half full of ladies. Again the call was repeated,
'Any more ladies?'
"I saw none come on, and then one of the crew, looking up, said:
"'Any more ladies on your deck, sir?'
"'No,' I replied.
"'Then you had better jump.'
"I dropped in, and fell in the bottom, as they cried 'lower away.' As
the boat began to descend two ladies were pushed hurriedly through the
crowd on B deck and heaved over into the boat, and a baby of ten months
passed down after them. Down we went, the crew calling to those lowering
each end to 'keep her level,' until we were some ten feet from the
water, and here occurred the only anxious moment we had during the whole
of our experience from leaving the deck to reaching the Carpathia.
"Immediately below our boat was the exhaust of the condensers, a huge
stream of water pouring all the time from the ship's side just above the
water line. It was plain we ought to be quickly away from this, not to
be swamped by it when we touched water.
NO OFFICER ABOARD
"We had no officer aboard, nor petty officer or member of the crew to
take charge. So one of the stokers shouted: 'Someone find the pin which
releases the boat from the ropes and pull it up!' No one knew where it
was. We felt on the floor and sides, but found nothing, and it was hard
to move among so many people--we had sixty or seventy on board.
"Down we went and presently floated, with our ropes still holding us,
the exhaust washing us away from the side of the vessel and the swell of
the sea urging us back against the side again. The result of all these
forces was an impetus which carried us parallel to the ship's side and
directly under boat 14, which had filled rapidly with men and was coming
down on us in a way that threatened to submerge our boat.
"'Stop lowering 14,' our crew shouted, and the crew of No. 14, now only
twenty feet above, shouted the same. But the distance to the top was
some seventy feet and the creaking pulleys must have deadened all sound
to those above, for down she came, fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet and
a stoker and I reached up and touched her swinging above our heads.
The next drop would have brought her on our heads, but just before she
dropped another stoker sprang to the ropes, with his knife.
JUST ESCAPED ANOTHER BOAT
"'One,' I heard him say, 'two,' as his knife cut through the pulley
ropes, and the next moment the exhaust stream had carried us clear,
while boat 14 dropped into the water, into the space we had the moment
before occupied, our gunwales almost touching.
"We drifted away easily, as the oars were got out, and headed directly
away from the ship. The crew seemed to me to be mostly stewards or cooks
in white jackets, two to an oar, with a stoker at the tiller. There was
a certain amount of shouting from one end of the boat to the other, and
discussion as to which way we should go, but finally it was decided to
elect the stoker, who was steering, as captain, and for all to obey his
orders. He set to work at once to get into touch with the other boats,
calling to them and getting as close as seemed wise, so that when the
search boats came in the morning to look for us, there would be more
chance for all to be rescued by keeping together.
"It was now about 1 A. M.; a beautiful starlight night, with no moon,
and so not very light. The sea was as calm as a pond, just a gentle
heave as the boat dipped up and down in the swell; an ideal night,
except for the bitter cold, for anyone who had to be out in the middle
of the Atlantic ocean in an open boat. And if ever there was a time when
such a night was needed, surely it was now, with hundreds of people,
mostly women and children, afloat hundreds of miles from land.
WATCHED THE TITANIC
"The captain-stoker told us that he had been at sea twenty-six years,
and had never yet seen such a calm night on the Atlantic. As we rowed
away from the Titanic, we looked back from time to time to watch her,
and a more striking spectacle it was not possible for anyone to see.
"In the distance it looked an enormous length, its great bulk outlined
in black against the starry sky, every port-hole and saloon blazing with
light. It was impossible to think anything could be wrong with such a
leviathan, were it not for that ominous tilt downward in the bows, where
the water was by now up to the lowest row of port-holes.
"Presently, about 2 A. M., as near as I can remember, we observed it
settling very rapidly, with the bows and the bridge completely under
water, and concluded it was now only a question of minutes before it
went; and so it proved."
Mr. Beasley went on to tell of the spectacle of the sinking of the
Titanic, the terrible experiences of the survivors in the life-boats and
their final rescue by the Carpathia as already related.
CHAPTER XV. JACK THAYER'S OWN STORY OF THE WRECK
SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD SON OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD OFFICIAL TELLS
MOVING STORY OF HIS RESCUE--TOLD MOTHER TO BE BRAVE--SEPARATED FROM
PARENTS--JUMPED WHEN VESSEL SANK--DRIFTED ON OVERTURNED BOAT PICKED UP
BY CARPATHIA
ONE of the calmest of the passengers was: young Jack Thayer, the
seventeen-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Thayer. When his mother
was put into the life-boat he kissed her and told her to be brave,
saying that he and his father would be all right. He and Mr. Thayer
stood on the deck as the small boat in which Mrs. Thayer was a passenger
made off from the side of the Titanic over the smooth sea.
The boy's own account of his experience as told to one of his rescuers
is one of the most remarkable of all the wonderful ones that have come
from the tremendous catastrophe:
"Father was in bed, and mother and myself were about to get into bed.
There was no great shock, I was on my feet at the time and I do not
think it was enough to throw anyone down. I put on an overcoat and
rushed up on A deck on the port side. I saw nothing there. I then went
forward to the bow to see if I could see any signs of ice. The only ice
I saw was on the well deck. I could not see very far ahead, having just
come out of a brightly lighted room.
"I then went down to our room and my father and mother came on deck with
me, to the starboard side of A deck. We could not see anything there.
Father thought he saw small pieces of ice floating around, but I could
not see any myself. There was no big berg. We walked around to the port
side, and the ship had then a fair list to port. We stayed there looking
over the side for about five minutes. The list seemed very slowly to be
increasing.
"We then went down to our rooms on C deck, all of us dressing quickly,
putting on all our clothes. We all put on life-preservers, and over
these we put our overcoats. Then we hurried up on deck and walked
around, looking out at different places until the women were all ordered
to collect on the port side.
SEPARATED FROM PARENTS
"Father and I said good-bye to mother at the top of the stairs on A
deck. She and the maid went right out on A deck on the port side and
we went to the starboard side. As at this time we had no idea the boat
would sink we walked around A deck and then went to B deck. Then we
thought we would go back to see if mother had gotten off safely, and
went to the port side of A deck. We met the chief steward of the main
dining saloon and he told us that mother had not yet taken a boat, and
he took us to her.
"Father and mother went ahead and I followed. They went down to B deck
and a crowd got in front of me and I was not able to catch them, and
lost sight of them. As soon as I could get through the crowd I tried to
find them on B deck, but without success. That is the last time I saw my
father. This was about one half an hour before she sank. I then went to
the starboard side, thinking that father and mother must have gotten off
in a boat. All of this time I was with a fellow named Milton C. Long, of
New York, whom I had just met that evening.
"On the starboard side the boats were getting away quickly. Some boats
were already off in a distance. We thought of getting into one of the
boats, the last boat to go on the forward part of the starboard side,
but there seemed to be such a crowd around I thought it unwise to make
any attempt to get into it. He and I stood by the davits of one of the
boats that had left. I did not notice anybody that I knew except Mr.
Lindley, whom I had also just met that evening. I lost sight of him in a
few minutes. Long and I then stood by the rail just a little aft of the
captain's bridge.
THOUGHT SHIP WOULD FLOAT
"The list to the port had been growing greater all the time. About
this time the people began jumping from the stern. I thought of jumping
myself, but was afraid of being stunned on hitting the water. Three
times I made up my mind to jump out and slide down the davit ropes and
try to make the boats that were lying off from the ship, but each time
Long got hold of me and told me to wait a while. He then sat down and
I stood up waiting to see what would happen. Even then we thought she
might possibly stay afloat.
"I got a sight on a rope between the davits and a star and noticed that
she was gradually sinking. About this time she straightened up on an
even keel and started to go down fairly fast at an angle of about 30
degrees. As she started to sink we left the davits and went back and
stood by the rail about even with the second funnel.
"Long and myself said good-bye to each other and jumped up on the rail.
He put his legs over and held on a minute and asked me if I was coming.
I told him I would be with him in a minute. He did not jump clear, but
slid down the side of the ship. I never saw him again.
"About five seconds after he jumped I jumped out, feet first. I was
clear of the ship; went down, and as I came up I was pushed away from
the ship by some force. I came up facing the ship, and one of the
funnels seemed to be lifted off and fell towards me about 15 yards away,
with a mass of sparks and steam coming out of it. I saw the ship in a
sort of a red glare, and it seemed to me that she broke in two just in
front of the third funnel.
"This time I was sucked down, and as I came up I was pushed out again
and twisted around by a large wave, coming up in the midst of a great
deal of small wreckage. As I pushed my hand from my head it touched the
cork fender of an over-
{illust. caption = READING ROOM OF THE TITANIC}
{illust. caption = Copyright, 1912. International News Service. THE
SENATORIAL INVESTIGATION--ISMAY ON THE GRILL
J. Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of the........}
turned life-boat. I looked up and saw some men on the top and asked them
to give me a hand. One of them, who was a stoker, helped me up. In a
short time the bottom was covered with about twenty-five or thirty men.
When I got on this I was facing the ship.
{illust. caption = SKETCHES OF THE TITANIC BY "JACK" THAYER
These sketches were outlined by John B. Thayer, Jr., on the day of the
disaster, and afterwards filled in by L. D. Skidmon, of Brooklyn.}
"The stern then seemed to rise in the air and stopped at about an
angle of 60 degrees. It seemed to hold there for a time and then with a
hissing sound it shot right down out of sight with people jumping from
the stern. The stern either pivoted around towards our boat, or we were
sucked towards it, and as we only had one oar we could not keep away.
There did not seem to be very much suction and most of us managed to
stay on the bottom of our boat.
"We were then right in the midst of fairly large wreckage, with people
swimming all around us. The sea was very calm and we kept the boat
pretty steady, but every now and then a wave would wash over it.
SAID THE LORD'S PRAYER
"The assistant wireless operator was right next to me, holding on to
me and kneeling in the water. We all sang a hymn and said the Lord's
Prayer, and then waited for dawn to come. As often as we saw the other
boats in a distance we would yell, 'Ship ahoy!' But they could not
distinguish our cries from any of the others, so we all gave it up,
thinking it useless. It was very cold and none of us were able to move
around to keep warm, the water washing over her almost all the time.
"Toward dawn the wind sprang up, roughening up the water and making it
difficult to keep the boat balanced. The wireless man raised our hopes
a great deal by telling us that the Carpathia would be up in about three
hours. About 3.30 or 4 o'clock some men on our boat on the bow sighted
her mast lights. I could not see them, as I was sitting down with a man
kneeling on my leg. He finally got up and I stood up. We had the second
officer, Mr. Lightoller, on board. We had an officer's whistle and
whistled for the boats in the distance to come up and take us off.
"It took about an hour and a half for the boats to draw near. Two boats
came up. The first took half and the other took the balance, including
myself. We had great difficulty about this time in balancing the boat,
as the men would lean too far, but we were all taken aboard the already
crowded boat, and in about a half or three-quarters of an hour later we
were picked up by the Carpathia.
"I have noticed Second Officer Lightoller's statement that 'J. B. Thayer
was on our overturned boat,' which would give the impression that it was
father, when he really meant it was I, as he only learned my name in
a subsequent conversation on the Carpathia, and did not know I was
'junior'."
CHAPTER XVI. INCIDENTS RELATED BY JAMES McGOUGH
WOMEN FORCED INTO THE LIFE-BOATS--WHY SOME MEN WERE SAVED BEFORE
WOMEN--ASKED TO MAN LIFE-BOATS
SURROUNDED by his wife and members of his family, James McGough, of
Philadelphia, a buyer for the Gimbel Brothers, whose fate had been in
doubt, recited a most thrilling and graphic picture of the disaster.
As the Carpathia docked, Mrs. McGough, a brother and several friends of
the buyer, met him, and after the touching reunion had taken place the
party proceeded to Philadelphia.
Vivid in detail, Mr. McGough's story differs essentially from one the
imagination would paint. He declared that the boat was driving at a high
rate of speed at the time of the accident, and seemed impressed by the
calmness and apathy displayed by the survivors as they tossed on the
frozen seas in the little life-boats until the Carpathia picked them up.
The Titanic did not plunge into the water suddenly, he declared, but
settled slowly into the deep with its hundreds of passengers.
"The collision occurred at 20 minutes of 12," said Mr. McGough. "I was
sleeping in my cabin when I felt a wrench, not severe or terrifying.
"It seemed to me to be nothing more serious than the racing of the
screw, which often occurs when a ship plunges her bow deep into a heavy
swell, raising the stern out of water. We dressed hurriedly and ran to
the upper deck. There was little noise or tumult at the time.
"The promenade decks being higher from the base of the ship and thus
more insecure, strained and creaked; so we went to the lower decks.
By this time the engines had been reversed, and I could feel the ship
backing off. Officers and stewards ran through the corridors, shouting
for all to be calm, that there was no danger. We were warned, however,
to dress and put life-preservers on us. I had on what clothing I could
find and had stuffed some money in my pocket.
PARTING OF ASTOR AND BRIDE
"As I passed the gymnasium I saw Colonel Astor and his young wife
together. She was clinging to him, piteously pleading that he go into
the life-boat with her. He refused almost gruffly and was attempting to
calm her by saying that all her fears were groundless, that the accident
she feared would prove a farce. It proved different, however.
"None, I believe, knew that the ship was about to sink. I did not
realize it just then. When I reached the upper deck and saw tons of ice
piled upon our crushed bow the full realization came to me.
"Officers stood with drawn guns ordering the women into the boats. All
feared to leave the comparative safety of a broad and firm deck for the
precarious smaller boats. Women clung to their husbands, crying that
they would never leave without them, and had to be torn away.
"On one point all the women were firm. They would not enter a Life-boat
until men were in it first. They feared to trust themselves to the seas
in them. It required courage to step into the frail crafts as they swung
from the creaking davits. Few men were willing to take the chance. An
officer rushed behind me and shouted:
"'You're big enough to pull an oar. Jump into this boat or we'll never
be able to get the women off.' I was forced to do so, though I admit
that the ship looked a great deal safer to me than any small boat.
"Our boat was the second off. Forty or more persons were crowded into
it, and with myself and members of the crew at the oars, were pulled
slowly away. Huge icebergs, larger than the Pennsylvania depot at New
York, surrounded us. As we pulled away we could see boat after boat
filled and lowered to the waves. Despite the fact that they were new
and supposedly in excellent working order, the blocks jammed in many
instances, tilting the boats, loaded with people, at varying angles
before they reached the water.
BAND CONTINUED PLAYING
"As the life-boats pulled away the officers ordered the bands to play,
and their music did much to quell panic. It was a heart-breaking sight
to us tossing in an eggshell three-fourths of a mile away, to see the
great ship go down. First she listed to the starboard, on which side the
collision had occurred, then she settled slowly but steadily, without
hope of remaining afloat.
"The Titanic was all aglow with lights as if for a function. First we
saw the lights of the lower deck snuffed out. A while later and the
second deck illumination was extinguished in a similar manner. Then the
third and upper decks were darkened, and without plunging or rocking the
great ship disappeared slowly from the surface of the sea.
"People were crowded on each deck as it lowered into the water, hoping
in vain that aid would come in time. Some of the life-boats caught in
the merciless suction were swallowed with her.
"The sea was calm--calm as the water in a tumbler. But it was freezing
cold. None had dressed heavily, and all, therefore, suffered intensely.
The women did not shriek or grow hysterical while we waited through the
awful night for help. We men stood at the oars, stood because there
was no room for us to sit, and kept the boat headed into the swell to
prevent her capsizing. Another boat was at our side, but all the others
were scattered around the water.
"Finally, shortly before 6 o'clock, we saw the lights of the Carpathia
approaching. Gradually she picked up the survivors in the other boats
and then approached us. When we were lifted to the deck the women fell
helpless. They were carried to whatever quarters offered themselves,
while the men were assigned to the smoking room.
"Of the misery and suffering which was witnessed on the rescue ship I
know nothing. With the other men survivors I was glad to remain in the
smoking room until New York was reached, trying to forget the awful
experience.
"To us aboard the Carpathia came rumors of misstatements which were
being made to the public. The details of the wreck were wofully
misunderstood.
"Let me emphasize that the night was not foggy or cloudy. There was just
the beginning of the new moon, but every star in the sky was shining
brightly, unmarred by clouds. The boats were lowered from both sides of
the Titanic in time to escape, but there was not enough for all.
CHAPTER XVII. WIRELESS OPERATOR PRAISES HEROIC WORK
STORY OF HAROLD BRIDE, THE SURVIVING WIRELESS OPERATOR OF THE TITANIC,
WHO WAS WASHED OVERBOARD AND RESCUED BY LIFE-BOAT--BAND PLAYED RAG-TIME
AND "AUTUMN"
ONE of the most connected and detailed accounts of the horrible disaster
was that told by Harold Bride, the wireless operator. Mr. Bride said:
"I was standing by Phillips, the chief operator, telling him to go to
bed, when the captain put his head in the cabin.
"'We've struck an iceberg,' the captain said, 'and I'm having an
inspection made to tell what it has done for us. You better get ready to
send out a call for assistance. But don't send it until I tell you.'
"The captain went away and in ten minutes, I should estimate the time,
he came back. We could hear a terrific confusion outside, but there was
not the least thing to indicate that there was any trouble. The wireless
was working perfectly.
"'Send the call for assistance,' ordered the captain, barely putting
his head in the door.
"'What call shall I send?' Phillips asked.
"'The regulation international call for help. Just that.'
"Then the captain was gone Phillips began to send 'C. Q. D.' He flashed
away at it and we joked while he did so. All of us made light of the
disaster.
"The Carpathia answered our signal. We told her our position and said we
were sinking by the head. The operator went to tell the captain, and in
five minutes returned and told us that the captain of the Carpathia, was
putting about and heading for us
GREAT SCRAMBLE ON DECK
"Our captain had left us at this time and Phillips told me to run and
tell him what the Carpathia had answered. I did so, and I went through
an awful mass of people to his cabin. The decks were full of scrambling
men and women. I saw no fighting, but I heard tell of it.
"I came back and heard Phillips giving the Carpathia fuller directions.
Phillips told me to put on my clothes. Until that moment I forgot that I
was not dressed.
"I went to my cabin and dressed. I brought an overcoat to Phillips. It
was very cold. I slipped the overcoat upon him while he worked.
"Every few minutes Phillips would send me to the captain with little
messages. They were merely telling how the Carpathia was coming our way
and gave her speed.
"I noticed as I came back from one trip that they were putting off
women and children in life-boats. I noticed that the list forward was
increasing.
"Phillips told me the wireless was growing weaker. The captain came and
told us our engine rooms were taking water and that the dynamos might
not last much longer. We sent that word to the Carpathia.
"I went out on deck and looked around. The water was pretty close up
to the boat deck. There was a great scramble aft, and how poor Phillips
worked through it right to the end I don't know.
"He was a brave man. I learned to love him that night and I suddenly
felt for him a great reverence to see him standing there sticking to his
work while everybody else was raging about. I will never live to forget
the work of Phillips for the last awful fifteen minutes.
"I thought it was about time to look about and see if there was anything
detached that would float. I remembered that every member of the crew
had a special life-belt and ought to know where it was. I remembered
mine was under my bunk. I went and got it. Then I thought how cold the
water was.
"I remembered I had an extra jacket and a pair of boots, and I put them
on. I saw Phillips standing out there still sending away, giving the
Carpathia details of just how we were doing.
"We picked up the Olympic and told her we were sinking by the head and
were about all down. As Phillips was sending the message I strapped his
life-belt to his back. I had already put on his overcoat. Every minute
was precious, so I helped him all I could.
BAND PLAYS IN RAG-TIME
"From aft came the tunes of the band. It was a rag-time tune, I don't
know what. Then there was 'Autumn.' Phillips ran aft and that was the
last I ever saw of him.
"I went to the place where I had seen a collapsible boat on the boat
deck, and to my surprise I saw the boat and the men still trying to push
it off. I guess there wasn't a sailor in the crowd. They couldn't do
it. I went up to them and was just lending a hand when a large wave came
awash of the deck.
"The big wave carried the boat off. I had hold of a row-lock and I went
off with it. The next I knew I was in the boat.
"But that was not all. I was in the boat and the boat was upside down
and I was under it. And I remember realizing I was wet through, and that
whatever happened I must not breathe, for I was under water.
"I knew I had to fight for it and I did. How I got out from under the
boat I do not know, but I felt a breath of air at last.
"There were men all around me hundreds of them. The sea was dotted with
them, all depending on their life-belts. I felt I simply had to get away
from the ship. She was a beautiful sight then.
"Smoke and sparks were rushing out of her funnel, and there must have
been an explosion, but we had heard none. We only saw the big stream of
sparks. The ship was gradually turning on her nose just like a duck does
that goes down for a dive. I had one thing on my mind--to get away from
the suction. The band was still playing, and I guess they all went down.
"They were playing 'Autumn' then. I swam with all my might. I suppose I
was 150 feet away when the Titanic, on her nose, with her after-quarter
sticking straight up in the air, began to settle slowly.
"When at last the waves washed over her rudder there wasn't the least
bit of suction I could feel. She must have kept going just as slowly as
she had been.
"I forgot to mention that, besides the Olympic and Carpathia, we spoke
some German boat, I don't know which, and told them how we were. We also
spoke the Baltic. I remembered those things as I began to figure what
ships would be coming toward us.
"I felt, after a little while, like sinking. I was very cold. I saw a
boat of some kind near me and put all my strength into an effort to swim
to it. It was hard work. I was all done when a hand reached out from the
boat and pulled me aboard. It was our same collapsible.
"There was just room for me to roll on the edge. I lay there, not caring
what happened. Somebody sat on my legs; they were wedged in between
slats and were being wrenched. I had not the heart left to ask the man
to move. It was a terrible sight all around--men swimming and sinking.
"I lay where I was, letting the man wrench my feet out of shape. Others
came near. Nobody gave them a hand. The bottom-up boat already had more
men than it would hold and it was sinking.
"At first the larger waves splashed over my head and I had to breathe
when I could.
"Some splendid people saved us. They had a right-side-up boat, and it
was full to its capacity. Yet they came to us and loaded us all into it.
I saw some lights off in the distance and knew a steamship was coming to
our aid.
"I didn't care what happened. I just lay, and gasped when I could and
felt the pain in my feet. At last the Carpathia was alongside and the
people were being taken up a rope ladder. Our boat drew near, and one
b{y} one the men were taken off of it.
"The way the band kept playing was a noble thing. I heard it first while
we were working wireless, when there was a rag-time tune for us, and
the last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea, with my
life-belt on, it was still on deck playing 'Autumn.' How they ever did
it I cannot imagine.
"That and the way Phillips kept sending after the captain told him his
life was his own, and to look out for himself, are two things that stand
out in my mind over all the rest."
CHAPTER XVIII. STORY OF THE STEWARD
PASSENGERS AND CREW DYING WHEN TAKEN ABOARD CARPATHIA--ONE WOMAN SAVED A
DOG--ENGLISH COLONEL SWAM FOR HOURS WHEN BOAT WITH MOTHER CAPSIZED
SOME of the most thrilling incidents connected with the rescue of the
Titanic's survivors are told in the following account given by a man
trained to the sea, a steward of the rescue ship Carpathia:
"At midnight on Sunday, April 14th, I was promenading the deck of the
steamer Carpathia, bound for the Mediterranean and three days out from
New York, when an urgent summons came to my room from the chief steward,
E. Harry Hughes. I then learned that the White Star liner Titanic,
the greatest ship afloat, had struck an iceberg and was in serious
difficulties.
"We were then already steaming at our greatest power to the scene of the
disaster, Captain Rostron having immediately given orders that every man
of the crew should stand by to exert his utmost efforts. Within a very
few minutes every preparation had been made to receive two or three
thousand persons. Blankets were placed ready, tables laid with hot soups
and coffee, bedding, etc., prepared, and hospital supplies laid out
ready to attend to any injured.
"The men were then mustered in the saloon and addressed by the chief
steward. He told them of the disaster and appealed to them in a few
words to show the world what stuff Britishers were made of, and to add
a glorious page to the history of the empire; and right well did the
men respond to the appeal. Every life-boat was manned and ready to
be launched at a moment's notice. Nothing further could be done but
anxiously wait and look out for the ship's distress signal.
"Our Marconi operator, whose unceasing efforts for many hours deserve
the greatest possible praise, was unable at this time to get any reply
to the urgent inquiries he was sending out, and he feared the worst.
"At last a blue flare was observed, to which we replied with a rocket.
Day was just dawning when we observed a boat in the distance.
ICEBERG AND FIRST BOAT SIGHTED
"Eastward on the horizon a huge iceberg, the cause of the disaster,
majestically reared two noble peaks to heaven. Rope ladders were already
lowered and we hove to near the life-boat, which was now approaching us
as rapidly as the nearly exhausted efforts of the men at the oars could
bring her.
"Under the command of our chief officer, who worked indefatigably at the
noble work of rescue, the survivors in
{illust. caption = Above: MAIN STAIRWAY ON TITANIC. TOP E DECK Below:
SECOND LANDING. C DECK. GRAND STAIRWAY}
{illust. caption = MRS. JOHN B. THAYER
Mrs. Thayer and her son were....}
{illust. caption = JOHN B. THAYER
Second Vice-President of the...}
the boat were rapidly but carefully hauled aboard and given into the
hands of the medical staff under the organization of Dr. McGee.
"We then learned the terrible news that the gigantic vessel, the
unsinkable Titanic, had gone down one hour and ten minutes after
striking.
"From this time onward life-boats continued to arrive at frequent
intervals. Every man of the Carpathia's crew was unsparing in his
efforts to assist, to tenderly comfort each and every survivor. In all,
sixteen boatloads were receives, containing altogether 720 persons, many
in simply their night attire, others in evening dress, as if direct from
an after-dinner reception, or concert. Most conspicuous was the coolness
and self-possession, particularly of the women.
"Pathetic and heartrending incidents were many. There was not a man of
the rescue party who was not moved almost to tears. Women arrived and
frantically rushed from one gangway to another eagerly scanning the
fresh arrivals in the boats for a lost husband or brother.
A CAPSIZED BOAT
"One boat arrived with the unconscious body of an English colonel. He
had been taking out his mother on a visit, to three others of her sons.
He had succeeded in getting her away in one of the boats and he himself
had found a place in another. When but a few-yards from the ill-fated
ship the boat containing his mother capsized before his eyes.
"Immediately he dived into the water and commenced a frantic search for
her. But in vain. Boat after boat endeavored to take him aboard, but he
refused to give up, continuing to swim for nearly three hours until
even his great strength of body and mind gave out and he was hauled
unconscious into a passing boat and brought aboard the Carpathia. The
doctor gives little hope of his recovery.
"There were, I understand, twelve newly married couples aboard the big
ship. The twelve brides have been saved, but of the husbands all but one
have perished. That one would not have been here, had he not been urged
to assist in manning a life-boat. Think of the self-sacrifice of these
eleven heroes, who stood on the doomed vessel and parted from their
brides forever, knowing full well that a few brief minutes would end all
things for themselves.
"Many similar pathetic incidents could be related. Sad-eyed women roam
aimlessly about the ship still looking vainly for husband, brother
or father. To comfort them is impossible. All human efforts are being
exerted on their behalf. Their material needs are satisfied in every
way. But who can cure a broken heart?
SAVED HER POMERANIAN
"One of the earliest boats to arrive was seen to contain a woman
tenderly clasping a pet Pomeranian. When assisted to the rope ladder and
while the rope was being fastened around her she emphatically refused to
give up for a second the dog which was evidently so much to her. He is
now receiving as careful and tender attention as his mistress.
"A survivor informs me that there was on the ship a lady who was taking
out a huge great Dane dog. When the boats were rapidly filling she
appeared on deck with her canine companion and sadly entreated that he
should be taken off with her. It was impossible. Human lives, those of
women and children, were the first consideration. She was urged to seize
the opportunity to save her own life and leave the dog. She refused to
desert him and, I understand, sacrificed her life with him.
"One elderly lady was bewailing to a steward that she had lost
everything. He indignantly replied that she should thank God her life
was spared, never mind her replaceable property. The reply was pathetic:
"'I have lost everything--my husband,' and she broke into
uncontrollable grief.
FOUR BOATS ADRIFT HE SAYS
"One incident that impressed me perhaps more than any other was the
burial on Tuesday afternoon of four of the poor fellows who succeeded
in safely getting away from the doomed vessel only to perish later from
exhaustion and exposure as a result of their gallant efforts to bring
to safety the passengers placed in their charge in the life-boats. They
were:
"W. H. Hoyte, Esq., first class passenger.
"Abraham Hornner, third class passenger.
"S. C. Siebert, steward.
"P. Lyons, sailor.
"The sailor and steward were unfortunately dead when taken aboard. The
passengers lived but a few minutes after. They were treated with the
greatest attention. The funeral service was conducted amid profound
silence and attended by a large number of survivors and rescuers. The
bodies, covered by the national flag, were reverently consigned to the
mighty deep from which they had been, alas, vainly, saved.
"Most gratifying to the officers and men of the Carpathia is the
constantly expressive appreciation of the survivors."
He then told of the meeting of the survivors in the cabin of the
Carpathia and of the resolution adopted, a statement of which has
already been given in another chapter.
CHAPTER XIX. HOW THE WORLD RECEIVED THE NEWS
NATIONS PROSTRATE WITH GRIEF--MESSAGES FROM KINGS AND
CARDINALS--DISASTER STIRS WORLD TO NECESSITY OF STRICTER REGULATIONS
YOUNG and old, rich and poor were prostrated by the news of the
disaster. Even Wall Street was neglected. Nor was the grief confined
to America. European nations felt the horror of the calamity and sent
expressions of sympathy. President Taft made public cablegrams received
from the King and Queen of England, and the King of Belgium, conveying
their sympathy to the American people in the sorrows which have followed
the Titanic disaster. The President's responses to both messages were
also made public.
The following was the cablegram from King George, dated at Sandringham:
"The Queen and I are anxious to assure you and the American nation of
the great sorrow which we experienced at the terrible loss of life
that has occurred among the American citizens, as well as among my own
subjects, by the foundering of the Titanic. Our two countries are
so intimately allied by ties of friendship and brotherhood that any
misfortunes which affect the one must necessarily affect the other, and
on the present terrible occasion they are both equally sufferers.
"GEORGE R. AND I."
President Taft's reply was as follows:
"In the presence of the appalling disaster to the Titanic the people
of the two countries are brought into community of grief through their
common bereavement. The American people share in the sorrow of their
kinsmen beyond the sea. On behalf of my countrymen I thank you for your
sympathetic message.
"WILLIAM H. TAFT."
The message from King Albert of Belgium was as follows:
"I beg Your Excellency to accept my deepest condolences on the occasion
of the frightful catastrophe to the Titanic, which has caused such
mourning in the American nation."
The President's acknowledgment follows:
"I deeply appreciate your sympathy with my fellow-countrymen who have
been stricken with affliction through the disaster to the Titanic."
MESSAGE PROM SPAIN
King Alfonso and Queen Victoria sent the following cablegram to
President Taft:
"We have learned with profound grief of the catastrophe to the Titanic,
which has plunged the American nation in mourning. We send you our
sincerest condolence, and wish to assure you and your nation of the
sentiments of friendship and sympathy we feel toward you."
A similar telegram was sent to the King of England.
The many expressions of grief to reach President Taft included one
signed jointly by the three American Cardinals, who were in New York
attending the meeting of the trustees of the Catholic University. It
said:
"TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
"The archbishops of the country, in joint session with the trustees of
the Catholic University of America, beg to offer to the President of the
United States their expression of their profound grief at the awful loss
of human lives attendant upon the sinking of the steamship Titanic, and
at the same time to assure the relatives of the victims of this horrible
disaster of our deepest sympathy and condolence.
"They wish also to attest hereby to the hope that the law-makers of the
country will see in this sad accident the obvious necessity of legal
provisions for greater security of ocean travel.
"JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS," Archbishop of Baltimore.
"JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY," Archbishop of New York.
"WILLIAM CARDINAL O'CONNELL," Archbishop of Boston.
HOUSE ADJOURNED
Formal tribute to the Titanic's dead was paid by the House of
Representatives when it adjourned for twenty-four hours.
The prayer of the Rev. Henry N. Couden in opening the House session was,
in part:
"We thank Thee that though in the ordinary circumstances of life
selfishness and greed seem to be in the ascendancy, yet in times of
distress and peril, then it is that the nobility of soul, the Godlike in
man, asserts itself and makes heroes."
The flags on the White House and other Government buildings throughout
the country were at half-staff.
ROME MOURNED MAJOR BUTT
A special telegram from Rome stated that one of the victims most
regretted was Major Butt, whose jovial, bright character made many
friends there. Besides autograph letters from the Pope and Cardinal
Merry del VaI{sic?} to President Taft, the major had with him a signed
photograph of the Pontiff, given by him personally.
Cardinal Merry del Val had several conversations with Major Butt, who
declared that the cardinal was "the first gentleman of Europe." Shortly
before he was leaving Rome, regretting that he had not a signed picture
of Cardinal Merry del Val, Major Butt entrusted a friend to ask for
one. The cardinal willingly put an autograph dedication on a picture,
recalling their pleasant intercourse.
LONDON NEWSPAPERS CONDEMN LAXITY OF LAW
British indignation, which is not easily excited, was aroused over the
knowledge that an antiquated law enables steamship companies to fail to
provide sufficient life-boats to accommodate the passengers and crew
of the largest liners in the event of such a disaster as that
which occurred to the Titanic. It will be insisted that there be an
investigation of the loss of life in the Titanic and that the shortage
of boats be gone into thoroughly.
The newspapers commented adversely on the lack of boats and their views
were emphasized by the knowledge that no attempt has been made to change
the regulations in the face of the fact that the inadequacy of boats in
such an emergency was called to the attention of Parliament at the time
of the collision between the White Star liner Olympic and the cruiser
Hawke. It was pointed out at this time that German vessels, much smaller
in size than the Olympic, carried more boats and also that these boats
were of greater capacity.
T. W. Moore, Secretary of the Merchant Service Guild, when seen at the
guild's rooms in Liverpool, said:
"The Titanic disaster is an example, on a colossal scale, of the
pernicious and supine system of officials, as represented by the Board
of Trade. Modern liners are so designed that they have no accommodations
for more life-boats. Among practical seamen it has long been recognized
that the modern passenger ship has nothing like adequate boat capacity.
"The Board of Trade has its own views, and the shipowners also have
their views, which are largely based upon the economical factor. The
naval architects have their opinions, but the practical merchant seaman
is not consulted.
"The Titanic disaster is a complete substantiation of the agitation that
our guild has carried on for nearly twenty years against the scheme that
has precluded practical seamen from being consulted with regard to boat
capacity and life-saving appliances.
HOUSE OF COMMONS INVESTIGATION
Immediate and searching inquiry into the Titanic disaster was promised
on the floor of the House of Commons April 18th, by President Sidney
Buxton, of the Board of Trade, which controls all sea-going vessels.
Buxton, in discussing the utterly inadequate life-saving equipment of
the big liner, declared that the committee of the board in charge of
life-saving precautions had recently recommended increased life-boats,
rafts and life-preservers on all big ships, but that the requirements
had been found unsatisfactory and had not been put in force. He frankly
admitted the necessity for increased equipment without delay.
The board, he said, was utterly unable to compel the transatlantic
vessels to reduce their speed in the contest for "express train" ships.
He also said the board could not force ships to take the southerly
passage in the spring to avoid ice.
The regulations under which the Titanic carried life-boat accommodations
for only about one-third of her passengers and crew had not been revised
by the committee since 1894. At that time the regulations were made for
ships of "10,000 tons or more." The Titanic's tonnage was 45,000, for
which the present requirements are altogether insufficient.
WORK OF RAISING RELIEF FUNDS PROMPT
Several foreign governments telegraphed to the British Government
messages of condolence for the sufferers. The King sent a donation of
$2625 to the Mansion House fund. Queen Mary donated $1310 and Queen
Alexandra $1000 to the same fund.
Oscar Hammerstein proffered, and the lord mayor accepted, the use of his
opera house for an entertainment in aid of the fund.
The Shipping Federation donated $10,500 to the Mayor of Southampton's
fund, taking care to explain that the White Star Line was not affiliated
with the Federation.
Some public institutions also offered to take care of the orphaned
children of the crew.
Large firms contributed liberally to the various relief funds, while
Covent Garden and other leading theaters prepared special performances
to aid in the relief work.
INDIGNANT GERMANY DEMANDS REFORMS
All Germany as well as England was stunned and grieved by the magnitude
of the horror of the Titanic catastrophe. Anglo-German recriminations
for the moment ceased, as far as the Fatherland was concerned, and
profound and sincere compassion for the nation on whom the blow had
fallen more heavily was the supreme note of the hour.
The Kaiser, with his characteristic promptitude, was one of the first
to communicate his sympathy by telegraph to King George and to the White
Star Line. Admiral Prince Henry of Prussia did likewise, and the first
act of the Reichstag, after reassembling on Tuesday, was to pass a
standing vote of condolence with the British people in their distress.
GERMAN LAWS ALSO INADEQUATE
The German laws, governing the safety appliances on board trans-oceanic
vessels, seem to be as archaic and inadequate as those of the British
Board of Trade. The maximum provision contained in the German statutes
refers to vessels with the capacity of 50,000 cubic metres, which must
carry sixteen life-boats. The law also says that if this number of
life-boats be insufficient to accommodate all the persons on board,
including the crew, there shall be carried elsewhere in the vessel a
correspondingly additional number of collapsible life-boats, suitable
rafts, floating deck-chairs and life-buoys, as well as a generous supply
of life-belts.
A vessel of 10,000 tons was a "leviathan" in the days when the German
law was passed, and it appears to have undergone no change to meet the
conditions, imposed by the construction of vessels twice or three times
10,000 tons, like the Hamburg-American Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, or the
North German Lloyd George Washington, to say nothing of the 50,000-ton
Imperator, which is to be added to the Hamburg fleet next year.
The German lines seem, like the White Star Company, to have reckoned
simply with the practical impossibility of a ship like the Titanic
succumbing to the elements
PERSONAL ANXIETY
Although Germany's and Berlin's direct interest in the passengers aboard
the Titanic was less than that of London, New York or Paris, there was
the utmost concern for their fate.
Ambassador Leishman and other members of the American Embassy were
particularly interested in hearing about Major "Archie" Butt, who passed
through Berlin, less than a month before the disaster, en route from
Russia and the Far East. Vice-president John B. Thayer and family, of
Philadelphia, were also in Berlin a fortnight ago and were guests of the
American Consul General and Mrs. Thackara. A score of other lesser
known passengers had recently stayed in Berlin hotels, and it was local
friends or kinsmen of theirs who were in a state of distressing unrest
over their fate.
Their anxiety was aggravated by the old-fogey methods of the German
newspapers, which are invariably twelve or fifteen hours later than
journals elsewhere in Europe on world news events. Although New York,
London and Paris had the cruel truth with their morning papers on
Tuesday, it was not until the middle of the forenoon that "extras" made
the facts public in Berlin.
William T. Stead was well and favorably known in Germany, and his fate
was keenly and particularly mourned. Germans have also noted that many
Americans of direct Teutonic ancestry or origin were among the shining
marks in the death list. Colonel John Jacob Astor is claimed as of
German, extraction, as well as Isidor Straus, Benjamin Guggenheim,
Washington Roebling and Henry B. Harris. All of them had been in Germany
frequently and had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
Only one well-known resident of Berlin was aboard the Titanic, Frau
Antoinette Flegenheim, whose name appears among the rescued.
CHAPTER XX. BRAVERY OF THE OFFICERS AND CREW
ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER OF CAPTAIN E. J. SMITH--BRAVE TO THE
LAST--MAINTENANCE OF ORDER AND DISCIPLINE--ACTS OF HEROISM--ENGINEERS
DIED AT POSTS--NOBLE-HEARTED BAND
IN the anxious hours of uncertainty, when the air cracked and flashed
with the story of disaster, there was never doubt in the minds of men
ashore about the master of the Titanic. Captain Smith would bring his
ship into port if human power could mend the damage the sea had wrought,
or if human power could not stay the disaster he would never come to
port. There is something Calvinistic about such men of the old-sea
breed. They go down with their ships, of their own choice.
Into the last life-boat that was launched from the ship Captain Smith
with his own hand lifted a small child into a seat beside its mother.
As the gallant, officer performed his simple act of humanity several who
were already in the boat tried to force the captain to join them, but he
turned away resolutely toward the bridge.
That act was significant. Courteous, kindly, of quiet demeanor and soft
words, he was known and loved by thousands of travelers.
When the English firm, A. Gibson & Co.9 of Liverpool, purchased the
American clipper, Senator Weber, in 1869, Captain Smith, then a boy,
sailed on her. For seven years he was an apprentice on the Senator
Weber, leaving that vessel to go to the Lizzie Fennell, a square rigger,
as fourth officer. From there he went to the old Celtic of the White
Star Line as fourth officer and in 1887 he became captain of that
vessel. For a time he was in command of the freighters Cufic and Runic;
then he became skipper of the old Adriatic. Subsequently he assumed
command of the Celtic, Britannic, Coptic (which was in the Australian
trade), Germanic, Baltic, Majestic, Olympic and Titanic, an illustrious
list of vessels for one man to have commanded during his career.
It was not easy to get Captain Smith to talk of his experiences. He had
grown up in the service, was his comment, and it meant little to him
that he had been transferred from a small vessel to a big ship and then
to a bigger ship and finally to the biggest of them all.
"One might think that a captain taken from a small ship and put on a big
one might feel the transition," he once said. "Not at all. The skippers
of the big vessels have grown up to them, year after year, through all
these years. First there was the sailing vessel and then what we would
now call small ships--they were big in the days gone by--and finally the
giants to-day."
{illust. caption = VESSEL WITH BOTTOM OF HULL RIPPED OPEN
A view of the torpedo destroyer Tiger, taken in drydock after her
collision with the Portland Breakwater last September; the damage to
the Tiger, which is plainly shown in the photograph, is of the same
character, though on a smaller scale, as that which was done to the
Titanic.}
{illust. caption = A VIEW OF THE OLYMPIC
The sister-ship of the Titanic, showing the damage done to her hull in
the collision with British war vessel, Hawke, in the British Channel.}
DISASTER TO OLYMPIC
Only once during all his long years of service was he in trouble, when
the Olympic, of which he was in command, was rammed by the British
cruiser Hawke in the Solent on September 20, 1911. The Hawke came
steaming out of Portsmouth and drew alongside the giantess. According to
some of the passengers on the Olympic the Hawke swerved in the direction
of the big liner and a moment later the bow of the Hawke was crunching
steel plates in the starboard quarter of the Olympic, making a
thirty-foot hole in her. She was several months in dry dock.
The result of a naval court inquiry was to put all the blame for the
collision on the Olympic. Captain Smith, in his testimony before the
naval court, said that he was on the bridge when he saw the Hawke
overhauling him. The Olympic began to draw ahead later or the Hawke drop
astern, the captain did not know which. Then the cruiser turned very
swiftly and struck the Olympic at right angles on the quarter. The pilot
gave the signal for the Olympic to port, which was to minimize the force
of the collision. The Olympic's engines had been stopped by order of the
pilot.
Up to the moment the Hawke swerved, Captain Smith said, he had no
anxiety. The pilot, Bowyer, corroborated the testimony of Captain
Smith. That the line did not believe Captain Smith was at fault,
notwithstanding the verdict of the board of naval inquiry, was shown by
his retention as the admiral of the White Star fleet and by his being
given the command of the Titanic.
Up to the time of the collision with the Hawke Captain Smith when asked
by interviewers to describe his experiences at sea would say one word,
"uneventful." Then he would add with a smile and a twinkle of his eyes:
"Of course there have been winter gales and storms and fog and the like
in the forty years I have been on the seas, but I have never been in an
accident worth speaking of. In all my years at sea (he made this comment
a few years ago) I have seen but one vessel in distress. That was a brig
the crew of which was taken off in a boat by my third officer. I
never saw a wreck. I never have been wrecked. I have never been in a
predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort."
THE CAPTAIN'S LOVE OF THE SEA
Once the interviewer stopped asking personal questions, Captain Smith
would talk of the sea, of his love for it, how its appeal to him as a
boy had never died.
"The love of the ocean that took me to sea as a boy has never died." he
once said. "When I see a vessel plunging up and down in the trough of
the sea, fighting her way through and over great waves, and keeping her
keel and going on and on--the wonder of the thing fills me, how she
can keep afloat and get safely to port. I have never outgrown the wild
grandeur of the sea."
When he was in command of the Adriatic, which was built before the
Olympic, Captain Smith said he did not believe a disaster with loss of
life could happen to the Adriatic.
"I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to the Adriatic," he
said. "Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that. There will be bigger
boats. The depth of harbors seems to be the great drawback at present. I
cannot say, of course, just what the limit will be, but the larger
boat will surely come. But speed will not develop with size, so far as
merchantmen are concerned.
"The traveling public prefers the large comfortable boat of average
speed, and anyway that is the boat that pays. High speed eats up money
mile by mile, and extreme high speed is suicidal. There will be high
speed boats for use as transports and a wise government will assist
steamship companies in paying for them, as the English Government is
now doing in the cases of the Lusitania and Mauretania, twenty-five knot
boats; but no steamship company will put them out merely as a commercial
venture."
Captain Smith believed the Titanic to be unsinkable.
BRAVE TO THE LAST
And though the ship turned out to be sinkable, the captain, by many acts
of bravery in the face of death, proved that his courage was equal to
any test.
Captain Inman Sealby, commander of the steamer Republic, which was the
first vessel to use the wireless telegraph to save her passengers in a
collision, spoke highly of the commander of the wrecked Titanic, calling
him one of the ablest seamen in the world.
"I am sure that Captain Smith did everything in his power to save
his passengers. The disaster is one about which he could have had no
warning. Things may happen at sea that give no warning to ships' crews
and commanders until the harm comes. I believe from what I read that
the Titanic hit an iceberg and glanced off, but that the berg struck her
from the bottom and tore a great hole."
Many survivors have mentioned the captain's name and narrated some
incident to bring out his courage and helpfulness in the emergency; but
it was left to a fireman on board the Titanic to tell the story of his
death and to record his last message. This man had gone down with the
White Star giantess and was clinging to a piece of wreckage for about
half an hour before he finally joined several members of the Titanic's
company on the bottom of a boat which was floating about among other
wreckage near the Titanic.
Harry Senior, the fireman, with his eight or nine companions in
distress, had just managed to get a firm hold in the upturned boat when
they saw the Titanic rearing preparatory to her final plunge. At that
moment, according to the fireman's story, Captain Smith jumped into the
sea from the promenade deck of the Titanic with a little girl clutched
in his arms. It took only a few strokes to bring him to the upturned
boat, where a dozen hands were stretched out to take the little child
from his arms and drag him to a point of safety.
"Captain Smith was dragged onto the upturned boat," said the fireman.
"He had a life-buoy and a life-preserver. He clung there for a moment
and then he slid off again. For a second time he was dragged from the
icy water. Then he took off his life-preserver, tossed the life-buoy
on the inky waters, and slipped into the water again with the words: "I
will follow the ship."
OTHER FAITHFUL MEN
Nor was the captain the only faithful man on the ship. Of the many
stories told by survivors all seem to agree that both officers and crew
behaved with the utmost gallantry and that they stuck by the ship nobly
to the last.
"Immediately after the Titanic struck the iceberg," said one of
the survivors, "the officers were all over the ship reassuring the
passengers and calming the more excitable. They said there was no cause
for alarm. When everything was quieted they told us we might go back to
bed, as the ship was safe. There was no confusion and many returned to
their beds.
"We did not know that the ship was in danger until a comparatively short
time before she sank. Then we were called on deck and the life-boats
were filled and lowered.
"The behavior of the ship's officers at this time was wonderful. There
was no panic, no scramble for places in the boats."
Later there was confusion, and according to most of the passengers'
narratives, there were more than fifty shots fired upon the deck by
officers or others in the effort to maintain the discipline.
FIFTH OFFICER LOWE
A young English woman who requested that her name be omitted told a
thrilling story of her experience in one of the collapsible boats which
had been manned by eight of the crew from the Titanic. The boat was in
command of the fifth officer, H. Lowe, whose actions she described as
saving the lives of many people. Before the life-boat was launched he
passed along the port deck of the steamer, commanding the people not
to jump in the boats, and otherwise restraining them from swamping
the craft. When the collapsible was launched Officer Lowe succeeded
in putting up a mast and a small sail. He collected the other boats
together, in some cases the boats were short of adequate crews, and he
directed an exchange by which each was adequately manned. He threw lines
connecting the boats together, two by two, and thus all moved together.
Later on he went back to the wreck with the crew of one of the boats and
succeeded in picking up some of those who had jumped overboard and were
swimming about. On his way back to the Carpathia he passed one of
the collapsible boats which was on the point of sinking with thirty
passengers aboard, most of them in scant night-clothing. They were
rescued just in the nick of time.
ENGINEERS DIED AT POSTS
There were brave men below deck, too. "A lot has been printed in the
papers about the heroism of the officers," said one survivor, "but
little has been said of the bravery of the men below decks. I was told
that seventeen enginemen who were drowned side by side got down on their
knees on the platform of the engine room and prayed until the water
surged up to their necks. Then they stood up, clasped hands so as to
form a circle and died together. All of these men helped rake the fires
out from ten of the forward boilers after the crash. This delayed the
explosion and undoubtedly permitted the ship to remain afloat nearly an
hour longer, and thus saved hundreds of lives."
In the list of heroes who went down on the Titanic the names of her
engineers will have a high place, for not a single engineer was saved.
Many of them, no doubt, could not get to the deck, but they had equally
as good a chance as the firemen, sixty-nine of whom were saved.
The supposition of those who manned the Titanic was that the engineers,
working below, were the first to know the desperate character of the
Titanic's injury. The watch called the others, and from that time until
the vessel was ready for her last plunge they were too hard at work to
note more than that there was a constant rise of water in the hull, and
that the pumps were useless.
It was engineers who kept the lights going, saw to the proper closing of
bulkhead doors and kept the stoke hole at work until the uselessness of
the task was apparent. Most of them probably died at their post of duty.
The Titanic carried a force of about sixty engineers, and in addition
she had at least twenty-five "guarantee" engineers, representatives of
Harland and Wolff, the builders, and those who had the contract for the
engineering work. This supplementary force was under Archie Frost, the
builders' chief engineer, and the regular force was under Chief Engineer
William Bell, of the White Star Line.
On the line's ships there is the chief engineer, senior and junior
second, senior and junior third, and senior and junior fourth engineers.
The men are assigned each to his own task. There are hydraulic,
electric, pump and steam packing men, and the "guarantee" engineers,
representing the builders and the contractors.
The duty of the "guarantee" engineers is to watch the working of the
great engines, and to see that they are tuned up and in working order.
They also watch the working of each part of the machinery which had
nothing to do with the actual speed of the ship, principally the
electric light dynamos and the refrigerating plant.
NOBLE-HEARTED BAND
"But what of the bandsmen? Who were they?"
This question was asked again and again by all who read the story of
the Titanic's sinking and of how the brave musicians played to the last,
keeping up the courage of those who were obliged to go down with the
ship.
Many efforts were made to find out who the men were, but little was
made public until the members of the orchestra of the steamship Celtic
reached shore for the first time after the disaster. One of their
first queries was about the musicians of the Titanic. Their anxiety was
greater than that of any New Yorker, for the members of the band of the
Celtic knew intimately the musicians of the ill-fated liner.
"Not one of them saved!" cried John S. Carr, 'cellist on the Celtic. "It
doesn't seem possible they have all gone.
"We knew most of them well. They were Englishmen, you know--every one of
them, I think. Nearly all the steamship companies hire their musicians
abroad, and the men interchange between the ships frequently, so we get
a chance to know one another pretty well. The musicians for the Titanic
were levied from a number of other White Star ships, but most of the men
who went down with the Titanic had bunked with us at some time."
"The thing I can't realize is that happy 'Jock' Hume is dead," exclaimed
Louis Cross, a player of the bass viol. "He was the merriest, happiest
young Scotchman you ever saw. His family have been making musical
instruments in Scotland for generations. I heard him say once that they
were minstrels in the old days. It is certainly hard to believe that he
is not alive and having his fun somewhere in the world."
At least he helped to make the deaths of many less cruel.
CHAPTER XXI. SEARCHING FOR THE DEAD
SENDING OUT THE MACKAY-BENNETT AND MINIA--BREMEN PASSENGERS SEE
BODIES--IDENTIFYING BODIES--CONFUSION IN NAMES--RECOVERIES
A FEW days after the disaster the cable steamer Mackay-Bennett was sent
out by the White Star Line to cruise in the vicinity of the disaster and
search for missing bodies.
Two wireless messages addressed to J. Bruce Ismay, president of the
International Mercantile Marine Company, were received on April 21st at
the offices of the White Star Line from the cable ship Mackay-Bennett,
via Cape Race, one of which reported that the steamship Rhein had
sighted bodies near the scene of the Titanic wreck. The first message,
which was dated April 20th, read:
"Steamer Rhein reports passing wreckage and bodies 42.1 north, 49.13
west, eight miles west of three big icebergs. Now making for that
position. Expect to arrive 8 o'clock to-night.
(Signed) "MACKAY-BENNETT."
The second message read:
"Received further information from Bremen (presumably steamship Bremen)
and arrived on ground at 8 o'clock P. M. Start on operation to-morrow.
Have been considerably delayed on passage by dense fog.
(Signed) "MACKAY-BENNETT."
After receiving these messages Mr. Ismay issued the following statement:
"The cable ship Mackay-Bennett has been chartered by the White Star Line
and ordered to proceed to the scene of the disaster and do all she could
to recover the bodies and glean all information possible.
"Every effort will be made to identify bodies recovered, and any news
will be sent through immediately by wireless. In addition to any
such message as these, the Mackay-Bennett will make a report of its
activities each morning by wireless, and such reports will be made
public at the offices of the White Star Line.
"The cable ship has orders to remain on the scene of the wreck for at
least a week, but should a large number of bodies be recovered before
that time she will return to Halifax with them. The search for bodies
will not be abandoned until not a vestige of hope remains for any more
recoveries.
"The Mackay-Bennett will not make any soundings, as they would not serve
any useful purpose, because the depth where the Titanic sank is more
than 2000 fathoms."
On April 22d the first list of twenty-seven names of bodies recovered
was made public. It contained that of Frederick Sutton, a well-known
member of the Union League of Philadelphia. It did not contain the name
of any other prominent man who perished, although it was thought that
the name "George W. Widen" might refer to George D. Widener, son of
P. A. B. Widener, of Philadelphia. The original passenger lists of
the Titanic did not mention "Widen," which apparently established the
identity of the body as that of Mr. Widener, who, together with his son,
Harry, was lost.
The wireless message, after listing the names, concluded, "All
preserved," presumably referring to the condition of the bodies.
A number of the names in the list did not check up with the Titanic's
passenger list, which led to the belief that a number of the bodies
recovered were members of the Titanic's crew.
MINIA SENT TO ASSIST
At noon, April 23d, there was posted on the bulletin in the White Star
office this message from the Mackay-Bennett dated Sunday, April 21st:
"Latitude, 41.58; longitude, 49.21. Heavy southwest swell has interfered
with operations. Seventy-seven bodies recovered. All not embalmed will
be buried at sea at 8 o'clock to-night with divine service. Can bring
only embalmed bodies to port."
To Captain Lardner, master of the Mackay-Bennett, P. A. S. Franklin,
vice-president of the White Star Line, sent an urgent message asking
that the company be advised at once of all particulars concerning the
bodies identified, and also given any information that might lead to
the identification of others. He said it was very important that every
effort be made to bring all of the bodies possible to port.
Mr. Franklin then directed A. G. Jones, the Halifax agent of the White
Star Line, to charter the Minia and send her to the assistance of the
Mackay-Bennett. Mr. Jones answered this telegram, and said that the
Minia was ready to proceed to sea, but that a southeast gale, which
generally brings fog, might delay her departure. She left for Halifax.
NAMES BADLY GARBLED
On April 24th no wireless message was received from the Mackay-Bennett,
but the White Star Line officials and telegraphers familiar with the
wireless alphabet were busy trying to reconcile some of the names
received with those of persons who went down on the Titanic. That the
body of William T. Stead, the English journalist and author, had
been recovered by the Mackay-Bennett, but through a freakish error in
wireless transmission the name of another was reported instead, was one
of the theories advanced by persons familiar with the Morse code.
BREMEN SIGHTED MORE THAN A HUNDRED BODIES
When the German liner Bremen reached New York the account of its having
sighted bodies of the Titanic victims was obtained.
From the bridge, officers of the ship saw more than a hun-dred bodies
floating on the sea, a boat upside down, together with a number of small
pieces of wood, steamer chairs and other wreckage. As the cable ship
Mackay-Bennett was in sight, and having word that her mission was to
look for bodies, no attempt was made by the Bremen's crew to pick up the
corpses.
In the vicinity was seen an iceberg which answered the description of
the one the Titanic struck. Smaller bergs were sighted the same day, but
at some distance from where the Titanic sank.
The officers of the Bremen did not care to talk about the tragic
spectacle, but among the passengers several were found who gave accounts
of the dismal panorama through which their ship steamed.
Mrs. Johanna Stunke, a first-cabin passenger, described the scene from
the liner's rail.
"It was between 4 and 5 o'clock, Saturday, April 20th," she said, "when
our ship sighted an iceberg off the bow to the starboard. As we drew
nearer, and could make out small dots floating around in the sea, a
feeling of awe and sadness crept over everyone on the ship.
"We passed within a hundred feet of the southernmost drift of the
wreckage, and looking down over the rail we distinctly saw a number
of bodies so clearly that we could make out what they were wearing and
whether they were men or women.
"We saw one woman in her night dress, with a baby clasped closely to
her breast. Several women passengers screamed and left the rail in a
fainting condition. There was another woman, fully dressed, with her
arms tight around the body of a shaggy dog.
"The bodies of three men in a group, all clinging to one steamship
chair, floated near by, and just beyond them were a dozen bodies of men,
all of them encased in life-preservers, clinging together as though in
a last desperate struggle for life. We couldn't see, but imagined that
under them was some bit of wreckage to which they all clung when the
ship went down, and which didn't have buoyancy enough to support them.
"Those were the only bodies we passed near enough to distinguish, but
we could see the white life-preservers of many more dotting the sea, all
the way to the iceberg. The officers told us that was probably the
berg hit by the Titanic, and that the bodies and ice had drifted along
together."
Mrs. Stunke said a number of the passengers demanded that the Bremen
stop and pick up the bodies, but the officers assured them that they had
just received a wireless message saying the cable ship Mackay-Bennett
was only two hours away fron{sic} the spot, and was coming for that
express purpose.
Other passengers corroborated Mrs. Stunke.
THE IDENTIFED{sic} DEAD.
On April 25th the White Star Line officials issued a corrected list of
the identified dead. While the corrected list cleared up two or more of
the wireless confusions that caused so much speculation in the original
list, there still remained a few names that so far as the record of the
Titanic showed were not on board that ship when she foundered.
The new list, however, established the fact that the body of George D.
Widener, of Philadelphia, was among those on the Mackay-Bennett, and two
of the bodies were identified as those of men named Butt.
THE MACKAY-BENNETT RETURNS TO PORT
After completing her search the Mackay-Bennett steamed for Halifax,
reaching that port on Tuesday, April 30th. With her flag at half mast,
the death ship docked slowly. Her crew manned the rails with bared
heads, and on the aft deck were stacked the caskets with the dead. The
vessel carried on board 190 bodies, and announcement was made that 113
other bodies had been buried at sea.
Everybody picked up had been in a life-belt and there were no bullet
holes in any. Among those brought to port were the bodies of two women.
THE MINIA GIVES UP THE SEARCH
When at last the Minia turned her bow toward shore only thirteen
additional bodies had been recovered, making a total of 316 bodies found
by the two ships.
Further search seemed futile. Not only had the two vessels gone
thoroughly over as wide a field as might likely prove fruitful, but,
in addition, the time elapsed made it improbable that other bodies, if
found, could be brought to shore. Thus did the waves completely enforce
the payment of their terrible toll.
{illust. caption = ISADOR STRAUS
The New York millionaire merchant and philanthropist who lost his life
when the giant Titanic foundered at sea after hitting an iceberg.}
{illust. caption = ICEBERG PHOTOGRAPHED NEAR SCENE OF DISASTER
This photograph shows what is quite...}
LIST OF IDENTIFIED DEAD
Following is a list of those whose identity was wholly or partially
established:
ASTOR, JOHN JACOB.
ADONIS, J.
ALE, WILLIAM.
ARTAGAVEYTIA, RAMON.
ASHE, H. W.
ADAHL, MAURITZ.
ANDERSON, THOMAS.
ADAMS, J.
ASPALANDE, CARL.
ALLEN, H.
ANDERSON, W. Y.
ALLISON, H. J.
BUTT, W. (seaman).
BUTT, W. (may be Major Butt).
BUTTERWORTH, ABELJ.
BAILEY, G. F.
BARKER, E. T.
BUTLER, REGINALD.
BIRNBAUM, JACOB.
BRISTOW, R. C.
BUCKLEY, KATHERINE.
CHAPMAN, JOHN H.
CHAPMAN, CHARLES.
CONNORS, P.
CLONG, MILTON.
COX, DENTON.
CAVENDISH, TYRRELL w.
CARBINES, W.
DUTTON, F.
DASHWOOD, WILLIAM.
DULLES, W. C.
DOUGLAS, W. D.
DRAZENOUI, YOSIP (referring probably to
Joseph Draznovic).
DONATI, ITALO (waiter).
ENGINEER, A. E. F.
ELLIOTT, EDWARD.
FARRELL, JAMES.
FAUNTHORPE, H.
GILL, J. H.
GREENBERG, H.
GILINSKI, LESLIE.
GRAHAM, GEORGE.
GILES, RALPH.
GIVARD, HANS C.
HANSEN, HENRY D.
HAYTOR, A.
HAYS, CHALES M.
HODGES, H. P.
HELL, J. C.
HEWITT, T.
HARRISON, H. H.
HALE, REG.
HENDEKERIC, TOZNAI.
HINTON, W.
HARBECK, W. H.
HOLVERDON, A. O. (probably A. M.
Halverson of Troy).
HOFFMAN, LOUIS M.
HINCKLEY, G.
Hospital Attendant, no name given.
JOHANSEN, MALCOLM.
JOHANSEN, ERIC.
JOHANSSON, GUSTAF J.
JOHANSEN, A. F.
JONES, C. C.
KELLY, JAMES.
LAURENCE, A.
LOUCH, CHARLES.
LONG, MILTON C.
LILLY, A.
LINHART, WENZELL.
MARRIORTT, W. H. (no such name appears
on the list of passengers or crew).
MANGIN, MARY.
McNAMEE, MRS. N. (probably Miss
Elleen McNamee.)
MACK, MRS.
MONROE, JEAN.
McCAFFRY, THOMAS.
MORGAN, THOMAS.
MOEN, SEGURD H.
NEWELL, T. H.
NASSER, NICOLAS.
NORMAN, ROBERT D.
PETTY, EDWIN H.
PARTNER, AUSTIN.
PENNY, OLSEN F.
POGGI, ----.
RAGOZZI, A. BOOTHBY.
RICE, J. R.
ROBINS, A.
ROBINSON, J. M.
ROSENSHINE, GEORGE.
STONE, J.
STEWARD, 76.
STOKES, PHILIP J.
STANTON, W.
STRAUS, ISIDOR.
SAGE, WILLIAM.
SHEA, ----.
SUTTON, FREDERICK.
SOTHER, SIMON.
SCHEDID, NIHIL.
SWANK, GEORGE.
SEBASTIANO, DEL CARLO.
STANBROCKE, A.
TOMLIN, ETNEST P.
TALBOT, G.
VILLNER, HENDRICK K.
VASSILIOS, CATALEVAS (thought to be a
confusion of two surnames).
VEAR, W. (may be W. J. Ware or W. T.
Stead).
WIDENER, GEORGE W.
WILLIAMS, LESLIE.
WIRZ, ALBERT
WIKLUND, JACOB A.
WAILENS, ACHILLE.
WHITE, F. F.
WOODY, O. S.
WERSZ, LEOPOLD.
ZACARIAN, MAURI DER.
CHAPTER XXII. CRITICISM OF ISMAY
CRIMINAL AND COWARDLY CONDUCT CHARGED--PROPER CAUTION NOT EXERCISED WHEN
PRESENCE OF ICEBERGS WAS KNOWN--SHOULD HAVE STAYED ON BOARD TO HELP
IN WORK OF RESCUE--SELFISH AND UNSYMPATHETIC ACTIONS ON BOARD THE
CARPATHIA--ISMAY'S DEFENSE--WILLIAM E. CARTER'S STATEMENT
FROM the moment that Bruce Ismay's name was seen among those of the
survivors of the Titanic he became the object of acrid attacks in
every quarter where the subject of the disaster was discussed. Bitter
criticism held that he should have been the last to leave the doomed
vessel.
His critics insisted that as managing director of the White Star Line
his responsibility was greater even than Captain Smith's, and while
granting that his survival might still be explained, they condemned his
apparent lack of heroism. Even in England his survival was held to be
the one great blot on an otherwise noble display of masculine courage.
A prominent official of the White Star Line shook his head meaningly
when asked what he thought of Ismay's escape with the women and
children. The general feeling seemed to be that he should have stayed
aboard the sinking vessel, looking out for those who were left, playing
the man like Major Butt and many another and going down with the ship
like Captain Smith.
He was also charged with urging a speed record and with ignoring
information received with regard to icebergs.
FEELING IN ENGLAND
The belief in England was that the captain of the Carpathia had acted
under Ismay's influence in refusing to permit any account of the
disaster to be transmitted previous to the arrival of the vessel in New
York. Ismay's telegram making arrangements for the immediate deportation
of the survivors among the Titanic's crew was taken to be part of the
same scheme to delay if not to prevent their stories of the wreck from
being obtained in New York.
Another circumstance which created a damaging impression was Ismay's
failure to give the names of the surviving crew, whose distraught
families were entitled to as much consideration as those whose relatives
occupied the most expensive suites on the Titanic. The anguish endured
by the families of members of the crew was reported as indescribable,
and Southampton was literally turned into a city of weeping and tragic
pathos. The wives of two members of the crew died of shock and suspense.
CRIED FOR FOOD
Mr. Ismay's actions while on the Carpathia were also criticised as
selfish and unwarrantable.
"For God's sake get me something to eat, I'm starved. I don't care what
it costs or what it is. Bring it to me."
This was the first statement made by Mr. Ismay a few minutes after he
was landed on the Carpathia. It is vouched for by an officer of the
Carpathia who requested that his name be withheld. This officer gave
one of the most complete stories of the events that took place on the
Carpathia from the time she received the Titanic's appeal for assistance
until she landed the survivors at the Cunard Line pier.
"Ismay reached the Carpathia in about the seventh life-boat," said the
officer. "I didn't know who he was, but afterward I heard the other
members of the crew discussing his desire to get something to eat the
minute he put his foot on deck. The steward who waited on him reported
that Ismay came dashing into the dining room and said.
"'Hurry, for God's sake, and get me something to eat, I'm starved. I
don't care what it costs or what it is. Bring it to me.'"
"The steward brought Ismay a load of stuff and when he had finished
it he handed the man a two dollar bill. 'Your money is no good on this
ship,' the steward told him.
"'Take it,' insisted Ismay. 'I am well able to afford it. I will see
to it that the boys of the Carpathia are well rewarded for this night's
work.'
"This promise started the steward making inquiries as to the identity of
the man he had waited on. Then we learned that he was Ismay. I did not
see Ismay after the first few hours. He must have kept to his cabin."
REPLY TO CHARGES
Mr. Ismay's plans had been to return immediately to England, and he
had wired that the steamer Cedric be held for himself and officers and
members of the crew; but public sentiment and subpoenas of the Senate's
investigating committee prevented. In the face of the criticism aimed
against him Mr. Ismay issued a long statement in which he not only
disclaimed responsibility for the Titanic's fatal collision, but also
sought to clear himself of blame for everything that happened after the
big ship was wrecked.
He laid the responsibility for the tragedy on Captain Smith.
He expressed astonishment that his own conduct in the disaster had been
made the subject of inquiry. He denied that he gave any order to Captain
Smith. His position aboard was that of any other first cabin passenger,
he insisted, and he was never consulted by the captain. He denied
telling anyone that he wished the ship to make a speed record. He
called attention to the routine clause in the instructions to White Star
captains ordering them to think of safety at all times. He did not dine
with the captain, he said, and when the ship struck the berg, he was not
sitting with the captain in the saloon.
The managing director added that he was in his stateroom when the
collision occurred. He told of helping to send women and children away
in life-boats on the starboard side, and said there was no woman in
sight on deck when he and William E. Carter, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., entered
the collapsible boat--the last small craft left on that side of the
vessel. He asserted that he pulled an oar and denied that in sending the
three messages from the Carpathia, urging the White Star officials to
hold the Cedric for the survivors of the Titanic's officers and crew, he
had any intention to block investigation of the tragedy. Ismay asserted
that he did not know there was to be an investigation until the Cunarder
docked.
Mr. William E. Carter, of Bryn Mawr, who, with his family, was saved,
confirmed Mr. Ismay's assertions.
"Mr. Ismay's statement is absolutely correct," said Mr. Carter. "There
were no women on the deck when that boat was launched. We were the very
last to leave the deck, and we entered the life-boat because there were
no women to enter it.
"The deck was deserted when the boat was launched, and Mr. Ismay and
myself decided that we might as well enter the boat and pull away from
the wreck. If he wants me, I assume that he will write to me.
"I can say nothing, however, that he has not already said, as our
narratives are identical; the circumstances under which we were rescued
from the Titanic were similar. We left the boat together and were picked
up together, and, further than that, we were the very last to leave the
deck.
"I am ready to go to Washington to testify to the truth of Mr. Ismay's
statement, and also to give my own account at any time I may be called
upon. If Mr. Ismay writes to me, asking that I give a detailed account
of our rescue I will do so."
CHAPTER XXIII. THE FINANCIAL LOSS
TITANIC NOT FULLY INSURED--VALUABLE CARGO AND MAIL--NO CHANCE FOR
SALVAGE--LIFE INSURANCE LOSS--LOSS TO THE CARPATHIA
SO great was the interest in the tragedy and so profound the grief at
the tremendous loss of life that for a time the financial loss was
not considered. It was, however, the biggest ever suffered by marine
insurance brokers.
The value of the policy covering the vessel against all ordinary risks
was $5,000,000, but the whole of this amount was not insured, because
British and Continental markets were not big enough to swallow it.
The actual amount of insurance was $3,700,000, of which the owners
themselves held $750,000.
As to the cargo, it was insured by the shippers. The company has nothing
to do with the insurance of the cargo, which, according to the company's
manifest, was conservatively estimated at about $420,000. Cargo,
however, was a secondary matter, so far as the Titanic was concerned.
The ship was built for high-priced passengers, and what little cargo
she carried was also of the kind that demanded quick transportation.
The Titanic's freight was for the most part what is known as high-class
package freight, consisting of such articles as fine laces, ostrich
feathers, wines, liquors and fancy food commodities.
LOST MAIL MAY COST MILLIONS
Prior to the sailing of the vessel the postal authorities of Southampton
cabled the New York authorities that 3435 bags of mail matter were on
board.
"In a load of 3500 bags," said Postmaster Morgan, of New York, "it is
a safe estimate to say that 200 contained registered mail. The size of
registered mail packages varies greatly, but 1000 packages for each
mail bag should be a conservative guess. That would mean that 200,000
registered packages and letters went down with the Titanic.
"This does not mean, however, that Great Britain will be held
financially responsible for all these losses. There were probably
thousands of registered packages from the Continent, and in such cases
the countries of origin will have to reimburse the senders. Moreover, in
the case of money being sent in great quantities, it is usual to insure
the registry over and above the limit of responsibility set by the
country of origin.
"Probably if there were any shipping of securities mounting up to
thousands of dollars, it will be the insurance companies which will bear
the loss, and not the European post-offices at all."
In the case of money orders, the postmaster explained, there would be
no loss, except of time, as duplicates promptly would be shipped without
further expense.
The postmaster did not know the exact sum which the various European
countries set as the limit of their guarantee in registered mail. In
America it is $50.
Underwriters will probably have to meet heavy claims of passengers for
luggage, including jewelry. Pearls of one American woman insured in
London were valued at $240,000.
NO CHANCE FOR SALVAGE
The Titanic and her valuable cargo can never be recovered, said the
White Star Line officials.
"Sinking in mid-ocean, at the depth which prevails where the accident
occurred," said Captain James Parton, manager of the company,
"absolutely precludes any hopes of salvage."
LIFE INSURANCE LOSS
In the life insurance offices there was much figuring over the lists of
those thought to be lost aboard the Titanic. Nothing but rough estimates
of the company's losses through the wreck were given out.
LOSS TO THE CARPATHIA
The loss to the Carpathia, too, was considerable. It is, of course, the
habit of all good steamship lines to go out of their way and cheerfully
submit to financial loss when it comes to succoring the distressed
or the imperiled at sea. Therefore, the Cunard line in extending the
courtesies of the sea to the survivors of the Titanic asked for nothing
more than the mere acknowledgment of the little act of kindness. The
return of the Carpathia cost the line close to $10,000.
She was delayed on her way to the Mediterranean at least ten days and
was obliged to coal and provision again, as the extra 800 odd passengers
she was carrying reduced her large allowance for her long voyage to the
Mediterranean and the Adriatic very much.
CHAPTER XXIV. OPINIONS OF EXPERTS
CAPTAIN E. K. RODEN, LEWIS NIXON, GENERAL GREELY AND ROBERT H. KIRK
POINT OUT LESSONS TAUGHT BY TITANIC DISASTER AND NEEDED CHANGES IN
CONSTRUCTION
THE tremendous loss of life necessarily aroused a discussion as to the
cause of the disaster, and the prevailing opinion seemed to be that the
present tendency in shipbuilding was to sacrifice safety to luxury.
Captain Roden, a well-known Swedish navigator, had written an article
maintaining this theory in the Navy, a monthly service magazine, in
November, 1910. With seeming prophetic insight he had mentioned the
Titanic by name and portrayed some of the dangers to which shipbuilding
for luxury is leading.
He pointed out that the new steamships, the Olympic and Titanic, would
be the finest vessels afloat, no expense being spared to attain every
conceivable comfort for which men or women of means could possibly
ask--staterooms with private shower-baths, a swimming pool large enough
for diving, a ballroom covering an entire upper deck, a gymnasium,
elaborate cafes, a sun deck representing a flower garden, and other
luxuries.
After forcibly pointing out the provisions that should be made for the
protection of life, Captain Roden wrote in conclusion:
"If the men controlling passenger ships, from the ocean liner down to
the excursion barge, were equally disposed to equip their vessels with
the best safety appliances as they are to devise and adopt implements
of comfort and luxury, the advantage to themselves as well as to their
patrons would be plainly apparent."
VIEW OF LEWIS NIXON
Lewis Nixon, the eminent naval architect and designer of the battleship
Oregon, contributed a very interesting comment. He said in part:
"Here was a vessel presumed, and I think rightly so, to be the
perfection of the naval architect's art, yet sunk in a few hours by an
accident common to North Atlantic navigation.
THE UNSINKABLE SHIP
"An unsinkable ship is possible, but it would be of little use except
for flotation. It may be said that vessels cannot be built to withstand
such an accident.
"We might very greatly subdivide the forward compartments, where much
space is lost at best, making the forward end, while amply strong for
navigation purposes, of such construction that it would collapse
and take up some of the energy of impact; then tie this to very much
stronger sections farther aft. Many such plans will be proposed by those
who do not realize the momentum of a great vessel which will snap great
cables like ribbons, when the motion of the vessel is not perceptible to
the eye.
"The proper plan is to avoid the accident, and if an accident is
unavoidable to minimize the loss of life and property."
VIEW OF ROBERT H. KIRK
The Titanic disaster was discussed by Robert H. Kirk, who installed the
compartment doors in the ships of the United States Navy. Mr. Kirk's
opinion follows:
"The Titanic's disaster will cause endless speculation as to how similar
disasters may be avoided in the future.
BULKHEAD DOORS PROBABLY OPEN
"The Titanic had bulkheads, plenty of them, for the rules of the British
Board of Trade and of Lloyds are very specific and require enough
compartments to insure floating of the ship though several may be
flooded. She also had doors in the bulkheads, and probably plenty of
them, for she was enormous and needed easy access from one compartment
to another. It will probably never be known how _FEW_ of these doors
were closed when she struck the iceberg, but the probability is that
many were open, for in the confusion attending such a crash the crews
have a multitude of duties to perform, and closing a door with water
rushing through it is more of a task than human muscle and bravery can
accomplish.
"A Lloyds surveyor in testing one of these hand-operated doors started
two men on the main deck to close it. They worked four hours before they
had carried out his order. If all the doors on the ship had worked as
badly as this one, what would have happened in event of accident?"
MANIA FOR SPEED
General Adolphus W. Greely, U. S. A., noted American traveler and Arctic
explorer, vehemently denounced the sinking of the Titanic and the loss
of over 1600 souls as a terrible sacrifice to the American mania for
speed. He gave his opinion that the Titanic came to grief through an
attempt on the part of the steamship management to establish a new
record by the vessel on her maiden voyage.
The Titanic, General Greely declared, had absolutely no business above
Cape Race and north of Sable Island on the trip on which she went to her
doom. Choosing the northern route brought about the dire disaster, in
his mind, and it was the saving of three hours for the sake of a new
record that ended in the collision with the tragic victory for the
ghostlike monster out of the far north.
It was the opinion of General Greely, capable of judging after his many
trips in quest of the pole, that neither Captain Smith nor any of his
officers saw the giant iceberg which encompassed their ruin until they
were right upon it. Then, the ship was plunging ahead at such frightful
velocity that the Titanic was too close to avert striking the barrier
lined up across its path.
CHAPTER XXV. OTHER GREAT MARINE DISASTERS
DEADLY DANGER OF ICEBERGS--DOZENS OF SHIPS PERISH IN COLLISION--OTHER
DISASTERS
THE danger of collision with icebergs has always been one of the most
deadly that confront the mariner. Indeed, so well recognized is this
peril of the Newfoundland Banks, where the Labrador current in the early
spring and summer months floats southward its ghostly argosy of
icy pinnacles detached from the polar ice caps, that the government
hydrographic offices and the maritime exchanges spare no pains to
collate and disseminate the latest bulletins on the subject.
THE ARIZONA
A most remarkable case of an iceberg collision is that of the Guion
Liner, Arizona, in 1879. She was then the greyhound of the Atlantic, and
the largest ship afloat--5750 tons except the Great Eastern. Leaving New
York in November for Liverpool, with 509 souls aboard, she was coursing
across the Banks, with fair weather but dark, when, near midnight, about
250 miles east of St. John's, she rammed a monster ice island at full
speed eighteen knots. Terrific was the impact.
The welcome word was passed along that the ship, though sorely stricken,
would still float until she could make harbor. The vast white terror had
lain across her course,
{illust. caption = THE SHAPE OF AN ICEBERG
Showing the bulk and formation under water and the consequent danger
to vessels even without actual contact with the visible part of the
iceberg.}
stretching so far each way that, when described, it was too late to
alter the helm. Its giant shape filled the foreground, towering high
above the masts, grim and gaunt and ghastly, immovable as the adamantine
buttresses of a frowning seaboard, while the liner lurched and staggered
like a wounded thing in agony as her engines slowly drew her back from
the rampart against which she had flung herself.
She was headed for St. John's at slow speed, so as not to strain the
bulkhead too much, and arrived there thirty-six hours later. That little
port--the crippled ship's hospital--has seen many a strange sight come
in from the sea, but never a more astounding spectacle than that which
the Arizona presented the Sunday forenoon she entered there.
"Begob, captain!" said the pilot, as he swung himself over the rail.
"I've heard of carrying coals to Newcastle, but this is the first time
I've seen a steamer bringing a load of ice into St. John's."
They are a grim race, these sailors, and, the danger over, the captain's
reply was: "We were lucky, my man, that we didn't all go to the bottom
in an ice box."
DOZENS OF SHIPS PERISH
But to the one wounded ship that survives collision with a berg, a dozen
perish. Presumably, when the shock comes, it loosens their bulkheads and
they fill and founder, or the crash may injure the boilers or engines,
which explode and tear out the sides, and the ship goes down like a
plummet. As long ago as 1841, the steamer President, with 120 people
aboard, crossing from New York to Liverpool in March, vanished from
human ken. In 1854, in the same month, the City of Glasgow left
Liverpool for Philadelphia with 480 souls, and was never again heard of.
In February, 1856, the Pacific, from Liverpool for New York, carrying
185 persons, passed away down to a sunless sea. In May, 1870, the City
of Boston, from that port for Liverpool, mustering 191 souls, met a
similar fate. It has always been thought that these ships were sunk by
collision with icebergs or floes. As shipping traffic has expanded, the
losses have been more frequent. In February, 1892, the Naronic, from
Liverpool for New York; in the same month in 1896, the State of Georgia,
from Aberdeen for Boston; in February, 1899, the Alleghany, from New
York for Dover; and once more in February, 1902, the Huronian, from
Liverpool for St. John's--all disappeared without leaving a trace.
Between February and May, the Grand Banks are most infested with ice,
and collision therewith is' the most likely explanation of the loss of
these steamers, all well manned and in splendid trim, and meeting only
the storms which scores of other ships have braved without a scathe.
TOLL OF THE SEA
Among the important marine disasters recorded since 1866 are the
following:
1866, Jan. 11.--Steamer London, on her way to Melbourne, foundered in
the Bay of Biscay; 220 lives lost.
1866, Oct. 3.--Steamer Evening Star, from New York to New Orleans,
foundered; about 250 lives lost.
1867, Oct. 29.--Royal Mail steamers Rhone and Wye and about fifty
other vessels driven ashore and wrecked at St Thomas, West Indies, by a
hurricane; about 1,000 lives lost.
1873, Jan. 22.--British steamer Northfleet sunk in collision off
Dungeness; 300 lives lost
1873, Nov. 23.--White Star liner Atlantic wrecked off Nova Scotia; 547
lives lost.
1873, Nov. 23.--French line Ville du Havre, from New York to Havre, in
collision with ship Locharn and sunk in sixteen minutes; 110 lives lost.
1874, Dec. 24.--Emigrant vessel Cospatrick took fire and sank off
Auckland; 476 lives lost.
1875, May 7.--Hamburg Mail steamer Schiller wrecked in fog on Scilly
Islands; 200 lives lost.
1875, Nov. 4.--American steamer Pacific in collision thirty miles
southwest of Cape Flattery; 236 lives lost.
1878, March 24.--British training ship Eurydice, a frigate, foundered
near the Isle of Wight; 300 lives lost.
1878, Sept. 3.--British iron steamer Princess Alice sunk in the Thames
River; 700 lives lost.
1878, Dec. 18.--French steamer Byzantin sunk in collision in the
Dardanelles with the British steamer Rinaldo; 210 lives lost.
1879, Dec. 2.--Steamer Borussia sank off the coast of Spain; 174 lives
lost.
1880, Jan. 31.--British trading ship Atlanta left Bermuda with 290 men
and was never heard from.
1881, Aug. 30.--Steamer Teuton wrecked off the Cape of Good Hope; 200
lives lost.
1883, July 3.--Steamer Daphne turned turtle in the Clyde; 124 lives
lost.
1884, Jan. 18.--American steamer City of Columbus wrecked off Gay Head
Light, Massachusetts; 99 lived lost.
1884, July 23.--Spanish steamer Gijon and British steamer Lux in
collision off Finisterre; 150 lives lost.
1887, Jan. 29.--Steamer Kapunda in collision with bark Ada Melore off
coast of Brazil; 300 lives lost.
1887, Nov. 15.--British steamer Wah Young caught fire between Canton and
Hong Kong; 400 lives lost.
1888, Sept. 13.--Italian steamship Sud America and steamer La France in
collision near the Canary Islands; 89 lives lost.
1889, March 16.--United States warships Trenton, Vandalia and Nipsic and
German ships Adler and Eber wrecked on Samoan Islands; 147 lives lost.
1890, Jan. 2.--Steamer Persia wrecked on Corsica; 130 lives lost.
1890, Feb. 17.--British steamer Duburg wrecked in the China Sea; 400
lives lost.
1890, March 1.--British steamship Quetta foundered in Torres Straits;
124 lives lost.
1890, Dec. 27.--British steamer Shanghai burned in China Seas; 101 lives
lost.
1891, March 17.--Anchor liner Utopia in collision with British steamer
Anson off Gibraltar and sunk; 574 lives lost.
1892, Jan. 13.--Steamer Namehow wrecked in China Sea; 414 lives lost.
1892, Oct. 28.--Anchor liner Romania, wrecked off Portugal; 113 lives
lost.
1893, Feb. 8.--Anchor liner Trinairia, wrecked off Spain; 115 lives
lost.
1894, June 25.--Steamer Norge, wrecked on Rockall Reef, in the North
Atlantic; nearly 600 lives lost.
1895, Jan. 30.--German steamer Elbe sunk in collision with British
steamer Crathie in North Sea; 335 lives lost.
1898, July 4.--French line steamer La Bourgogne in collision with
British sailing vessel Cromartyshire; 571 lives lost.
1898, Nov. 27.--American steamer Portland, wrecked off Cape Cod, Mass.;
157 lives lost.
1901, April 1.--Turkish transport Aslam wrecked in the Red Sea; over 180
lives lost.
1902, July 21.--Steamer Primus sunk in collision with the steamer Hansa
on the Lower Elbe; 112 lives lost.
1903, June 7.--French steamer Libau sunk in collision with steamer
Insulerre near Marseilles; 150 lives lost.
1904, June 15. General Slocum, excursion steamboat, took fire going
through Hell Gate, East River; more than 1000 lives lost.
1906, Jan. 21.--Brazilian battleship Aquidaban sunk near Rio Janeiro by
an explosion of the powder magazines; 212 lives lost.
1906, Jan. 22.--American steamer Valencia lost off Cloose, Pacific
Coast; 140 lives lost.
1906, Aug. 4.--Italian emigrant ship Sirio struck a rock off Cape Palos;
350 lives lost.
1906, Oct. 21.--Russian steamer Variag, on leaving Vladivostock, struck
by a torpedo and sunk; 140 lives lost.
1907, Feb. 12.--American steamer Larchmond sunk in collision off Rhode
Island coast; 131 lives lost.
1907, July 20.--American steamers Columbia and San Pedro collided on the
Californian coast; 100 lives lost.
1907, Nov. 26.--Turkish steamer Kaptain foundered in the North Sea; 110
lives lost.
1908, March 23.--Japanese steamer Mutsu Maru sunk in collision near
Hakodate; 300 lives lost.
1908, April 30.--Japanese training cruiser Matsu Shima sunk off the
Pescadores owing to an explosion; 200 lives lost.
1909, Jan. 24.--Collision between the Italian steamer Florida and the
White Star liner Republic, about 170 miles east of New York during a
fog; a large number of lives were saved by the arrival of the steamer
Baltic, which received the "C. Q. D.," or distress signal sent up by
wireless by the Republic January 22. The Republic sank while being
towed; 6 lives lost.
1910, Feb. 9.--French line steamer General Chanzy off Minorca; 200 lives
lost.
1911, Sept. 25.--French battleship Liberte sunk by explosion in Toulon
harbor; 223 lives lost.
CHAPTER XXVI. DEVELOPMENT OF SHIPBUILDING
EVOLUTION OF WATER TRAVEL--INCREASES IN SIZE OF VESSELS--IS THERE ANY
LIMIT?--ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPEED--TITANIC NOT THE LAST WORD.
THE origin of travel on water dates back to a very early period in human
history, men beginning with the log, the inflated skin, the dug-out
canoe, and upwards through various methods of flotation; while the
paddle, the oar, and finally the sail served as means of propulsion.
This was for inland water travel, and many centuries passed before the
navigation of the sea was dreamed of by adventurous mariners.
The paintings and sculptures of early Egypt show us boats built of sawn
planks, regularly constructed and moved both by oars and sails. At
a later period we read of the Phoenicians, the most daring and
enterprising of ancient navigators, who braved the dangers of the open
sea, and are said by Herodotus to have circumnavigated Africa as early
as 604 B. C. Starting from the Red Sea, they followed the east
coast, rounded the Cape, and sailed north along the west coast to
the Mediterranean, reaching Egypt again in the third year of this
enterprise.
The Carthaginians and Romans come next in the history of shipbuilding,
confining themselves chiefly to the Mediterranean, and using oars as
the principal means of propulsion. Their galleys ranged from one to five
banks of oars. The Roman vessels in the first Punic war were over 100
feet long and had 300 rowers, while they carried 120 soldiers. They did
not use sails until about the beginning of the fourteenth century B. C.
Portugal was the first nation to engage in voyages of discovery, using
vessels of small size in these adventurous journeys. Spain, which soon
became her rival in this field, built larger ships and long held the
lead. Yet the ships with which Columbus made the discovery of America
were of a size and character in which few sailors of the present day
would care to venture far from land.
England was later in coming into the field of adventurous navigation,
being surpassed not only by the Portuguese and Spanish, but by the
Dutch, in ventures to far lands.
Europe long held the precedence in shipbuilding and enterprise in
navigation, but the shores of America had not long been settled before
the venturous colonists had ships upon the seas. The first of these was
built at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine. This was a staunch
little two-masted vessel, which was named the Virginia, supposed to have
been about sixty feet long and seventeen feet in beam. Next in time came
the Restless, built in 1614 or 1615 at New York, by Adrian Blok, a Dutch
captain whose ships had been burned while lying at Manhattan Island.
This vessel, thirty-eight feet long and of eleven feet beam, was
employed for several years in exploring the Atlantic coast.
With the advent of the nineteenth century a new ideal in naval
architecture arose, that of the ship moved by steam-power instead of
wind-power, and fitted to combat with the seas alike in storm and calm,
with little heed as to whether the wind was fair or foul. The steamship
appeared, and grew in size and power until such giants of the wave as
the Titanic and Olympic were set afloat. To the development of this
modern class of ships our attention must now be turned.
As the reckless cowboy of the West is fast becoming a thing of the past,
so is the daring seaman of fame and story. In his place is coming a
class of men miscalled sailors, who never reefed a sail or coiled a
cable, who do not know how to launch a life-boat or pull an oar, and
in whose career we meet the ridiculous episode of the life-boats of the
Titanic, where women were obliged to take the oars from their hands and
row the boats. Thus has the old-time hero of the waves been transformed
into one fitted to serve as a clown of the vaudeville stage.
The advent of steam navigation came early in the nineteenth century,
though interesting steps in this direction were taken earlier. No sooner
was the steam-engine developed than men began to speculate on it as a
moving power on sea and land. Early among these were several Americans,
Oliver Evans, one of the first to project steam railway travel, and
James Rumsey and John Fitch, steamboat inventors of early date. There
were several experimenters in Europe also, but the first to produce a
practical steamboat was Robert Fulton, a native of Pennsylvania, whose
successful boat; the Clermont, made its maiden trip up the Hudson in
1807. A crude affair was the Clermont, with a top speed of about seven
miles an hour; but it was the dwarf from which the giant steamers of
to-day have grown.
Boats of this type quickly made their way over the American rivers and
before 1820 regular lines of steamboats were running between England and
Ireland. In 1817 James Watt, the inventor of the practical steam-engine,
crossed in a steamer from England to Belgium. But these short voyages
were far surpassed by an American enterprise, that of the first ocean
steamship, the Savannah, which crossed the Atlantic from Savannah to
Liverpool in 1819.
Twelve years passed before this enterprise was repeated, the next steam
voyage being in 1831, when the Royal William crossed from Quebec to
England. She used coal for fuel, having utilized her entire hold to
store enough for the voyage. The Savannah had burned pitch-pine under
her engines, for in America wood was long used as fuel for steam-making
purposes. As regards this matter, the problem of fuel was of leading
importance, and it was seriously questioned if a ship could be built to
cross the Atlantic depending solely upon steam power. Steam-engines in
those days were not very economical, needing four or five times as much
fuel for the same power as the engines of recent date.
It was not until 1838 that the problem was solved. On April 23d of that
year a most significant event took place. Two steamships dropped anchor
in the harbor of New York, the Sirius and the Great Western. Both of
these had made the entire voyage under steam, the Sirius, in eighteen
and a half and the Great Western in fourteen and a half days, measuring
from Queenstown. The Sirius had taken on board 450 tons of coal, but all
this was burned by the time Sandy Hook was reached, and she had to burn
her spare spars and forty-three barrels of rosin to make her way up the
bay. The Great Western, on the contrary, had coal to spare.
Two innovations in shipbuilding were soon introduced. These were the
building of iron instead of wooden ships and the replacing of the paddle
wheel by the screw propeller. The screw-propeller was first successfully
introduced by the famous Swede, John Ericsson, in 1835. His propeller
was tried in a small vessel, forty-five feet long and eight wide, which
was driven at the rate of ten miles an hour, and towed a large packet
ship at fair speed. Ericsson, not being appreciated in England, came
to America to experiment. Other inventors were also at work in the same
line.
Their experiments attracted the attention of Isambard Brunel, one of
the greatest engineers of the period, who was then engaged in building
a large paddle-wheel steamer, the Great Britain. Appreciating the new
idea, he had the engines of the new ship changed and a screw propeller
introduced. This ship, a great one for the time, 322 feet long and of
3443 tons, made her first voyage from Liverpool to New York in 1845, her
average speed being 12 1/4 knots an hour, the length of the voyage 14
days and 21 hours.
By the date named the crossing of the Atlantic by steamships had become
a common event. In 1840 the British and Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
was organized, its chief promoter being Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, Nova
Scotia, whose name has long been attached to this famous line.
The first fleet of the Cunard Line comprised four vessels, the
Britannia, Acadia, Caledonia and Columbia. The Unicorn, sent out by this
company as a pioneer, entered Boston harbor on June 2, 1840, being the
first steamship from Europe to reach that port. Regular trips began with
the Britannia, which left Liverpool on July 4, 1840. For a number of
years later this line enjoyed a practical monopoly of the steam carrying
trade between England and the United States. Then other companies came
into the field, chief among them being the Collins Line, started in
1849, and of short duration, and the Inman Line, instituted in 1850.
We should say something here of the comforts and conveniences provided
for the passengers on these early lines. They differed strikingly
from those on the leviathans of recent travel and were little, if any,
superior to those on the packet ships, the active rivals at that date
of the steamers. Then there were none of the comfortable smoking rooms,
well-filled libraries, drawing rooms, electric lights, and other modern
improvements. The saloons and staterooms were in the extreme after part
of the vessel, but the stateroom of that day was little more than a
closet, with two berths, one above the other, and very little standing
room between these and the wall. By paying nearly double fare a
passenger might secure a room for himself, but the room given him
did not compare well even with that of small and unpretentious modern
steamers.
Other ocean steamship companies gradually arose, some of which are still
in existence. But no especial change in ship-building was introduced
until 1870, when the Oceanic Company, now known as the White Star Line,
built the Britannic and Germanic. These were the largest of its early
ships. They were 468 feet long and 35 feet wide, constituting a new type
of extreme length as compared with their width. In the first White Star
ship, the Oceanic, the improvements above mentioned were introduced, the
saloons and staterooms being brought as near as possible to the center
of the ship. All the principal lines built since that date have followed
this example, thus adding much to the comfort of the first-class
passengers.
Speed and economy in power also became features of importance, the
tubular boiler and the compound engine being introduced. These have
developed into the cylindrical, multitubular boiler and the triple
expansion engine, in which a greater percentage of the power of the
steam is utilized and four or five times the work obtained from coal
over that of the old system. The side-wheel was continued in use in the
older ships until this period, but after 1870 it disappeared.
It has been said that the life of iron ships, barring disasters at sea,
is unlimited, that they cannot wear out. This statement has not been
tested, but the fact remains that the older passenger ships have gone
out of service and that steel has now taken the place of iron, as
lighter and more durable.
Something should also be said here of the steam turbine engine, recently
introduced in some of the greatest liners, and of proven value in
several particulars, an important one of these being the doing away with
the vibration, an inseparable accompaniment of the old style engines.
The Olympic and Titanic engines were a combination of the turbine and
reciprocating types. In regard to the driving power, one of the recent
introductions is that of the multiple propeller. The twin screw was
first applied in the City of New York, of the Inman line, and enabled
her to make in 1890 an average speed of a little over six days from New
York to Queenstown. The best record up to October, 1891, was that of the
Teutonic, of five days, sixteen hours, and thirty minutes. Triple-screw
propellers have since then been introduced in some of the greater ships,
and the record speed has been cut down to the four days and ten hours of
the Lusitania in 1908 and the four days, six hours and forty-one minutes
of the Mauretania in 1910.
The Titanic was not built especially for speed, but in every other way
she was the master product of the shipbuilders' art. Progress through
the centuries has been steady, and perhaps the twentieth century will
prepare a vessel that will be unsinkable as well as magnificent. Until
the fatal accident the Titanic and Olympic were considered the last
words on ship-building; but much may still remain to be spoken.
CHAPTER XXVII. SAFETY AND LIFE-SAVING DEVICES
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY--WATER-TIGHT BULKHEADS--SUBMARINE
SIGNALS--LIFE-BOATS AND RAFTS--NIXON'S PONTOON--LIFE-PRESERVERS AND
BUOYS--ROCKETS
THE fact that there are any survivors of the Titanic left to tell the
story of the terrible catastrophe is only another of the hundreds of
instances on record of the value of wireless telegraphy in saving life
on shipboard. Without Marconi's invention it is altogether probable that
the world would never have known of the nature of the Titanic's fate,
for it is only barely within the realm of possibility that any of the
Titanic's passengers' poorly clad, without proper provisions of food and
water, and exposed in the open boats to the frigid weather, would have
survived long enough to have been picked up by a transatlantic liner in
ignorance of the accident to the Titanic.
Speaking (since the Titanic disaster) of the part which wireless
telegraphy has played in the salvation of distressed ships, Guglielmo
Marconi, the inventor of this wonderful science, has said:
"Fifteen years ago the curvature of the earth was looked upon as the
one great obstacle to wireless telegraphy. By various experiments in
the Isle of Wight and at St. John's I finally succeeded in sending the
letter S 2000 miles.
"We have since found that the fog and the dull skies in the vicinity of
England are exceptionally favorable for wireless telegraphy."
Then the inventor told of wireless messages being transmitted 2500
miles across the Abyssinian desert, and of preparation for similar
achievements.
"The one necessary requirement for continued success is that governments
keep from being enveloped in political red tape," said he.
"The fact that a message can be flashed across the wide expanse of ocean
in ten minutes has exceeded my fondest expectations. Some idea of the
progress made may be had by citing the fact that in eleven years the
range of wireless telegraphy has increased from 200 to 3000 miles.
"Not once has wireless telegraphy failed in calling and securing help
on the high seas. A recognition of this is shown in the attitude of the
United States Government in compelling all passenger-carrying vessels
entering our ports to be equipped with wireless apparatus."
Of the Titanic tragedy, Marconi said:
"I know you will all understand when I say that I entertain a deep
feeling of gratitude because of the fact that wireless telegraphy has
again contributed to the saving of life."
WATER-TIGHT BULKHEADS
One of the most essential factors in making ships safe is the
construction of proper bulkheads to divide a ship into water-tight
compartments in case of injury to her hull. Of the modern means of
forming such compartments, and of the complete and automatic devices for
operating the watertight doors which connect them, a full explanation
has already been given in the description of the Titanic's physical
features, to which the reader is referred. A wise precaution usually
taken in the case of twin and triple screw ships is to arrange the
bulkheads so that each engine is in a separate compartment, as is also
each boiler or bank of boilers and each coal bunker.
SUBMARINE SIGNALS
Then there are submarine signals to tell of near-by vessels or shores.
This signal arrangement includes a small tank on either side of the
vessel, just below the water line. Within each is a microphone with
wires leading to the bridge. If the vessel is near any other or
approaching shore, the sounds; conveyed through the water from the
distant object are heard through the receiver of the microphone. These
arrangements are called the ship's ears, and whether the sounds come
from one side of the vessel or the other, the officers can tell the
location of the shore or ship near by. If both ears record, the object
is ahead.
LIFEBOATS AND RAFTS
The construction of life-boats adapts them for very rough weather.
The chief essentials, of course, are ease in launching, strength in
withstanding rough water and bumping when beached; also strength to
withstand striking against wreckage or a ship's side; carrying capacity
and lightness. Those carried on board ship are lighter than those used
in life-saving service on shore. Safety is provided by air-tight tanks
which insure buoyancy in case the boat is filled with water. They
have also self-righting power in case of being overturned; likewise
self-emptying power. Life-boats are usually of the whaleboat type, with
copper air-tight tanks along the side beneath the thwarts, and in the
ends.
Life-boats range from twenty-four to thirty feet in length and carry
from thirty to sixty persons. The rafts carry from twenty to forty
persons. The old-fashioned round bar davits can be got for $100 to $150
a set. The new style davits, quick launchers in type, come as low as
$400 a set.
According to some naval constructors, an ocean steamship can carry in
davits enough boats to take care of all the passengers and crew, it
being simply a question as to whether the steamship owners are willing
to take up that much deck room which otherwise would be used for
lounging chairs or for a promenade.
Nowadays all life-boats are equipped with air tanks to prevent sinking,
with the result that metal boats are as unsinkable as wooden ones. The
metal boats are considered in the United States Navy as superior to
wooden ones, for several reasons: They do not break or collapse; they
do not, in consequence of long storage on deck, open at the seams and
thereby spring a leak; and they are not eaten by bugs, as is the case
with wooden boats.
Comparatively few of the transatlantic steamships have adopted metal
life-boats. Most of the boats are of wood, according to the official
United States Government record of inspection. The records show that a
considerable proportion of the entire number of so-called "life-boats"
carried by Atlantic Ocean liners are not actually life-boats at all,
but simply open boats, without air tanks or other special equipment or
construction.
{illust. caption = CHAMBERS COLLAPSIBLE LIFE RAFT}
Life-rafts are of several kinds. They are commonly used on large
passenger steamers where it is difficult to carry sufficient life-boats.
In most cases they consist of two or more hollow metal or inflated
rubber floats which support a wooden deck. The small rafts are supplied
with life-lines and oars, and the larger ones with life-lines only, or
with life-lines and sails.
The collapsible feature of the Chambers raft consists of canvas-covered
steel frames extending up twenty-five inches from the sides to prevent
passengers from being pitched off. When the rafts are not in use these
side frames are folded down on the raft.
The collapsible rafts are favored by the ship-owners because such boats
take up less room; they do not have to be carried in the davits, and
they can be stowed to any number required. Some of the German lines
stack their collapsible rafts one above another on deck.
NIXON'S PONTOON
Lewis Nixon, the well-known ship designer, suggests the construction of
a pontoon to be carried on the after end of the vessel and to be made of
sectional air-tight compartments. One compartment would accommodate
the wireless outfit. Another compartment would hold drinking water, and
still another would be filled with food.
The pontoon would follow the line of the ship and seem to be a part of
it. The means for releasing it before the sinking of the vessel present
no mechanical problem. It would be too large and too buoyant to be
sucked down with the wreck.
The pontoon would accommodate, not comfortably but safely, all those who
failed to find room in the life-boats.
It is Mr. Nixon's plan to instal a gas engine in one of the
compartments. With this engine the wireless instrument would remain in
commission and direct the rescuers after the ship itself had gone down.
LIFE PRESERVERS AND BUOYS
Life-preservers are chiefly of the belt or jacket type, made to fit
about the body and rendered buoyant by slabs of cork sewed into the
garment, or by rubber-lined air-bags. The use of cork is usually
considered preferable, as the inflated articles are liable to injury,
and jackets are preferable to belts as they can be put on more quickly.
Life-buoys are of several types, but those most common are of the ring
type, varying in size from the small one designed to be thrown by hand
to the large hollow metal buoy capable of supporting several people.
The latter are usually carried by sea-going vessels and are fitted with
lamps which are automatically lighted when the buoy is dropped into the
water.
ROCKETS
American ocean-going steamers are required to have some approved means
of firing lines to the shore. Cunningham rockets and the Hunt gun are
largely used. The inaccuracy of the rocket is of less importance when
fired from a ship than when fired from shore.
CHAPTER XXVIII. TIME FOR REFLECTION AND REFORMS
SPEED AND LUXURY OVEREMPHASIZED--SPACE NEEDED FOR LIFE-BOATS DEVOTED TO
SWIMMING POOLS AND SQUASH-COURTS--MANIA FOR SPEED RECORDS COMPELS USE OF
DANGEROUS ROUTES AND PREVENTS PROPER CAUTION IN FOGGY WEATHER--LIFE
MORE VALUABLE THAN LUXURY--SAFETY MORE IMPORTANT THAN SPEED--AN AROUSED
PUBLIC OPINION NECESSARY--INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RECOMMENDED--ADEQUATE
LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE COMPULSORY--SPEED REGULATIONS IN BAD
WEATHER--COOPERATION IN ARRANGING SCHEDULES TO KEEP VESSELS WITHIN REACH
OF EACH OTHER--LEGAL REGULATIONS
IT is a long time since any modern vessel of importance has gone down
under Nature's attack, and in general the floating city of steel laughs
at the wind and waves. She is not, however, proof against disaster. The
danger lies in her own power--in the tens of thousands of horse power
with which she may be driven into another ship or into an iceberg
standing cold and unyielding as a wall of granite. In view of this
fact it is of the utmost importance that present-day vessels should be
thoroughly provided with the most efficient life-saving devices. These
would seem more important than fireplaces, squash-courts and many other
luxuries with which the Titanic was provided. The comparatively few
survivors of the ill-fated Titanic were saved by the life-boats. The
hundreds of others who went down with the vessel perished because there
were no life-boats to carry them until rescue came.
SURVIVORS URGE REFORM
The survivors urge the need of reform. In a resolution drawn up after
the disaster they said:
"We feel it our duty to call the attention of the public to what we
consider the inadequate supply of life-saving appliances provided for
the modern passenger steamships and recommend that immediate steps
be taken to compel passenger steamers to carry sufficient boats to
accommodate the maximum number of people carried on board. The following
facts were observed and should be considered in this connection: The
insufficiency of life-boats, rafts, etc.; lack of trained seamen to man
same (stokers, stewards, etc., are not efficient boat handlers);
not enough officers to carry out emergency orders on the bridge and
superintend the launching and control of life-boats; the absence of
search lights.
"The Board of Trade allows for entirely too many people in each boat to
permit the same to be properly handled. On the Titanic the boat deck was
about seventy-five feet from the water and consequently the passengers
were required to embark before lowering the boats, thus endangering the
operation and preventing the taking on of the maximum number the
boats would hold. Boats at all times should be properly equipped with
provisions, water, lamps, compasses, lights, etc. Life-saving boat
drills should be more frequent and thoroughly carried out and officers
should be armed at both drills. There should be greater reduction of
speed in fog and ice, as damage if collision actually occurs is liable
to be less.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RECOMMENDED
"In conclusion we suggest that an international conference be called to
recommend the passage of identical laws providing for the safety of all
at sea, and we urge the United States Government to take the initiative
as soon as possible."
That ocean liners take chances with their passengers, though known to
the well informed, is newly revealed and comes with a shock of surprise
and dismay to most people. If boats are unsinkable as well as fireproof
there is no need of any life-boats at all. But no such steamship has
ever been constructed.
That it is realized that life-boats may be necessary on the best and
newest steamships is proved by the fact that they carry them even beyond
the law's requirements. But if life-boats for one-third of those on the
ship are necessary, life-boats for all on board are equally necessary.
The law of the United States requires this, but the law and trade
regulations of England do not, and these controlled the Titanic and
caused the death of over sixteen hundred people.
True, a steamship is rarely crowded to her capacity, and ordinarily
accommodations in life-boats for a full list would not be needed. But
that is no argument against maximum safety facilities, for when disaster
comes it comes unexpectedly, and it might come when every berth
was occupied. So there must be life-boats for use in every possible
emergency. Places must be found for them and methods for handling them
promptly.
Suppose a vessel to be thus equipped, would safety be insured? In calm
weather such as the Titanic had, yes, for all that would be needed would
be to keep the small boats afloat until help came. The Titanic could
have saved everyone aboard. In heavy weather, no. As at present
arranged, if a vessel has a list, or, in non-nautical language, has
tipped over on one side, only the boats upon the lower side can be
dropped, for they must be swung clear of the vessel to be lowered from
the davits.
So there is a problem which it is the duty of marine designers to solve.
They have heretofore turned their attention to the invention of some
new contrivance for comfort and luxury. Now let them grasp the far more
important question of taking every soul from a sinking ship. They can
do it, and while they are about it, it would be well to supplement
life-boats with other methods.
We like to think and to say that nothing is impossible in these days
of ceaseless and energetic progress. Certainly it is possible for the
brains of marine designers to find a better way for rescue work.
Lewis Nixon, ship-builder and designer for years, is sure that we can
revolutionize safety appliances. He has had a plan for a long time
for the construction of a considerable section of deck that could be
detached and floated off like an immense raft. He figures that such a
deck-raft could be made to carry the bulk of the passengers.
That may seem a bit chimerical to laymen, but Nixon is no layman. His
ideas are worthy of every consideration. Certain it is that something
radical must be done, and that the maritime nations must get together,
not only in the way of providing more life-saving facilities, but in
agreeing upon navigation routes and methods.
Captain William S. Sims, of the United States Navy, who is in a position
to know what he is talking about, has made some very pointed comments on
the subject. He says:
"The truth of the matter is that in case any large passenger steamship
sinks, by reason of collision or other fatal damage to her flotability,
more than half of her passengers are doomed to death, even in fair
weather, and in case there is a bit of a sea running none of the loaded
boats can long remain afloat, even if they succeed in getting safely
away from the side, and one more will be added to the long list of 'the
ships that never return.'
"Most people accept this condition as one of the inevitable perils of
the sea, but I believe it can be shown that the terrible loss of life
occasioned by such disasters as overtook the Bourgogne and the Titanic
and many other ships can be avoided or at least greatly minimized.
Moreover, it can be shown that the steamship owners are fully aware
of the danger to their passengers; that the laws on the subject of
life-saving appliances are wholly inadequate; that the steamship
companies comply with the law, though they oppose any changes therein,
and that they decline to adopt improved appliances; because there is
no public demand for them, the demand being for high schedule speed and
luxurious conditions of travel.
"In addition to installing efficient life-saving appliances, if the
great steamship lines should come to an agreement to fix a maximum speed
for their vessels of various classes and fix their dates and hours of
steaming so that they would cross the ocean in pairs within supporting
distances of each other, on routes clear of ice, all danger of ocean
travel would practically be eliminated.
"The shortest course between New York and the English Channel lies
across Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Consequently the shortest water
route is over seas where navigation is dangerous by reason of fog and
ice. It is a notorious fact that the transatlantic steamships are not
navigated with due regard to safety; that they steam at practically full
speed in the densest fogs. But the companies cannot properly be blamed
for this practice, because if the 'blue liners' slow down in a fog or
take a safe route, clear of ice, the public will take passage on
the 'green liners,' which take the shortest route, and keep up their
schedule time; regardless of the risks indicated."
PROMPT REFORMS
The terrible sacrifice of the Titanic, however, is to have its fruit in
safety for the future. The official announcement is
{illust. caption = A diagrammatic map showing how...}
made by the International Mercantile Marine that all its ships will be
equipped with sufficient life-boats and rafts for every passenger and
every member of the crew, without regard to the regulations in this
country and England or Belgium. One of the German liners already had
this complement of life-boats, though the German marine as a whole is
sufficiently deficient at this point to induce the Reichstag to order an
investigation.
Prompt, immediate and gratifying reform marks this action of the
International Mercantile Marine. It is doubtless true that this
precaution ought to have been taken without waiting for a loss of life
such as makes all previous marine disasters seem trivial. But the public
itself has been inert. For thirty years, since Plimsoll's day, every
intelligent passenger knew that every British vessel was deficient in
life-boats, but neither public opinion nor the public press took
this matter up. There were no questions in Parliament and no measures
introduced in Congress. Even the legislation by which the United States
permitted English vessels reaching American ports to avoid the legal
requirements of American statute law (which requires a seat in the
life-boats for every passenger and every member of the crew) attracted
no public attention, and occasional references to the subject by those
better informed did nothing to awake action.
But this is past. Those who died bravely without complaint and with
sacrificing regard for others did not lose their lives in vain. The
safety of all travelers for all times to come under every civilized flag
is to be greater through their sac-rifice. Under modern conditions life
can be made as safe at sea as on the land. It is heartrending to stop
and think that thirty-two more life-boats, costing only about $16,000,
which could have been stowed away without being noticed on the broad
decks of the Titanic, would have saved every man, woman and child on
the steamer. There has never been so great a disaster in the history of
civilization due to the neglect of so small an expenditure.
It would be idle to think that this was due simply to parsimony. It was
really due to the false and vicious notion that life at sea must be made
showy, sumptuous and magnificent. The absence of life-boats was not due
to their cost, but to the demand for a great promenade deck, with ample
space to look out on the sea with which a continuous row of life-boats
would have interfered, and to the general tendency to lavish money on
the luxuries of a voyage instead of first insuring its safety.
CHAPTER XXIX. THE SENATORIAL INVESTIGATION
PROMPT ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT--SENATE COMMITTEE PROBES DISASTER AND
BRINGS OUT DETAILS--TESTIMONY OF ISMAY, OFFICERS, CREW, PASSENGERS AND
OTHER WITNESSES
PUBLIC sentiment with regard to the Titanic disaster was reflected in
the prompt action of the United States Government.
On April 17th the Senate, without a dissenting vote, ordered an
investigation of the wreck of the Titanic, with particular reference to
the inadequacy of life-saving boats and apparatus. The resolution also
directed inquiry into the use by the Titanic of the northern course
"over a route commonly regarded as dangerous from icebergs."
Besides investigating the disaster, the committee was directed to
look into the feasibility of international agreements for the further
protection of ocean traffic.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, in whose charge the investigation was
placed, immediately appointed the following sub-committee to conduct the
gathering of evidence and the examination of witnesses:
Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan, chairman; Senator Francis
Newlands of Nevada, Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr., of Oregon, Senator
George C. Perkins of California, Senator Theodore E. Burton of Ohio,
Senator Furnifold McL. Simmons of North Carolina and Senator Duncan U.
Fletcher of Florida.
The Senate Committee began its investigation in New York on Friday,
April 19th, the morning after the arrival of the Carpathia.
Ismay, the first witness, came to the witness chair with a smile upon
his face. He was sworn and then told the committee that he made the
voyage on the Titanic only as a voluntary passenger. Nobody designated
him to come to see how the newly launched monster would behave on the
initial trip. He said that no money was spared in the construction, and
as she was built on commission there was no need for the builders to
slight the work for their own benefit. The accident had happened on
Sunday night, April 14th.
"I was in bed and asleep," he said. "The ship was not going at
full speed, as has been printed, because full speed would be
from seventy-eight to eighty revolutions, and we were making only
seventy-five. After the impact with the iceberg I dressed and went on
deck. I asked the steward what the matter was and he told me. Then I
went to Captain Smith and asked him if the ship was in danger and he
told me he thought she was."
Ismay said that he went on the bridge and remained there for some time
and then lent a hand in getting the life-boats ready. He helped to get
the women and children into the boats.
Ismay said that no other executive officer of the steamship company was
on board, which practically made him the sole master of the vessel
the minute it passed beyond the control of the captain and his
fellow-officers. But Ismay, seeming to scent the drift of the questions,
said that he never interfered in any way with the handling of the ship.
Ismay was asked to give more particulars about his departure from the
ship. He said:
"The boat was ready to be lowered away and the officer called out if
there were any more women or children to go or any more passengers on
deck, but there was none, and I got on board."
CAPTAIN ROSTRON'S TESTIMONY
Captain Rostron, of the Carpathia, followed Mr. Ismay. He said the first
message received from the Titanic was that she was in immediate danger.
"I gave the order to turn the ship around as soon as the Titanic had
given her position. I set a course to pick up the Titanic, which was
fifty-eight miles west of my position. I sent for the chief engineer,
told him to put on another watch of stokers and make all speed for the
Titanic. I told the first officer to stop all deck work, get out the
life-boats and be ready for any emergency. The chief steward and doctors
of the Carpathia I called to my office and instructed as to their
duties. The English doctor was assigned to the first class dining room,
the Italian doctor to the second class dining room, the Hungarian doctor
to the third class dining room. They were instructed to be ready with
all supplies necessary for any emergency."
{illust. caption = DIAGRAM SHOWING THE PROXIMITY OF OTHER STEAMSHIPS TO
THE TITANIC ON NIGHT OF DISASTER.}
The captain told in detail of the arrangements made to prepare the
life-boats and the ship for the receipt of the survivors.
WEEPS AS HE TELLS STORY
Then with tears filling his eyes, Captain Rostron said he called the
purser. "I told him," said Captain Rostron, "I wanted to hold a service
of prayer--thanksgiving for the living and a funeral service for the
dead. I went to Mr. Ismay. He told me to take full charge. An Episcopal
clergyman was found among the passengers and he conducted the services."
TITANIC WAS A "LIFE-BOAT."
Captain Rostron said that the Carpathia had twenty lifeboats of her own,
in accordance with the British regulations.
"Wouldn't that indicate that the regulations are out of date, your
ship being much smaller than the Titanic, which also carried twenty
life-boats?" Senator Smith asked.
"No. The Titanic was supposed to be a life-boat herself."
WIRELESS FAILED
Why so few messages came from the Carpathia was gone into. Captain
Rostron declared the first messages, all substantially the same, were
sent to the White Star Line, the Cunard Line and the Associated Press.
Then the first and second cabin passenger lists were sent, when the
wireless failed.
Senator Smith said some complaint had been heard that the Carpathia had
not answered President Taft's inquiry for Major Butt. Captain Rostron
declared a reply was sent, "Not on board."
Captain Rostron declared he issued orders for no messages to be sent
except upon orders from him, and for official business to go first, then
private messages from the Titanic survivors in order of filing.
Absolutely no censorship was exercised, he said. The wire-less continued
working all the way in, the Marconi operator being constantly at the
key.
Guglielmo Marconi, the wireless inventor, was the next witness.
Marconi said he was chairman of the British Marconi Company. Under
instructions of the company, he said, operators must take their orders
from the captain of the ship on which they are employed.
"Do the regulations prescribe whether one or two operators should be
aboard the ocean vessels?"
"Yes, on ships like the late Titanic and Olympic two are carried," said
Marconi. "The Carpathia, a smaller boat, carries one. The Carpathia's
wireless apparatus is a short-distance equipment."
TITANIC WELL EQUIPPED
"Do you consider that the Titanic was equipped with the latest improved
wireless apparatus?"
"Yes; I should say that it had the very best."
"Did you hear the captain of the Carpathia say, in his testimony,
that they caught this distress message from the Titanic almost
providentally?" asked Senator Smith.
"Yes, I did. It was absolutely providential."
"Is there any signal for the operator if he is not at his post?'{'}
"I think there is none," said Marconi.
"Ought it not be incumbent upon ships to have an operator always at the
key?"
"Yes; but ship-owners don't like to carry two operators when they can
get along with one. The smaller boat owners do not like the expense of
two operators."
SECOND OFFICER TESTIFIES
Charles Herbert Lightoller, second officer of the Titanic, followed
Marconi on the stand. Mr. Lightoller said he understood the maximum
speed of the Titanic, as shown by its trial tests, to have been
twenty-two and a half to twenty-three knots. Senator Smith asked if
the rule requiring life-saving apparatus to be in each room for each
passenger was complied with.
"Everything was complete," said Lightoller. "Sixteen life-boats, of
which four were collapsible, were on the Titanic," he added. During the
tests, he said, Captain Clark, of the British Board of Trade, was aboard
the Titanic to inspect its life-saving equipment.
"How thorough are these captains of the Board of Trade in inspecting
ships?" asked Senator Smith.
"Captain Clark is so thorough that we called him a nuisance."
TITANIC KILLED RAPIDLY
After testifying to the circumstances under which the life-boats were
filled and lowered, Lightoller continued. "The boat's deck was only ten
feet from the water when I lowered the sixth boat. When we lowered the
first, the distance to the water was seventy feet."
"If the same course was pursued on the starboard side as you pursued on
the port, in filling boats, how do you account for so many members of
the crew being saved?" asked Chairman Smith.
"I have inquired especially and have found that for every six persons
picked up, five were either firemen or stewards."
COTTAM TELLS HIS STORY
Thomas Cottam, of Liverpool, the Marconi operator on the Carpathia, was
the next witness.
Cottam said that he was about ready to retire Sunday night, having
partially removed his clothes, and was waiting for a reply to a message
to the Parisian when he heard Cape Cod trying to call the Titanic.
Cottam called the Titanic operator to inform him of the fact, and
received the reply. 'Come at once; this is a distress message. C. Q. D.'
"
"What did you do then?"
"I confirmed the distress message by asking the Titanic if I should
report the distress message to the captain of the Carpathia."
"How much time elapsed after you received the Titanic's distress message
before you reported it to Captain Rostron?"
"About a couple of minutes," Cottam answered.
COTTAM RECALLED
When the committee resumed the investigation on April 20th, Cottam was
recalled to the stand.
Senator Smith asked the witness if he had received any messages from the
time the Carpathia left the scene of the disaster until it reached New
York. The purpose of this question was to discover whether any official
had sought to keep back the news of the disaster.
"No, sir," answered Cottam. "I reported the entire matter myself to the
steamship Baltic at 10.30 o'clock Monday morning. I told her we had been
to the wreck and had picked up as many of the passengers as we could."
Cottam denied that he had sent any message that all passengers had been
saved, or anything on which such a report could be based.
Cottam said he was at work Monday and until Wednesday. He repeated
his testimony of the previous day and said he had been without sleep
throughout Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and until late Wednesday afternoon
when he had been relieved by Bride.
"Did you or Bride send any message declaring that the Titanic was being
towed into Halifax?"
"No, sir," said the witness, with emphasis.
MARCONI EXPLAINS
In an effort to determine whether the signal "C. Q. D." might not have
been misunderstood by passing ships, Senator Smith called upon Mr.
Marconi.
"The 'C. Q.,'" said Marconi, "is an international signal which meant
that all stations should cease sending except the one using the call.
The 'D.' was added to indicate danger. The call, however, now has been
superseded by the universal call, 'S. O. S.'"
BRIDE ON THE STAND
Harold S. Bride, the sole surviving operator of the Titanic, was then
called.
Bride said he knew the Frankfurt was nearer than the Carpathia when he
called for assistance, but that he ceased his efforts to communicate
with the former because her operator persisted in asking, "What is the
matter?" despite Bride's message that the ship was in distress.
Time after time Senator Smith asked in varying forms why the Titanic did
not explain its condition to the Frankfurt.
"Any operator receiving 'C. Q. D.' and the position of the ship, if he
is on the job," said Bride, "would tell the captain at once."
Marconi again testified to the distress signals, and said that the
Frankfurt was equipped with Marconi wireless. He said that the receipt
of the signal "C. Q. D." by the Frankfurt's operator should have been
all-sufficient to send the Frankfurt to the immediate rescue.
ALL APPEALS RECEIVED
Under questioning by Senator Smith, Bride said that undoubtedly the
Frankfurt received all of the urgent appeals for help sent subsequently
to the Carpathia.
INVESTIGATION CARRIED TO WASHINGTON
The first witness when the investigation was resumed in Washington on
April 22d was P. A. S. Franklin, vice-president of the International
Mercantile Marine Company.
Franklin testified that he had had no communication with Captain Smith
during the Titanic's voyage, nor with Ismay, except one cable from
Southampton.
Senator Smith then showed Mr. Franklin the telegram received by
Congressman Hughes, of West Virginia, from the White Star Line, dated
New York, April 15th, and addressed to J. A. Hughes, Huntington, W. Va.,
as follows:
"Titanic proceeding to Halifax. Passengers probably land on Wednesday.
All safe.
(Signed) "THE WHITE STAR LINE. "
TELEGRAM A MYSTERY
"I ask you," continued the senator, "whether you know about the sending
of that telegram, by whom it was authorized and from whom it was sent?"
"I do not, sir," said Franklin. "Since it was mentioned at the Waldorf
Saturday we have had the entire passenger staff examined and we cannot
find out."
Asked when he first knew that the Titanic had sunk, Franklin said he
first knew it about 6.27 P.M., Monday.
Mr. Franklin then produced a thick package of telegrams which he had
received in relation to the disaster.
"About twenty minutes of two on Monday morning," said he, "I was
awakened by a telephone bell, and was called by a reporter for some
paper who informed me that the Titanic had met with an accident and was
sinking. I asked him where he got the information. He told me that
it had come by wireless from the steamship Virginian, which had been
appealed to by the Titanic for aid."
Mr. Franklin said he called up the White Star docks, but they had no
information, and he then appealed to the Associated Press, and there was
read to him a dispatch from Cape Race advising him of the accident.
"I asked the Associated Press," said Mr. Franklin, "not to send out
the dispatch until we had more detailed information, in order to avoid
causing unnecessary alarm. I was told, however, that the story already
had been sent."
The reassuring statements sent out by the line in the early hours of the
disaster next were made the subject of inquiry.
"Tell the committee on what you based those statements," directed
Senator Smith.
"We based them on reports and rumors received at Cape Race by
individuals and by the newspapers. They were rumors, and we could not
place our finger on anything authentic."
FIRST DEFINITE NEWS
"At 6.20 or 6.30 Monday evening," Mr. Franklin continued, "a message was
received telling the fateful news that the Carpathia reached the Titanic
and found nothing but boats and wreckage; that the Titanic had foundered
at 2.20 A.M. in 41.16 north, 50.14 west; that the Carpathia picked up
all the boats and had on board about 675 Titanic survivors--passengers
and crew.
"It was such a terrible shock that it took me several moments to think
what to do. Then I went downstairs to the reporters, I began to read the
message, holding it high in my hand. I had read only to the second line,
which said that the Titanic had sunk, when there was not a reporter
left--they were so anxious to get to the telephones.
SAFETY EQUIPMENT
"The Titanic's equipment was in excess of the law," said the witness.
"It carried its clearance in the shape of a certificate from the British
Board of Trade. I might say that no vessel can leave a British port
without a certificate that it is equipped to care for human lives aboard
in case of accident. It is the law."
"Do you know of anyone, any officer or man or any official, whom you
deem could be held responsible for the accident and its attendant loss
of life?"
"Positively not. No one thought such an accident could happen. It was
undreamed of. I think it would be absurd to try to hold some individual
responsible. Every precaution was taken; that the precautions were of
no avail is a source of the deepest sorrow. But the accident was
unavoidable."
FOURTH OFFICER TESTIFIES
J. B. Boxhall, the fourth officer, was then questioned.
"Were there any drills or any inspection before the Titanic sailed?" he
was asked.
"Both," said the witness. "The men were mustered and the life-boats
lowered in the presence of the inspectors from the Board of Trade."
"How many boats were lowered?"
"Just two, sir."
"One on each side of the ship?"
"No, sir. They were both on the same side. We were lying in dock."
The witness said he did not know whether the lowering tackle ran free or
not on that occasion.
"In lowering the life-boats at the test, did the gear work
satisfactorily?"
"So far as I know."
In lowering a life-boat, he said, first the boat has to be cleared,
chocks knocked down and the boat hangs free. Then the davits are screwed
out to the ship's side and the boat lowered.
At the time of the tests all officers of the Titanic were present.
Boxhall said that under the weather conditions experienced at the
time of the collision the life-boats were supposed to carry sixty-five
persons. Under the regulations of the British Board of Trade, in
addition to the oars, there were in the boats water breakers, water
dippers, bread, bailers, mast and sail and lights and a supply of oil.
All of these supplies, said Boxhall, were in the boats when the Titanic
left Belfast. He could not say whether they were in when the vessel left
Southampton.
"Now," repeated Senator Smith, "suppose the weather was clear and the
sky unruffled, as it was at the time of the disaster, how many would the
boat hold?"
"Really, I don't know. It would depend largely upon the people who
were to enter. If they did as they were told I believe each boat could
accommodate sixty-five persons."
Boxhall testified to the sobriety and good habits of his superior and
brother officers.
NO TRACE OF DAMAGE INSIDE
Boxhall said he went down to the steerage, inspected all the decks in
the vicinity of where the ship had struck, found no traces of any damage
and went directly to the bridge and so reported.
CARPENTER FOUND LEAKS
"The captain ordered me to send a carpenter to sound the ship, but I
found a carpenter coming up with the announcement that the ship was
taking water. In the mail room I found mail sacks floating about while
the clerks were at work. I went to the bridge and reported, and the
captain ordered the life-boats to be made ready."
Boxhall testified that at Captain Smith's orders he took word of the
ship's position to the wireless operators.
"What position was that?"
"Forty-one forty-six north, fifty fourteen west."
"Was that the last position taken?"
"Yes, the Titanic stood not far from there when she sank."
After that Boxhall went back to the life-boats, where there were many
men and women. He said they had been provided with life-belts.
{illust. caption = THE EFFECTS OF STRIKING AN ICEBERG
(1) Shows normal....}
DISTRESS ROCKETS FIRED
"After that I was on the bridge most of the time sending out distress
signals, trying to attract the attention of boats ahead," he said. "I
sent up distress rockets until I left the ship, to try to attract the
attention of a ship directly ahead. I had seen her lights. She seemed to
be meeting us and was not far away. She got close enough, so she seemed
to me, to read our Morse electric signals."
"Suppose you had a powerful search light on the Titanic, could you not
have thrown a beam on the vessel and have compelled her attention?"
"We might."
H. J. Pitman, the third officer of the ship, was the first witness on
April 23d. By a series of searching questions Senator Fletcher brought
out the fact that when the collision occurred the Titanic was going at
the greatest speed attained during the trip, even though the ship was
entering the Grand Banks and had been advised of the presence of ice.
Frederick Fleet, a sailor and lookout man on the Titanic, followed
Pitman on the stand. Fleet said he had had five or six years' experience
at sea and was lookout on the Oceanic prior to going on the Titanic. He
was in the crow's nest at the time of the collision.
Fleet stated that he had kept a sharp lookout for ice, and testified to
seeing the iceberg and signaling the bridge.
Fleet acknowledged that if he had been aided in his observations by a
good glass he probably could have spied the berg into which the ship
crashed in time to have warned the bridge to avoid it. Major Arthur
Peuchen, of Toronto, a passenger who followed Fleet on the stand, also
testified to the much greater sweep of vision afforded by binoculars
and, as a yachtsman, said he believed the presence of the iceberg might
have been detected in time to escape the collision had the lookout men
been so equipped.
HAD ASKED FOR BINOCULARS
It was made to appear that the blame for being without glasses did
not rest with the lookout men. Fleet said they had asked for them at
Southampton and were told there were none for them. One glass, in a
pinch, would have served in the crow's nest.
The testimony before the committee on April 24th showed that the big
steamship was on the verge of a field of ice twenty or thirty miles
long, if she had not actually entered it, when the accident occurred.
The committee tried to discover whether it would add to human safety if
the ships were fitted with search lights so that at night objects could
be seen at a greater distance. The testimony so far along this line had
been conflicting. Some of the witnesses thought it would be no harm to
try it, but they were all skeptical as to its value, as an iceberg would
not be especially distinguishable because its bulk is mostly below the
surface.
One of the witnesses said that much dependence is not placed upon the
lookout, and that those lookouts who used binoculars constantly found
them detrimental.
Harold G. Lowe, fifth officer of the Titanic, told the committee
his part in the struggle of the survivors for life following the
catastrophe. The details of this struggle have have already been told in
a previous chapter.
AUTHORIZED TO SELL STORY
In great detail Guglielmo Marconi, on April 25th, explained the
operations of his system and told how he had authorized Operator Bride
of the Titanic, and Operator Cottam, of the Carpathia, to sell their
stories of the disaster after they came ashore.
In allowing the operator's to sell their stories, said Mr. Marconi,
there was no question of suppressing or monopolizing the news. He had
done everything he could, he said, to have the country informed as
quickly as possible of the details of the disaster. That was why he was
particularly glad for the narratives of such important witnesses as
the operators to receive publication, regardless of the papers that
published them.
He repeated the testimony of Cottam that every effort had been made to
get legitimate dispatches ashore. The cruiser Chester, he said, had been
answered as fully as possible, though it was not known at the time that
its queries came from the President of the United States. The Salem, he
said, had never got in touch with the Carpathia operator.
Senator Newlands suggested that the telegrams, some signed by the name
of Mr. Sammis and some with the name of Marconi, directing Cottam to
"keep his mouth shut" and hold out for four figures on his story, was
sent only as the Carpathia was entering New York harbor, when there
was no longer need for sending official or private messages from the
rescuing ship. There had been an impression before, he said, that the
messages had been sent to Cottam when the ship was far at sea, when they
might have meant that he was to hold back messages relieving the anxiety
of those on shore.
SAW DISTRESS ROCKETS
Ernest Gill, a donkey engineman on the steamship Californian, was the
first witness on April 26th. He said that Captain Stanley Lord, of the
Californian, refused later to go to the aid of the Titanic, the rockets
from which could be plainly seen. He says the captain was apprised of
these signals, but made no effort to get up steam and go to the rescue.
The Californian was drifting with the floe. So indignant did he become,
said Gill, that he endeavored to recruit a committee of protest from
among the crew, but the men failed him.
Captain Lord entered a sweeping denial of Gill's accusations and read
from the Californian's log to support his contention. Cyril Evans, the
Californian's wireless operator, however, told of hearing much talk
among the crew, who were critical of the captain's course. Gill, he
said, told him he expected to get $500 for his story when the ship
reached Boston.
Evans told of having warned the Titanic only a brief time before the
great vessel crashed into the berg that the sea was crowded with ice.
The Titanic's operators, he said, at the time were working with the
wireless station at Cape Race, and they told him to "shut up" and keep
out. Within a half hour the pride of the sea was crumpled and sinking.
Members of the committee who examined individually the British
sailors and stewards of the Titanic's crew prepared a report of their
investigations for the full committee. This testimony was ordered to be
incorporated in the record of the hearings.
Most of this testimony was but a repetition of experiences similar to
the many already related by those who got away in the life-boats.
On April 27th Captain James H. Moore, of the steamship Mount Temple, who
hurried to the Titanic in response to wireless calls for help, told of
the great stretch of field ice which held him off. Within his view
from the bridge he discerned, he said, a strange steamship, probably
a "tramp," and a schooner which was making her way out of the ice. The
lights of this schooner, he thought, probably were those seen by the
anxious survivors of the Titanic and which they were frantically trying
to reach.
WOMEN AT HEARING WEEP
Steward Crawford also related a thrilling story in regard to loading
the life-boats with women first. He told of several instances that came
under his observation of women throwing their arms around their husbands
and crying out that they would not leave the ship without them. The
pathetic recital caused several women at the hearing to weep, and all
within earshot of the steward's story were thrilled.
ANDREWS WAS BRAVE
Stories that Mr. Andrews, the designer of the ship, had tried to
disguise the extent of danger were absolutely denied by Henry Samuel
Etches, his bedroom steward, who told the committee how Mr. Andrews
urged women back to their cabins to dress more warmly and to put on
life-belts.
The steward, whose duty it was to serve Major Butt and his party, told
how he did not see the Major at dinner the evening of the disaster as
he was dining with a private party in the restaurant. William Burke, a
first class steward, told of serving dinner at 7.15 o'clock to Mr. and
Mrs. Straus, and later Mrs. Straus' refusal to leave her husband
was again told to the committee. A bedroom steward told of a quiet
conversation with Benjamin Guggenheim, Senator Guggenheim's brother,
after the accident and shortly before the Titanic settled in the plunge
that was to be his death.
On April 29th Marconi produced copies of several messages which passed
between the Marconi office and the Carpathia in an effort to get
definite information of the wreck and the survivors.
Marconi and F. M. Sammis, chief engineer of the American Marconi
Company, both acknowledged that a mistake had been made in sending
messages to Bride and Cottam on board the Carpathia not to give out any
news until they had seen Marconi and Sammis.
The senatorial committee investigating the Titanic disaster has served
several good purposes. It has officially established the fact that all
nations are censurable for insufficient, antiquated safety regulations
on ocean vessels, and it has emphasized the imperative necessity for
united action among all maritime countries to revise these laws and
adapt them to changed conditions.
The committee reported its findings as follows:
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
No particular person is named as being responsible, though attention
is called to the fact that on the day of the disaster three distinct
warnings of ice were sent to Captain Smith. J. Bruce Ismay, managing
director of the White Star Line, is not held responsible for the ship's
high speed. In fact, he is barely mentioned in the report.
Ice positions, so definitely reported to the Titanic just preceding
the accident, located ice on both sides of the lane in which she was
traveling. No discussion took place among the officers, no conference
was called to consider these warnings, no heed was given to them. The
speed was not relaxed, the lookout was not increased.
The supposedly water-tight compartments of the Titanic were not
water-tight, because of the non-water-tight condition of the decks where
the transverse bulkheads ended.
The steamship Californian, controlled by the same concern as the
Titanic, was nearer the sinking steamship than the nineteen miles
reported by her captain, and her officers and crew saw the distress
signals of the Titanic and failed to respond to them in accordance with
the dictates of humanity, international usage and the requirements of
law. Had assistance been promptly proffered the Californian might have
had the proud distinction of rescuing the lives of the passengers and
crew of the Titanic.
The mysterious lights on an unknown ship, seen by the passengers on the
Titanic, undoubtedly were on the Californian, less than nineteen miles
away.
Eight ships, all equipped with wireless, were in the vicinity of the
Titanic, the Olympic farthest away--512 miles.
The full capacity of the Titanic's life-boats was not utilized, because,
while only 705 persons were saved, the ship's boats could have carried
1176.
No general alarm was sounded, no whistle blown and no systematic warning
was given to the endangered passengers, and it was fifteen or twenty
minutes after the collision before Captain Smith ordered the Titanic's
wireless operator to send out a distress message.
The Titanic's crew were only meagerly acquainted with their positions
and duties in an accident and only one drill was held before the maiden
trip. Many of the crew joined the ship only a few hours before she
sailed and were in ignorance of their positions until the following
Friday.
Many more lives could have been saved had the survivors been
concentrated in a few life-boats, and had the boats thus released
returned to the wreck for others.
The first official information of the disaster was the message from
Captain Haddock, of the Olympic, received by the White Star Line at
6.16 P. M., Monday, April 15. In the face of this information a message
reporting the Titanic being towed to Halifax was sent to Representative
J. A. Hughes, at Huntington, W. Va., at 7.51 P. M. that day. The message
was delivered to the Western Union office in the same building as the
White Star Line offices.
"Whoever sent this message," says the report, "under the circumstances,
is guilty of the most reprehensible conduct."
The wireless operator on the Carpathia was not duly vigilant in handling
his messages after the accident.
The practice of allowing wireless operators to sell their stories should
be stopped.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
It is recommended that all ships carrying more than 100 passengers shall
have two searchlights.
That a revision be made of steamship inspection laws of foreign
countries to conform to the standard proposed in the United States.
That every ship be required to carry sufficient life-boats for all
passengers and crew.
That the use of wireless be regulated to prevent interference by
amateurs, and that all ships have a wireless operator on constant duty.
Detailed recommendations are made as to water-tight bulkhead
construction on ocean-going ships. Bulkheads should be so spaced
that any two adjacent compartments of a ship might be flooded without
sinking.
Transverse bulkheads forward and abaft the machinery should be continued
watertight to the uppermost continuous structural deck, and this deck
should be fitted water-tight.
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