The Loss of the Ss. Titanic Its Story and Its Lessons

TH E LOSS OF TH E

S S . TITANIC

ITS STORY AND ITS LESSONS

B Y LAWRENCE BEESLEY

B . A. (Ca n ta b. )

Sc holar of Gon ville a n d Caius Colle ge

ONE OF THE SURVIVORS

B OS TON AND N E W Y ORK H OU GH T ON MIFFLIN COMPANY (dtbc minerﬁ me 1m m Qt am b t ibge 1 9 1 2

PREFACE

The c ir c um st an c e s in whic h this book came ll t o be written ar e as fo ows. Some ﬁve weeks after the survivor s from the Titanic landed in

a s of New Y ork, I w s the gue t at luncheon

Ho Hon . . n . Samuel J . Elder and Charles T

- s Bos Gallagher, both well known lawyer in

t o r t on . After luncheon I wa s asked elate to those present the experiences of the sur vivor s in leaving the Titanic and reac hing the Carpathia .

When I had done so, Mr . Robert Lincoln

’ O Bri n B st He r d e , the editor of the o on al , urged me as a matter of public interest t o write a correc t history of the Titanic disas l h , ter, is reason being that he knew severa publications were in prepar ation by people who had not been present at the disaster, but from newspaper accounts wer e piecing ( V ) PREFACE

f together a description o it . He said that these publications would probably be erron

c e n ous , full of highly coloured details , and g

e r a lly calculate d to disturb public thought on

t he matte r . He was supported in his reque st by all present, and under this ge neral pressure I accompanied him to Me ssrs . Houghton

Mitﬂin Company , where we discussed the

e of qu stion publication .

i in Messrs . Houghton M fﬂ Company took at that time exactly the same view that I

did , that it was probably not advisable to

put on record t he incidents connected with

’ the Tit a n ic s sinking : it seeme d be tter to

forget details as rapidly as possible .

e However, we d cided to take a few days

r e e e to think about it . At o u n xt m ting we

found ourselves in agre ement again , b ut this

tim e on the common ground that it would

probably b e a wise thing to write a history of

the Titanic disaster as correctly as possible . I ( vi ) PREFACE wa s supported in this decision by the fact

e that a short account, which I wrote at int r vals on board the Carpathia , in the hope that it would calm public opinion by stating the truth of what happened as nearly as I could recolle ct it , appeared in all the American ,

English , and Colonial papers and had exactly

e ff t the ect it was intended o have . This e u courages me t o hope that the effect of this work will be the same .

Another matter aided me in coming t o a decision , the duty that we , as survivors

owe o of the disaster, t those who went down with the ship; t o see that the reforms so urgently needed are n ot allowed t o be for gotten .

Whoever reads the account of the cries that came to us aﬂoat on the sea from those sink ing in the ice - cold water must remember that they were addressed t o him just as much as t o

o e f th s who heard them , and that the duty o ( vii ) PREFACE seeing that reforms are carried out devolves on e ve ry on e who knows that such crie s we re he ard in utter helplessn ess the night the

Titanic sank. CONTENTS

S D I . CON TRUCTION AN PRE PARATIONS FOR THE FIRS T VOY AGE

FROM SOUTHAMPTON To THE NIGHT O F THE COLLIS ION

THE COLLIS ION AND EMB ARKATION IN LIFEB OATS

IV THE K OF THE S EE . SIN ING TITANIC, N FROM A LIFE B OAT

THE RE SCUE

HE K OF THE S EE T SIN ING TITANIC, N FROM HE R DE CK

’ THE CARPATHIA S RE TURN TO NE W

THE ES S S B Y THE SS VIII . L ON TAUGHT LO OF THE TITANIC

I' E M E S S N S . SOM I PR IO

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE TITANIC Fr on tispie c e

‘ ' m o o r a t a e n e fast a r ur Ih o a ph t g ph k in B l H bo . C o r t e b Un e r woo an d Un e r woo Ne w py igh d y d d d d,

V E W O F E KS O F TH E Y I FOUR D C OL MPIC, S IS TER S HIP O F TH E TITANIC

rom a ot o ra u s e in the S e re Ma F ph g ph p bli h d ph , y

4 , 1 912 .

TRANS VE RS E (am id ship) SE CTION THROUGH THE TITANIC

a r a n e Aft e r d wi g furn ish d b y the Whit e St a r Lin e .

LONGITUDINAL SE CTIONS AND DE CK PLAN O F THE TITANIC

e r n s u s e in the S e r Aft pla p bli h d hipbuild .

THE CARPATHIA Fr om a phot ogr a ph furn ishe d b y the Cun a r d St e am

LO SS OF THE SS . TITANIC

CHAPTER I

CONS TRU CTIO N AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE FIRS T VOYAG E

f f . o i . THE h story o the R . M S Titanic , the

White Star Line , is one of the most tragically short it is possible to conceive . The world had waited expectantly for its launching and again for its sailing ; had read accounts of its tremendous size and its unexampled complete n ess and luxury ; had felt it a matter of the greatest satisfaction that such a comfortable , and above all such a safe boat had been de

and then in a moment to hear that it had gone t o the bottom a s if it had been the verie st ( 1 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC tramp steamer of a few hundred tons ; and

with it ﬁfteen hundred passengers , some of the m known the world over ' The improba b ilit y of such a thing ever happening was

what staggered humanity . If its history had to be written in a single paragraph it would be somewhat as follo ws : M R. . S . M The Titanic was built by essrs .

Harland Wolff at their well -known ship

’ a t building works Queen s Island , Belfast ,

e side by sid with her sister ship the Olympic .

The twin vesse ls marke d such an increase in size that specially laid - out j oiner and boiler shops we re pre pared to aid in their construe

e tion , and the space usually taken up by thr e building S lips was given up to them . The kee l 31 1 909 of the Titanic was laid on March , , and 31 1 9 1 1 she was launched on May , ; she passe d her trials before the Board of Trade Ofﬁcials 1 1 91 2 on March 3 , , at Belfast , arrived at

4 . Southampton on April , and sailed the follow 9 V Y PREPARATIONS FOR , FIRST O AGE

1 0 2208 ing We dne sday , April , with passen

e on gers and cr w, her maiden voyage to New

he York . S called at Cherbourg the same

day , Queenstown Thursday , and left for New

York in the afternoon , expecting to arrive the following Wednesday morning . But the voy

e age was never completed . She collid d with an 4 1 ° M . . iceberg on Sunday at P . in Lat 46 ' ° ’ d . . 50 an N and Long 1 4 W . , sank two

hours and a half later ; 81 5 of her passengers

and 688 of her crew were drowned and 705

' rescued by the Carpathia .

Such is the record of the Titanic, the largest ship the world had ever seen she was three

inches longer than the Olympic and on e thou sand tons more in gross tonnage and her

n end was the greatest maritime disaster know .

The whole civilized world was stirred to its

depths when the full extent of loss of life was

n lear ed , and it has not yet recovered from the

Shock . An d that is without doubt a good thing . ( 3 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC It should not recover from it until the possi b ility of such a disaster occurring again has

been utterly removed from human society , whether by separate legislation in differe nt

countries or by international agreement . NO living person should seek t o dwell in thought for one moment on such a disaster except in

the endeavour t o glean from it knowledge that will be of proﬁt to the whole world in the fu

e ture . When such knowledg is practically a p plied in the construction , equipment, and navigation of passenger steamers — and not until then will be the time t o cease to think of the Titanic disaster and of the hundreds of men and women so needlessly sacriﬁced .

’ A few words on the ship s construction and equipment will be necessary in order to make clear many points that arise in the course of this book . A few ﬁgures have been added which it is hoped will help t he reader to follow events more closely than he otherwise could . ( 4 ) PREPARATIONS FOR FIRST VOYAGE The considerations that inspired the build ers to design the Titanic on the lines on which f she was constructed were those o speed , w f e weight o displacement , passeng r and cargo

H Is accommodation . igh speed very expensive ,

ause t e m It Ia l cost of the necessary ower

n u machinery is enormous , the run ing ex penses entailed very heavy , and passenger and cargo accommodation have to be ﬁned down t o make the resistance through the water as little as possible and to keep the weight down . An increase in size brings a builder at once into conﬂict with the question of dock and harbour accommodation at the ports she will touch : if her total displacement is very great while the lines are kept slender for speed , the

draught limit may be exceeded . The Titanic , therefore , was built on broader lines than the

e ocean racers , increasing the total displac ment ; but because Of the broader build , she was able to keep Within the draught limit at ( 5 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

each port she visited . At the same time she was able to accommodate more passengers and cargo , and thereby increase largely her

o earning capacity . A c mparison between the

Mauretania and the Titanic illustrates t he difference in these respects

Displa ce m en t Horse powe r Spe ed in kn ots Ma ur e t a n ia 26 Tita n ic 21

The vessel when completed was 883 feet 992 long, i feet broad ; her height from keel to 0 8 bridge was 1 4 feet . She had steel decks , a 5 cellular double bottom , } feet through (the

“ ' S O - inner and outer skins called) , and with bilge keels projecting 2 feet for 300 feet of her e length amidships . Th se latter were intended

t o lessen the tendency to roll in a sea ; they no

s doubt did o very well , but , as it happened ,

they proved to be a weakness , for this was the

ﬁrst portion of the ship touched by the iceberg and it has been suggested that the keels were ( 6 )

T THE LOSS OF THE SS . ITANIC

type . These davits are specially designed for

t wo dealing with , and , where necessary , thre e , i 48 l . e . a t sets of lifeboats , , og e t he r m or e rN than She was ided into 1 6 compartments by 1 5 trans verse watertight bulkheads reaching from the

double bottom to the upper deck in t he for ward end and to the saloon deck in the aft er i end (F g . in both cases well above the

e water line . Communication between the n gine rooms and boiler rooms was through

watertight doors , which could all be closed

’ instantly from t he captain s bridge : a single

- switch , controlling powerful electro magnets ,

o s Operated them . They could also be cl ed by

o hand with a lever , and in case the ﬂo r below

o e them was flo d d by accident , a float unde r l W ing shut them automatical y . These compartments were so designed that if the two largest were flooded with water a PREPARATIONS FOR FIRST VOYAGE most unlikely contingency in the ordinary f way the ship would still be quite safe . O

t o course , more than w were ﬂooded the night f o the collision , but exactly how many is not yet thoroughly established . 860 Her crew had a complement of , made f 475 3 0 o . 2 up stewards , cooks , etc , engineers , 65 and engaged in her navigation . The machinery and equipment of the

Titanic was the ﬁnest obtainable and r e pr e e sent d the last word in marine construction . f f All her structure was o steel , o a weight , size , and}thickness greater than that of any ship

: a yet known the girders , beams , bulkhe ds , and ﬂoors all of exceptional strength . It would i hardly seem necessary to mention th s , were it not that there is an impression among a portion Of the general public that the provis i ion O Turkish baths , gymnasiums , and other

SO -called luxuries involved a sacriﬁce Of some more essential things , the absence Of which ( 9 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

was responsible for the loss of so many lives .

But t his is quite an erroneous impression . All

these things were an additional pro vision for

Of the comfort and convenience passengers ,

and there is no more reason why the y should not be provided on these ships than in a large

’ on hotel . There were places the Tit a n ic s

r o c oul .ha ve deck whe e m re boats and rafts d,

a been stored without s criﬁcing these things .

f ult la n ot The a y in providing them , not in

n the o designi g ship with ut places to put them .

On whom t he responsibility must rest for their n ot being provide d is another matter and

e must be l ft until later .

When arranging a tour round the U nited

e Stat s , I had decided to cross in the Titanic for n e several reasons o , that it was rather a novelty to be on board the largest ship ye t

ho launched , and another that friends w had crosse d in the Olympic described her as a

o e a e a wa m st comfortabl boat in s y , and it was

lg' PREPARATIONS FOR FIRST VOYAGE reported that the Titanic had been still fur ther improved in this respect by having a thou sand tons more built in to steady her . I went

1 0 A e d n e s on board at Southampton at M . W 1 0 day , April , after staying the night in the town . It is pathetic to recall that as I sat that morning in the breakfast room of an

of hotel , from the windows which could be seen the four huge funnels of the Titanic towering over the roofs of the various shipping

o oﬂic e s opposite , and the pr cession Of stokers and stewards wending their way to the ship ,

’ there sat behind me three of the Tit a n ic s passengers discussing the coming voyage and

he estimating , among other thin gs , t probabili

oi h ties an accident at sea to the s ip . As I rose from breakfast , I glanced at the group and recognized them later on board , but they were not among the number who answered to the roll - call on the Carpathia on the follo wm g

Monday morning . ( 1 1 ) TH T E LOSS OF THE SS . TI ANIC

Between the time of going on board and

e he sailing , I insp cted , in t company of two friends who had come from Exeter t o se e m e

' ﬂ - O , the various decks , dining saloons and libra ries ; and so e xtensive were the y that it is no exagge ration to say that it was quite easy t o

’ lose one s way on such a ship . We wandered casually into the gymnasium on the boat

e e deck , and w re engag d in bicycle exercise when the instructor came in with t wo photo gr aphe r s and insisted on our re maining the re while his friends as we thought at t he time

made a record for him of his apparatus in

e use . It was only later that we discover d that they we re the photographer s of on e Of the il

e lustrated London papers . More passeng rs

e e cam in , and the instructor ran her and there, looking the very picture Of robust , rosy

“ ' chee ke d health and ﬁtness in his white

ﬂan n e ls on the e e , placing on e passe nge r l ctric

' “ e e hors , another on the camel , whil the 1 2 PREPARATIONS FOR FIRST VOYAGE laughing group of onlookers watched the in e x pe r ie n c e d riders vigorously shaken up and down as he controlled the little motor which made the machines imitate so realistically horse and camel exercise . f It is related that on the night o the disaster ,

’ Tit a n ic s right up to the time Of the sinking , while the band gr ouped outside the gymna sium doors played with such supreme courage in face of the water which rose foot by foot

on before their eyes , the instructor was duty inside , with passengers on the bicycles and the

- e n c our rowing machines , still assisting and

s aging to the la t . Along with the bandsmen it is ﬁtting that his n ame , which I do not think has yet been put on record it is Mc C a wle y

should have a place in the honourable list of those who did the ir duty faithfully t o the ship and the line they served . CHAPTER II

FROM S OU THAMPTON TO TH E NIGH T OF TH E COLLIS ION

SOON after noon the whistles ble w for friends to go ashore, the gangways were with

t he drawn , and Titanic moved slowly down the dock , to the accompaniment of last mes sages and shouted farewells of those on the

n o e or quay . There was ch ering hooting Of

’ ste amers whistle s from the ﬂee t Of ships that

e e lin d the dock , as might seem probabl on the occasion of the largest ve ssel in the world put ting to sea on her maiden voyage ; the whole

e e sc n was quiet and rather ordinary , with little of the picturesque and interesting cere monial which imagination paints as usual in

such circumstances . But if this was lacking , t wo une xpe cte d dramatic incide nts supplie d a thrill Of exciteme nt and inte rest to the depar 14

OF THE T THE LOSS SS . ITANIC how the ir lives were probably saved b y being h t oo late to j oin t e Titanic .

The second incide nt occurred soon after

e u e wards , and whil it has no do bt be n thor oughly described at the time by those on

the shore , perhaps a view Of occurrence from the deck of the Titanic will n ot be without

the int erest . As Titanic moved majestically down the dock, the crowd Of friends keeping

e pac with us along the quay , we came to gether level with t he steamer New York ly ing moored t o t he side Of the dock along with “ O - the ceanic , the crowd waving good bye s to those on board as we ll as they could for t he

of a s intervening bulk the two ships . But the bows of our ship came about le vel with

e e of those Of the New York , ther came a s ries

e f e on t he reports like thos o a revolv r, and quay side of the New York snaky coils of thick rope ﬂung themselves high in the air and

r e fell backwards among the crowd , which 1 6 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION

treated in alarm t o escape the ﬂying ropes .

We hoped that n o on e was struck by the

was ropes , but a sailor next t o me certain he saw a woman carried away t o receive atten

o r tion . And then , t o u amazement the New

York crept towards us , slowly and stealthily , as if drawn by some In vISIb le force which she was powerless t o withstand . It reminded me instantly of an experiment I had shown many times t o a form Of boys learning the elements of physics in a laboratory , in which a small magnet is made to ﬂoat o n a cork in a bowl of water and small steel Objects placed on neigh b ourin g pieces of cork are drawn up t o the

ﬂoating magnet by magnetic force . It r e

’ minded me, t oo , Of seeing in my little boy s bath how a large ce lluloid ﬂoating duck would il draw towards itself, by what is called c a p lary attraction , smaller ducks , frogs , beetles , and other animal folk , until the menagerie

ﬂoated about as a unit, oblivious of their na ( 1 7 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC tural antipathies and reminding us of the “ happy familie s on e sees in cages on the sea

On shore . the New York there was shouting

e fr Of ord rs , sailors running to and o , paying out rope s and putting mats over the side where it seemed like ly we should collide ; t he tug which had a few moments before cast Off from the bows Of the Titanic came up around o ur stern and passed t o the quay side of t he

’ New York s stern , made fast t o her and started to haul her back with all the force he r e ngines we re capable Of ; but it did not se em that the tug made much impression on the

of Ne w York . Apart from the serious nature t he r accident, it made an ir esistibly comic pic ture to se e the huge vessel drifting down the dock with a snorting tug at its heels , for all the world like a small boy dragging a dim in u tive puppy down the road with its teeth

n e of e out locked o a pi ce rop , its feet splayed , its he ad and body shaking from side to side in 1 8 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION the effort t o get every ounce Of it s weight

a used t o the best advantage . At ﬁrst all p pe ar an c e showed that the stem s of the t wo vessels would collide ; but from the stern bridge Of the Titanic an Ofﬁcer directing op e r a t ion s stopped us dead , the suction ceased , and the New York with her tug trailing b e hind moved obliquely down the dock , her stern gliding along the side of the Titanic

a r in some few yards away . It gave an e xt r o d ary impression of the absolute helplessness of a big liner in the absence of any motive power to guide her . But all excitement was not yet over : the New York turned her bows inward towards the quay , her stern swinging just

of clear and passing in front Of our bows , and moved slowly head on for the Teutonic lying moored t o the side ; mats were quickly g ot out and so deadened the force of the col lision , which from where we were seemed to be

oo t slight t o cause any damage . Another tug ( 1 9 ) H T THE LOSS OF T E SS . ITANIC came up and took hold of the New York by the bows ; and between the t wo Of them they dragged her round the corner Of t he quay which just here came t o an end on t he side Of the river . We now moved slowly ahead and passed

n i h the Teutonic at a creeping pace, but ot w t

t O e standing this , the latter strained a her r p s so much that she hee le d over several d e grees in her efforts t o follow the Titanic : the crowd

of - were shouted back, a group gold braided

fﬁ - e O cials , probably the harbour mast r and his ff f sta , standin g on the se a side o the moored ropes , jumped back over them as they drew up taut to a rigid line, and urged the crowd back

e still farther . But we wer just clear , and as we slowly turned the corner into the river I saw the Teutonic swing slowly back into her f normal station , relieving the tension alike o the rope s and of the minds of all who wit n e sse d the incident . 20 F U DE K S O F Y M S S E O R C OL PIC , I T R S HIP O F TITANIC

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

s As we teamed down the river , t he scene we had just witnessed was t he topic Of every conversation : the comparison with the

Olympic -Hawke collision was drawn In every

of little group passengers , and it seemed to b e gene rally agreed that this would conﬁrm the suction theory which was so successfully advanced by the cruiser Hawke in the law ff courts , but which many people sco ed at when the British Admiralty ﬁrst suggested it as the explanation of the cruiser ramming the

Olympic . And since this is an attempt to

“ chronicle facts as they happened on board the Titanic , it must be recorded that there we re among the passengers and such of the

on crew as were heard t o speak the matter , the direst misgivings at the incident we had

o just witnessed . Sail rs are proverbially super st it ious ; far too many people are prone to

o e r f llow th ir lead , o , indeed , the lead Of any on e who asserts a statement with an air of 922 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION conviction and the opportunity of constant repetition ; the sense of mystery that shrouds it a prophetic utterance , particularly if be an ominous on e (for so constituted apparently is the human mind that it will receive the im press Oi an evil prophecy far more readily

of b e n e ﬁ c e n t n than it will that a o e , possibly through subservient fear t o the thing it dreads , possibly through the degraded , mor bid attraction which the sense of evil has for

the innate evil in the human mind) , leads many people to pay a certain respect t o super

Not st it ious theories . that they wholly b e lieve in them or would wish their dearest friends to know they ever gave them a second thought ; but the feeling that other people do “ so and the half conviction that there may be something in it , after all , sways them into tacit Obedience to the most absurd and child

~ ish theories . I wish in a later chapter to dis cuss the subject Of superstition in its refer 23 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

our e on o ence to lif b ard the Titanic , but will a n t ic Ipa t e events he re a little by relating a “ second so -called bad omen which was

e n hatch d at Queenstown . As o e of the tend ers containing passengers and mails neared

o of os the Titanic , s me th e on board gazed up at the liner towering above them , and saw a

’ stoker s head , black from his work in the u stokehold below , peering o t at them from the top of on e Of the enormous funnels a dummy on e for ventilation that rose many

He fe e t above the highest deck . had climbed

o of os up inside for a j ke , but to some th e who saw him there the sight was seed for the f “ ' growth o an omen , which bore fruit in an unknown dread Of dangers to come . An

Ame rican lady may she forgive m e if she reads these lines ' has related to m e with the dee pest conviction and earne stness of manner that She saw the man and attribute s the sinking of the Titanic largely t o that . ( 24 ) SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION

' i Arrant foolishness , you may say Yes , n

who deed , but not to those believe in it ; and it is well not to have such prophetic thoughts

Of danger passed round among passengers and crew : it would seem to have an unhealthy inﬂuence .

We dropped down Spithead , past the shores of the Isle of Wight looking superbly beautiful

in new spring foliage , exchanged salutes with a White Star tug lying- to in wait for on e of

e th ir liners inward bound , and saw in the dis tance several warships with attendant black destroyers guarding the entrance from the sea . In the calmest weather we made Cher bourg just as it grew dusk and left again about

afte r taking on board passengers and mails . We reached Que e nstown abo ut 1 2 noon

on Thursday , after a most enj oyable passage

o C acr ss the hannel , although the wind was almost t oo cold t o allo w Of sitting o ut o n

e o d ck n Thursday morning . 25 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

The coast of Ireland looked very beautiful as we approached Queenstown Harbour, the brilliant morning sun showing up the gree n hillsides and picking out groups of dwellings dotted here and there above the rugged gre y

' liﬂ n c s that fringed the coast . We took o board our pilot , ran slowly towards the har bour with the sounding-line dropping all t he

Out se a time , and came to a stop well to , with our screws churning up the bottom and turn ing the sea all brown with sand from below . It had seemed to me that the ship stopped rather suddenly , and in my ignorance of the

e d pth of the harbour entrance , that perhaps the sounding-line had reveale d a smalle r depth than was thought safe for the great size of the Titanic : this seemed to be conﬁrme d by the sight of sand churne d up from the bottom but this is mere supposition . Pas se n ge rs and mails were put on board from two

tenders , and nothing could have given us a 26 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION better idea Of the enormous length and bulk of the Titanic than to stand as far astern as possible and look over the side from the t op deck , forwards and downwards t o where the tenders rolled at her bows , the merest cockle shells beside the majestic vessel that rose deck after deck above them . Truly she was a mag n iﬁ c e n t boat ' There was something so graceful in her movement as she rode up and down on the slight swell in the harbour , a slow, stately dip and recover, only noticeable by watching her bows in comparison with some landmark on the coast In the near distance ; the two little tende rs tossing up and down like corks beside her illustrated vividly the advance made in comfort of motion from the time Of the small steamer .

e Presently the work Of transfer was end d ,

P M . the tenders cast Off, and at . , with the screws churning up the sea bottom again , the Titanic turned slowly through a quarter 27 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC circle until her nose pointed down along the

Irish coast , and then steamed rapidly away

e on from Qu enstown , the little house the left

of t he town gleaming white on the hillside for many miles astern . In our wake soared and

e e f scr am d hundreds O gulls , which had quar r e lle d and fought over the re mnants of lunch pouring out O f t he waste pipe s as we la y-t o in the harbour e ntrance ; and n ow they followed

o f o us in the expectation further sp il . I

watched them for a long time and wa s aston ishe d at the ease with which the y soared and kept up with the ship with hardly a motion Of

: o t their wings picking u a particular gull , I would keep him under Observation for min utes at a time and see no motion of his wings

downwards or upwards to aid his ﬂight . He

would tilt all of a piece to on e side or another

as the gusts of wind caught him : rigidly un

e o b ndable , as an aer plane tilts sideways in a f f pu f o wind . And yet with graceful c a se he 28

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC morning they were gone : perhaps they had seen in the night a steamer bound for the ir

Queenstown home and had escorted her back .

All afternoon we steamed along the coast of

’ e c liﬂ s r Ireland , with gr y gua ding the shore s , and hills rising be hind gaunt and barre n ; as

e e dusk f ll , the coast round d away from us to

e the northwest , and the last w saw of Europe was the Irish mountains dim and faint in t he dropping darkness . With the thought that we had seen the last of land until we se t foot on

t o the shores of America , I retired the library to write le tters , little knowing that ma ny things would happen to us all many e xpe r i e e s im r e sswe n c , sudden , vivid and p to be

e e e encount r d , many perils to be fac d , many good and true people for whom we should have to mourn be fore we saw land again .

There is very little to re late from the time Of leaving Queenstown on Thursday to Sun

se a so day morning . The was calm , calm , 30 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION

indeed , that very few were absent from meals the wind westerly and southwesterly ,

“ ' fresh as the daily chart described it ,

t oo but often rather cold , generally cold to

r so sit out on deck t o read o write , that many of us spent a good part of the time in the li

r r . b a y, reading and writing I wrote a large number of letters and posted them day by day in the b ox outside the library door : pos sib l y they are there yet . Each morning the sun rose behind us in a

of sky circular clouds , stretching round the

o i horiz n in long , narrow streaks and rising t er

- upon tier above the sky line, red and pink and fadingfrom pinktowhite , as the sun rosehigher in the sky . It was a beautiful sight t o on e who had n ot crossed the ocean before (or indeed been out of sight of the shores of England) t o stand on the t op deck and watch the swell of the sea extending outwards from the ship in an unbroken circle until it met the sky -line with 31 THE LOSS OF THE 88 . TITANIC

: it s hint of inﬁnity behind , the wake of the ves se l e he white with foam where , fancy suggest d , t prope lle r blades had cut up the long Atlantic rollers and with the m made a le ve l white road

e n e e of e bound d o ith r side by banks gre n ,

e e - e e blu , and blu green wav s that would pr se n t l y sweep away the white road , though as yet it stretched backto t he horizon and dippe d over the edge of the world back to Ire land

t he e and gulls , whil along it the morning sun

he glittere d and sparkled . And each night t

r e se a sun sank right in ou yes along the , mak ing an undulating glittering pathway , a golden track char te d on the surface of the ocean which our ship followe d unswe rvingly until the sun

e e o dipp d b l w the edge of the horizon , and t he pathway ran ahe ad of us faste r than we could steam and slippe d over the e dge of the sky

t he e e o e line, as if sun had b n a g ld n ball and had wound up its thre ad of gold t oo quickly for us to follow . 393 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION

From 1 2 noon Thursday t o 1 2 noon Friday

386 F t o we ran miles , riday Saturday 5 1 9 546 miles , Saturday to Sunday miles . The ’ 5 1 9 second day s run of miles was , the purser told us , a disappointment , and we should not dock until Wednesday morning instead of

Tuesday night, as we had expected ; however , on Sunday we were glad to see a longer run

e had been made , and it was thought w should

on make New York , after all , Tuesday night . “ The purser re marked : The y are not pushing

’ her this trip and don t intend t o make any fast

’ running : I don t suppose we shall do more

’ than 546 now ; it is not a bad day s run for the

' ﬁrst trip . This was at lunch , and I remember the conversation then turned to the spe ed and build of Atlantic liners as factors in their comfort of motion : all those who had crossed many times were unanimous in saying the

Titanic was the most comfortable boat they

n had been o , and they preferred the speed we 33 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

the e were making to that of fast r boats , from the point of vie w of le sse ned vibration as we ll as because t he faste r boats would bore through

e - the waves with a twist d , screw like motion instead of the straight up-and- down swing of

e t he Titanic . I then called the att ntion of our table to t he way t he Titanic listed to port (I

a n d we had notice d this before) , all watche d the sky-line through t he portholes as we sat

’ at the purse r s table in the saloon : it was plain

h t he - e s s e did so , for sky lin and e a on the port side were visible most of the time and on the starboard only sky . The purser remarke d that probably coal had been used mostly from

o e the starb ard sid . It is no doubt a common occurrence for all vesse ls to list to some de gre e ; but in view of t he fact that the Titanic was cut open on the starboard side and be fore she sank listed so much to port that there was quite a chasm betwe en he r and the swinging

e lif boats , across which ladies had to b e thrown 34 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION

n or t o cross o chairs laid ﬂat, the previous listing t o port may be of interest .

Returning for a moment to the motion of

a on the Titanic , it was interesting to st nd the

- boat deck , as I frequently did , in the angle between life boats 1 3 and 15 on the star board side (two boats I have every reason to remem ber, for the ﬁrst carried me in safety t o the

n e Carpathia , and it seemed likely at o time that the other would come down on our heads as we sat in 1 3 trying to get away from the ’ f ship s side) , and watch the general motion o the ship through the waves resolve itself into t wo motions on e t o be Observed by c on

- t r a st in g the docking bridge , from which the log -line trailed away behind in the foaming

z wake , with the hori on , and observing the long , slow heave as we rode up and down . I timed the average period occupied in on e

- - up and down vibration , but d o n ot n ow r e member the ﬁgures . The second motion was a ( 35 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

- - side to side roll , and could b e calculated by watching the port rail and contrasting it with

e e the horizon as before . It s ems lik ly that this double motion is d ue to the angle at which our dire c tion t o New York cuts the ge neral set of the Gulf Stream swe eping from the Gulf of Mexico across to Europe ; but the almost clock-like regularity of the two vibra tory movements was what attracted my a t tention : it was while watching the side roll

e e of that I ﬁrst becam awar the list to port .

Lo oking down astern from the boat- de ck or

e I from B deck to the ste rage quarters , ofte n noticed how the third -class passenge rs we re enjoying every minute of the time : a most uproarious skipping game of the mixed-double “ type was the great favourite, while in and

' o ut and roundabout went a Scotchman with his bagpipes playing something that Gilbe rt “ says faintly resembled an air . Standing

f e n aloof from all o th m , generally o the 36

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

- he the second class deck , and if he were , t chances of seeing his wife in the darkness and

the crowd would be very small , indeed . Of all

those playing so happily on the ste erage deck I did not recognize many afterwards on the

Carpathia .

Coming now to Sunday , the day on which

‘ b e in the Titanic struck the iceberg, it will

’ t e r e st in e g , p rhaps , to give the day s events in

e e e some d tail , to appreciate the g n ral attitude

of passe nge rs t o their surroundings just b e

e in fore the collision . Service was h ld the

t he saloon by purser in the morning, and going

on deck after lunch we found such a change in

temperature that not many cared t o remain

to face the bitte r wind an artiﬁcial wind

’ e n ot s creat d mainly , if entirely , by the hip s

o t o os rapid moti n hr ugh the chilly atm phere .

I should judge the re was n o wind blowing at

o e the time , for I had n ticed about the sam

f o force o wind appr aching Queenstown , to 38 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION

ﬁnd that it died away as soon as we stopped , only to rise again as we steamed away from the harbour .

Returning to the library , I stopped for a moment to read again the day ’ s run and

on Observe our position the chart ; the Rev .

Mr . Carter , a clergyman of the Church of En g land , was similarly engaged , and we renewed a conversation we had enjoyed for some days : it had commenced with a discussion of the r e lative merits of his university Oxford with mine Cambridge as world - wide e d u

e o for c a t ion a l agenci s , the pportunities at each the formation of character apart from me re education as such , and had led on to the lack of sufﬁciently qualiﬁed men to take up the work of the Church of England (a matter a p pa r e n t ly on which he fe lt very dee ply) and from

In E e that to his own work ngland as a pri st . He told me some o f his parish problems and spoke of the impossibility of doing half his work in 39 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

his Church without the help his wife gave . I knew her only slightly at that time , but meet ing her later in the day , I realized something of what he meant in attributing a large part of M what success he had as a vicar to her . y only excuse for m e n t ion m g these details about the Carters now and later in the day is that , while they have perhaps not much in

r t e e st for the average reader, they will no

d oub t s b e some comfort to the parish over which he presided and where I am sure he was loved . He next mentioned the abse nce of a service in the evening and asked if I knew t he purser well enough to request the use of the saloon in the evening where he would like “ to have a hymn sing-song the purser gave his consent at once , and Mr . Carter made pre pa r a t ion s during the afternoon by asking all he knew and many he did not to come

P . M to the saloon at .

The library was crowded that afternoon , 40 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION owing t o the cold on deck : but through the windows we could see the clear sky with brilliant sunlight that seemed to augur a ﬁne

- night and a clear day to morrow , and the pro spectof landing in two days , with calm weather all the way to New York ; was a matter of general satisfaction among us all . I can look back and see every detail of the library that afternoon the beautifully furnished room , with lounges , armchairs , and small writing or

- - card tables scattered about , writing bureaus round the walls of the room , and the library

- in glass cased shelves flanking one side , the whole finished in mahogany relieved with white fluted wooden columns that sup ported the deck above . Through the windows there is the covered corridor , reserved by

’ general consent as the children s playground , and here are playing the two Na vat r il child

ren with their father , devoted to them , never absent from them . Who would have 4 1 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC thought of the dramatic history of the happy group at play in the corridor that afterno on '

u of the abd ction the children in Nice , the

e e assum d name , the s paration of fathe r and children in a few hours , his death and their sub sequent union with their mot her after a period of doubt as to their parentage ' Ho w many more similar secrets the Titanic reveale d

of e r in the privacy family lif , o carried down

with her untold , we shall never know .

In the same corridor IS a man and his wife

e on e Of with two childr n , and them he is gene r ally carrying : they are a ll young and happy he is dressed always in a grey knickerbocker

— o suit with a camera slung over his sh ulder .

I have n ot seen any of them since that after

oo n n .

Close beside me so near that I cannot avoid hearing scraps of their conversation

e e are t wo American ladi s , both dress d in

: on e white , young , probably friends only has 49 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION

been to India and is returning by way of En g

a — land , the other is school teacher in America , a graceful girl with a distinguished air height

n c e - n e z E ened by a pair of pi . ngaged in con versation with them is a gentleman whom I subsequently identiﬁed from a photograph as

‘ - M a well known resident of Cambridge , assa c huse t t s , genial , polished , and with a courtly t air towards the wo ladies , whom he has known but a fe w hours ; from time to time as they

on talk , a child acquaintance breaks in their conversation and insists on their taking notice of a large doll clasped in her arms ; I have seen none of this group since then . In the opposite corner are the young American kin e m a t o

graph photographer and his young wife , evi d e n t l F y rench , very fond of playing patience , which she is doing now, while he sits back in his chair watching the game and interposing

o from time to time with suggesti ns . I did not see them again . In the middle of the room 43 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

are two Catholic priests , one quietly reading ,

E r either nglish o Irish , and probably the latter, the other , dark, bearded , with broad brimmed hat , talking earnestly to a friend in German and evidently explaining some verse in the open Bible before him ; near them a

o e n in e e r ' on M y ung ﬁre g his way to exico , and of of the same religion as the rest the group .

of None them were saved . It may be noted he re that the percentage of men saved in t he second - class is the lo west of any othe r division

e only ight pe r cent .

M e o any other fac s recur to th ught , but it is impossible to describe them all in t he space of a short book : of all those in the library

e that Sunday aft rnoon , I can remember only two or three persons who found their way t o

o o the Carpathia . L king over this room, with his back to the library shelves , is the library

o - steward , thin , sto ping , sad faced , and gener ally with nothing t o d o but serve out books ; ( 44 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

e in all probability it is not , as will be se n

e pres ntly .

e . e Aft r dinner , Mr Carter invit d all who

t he oo s s e wished to sal n , and with the as i tanc at the piano of a gentleman who sat at t he purser ’ s table opposite me (a young Scotch engineer going out t o j oin his brothe r fruit

of o e s farming at the foot the R cki ) , he started

sin in h m n some hundred passengers g gi y s . They were aske d t o chose whichever hymn they

so o e wished , and with many to ch os , it was impossible for him t o d o more than have the

e s t he great st favourites ung . As he announced

e each hymn , it was vident that he wa s thor o ughly ve rse d in their history : n o hymn was sung but that he gave a short Sketch o f it s author and in some cases a de scription o f t he circumstances in which it was compose d . I think all we re impressed with his knowledge of hymns and with his e agerne ss t o tell us all

e o se e he knew of th m . It was curi us to how ( 46 ) SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION many chose hymns dealing with dangers at sea . I noticed the hushed tone with which all “ For sang the hymn , those in peril on t he

The singing must have gone on until after

’ ten O clock , when , seeing the stewards standing

’ about waiting to serve biscuits and c oﬂ e e b e ff fore going o duty , Mr . Carter brought the evening to a close by a few words of thanks to f f the purser or the use o the saloon , a short sketch of the happiness and safety of the voy

o n age hitherto , the great conﬁdence all felt board this great liner with her steadiness and

of her size , and the happy outlook landing in a few hours in New York at the close of a de lightful voyage ; and all the time he spoke , a “ few miles ahe ad of us lay the peril on the sea ' that was to sink this same great liner with many of those on board who listened

S e . with gratitude to his impl , heartfe lt words

SO much for the frailty of human hopes and 47 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC for the conﬁdence re posed in mate rial human

designs .

of t f Think of the shame it , hat a mass o ice

of no use to any one or anything sho uld have

the power fatally to injure the be autiful Ti tanie ' That an insensible blo ck should b e able

e s e e to threaten , even in the small t d gre , the

lives of many good men and women who think and plan and hope and love and not onlyto

t o e threaten , but end th ir lives . It is unbear

able ' Are we never to educate ourselves t o

foresee such dangers and t o pre vent the m b e

fore they happen ' All the evidence of history shows that laws unknown and unsuspected

are being discovered day by day : as this

of is knowledge accumulates for the use man ,

it not ce rtain that the ability to see and d e

stroy before hand the threat of danger will be

on e of the privile ges t he whole world will util

ize ' Ma o o y that day c me soon . Until it d es ,

o n o no precaution too rig rous can be taken , 48 SOUTHAMPTON TO THE COLLISION

safety appliance , however costly , must be

’ e omitte d from a ship s equipm nt .

After the meeting had broken up , I talked

of with the Carters over a cup coffee , said

- good night t o them , and retired to my cabin at about quarte r to eleven . They were good people and this world is much poorer by their

loss .

It may be a matter of pleasure to many people to know that their friends were perhaps

of among that gathering people in the saloon , and that at the last the sound of the hymns still echoed in their c a r s as they stood on the

s deck o quietly and courageously . Who can tell how much it had to do with the demean our of some of them and the example this would set t o others ' CHAPTER III

TH E COLLIS ION A N D EMB ARKATION IN LIFE B OATS

I HAD been fortunate enough to secure a t wo- 56 berth cabin to myself, D , quite close to the saloon and most convenient in every way for getting about the ship ; and ona big ship like the Titanic it was quite a con

e on sid ration to be D deck , only three de cks

r - e below the top o boat deck . B low D again

on E F were cabins and decks , and to walk

n F from a cabin o up to the top deck , climbing f ﬁve ﬂights o stairs on the way , was certainly a considerable task for those not able to take much exercise . The Titanic management has be e n criticised , among other things , for sup plying the boat with lifts : it has been said they we re an expe nsive luxury and the room they took up might have been utilized in some way TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

- for more life saving appliances . Whatever else may have been superﬂuous , lifts certainly

: l on were not Old lad es , for example , in cabins

F ot deck , would hardly have g to the top de ck during the whole voyage had they not bee n

- able to ring for the lift boy . Perhaps nothing gave on e a greater impression of the size of the ship than to take the lift from the top and

s f drop slowly down pa t the di ferent ﬂoors , dis charging and taking in passengers just as in a

- large hotel . I wonder where the lift boy was

that night . I would have been glad to ﬁnd

r or on C him in ou boat , the arpathia when we

o of . t ok count the saved He was quite young ,

not more than sixteen , I think , a bright e yed , handsome boy , with a love for the sea and the games on deck and the view over the o e of On e c an and he did not get any them . u f day , as he put me o t o his lift and saw through the vestibule wm d ows a game of deck quoits in progress , he said , in a wistful tone , ( 51 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

‘3’ My 'I wish I co uld go out there sometimes

e I wished he could,too , and made a j sting offe r to take charge of his lift for an hour while he went out to watch the game ; but he smil in gly shook his head and dropped down in answer t o an imperative ring from below .

I think he was n ot on duty with his lift after

e o the collision , but if he w re , he w uld smile at his passengers all t he time as he took them up

o t o to the b ats waiting leave the sinking ship .

After undre ssing and climbing into the t op

e - berth , I read from about quart r past eleven to the time we struck , about quarter to twelve .

During this time I noticed particularly the in

e Of cr ased vibration the ship , and I assumed that we were going at a higher speed than at any other time since we sailed from Queens

No to wn . w I am aware that this is an impor

n tant point , and bears strongly o the question of responsibility for the effects of the Collis ion ; but the impression of increased vibration 52

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC am sure we were going faster that night at the time we struck the iceberg than we had done

i . e before , . , during the hours I was awake and

of able to take note anything .

a And then , as I re d in the quie tness of the

o f night , br ken only by the mu ﬂed s ound that

came to me through the ventilators of stew

ards talking and moving along the corridors ,

when ne arly all the passenge rs were in their

cabins , some asleep in bed , others undressing , and others only j ust down from the smoking room and still discussin g many things , there

came what se emed to me nothing more than an extra he ave of the engines and a more than

usually Obvious dancing motio n of the mat

n o tress o which I sat . Nothing m re than that

no sound of a crash or of anything else : no

sense of shock , no jar that felt like one heavy

e body meeting another . And pr sently the

same thing repeate d with about the same in

tensity . The thought came to me that they 54 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

must have still further increased the speed . And all this time the Titanic was being cut open by the iceberg and water was pouring in her side , and yet no evidence that would indi cate such a disaster had been presented to us .

It ﬁlls me with astonishme nt now to think of f e o . it . Consid r the question list alone Here was this enormous vessel running starboard

on side to an iceberg, and a passenger sitting

t or quietly in bed , reading, felt no mo ion list t o r the opposite o port side , and this must have been felt had it been more than the usual roll of the ship never very much in the calm weather we had all the way . Again , my bunk was fixed to the wall on the starboard side , and any list to port would have tended t o fling me out on the floor : I am sure I should have noted i t had there been any . And yet the explanation is simple enough : the Titanic struck the berg with a force Of impact of o ver a million fo ot

e tons ; her plates were l ss than an inch thick , 55 l THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC and they must have been cut through as a knife cuts paper : the re would be n o need to list ; it would have been better if she had listed

out on and thrown us the ﬂoor, for it would have been an indication that our plates were f strong enough to o fer , at any rate , some re sist a n c e to the blow, and we might all have

- been safe to day .

And so , with no thought of anything serious

o having happened to the ship , I c ntinued my reading ; and still the murmur from the stew ards and from adjoining cabins , and no other sound : no cry in the night ; no alarm given ; no on e afraid there was then nothing which could cause fear to the most timid person . But in a few moments I felt the engines slow and stop ; the dancing motion and the vibration ce ased suddenly after being part of our very e xistence for four days , and that was the ﬁrst hint that anything out of the ordinary had

“ ' - happened . We have all heard a loud tick 56 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS u ing clock stop suddenly in a q iet room , and then have noticed the clock and the ticking f noise , o which we seemed until then quite unconscious . So in the same way the fact was suddenly brought home to all in the ship that the engines that part of the ship that drove us through the sea had stopped dead . But the stopping of the engines gave us n o inform ation : we had to make o ur o wn calculations a s to why we had stopped . Like a ﬂash it came t o me : We have dropped a propeller blade : when this happens the engines always

a re race away until they controlled , and this accounts for the extra heave they gave not a very logical conclusion when considered now, for the engines should have continued to heave

t he all the time until we stopped , but it was at f time a su ﬁciently tenable hypothesis to hold .

on out Acting it , I jumped of bed , slipped on a

- o dressing gown over pyjamas , put on sh es , and went o ut of my cabin into the hall near the 57 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

salo on . Here was a steward leaning against the staircase , probably waiting until those in the smoke -room above had gone to bed and “

ut . he could put o the lights I said , Why

' “ ’ ' ' have we stopped I don t know, sir , he

“ ’ o replied , but I d n t suppose it is anything

' “ ' “ e o much . W ll , I said , I am g ing on deck t o see what it is , and started to wards the

' e e stairs . He smil d indulg ntly at me as I “ S Ir passed him , and said , All right , , but it is

e mighty cold up ther . I am sure at that time he thought I was rather foolish to go up I with so little reason , and must confess I fe lt rathe r absurd for n ot remaining in the cabin : it see me d like making a needless fuss to walk

- about the ship in a dressing gown . But it was my ﬁrst trip across the se a ; I had e njoye d every minute of it and was kee nly alive t o note i every new e xperience ; and certa nly t o/stop in the m iddle of the sea with a propeller dropped seemed sufﬁcient reason for going on 58 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

deck . And yet the steward , with his fatherly

m s ile , and the fact that no one else was about the pa ssages or going upstairs t o reconnoitre , made me feel guilty in an undeﬁned way of

’ breaking some code of a ship s ré gime an

’ Englishman s fear of being thought un ' ' usual , perhaps

of I climbed the three ﬂights stairs , opened

t o e the vestibule door leading to the p d ck , and stepped out into an atmosphere that cut

. t me , clad as I was , like a knife Walking o the starboard side , I peered over and saw the sea

e many feet b low , calm and black ; forward , the deserted deck stretching away to the ﬁ r st

’ Class quarters and the captain s bridge ; and behind , the steerage quarters and the stern bridge ; nothing more : no iceberg o n either side or astern as far as we could see in the

or darkness . There were two three men o n

n e deck , and with o the Scotch engineer who played hymns in the saloon I compar ed 59 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

f ur e e notes o o xperienc s . He had just begun to undress whe n the engines stopped and had come up at once , so that he was fairly well

of clad ; none us could see anything, and all being quiet and still , the Scotchman and I went down to the next deck . Through the windows of the smoking-room we saw a game

on of cards going , with several onlookers , and went in to enquire if they knew more than

e we did . They had apparently felt rather mor

so far I of the heaving motion , but as remem

f out on ber , none o them had gone deck to

on e of make any enquiries , even when them had seen through the windows an iceberg go by towering above the decks . He had called their attention to it , and they all watched

e it disapp ar , but had then at once resumed

of t he the game . We asked them the height

n e berg and some said o hundred feet , others , sixty feet ; on e of the onlookers a motor engineer travelling to America with a mo del 60

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC “ to an onlooker , said , Just run along the deck and see if any ice has come aboard : I would

' like some for this . Amid the general laughter at what we thought was his imagination , ' only too realistic, alas for when he spoke the forward deck was covered with ice that had

in f r tumbled over , and seeing that no more o I mation was forthcoming , left the smoking

S a t room and went down to my cabin , where I f r I o some time reading again . am ﬁlled with sorrow to think I never saw any of the oc c u pants of that smoking-room again : nearly all young men full of hope for their prospects in

' a new world ; mostly unmarried ; keen , alert , with the makings of good citizens . Presently , he aring people walking about the corridors ,

I looked out and saw several standing in the hall talking to a steward most of them ladies in dressing-gowns ; other people were

d e going upstairs , and I deci d to go on deck

t o o again , but as it was cold to do so in a 62 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

- dressing gown , I dressed in a Norfolk jacket and trousers and walked up . There were now more people looking over the side and walking

t o about , questioning each other as why we had stopped , but without obtaining any

on deﬁnite information . I stayed deck some v minutes , walking about igorously to keep warm and occasionally looking downwards t o

if som e t hin the sea as ‘ g there would indicate

f r the reason or delay . The ship had now e sumed her course , moving very slowly through the water with a little white line of foam on each side . I think we were all glad to see this : I it seemed better than standing still . soon

t o decided go down again , and as I crossed from the starboard to the port side t o g o f down by the vestibule door , I saw an o ﬁcer climb on the last lifeboat on the port side 6 number 1 and begin to throw off the cover , but I do not remember that any on e paid any particular attention to him . Certainly no one 63 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC thought they were preparing t o man the life boats and embark from the ship . All this time there was no apprehension of any dange r in

on e the minds of passengers , and no was in

s any condition of panic or hy teria ; after all , if it would have been strange they had been ,

e r without any deﬁnite evidence of dang .

As I passed to the door to go down , I looked

, “ forward again and saw to my surprise an un doubted tilt downwards from the stern t o t he

’ : o bows only a slight slope , which I d n t think

n any o e had noticed , at any rate , they had not re marked on it . As I went down stairs a conﬁrmation of this tilting forward came in something unusual about the stairs , a curious sense of something out of balance

’ and of not being able to put one s feet down

for in the right place : naturally , being tilted ward , the stairs would Slope downwards at an

angle and tend to throw one forward . I could

not see any visible slope of the stairway : it 64 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS was perceptible only by the sense of balance at this time .

On D deck were three ladies I think they

were all saved , and it is a good thing at least t o be able t o chronicle meeting some on e who

was saved after so much record of those who

were n ot standing in the passage near the “ h ' ' ' cabin . O why have we stopped they

' said . We did stop , I replied , but we are

' “ '

on . Oh n now going again , no , o e replied ; “ r I cannot feel the engines as I usually do , o '' hear them . Listen We listened , and there

was no throb audible . Having noticed that the

vibration of the engines is most noticeable

lying in a bath , where the throb comes straight from the ﬂoor through its metal sides

’ t oo much so ordinarily for on e t o put one s

on head back with comfort the bath , I took them along the corridor to a bathroom

and made them put their hands on the side of

the bath : they were much reassured to feel the 65 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC engines throbbing do wn below and to know we I were making some headway . left them and on the way to my cabin passed some stewards standing unconcernedly against t he walls of

: on f the saloon e o them , the library steward

t . again , was leaning over a able , writing It is no exaggeration to say that they had neither any knowledge of the accident nor any feeling of alarm that we had stoppe d and had not yet gone on again full speed : their whole attitude expressed perfect conﬁd e nce in t he ship and

e ofﬁ c rs . Turning into my gangway (my cabin being the ﬁrst in the gangway) , I saw a man stand f ing at the other end o it fastening his tie .

“ “ ' ' ' Anything fresh he said . Not much , I “ replied ; we are going ahead slowly and she is

’ e b ut down a littl at the bows , I don t think it “ is anything serious . Come in and look at

' “ ’ ' this man , he laughed ; he won t get up .

I looked in , an d in t he t op bunk lay a man with 66 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

his back t o me , closely wrapped in his bed f clothes and only the back o his head visible .

“ ’ ' Why won t he get up ' Is he asleep ' I

' said . No , laughed the man dressing , he says But before he could ﬁnish the sen

“ ’ tence the man above grunted : Y oudon t catch me leaving a warm bed t o g o up on that cold deck at midnight . I know better than that . We both told him laughingly why he had better get up , but he was certain he was just as safe there and all this dressing was quite unnecessary ; so I left them and went

n again t o my cabin . I put o some under

on clothing , sat the sofa , and read for some ten minutes, when I heard through the Open f door, above , the noise o people passing up and down , and a loud shout from above : All

' on n passengers deck with lifebelts o .

I placed the t wo books I was reading in the f side pockets o my Norfolk jacket , picked up my lifebelt (curiously enough , I had taken 67 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC it down for the ﬁrst time that night from t he wardrobe when I ﬁrst retired to my cabin)

- and my dressing gown , and walked upstairs

e tying on the lif belt . As I came out of my

’ cabin , I remember seeing the purser s assist

on ant , with his foot the stairs about t o climb

s them , whi per to a steward and jerk his head signiﬁcantly behind him ; not that I thought

h of anyt ing it at the time , but I have no

doubt he was telling him what had happened

up in the bows , and was g l vm g him orders t o

call all passengers .

n o Going upstairs with other passengers ,

n e o ran a step or seemed alarmed , we met

t wo ladies coming down : on e seized me by “ h ' the arm and said , O I have no lifebelt ; will you come down to my cabin and help

' me t o ﬁnd it' I returned with them to F

de ck , the lady who had addressed me hold

- ing my arm all the time in a vise like grip ,

e o d much t o my amusem nt , and we f un a 68

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC were called or heard the summons to equip themselve s with lifebelts not in much con f P dition to face the cold o that night . ortu n a t e ly there was n o wind t o beat the cold air through our clothing : even the breeze caused

’ by the ship s motion had died entirely away , for the engines had stopped again and the

Titanic lay peacefully on the surface of the i sea motionless , quiet , not even rock ng to h f t e roll o the sea ; indeed , as we were to dis cover presently , the sea was as calm as an inland lake save for the gentle swell which could impart n o motion to a ship the size of

n the Titanic . To stand o the deck many feet above the water lapping idly against her sides , and looking much farther off than it really

on e was because of the darkness , gave a sense of wonderful security : to feel her so steady and still was like standing on a large rock i n

e of t he the middl ocean . But there were now more e viden ce s of the coming c atastrophe t o 70 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS the Observer than had been apparent when on deck last : on e was the Tom and hiss of escaping steam from the boilers , issuing out of a large steam pipe reaching high up on e of the funnels : a harsh , deafening boom that made c onversation difﬁcult and n o doubt increased the apprehension of some people merely because of the volume of noise : if on e imagines twenty locomotives blowing off steam in a low key it would give some idea of the unpleasant sound that met us as we climbed out on the top deck .

But after all it was the kind of phenomenon we ought t o expe ct : engines blow off steam when standing in a station , and why should not a ship ’ s boilers do the same when the ship is not moving' I never heard any on e connect this noise with the danger of boiler explosion , in the event of the ship sinking with her boilers under a high pressure of steam , whic h was no doubt the true explana ( 71 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

of tion this precaution . But this is pe rhaps

speculation ; some people may have known it

e e o e quit w ll , for fr m the tim we came on deck

1 3 ot until boat g away , I heard very little

conversation of any kind among the passen gers . It is not the slightest exaggeration to say that no signs of alarm were exhibited by

any on e : there was n o indication of panic or

of hysteria ; no cries fear , and no running to

and fro to discover what was the matter , why we had been summoned on deck with life be lts , and what was to be done with us now we were there . We stood there quietly look ing on at the work of the crew as they manned

h e on e t e lif boats , and no ventured to inter ff fere with them or o ered to help them . It was plain we should be of no use ; and the crowd of men and women stood quietly on the deck or paced slowly up and down wait ing for orders from the ofﬁcers .

o s e Now, before we c n id r any further the ( 793 ) TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

f events that followed , the state of mind o passengers at this juncture , and the motives which led each on e t o act as he or she did in n t the circumstances , it is importa t o keep in thought the amount of information at our dis posal . Men and women act according to judgment based on knowledge of the condi tions around them , and the best way to under stand some apparently inconceivable things that happened is for any on e to imagine him

or self herself standing on deck that night . It seems a mystery to some people that women refused to leave the ship , that some

on persons retired to their cabins , and so ; but f it is a matter o judgment , after all .

So that if the reader will come and stand

on with the crowd deck , he must ﬁrst rid himself entirely of the knowledge that the

Titanic has sunk an important necessity , for he cannot see conditions as they existed there through the mental haze arising from 73 OF THE LOSS THE SS . TITANIC knowledge of the greatest maritime tragedy the world has known : he must get rid of any foreknowledge of disaster to appreciate why people acted as they did . Secondly , he had better get rid of any picture In thought painted either by his own imagination or by some “ or in artist , whether pictorial verbal , from

' formation supplied . Some are most in a c c u

- rate (these , mostly word pictures) , and where

e they err, they err on the highly dramatic sid .

They need not have done so : the whole con d ition s were dramatic enough in all their bare

of simplicity , without the addition any high colouring .

W l ll Having made these mental erasures , he ﬁnd himself as one of the crowd faced with the following conditions : a perfectly still atmos phe r e ; a brilliantly beautiful starlight night , but no moon , and so with little light that was of any use ; a ship that had come quietly to rest without any indication of disaster - no 74 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

’ iceberg visible , no hole in the ship s side through which water was pouring in , nothing

ut f of broken or o o place , n o sound alarm , no

f on e panic , no movement o any except at a walking pace ; the absence of any knowledge

f of Of o the nature of the accident , the extent

t he f damage , Of danger o the ship sinking in a

of few hours , the numbers of boats , rafts , and other lifesaving appliances available , their

r capacity , what other ships were near o com e ing to h lp in fact , an almost complete absence of any positive knowledge on any f point . I think this was the result o deliberate

on f f judgment the part o the o ﬁcers , and per haps , it was the best thing that could be done .

In particular , he must remember that the

o f ship was a sixth a mile long , with passen

n gers o three decks open to the sea , and port and starboard sides to each deck : he will then get some idea Of the difﬁculty presented to the ofﬁcers of keeping control over such a large 75 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

of on e area , and the impossibility any know ing what was happening except in his own im mediate vicinity . Perhaps the whole thing can be summed up best by saying that , after we had embarked in the life boats and rowed away from the Titanic , it would not have sur prised us to hear that all passengers would be saved : the crie s of drowning people after the Titanic gave the ﬁnal plunge were a thunder

l I a m bo t to us . aware that the experiences of many of those saved differed in some respects from the above : some had kno wledge of cer tain things , some were experienced travellers and sailors , and therefore deduced more rap idly what was likely to happen ; but I think the above gives a fairly accurate representation of the state of mind of most of those on deck that night . All this time people were pouring up from the stairs and adding to the crowd : I remem ber at that moment thinking it would b e well ( 76 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

' t he o men stand back from b ats . He had apparently been o ff duty when the ship struck , and was lightly dressed , with a white fﬂ t mu er wisted hastily round his neck . The men fell back and the women re tired be low to get into the boats from the next deck . Two

women refused at ﬁrst to leave their husbands , but partly by persuasio n and partly by force they were separated from them and sent down

e to the next deck . I think that by this tim the work on the lifeboats and the separation of men and women impressed on us Slowly the f presence o imminent danger , but it made no

difference in the attitude of the crowd : they

we r e just as prepared t o Obey orders and to

d o what came next as when they ﬁrst came on

deck . I do n ot mean that they actually reas

oued it out : they were the average Teutonic

o cr wd , with an inborn respect for law and

o rder and for traditions beque athed to them

by generations of ancestors : the re asons that ( 78 ) TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

made them act as they did were impersonal , instinctive , hereditary .

But if there were any on e who had not by now realized that the ship was in danger , all doubt on this point was t o be set at rest in a

of dramatic manner . Suddenly a rush light h from the forward deck , a issing roar that made us all turn from watching the boats , and a rocket leapt upwards to where the stars U blinked and twinkled above us . p it went , f higher and higher, with a sea o faces upturned t o watch it , and then an explosion that seemed to split the silent night in two , and a shower of stars sank slowly down and went out on e

on e by . And with a gasping sigh on e word

“ ' escaped the lips of the crowd : Rockets '

Anybody knows what rockets at sea mean .

And presently another , and then a third . It is no use denying the dramatic intensity of the scene : separate it if youcan from all the ter rible events that followed , and picture the 79 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

f n calmness o the night , the sudden light o the decks crowded with people in different stages of f dress and undress , the background o huge funnels and tapering masts revealed by the

c soaring ro ket , whose ﬂash illumined at the sam e time the faces and minds of the obedient

n e crowd , the o with mere physical light , the other with a sudden revelation of what its

e n e o message was . Ev ry o e kn w with ut being told that we were calling for help from any

e e on e who was near enough to s .

o The crew were n ow in the b ats , the sailors standing by the pulley ropes let them slip

e through t he cleats in j rks , and down the boats went till level with B deck ; women and children climbed over the rail into the boats and ﬁlled them ; when full , they were lowered on e n e 9 by o , beginning with number , the ﬁrst

- on ' the second class deck , and working back wards towards 1 5 . All this we could see b y

- peering over the edge of the boat deck, 80 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

which was now quite open to the sea , the four boats which formed a natural barrier being

lowered from the deck and leaving it exposed .

About this time , while walking the deck , I saw two ladies come over from the port side and walk towards the rail separating the

- - second class from the ﬁ r st class deck . There “ stood an ofﬁcer barring the way . May we

' “ ' pass to the boats ' they said . No , madam , “ he replied politely , your boats are down

' n o your own deck , pointing to where they u swung below . The ladies t rned and went towards the stairway , and no doubt were able to enter on e of the boats : they had ample

t o S time . I mention this how that there was , at any rate , some arrangement whether oﬂi c ia l or not for separating the classes in

embarking in boats ; how far it was carried out ,

d o - I not know , but if the second class ladies were not expected to enter a boat from the

ﬁ r st - class deck , while steerage passengers were ( 8 1 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

t o - allowed access the second class deck , it would seem to press rather hardly on the

- second class men , and this is rather supported b ylt he low percentage saved .

Almost immediately after this incident , a report went round among men on the top deck the starboard side that men were to be

off on t taken the por side ; how it originated ,

I am quite unable to say , but can only sup pose that as the port boats , numbers 1 0 to 1 6 , were not lowered from the top deck quite so soon as the starboard boats (they could still be seen on deck) , it might be assumed that

women were being taken off on on e side and men on the other ; but in whatever way the report started , it was acted on at once by

h o almost all the men , w crowded across to the port side and watc hed the preparation for

o l wering the boats , leaving the starboard side

almost deserted . Two or three men remained ,

howe ver : not for any reason that we were 82 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS consciously aware of ; I can perso nally think of no decision arising from reasoned thought that induced me to remain rather than to

n o cross over . But while there was process of conscious reason at work , I am convin ced that what was my salvation was a r e c ogn i tion of the necessity of being quiet and wait ing in patience for some opportunity of safety to present itself . Soon after the men had left the starboard — ’ — side , I saw a bandsman the cellist come round the vestibule corner from the staircase entrance and run down the n ow deserted star

’ board deck , his cello trailing behind him , the spike dragging along the ﬂoor . This must have M been about A . . I suppose the band must have begun to pla soon after this and gone on until after 2 A . y brave things were done that night , but none more brave than by those few men playing minute after m inute as the ship settled quietly lower and ( 83 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC lower in the sea and the sea r ose higher and higher to where they stood ' the music they played serving alike as them own immortal requiem and their right t o be recorded on

of the rolls undying fame . )

Looking forward and downward , we could

of see several the boats now in the wate r,

on e on e moving slowly by from the side ,

s or without confu ion noise , and st ealing away in the d arkness which swallowed them in turn as the crew bent to the oars . An ofﬁcer I think First Ofﬁcer Murdock came strid

o ing along the deck , clad in a l ng coat , from his manner and face evidently in great agi i t at on , but determined and resolute ; he looked over the side and shouted to the boats being “ : lowered Lower away , and when aﬂoat, row

' for o around to the gangway and wait rders . “ t he of Aye , aye , sir , was the reply ; and ﬁcer passed by and went across the ship to t he port side . 84

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC lower in the sea and the sea r ose higher and higher to where they stood ; the music they played serving alike as the ir own immortal requiem and the ir right t o be recorded on

Of the rolls undying fame . )

Looking forward and downward , we could

e e of i s several the boats now n the wate r,

on e moving slowly one by from the side,

f or without con usion noise , and stealing away in the darkness which swallowed them in

‘ turn as the crew bent to the oars . An oﬂi c e r I think First Ofﬁcer Murdock came strid

o ing along the deck , clad in a l ng coat , from his manner and face evidently in grea t agi i t at on , but determined and resolute ; he looked over the side and shouted to the boats being “ : lowered Lower away , and when aﬂoat , row

' around t o the gangway and wait for orders . “ t he f Aye , aye , sir , was the reply ; and o ﬁcer passed by and went across the ship to the port side . 84 TAKING TO THE LIFEBOATS

Almost immediately after this , I heard a cry “ from below of , Any more ladies ' and look f 3 ing over the edge o the deck , saw boat 1

of swinging level with the rail B deck , with

the crew , some stokers , a few men passengers and the rest ladies , the latter being about half the total number ; the boat was almost full and just about to be lowered . The call for ladies was repeated twice again , but appar ently there were none to be found . Just then on e of the crew looked up and saw me looking

“ '

. ' over Any ladies on your deck he said . “ “ NO , I replied . Then youhad better jump . I sat on the edge of the deck with my

- feet over , threw the dressing gown (which I had carried on my arm all of the time) into the boat , dropped , and fell in the boat near the stern . I As I picked myself up , heard a shout

e Wait a moment , here are two more ladi s , and they were pushed hurriedly over the side 85 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

e and tumbled into the boat , on into the middle

on e and next t o me in the stern . They told me afterwards that they had been assembled on ‘ a lower deck with other ladies , and had come up to B deck not by the usual stairway

on f inside , but by e o the vertically upright iron ladders that connect each deck with the

n f r o e below it , meant o the use of sailors O passing about the ship . ther ladies had been in front of them and got up quickly , but these two were delayed a long time by the fact that on e of them the on e that was helped ﬁrst over the side into boat 1 3 near the middle

was not at all active : it seemed almost im possible for her to climb up a vertical ladder . We saw her trying to climb the swinging rope ladder up the Carpathia ’ s side a few hours

l f . ater , and she had the same di ﬁculty “

AS they tumbled in , the crew shouted ,

' Lower away ; but before the order was

e e ob yed , a man with his wif and a baby came ( 86 )

CHAPTER IV

TH E S INKING OF TH E TITANIC S EEN FROM A LIFEB OAT

LOOKING back now on the descent of our

’ boat down the Ship s side , it is a matter of surprise , I think , to all the occupants t o r e member how little they thought of it at the time . It was a great adventure , certainly : it

t e was exciting to feel h boat sink by jerks ,

TO e s foot by foot , as the p were paid out from above and shrieked as they passed through the pulley blocks , the new ropes and gear creak ing under the strain of a boat laden with

o people , and the crew calling to the sail rs

on e above as the boat tilt ed slightly , now at

“ ' “ n ow ' end , at the other , Lower aft Lower

' “ ' stern ' and Lower together ' as she came level again - but I do not think we felt much appre hension about re aching the water safely . ( 88 ) THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT It certainly was thrilling to see the black

o n a hull of the ship on e side and the se ,

on r seventy feet below , the other , o t o pass down by cabins and saloons brilliantly lighted ; but we knew nothing of the apprehension felt in the minds of some of the ofﬁcers whether the boats and lowering-gear wo uld stand the

f of our strain o the weight sixty people . The ropes , however , were new and strong , and the boat did not buckle in the middle as an

Older boat might have done . Whether it was right or not to lower boats full of people to the water , and it seems likely it was not , I think there can be nothing but the highest praise given to the ofﬁcer s and crew above for the way in which they lowered the boats on e after the other safely to the water ; it may seem a simple matter , to read about such a thing , but any sailor knows , apparently , that it is not so . An experienced ofﬁcer has told me that he has seen a boat lowered in practice from a 89 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

’ sh ip s deck , with a trained crew and n o pas s n e ge rs in the boat, with practised sailors

m paying out the ropes , in daylight, in cal weather, with the ship lying in dock and has seen the boat tilt over and pitch the crew headlong into the sea . Contrast these con d it ion s with those obtaining that Monday

A . M s morning at . , and it is impos ible not

to feel that , whether the lowering crew were

r r trained o not , whether they had o had not

n drilled since coming o board , they did their

duty in a way that argues the greatest e fﬁ

c i n e c y . I cannot help feeling the deepest gratitude to the two sailors who stood at the

ropes above and lowered us to the sea : I d o

not suppose they were saved .

Perhaps on e explanation of our feeling little

sense of the unusual in le a vm g the Titanic in this way was that it seemed the climax

to a series of extraordinary o ccurre nces : the

magnitude of the whole thing dwarfed events 90

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC into a boat so tightly that he could not sit down or move about , and then picture the boat f sinking down in a continuous series o jerks , as the sailors pay out the ropes through cleats above . There are more pleasant sensations than this ' How thankful we were that the sea was calm and the Titanic lay so steadily and quietly as we dropped down her side . We were

i spare d the bumping and grinding a g a in st t he side which so often accompanies the launching of boats : I do not remember that we even had to fend Off our b oa t while we were trying to get free .

n e f As we went down , o o the crew shouted ,

We are just over the conde nser exhaust : we

’ don t want to sta y in that long or we shall be swamped ; feel down on the ﬂoor and be ready to pull up the pin which lets the ropes free as

e soon as we are a ﬂoat . I had often look d over the side and noticed this stream of wate r coming o ut of the side of the Titanic just 92 THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT above the water-line : in fact so large was the volume of water that as we ploughed along and met the waves coming towards us , this stream would cause a splash that sent spray

ﬂying . We felt, as well as we could in the

f n crowd o people, o the ﬂoor, along the sides , with n o idea where the pin could be found , f i and none o the crew knew where t was, only of its existence somewhere, but we never found it . And all the time we g ot closer t o the se a and the exhaust roared nearer and nearer

until ﬁnally we ﬂoated with the rope s still h n olding us from above , the exhaust washi g us away and the force of the tide driving us

of bac k against the side , the latter not much account in inﬂuencing the direction , however . Thinking over what followed , I imagine we must have touched the water with

r the condenser stream at ou bows , and n ot in the middle as I thought at on e time : at any rate, the resultant of these three forces was 93 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

e e e that we w re carri d parall l to the ship , di r e c t ly unde r the place whe re boat 1 5 would drop from her davits into the sea . Lo oking up we saw her already coming down rapidly from B deck : she must have ﬁlled almost im “

e e . e m diately aft r ours We shout d up , Stop 1 4 1 lowering , and the crew and passengers in

e the boat above , hearing us shout and se ing

r ouposition immediately below them , sho ute d the same to the sailors on the boat de ck ; but apparently they did not hear , for she dropped

- down foot by foot , twenty feet , ﬁfteen , ten ,

and a stoke r and I in t he bows reached up and touched her bottom swinging above our

e h ads , trying to push away our boat from

e e under her . It s me d n ow as if nothing could

on prevent her dropping us , but at this mo ment another stoke r sprang with his knife to

1 In a n a c c oun t whic h a ppe a re d in the n e wspa pe rs of

A r 1 9 I a ve e sc r e t s oa t a s 14 n ot kn ow n t e p il h d ib d hi b , i g h y we re n um e re a t e n a e b d l r t ly . ( 94 )

I THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITAN C

The crew was made up of cooks and stew

the o ards , mostly f rmer, I think ; their white jackets showing up in the darkness as they

a r pulled away , two to an o : I do not think

e h th y can ave had any practice in rowing , for all night long their oars crossed and clashed ; if our safe ty had depended on speed or accuracy in keeping time it would have

' gone hard with us . Shouting began from on e end of the boat to t he other as to what we

on e should do , where we should go , and no

e se emed to have any knowledg how to act . “ f At last we asked , Who is in charge o this

' boat' but there was no reply . We then agree d by ge neral consent that the stoker who stood in the stem with the tiller should act as captain , and from that time he directed the course, shouting to other boats and keeping in touch with them . Not that there was any

where to go or anything we could do . Our plan of action was simple : to keep all the boats ( 96 ) THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT together as far as possible and wait until we were picked up by other liners . The crew had apparently heard of the wireless c om m un ic a

e tions before they left the Titanic , but I n ver heard them say that we were in touch with any boat but the Olympic : it was always the

Olympic that was coming to our rescue . They

a thought they knew even her dist nce , and making a calculation , we came to the conclu sion that we ought to be picked up by her

’ about two o clock in the afternoon . But this was not our only hope of rescue : we watched all the time the darkness lasted for steamers ’ lights , thinking there might be a chance of other steamers coming near enough to see the

of our lights which some boats carried . I am sure there was no feeling in the minds of any on e that we should not be picked up next day : we knew that wireless messages would g o out

n e of from ship to ship , and as o the stokers “ said : The sea will be covere d with ships to ( 97 ) TH S E LOS OF THE SS . TITANIC morrow afternoon : they will race up from all over the sea to ﬁnd us . Some even thought that fast torpedo boats might run up ahea d

f the O . O o lympic And yet the lympic was , after all , the farthest away of them all ; eight other ships lay within three hundred miles of us . How thankful we should have been t o know h w o near help was , and how many ships had heard our me ssage and were rushing t o the

’ Tit a n ic s aid . I think nothing has surprised us more than ' to learn so many ships were near enough t o rescue us in a few hours .

Almost immediately a fter leaving the Titanic we saw what we all said was a ship ’ s

’ lights down on the horizon on the Tit an ic s

: on e port side two lights , above the other, and plainly not on e of our boats ; we even rowed in that direction for some time, but the lights drew away and disappeared below t he horizon . 98

E H TH LOSS OF T E SS . TITANIC in places there seeme d almost more dazzling points of light set in the black sky than back

of ground sky itself; and each star seemed , in

e the keen atmosphere, free from any haz , to have increased its brilliance tenfold and to twinkle and glitte r with a staccato ﬂash that made the sky seem nothing but a setting made for them in which to display their won

d e r . They seemed so near , and their light so

e much more int nse than ever before, that fancy suggested the y saw this beautiful ship in dire distress below and all their energies had awakened to ﬂash messages across the black dome of the sky to each other ; telling and warning of the calamity happening in the world beneath . Later , when the Titanic had gone down and we lay still on the sea waiting

r e for the day to dawn or a ship to come, I me mber looking up at the perfect sky and re alizing why Shake spe are wrote the be autiful words he puts in t he mouth of Lorenzo 1 00 THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT

'e ss c a ook how the ﬂoor of e a ve n i , l h

Is thic k in la id with pa t in e s O f b right gold .

’ ’ The r e s n ot the sma lle st orb whic h thoub e hold st

i t o k n n e n s But in h s mo i n li e a a g l si g ,

Still quirin g t o t he youn g-e ye d c he rub ims ;

Suc h ha r mon y is in immor ta l souls ;

But whilst this muddy ve stur e of de c a y it i Doth r oss c ose n we c n ot e a r it . g ly l , a n h But it seemed almost as if we could that night {the stars seemed really to be alive and to talk . The complete absence of haze produced a phenomenon I had never seen before : where the sky met the sea the line was as cle ar

of and deﬁnite as the edge a knife, so that the water and the air never merged gradually into each other and blended to a softened rounded horizon , but each element was so exclusively separate that where a star came low down in the sky near the clear -cut edge of the water line , it still lost none of its brilliance . As the earth revolved and the water edge came up and covered partially the star, as it were, it 1 01 HE T LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

simply cut the star in two , the upper half con tinn ing to sparkle as long as it was not entirely hidden , and throwing a long beam of light along the sea to us .

In the evide nce before the United States

Senate Committee the captain of on e of the ships near us that night said the stars were so extraordinarily bright near the hori zon that he was deceived into thinking that

’ they were ships lights : he did not remember

e seeing such a night before . Those who w re aﬂoat will all agree with that statement : we were often deceived into thinking they were f lights o a ship . And next the cold air ' Here again was

something quite new t o us : there was not a

breath of wind to blow keenly round us as we

of stood in the boat, and because its con ti nued persistence to make us feel cold ; it was

just a keen , bitter, icy , motionless cold that

c ame from nowhere an d yet was there all the 1 02

' HE THE LOSS OF T SS . TITANIC

: n r quite true ; it did a picnic o a lake, o a quiet th inland rive r like e Cam , or a backwater on the Thames . And so in these conditions of sky and air

n and sea, we gazed broadside o the Titanic from a short distance . She was absolutely still

indeed from the ﬁrst it seemed as if the blow from the iceberg had taken all the courage out of her and she had just come quietly t o re st and was settling down without an eff ort to

f e save herself, without a murmur o prot st

F r against such a foul blow . o the sea could not rock her : the wind was not there to howl noisily round the decks , and make the ropes hum ; from the ﬁrst what must have impre sse d all as they watched was the sense of stillness

o a ab ut her and the slow, insensible w y she

r sank lowe and lower in t he sea, like a stricken animal .

The mere bulk alone of the ship viewed

wa s - from the se a be low an awe inspiring sight . 1 04 THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT

of Imagine a ship nearly a sixth a mile long ,

75 feet high to the top decks , with four enor

n mous funnels above the decks , a d masts again high above the funnels ; with her hundreds of portholes , all her saloons and other roo ms

e brilliant with light, and all round her , littl boats ﬁlled with those who until a few hours before had trod her decks and read in her libraries and listened to the music of her band in happy content ; and who were now looking up in amazement at the enormous mass above them and rowing away from her because she was sinking . I had often wanted to see her from some distance away , and only a few hours before, in

- e conversation at lunch with a fellow passeng r , had registered a vow to get a proper view of her lines and dimensions when we landed at

New York : to stand some distance away to take in a full view of her beautiful proportions ,

which the narrow approach t o the dock at 1 05 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

Southampton made Impossible . Little did I think that the opportunity was to be found

s so quickly and o dramatically . The back

t o f ground , o, was a di ferent one from what I had planned for her : the black outline of her proﬁle against the sky was borde re d all round

e he e by stars studd d in t sky , and all her funn ls and masts were picked out in the same way : her bulk was seen where the stars were blotted f out . And one other thing was di ferent from expectation : the thing that ripped away from us instantly , as we saw it , all sense of the

’ beauty of the night, the beauty of the ship s — lines , and the beauty of her lights , and all these taken in themselves were intense ly beautiful , that thing was the awful angle made by the level of the sea with the rows of porthole lights a long her side in dotte d

he e lines , row above r ow. T sea l vel and the rows of lights should have been paralle l should never have met and now they ( 1 06 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC than those who sa Id she would sink but at any rate the stokers in our boat had no such illusion . On e of them I think he was the same man that cut us free from the pulley ropes told us how he was at work in the

- f stoke hole , and in anticipation o going off

e of duty in quart r an hour , thus conﬁrming t he time of the collision as had near him a pan of soup keeping hot on some part of the machinery ; suddenly the whole side of the compartment came in , and the water rushed

he him off his feet . Picking himself up , sprang for the compartment doorway and was just through the aperture when the watertight door

“ ' e came down behind him , like a knif , as he

“ ' said ; they work them from the bridge . He had gone up on deck but was ordered down again at once and with others was told to draw d id the ﬁres from under the boiler, which they , and were then at libe rty to come on deck

e of again . It se ms that this particular knot 1 08 THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT stoke rs must have known almost as soon as

of f any one the extent o injury . He added “ t mournfully , I could d o with that ho soup

' now and indeed he could : he was clad at the time of the collision , he said , in trousers

of and singlet , both very thin on account the intense heat in the stoke-hole ; and although

e he had added a short jack t later, his teeth were chattering with the cold . He found a place to lie down underneath the tiller on the

e littl platform where our captain stood , and there he lay all night with a coat belonging to another stoker thrown over him and I think he must have been almost unconscious . A lady next t o him , who was warmly clad with

e n e s veral coats , tried to insist on his having o of - hers a fur lined one thrown over him , but he absolutely refused while some of the women were insufﬁciently clad ; and so the coat was given to an Irish girl with pretty auburn hair standing near, leaning against the 1 09 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC “ gunwale with an outside berth ' and so more exposed to the cold air . This same lady was able to distribute more of her wraps t o t he

e r u n passeng rs , a g to o e , a fur boa t o another ; and she has related with amusement that at

’ the moment of climbing up the Carpathia s

e e side, those t o whom th se articles had be n

e l nt Offered them all back to her ; but as ,

she e like the rest of us , was ncumbered with a life belt: she had to say she would receive them back at the e n d of the climb . I had not se e n my dressing -gown S ince I dropped into the boat, but some time in the night a steer age passenger found it on the ﬂoor and put

n it o . It is not easy at this time to call to mind

t he e who were in boat, b cause in the night it was not possible to se e more than a few feet away, and when dawn came we had eyes only for the rescue ship and the icebe rgs ; but so far as my memory serves the list was as follows : 1 1 0

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

’ blanke t ' I don t kn ow much about babies

' e e e but I think th ir f t must be kept warm .

Wriggling down as well as I could , I found its

toes exposed to the air and wrapped them we ll

s : It up , when it cea ed crying at once was evi

d e n t ly a successful diagnosis ' Having re cog

iz e n e d the lady by her voic , it was much t oo

on e of - - dark t o see faces , as my vis a vis at

’ the purser s table, I said , Surely youa r e

' ' P she e Miss Yes , r plied , and you

e must be Mr . Beesl y ; how curious we should

' ﬁnd ourse lves in the same boat ' Re member ing that she had joined the boat at Queens “ e ' town , I said , Do you know Clonm l a letter from a great friend of mine who is staying there at 'giving the address' came

' “ : aboard at Queenstown . Yes , it is my home

and I was dining at just before I came

' away . It seemed that she knew my friend ,

t oo ; and we agre ed that of all places in the

world to recognize mutual friends , a crowded ( 1 12 ) THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT

- lifeboat aﬂoat in mid ocean at 2 A M . twelve hundred miles from o ur de stination was on e of the most unexpected .

And all the time, as we watched , the Ti

ic sank lower and lower by the head and the angle became wider and wider as the stern porthole lights lifted and the b ow lights sank , and it was evident she was not to stay

The - aﬂoat much longer . captain stoker now told the oarsmen to row away as hard as they

t o could . Two reasons seemed make this a wise decision : on e that as she sank she would f create such a wave o suction that boats , if not sucked unde r by being too near , would be in danger of being swamped by the wave her sinking would create and we all knew our boat was in n o condition to ride big waves , crowded as it was and manned with untrained oarsmen . The second was that an explosion might result from the water getting to the boilers , and dé bris might fall within a wide ( 1 1 3 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

radius . And yet, as it turned out , neither of

e these things happen d .

At about A M . I think we were any dis

e e tance from a mil to two mil s away . It is d iflfic ult for a landsman to calculate distance at sea but we had be en afloat an hour and a

t he e half, boat was h avily loaded , the oars

our men unskille d , and course e rratic : follow

n ing now o e light and now another, some time s a star and some times a light from a port lifeboat which had turned away from the

Titanic in the opposite direction and lay a l most on o ur horizon ; and so we could not have gone very far away .

About this time, the water had crept up almost to her sidelight and the captain ’ s

e of bridg , and it seemed a question only min

h e on utes before s e sank . The oarsm n lay their oars , and all in the lifeboat were motion less as we watched her in absolute silence save some who would not look and buried ( 1 14 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

e compartm nts , smashing everything in their

way . It was partly a roar , partly a groan ,

partly a rattle, and partly a smash , and it was

n ot a sudden roar as an explosion would b e :

it went on succ essively for some seconds , pos i l s b y ﬁfteen to twenty , as the heavy machin

ery dropped down to the bottom (now the

bows) of the ship : I suppose it fell thr ough the

end and sank ﬁrst , before the ship . But it was

on e on e a noise no had heard before, and no

: wishes to hear again it was stupefying, stu pendon s , as it came to us along the water .

It was as if all the heavy things on e could think of had been thrown downstairs from the t op of a house, smashing each other and the stairs and everything in the way . Several apparently authentic accounts have been given , in which deﬁnite stories of ex plosions have been related in some case s

IP broken in two ; but I think such accounts will ( 1 1 6 )

t THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT

e not stand clos analysis . In the ﬁrst place the ﬁres had be en withdrawn and the steam

t o allowed escape some time before she sank, and the possibility of explosion from this cause seems very remote . Then , as just r e

e lat d , the noise was not sudden and deﬁnite , but prolonged more like the roll and crash f o thunder . The probability Of the noise be ing caused by engines falling down will be Fi 2 1 1 6 seen by referring to gure , page , where 3 the engines are placed in compartments , 4 ,

e and 5 . As the Titanic tilt d up they would almost Certainly fall loose from their bed and plunge down through the other compartments . ' L NO phenomenon like that picture d in some C o American and English papers occurred t ha t é‘ e of t wo the ship breaking in two , and the ends lo

h s be ing raised above the surface . I saw t e e v ( 0 drawings in preparation on board the Car

a thia t he p , and said at time that they bore

e e no r semblance to what actually happ ned . 1 1 7 'i ( THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC When the noise was over the Titanic wa s still upright like a column : we could see her now only as the stern and some 150 feet of her

- stood outlined against the star specked sky , looming black in the darkness , and In this position she continued for some minutes I

‘ e think as much as ﬁve minut s , but it may

e have been l ss . Then , ﬁrst sinking back a little at the stern , I thought, she slid slowly forwards through the water and dived slant in gly down ; the sea closed over her and we had seen the last of the beautiful ship on which we had embar ked four days before at 6 ) Southampton .

And in place of the ship on which all our interest had been concentrated for so long and towards which we looked most of the time because it was still the only object on the se a which was a ﬁxed point to us in place

f e n o the Titanic , we had the l vel sea ow stretching in an unbroken expanse t o the 1 1 8

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC cries of many hundreds of our fellow-passen

- gers struggling in the ice cold water . I would willingly omit any further mention of of this part the disaster from this book , but f r s e o two reasons it is not pos ibl ﬁrst , that as a matter of history it should be put on

s e record ; and econdly, that these cries wer not only an appeal for he lp in the awful condi tions of dange r in which the drowning found themselves , an appeal that could never be answered , but an appeal to the whole world to make such conditions of danger and hope le ssness impossible ever again ; a cry that called to the heavens for the very injustice of its own existence ; a cry that clamoured for its own destruction .

We were utterly surprised to hear this cry g o up as the waves closed over the Titanic : we had heard no sound of any kind from her

e e e e b e sinc w l ft he r side ; and , as m ntioned

ho fore, we did not know w many boats she 1 20 THE SINKING FROM A LIFEBOAT

had or how many rafts . The crew may have known , but they probably did not , and if they

did , they never told the passengers ; we should not have been surprised to know all were safe

- on some life saving device . So that unprepared as we were for such a f thing , the cries o the drowning ﬂoating across the quiet sea ﬁlled us with stupefaction : we longed to return and rescue at least some of

d r n In the ow g , but we knew it was impossible .

- The boat was ﬁlled t o standing room , and to

of return would mean the swamping us all , and so the captain - stoker told his crew t o row away from the cries . We tried to sing t o keep all from thinking of them ; but there was n o heart for singing in the boat at that time .

The cries , which were loud and numerous at

ﬁrst , died away gradually one by one , but the

s night was clear, fro ty and still , the wate r smooth , and the sounds must have carried on 1 21 OF E THE LOSS TH SS . TITANIC its level surface free from any Obstruction for miles , certainly much farther from the ship than we were situated . I think the last of them must have been heard nearly forty

e minutes after the Titanic sank . Lif belts would keep t he survivors aﬂoat for hours ; but

e the cold water was what stopp d the cries . There must have come to all those safe in

t he the lifeboats , scattered round drowning at various distances , a deep resolve that, if anything could be done by them in the future f to prevent the repetition o such sounds, the y would do it at whatever cost of time

r o other things . And not only to them are those cries an imperative call , but t o every man and woman who has known Of them . It is not possible that ever again can such conditions exist; but it is a duty imperative

on . Thin k one and all to see that they do notM j f ' a e f o it a few more boats , few mor planks o wood nailed toge ther in a particular way at 1 22

CHAPTER V

TH E RE S CU E

ALL accounts agre e that the Titanic sunk

. : about A . M a watch in our boat gave the

A M . e time as . shortly aft rwards . We were the n in touch with three other boats : on e was

1 5 our the , on starboard quarter , and othe rs

e o e 9 1 1 I hav always supp sed wer and , but I do not know deﬁnitely . We ne ve r got

o e e e into cl s touch with ach oth r , but calle d occasionally across the darkness and saw the m looming near and the n drawing away again ; we calle d to ask if any ofﬁcer were aboard

ﬁ r he ﬁ . t other three , but did not one So in

of e the absence of any plan action , we row d slowly forward or what we thought was

f r t he forward , o it was in direction the Ti

’ i e e he t a n c s bows w r pointing before S sank .

I se e now that we must have be e n pointing 1 24 THE RESCUE

northwest , for we presently saw the Northern

on Lights the starboard , and again , when the

Carpathia came up from the south , we saw her from behind us on the southeast, and

ur turned o boat around to get to her . I imagine the boats must have spread them

selves over the ocean fanwise as they e s caped from the Titanic : those on the star board and port sides forward being almost ‘ dead ahead of he r and t he ste rn boats be ing broadside from her ; this explains why the port boats were so much longer in reaching — M . e the Carpathia as late as A . whil some of the starboard boats came up as early

A f as M . Some o the port boats had to row across the place where t he Titanic sank to

t of get o the Carpathia , through the dé bris

chairs and wreckage of all kinds .

None of the other three boats near us had a

light and we missed lights badly : we could

n ot see each othe r in the darkness ; we could ( 1 25 ) '

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC not S ignal to ships which might be rushing up

’ full speed from any quarter to the Tit an ic s rescue; and now we had been through so much it would seem hard to have to encounter the additional dange r of being in the line of a rescuing ship . We fe lt again for the lantern

our the beneath feet, along sides , and Imanaged this time t o get down t o the locker below the tiller platform and Open it in front by r e m ov ing a board , to ﬁnd nothing but the zinc air tank which renders the boat unsinkable when

the upset . I do not think there was a light in boat . We felt also for food and water, and

c on c lusIOn found none , and came to the that none had been put in ; but here we were mis Of taken . I have a letter from Second ﬁcer Lightoller in which he assures me that he and Fourth Ofﬁcer Pitman examined every life

boat from the Titanic as the y lay on the Car

’ pa thia s deck afterwards and found biscuits

Not a n and water in each . that we wanted y 1 26

SS . THE LOSS OF THE TITANIC, about the same intensity in England some

e e e f y ars ago and kn w th m again . A sigh o disappointment we nt through the boat as we realized that the da y was not yet ; but had we known it , something more comforting even than the day was in store for us . All night long we had watched the horizon with eager

’ e ye s for Signs of a ste amer s lights ; we he ard from the captain - stoke r that t he ﬁrst appe ar

n ance would be a single light o the horizon ,

h o e t e masthead light, foll w d shortly by a

n e e on t he e e e second o , low r down , d ck ; if th s two remaine d in vertical alignme nt and t he distance be tween them increase d as the lights

b e dre w ne are r , we might certain it was a

e e t o st am r . But what a night see that ﬁrst light on the horizon ' We saw it many time s

e on as the earth revolved , and some stars ros the cle ar horizon and others sank down t o

“ ' it : there we re lights on e ve ry quarter . Some we watche d and followe d until we saw the ( 1 28 ) THE RESCUE deception and grew wise r ; some we re lights from those of our boat s that were fortunate enough to have lanterns , but these were gen

ll e e r a y easily detected , as they rose and f ll in

our t he near distance . Once they raised hopes , only to sink them to zero again . Near what se emed to be the horizon on the port

e e quart r we saw two lights close togeth r , and thought this must b e our double light ; but as

e t e w gazed across the miles hat separat d us , t he lights slowly drew apart and we re alized

’ that the y were two boats lanterns at different

n e distances from us , in line, o behind the other . They were probably the forward port boats that had to return so many miles next

’ n i morning across the Tit a c s graveyard .

But notwithstanding these hopes and dis

of appointments , the absence lights , food and water (as we thought) , and the bitter cold , it

would n ot b e corre ct to say we were unhappy

in those e arly morning hours : the cold that 1 29 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC se ttled down on us like a garment that wraps close around was the only real discomfort, and that we could keep at bay by not thinking too much about it as well as by vigorous fric tion and gentle stamping on the ﬂoor (it made too much noise to stamp hard I never heard that any on e in boat B had any after effe cts from the cold even the stoker who was so thinly clad came through without harm .

b e After all , there were many things to thank ful for : so many that they made insigniﬁcant

of the temporary inconvenience the cold , the

the crowded boat, darkness and the hundred and one things that in the ordinary way we might regard as unpleasant . The quiet sea , the beautiful night (how different from t wo nights later when ﬂashes of lightning and peals of thunder broke the sleep of many on board the and above all the fact of being in a boat at all when so many of our fe llow - passenge rs and cre w whose cries 1 30

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC racing up to our h e lp and signalling to us a pre liminary message to chee r our hearts until she arrived .

e e e e With v ry s nse al rt , eyes gazing in t e n tly at the horizon and ears Open for the le ast sound , we waited in absolute silence in the quiet night . And then , creeping ove r

he of the e t edge the sea where ﬂash had b en , we saw a single light , and presently a second below it, and in a few minutes they were we ll above the h orizon and th e y re mained in line '

e e But we had been d ceiv d before, and we waited a little longer 'before we allowed our se lves to say we were safe . The lights came up rapidly : so rapidly it seemed only a few minute s (though it must have be en longe r) be twe e n ﬁrst see ing them and ﬁnding them we ll above the horizon and bearing down

n rapidly o us . We did not know what sort of s we e she a ve sel was coming, but kn w was

we e coming quickly , and s arched for paper , 1 32 THE RESCUE

n rags , a ything that would burn (we were

quite pre pared to burn our coats if necessary) .

A hasty pape r torch was twisted out of le tters

’ found in some one s pocket, lighted , and held

aloft by the stoker s tanding on the tiller

n platform . The little light shone in ﬂickers o

of the faces of the occupants the boat, ran in broken lines for a few yards along the black

Oily sea (whe re for the ﬁrst time I saw the

pre sence of that awful thing which had caused the whole terrible disaster ice in little

’ f e chunks the size o on s ﬁst, bobbing harm

t o lessly up and down) , and spluttered away blackness again as the stoker threw the bur n

e ing re mnants of paper ov rboard . But had we

e of known it , the dang r being run down was already over, one reason being that the Car pa t hia had already seen the lifeboat which

e all night long had shown a gr en light , the

ﬁrst indication t he Carpathia had of our

o e s o p sition . But the real r a on is t be found 1 33 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

’ “ in the Carpathia s log : - Went full speed 4 ahead during the night ; stopped at A . M .

' e with an iceb rg dead ahead . It was a good

s re a on .

With our t orch burnt and in darkne ss

t he again we saw headlights stop , and realized

t e e e S e e that h r scu r had hove to . A igh Of r li f went up when we thought no hurried scramble had to be made to get out of her way , with f a chance o just being missed by her, and having t o me et the wash of her screws as she tore by us . We waited and she slowly swung round and revealed herself to us as a large ste amer with all her porthole s alight . I think the way those lights came slowly into view was one of the most wonderful things we shall

e ever se e . It meant deliverance at onc : that was the amazing thing to us all . We had

e f e thought of the aft rnoon as our time o rescu , and he re only a few hours afte r the Titanic

e t b e sank, before it was y light, we were to

134.

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

n e e e liverance , o name was m ntion d with the

e : deepest feeling of gratitud that of Marconi .

I wish that he had be en the re to he ar t he chorus Of gratitude that we nt out t o him for t he wonde rful invention that spared us many

of hours , and perhaps many days , wande ring

about the sea in hunger and storm and cold .

Perhaps our gratitude was sufﬁcie ntly in

“ ' tense and vivid to Marconi som e of it t o him that night . All around we saw boats making for the

Carpathia and heard their sho uts and che ers .

Our crew rowed hard in frie ndly rivalry with

the e other boats to be among ﬁrst hom , but we must have been eighth or ninth at the

e side . We had a h avy load aboard , and had t o row round a huge ice be rg on t he way .

e e e e And th n , as if to mak v rything com

le t e for u . F p o r happiness , came the dawn irst

e t he s a b autiful , quie t shimmer away in ea t, the n a soft golden glow that cre pt up ste alth 1 36 THE RESCUE ily from behind the sky -line as if it were try ing not t o be noticed as it stole over the sea and spread itself quietly in every direction s o quietly , as if to make us believe it had been there all the time and we had n ot observed it .

Then the sky turn e d faintly pink and in the

ﬂe e c ie st distance the thinnest , clouds stretched in thin bands across the horizon and close t down o it , becoming every moment more and

more pink . And next the stars died , slowly ,

save on e which remained long afte r the

others just above the horizon ; and near by , h with the crescent turned to the nort , and the lower horn just touching the horizon , the thin

e . n st , palest of moons

And with the dawn came a faint bre eze from

e of the west , the ﬁrst br ath wind we had fe lt

he r since the Titanic stopped engines . Anti c i a t in p g a few hours , as the day drew on to 8

A h — .M . t e t he , time last boats came up , this breeze increased to a fresh wind which whipped 1 37 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

up the sea, so that the last boat laden with people had an anxious time in the choppy

e waves b fore they reached the Carpathia . An oﬂi c e r remarked that on e of the boats could n ot have stayed aﬂoat another hour : the

off wind had held just long enough . The captain shouted along our boat to the crew , as they strained at the oars , t wo pulling and an extra on e facing them and pushing to try to keep pace with the other

“ ‘ ' e boats , A new moon Turn your mon y

' e ' ' ov r, boys That is , if you have any We laughed at him for the quaint superstition at

e t o such a tim , and it was good laugh again ,

but he showed his disbelie f in another super “ st it i n e e o wh n he added , Well , I shall nev r

say again that 1 3 is an unlucky number . Boat

' 1 3 is the be st friend we ever had . If there had been among us and it is

e almost certain that there wer , so fast does

superstition cling those who feared events 1 38

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC the Carpathia stop and were waiting t o see if she wanted help of any kind . But in a few minutes more the light shone on them and they stood revealed as huge Icebergs , peaked t in a way that readily sugges ed a ship . When h the sun rose igher, it turned them pink, and sinister as they looked towering like rugged

of white peaks rock out of the sea , and terrible

on e of as was the disaster them had caused , there was an awful beauty about them which could not be overlooked . Later, when the sun

o e e came ab ve the horizon , th y sparkl d and

e glittered in its rays ; d adly white, like frozen snow rather than transluce nt ice .

As the dawn crept towards us the re lay a n othe r almost dire ctly in the line be tween our

fe e boat and the Carpathia, and a w minut s

n later, another o her port quarter, and more

h s again on t e southern and we tern horizons , as far as the e ye could reach : all diffe ring in shape and size and tone s of colour according 1 40

THE THE LOSS OF SS . TITANIC t he way he r lights climbed up over the hori z n he o in t darkness , the way she swung and showed her lighted portholes , and the moment when we read her name on her side will all come back in a ﬂash ; we shall live again the

e scene of rescue, and fe l the same thrill of gratitude for all she brought us that night .

We rowed up to her about and shelter

t he l ( n ing on port side from the swell , he d o by t wo ropes at the stern and bow . Women went up the side ﬁrst , climbing rope ladders with a noose round their Shoulde rs to help their

e ascent ; men passengers scrambled n xt , and the crew last of all . The baby we nt up in a bag with the ope ning tied up : it had bee n quite well all the time , and never suffered any ill e ffects from its cold journey in the night .

We set foot on deck with very thankful

e the of a d e hearts , grat ful beyond possibility quate expression to feel a solid ship beneath us once more . CHAPTER VI

TH E S INKING OF TH E TITANIC S EEN FROM H ER DECK

TH E t wo preceding chapters have been t o a large extent the narrative of a single eye witness and an account of the escape of on e

’ it n ic boat only from the T a s side . It will be well n ow t o return to the Titanic and recon struct a more general and complete account from the experiences of many people in dif fe r e n t parts of the ship . A considerable part of these expe rie nce s was related to t he writer

on ﬁrst hand by survivors , both board the

e Carpathia and at oth r times , but some are derived from other sources which are prob

- ably as accurate as ﬁ r st hand information .

O e ther reports , which s emed at ﬁrst sight to have bee n founded on the te stimony of e ye witnesses , have been found on e xamination t o ( 1 43 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

have passed through several hands , and have

e e therefore b en rej cted . The testimony even of eye-witnesses has in some cases been ex cluded when it seemed n ot to agree with direct e vidence of a number of othe r witnesses or with what reasoned judgment considered probable in the circumstances . In this cate gory are the reports of e xplosions before the

the f ' Titanic sank , breaking o the ship in t wo f e . parts , the suicid of o ﬁcers It would be well to notice here that the Titanic was in her c or fe n e et course, the southerly o , and in the position which prude nce dictates as a safe on e under the ordinary conditions at that time of t he year : to b e strictly accurate she was sixte en miles south of the re gular summer route which all com panie s follo w from Jan

s uary to Augu t .

Perhaps the re al history of the disaster should comme nce with the afte rnoon of Sun day, when Marconigrams were received by ( 144 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC cold winds blow from Gre enland and Labra d or and not always from ice bergs and ice

O ﬁ e ld s . S that falls in tempe rature of sea and air are not prima facie evidence of the close f o . On proximity icebergs the other hand , a single iceberg se parated by many miles from its fellows might sink a ship , but certainly would not cause a drop in temperature eithe r r of the air or water . Then , as the Lab ador current meets the warm Gulf Stream ﬂowing

of E from the Gulf Mexico across to urope ,

r they do not necessarily inte mingle, nor do

they always run side by side or one on top of

the other, but often interlaced , like the ﬁngers of two hands . As a ship sails across this region

the the rmometer will record within a fe w

mile s temperatures of and

so on . It is little wonder then that sailors become

accustomed to place little re liance on temper

ature conditions as a me ans of estimating 146 THE SINKIN G FROM THE DECK the probabilities of encountering ice in their tr ack . An experienced sailor has told me that nothing is more difficult to diagnose than the f presence o icebergs , and a strong c on fi r m a tion of this is found in the ofli c ia l sailing dirc e tions issued by the Hydrographic Department “ of the British Admiralty . No reliance can be placed on any warning being conveyed t o f the mariner, by a fall in temperature , either o

or of e sea air , approaching ice . Some d crease in temperature has occasionally been r e corded , but more often none has been ob

' served .

But notification by Marconigram of the exact location of icebergs is a vastly different matter . I remember with deep feeling the e fi e c t this information had on us when it first became generally known on board the Car

a thia We d n e s p . Rumours of it went round on

e day morning , grew to deﬁnite stat ments in the e n e aft rnoon , and were conﬁrmed when o 147 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

Of the Titanic ofﬁce rs admitte d the truth of it

e in re ply to a dir ct que stion . I shall ne ve r forget t he ove rwhe lming se nse of hope le ss ne ss that came ove r some of us as we obtaine d

e e e of the e e s d ﬁnit knowledg warning m ssag .

It wa s n ot then t he unavoidable accide nt we had hithe rto suppose d : t he sudde n plunging into a re gion crowde d with ice be r gs which n o

e e e o he seaman , how v r skill d a navigat r might

e e ' The e b e , could hav avoid d b autiful Ti

n i e t oo e e t o r e o e r t h e t a c wound d d ply c v , cries of the drowning still ringing in our e ars and the thousands of home s that mour ne d all the se calamitie s none of all the se things nee d e ve r have be e n '

It is no e xagge r ation t o say that men who we nt through all t he e xpe r ie nce s of the col lision and the re scue and the subse que nt scene s on the quay at N e w York with hardly

e or e r e e e a tr m , w quite ov rcom by this know

e e r e l dg and tu ned away , unabl to speak 148

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

f e e o the ice , and how w should r cognize it if

e e we should s it , and refreshing our minds on

the indications that ice gives when it is in the

' oo f vicinity . Apparently , t , the o ﬁcers had

discussed among themselves the proximity of

Mr ice and . Lightoller had remarked that they

would be approaching the position where ice had been reported during his watch . The lookouts were cautioned similarly , but no ice was sighted until a few minutes before the

collision , when the lookout man saw the ice berg and rang the bell three times , the usual

’ signal from t he crow s nest when anything is

- seen dead ahead .

By tele phone he reported to the bridge the M e . o pre se nce of an ic berg , but Mr urd ck had

alre ady orde re d Quartermaster Hichens at

the whe e l t o starboard the helm , and the ves

sel be gan t o swing away from the berg . But

it was far t oo late at the speed she was going

o to hope t o ste er t he huge Titanic , ver a sixth 1 5 0 THE SINKING - FROM THE DECK

f out of of o a mile long , reach danger . Even if the iceberg had been visible half a mile away it is doubtful whether some portion of her tre

n mendo s length would not have been touched , and it is in the highest degree unlikely that the lookout could have seen the berg half a mile away in the conditions that existed that night , even with glasses . The very smooth ness of the water made the presence of ice a more difﬁcult matter to detect . In ordinary conditions the dash of the waves against the foot of an iceberg surrounds it with a circle of white foam visible for some distance , long before the iceberg itself ; but here was an oily sea sweeping smoothly round the deadly monster and causing no indication of its presence .

There is little doubt , moreover, that the

’ c row s nest is not a good place from which t o d etect icebergs . It is proverbial that they adopt t o a large extent the colour of their 1 51 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC surr oundings ; and seen from above at a high

- angle , with the black , foam free sea behind , the iceberg must have been almost invisible I until the Titanic was close upon it . was much struck by a remark of Sir Ernest Shack leton on his method of detecting icebergs to place a lookout man as low down near the

- water line as he could get him . Remembering how we had watched the Titanic with all her “ lights out, standing upright like an enormo us

' n black ﬁnger , as o e observer stated , and had only seen her thus because she loomed black

Sk against the y behind her , I saw at once how much better the sky was than the black sea t o

’ show up an iceberg s bulk . And so in a few moments the Titanic had

n run obliquely o the berg , and with a shock that was astonishingly slight so slight that many passenge rs never notice d it the sub merged portio n of the berg had cut her Open on the starboard S ide in the most vulnerable 1 52

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

Feeling the shock , Captain Smith rushed f out o his cabin to the bridge , and in reply to his anxious enquiry was told by Murdock that ice had been struck and the emergency doors f instantly closed . The o ﬁcers roused by the

collision went on deck : some to the bridge ;

others , while hearing nothing of the ext ent of

n o the damage , saw necessity for doing so .

Captain Smith at once sent t he carpenter b e F low to sound the ship , and ourth Ofﬁ cer Box

hall to the steerage to report damage . The latter found there a very dangerous condition h of things and reported to Captain Smith , w o

- then sent him to the mail room ; and here again ,

o . it was easy to see , matters lo ked very serious

Mail -bags were ﬂoating about and the water

s ri ing rapidly . All this was reported to the

captain , who ordered the lifeboats to be got

t o ready at once . Mr . Boxhall went the chart t ’ room to work ou the ship s position , which he then handed t o the Marconi operators for 1 54 THE SINKING FROM THE DECK transmission to any ship near enough to help f in the work o rescue . Reports of the damage done were by this time coming to the captain from many quar

ters , from the chief engineer , from the de signer , Mr . Andrews , and in a dramatic way from the sudden appearance on deck of a swarm of stokers who had rushed up from b e low as the water poured into the boiler-rooms and coal -bunkers : they were immediately or dered down below to duty again . Realizing the f urgent heed o help , he went personally to the

Marconi room and gave orders to the opera tors to get into touch with all the ships they could and to tell them to come quickly . The

o e assistant perator Brid had been asleep , and f knew o the damage only when Phillips , in

of o o charge the Marc ni r om , told him ice had been encountered They started to send out

- — the well known message , which “ : a t interpreted means C . Q . all stations ( 1 55 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

' of tend , and D , distress , the position the vessel in latitude and longitude following .

out Later , they sent an arbitrary message agreed upon as an inter national code signal . M r . Soon after the vessel struck , Ismay had learnt of the nature of the accident from the

e e an d d captain and chi f engine r , after ressing and go ing on deck had spoke n to some of the Ofﬁcers not yet thoroughly acquainted with

o the grave injury d ne to the vessel . By this time all those in any way connected with the management and navigation must have known the importance of making use of all the ways of safety known to them and that without

t he any delay . That they thought at ﬁrst that

, Titanic would sink as soon as She did is doubt

ful ; but probably a s t he re ports came in they

kne w that he r ultimate loss in a few hours was h e o . On t e e a lik ly c ntingency oth r hand , there

is evidence that som e of t he ofﬁcers in charge 153

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

f into the boats . The o ficers spread themselves n f about the decks , superinte ding the work o lowering and loading the boats , and in three cases were ordered by their superior officers t o d iflEi take charge of them . At this stage great culty was experienced in getting women to leave the ship , especially where the order was “ so rigorously enforced , Women and child

' ren only . Women in many cases refused to leave their husbands , and were actually for

e c ib ly lifted up and dropped in the boats . Th y f argued with the o ﬁcers , dem anding reasons , and in some cases even when induced to get in were disposed to think the whole thing a

o joke , or a precauti n which it seemed to them

e n rather foolish to take . In this they were

c our a g e d by the men left behind , who , in the

e o - sam condition of ignorance , said go d bye to

their friends as they went down , adding that

e e - they would see th m again at br akfast time .

To illustrate further how little danger was a p ( 1 58 ) THE SINKING FROM THE DECK prehended — when it was discovered on the

ﬁ r st -class deck that the forward lower deck was

covered with small ice , snowballing matches were arranged for the following morning , and some passengers even went down to the deck and brought back small pieces of ice which

e w re handed round . Below decks too was additional evidence

e that no on e thought of immediat danger .

Two ladies walking along on e of the corridors came across a group of people gathered round a door which they were trying vainly t o Open , and on the other side of which a man was de ut manding in loud terms to be let o . Either his

e door was lock d and the key not to be found , or the collision had jammed the lock and prevented the key from turning . The ladies thought he must be afﬂicted in some way t o

n e f make such a noise , but o o the men was assuring him that in no circumstances should

’ he be left , and that his (the bystander s) son 1 59 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC would be along soon and would smash down

n ot t he his door if it was opened in mean time .

' He has a stronger arm than I have , he added . The son arrived presently and pro c e e d e d to make short work of the door : it was smashed in and the inmate released , to his great satisfaction and with many e xpr e ssIon s f of gratitude to his rescuer . But on e o the head stewards who came up at this junc ture was so incensed at the damage done to the f property o his company , and so little aware

e e e of the inﬁnit ly greater damage don t h ship , that he warned the man who had release d the prisoner that he would be arrested on arrival

e in N w York . It must be borne in mind that no general wa r m n g had bee n issued t o passengers : here and there were experienced travellers to whom collision with an iceberg was sufﬁcient t o cause them t o make every preparation for

leaving the ship , but the great majority were 1 60

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC e ither in Ne w York or by transfe r in mid ocean from steamer to steamer . Many pas se n g e r s re late that they were told by ofﬁ ce rs that the ship was a lifeboat and could not g o

‘ down ; on e lady a ﬂi r m s that the captain told he r the Titanic could not sink for two or three days ; n o doubt this was immediately after the collision .

It is not any wonder , then , that many elected to remain , deliberately choosing the

of deck the Titanic to a place in a lifeboat .

t o And yet the boats had go down , and so at ﬁrst they went half- full : this is the real explanation of why they were not as fully loaded as the later ones . It is important then t o consider the question how far the captain was justiﬁed in withholding all t he know F ledge he had from every passenger . rom one

o f e e l p int o vi w h shou d have said to them ,

This ship will sink in a few hours : there are

o e the b ats , and only wom n and children can ( 1 62 ) THE SINKING —FROM THE DECK

' go t o them . But had he the authority t o enforce such an order' There are such things as panics and rushes which get beyond the f f f if contr ol o a handful o o ﬁcers , even armed , and where even the bravest of men get swept

' oﬂ their feet mentally as well as physically .

On the other hand , if he decided t o with hold all deﬁnite knowledge of danger from all passengers and at the same time persuade f and if it was not su ﬁcient , compel women and children to take to the boats , it might “ rHe C ld result in their all being saved . OU not there is ample evidence that he left the bridge when the ship had come t o rest and went among passengers urging them to get into the boat and rigorously excludin g all but women

n t and children . Some would o go . Ofﬁcer

’ Lowe testiﬁed that he shouted , Who s next for ' the boat and could get no replies . The

- boats even were sent away half loaded , 1 63 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC although the fear of their buckling in t he middle was responsible as well for this , but the captain with the fe w boats at his disposal could hardly do more than persuade and advise in t he terrible circumstances in which he was placed . How appalling to think that with a few more boats and the ship was provided with that particular kind of davit that would launch more boats the re would have been no decision of that kind to make ' It could “ have been stated plainly : This ship will sink in a few hours : there is room in the boats for all passengers , beginning with women and

' children .

Poor Captain Smith ' I care n ot whether the responsibility for suc h spee d in iceberg regions will - rest on his shoulders or not : no man ever had t o make such a choice as he had

e f that night , and it se ms di ﬁcult to see how he can be blamed for withholding from passen 1 64

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

full wit h to send the boats down half , , such

women as would go , and to tell the boats t o stand by to pick up more passengers passed

down from the cargo ports . There is good

evidence that this was part of the plan : I heard

an Ofﬁcer give the order t o four boats and a lady in number 4 boat on the port side tells me the sailors were so long looking for the port

where the captain personally had told the m f t o wait , that they were in danger o being

b t he e . ow sucked under y , vess l H far any

systematic attempt was made t o stand by the

: ports , I do not know I never saw one open or any boat standing near on the starboard 9 1 5 side ; but then , boats to went down full , and on reaching the sea ro wed away at once .

e o Th re is g od evidence , then , that Captain

Smith fully inte nded to load the boats full

out in this way . The failure to carry the intention is on e of the things the whole

o w rld regrets , but consider again the great 1 66 THE SINKING FROM THE DECK size of the ship and the short time to make decisions , and the omission is more easily

s under tood . The fact is that such a contin genoy as lowe ring away boats was not even considered beforehand , and there is much cause for gratitude that as many as seven hundred and ﬁve people were rescued . The

’ whole question of a captain s duties seems to require revision . It was totally Impossible for any on e man to attempt to control the ship that night , and the weather conditions could not well have been more favourable for

On e of doing so . the reforms that seem in evitable is that on e man shall be responsible f r o the boats , their manning , loading and

o l wering , leaving the captain free to be on

o the bridge to the last m ment .

But to return for a time t o the means taken t o of attract the notice other ships . The wire le ss operators were now in touch with several ships , and calling to them to come quickly for ( 1 67 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC the water was pouring in and the Titanic b e

o ginning to g down by the head . Bride testi

ﬁ e d that the ﬁrst reply received was from F a German boat , the rankfurt , which was :

“ ' : s All right tand by , but not giving her F position . rom comparison of the strength of signals received from the Frankfurt and from other boats , the operators estimated the

Frankfurt was the nearest ; but subsequent

so events proved that this was not . She was ,

n e in fact , o hundred and forty miles away a A n d arrived at .M . next morning , when the Carpathia had left with the rescued . The ﬁ f next reply wa s from the C arpathia , t y e ight miles away on the outbound route to the Mediterranean , and it was a prompt and

“ ' e w lcome one Coming hard , followed by the position . Then followed the Olympic , and

she with her they talked for some time , but wa s ﬁve hundre d and sixty miles away on the

o o e o t o f s uthern r ut , t o far be o any immediate 1 68

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC making the air for many miles around quiver

in its appeal for help immediate , urgent help for the hundreds of people who stood

’ on Tit a n ic s the deck .

i The second vessel was a small st e am e r som e

on few miles ahead the port side , without any wireless apparatus , her name and destination still unknown ; and yet the evidence for her presence that night seems too strong t obe disregarded . Mr . Boxhall states that he and Captain Smith saw her quite plainly some ﬁve miles away , and could distinguish the mast head lights and a red port light . They at once haile d her with rockets and Morse electric signals , to which Boxhall saw no reply , but C aptain Smith and stewards afﬁrmed they

e f he did . The s cond and third o ﬁcers saw t signals sent and her lights , the latter from the f lifeboat o which he was in charge . Seaman

Hopkins testiﬁed that he was told by the captain to row for the light ; and we in boat 1 70 THE SINKING — FROM THE DECK

1 3 certainly saw it in the same position and

rowed towards it for some time . But n ot wit h

standing all the efforts made t o attract its

attention , it drew slowly away and the lights

sank below the horizon .

of ' o The pity it S near , and so many people waiting for the shelter its decks could have

so t n k given easily . It seems impossible o thi

that this ship ever replied to the signals : those who said so must have be en mistaken . The

U nited State Senate Committee in its r e

port does not hesitate to say that this n u known steamer and the Californian are iden

on tical , and that the failure the part Of the

latter to come to the help of the Titanic is

e culpabl negligence . There is undoubted

evidence that some of the crew on the Cali

for n ia n saw our rockets ; but it seems im pos sible to believe that the captain and ofﬁcers

knew of our distress and deliberately ignored

it . Judgment on the matter had better be 1 71 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

suspended until further information is forth

An coming . engineer who has served in the

trans -Atlantic service tells me that it is a

common practice for small boats to leave the

ﬁshing smacks to which they belong and row away for miles ; sometimes even being lost and wandering about among icebergs , and even not being found again . In these circum

’ o of stances , r ckets are part a ﬁshing smack s equipment , and are sent up to indicate to the h I small boats ow to return . S it conceivable that the Californian thought our rockets were

such signals , and therefore paid no attention to them '

o Incidentally , this engine e r did n ot hesitate t add that it is do ubtful if a big liner would stop to he lp a small ﬁ shin g -boat sending off distre ss

n o e sig als , r ev n would turn about to help one

which she he rse lf had cut down as it lay in her

path without a light . He was strong in his afﬁrmation that such things were commonly ( 1 72 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC and to this task the other Ofﬁcers were in the meantime devoting all their endeavours . i Mr . L ghtoller sent away boat after boat in on e he had put twenty -four women and childre n , in another thirty , in another thirty

ﬁ ve ; and then , running short of seamen to man the boats he sent Major Peuchen, an expert yachtsman , in the next, to help with its navi

ion . e g a t By the tim these had been filled , he had difficulty in finding women for the fifth and sixth boats for the reasons already

r stated . All this time the passengers e mained to use his own expression as quie t

' as if in church . To man and supervise the loading of six boats must have taken him

’ Tit a n ic s nearly up to the time of the sinking, taking an average of some twenty minutes t o a boat . Still at work to the end , he remained on the ship till she sank and went down with her . His evidence before the United States Com “ m itt e e was as follows : Did y ouleave the 1 74 THE SINKING FROM THE DECK

' “ ' “ ' o e a ' ship N , sir . Did the ship l ve you “ Yes , sir .

f n l It was a piece o work well and clea y done ,

n e of t and his escape from the ship , o the mos

ll for his wonderful of a , seems almost a reward devotion t o duty . f k Captain Smith , O ﬁcers Wilde and Murdoc were similarly engaged in other parts of the

s ship , urgin g women t o get in the boat , in some cases directing junior ofﬁcers to go down l in some of them , Ofﬁcers Pitman , Boxhal ,

s and Lowe were sent In this way, in other placing members of the crew in charge . As the boats were lowered , orders were shouted t o them where to make for : some were told t o

o stand by and wait for further instructi ns, others t o r ow for the light of the disappearin g steamer .

It is a pitiful thing to recall the effects of sending down the ﬁrst boats half full . In some cases men in the company of their wives had 1 75 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC actually taken seats in the boats young

men , married only a few weeks and on their

wedding trip and had done so only because n o more women could then be found ; but the strict interpretation by the particular ofﬁcer “ in charge there of the rule of Women and

' children only , compelled them t o get out

again . Some of these boats were lowered and reached the Carpathia with many vacant seats . The anguish of the young wives in such circumstances can only be imagined . In other

' of e d iﬂ e r e n parts the ship , how ver , a t inter

r e t a t ion n r p was placed o the ule , and men were allowed and even invited by ofﬁcers to get in

of ‘ not only to form part the crew, but even

f r as passengers . This , o cou se, in the ﬁrst boats and when no more women could be found .

The varied understanding of this rule was

a fre quent subj e ct of discussion on the Car

a t hia was p in fac t, the rule itself debated

- with much heart searching . There were not 176

T N HE LOSS OF THE SS . TITA IC

some . It was heartrending for ladies who had lost all they held dearest in the world to hear that in on e boat was a stoker picked up out of the sea so drunk that he stood up and bran dished his arms about , and had to be thrown down by ladies and sat upon to keep him quiet .

If comparisons can be drawn , it did seem

e better that an educated , reﬁn d man should be saved than on e who had ﬂown to drink as his refuge in time of danger . These discussions turned sometimes to the “ old enquiry What is the purpose of all this ' Why the disaste r ' Why this man saved and that man lost ' Wh o has arranged that my husband should live a few short happy years in the world , and the happiest days in

e those years with me thes last few weeks , and

' then be taken from m e ' I heard no on e attribute all this to a Divine Power who or

e dains and arranges the liv s of men , and as part of a deﬁnite sche me sends such ca lamity 1 78 THE SINKING — FROM THE DECK

and misery in order to purify , to teach , t o spiritualize . I do not say there were not people who thought and said they saw Divine Wisdom

a ll In it , so inscrutable that we in our ig m orance saw it n ot ; but I did not hear it ex pressed , and this book is intended t o be n o more than a partial chronicle of the ma ny

' iﬂ e r e n t d experiences and convictions .

There were those , on the other hand , who did n ot fail t o say emphatically that in dif

e e of ference t o the rights and f lings others , blindness t o duty towards our fellow men and women , was in the last analysis the cause of most of the human misery in the world . And it should undoubtedly appeal more t o our sense of justice to attribute these things t o our own lack of consideration for others than t o shift the responsibility on to a Power whom we ﬁrst postulate as being All -wise and All loving .

All the boats were lowere d and sent away by 1 79 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

2 A . M . about , and by this time the ship was very

e t he low in the wat r , forecastle deck com

l l e e the p e t e y subm rg d , and sea cre e ping stead ily up t o the bridge and probably only a fe w yards away .

N0 one on the ship can have had any doubt n ow t o e e e t as her ultimat fat , and y the ﬁfte e n hundred passengers and crew on board made no demonstration , and not a sound came from them as they stood quie tly on the decks or I went about their duties below . t seems in credible , and yet if it was a continuation of the same feeling that existed on de ck before the boats left, and I have no doubt it was , the explanation is straightforward and rea sonable in its simplicity . An attempt is made in the last chapter to show why the attitude of the crowd was so quietly courageous . There are accounts which picture excited crowds

e running about the d ck in terror, ﬁghting

t wo of and struggling , but the most accurate 1 80

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC the sea ; to know all these things and yet to kee p the engines going that the decks might be lighted to the last moment , required sub lime courage .

But this courage is r e quIre d of every engi neer and it is not called by that name : it is

“ ' called duty . To stand by his engines to the last possible moment is his duty . There could be no better example of the supremest courage being but duty well done than to remember the engineers of the Titanic still at work as she heeled over and ﬂung them with their engine s down the length of the ship . The simple statement that the lights ke pt on to the last

’ is really their epitaph , but Lowell s words would seem to apply to them with peculiar force

The lon ge r on this e a r th we live

An d we igh the va r ious qualit ie s of m e n

The or e we e e l the st e - m f high, rn fe at ur e d b e auty

Of a n e vot e n e ss t o ut pl i d d d y . ( 1 82 ) THE SINKING FROM THE DECK

t e a a s a n d s l n or a w or a r i S df t ti l , p id ith m t l p a se ,

But ﬁ n din g a mple st r e c ompe n se

’ For life s un ga r la n de d e xpe n se

wor n e In k do squa re ly a n d un wa ste d da ys.

For t some time before she sank , the Ti anic

t so had a considerable list o port , so much that on e boat at any rate swung so far away from the side that difﬁculty was experienced in getting passengers in . This list was increased towards the end , and Colonel Gracie relates

. h that Mr Lightoller , w o has a deep , power ful voice , ordered all passengers to the sta r board side . This was close before the end .

They crossed over , and as they did so a crowd of steerage passengers rushed up and ﬁlled the decks so full that there was barely room t o move . Soon afterwards the great vessel swung slowly , stern in the air , the lights went out , and while some were ﬂung into the water

’ e ﬂ e and others div d o , the gr at majority still

o t he clung t the rails , to sides and roofs of 1 83 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

- deck structures , lying prone on the deck . And

e in this position th y were when , a few minutes

e o o e e later, the n rm us v ssel dived obliqu ly

he downwards . As s went, no doubt many still

d e clung to the rails , but most would o th ir best to g e t away from her and jump as she slid

. e forwards and downwards Whatever th y did , there can be little question that most of the m

t o would be taken down by suction , come up again a few mome nts later and t o ﬁll the air with those heartre nding crie s which fe ll on the ears of those in the lifeboats with such

. on e amazement Another survivor , the oth r

he e hand , relates that had div d from t he stern

e e e s befor she h led over , and wam round under he r e normous triple scre ws lifted by now high

t o F s ou f the water as she stood on e n d . a

c in a t e d the e he by xtraordinary sight , watched

e e r e a liz th m up above his head , but pr sently

ing t he ne cessity of ge tting away as quickly

o he as p ssible , started to swim from the ship , 1 84

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC them is so practical as to force him t o follow

of up the question reforms personally , n ot

a e le ving it to experts alon , then he will have at any rate done something to atone for the l of oss so many valuable lives .

We had now be tte r follow the adventures of those who we re re scue d from the ﬁnal eve n t in the disaste r . Two accounts those of

Mr L C o lonel Gracie and . ightolle r agre e

The e very closely . form r we nt down clinging

e e o t h t o a rail , the latter div d b f re e ship went

e right und r, but was sucked down and he ld

against o n e of the blowers . They were both

e car ried down for what seem d a long distance,

o e but Mr . Light ll r was ﬁnally blown up again

“ ' by a terr iﬁc gust that came up t he blower

and forced him cle ar . Colonel Gracie came

to the surface afte r holding his breath for

e e e what seem d an t rnity , and they both swam about holding on to any wreckage they

e could ﬁnd . Finally th y saw an upturned 1 86 THE SINKING — FROM THE DECK collapsible boat and climbed on i t in company with twenty other men , among them Bride the Mar coni operator . After remaining thus for r some hou s , with the sea washing them t o t w the waist, they stood up as day broke , in o rows , back t o back , balancing themselves as

o well as they could , and afraid t turn lest the boat should roll over Fin ally a lifeboat

e ff saw th m and took them O , an operation f attended with the greatest di ﬁculty , and the y reached the C a r pa t hl a In the early dawn . Not many people have gone through such an experience as those men did , lying all

‘ n - night o an overturned , ill b alanced boat, and praying together , as they did all the time , for the day and a ship t o take them off . Some account must now be attempted of the journey of the ﬂeet of boats t o the Car

athia . p , but it must necessarily be very brief

Experiences differed considerably : some had f no encounters at all with icebergs , no lack o ( 1 87 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

m t e n o row , discovered lights and food and

’ water , were picked up after only a few hours f exposure , and su fered very little discomfort ; others seemed to see icebergs round them all

night long and to b e always rowing round

them ; others had so few men aboard In some

cases only t wo or three that ladies had t o

i on e row and n case to steer , found no lights ,

or food water , and were adrift many hours , in some cases nearly eight . The ﬁrst boat to be picked up by the Car hi t a o . pa was one in charge of Mr . B xhall There was only one other man rowing and la

a t dies worked the oars . A green light burning in this boat all night was the greatest comfort to the rest of us who had nothing to steer by : although it meant little in the way of safety

in itself , it was a point to which we could look . The green light was the ﬁrst intimation Cap

f r tain Rostron had o ou position , and he steered for it and picked up its passengers ﬁrst . ( 1 88 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

from the lowering tackle , and had to be cut

away after reaching the sea . Mr . Lowe took

in charge four other boats , tied them together

with lines , found some of them not full , t and transferred all his passengers o these , distributing them in the darkness as well as

t o he could . Then returning the place where

the Titanic had sunk , he picked up some of those swimming in the water and went back

On t o the four boa ts . the way to the Car pa thia he encountered on e of the collapsible boats , and took aboard all those in her , as

e sh seemed t o be sinking .

1 n e f Boat 2 was o o the four tied together , and the seaman in charge testiﬁed that he

t n tried o row to the drowni g , but with forty women and children and only one other man t o row , it was not possible to pull such a heavy f boat to the scene o the wreck . Boat 2 was a small ship ’ s boat and had four f or ﬁv e passengers and seven o the crew . 1 90 THE SINKING — FROM THE DECK

Boat 4 was on e of the last to leave on the

port side, and by this time there was such a list that deck chairs had to bridge the gap

between the boat and the deck . When low

ered , it remained for some time still attached

t o the ropes , and as the Titanic was rapidly

sinking it seemed she would be pulled under . f The boat was full o women , who besought

the sailors t o leave the ship , but in obedience

t o orders from the captain to stand by the

cargo port , they remained near ; so near , in

n fact , that they heard china falli g and smash

ing as the ship went down by the head , and were nearly hit by wreckage thrown over board by some of the ofﬁcers and crew and in

tended to serve as rafts . They got clear ﬁnally , and were only a short distance away when

the ship sank , so that they were able to

pull some men aboard as they came t o the

surface . This boat had an unpleasant experience in 1 9 1 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC the night with icebergs ; many were seen and

e f avoid d with di ﬁculty .

Quartermaster Hic ke n s was in charge Of boat 6 , and in the absence of sailors Major Peuchen was sent to help to man her . They were told to make for the light of the steamer seen on the port side , and followed it until it disappeared .

e There wer forty women and children here . 8 Boat had only one seaman , and as Captain Smith had enforced the rule of “Women and

' children only , ladies had to row . Later in the

e night , wh n little progress had been made , the seaman took an oar and put a lady in charge of the tiller . This boat again was in the midst of icebergs . Of the four collapsible boats although collapsible is not really the correct term , for only a small portion collapses , the canvas

“ ' edge ; surf boats is really their name on e was launche d at the last moment by being pushed over as the sea rose to the edge of the ( 1 92 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

on e the passengers . How they got there no knew or indeed how they happened to be on

Ti Ic of the t a n , for by the immigration laws the

United States they are n ot allowed t o enter her ports . It must be said , in conclusion , that there is the greatest cause for gratitude that all the boats launched carried their passengers safely I t to the rescue ship . t would not be righ to accept this fact without calling attention to it : it would be easy to enumerate many things which might have been present as elements of danger . CHAPTER VII

’ TH E CARPATHIA S RETU RN To NEw Y ORK

TH E journey of the Carpathia from the time she caught the from the Ti

o A tani at about M . on Monday morning and turned swiftly about to her rescue , until she arrived at New York on the following

Thursday at P . M . was one that demanded of f of the captain , o ﬁcers and crew the vessel the most exact knowledge of navigation , the utmost vigilance in every department both before and after the rescue , and a capacity for organization that must sometimes have

o been taxed to the breaking p int .

The extent to which all these qualities were found present and the manner in which they were exercised stands to the everlasting credit o f the Cunard Line and those of its servants who were in charge of the Carpathia . Captain 1 95 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

’ t r s Ros on part in all this is a great one , and wrappe d up though his action is in a modesty l that is conspicuous in its nobi ity , it stands o ut even in his own account as a piece of work well and courageously done .

As soon as t he Titanic called for he lp and

e gav her position , the Carpathia was turne d and heade d north : all hands we re called on

of wa s n n d duty , a new watch stokers put o , a t he highest spe ed of which she was capable

e e of the r e was d mand d engineers , with the

' sult that the distance of ﬁ ft y- eight miles b e tween the two ships wa s covered in three and a

e e e e half hours , a sp d w ll b yond her normal

n capacity . The three doctors o board each

o e took charge of a saloon , in readiness t rend r

e h e e h lp to any w o needed their s rvic s , the ste wards and catering staff were hard at work

e h pr paring ot drinks and meals , and the

’ purse r s staff ready with blan kets and berths for the shipwrecked passengers as soon as they 1 96

T HE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC every faculty was called upon for the highest

use of which it was capable . With the know

ledge before them that the enormous Titanic,

the supposedly unsinkable ship , had struck ice and was sinking rapidly ; with the lookout

consta ntly calling to the bridge, as he must

' on have done, Icebergs the starboard , Ic e

' e bergs on the port, it r quired courage and judgment beyond the ordinary to drive the ship ahead through that lane of ice bergs and

“ ' e manoe uvre round th m . As he himself “ said , he took the risk of full speed in his desire to save life, and probably some people

' mig ht blame him for taking such a risk . But the Senate Committee assured him that

of they , at any rate, would not, and we the life boats have certainly no desire to do so

4 A . M . The ship was ﬁnally stopped at , with an iceberg reported dead ahe ad (the same n o doubt we had to row around in boat 1 3 as we approac hed the Carpathia) , and about the 1 98 THE CARPATHIA ’ S RETURN

same time the ﬁrst lifeboat was sighted . Again

she had to be manoe uvred round the ice

berg to pick up the boat, which wa s the on e in

. F a charge of Mr . Boxhall rom him the c ptain

learned that the Titanic had gone down , and

that he was too late t o save any on e but those

n in lifeboats , which he could ow see drawing up from every part of the horizon . Mean

f o f while , the passengers O the Carpathia, some them aroused by the unusual vibration of the

as screw , some by sailors tramping overhead the y swung away the lifeboats and g ot ropes

t o and lowering tackle ready , were beginning come on deck just as day broke ; and here an extraordinary sight met their eyes . As far as the eye could reach to the north and west lay

e of an unbrok n stretch field ice , with ice bergs still attached to the floe and rea ring aloft the ir mass as a hill might sudde nly rise from a level plain . Ahead and to the south and east huge floating monsters were Showing up through 1 99 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

the waning darkness , their number added to moment by moment as the dawn broke and

ﬂushed the horizon pink . It is remarkable

“ ' how busy all those icebergs made the sea look : t o have gone t o bed with n othing but sea and sky and to come on deck t o ﬁnd so many objects in sight made quite a change in the character of the sea : it looked quite crowded ; and a lifeboat alongside a n d peo ple clambering aboard , mostly women , in

- nightdresses and dressing gowns , in cloaks ' and shawls , in anything but ordinary clothes

Out ahead and on all sides little torches glit t e re d faintly for a few moments and then guttered out and shouts and cheers ﬂoated across the quiet sea . It would be difﬁcult to imagine a more unexpected sight than this

’ that lay before the Carpathia s passe nge rs as they lined the sides t hat morning in the e arly dawn .

No novelist would dare t o picture such an ( 200 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC watched us as if the ship had been in dock and we had rowed up to join her in a somewhat

unusual way . Some of them have related that

we were very quiet as we came aboard : it Is

quite true, we were ; but so were they . There

was very little excitement on either side : just the quiet demeanour of people who are In the

presence . of something too big as yet t o lie within their mental grasp , and which they

s cannot yet discuss . And so they a ked us po

' l l c oﬂ e e it e y to have hot , which we did ; and

e food , which we generally d clined, we were not hungry , and they said very little at

ﬁrst about the lost Titanic and our a d ve n tures in the night . Much that is exaggerated and false has been written about the mental condition of passen gers as they came aboard : we have been de scribed as being too dazed to understand what

e t o was happ ning , as being o overwhelmed to “ speak, and as looking before us with set, 202 THE CARPATHIA ’ S RETURN

' “ i of star ng gaze , dazed with the shadow the

dread event . That is , no doubt , what most people would expect in the circumstances , but

I know it does not give a faithful record of how we did arrive : in fact it is simply n ot

on e true . As remarked before, the thing that matters in describin g an event of this kind is the exact truth , as near as the fallible human mind can state it ; and my own im pression of our mental condition is that of supreme gratitude and relief at treading t he

ﬁrm decks of a ship again . I am aware that experiences differed considerably according to the boats occupied ; that those who were un certain of the fate of their relatives and friends had much to make them anxious and troubled ; and that it is not possible to look into another person ’ s consciousness and say what is written there ; but dealing with mental conditions as far as they are delineated by fa cial and bodily expressions , I think joy , 203 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

e a relief, gratitud were the domin nt emotions wr itten on the faces of those who climbed the

- rope ladders and were hauled up in crad les .

It must n ot be forgotten that no one in any on e boat knew who were saved in other boats : fe w knew even how many boats there were and how many passengers could be save d . It wa s at the time probable that friends would

or n on follow them to the Carpathia, be fou d

r other steamers , o even on the pier at which we landed . The hysterical scenes that have

on e been described are imaginative ; true, woman did ﬁll the saloon with hysterical cries im mediately after coming aboard, but she could not have known for a certainty that an y of her friends were lost : probably the sense of re lie f after some hours of journeying about t he sea was too much for he r for a time .

On e of the ﬁrst things we did was to crowd round a steward with a bundle of tele graph

e e of s forms . He was the b ar r the welcome new 204

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

a relief, gratitude were the domin nt emotions written on the faces of those who climbed the

- rope ladders and were hauled up in crad les . It must not be forgotten that no one in any on e boat knew who were saved in other boats : few knew even how many boats there were and how many passengers could be saved . It was at the time probable that friends would

or on follow them to the Carpathia, be found other steamers , or even on the pier at which we landed . The hysterical scenes that have

on e been described are imaginative ; true, woman did ﬁll the saloon with hysterical cries immediately after coming aboard , but she could not have known for a certainty that an y of her friends were lost : probably the sense of re lief after so me hours of journeying about the se a was too much for he r for a time .

On e of the ﬁrst things we did was to crowd round a ste ward with a bundle of tele graph

e s forms . He was the b arer of the welcome new 204 THE CARPATHIA ’ S RETURN that passengers might send Marconigrams to their relatives free of charge, and soon he bore away the ﬁrst sheaf of hastily scribbled mes sages t o the operator ; by the time the last boatload was aboard , the pile must have risen high in the Marconi cabin . We learned after wards that many of these never reached their destination ; and this is not a matter for sur prise . There was only on e operator Cot

n tam o board , and although he was assisted t o some extent later , when Bride from the

Titanic had recovered from his injuries sufﬁ c ie n tl t o so y work the apparatus, he had much t o d o that he fell asleep over this work on Tuesday night after three days ’ continuous duty without rest . But we did n ot know the

ur messages were held back, and imagined o

r friends were aware of ou safety ; then , t oo, a roll -call of the rescued was held in the Car

’ a thia s p saloon on the Monday , and this was

Marconied to land in advance of all messages . 205 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

e c e r t a l n It se med , then , that friends at home would have all anxiety removed , but there were mistake s in the ofﬁcial list ﬁrst tele f graphed . The experience o my own friends illustrates this : the Marconigram I wrote never got through t o England ; n or was my name ever mentioned in any list of the saved

(even a week after landing in New York, I saw “ - i it in a black edged ﬁnal list of the miss ng) , and it seemed certain that I had never reached I the Carpathia ; so much so that , as write , there are before me obituary notice s from the

English papers giving a short s ketch of my E life in ngland . After landing in New York and realizing from the lists of the saved which a reporter showed me that my fr ie nds had no news since the Titanic sank on Monday morn ing until that night (Thursday 9 I c a ble d to England at once (as I had but two shillings re scue d from the Titanic , the White

e Star Line paid for the cables) , but the messag s 206

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

son Ne his journeyed to w York to meet him, r 1c 1n e 10 g at his deliverance , and never found m him there . When I met his fa ily some days later and was able to give them some

of details his life aboard ship , it seemed almost cruel to tell them of the opposite ex

n f pe r ie c e that had be allen my friends at home .

Returning to the journey of the Carpathia

the last boatload of passengers was taken

A . . aboard at M , the lifeboats were hauled on deck while the c olla psib le s were aban u do ed , and the Carpathia proceeded t o steam round the scene of the wreck in the hope of picking up anyone ﬂoating on wreckage . Before doing so the captain arranged in the saloon a service over the spot where the Ti

t a n ic sank , as nearly as could be calculated ,

of a service, as he said , respect to those who were lost and of gratitude for those who were

saved .

She cruised round and round the scene , but 208 THE CARPATHIA ’ S RETURN found nothing t o indicate there was any hope of picking up more passengers ; and as the

Californian had now arrived , followed shortly afterwards by the Birma , a Russian tramp

t o steamer , Captain Rostron decided leave any further search to them and t o make all speed with the rescued to land . As we moved round , there was surprisingly little wreckage to be seen : wooden deck-chairs and small f pieces of other wood , but nothing o any size . But covering the sea in huge patches was a

“ ' - mass of reddish yellow seaweed , as we called it for want of a name . It was said to be

n its cork, but I never heard deﬁ itely correct description .

The problem of where t o land us had next to be decided . The Carpathia was bound for Gibraltar, and the captain might continue his journey there, landing us at the Azores on the way ; but he would require more linen and provisions , the passengers were mostly women 209 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

- and children , ill clad , dishevelled, and in need of o e many attenti ns he could not give th m .

out of Then , too, he would soon be the range of wireless communication , with the weak apparatus his ship had, and he soon decided against that course . Halifax was the nearest

of in point distance, but this meant steaming north through the ice, and he thought his

' He passengers did not want to see more ice . heade d back therefore to New York, which he

e had left the pr vious Thursday, working all afternoon along the edge of the ice-ﬁ e ld which stretched away north as far as the unaided eye could reach . I have wondered since if we could possibly have landed our passengers on this ic e -ﬂoe from the lifeboats and gon e back to pick up those swimming , had we known it was the re ; I should think it quite feasible t o

e e xt r a or d i have don so . It was certainly an nary sight to stand on deck and see the sea

s covered with olid ice, white and dazzling in ( 210 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

not the extent of these conditions , but he

of knew somewhat their existence . Alas , that he heeded not their warning '

During the day , the bodies of eight of the crew were committed to the deep : four of them had been taken out of the boats dead and four died during the day . The engines were stopped and all passengers on deck bared their heads while a short service was read ; when it was over the ship steamed on again to carry the living back to land .

The passengers on the Carpathia were by n ow hard at work ﬁnding clothing for the sur

’ e vivor s : the barb r s shop was raided for ties ,

- collars , hair pins , combs , etc . , of which it hap pe ned there was a large stock in hand ; one good Samaritan went round the ship with a box of tooth -brushes offering them in d isc r im in t l a e y to all . In some cases , clothing could not be found for the ladies and they spent the rest of the time on bo ard in their dressing 212 THE CARPATHIA ’ S RETURN gowns and cloaks in which they came away

from the Titanic . They even slept in them , for , in the absence of berths , women had to sleep on the ﬂoor of the saloons and in the lib

on a i a sse s rary each night straw p ll , and here it was not possible to undress properly . The men were given the smoking- room ﬂoor and a supply of blankets , but the room was small , and some elected to sleep out on deck . I found a pile of towels on the bathroom ﬂoor ready

’ for next morning s baths , and made up a very comfortable bed on these . Later I was waked in the middle of the night by a man offering me a berth in his four-berth cabin : another occupant was unable to leave his berth for physical reasons , and so the cabin t could not be given up o ladies .

On Tuesday the survivors met in the saloon and formed a committee among themselves

out to collect subscriptions for a general fund , of which it was re solved by vote to provide ( 213 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC as far as possible for the destitute among the steerage passengers , to present a loving cup to Captain Rostron and medals to the ofﬁcers f and crew o the Carpathia , and to divide any

r o su plus am ng the crew of the Titanic . The work of this committee is not yet (June l st ) at an end , but all the resolutions except the

n e e last o have been act d upon , and that is n ow e of receiving the att ntion the committee .

The pre sentations to the captain and crew were made the day the C arpathia returned to

Y o Me e New ork fr m her dit rranean trip , and it is a pleasure to all the survivors to know that the U n ited States Senate has recognized the service re ndered to humanity by the Carpa thia and has voted Captain Rostron a gold

f n medal commemorative o the rescue . O the

o of afterno n Tuesday , I visited the steerage

- in company with a fellow passenger , to take

e down the names of all who were saved . W —E grouped them into nationalities , nglish , 214

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

on e of was girl really remarkable beauty , black hair and deep violet eyes with long lashes , and perfectly shaped features , and quite young , not more than eightee n or twenty ; I

h o n t ink she lost no relatives the Titanic . The following letter to the London Times is reproduced here to show something of what our feeling was on board the Carpathia

he of towards t loss the Titanic . It was written soon after we had the deﬁnite information on the Wednesday that ice warnings had been sent to the Titanic , and when we all felt that something must be done to awaken public

Opinion to safe guard ocean travel in the

' of future . We were not aware , course, how much the outside world knew , and it seeme d we ll to do something to inform the English public of what had happened at as e arly an

oc opportunity as possible . I have not had casion to change any of the Opinions expre ssed in this letter . 2 1 6 THE CARPATHIA ’ S RETURN

As on e of fe w surviving Englishm e n fr om t he

a n c c s in m i - a n c o ste a m ship Tit i , whi h ank d Atl ti n

M r n n s a m s n out o la b e on d ay m o i g la t, I a ki g y y fore your r e a d e r s a fe w fa c ts c on c e r n in g t he disa s t e r e a som e m a b e on e t he , in th hope th t thing y d in ne ar futur e t o e n sure the sa fe ty Of that portion of the trave lling public who use t he Atlantic highway for us e ss e e b in or pl asur .

I wish t o dissoc ia te m yse lf e ntir e ly fr om any re por t tha t would se e k t o ﬁ x the r e sponsibility on a n e r so r e e a n d y p n o pe r sons or body of p opl , by sim ply c a llin g a tte n tion t o m a tte r s of fa ct t he a u e n c of w c is n e on d ue s o th ti ity hi h , I thi k, b y q ti n a n d c a n b e e s n ur t o tablishe d in any Cour t of I q i y , a llow your r e a d e r s t o d r aw the ir own c onc lusions as t o the r e s on s for t he c s o p ibility olli i n .

r s a wa n o t Fi t, th t it s k wn o those in c ha rge of the

Tita n ic tha t we we r e in the ic e be r g r e gion ; tha t th e atm osphe r ic a n d te m pe r ature c on d ition s sugge ste d the ne a r pr e se nc e of ic e be rg s ; that a wir e le ss m e s sa ge wa s r e c e ive d fr om a ship a he a d of us wa r n ing us tha t the y ha d be e n se e n in t he loc a lity of whic h

a l titude an d lon g itud e we r e give n . ( 2 17 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

e n d a at t he m e f the S c o , th t ti o c ollision t he Ti

a n e was r un n n a r a e e e t i i g at high t of sp d .

r d a t he c c om m Thi , th t a od a tion for savin g pas se n e r s a n d c r e w wa s o a n a d e ua e e n g t t lly i q t , b i g

ufﬁ c e n on for a f 950 s o a o a ou . s a ve i t ly t t l b t Thi g , w t he e s oss e c om e m e n f 3400 a ith high t p ibl pl t o , le ss tha n on e In thr e e c ha n c e Of be in g sa ve d in t he c a se of a c c e n id t .

our a the i t h F th , th t n um be r la n d e d n e C a r

athia a r o m a e 700 is e r c e n a e of p , pp xi t ly , a high p t g t he oss e 950 a n e e e e n e s m on t o p ibl , d b a r s xc ll t t ti y t he c our a e r e sour c e a n e o on t o d u of t he g , , d d v ti ty

Ofﬁ c e r s a n d c r e w of t he ve sse l ; m a n y in sta n c e s of the ir n obility a n d pe r son a l se lf- sa c r iﬁ c e a r e within

e ss on a n e n ow a e did a ll e our po ss i , d w k th t th y th y

e r s s c ould d o with t he m e a n s a t th i d i po a l .

a t he r ac c e Of r un n n m a a n d as Fifth , th t p ti i g il p se n g e r ve sse ls thr ough fog a n d ic e be r g r e gion s a t a high spe e d is a c om m on on e ; the y a re tim e d t o r un

m os a s a n e r e ss r a n is r un a n d e c a n n o a l t xp t i , th y t,

e r e or e s ow d own m or e a n fe w kn o s in th f , l th a t

ss e n e tim e of po ibl d a g r .

I have n e ithe r kn owle d ge n or e xpe r ie n c e t o say

e a e d b ut wha t re m e d ie s I c on sid e r should b ppli ; , ( 21 8 )

T THE LOSS OF THE 88. ITANIC which some Ame rican reporte rs are in the habit of preparing on occasions of this kind . The ﬁrst

e impre ssion is oft n the most permanent , and in f a disaster o this magnitude , where exact and

s accurate information is o necessary , prepara tion of a report was essential . It was written in o d d corn ers of the deck and saloon of the

e C arpathia , and f ll , it seemed very happily, into the hands of the one reporter who c oiIld

t he best deal with it, Associated Press . I under stand it was theﬁrst re port that came through f and had a good deal of the e fect intended . The Carpathia returned to New York in almost every kind of climatic conditions : ice

e ic e - ﬁ e ld s b rgs , and bitter cold to commence with ; brilliant warm sun , thunder and light ning in the middle of on e night (and so close ly did the peal follow the ﬂash that women in the saloon leaped up in alarm saying rockets we re be ing sent up again) ; cold winds most of the time ; fogs e very morning and during a 220 THE CARPATHIA ’S RETURN

good part of one day, with the foghorn blow ing constantly ; rain ; choppy sea with the spray blowing overboard and coming in through the saloon windows ; we said we had almost every

' h h r thing but ot we a t e and stormy seas . So that when we were told that Nantucket Light ship had been sighted ouThursday morning from the bridge , a great sigh of relief went round to think New York an d land would be reache d before next morning .

There is n o doubt that a good many felt the waiting period of those four days very trying : the ship crowded far beyond its limits of com

of fort , the want of necessities clothing and toilet , and above all the anticipation of meet ing with relatives on the pier, with , in many r cases , the knowledge that other friends we e left behind and would not return home again .

A few looked forward t o meeting on the pier their friends t o whom they had said a urevoir

’ on Tit a n i the c s deck , brought there by a 221 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

or faster boat , they said , at any rate to he ar

that the y were following behind us in another

: r boat a very few , indeed , fo the thought of the icy water and the many hours ’ immersion

se emed to weigh against such a possibility ;

but we encourage d them to hope the C a lifor

nian and the Birma had picked some up ;

stranger things have happened , and we had B all been through strange experiences . ut in

n the midst of this rather tense feeling, o e fact

n e stands out as remarkable no o was ill .

Captain Rostron te stiﬁed that on Tue sday

of e x the doctor reported a clean bill health ,

- cept for frost bites and shaken nerves . There

we re none of the illnesses supposed to follow

from exposure for hours in the cold night

e e and , it must be remembered , a consid rabl

number swam about for some time when t he

s Titanic ank , and then either sat for hours in

their wet things or lay ﬂat on an upturned boat with the sea water washing partly over ( 222 )

THE LOSS OF THE T 88 . ITANIC

' of doom , and to have become eight weeks instead . So many dramatic incidents had been crowded into the last few days that the

ﬁrst four peaceful , uneventful days , marked by nothing that seared the memory , had faded

o t f e almost uo recollection . It needed an ffort to return t o Southampton , Cherbourg and

Queenstown , as though returning to some e f vent o last year . I think we all realized that time may be measured more by events than by seconds and minutes : what the astronome r

1 5 t he would call A M . April th ,

' survivors called the sinking of the Titanic

“ ' the hours that followed were designate d

“ ' M being adrift in an open sea , and A . “ was being rescued by the Carpathia . The clock was a mental one , and the hours , min utes and seconds marked deeply on its face were emotions , strong and silent .

of Surrounded by tugs every kind , from which (as well as from every available build ( 224 ) THE CARPATHIA ’ S RETURN ing near the river) magnesium bombs were ff shot o by photographers , while reporters shouted for news of the disaster and photo graphs of passengers , the Carpathia drew slowly to her station at the Cunard pier, the

gangways were pushed across , and we set foot at last on American soil , very thankful , grate ful people . The mental and physical condition of the rescued as they came ashore has , here again , been greatly exaggerated on e description “ - - says we were half fainting , half hysterical ,

n bordering o hallucination , only now begin

' ning to realize the horror . It is unfortunate such pictures should be presented to the world .

There were some painful scenes of meeting

of between relatives those who were lost , but once again women showed their self-control and went through the ordeal in most cases with extraordinary calm . It is well to r ecord “ he : that t same account added A few, 225 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

' strangely enough , are calm and lucid ; if for “f ' ' e w we read a large majority , it will be much nearer the true description of the land ing on the Cunard pier in New York . There seems t o be no adequate reason why a report of such a scene should depict mainly the sor row and grief, should seek for every detail to satisfy the horrible and the morbid in the human mind . The ﬁrst questions the excited crowds of reporters aske d as they crowded round were whether it was true that ofﬁcers

e e shot passeng rs , and then themselves ; wheth r passe ngers shot each other ; whether any f sce nes o horror had been noticed , and what they were .

It would have been well to have noticed t he wonderful state of h ealth of most of the res

e cu d , their gratitude for their deliverance , the thousand and on e things that gave cause for e o d e r j icing . In the midst of so much s o of e e cripti n the hyst rical side of the scen , ( 226 )

CHAPTER VIII

TH E LES S ONS TAU GHT B Y TH E LOS S O F TH E TITANIC

ONE of the most pitiful things in the rela

tions of human beings to each other the action and reaction of events that is called “ concretely human life is that every n ow and then some of them should be called upon to lay down their lives from no sense of im

e r a t ive p , calculated duty such as inspires the soldier or the sailor , but suddenly , without

or f any previous knowledge warning o danger,

of without any opportunity escape , and with out any desire to risk such conditions of dan

o n our ger of their w free will . It is a blot on civilization that these things are necessary from time to time , t o arouse those responsible for the safety of human life from the leth selﬁshness which has governed them . 228 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

’ {Tit a n ic s two thousand odd passengers went

aboard thinking they were on an absolutely

safe ship , and all the time there were many

n people designers , builders , experts , gover

ment Ofﬁcials who knew t here were in sufﬁ

n o cient boats on board , that the Titanic had

who right t o go fast in iceberg regions , knew these things and took no steps and enacted n o laws to prevent their happening;

Not that they omitted t o do these things

of deliberately , but were lulled into a state selﬁsh inaction from which it ded such a

tragedy as this to arouse them . was a cruel necessity which demanded t h a few should

d ie t o arouse many millions to a sense of their

own insecurity , to the fact that for years the possibility of such a disaster has been immi f nent . Passengers have known none o these

things , and while no good end would have been

served by relating to them needless tales of

n danger o the high seas , one thing is certain 229 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

that , had they known them , many would not have travelled in such conditions and thereby safeguards would soon have been forced on the builders , the companies , and the Govern ment . But there were people who knew and did not fail to call attention to the dangers : in the House of C ommons the matter has been frequently brought up privately , and an f C E K . e American naval o ﬁcer , aptain . Rod n , in an article that has since bee n widely repro

e d e e of d uc , call d attention to the d fects this very ship , the Titanic taking her as an ex ample oi all other liners and pointed out that she was not unsinkable and had not proper boat accommodation . f The question , then , o responsibility for the loss of the Titanic must be conside red : n ot from any idea that blame should be laid here or there and a scapegoat provided

of that is a waste of time . But if a ﬁxing re sponsibility leads t o quick and efﬁcient remedy , ( 230 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

E increases his responsibility enormously . ven supposing the White Star Line and Mr . Ismay had urged him before sailing to make a record ,

again an assumption , they cannot be held directly responsible for the collision : he was in charge of the lives of everyone on board and no on e but he was supposed t o estimate

s the ri k of travelling at the speed he did , when ic e was reported ahead of him . His action Ca n not b e justiﬁe d on the ground of prudent sea manship .

But the question of indirect responsibility

e o rais s at nce many issues and , I think , re moves from Captain Smith a good deal of

f of personal responsibility or the loss his ship .

f e Some o thes issues it will be well to con sider .

our In the ﬁrst place , disabusing minds again of the knowledge that the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank , let us estimate the probabilitie s of such a thing happening . An ice be rg is small and o ccupies little r oom by 232 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER comparison with the broad ocean on which it

ﬂoats ; and the chances of another small object like a ship colliding with it and being sunk are

: of very small the chances are , as a matter

of fact , one in a million . This is not a ﬁgure speech : that is the actual risk for total loss by c ollision with an iceberg as accepted by

on e - in - - insurance companies . The a million accident was what sunk the Titanic . E ven so , had Captain Smith been alone in taking that risk , he would have had to bear all the blame for the resulting disaster . But it seems he is not alone : the same risk has been taken over and over again by fast mail -pa s

fo senger liners , in g and in iceberg regions . Their captains have taken the long very long chance many times and won every time ; he took it as he had done many times

Of o before , and lost . c urse , the chances that night of striking an iceberg were much gre ater than on e in a million : they had been enor 233 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC m ously increased by the extreme southerly position of ice bergs and ﬁeld ice and by the

unusual number of the former . Thinking over

the scene that met our eyes from the deck of

t he the Carpathia after we boarded her,

great number of icebergs wherever the eye

could reach , the chances of n ot hitting on e

in the darkness of the night seemed small .

on e Indeed , the more thinks about the Car pa t hia coming at full speed t hrough all those

o in e x lic icebergs in the darkness , the m re p able does it se e m . True , the captain had an extra lookout watch and every sense of eve ry man on the bridge alert t o detect the le ast

S of e n ot o ign dang r , and again he was g ing

so fast as the Titanic and would have his

s e hip und r more control ; but granted all that , he appe ars to have taken a great risk as he dogged and twisted round the awf ul two -hun

- r oe s dre d foot monsters in t he da k night . D

it mean that the risk is n ot so great as we who 234

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC who has run full speed through fog and ice berg regions is t o blame for the disaster as much as he is : they got through and he did not . Other liners can go faster than the Ti tanie could possibly do ; had they struck ice they would have been injured even more

b e for deeply than she was , for it must not gotten that the force of impact varies as the s uar e of i e m q the velocity . . , it is four ti es

m e as uch at sixteen knots as at ight knots ,

- o o on . nine times as much at twenty f ur , and s

And with not much margin of tim e le ft for

o s these fast b ats , they mu t go full speed

t he ahead nearly all time . Remember how “ they advertise t o Leave New York We d n e s

' n e o o o day , di in Lond n the foll wing M nday ,

is e and it don regularly , much as an express

oﬂi c e r s t oo o train is run to time . Their , , w uld have been less able t o avoid a c ollism n than

M o wa s for t he urd ck of the Titanic , at greater

e e o speed , they would b on the ic berg in sh rter 236 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

f time . Many passengers can tell o crossing f with fog a go od deal o the way , sometimes

almost all the way , and they have been only a

of few hours late at the end the journey .

So that it is the custom that is at fault, not

on e particular captain . Custom is established

e a n larg ly by demand , and supply too is the

e swer to demand . What the public demand d

the White Star Line supplied, and so both the public and the Line are concerned with the f question o indirect responsibility .

The public has demanded, more and more every year , greater speed as well as greater f com ort, and by ceasing to patronize the low

Speed boats has gradually forced the pace to what it is at present . Not that speed in itself is a dangerous thing , it is sometimes — much safer t o go quickly than slowly , but

e that , giv n the facilities for speed and the stimulus exerted by the constant public de

mand for it , occasions arise when the judg ( 237 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC ment of those in command of a ship becomes

o swayed largely unc nsciously, no doubt

in favour of taking risks which the smaller liners would never take . The demand on the

of o f skipper a boat like the Calif rnian , or

- example , which lay hove to nine teen miles away with her engines stopped, is in ﬁ n it e si

on mal compared with that Captain Smith .

An old traveller told me on the Carpathia that he has often grumbled to the Ofﬁcers for what he called absurd pre cautions in lying t o

s a s and wa ting his time , which he regarded very valuable ; but after hearing of the Ti

’ t a n ic s 10 8 8 he re cognize d that he was to some e xtent responsible for t he speed at which she had travelled , and would never be so again .

He had bee n on e of the trave lling public who had constantly demanded to b e taken to his

’ j ourney s end in t he Shortest possible time ,

“ ' and had made a row about it if he was

e o like ly t o be late . Ther are s me business 238

THE THE LOSS OF SS . TITANIC sion of such a desire and the discontent with so-called slow tr avel are the seed sown in t he

of minds men , to bear fruit presently in an insistence on greater speed . We may not have done so directly, but we may perhaps have talked about it and thought about it , and we know no action begins without thought . The White Star Line has received very

o of r ugh handling from some the press, but the greater part of this criticism seems to be unwarranted and to arise from the desire to

ﬁnd a scapegoat . After all they had made bet ter provision for the passengers the Titanic carried than any other line has done, for they had built what they believed to be a huge

lifeboat, unsinkable in all ordinary conditions .

Those who e mbar ked in her were almost c e r t a in ly in the safest ship (along with the Olym pic) aﬂoat : she was probably quite immune

' e ﬂe c t s s from the ordinary of wind, wave and

e t o o collisions at sea, and need d fear n thing 240 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

n on but runni g a rock or , what was worse, a

ﬂoating ice berg ; for the e ﬂ e c t s of collision

so were, far as damage was concerned , the same as if it had been a rock, and the danger

is greater, for one charted and the other is

t oo W of un n ot . Then , , hile the theory the sinkable boat has been destroyed at the same time as the boat itself, we should not forget that it served a useful purpose on deck that night it eliminated largely the possibility f o panic, and those rushes for the boats which might have swamped some of them . I do not wish for a moment to suggest that such things

in would have happened , because the more formation that comes to hand of the conduct

n of the people o board , the more wonderful

- of seems the complete self control all , even when the last boats had gone and nothing but the rising waters met their eyes only that the generally e n t e r t a m e d theory rendered such

. n things less probable The theory, i deed, was 241 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANI C

really a safeguard , though built on a false premise . There is no evidence that the White Star Line instructed the captain to push the boat or to make any records : the probabilities are that no such attempt would be made on t he

ﬁrst trip . The general instructions to the ir commanders bear quite the other in t e r pr e t a t ion : it will be we ll to quote them in full a s issued t o t he press during t he sittings of the Unite d States Se nate C ommittee .

In str uc tion s to c om m a n d e rs

Com m an d e r s m ust d istin c tly un d e r sta n d tha t the issue of r e gulation s d oe s n ot in a n y way r e lie ve the m fr om r e spon sibility for t he safe a n d e fﬁ c ie n t

a a o Of e r r e s e c e e sse s a n d e a r e n vig ti n th i p tiv v l , th y a lso e n join e d t o r e m e m be r tha t the y m ust r un n o r isks whic h m ight b y a n y possibility r e sult in a c c i

e is t o b e o e d a e d e n t t o th ir ships . It h p th t th y will e ve r be a r In m In d tha t t he sa fe ty of t he live s a n d pr ope r ty e n tr uste d t o the ir c ar e IS the rulin g 242

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

nuisance . The Board of Trade employs the best experts, and knows the dangers that a t tend ocean travel a n d the precautions that should be taken by every commander . If

n ot these precautions are taken , it will be

e ne cessaryto legislate until th y are . No motor ist is allowed t o career at full speed along a public highway in dangerous conditions , and

' it should be an oﬂ e n c e for a captain t o d o the same on the high seas with a ship full of un

e suspecting passengers . Th y have entrusted their lives to the governme nt of their country through its regulations and they are entitled to the same protec tion in mid-At lantic as they are in Oxford Street or Br oad

r e way . The open sea should no longer be

’ garde d as a neutral zone where no country s police laws are Operative .

Of course there are difﬁculties in the way of drafting international regulations : many g ov e r n m e n t s would have to be consulted and 244 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER many difﬁculties that seem in superable over come ; but that is the purpose for which g ov

m e r n e n t s are employed , that is why experts and ministers of governments a r e appointed and paid t o overcome difﬁculties for the people who appoint them and who expect

thin s ‘t o them , among other g , protect their lives . The American Government must share the same responsibility : it is useless to attempt t o

ﬁx it on the British Board of Trade for the rea son that the boats were built in England and ﬂi inspected there by British o c ia ls . They car ried American citizens largely , and entered

American ports . It would have been the simplest matter for the United States Gov e rn m e n t t o veto the entry of any ship which did not conform to its laws of regulating speed — in conditions of fog and icebergs had they provided such laws . The fact is that the Amer ican nation has practically no mercantile ma

of rine , and in time a disaster such as this it 245 F THE A THE LOSS O SS . TIT NIC

o f rgets , perhaps, that it has exactly the same right and therefore the same responsibility

t o as the British Government inspect, and to legislate : the right that is easily enforced

e by r fusal to allow entry . The regulation of speed in dangerous re gions could well be un d e r t a ke n by some ﬂeet of international police patrol vessels , with power to stop if necessary

f e any boat found guilty o reckl ss racing . The additional duty of warning ships of the exact locality of icebergs could be performed by

n ot f these boats . It would o course be pos

' s r ible o advisable to ﬁx a speed limit, b e cause the re gion of icebergs varies in position f as the icebergs ﬂoat south , varies in point o

danger as they melt and disappear, and the

whole question has t o be left largely to the

judgment of the captain on the spot ; but

it would be possible to make it an offe nce

aga inst t he law t o go be yond a certain spee d f in known conditions o danger . ( 246 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC greed and dividend-hunting that have charac t e r ize d the policy of t he steamship companies in their failure t o provide safe ty appliances :

s { these thing In themselves are not expensive . They have vied with each other in making

e In f th ir lines attractive point o speed, size and comfort, and they have been quite justiﬁed in doing so : such things are the product of ordinary competition between commercial houses .

Where they have all failed morally is t o extend to their passengers the consideration that places their lives as of more interest to them than any other conceivable thing . They are not alone in this : thousands of other people have done the same thing and would do it to

s day in factories , in work hops , in mines , did not the gove rnment intervene and insist on s e e afety pr cautions . The thing is a d fect in human life of to-day thoughtlessness for the well-being of our fe llow-men ; and we are 248 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

all guilty of it in some degree . It is folly for the pU b lic t o rise up n ow and condemn the steamship companies : their failing is the com mon failing of the immorality of indii ference .

The remedy is the law, and it is the only remedy at present that will really accomplish

on anything . The British law the subject 89 dates from 1 4 , and requires only twenty boats for a ship the size of the Titanic : the owners and builders have obeyed this law and fulfilled their legal responsibility . In crease this responsibility and they will fulfil it again and the matter is ended so far as appliances are concerned . It should perhaps be mentioned that in a period of ten years only nine passengers were lost on British f ships : the law seemed to be su ficient in fact .

The position of the American Government, f however, is worse than that o the British

Government . Its regulations require more 249 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC than double the boat accommodation which

e the British r gulations do, and yet it has a l lowed hundreds of thousands of its subjects t o enter its ports on boats that deﬁed its own

n laws . Had their government ot been guilty

in iﬂ e r e n c e of the same d , passengers would not have been allowed aboard any British ship lacking in boat-ac commodation the

e of e simple exp dient again r fusing entry . The reply of the British Government t o the Sen

o of ate Committee, accusing the B ard Trade “ of insufﬁcie nt re quirements and la x in spe c

' “ : tion , might well be Ye have a law see

' to it yourse lves '

It will be we ll now to consider brieﬂy the various appliance s that have been sugge sted

e e to e nsure t he safety of pass ngers and cr w , and in doing so it may be reme mbe red that the average m an and woman has the same right as the expert to conside r and discuss these things : the y are not so technical as to 250

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

e e and no oth r damage , hav le ft again for their home port without troubling to d ise m

e e ff e e bark passeng rs and ct r pairs .

’ The de sign of the Tit a n ic s bulkheads calls “ for some attention . The Scientiﬁc Ameri

' in e on can , an exc llent article the compara

’ tive safety of the Tit a n ic s and other types

- of water tight compartments , draws attention to the following weaknesses in the former

with an icebe rg . She had no longitudinal bulk

e heads , which would subdivide her into small r compartments and prevent t he water ﬁlling

of a la t . Prob

t e ably , a large compartm nt t was in any case too great W . n The Mauretania , o the other hand , in

e addition to transverse bulkheads , is ﬁtt d

with longitudinal torpedo bulkheads , and the

space between the m and the side of the ship is

t he utilised as a coal bunker . Then , too , in 252 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

Mauretania all bulkheads are carried up t o the top deck , whereas in the case of the Titanic they reache d in some parts only t o the saloon deck and in others to a lower deck still , the weakness of this being that , when the water reached t o the top of a bulkhead as the ship sank by the head , it ﬂowed over and ﬁlled the next compartment . The British Admiralty , which subsidizes the Mauretania and Lusit

f on ania as fast cruisers in time o war, insisted this type of construction , and it is considered vastly better than that used in the Titanic . The writer of the article thinks it possible that these ships might not have sunk as the result of a similar collision . But the ideal ship u from the point of bulkhead constr ction , he E conside rs to have been the Great astern , constructed many years ago by the famous engineer Brunel . So thorough was her sys tem of compartments divided and subdivided by many transverse and longitudinal bulk 253 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC heads that when she tore a hole eighty feet long in her side by striking a rock , she reached port in safe ty . Unfortunately the weight and cost of this method was so great that his plan was subsequently abandoned .

But it would n ot be just to say that the con struction of t he Titanic was a se rious mistake on t he part of the White Star Line or he r

t he r a builders , on he ground that bulkhe ds were not so well constructe d a s those of the

e e Lusitania and Mauretania , which w r built to fulﬁl British Admiralty regulations for time of war an e xtraordinary risk which no builde r of a passe nge r ste amer as such would be expecte d to ta ke into consideration

e e s e wh n d igning the vesse l . It should b con st a n t ly borne in mind that the Titanic met e xtr aordinary conditions on the night of t he collision : she was probably t W o aﬂ at in all ordinary conditions . Collision

/ with an ice berg is not a n t or d in a r y risk ; but

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

weathe r . The ship itself must always be the “ e safety appliance that is r ally trustworthy ,

and nothing must be left undone to ensure this .

Wir e le ss a ppar a tus a n d ope r a tor s

The range of the apparatus might we ll be

extended , but the principal defect is the lack

f on o an operator for night duty some ships .

miles away , able to save every soul on board , a n d could not catch the messa e b e c aug the W e lt om ﬂ on upon . ven the Carpathia , the operator ' E the point of retiring when the message

arrived , and we should have been much longer

aﬂoat and some boats possibly swamped

ot caught the message when he did .

It has been suggested that ofﬁcers should have

° a working kn owle dg e of wireless telegraphy ,

and this is no doubt a wise provision . It

would enable the m to supervise the work of 9256 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER . the operators more closely and from all the evidence , this seems a necessity . The ex change of vitally importa nt messages b e tween a sinking ship and those rushing to her rescue should be under the control of an ex

' t a k pe r ie n c e d ofﬁcer . T o e b ut on e example Bride testiﬁed that after giving the Birma the message and the position (inci dentally Signor Marconi has stated that this has been abandoned in favour of

ot and getting a reply , they g int o touch with the Carpathia , and while talking with her were interrupted by the Birma asking what was the matter . No doubt it was the duty of the Birma to come at once without asking any questions , but the reply from the Titanic ,

’ “ ' telling the Birma s operator n ot to be a fool by interrupting , seems to have been a need

of : less waste precious moments to reply , “ We a r e n o sinking would have taken longer, e specially when in the ir o wn estimation of 257 THE THE LOSS OF SS . TITANIC

the strength of the signals they thought the

e Birma was the near r ship . It is Well to notice that some large liners have already a staff of

three operators .

Subm ar in e sign a llin g appar a tus

There are occasions whe n Wireless appara

tus is useless as a means of saving life at sea

promptly .

’ On e of it s Weakn esses is that when the ships

e engine s are stopped , m ssages can no longe r

be sent out , that is , with the system at pre

b e r e he M adopted . It will emember d that t

’ Tit a n ic s messages got gradually fainte r and

then ceased altogether as she came to re st

with her en gine s shut down .

oc Again, in fogs, and most accidents

of cur in fogs , while wireless informs the

n e e accide nt , it doe s not enable o ship to locat

another close ly enough t o take off he r pas

se n r s e e e m g e at once . Th r is as y t no ethod 258

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

l might ie . In a rough sea it is doubtful whe ther the Republic would have remained aﬂoat long enough for the Baltic to ﬁnd her and take off all her passengers .

Now on these two occasions whe n wire le ss

e telegraphy was found to be unreliabl , the usefulne ss of the submarine bell at once b e

e comes appar nt . The Baltic could have gone une rringly to the Re public in the dense fog had the latter been ﬁtted with a submarine emergency bell . It will perhaps be well to spend a little time describing the submarine signalling apparatus to see how this re sult could have been obtained : twelve anxious hours in a dense fog on a ship which was in jured so badly that she subse quently foun

e dered , is an experi nce which every appliance known to human invention should be e nlisted to pre ve nt .

Submarine signalling has ne ver re ce ive d that public notice which wire less te le gr aphy 260 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

th has , for e reason that it does not appeal so

e r adily t o the popular mind . That it is an absolute necessity to e very ship carrying passengers or carrying anything, for that matter is beyond question . It is an addi t ion a l safeguard that no ship can afford t o be without .

There a r e many occasions when the atmo sphere fails lamenta bly as a medium for carry

. W ing messages hen fog falls down , as it does some times in a moment, on the hundreds of ships coasting down the trafﬁc ways round

our shores ways which are deﬁne d so e asily in clear weathe r and with such difﬁculty in — fogs the hundreds of lighthouses and light

e ships which serve as warning b acons , and

on which many millions of money have been

e a r e sp nt , for all practical purposes as use less to the navigator as if they had never been

built : he is just as he lpless as if he were back 1 5 14 in the years before , when Trinity House 261 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC was granted a charter by Henry VIII for the relief of the shipping of this re alm of E f ngland , and began a system o lights on f the shores, o which the present chain of light

e t he hous s and lightships is outcome .

Nor is the foghorn much better : the pr e

e e f e e of s nc of di f r nt layers fog and air, and

i e their vary ng densiti s , which c ause both r e ﬂe c

of tion and refraction sound , prevent t he air

e from being a reliable m dium for carrying it .

e Now, submarine signalling has none of th se

e e s or the d f ct , f medium is water, subject t o

t he no such variable conditions as air . Its density is practically non variable , and sound trave ls through it at the rate of 4400 fe et

o e per second , without deviati n or reﬂ ction .

The apparatus consists of a bell designe d to ring either pneumatically from a lightship , e le ctr ically from the shore (the be ll itse lf being a tripod at the bottom of the sea) , automatic

- ally from a ﬂoating bell buoy, or by hand from ( 262 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

on and one the starboard side, near the bows , and as far down below the water level as is possible . The direction of sounds coming to the microphones hanging in these tanks can be estimate d by switching alte rnately t o the port and starboard tanks . If the sound is of

e n greater int nsity o the port side, then the be ll signalling is off the port bows ; and simil

n he arly o t starboard side .

The ship is turned towards the sound until the same volume of sound is he ar d from both

e receivers , when the bell is known to be d ad ahead . So accurate is this in practice that a trained ope rator c a n ste e r his ship in the dens est fog directly to a lightship or any other point where a submarine be ll is sending its

e e warning beneath the sea . It must be r p ated that the medium in which these signals are

n e transmitted is a constant o , not subject to any of the limitations and variations imposed on the atmosphere and the ether as media ( 264 ) LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

f f for the transmission o light , blasts o a fog h . t e horn , and wireless vibrations At present

chief use of submarine signalling is from the shore or a lightship to ships at sea , and not from ship t o ship or from ship to the shore : in other words ships carry only receiving appara

tus , and lighthouses and lightships use only f signalling apparatus . Some o the lighthouses and lightships on our coasts alre ady have these

e i submarine bells in addition to th r lights , and in bad we ather the bells send out their messages to warn ships of their proximity to a

e e dange r point . This invention nabl s ships to pick up the sound of bell after be ll on a coast and run along it in the de nse st fog almost as well as in daylight ; passenger steamers coming into port do not have t o wander about in the fog , groping their way blindly into harbour . By having a code of rings , and judging by the

e intensity of the sound , it is possible to t ll

almost exactly whe re a ship is in relation to ( 265 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

the coast or t o some lightship . The British

Admiralty report in 1 906 said : If the light ships ro und the coast were ﬁtted with sub

f r marine bells , it would be possible o ships

ﬁtted with receiving apparatus t o navigate in fog with almost as great certainty as in

' he cle ar weather . And t following remark of a captain engaged in coast service is instruct ive . He had been asked to cut down expenses by omitting the submarine signalling appara “ : out tus , but replied I would rather take the wireless . That only enables me to tell

other people where I am . The submarine

signal e nables me t o ﬁnd out where I am

' myself .

The range of the apparatus is not so wide

of e e as that wir l ss telegraphy , varying from

1 0 to 1 5 miles for a large ship (although in

of 20 30 stances to are on record) , and from 3

t o 8 e s mil for a small ship . At present the receiving apparatus is ﬁxed 266

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

of e both heard the bell Nantuck t Lightship .

Again , if the Titanic had been provided with a be ll and the Californian with receiving a p

f e h paratus , neither o th m was , t e oﬂﬁc e r on the bridge could have heard the signals

from the telephones ne ar .

A smalle r size for use in lifeboats is pr o id v e d , and would be heard by receiving appa

e If ha ratus for approximately ﬁve mil s . we d

hung one of these bells over the side of t he

life boats aﬂoat that night we should have

be en free from the anxie ty of being run down

’ he as we lay across t Carpathia s path , without

Or we e e e a light . if had gon adrift in a d ns

fog and wandered miles apart from each othe r

on the sea (as we ine vitably should have done) ,

the Carpathia could still have picke d up e ach

boat individually by means of the b e ll signal .

In those ships ﬁtte d with re ce iving appa

s on e f e e r ratus , at lea t o ﬁcer is oblig d to und

stand the working of the apparatus : a ve ry 268 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

on e wise precaution , and , as suggested above , that should be taken with respect t o wire less apparatus also .

It was a ve ry great pleasure t o me t o see all this apparatus in manufacture and in use at on e of the principal submarine signalling works in America and to hea r some of the r e markable stories of its value in actual practice . I was struck by the aptness of the motto

“ ' adopted by the m De profundis clamavi

’ in re lation to the Tit a n ic s end and the calls o f our passe ngers from the sea when she sank Out of the deep have I calle d unto Thee is indeed a suitable motto for those who are doing all the y can to prevent such calls arising from their fellow men and women “ ut e o of the de p .

Fixin g of ste a m ship r oute s

The lane s along which the liners trave l are ﬁxed by agree ment among the steamship 269 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC companies in consultation with the Hydro graphic departments of the different coun tries . These routes are arranged so that east- bound steamers are always a number of miles away from those going west, and thus the danger of collision between east and

- e west bound vessels is entirely liminated . The

“ ' lan es can be moved farther south if ice bergs threaten , and north again when the

. Of e danger, is removed course the farth r south they are placed , the longer the journey

n to be made, and the longer the time spent o

w1 board , t h consequent grumbling by some

e e passengers . For exampl , the lan s since the disaster to the Tit an l c have been moved one hundre d mile s farther south , which means one

e hundred and eighty miles longer journey, tak ing e ight hours .

The only re al precaution against colliding with icebergs is to go south of the place where they are likely to be : there is no other way . ( 270 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

o s secti ns as soon as pos ible after sailing , and

o sh uld be conducted in a thorough manner . Children in school are called upon suddenly

ﬁ r e - e e s to go through drill , and th re is no r a on why passengers on board ship should n ot

on be similarly trained . So much depends

e U n order and readin ss in time of danger .

o u e of doubtedly , the wh le s bj ct manning,

( o e of e provisioning , l ading and low ring lif boats should be in t he hands of an expert

fﬁ e n o o e o c r , who should have th r duties .

The modern line r has beco me far t oo big to permit t he captain to e xercise control ove r t he whole ship , and all vitally important sub divisions should b e controlled by a se parate

e of o authority . It seems a piec bitter ir ny to re me mber that on the Titanic a spe cial che f

e e e was ngaged at a larg salary , larg r per

f f — n o o haps than that o any o ﬁcer , and b at master (or some such officer) was considered

e e s n c sary . The general system again not ( 272 ) LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

criminal neglect , as some hasty criticisms

of ur would say , but lack consideration for o

- f fellow man , the placing o luxurious a t t r a c tio ns abo ve that kindly forethought that allo ws no precaution to be neglected for even t he humblest passenger . But it must not be overlooked that the provision of sufﬁcient lifeboats on deck is not evidence they will all be launched easily or all the passengers taken off safely . It must be remembered that ideal conditions prevailed that night for launching boats from the decks of the Titanic : there was

e no list that prevent d the boats getting away ,

on the y could be launched both sides , and when they were lowered the sea was so calm that they pulled away without any of the smashing against the side that is possible in rough seas . Sometimes it would mean that only those boats on the side sheltered from a heavy sea could ever get away , and this

would at once halve the boat accommodation . ( 273 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

And when launched , there would be the danger

n of swampi g in such a heavy sea . All things considered , lifeboats might be the poorest f sort o safeguard in certain conditions .

Life - rafts are said to be much inferior to

e lif boats in a rough sea , and collapsible boats made of canvas and thin wood soon decay under exposure to weather and are danger traps at a critical moment .

Some of the lifeboats should be provided with motors , to keep the boats together and

is to tow if necessary . The launching an im

’ portant matter : the Tit a n ic s davits worked

exce llently and no doubt were largely r e spon sible for all the boats getting away safely they were far superior to those on most liners .

Pon toon s f After the sinking o the Bourgogne, when

two Americans lost their lives , a prize of £4000 was offered by their heirs for the best ( 274 )

THE THE LOSS OF SS . TITANIC and in addition probably more ﬁt physically than a steward to row for hours on the Open sea . And if a steward cannot row, he has no

t o oa r right be at an ; so that , under the un written rule that passengers take precedence of the crew when there is not sufﬁ cient a c c om m od a t ion for all (a situation that should never f be allowed to arise again , for a member o the crew should have an equal opportunity with f a passenger to save his life) , the majority o stewards and cooks should have stayed b e hind and passengers have come instead : they could not have been of less use, and they might have been of more . It will be remembered that the proportion of crew saved to passen

1 0 495 . gers was 2 to , a high proportion

Another point arises out of these ﬁgures deduct 21 members of the crew who were 1 89 stewardesses , and men of the crew are left 5 Of as against the 49 passengers . these some

got on the overturned collapsible boat after 276 LESSONS OF THE DISASTER

the Titanic sank , and a few were picked up

n ot by the lifeboats , but these were many in

1 7 t o all . Now with the boats brought the

Carpathia and an average of six of t he crew to man each boat , probably a higher average

e t of 1 02 than was realized , we g a total who should have been saved as against 1 89 who actually were . There were , as is known , stokers and stewards l n the boats who were

’ not members of the lifeboats crews . It may seem heartless to analyze ﬁgures in this way , and suggest that some of the crew who g ot to the so Carpathia never should have done ; but ,

after all , passengers took their passage under

e certain rules , writt n and unwritten , and on e is that in times of danger the servants of the company in whose boats they sail shall

ﬁrst of all see to the safety of the passengers

n e be fore thinking of their o w . Ther were only 1 26 men passengers saved as against 1 89 of the 66 6 crew, and 1 men lost as against 86 of the ( 277 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC crew, so that actually the crew had a greater pe rcentage saved than the men passengers 2 1 6 2 per cent against . But steamship companies are faced with real difﬁculties in this matter . The crews ar e ne ver the same for two voyages together :

e n th y sign o for the one trip , then perhaps

o take a berth on shore as waiters , st kers in

( - o . h tel furnace rooms , etc , t o resume life on board any other ship that is handy when the desire comes to go to sea again . They can in no sense be regarded as part of a homo

n t o e g e e ous crew , subject r gula r discipline and educated to appreciate the morale of a

’ particular liner, as a man of war s crew is .

S e a r c hligkts

o These seem an abs lute necessity , and the wonde r is that they have not been ﬁtted before

o r e of to all cean liners . Not only a they use in lighting up the sea a long distance ahead , but ( 278 )

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

of While writing the lookout , much has been made of the omission to provide t he look o ut c m the Titanic with glasses . The gene ral opinion of ofﬁcers seems to be that it is better n ot n to provide them , but to rely o good eye

- sight and wide awake men . After all , in a

s f que tion o actual practice , the Opinion of

f e o ﬁcers should be accepted as ﬁnal , ev n if it seems to the landsman the better thing to provide glasses .

Cr uisin g lightships

On e or two in t e r n at ioqa lly owned and con trolle d lightships , ﬁtted with every known

or de vice f signalling and communication , would rob those regions of most of their t e r

r or s . They could watch and chart the icebergs ,

o rep rt their exact position , the amount and direction of daily drift in the changing cur

a r e o T t oo rents that f und there . o them , , might be entrusted the duty of police patrol . CHAPTER I'

S OME IMPRES S IONS

No on e can pass through an event like the wreck of the Titanic without recording men

e V of tally many impressions , de p and ivid ,

what has been se e n and felt . In so far as such

impressions are of beneﬁt t o mankind they

should not be allowed to pass unnoticed , and this chapter is an attempt to picture how pe o ple thought and felt from the time they ﬁrst heard of the disaste r to the landing in New

t o York, when there was opportunity judge of

e e m ev nts som what fro a distance . While it

1s o to s me extent a personal record , the men tal impressions of other survivors have been compared and found t o b e in many case s

e - closely in agre ment . Naturally it is very

n o o imperfect , and pretends to be m re than a ske tch of the way pe ople act unde r t he in ﬂu ( 28 1 ) THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC ence of strong emotions produced by immi

e e n nt dang r .

In the ﬁrst place , the principal fact that stands out is the almost entire absence of any expressions of fear or alarm on the part of passengers , and the conformity to the normal on of o the part alm st everyone . I think it is n o exaggeration to say that those who read of e the disaster quietly at home , and pictur d to themselves the sce ne as the Titanic was sink

f of ing , had more o the sense horror than those who stood on the deck and watched her go down inch by inch . The fact is that the sense of fe ar came to the passengers very slowly a result of the absence of any signs of danger and the pe ace ful night and as it became evident gradually that the re was serious dam

e e a g to the ship , the f ar that came with the kno wle dge was large ly destroye d as it came .

There was n o sudde n ove rwhe lming sense of dange r that passed through thought so quickly 282

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

’ e own on s power to control , that , quite un consciously realizing the absolute necessity of

n e for n keeping cool , every o his ow safety put away the thought of danger as far as was possible . Then , too , the curious sense of the whole thing being a dream was very promi nent : that all were looking on at the scene from a near - b y vantage point in a position of

e th e p rfect safety , and that those who walked

’ decks or tied one another s lifebelts on were the actors in a scene of which we were but spectators : that the dream would end soon and we should wake up to ﬁnd the scene had van ishe e x e d . Many people have had a similar p r ie n c e f in times o danger, but it was very

’ n i noticeable standing on the Tit a c s deck . I reme mber observing it part icularly while tying on a lifebe lt for a man on t he deck . It is fortunate that it should be so : t o be able to survey such a scene dispassionately is a wonderful aid in the de struction of the fears 284 SOME IMPRESSIONS

On e that g o with it . thing that helped con sid e r a b ly to establish this orderly condition of affairs was the quietness of the surround ings . It may seem weariness to refer again t o this , but I am convinced it had much to do

with keeping everyone calm . The ship was motionless ; there was not a breath of wind ; the sky was clear ; the sea like a mill -pond “ the general atmosphere was peaceful , and

on all board responded unconsciously to it . But what controlled the situation principally was the quality of obedience and respect for authority which is a dominant characteristic of the Teutonic race . Passengers did as they we re told by the ofﬁcers in charge : women went to the decks below, men remaine d where they were told and waited in sile nce for the next order , knowing instinctively that this was the only way to bring'about the

on . f best result for all board The o ﬁcers , in

a e out their turn , c rri d the work assigned to 285 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC them by their supe rior ofﬁcers as quickly

and orderly as circumstances permitted , the se nior ones being in control of the manning ,

e filling and lowering of the lif boats , while the j um or office rs were lowere d in individual boats to take command of the fleet adrift on the sea . Similarly , the engineers below , the band , the gymnasium instructor , were all performing their tasks as they came along

o e orderly , quietly , with ut qu stion or stopping t o of consider what was their chance safe ty .

e This correlation on the part of pass ngers , ofﬁcers and crew was simply obedience to duty , and it was innate rather than the pro

of e o duct r as ned judgment .

I hope it will not seem t o detract in any way from t he heroism of those who faced the last plunge of the Tit a n l c so courageously

e o s wh n all the boats had gone, if it d e , it is the difﬁculty of expressing an ide a in a d e t quate words , o say that their quiet hero 286

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC false reports as that of Major Butt holding at bay with a revolver a crowd of passengers and shooting the m down as they tried to rush “ the boats , or of Captain Smith shouting , B e

' British , through a megaphone, and sub se quently committing suicide along with First

Of e e ﬁcer Murdock . It is only a morbid s ns of things that would describe such incidents as

e E M t h roic . veryone knows that ajor Bu t

of e o was a brave man , but his record h r ism

e would not be enhanced if he, a train d army

fﬁ c e o er , were compelled under ord rs from the captain to shoot down unarmed passengers .

It might in other conditions have been n e c essary , but it would not be heroic . Similarly there could be nothing he roic in Captain

Smith or Murdock putting an end to the ir

e lives. It is conceivable men might be so ov r whe lmed by the sense of disaster that the y kne w not how they we re acting ; but to be really heroic would have bee n to stop with ( 288 ) SOME IMPRESSIONS

— the ship — as of course they did with the hope of being picked up along with passengers a n d crew and returning t o face an enquiry and t o give evidence that would be of supreme value to the whole world for the prevention of similar disasters . It was not possible ; but if heroism consists in doing the greatest t good o the greatest number, it Would have been heroic for both ofﬁcers t o e xpe c t to be saved . We do not know what they thought , but I , for one , like to imagine that they did so .

Se cond Ofﬁcer Lightoller worke d steadily at the boats until the last possible moment , went down with the ship , was saved in what t seemed a miraculous manner , and returned o give valuable evidence before the commissions t of wo countries .

The second thing that stands out promi n e n t ly in the emotions produced by the dis aste r is that in moments of urgent need men and women turn for help to something e n 289 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

t ir e ly outside themselve s . I remember read ing some years ago a story of an atheist who was the guest at dinner of a re gimental mess in India . The colonel listened to his remarks

e on atheism in silenc , and invited him for a drive the following morning . He took his gue st up a rough mountain road in a light

e carriage drawn by two poni s , and when some

e o h distance from the plain b l w , turned t e carriage round and allowe d t he ponies to run away as it seemed downhill . In the

e terror of approaching disast r , the atheist was lifted out of his reasoned convictions and

e praye d aloud for help , wh n the colonel reined in his ponies , and with the remark that the whole drive had been planne d with the in t e n tion of proving to his guest that there was a

n powe r outside his ow reason , descended quietly to level ground .

r The story may o may not be true, and in any case is not introduce d as an attack on 290

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

gaged in prayer, and later , as some of them lay

e e on the ov rturned collapsibl boat , the y r e

’ pe a t e d together over and over again the Lord s

of e Prayer irrespective religious beli fs , some , perhaps , without religious beliefs , united in a com mon appeal for deliverance from the ir

n surroundings . And this was ot because it was a habit , because they had learned this

’ ' prayer at their mother s knee m e n do not do such things through habit . It must have be e n because each on e saw removed the thousand and on e ways in which he had relied on in human , material things to help him

cluding even depe ndence on the overturned f boat with its bubble o air inside, which any moment a rising swell might remove as it

tilted the boat t oo far sideways , and sink

the boat be low the surface saw laid bare

his utter dependence on something that had

made him and given him powe r to think whether he named it God or Divine Power or 292 SOME IMPRESSIONS

r First Cause or Creator , o named it n ot at all but recognized it unconsciously saw these things and expressed them in the form of words he was best acquainted with in c om

- m on with his fellow men . He did so , not through a sense of duty t o his particular r e li ion g , not because he had learned the words , but because he recognized that it was the most practical thing t o d o the thing best ﬁtted to help him . Men do practical things in tim es like that : they would n ot waste a moment on mere words if those words were not an expres sion of the most intensely real conviction of which they were capable . Again , like the feel

o in ing f heroism , this appeal is innate and tuitive, and it certainly has its foundation on n a knowledge largely concealed , o doubt

of immortality . I think this must be oh vious : there could be n o other explanation of such a general sinking of all the emotions of the human mind expressed in a thousand 293 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC different ways by a thousand different people in favour of this single appeal .

The behaviour of people during the hours

the in the lifeboats , the landing on Carpathia ,

he t life there and the landing in New York ,

can all be summarized by sayin g that people did not act at all as they were expected to

act or rather as most people expected they

would act, and in some cases have erroneously E said they did act . vents were there t o be

e faced , and not to crush p ople down . Situa

e e tions arose which d manded courage , resourc ,

and in the cases of those who had lost friends

t - most dear o them , enormous self control ;

e e but very wonderfully they responded . Th r

e the was the same quiet demeanour and pois ,

same inborn dominion over circumstances , the same conformity to a normal standard

which characte riz e d the crowd of passenge rs

on the de ck of the Titanic and for the same

reasons . 294

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC

Stunned by the terriﬁc impact , the dazed passengers rushed from their staterooms into

the main saloon amid the crash of splinter

ing steel , rending of plates and shattering of

of girders , while the boom falling pinnacles of

ice upon the broken deck of the great vessel

n ~ added to the horror . In a wild ug ov

e r n a b le mob they poured out of the saloons

to witness on e of the most appalling scenes

possible t o conceive . For a hundred

e e f f t the bow was a shapeless mass o bent,

' broken and splintered steel and iron .

n r And so on , horror piled o ho ror, and not

a word of it true, or remotely approaching

the truth . This paper was selling in the streets of New York while the Carpathia was coming into

dock, while relatives of those on board were

at the docks t o meet them and anxiously b uym g any paper that might contain news .

N0 one on the Carpathia could have supplied 296 SOME IMPRESSIONS such information ; there was no one else in the world at that moment who knew any details of the Titanic disaster , and the only possible conclusion is that the whole thing was a d e lib l crate fabrication to se l the paper .

This is a repetition of the same defect in human nature noticed in the provision of safety appliances on board ship the lack of consideration for the other man . The remedy is the same the law : it should be a criminal offence for anyone t o disseminate deliberate falsehoods that cause fear and grief . The

e moral responsibility of the press is v ry great , and its duty of supplying the public with only

n o . clea , c rrect news is correspondingly heavy If the general public is not yet prepared to go so far as to stop the publication of such news by refusing to buy those papers that publish it, then the law should be enlarged to include f such cases . Libel is an o fence , and this is very much worse than any libel could ever be . 297 THE THE LOSS OF SS . TITANIC

It is only right to add that t he majority of the New York papers were careful only to report such news as had been obtained le g iti mately from survivors or from Carpathia passengers . It was sometimes exaggerated and sometimes not true at all , but from the

of point reporting what was heard, most of it was quite correct .

On e more thing must be referred to the prevalence of superstitious beliefs conce rning , the Titanic . I suppose no ship ever left port with so much miserable nonsense showered on her . In the ﬁrst place, there is no doubt many people refused to sail on her because it was her maiden voyage , and this apparently is a common superstition : even the cle rk of the White Star Ofﬁ ce where I purchased my ticket admitted it was a reason that prevented people from sailing . A number of people have written t o the press to say they had thought of

on sailing on her , or had decided to sail her , 298

THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANIC The incident with the New York at South

of ampton , the appearance the stoker at

Que e nstown in the funnel , combine with all this t o make a mass of nonsense in which a p

‘ a r l n i l e O le p e n t y se s b e p p believe , or which at C any rate they discuss . orrespondence is pub lishe d with an ofﬁcial of t he White Star Line from some on e imploring them not t o name ' k the new ship Gigantic , because it seems li e

“ ' tempting fate whe n the Tit a n l c has be en sunk . It would seem almost as if we were back in the Middle Ages when witches were burned because they kept black cats . There seems no more reason why a black stoker should be an ill omen for the Titanic than a black cat

old should be for an woman .

The only reason for referring to these fool ish details is that a surprisingly large number of people think there may be something in

’ f : it . The e fect is this that if a ship s com pany and a number of passe ngers get imbued 300 SOME IMPRESSIONS

' with that undeﬁned dread of t he un kn own

’ the relics no doubt of the savage s fear of what he does not understand it has an unpleasant effect on the harmonious working of the ship : the ofﬁcers and crew feel the depressing in

n s ﬂue c e , and it may even spread o far as to pre vent them being as alert and keen as they otherwise would ; may even result in some duty not being as Well done as usual . Just as the unconscious demand for spe ed and haste to get across the Atlantic may have tempted cap tains to take a risk they might otherwise n ot have done, so these gloomy forebodings may have more effect sometimes than we imagine . Only a little thing is required sometimes to weigh down the balance for and against a certain course of action .

At the end of this chapter of mental im pressions it must be recorded that on e im pression remains constant with us all to -day

that of the deepe st gratitude that we came 301 THE LOSS OF THE SS . TITANI C safe ly through the wreck of the Titanic ; and

our its corollary that legacy from the wreck ,

who our debt to those were lost with her , is

r e to see, as far as in us lies , that such things a

e Me impossible ev r again . an while we can say

f e of o th m , as Shelley , himself the victim a

similar disaster , says of his friend Keats in Adonais

“ Pe a c e e ac e 'he is n ot e a he ot n ot s e e , p d d , d h l p He ha th a wa ke n e d fr om the dr e a m of life

’ He ve s he wa ke s T is De a t is e a n ot he li , h d d , ;

' Mourn n ot for Adon a is .

THE END