and in a few moments the mast was raised and ready. He said this was
necessary as no doubt with dawn there would be a breeze. He returned
to his place and asked the stewards and firemen, who were acting as
crew, if they had any matches, and insisted on having them passed to
him. He then asked if they had any tobacco and said: ‘Keep it in your
pockets, for tobacco makes you thirsty.’ Mr. Lowe wished to remain
near the ship that he might have a chance to help someone after she
sank. Some of the women protested and he replied: ‘I don’t like to
leave her, but if you feel that way about it we will pull away a
little distance.’”
Miss Compton’s account corroborates other information about boat No.
14, which we have elsewhere. She was among the number transferred to
Engelhardt boat “D.” “I now found myself,” she said, “in the stern of
a collapsible boat. In spite of Mr. Lowe’s warning the four small
boats began to separate, each going its own way. Soon it seemed as
though our boat was the only one on the sea. We went through a great
deal of wreckage. The men who were supposed to be rowing--one was a
fireman--made no effort to keep away from it. They were all the time
looking towards the horizon. With daylight we saw the _Carpathia_, and
not so very long afterwards Officer Lowe, sailing towards us, for, as
he had predicted, quite a strong breeze had sprung up. We caught the
rope which he threw us from the stern of his boat. Someone in ours
succeeded in catching it and we were taken in tow to the _Carpathia_.”
BOAT NO. 16.[14]
[14] British Report (p. 38) gives this as the sixth boat lowered
from the port side at 1.35 A. M.
_No male passengers._
_Passengers:_ Fifty women and children--second and third-class.
_Crew:_ Master-at-arms Bailey in charge. Seaman Archer, Steward
Andrews, Stewardess Leather, and two others.
_Total:_ 56.
INCIDENTS
E. Archer, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 645):
I assisted in getting Nos. 12, 14 and 16 out--getting the falls and
everything ready and passengers into No. 14. Then I went to No. 16. I
saw that the plug was in tight. I never saw any man get in, only my
mate. I heard the officer give orders to lower the boat and to allow
nobody in it, having fifty passengers and only my mate and myself. The
master-at-arms came down after us; he was the coxswain and took
charge. When we were loading the boat there was no effort on the part
of others to crowd into it; no confusion at all. No individual men, or
others were repelled from getting in; everything was quiet and steady.
One of the lady passengers suggested going back to see if there were
any people in the water we could get, but I never heard any more of it
after that. There was one lady in the boat, a stewardess (Mrs.
Leather) who tried to assist in rowing. I told her it was not
necessary, but she said she would like to do it to keep herself warm.
There was one fireman found in the boat after we got clear. I do not
know how he came there. He was transferred to another boat (No. 6) to
help row.
* * * * *
C. E. Andrews, steward (Am. Inq., p. 623):
Besides these six men I should think there were about fifty
passengers.
There was no effort on the part of the steerage men to get into our
boat. I was told by the officer to allow none in it. When the officer
started to fill the boat with passengers and the men to man it, there
were no individuals who tried to get in, or that he permitted to get
in. There was no confusion whatever. The officer asked me if I could
take an oar. I said I could.
BOAT NO. 2.[15]
[15] British Report (p. 38) gives this as the seventh boat
lowered on the port side at 1.45 A. M.
Only one old man, third-class, a foreigner in this boat.
_Passengers:_ Miss Allen (now Mrs. J. B. Mennell), Mrs. Appleton, Mrs.
Cornell, Mrs. Douglas and maid (Miss Le Roy), Miss Madill, Mrs. Robert
and maid (Amelia Kenchen). One old man, third-class, foreigner, and
family: Brahim Youssef, Hanne Youssef, and children Marian and
Georges. The rest second and third-class.
_Bade good-bye to wife and sank with ship:_ Mr. Douglas.
_Crew:_ Fourth Officer Boxhall, Seamen Osman and Steward Johnston,
cook.
_Total:_ 25.
INCIDENTS
J. G. Boxhall, Fourth Officer (Am. Inq., p. 240, and Br. Inq.):
I was sent away in Emergency boat 2, the last boat but one on the port
side. There was one of the lifeboats (No. 4) lowered away a few
minutes after I left. That was the next lifeboat to me aft. Engelhardt
boat “D” was being got ready. There was no anxiety of people to get
into these boats. There were four men in this boat--a sailorman
(Osman), a steward (Johnston), a cook and myself, and one male
passenger who did not Speak English--a middle-aged man with a black
beard. He had his wife there and some children. When the order was
given to lower the boat, which seemed to be pretty full, it was about
twenty minutes to half an hour before the ship sank. Someone shouted
through a megaphone: “Some of the boats come back and come around to
the starboard side.” All rowed except this male passenger. I handled
one oar and a lady assisted me. She asked to do it. I got around to
the starboard side intending to go alongside. I reckoned I could take
about three more people off the ship with safety; and when about 22
yards off there was a little suction, as the boat seemed to be drawn
closer, and I thought it would be dangerous to go nearer the ship. I
suggested going back (after ship sank) to the sailorman in the boat,
but decided it was unwise to do so. There was a lady there, Mrs.
Douglas, whom I asked to steer the boat according to my orders. She
assisted me greatly in it. They told me on board the _Carpathia_
afterwards that it was about ten minutes after four when we went
alongside.
After we left the _Titanic_ I showed green lights most of the time.
When within two or three ship lengths of the _Carpathia_, it was just
breaking daylight, and I saw her engines were stopped. She had stopped
within half a mile or a quarter of a mile of an iceberg. There were
several other bergs, and I could see field ice as far as I could see.
The bergs looked white in the sun, though when I first saw them at
daylight they looked black. This was the first time I had seen field
ice on the Grand Banks. I estimate about 25 in my boat.
* * * * *
F. Osman, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 538):
All of us went up and cleared away the boats. After that we loaded all
the boats there were. I went away in No. 2, the fourth from the last
to leave the ship. Boxhall was in command. Murdoch directed the
loading. All passengers were women and children, except one man, a
third-class passenger, his wife and two children. After I got in the
boat the officer found a bunch of rockets which was put in the boat by
mistake for a box of biscuits. The officer fired some off, and the
_Carpathia_ came to us first and picked us up half an hour before
anybody else. Not until morning did we see an iceberg about 100 feet
out of the water with one big point sticking on one side of it,
apparently dark, like dirty ice, 100 yards away. I knew that was the
one we struck. It looked as if there was a piece broken off.
There was no panic at all. There was no suction whatever. When we were
in the boat I shoved off from the ship and I said to the officer: “See
if you can get alongside to see if you can get some more
hands--squeeze some more hands in”; so the women started to get
nervous after I said that, and the officer said: “All right.” The
women disagreed to that. We pulled around to the starboard side of the
ship and found that we could not get to the starboard side because it
was listing too far. We pulled astern again that way, and after we lay
astern we lay on our oars and saw the ship go down. It seemed to me as
if all the engines and everything that was in the after part slid down
into the forward part. We did not go back to the place where the ship
had sunk because the women were all nervous, and we pulled around as
far as we could get from it so that the women would not see and cause
a panic. We got as close as we would dare to. We could not have taken
any more hands into the boat. It was impossible. We might have gotten
one in; that is all. There was no panic amongst the steerage
passengers when we started manning the boats. I saw several people
come up from the steerage and go straight up to the Boat Deck, and the
men stood back while the women and children got into the
boats--steerage passengers as well as others.
Senator Burton: So in your judgment it was safer to have gone on the
boat than to have stayed on the _Titanic_?
Witness: Oh, yes, sir.
Senator Burton: That was when you left?
Witness: Yes, sir.
Senator Burton: What did you think when the first boat was launched?
Witness: I did not think she was going down then.
* * * * *
J. Johnston, steward (Br. Inq.):
_Crew:_ Boxhall and four men, including perhaps McCullough. (None such
on list.) Boxhall said: “Shall we go back in the direction of cries of
distress?” which were a half or three-quarters of a mile off. Ladies
said: “No.” Officer Boxhall signalled the _Carpathia_ with lamp. Soon
after launching the swish of the water was heard against the icebergs.
In the morning _Carpathia_ on the edge of ice-field about 200 yards
off.
* * * * *
Mrs. Walter D. Douglas’s affidavit (Am. Inq., p. 1100):
Mr. Boxhall had difficulty in getting the boat loose and called for a
knife. We finally were launched. Mrs. Appleton and a man from the
steerage faced me. Mrs. Appleton’s sister, Mrs. Cornell, was back of
me and on the side of her the officer. I think there were eighteen or
twenty in the boat. There were many who did not speak English. The
rowing was very difficult, for no one knew how. We tried to steer
under Mr. Boxhall’s orders, and he put an old lantern, with very
little oil in it, on a pole, which I held up for some time. Mrs.
Appleton and some other women had been rowing, and did row all the
time. Mr. Boxhall had put into the Emergency boat a tin box of green
lights like rockets. These he sent off at intervals, and very quickly
we saw the lights of the _Carpathia_, whose captain said he saw our
green lights ten miles away and steered directly towards us, so we
were the first boat to arrive at the _Carpathia_. When we pulled
alongside, Mr. Boxhall called out: “Slow down your engines and take us
aboard. I have only one seaman.”
* * * * *
Mrs. J. B. Mennell (née Allen):
My aunt, Mrs. Robert’s maid, came to the door and asked if she could
speak to me. I went into the corridor and she said: “Miss Allen, the
baggage room is full of water.” I replied she needn’t worry, that the
water-tight compartments would be shut and it would be all right for
her to go back to her cabin. She went back and returned to us
immediately to say her cabin, which was forward on Deck E, was
flooded.
We were on the Boat Deck some minutes before being ordered into the
lifeboat. Neither my aunt, Mrs. Robert, my cousin, Miss Madill, nor
myself ever saw or heard the band. As we stood there we saw a line of
men file by and get into the boat--some sixteen or eighteen stokers.
An officer[16] came along and shouted to them: “Get out, you damned
cowards; I’d like to see everyone of you overboard.” They all got out
and the officer said: “Women and children into this boat,” and we got
in and were lowered.
[16] Probably the same officer, Murdoch, described by Maj.
Peuchen, p. 122, this chapter.
With the exception of two very harrowing leave-takings, we saw nothing
but perfect order and quiet on board the _Titanic_. We were rowed
round the stern to the starboard side and away from the ship, as our
boat was a small one and Boxhall feared the suction. Mrs. Cornell
helped to row all the time.
As the _Titanic_ plunged deeper and deeper we could see her stern
rising higher and higher until her lights began to go out. As the last
lights on the stern went out we saw her plunge distinctively, bow
first and intact. Then the screams began and seemed to last eternally.
We rowed back, after the _Titanic_ was under water, toward the place
where she had gone down, but we saw no one in the water, nor were we
near enough to any other lifeboats to see them. When Boxhall lit his
first light the screams grew louder and then died down.
We could hear the lapping of the water on the icebergs, but saw none,
even when Boxhall lit his green lights, which he did at regular
intervals, till we sighted the _Carpathia_. Our boat was the first one
picked up by the _Carpathia_. I happened to be the first one up the
ladder, as the others seemed afraid to start up, and when the officer
who received me asked where the _Titanic_ was, I told him she had gone
down.
* * * * *
Capt. A. H. Rostron, of the _Carpathia_ (Am. Inq., p. 22):
We picked up the first boat, which was in charge of an officer who I
saw was not under full control of his boat. He sang out that he had
only one seaman in the boat, so I had to manœuvre the ship to get as
close to the boat as possible, as I knew well it would be difficult to
do the pulling. By the time we had the first boat’s people it was
breaking day, and then I could see the remaining boats all around
within an area of about four miles. I also saw icebergs all around me.
There were about twenty icebergs that would be anywhere from about 150
to 200 feet high, and numerous smaller bergs; also numerous ones we
call “growlers” anywhere from 10 to 12 feet high and 10 to 15 feet
long, above the water.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN ROSTRON OF S. S. “CARPATHIA”]
BOAT NO. 4.[17]
[17] British Report (p. 38) says this was the eighth and last
_lifeboat_ that left the ship and lowered at 1.55 A. M.
_No male passengers in this boat._
_Passengers:_ Mrs. Astor and maid (Miss Bidois), Miss Bowen, Mrs.
Carter and maid (Miss Serepeca), Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Cummings, Miss
Eustis, Mrs. Ryerson and children, Miss S. R., Miss E. and Master
J. B. and maid (Chandowson), Mrs. Stephenson, Mrs. Thayer and maid,
Mrs. Widener and maid.
_Women and children:_ 36. (Br. Rpt.)
_Crew:_ Perkis, Q. M., in charge. Seamen: McCarthy, Hemmings,* Lyons;†
Storekeeper Foley and Assistant Storekeeper Prentice;* Firemen: Smith
and Dillon;* Greasers: Granger and Scott;* Stewards: Cunningham,*
Siebert.†
* Picked up from sea.
† Picked up from sea but died in boat.
_Bade good-bye to wives and sank with ship:_ Messrs. Astor, Clark,
Cummings, Ryerson, Thayer, Widener and his son Harry.
_Stowaway:_ One Frenchman.
_Total:_ 40. (Br. Rpt.)
INCIDENTS
C. H. Lightoller, Second Officer (Am. Inq., p. 81):
Previous to putting out Engelhardt Boat “D,” Lightoller says,
referring to boat No. 4: “We had previously lowered a boat from A
Deck, one deck down below. That was through my fault. It was the first
boat I had lowered. I was intending to put the passengers in from A
Deck. On lowering the boat I found that the windows were closed; so I
sent someone down to open the windows and carried on with the other
boats, but decided it was not worth while lowering them down--that I
could manage just as well from the Boat Deck. When I came forward from
the other boats I loaded that boat from A Deck by getting the women
out through the windows. My idea in filling the boats there was
because there was a wire hawser running along the side of the ship for
coaling purposes and it was handy to tie the boat in to hold it so
that nobody could drop between the side of the boat and the ship. No.
4 was the fifth boat or the sixth lowered on the port side.”[18]
[18] I agree with this statement though other testimony and the
British Report decide against us. The difference may be
reconciled by the fact that the loading of this boat began
early, but the final lowering was delayed.
* * * * *
W. J. Perkis, Quartermaster (Am. Inq., p. 581):
I lowered No. 4 into the water and left that boat and walked aft; and
I came back and a man that was in the boat, one of the seamen, sang
out to me: “We need another hand down here,” so I slid down the
lifeline there from the davit into the boat. I took charge of the boat
after I got in, with two sailormen besides myself. There were
forty-two, including all hands. We picked up eight people afterwards
swimming with life-preservers when about a ship’s length away from the
ship. No. 4 was the last big boat on the port side to leave the ship.
Two that were picked up died in the boat--a seaman (Lyons) and a
steward (Siebert). All the others were passengers. After we picked up
the men I could not hear any more cries anywhere. The discipline on
board the ship was excellent. Every man knew his station and took it.
There was no excitement whatever among the officers or crew, the
firemen or stewards. They conducted themselves the same as they would
if it were a minor, everyday occurrence.
Senator Perkins (addressing Perkis, Symons and Hogg:)
All three of you seem to be pretty capable young men and have had a
great deal of experience at sea, and yet you have never been wrecked?
Mr. Perkis: Yes, sir.
Senator Perkins: Is there any other one of you who has been in a
shipwreck?
Mr. Hogg: I have been in a collision, Senator, but with no loss of
life.
Senator Perkins: Unless you have something more to state that you
think will throw light on this subject, that will be all, and we thank
you for what you have said.
Mr. Hogg: That is all I have to say except this: I think the women
ought to have a gold medal on their breasts. God bless them. I will
always raise my hat to a woman after what I saw.
Senator Perkins: What countrywomen were they?
Mr. Hogg: They were American women I had in mind. They were all
Americans.
Senator Perkins: Did they man the oars? Did they take the oars and
pull?
Mr. Hogg: Yes, sir; I took an oar all the time myself and also
steered. Then I got one lady to steer; then another to assist me with
an oar. She rowed to keep herself warm.
Senator Perkins: One of you stated that his boat picked up eight
people, and the other that he did not pick up any. Could you not have
picked up just as well as this other man?
Mr. Hogg: I wanted to assist in picking up people, but I had an order
from somebody in the boat (No. 7)--I do not know who it was--not to
take in any more; that we had done our best.
Senator Perkins: I merely ask the question because of the natural
thought that if one boat picked up eight persons the other boat may
have been able to do so.--You did not get any orders, Mr. Symons (boat
No. 1), not to pick up any more people?
Mr. Symons: No, sir; there were no more around about where I was.
Senator Perkins: As I understand, one of the boats had more packed
into it than the other. As I understand it, Mr. Symons pulled away
from the ship and then when he came back there they picked up all the
people that were around?
Mr. Symons made no reply.
* * * * *
S. S. Hemming, A. B. (Am. Inq.):
Everything was black over the starboard side. I could not see any
boats. I went over to the port side and saw a boat off the port
quarter and I went along the port side and got up the after boat
davits and slid down the fall and swam to the boat about 200 yards.
When I reached the boat I tried to get hold of the grab-line on the
bows. I pulled my head above the gunwale, and I said: “Give us a hand,
Jack.” Foley was in the boat; I saw him standing up. He said: “Is that
you, Sam?” I said: “Yes” to him and the women and children pulled me
in the boat.
After the ship sank we pulled back and picked up seven of the crew
including a seaman, Lyons, a fireman, Dillon, and two stewards,
Cunningham and Siebert. We made for the light of another lifeboat and
kept in company with her. Then day broke and we saw two more
lifeboats. We pulled toward them and we all made fast by the painter.
Then we helped with boat No. 12 to take off the people on an
overturned boat (“B”). From this boat (“B”) we took about four or
five, and the balance went into the other boat. There were about
twenty altogether on this boat (“B”).
* * * * *
A. Cunningham, Steward (Am. Inq., p. 794):
I first learned of the very serious character of the collision from my
own knowledge when I saw the water on the post-office deck. I waited
on the ship until all the boats had gone, and then threw myself into
the water. This was about 2 o’clock. I was in the water about half an
hour before the ship sank. I swam clear of the ship about
three-quarters of a mile. I was afraid of the suction. My mate,
Siebert, left the ship with me. I heard a lifeboat and called to it
and went toward it. I found Quartermaster Perkis in charge. Hemmings,
the sailor, Foley (storekeeper) and a fireman (Dillon) were in this
boat. I never saw any male passengers in the boat. We picked up
Prentice, assistant storekeeper. I think No. 4 was the nearest to the
scene of the accident because it picked up more persons in the water.
About 7.30 we got aboard the _Carpathia_. When we sighted her she
might have been four or five miles away.
* * * * *
R. P. Dillon, trimmer (Br. Inq.):
I went down with the ship and sank about two fathoms. Swam about
twenty minutes in the water and was picked up by No. 4. About 1,000
others in the water in my estimation. Saw no women. Recovered
consciousness and found Sailor Lyons and another lying on top of me
dead.
* * * * *
Thomas Granger, greaser (Br. Inq.):
I went to the port side of the Boat Deck aft, climbed down a rope and
got into a boat near the ship’s side, No. 4, which had come back
because there were not enough men to pull her. She was full of women
and children. F. Scott, greaser, also went down the falls and got into
this boat. Perkis, quartermaster, and Hemmings then in it. Afterwards
picked up Dillon and another man (Prentice) out of the water.
* * * * *
F. Scott, greaser (Br. Inq.):
We went on deck on starboard side first as she had listed over to the
port side, but we saw no boats. When I came up the engineers came up
just after me on the Boat Deck. I saw only eight of them out of
thirty-six on the deck. Then we went to the port side and saw boats.
An officer fired a shot and I heard him say that if any man tried to
get in that boat he would shoot him like a dog. At this time all the
boats had gone from the starboard side. I saw one of the boats, No. 4,
returning to the ship’s side and I climbed on the davits and tried to
get down the falls but fell in the water and was picked up. It was
nearly two o’clock when I got on the davits and down the fall.
* * * * *
Mrs. E. B. Ryerson’s affidavit (Am. Inq., p. 1107):
We were ordered down to A Deck, which was partly enclosed. We saw
people getting into boats, but waited our turn. My boy, Jack, was with
me. An officer at the window said: “That boy cannot go.” My husband
said: “Of course that boy goes with his mother; he is only thirteen”;
so they let him pass. I turned and kissed my husband and as we left he
and the other men I knew, Mr. Thayer, Mr. Widener and others, were
standing together very quietly. There were two men and an officer
inside and a sailor outside to help us. I fell on top of the women who
were already in the boat and scrambled to the bow with my eldest
daughter. Miss Bowen and my boy were in the stern, and my second
daughter was in the middle of the boat with my maid. Mrs. Thayer, Mrs.
Widener, Mrs. Astor and Miss Eustis were the only ones I knew in our
boat.
Presently an officer called out from the upper deck: “How many women
are there in that boat?” Someone answered: “Twenty-four.” “That’s
enough; lower away.”
The ropes seemed to stick at one end. Someone called for a knife, but
it was not needed until we got into the water as it was but a short
distance; and then I realized for the first time how far the ship had
sunk. The deck we left was only about twenty feet from the sea. I
could see all the portholes open and the water washing in, and the
decks still lighted. Then they called out: “How many seamen have you?”
and they answered: “One.” “That is not enough,” said the officer, “I
will send you another”; and he sent a sailor down the rope. In a few
minutes several other men, not sailors, came down the ropes over the
davits and dropped into our boat. The order was given to pull away,
and then they rowed off. Someone shouted something about a gangway,
and no one seemed to know what to do. Barrels and chairs were being
thrown overboard. As the bow of the ship went down the lights went
out. The stern stood up for several minutes black against the stars
and then the boat plunged down. Then began the cries for help of
people drowning all around us, which seemed to go on forever. Someone
called out: “Pull for your lives or you will be sucked under,” and
everyone that could rowed like mad. I could see my younger daughter
and Mrs. Thayer and Mrs. Astor rowing, but there seemed to be no
suction. Then we turned and picked up some of those in the water. Some
of the women protested, but others persisted, and we dragged in six or
seven men. The men rescued were stewards, stokers, sailors, etc., and
were so chilled and frozen already that they could hardly move. Two of
them died in the stern later and many of them were raving and moaning
and delirious most of the time. We had no lights or compass. There
were several babies in the boat.
Officer Lowe called out to tie together, and as soon as we could make
out the other boats in the dark five were tied together. We could
dimly see an overturned boat with about twenty men standing on it,
back to back. As the sailors in our boat said we could still carry
from eight to ten people, we called for another boat to volunteer and
go and rescue them, so we cut loose our painters and between us got
all the men off. Then when the sun rose we saw the _Carpathia_
standing up about five miles away, and for the first time saw the
icebergs all around us. We got on board about 8 o’clock.
* * * * *
Mrs. Thayer’s affidavit:
The after part of the ship then reared in the air, with the stern
upwards, until it assumed an almost vertical position. It seemed to
remain stationary in this position for many seconds (perhaps twenty),
then suddenly dove straight down out of sight. It was 2.20 a. m. when
the _Titanic_ disappeared, according to a wrist watch worn by one of
the passengers in my boat.
We pulled back to where the vessel had sunk and on our way picked up
six men who were swimming--two of whom were drunk and gave us much
trouble all the time. The six men we picked up were hauled into the
boat by the women. Two of these men died in the boat.
The boat we were in started to take in water; I do hot know how. We
had to bail. I was standing in ice cold water up to the top of my
boots all the time, and rowing continuously for nearly five hours. We
took off about fifteen more people who were standing on a capsized
boat. In all, our boat had by that time sixty-five or sixty-six
people. There was no room to sit down in our boat, so we all stood,
except some sitting along the side.
I think the steerage passengers had as good a chance as any of the
rest to be saved.
The boat I was in was picked up by the _Carpathia_ at 7 a. m. on
Monday, we having rowed three miles to her, as we could not wait for
her to come up on account of our boat taking in so much water that we
would not have stayed afloat much longer.
I never saw greater courage or efficiency than was displayed by the
officers of the ship. They were calm, polite and perfectly splendid.
They also worked hard. The bedroom stewards also behaved extremely
well.
* * * * *
Mrs. Stephenson’s and Miss Eustis’s story kindly handed me for
publication in my book contains the following:
“We were in the companionway of A Deck when order came for _women and
children to Boat Deck and men to starboard side_. Miss Eustis and I
took each other’s hands, not to be separated in the crowd, and all
went on deck, we following close to Mrs. Thayer and her maid and going
up narrow iron stairs to the forward Boat Deck which, on the
_Titanic_, was the captain’s bridge.
“At the top of the stairs we found Captain Smith looking much worried
and anxiously waiting to get down after we got up. The ship listed
heavily to port just then. As we leaned against the walls of the
officers’ quarters rockets were being fired over our heads, which was
most alarming, as we fully realized if the _Titanic_ had used her
wireless to ill effect and was sending rockets it must be serious.
Shortly after that the order came from the head dining room steward
(Dodd) to go down to A Deck, when Mrs. Thayer remarked, ‘Tell us where
to go and we will follow. You ordered us up here and now you are
taking us back,’ and he said, ‘Follow me.’
“On reaching the A Deck we could see, for the decks were lighted by
electricity, that a boat was lowered parallel to the windows; these
were opened and a steamer chair put under the rail for us to step on.
The ship had listed badly by that time and the boat hung far out from
the side, so that some of the men said, ‘No woman could step across
that space.’ A call was made for a ladder on one of the lower decks,
but before it ever got there we were all in the boat. Whether they had
drawn the boat over with boathooks nearer the side I do not know, but
the space was easily jumped with the help of two men in the boat.
“I remember seeing Colonel Astor, who called ‘Good-bye’ and said he
would follow in another boat, asking the number of our boat, which
they said was ‘No. 4.’ In going through the window I was obliged to
throw back the steamer rug, for, with my fur coat and huge cork
life-preserver, I was very clumsy. Later we found the stewards or crew
had thrown the steamer rugs into the boat, and they did good service,
Miss Eustis’ around a baby thinly clad, and mine for a poor member of
the crew pulled in from the sea.
“Our boat I think took off every woman on the deck at that time and
was the last on the port side to be lowered.
“When we reached the sea we found the ship badly listed, her nose well
in so that there was water on the D Deck, which we could plainly see
as the boat was lighted and the ports on D Deck were square instead of
round. No lights could be found in our boat and the men had great
difficulty in casting off the blocks as they did not know how they
worked. My fear here was great, as she seemed to be going faster and
faster and I dreaded lest we should be drawn in before we could cast
off.
“When we finally were ready to move the order was called from the deck
to go to the stern hatch and take off some men. There was no hatch
open and we could see no men, but our crew obeyed orders, much to our
alarm, for they were throwing wreckage over and we could hear a
cracking noise resembling china breaking. We implored the men to pull
away from the ship, but they refused, and we pulled three men into the
boat who had dropped off the ship and were swimming toward us. One man
was drunk and had a bottle of brandy in his pocket which the
quartermaster promptly threw overboard and the drunken man was thrown
into the bottom of the boat and a blanket thrown over him. After these
three men were hauled in, they told how fast the ship was sinking and
we all implored them to pull for our lives to get out from the suction
when she should go down. The lights on the ship burned till just
before she went. When the call came that she was going I covered my
face and heard some one call, ‘She’s broken.’ After what seemed a long
time I turned my head only to see the stern almost perpendicular in
the air so that the full outline of the blades of the propeller showed
above the water. She then gave her final plunge and the air was filled
with cries. We rowed back and pulled in five more men from the sea.
Their suffering from the icy water was intense and two men who had
been pulled into the stern afterwards died, but we kept their bodies
with us until we reached the _Carpathia_, where they were taken aboard
and Monday afternoon given a decent burial with three others.
“After rescuing our men we found several lifeboats near us and an
order was given to tie together, which we obeyed. It did not seem as
if we were together long when one boat said they could rescue more
could they get rid of some of the women and children aboard and some
of them were put into our boat. Soon after cries of ‘Ship ahoy’ and a
long low moan came to us and an officer in command of one of the boats
ordered us to follow him. We felt that we were already too crowded to
go, but our men, with quartermaster and boatswain in command, followed
the officer and we pulled over to what proved to be an overturned boat
crowded with men. We had to approach it very cautiously, fearing our
wash would sweep them off. We could take only a few and they had to
come very cautiously. The other boat (No. 12) took most of them and we
then rowed away.”
This rescue, which Mrs. Stephenson so well describes, occurred at
dawn. Her story now returns to the prior period of night time.
“The sea was smooth and the night brilliant with more stars than I had
ever seen.
“Occasionally a green light showed which proved to be on the Emergency
boat, and our men all recognized it as such. We all prayed for dawn,
and there was no conversation, everyone being so awed by the disaster
and bitterly cold.
“With the dawn came the wind, and before long quite a sea was running.
Just before daylight on the horizon we saw what we felt sure must be
the lights of a ship. The quartermaster was a long time in admitting
that we were right, urging that it was the moon, but we insisted and
they then said it might be the _Carpathia_ as they had been told
before leaving the _Titanic_ that she was coming to us. For a long
time after daylight we were in great wreckage from the _Titanic_,
principally steamer chairs and a few white pilasters.
“We felt we could never reach the _Carpathia_ when we found she had
stopped, and afterwards when we asked why she didn’t come closer we
were told that some of the early boats which put off from the
starboard side reached her a little after four, while it was after six
when we drew under the side of the open hatch.
“It had been a long trying row in the heavy sea and impossible to keep
bow on to reach the ship. We stood in great danger of being swamped
many times and Captain Rostron, who watched us come up, said he
doubted if we could have lived an hour longer in that high sea. Our
boat had considerable water in the centre, due to the leakage and also
the water brought in by the eight men from their clothing. They had
bailed her constantly in order to relieve the weight. Two of the women
near us were dying seasick, but the babies slept most of the night in
their mothers’ arms. The boatswain’s chair was slung down the side and
there were also rope ladders. Only few, however, of the men were able
to go up the ladders. Mail bags were dropped down in which the babies
and little children were placed and hoisted up. We were told to throw
off our life-preservers and then placed in a boatswain’s chair and
hoisted to the open hatch where ready arms pulled us in; warm blankets
waited those in need and brandy was offered to everybody. We were
shown at once to the saloon, where hot coffee and sandwiches were
being served.”
ENGELHARDT BOAT “D.”[19]
[19] British Report (p. 38) puts this as the last boat lowered
at 2.05.
_No male passengers in this boat._
_Passengers:_ Mrs. J. M. Brown, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Frederick Hoyt, the
Navratil children.
_Picked up from the sea:_ Frederick Hoyt.
_Bade good-bye to wife and sank with ship:_ Mr. Harris.
_Crew:_ Bright, Q. M., in charge; Seaman Lucas; Steward Hardy.
_Stowaway:_ One steerage foreigner, Joseph Dugemin.
_Jumped from deck below as boat was lowered:_ H. B. Steffanson
(Swede), and H. Woolner (Englishman).
_Total:_ 44. British Report (p. 38): Crew 2, men passengers 2, women
and children 40.
INCIDENTS
C. H. Lightoller, Second Officer (Am. Inq., p. 81):
In the case of the last boat I got out, the very last of all to leave
the ship, I had the utmost difficulty in finding women. After all the
other boats were put out we came forward to put out the Engelhardt
collapsible boats. In the meantime the forward Emergency boat (No. 2)
had been put out by one of the other officers, so we rounded up the
tackles and got the collapsible boat to put that over. Then I called
for women and could not get any. Somebody said: “There are no women.”
This was on the Boat Deck where all the women were supposed to be
because the boats were there. There were between fifteen and twenty
people put into this boat--one seaman and another seaman, or steward.
This was the very last boat lowered in the tackles. I noticed plenty
of Americans standing near me, who gave me every assistance they
could, regardless of nationality.
* * * * *
And before the British Court of Inquiry the same officer testified:
Someone shouted: “There are no more women.” Some of the men began
climbing in. Then someone said: “There are some more women,” and when
they came forward the men got out of the boat again. I saw no men in
her, but I believe a couple of Chinese stowed away in her.
When that boat went away there were no women whatever. I did not
consider it advisable to wait, but to try to get at once away from the
ship. I did not want the boat to be “rushed.” Splendid order was
maintained. No attempt was made to “rush” that boat by the men. When
this boat was being loaded I could see the water coming up the
stairway. There was splendid order on the boat until the last. As far
as I know there were no male passengers in the boats I saw off except
the one man I ordered in, Major Peuchen.
* * * * *
A. J. Bright, Q. M. (Am. Inq., p. 831):
Quartermaster Rowe, Mr. Boxhall and myself fired the distress signals,
six rockets I think in all, at intervals. After we had finished firing
the distress signals, there were two boats left (Engelhardt
collapsibles “C” and “D”). All the lifeboats were away before the
collapsible boats were lowered. They had to be, because the
collapsible boats were on the deck and the other boats had to be
lowered before they could be used. The same tackle with which the
lifeboats and the Emergency boats were lowered was employed after
they had gone in lowering the collapsible boats.
Witness says that both he and Rowe assisted in getting out the
starboard collapsible boat “C” and then he went to the port side and
filled up the other boat “D” with passengers, about twenty-five in
all. There was a third-class passenger, a man, in the boat, who was on
his way to Albion, N. Y. (The passenger list shows this man to have
been Joseph Dugemin.)
We were told to pull clear and get out of the suction. When boat “D”
was lowered the forecastle head was just going under water; that would
be about twenty feet lower than the bridge, and the ship had then sunk
about fifty feet--all of that, because when boat “D” was lowered the
foremost fall was lower down and the after one seemed to hang and he
called out to hang on to the foremost fall and to see what was the
matter and let go the after fall. Boat “D” was fifty to a hundred
yards away when the ship sank.[20] They had a lantern in the boat but
no oil to light it. After leaving the boat, witness heard something
but not an explosion. It was like a rattling of chains more than
anything else.
[20] The interval of time can then be approximated as nearly a
half hour, that we remained on the ship after the lifeboats
left.
After “D” got away Mr. Lowe came alongside in another boat, No. 14,
and told them to stick together and asked for the number in “D” boat.
Steward Hardy counted and told him. Lowe then put about ten or a dozen
men from some other boat into witness’s boat because it was not filled
up. One seaman was taken out. This would make thirty-seven in “D”
boat. Just at daylight they saw one of the collapsible boats, “A,”
that was awash--just flush with the water. Officer Lowe came and took
boat “D” in tow, because it had very few men to pull, and towed it to
boat “A” and took twelve men and one woman off and put them into his
boat No. 14. They were standing in water just about to their ankles
when No. 14 and “D” came up to them. They turned the swamped boat
adrift with two (three) dead bodies. They were then towed under sail
by Mr. Lowe’s boat to the _Carpathia_, about four miles away.
* * * * *
William Lucas, A. B. (Br. Inq.):
Got into Engelhardt “D.” The water was then right up under the bridge.
Had not gone more than 100 yards when there was an explosion and 150
yards when the _Titanic_ sank. Had to get some of the women to take
oars. There was no rudder in the boat. Changed oars from one side to
the other to get her away. Saw a faint red light abaft the _Titanic’s_
beam about nine miles away--the headlight also. The witness was
transferred to No. 12.
* * * * *
J. Hardy, Chief Steward, second-class (Am. Inq., p. 587):
We launched this boat filled with passengers. Mr. Lightoller and
myself loaded it. I went away in it with the quartermaster (Bright)
and two firemen. There were Syrians in the bottom of the boat,
third-class passengers, chattering the whole night in their strange
language. There were about twenty-five women and children. We lowered
away and got to the water; the ship then had a heavy list to port. We
got clear of the ship and rowed out some distance from her. Mr. Lowe
told us to tie up with other boats, that we would be better seen and
could keep better together. He, having a full complement of passengers
in his boat, transferred about ten to ours, making thirty-five in our
boat. When we left the ship, where we were lowered, there were no
women and children there in sight at all. There was nobody to lower
the boat. No men passengers when we were ready to lower it. They had
gone; where, I could not say. We were not more than forty feet from
the water when we were lowered. We picked up the husband (Frederick
W. Hoyt) of a wife that we had loaded in the boat. The gentleman took
to the water and climbed in the boat after we had lowered it. He sat
there wringing wet alongside me, helping to row.
I had great respect and great regret for Officer Murdoch. I was
walking along the deck forward with him and he said: “I believe she is
gone, Hardy.” This was a good half hour before my boat was lowered.
Senator Fletcher: Where were all these passengers; these 1,600 people?
Mr. Hardy: They must have been between decks or on the deck below or
on the other side of the ship. I cannot conceive where they were.
* * * * *
In his letter to me, Mr. Frederick M. Hoyt relates his experience as
follows:
“I knew Captain Smith for over fifteen years. Our conversation that
night amounted to little or nothing. I simply sympathized with him on
the accident; but at that time, as I then never expected to be saved,
I did not want to bother him with questions, as I knew he had all he
wanted to think of. He did suggest that I go down to A Deck and see if
there were not a boat alongside. This I did, and to my surprise saw
the boat “D” still hanging on the davits (there having been some
delay in lowering her), and it occurred to me that if I swam out and
waited for her to shove off they would pick me up, which was what
happened.”
* * * * *
Hugh Woolner, first-class passenger (Am. Inq., p. 887):
Then I said to Steffanson, “Let us go down on to A Deck.” And we went
down again, but there was nobody there. I looked on both sides of the
deck and saw no people. It was absolutely deserted, and the electric
lights along the ceiling of A Deck were beginning to turn red, just a
glow, a red sort of glow. So I said to Steffanson, “This is getting to
be rather a tight corner; let us go out through the door at the end.”
And as we went out _the sea came in onto the deck at our feet_. Then
we hopped up onto the gunwale, preparing to jump into the sea, because
if we had waited a minute longer we should have been boxed in against
the ceiling. And as we looked out we saw this collapsible boat, the
last boat on the port side, being lowered right in front of our faces.
Senator Smith: How far out?
Mr. Woolner: It was about nine feet out.
Senator Smith: Nine feet away from the side of A Deck?
Mr. Woolner: Yes.
Senator Smith: You saw a collapsible boat being lowered?
Mr. Woolner: Being lowered; yes.
Senator Smith: Was it filled with people?
Mr. Woolner: It was full up to the bow, and I said to Steffanson,
“There is nobody in the bows. Let us make a jump for it. You go
first.” And he jumped out and tumbled in head over heels into the
boat, and I jumped too and hit the gunwale with my chest, which had on
the life-preserver, of course, and I sort of tumbled off the gunwale
and caught the gunwale with my fingers and slipped off backwards.
Senator Smith: Into the water?
Mr. Woolner: As my legs dropped down I felt that they were in the sea.
Senator Smith: You are quite sure you jumped nine feet to get that
boat?
Mr. Woolner: That is my estimate. By that time you see we were jumping
slightly downward.
Senator Smith: Did you jump out or down?
Mr. Woolner: Both.
Senator Smith: Both out and down?
Mr. Woolner: Slightly down and out.
Senator Smith: It could not have been very far down if the water was
on A Deck; it must have been out.
Mr. Woolner: Chiefly out; but it was sufficiently down for us to see
just over the edge of the gunwale of the boat.
Senator Smith: You pulled yourself up out of the water?
Mr. Woolner: Yes; and then I hooked my right heel over the gunwale,
and by this time Steffanson was standing up and he caught hold of me
and lifted me in.
One lady (Mrs. Harris) had a broken elbow bone. She was in a white
woollen jacket. At dawn Officer Lowe transferred five or six from his
boat No. 14 to ours, which brought us down very close to the water. At
daylight we saw a great many icebergs of different colors, as the sun
struck them. Some looked white, some looked blue, some looked mauve
and others were dark gray. There was one double-toothed one that
looked to be of good size; it must have been about one hundred feet
high.
The _Carpathia_ seemed to come up slowly, and then she stopped. We
looked out and saw there was a boat alongside and then we realized she
was waiting for us to come up to her instead of her coming to us, as
we hoped. Then Mr. Lowe towed us with his boat, No. 14, under sail.
After taking a group of people off of boat “A”--a dozen of
them--including one woman, we sailed to the _Carpathia_. There was a
child in the boat--one of those little children whose parents
everybody was looking for (the Navratil children).
* * * * *
The last of the _Titanic’s_ boats which were never launched, but
floated off, were the two Engelhardt collapsibles “A” and “B” on the
roof of the officers’ house. In my personal account I have already
given the story of boat “B,” the upset one on which Second Officer
Lightoller, Jack Thayer, myself and others escaped. Since I wrote the
account of my personal experience I have had access to other sources
of information, including some already referred to; and though at the
expense of some repetition, I think it may be of interest to include
the record of this boat in the present chapter, as follows:
ENGELHARDT BOAT “B.”
[_The Upset Boat_]
_Passengers:_ A. H. Barkworth, Archibald Gracie, John B. Thayer, Jr.,
first cabin.
_Crew:_ Second Officer Lightoller, Junior Marconi Operator Bride;
Firemen: McGann, Senior; Chief Baker Joughin; Cooks: Collins,
Maynard; Steward Whiteley, “J. Hagan.” Seaman J. McGough (possibly).
Two men died on boat. Body of one transferred to No. 12 and finally to
_Carpathia_. He was a fireman probably, but Cunard Co. preserved no
record of him or his burial.
INCIDENTS
C. H. Lightoller, Second Officer (Am. Inq., pp. 87, 91, 786):
I was on top of the officers’ quarters and there was nothing more to
be done. The ship then took a dive and I turned face forward and also
took a dive from on top, practically amidships a little to the
starboard, where I had got to. I was driven back against the blower,
which is a large thing that shape (indicating) which faces forward to
the wind and which then goes down to the stoke hole; but there is a
grating there and it was against this grating that I was sucked by the
water, and held there under water. There was a terrific blast of air
and water and I was blown out clear. I came up above the water, which
barely threw me away at all, because I went down again against these
fiddley gratings immediately abreast of the funnel over the stoke hole
to which this fiddley leads. Colonel Gracie, I believe, was sucked
down in identically the same manner on the fiddley gratings, caused by
the water rushing down below as the ship was going down.
I next found myself alongside of that overturned boat. This was before
the _Titanic_ sank. The funnel then fell down and if there was anybody
on that side of the Engelhardt boat it fell on them. The ship was not
then submerged by considerable. The stern was completely out of the
water. I have heard some controversy as to the boilers exploding owing
to coming in contact with salt water, by men who are capable of giving
an opinion, but there seems to be an open question as to whether cold
water actually does cause boilers to explode.
I hardly had any opportunity to swim. It was the action of the funnel
falling that threw us out a considerable distance away from the ship.
We had no oars or other effective means for propelling the overturned
boat. We had little bits of wood, but they were practically
ineffective.
On our boat, as I have said before, were Colonel Gracie and young
Thayer. I think they were the only two passengers. There were no women
on our overturned boat. These were all taken out of the water and they
were firemen and others of the crew--roughly about thirty. I take
that from my own estimate and from the estimate of someone who was
looking down from the bridge of the _Carpathia_.
* * * * *
And from the same officer’s testimony before the British Court as
follows:
An order was given to cut the lashings of the other Engelhardt boats.
It was then too late as the water was rushing up to the Boat Deck and
there was not time to get them to the falls. He then went across to
the officers’ quarters on the starboard side to see what he could do.
Then the vessel seemed to take a bit of a dive. He swam off and
cleared the ship. The water was so intensely cold that he first tried
to get out of it into the crow’s nest, close at hand. Next he was
pushed up against the blower on the forepart of the funnel, the water
rushing down this blower, holding him against the grating for a while.
Then there seemed to be a rush of air and he was blown away from the
grating. He was dragged below the surface, but not for many moments.
He came up near the Engelhardt boat “B” which was not launched, but
had been thrown into the water. The forward funnel then fell down.
Some little time after this he saw half a dozen men standing on the
collapsible boat, and got on to it. The whole of the third funnel was
still visible, the vessel gradually raising her stern out of the
water. The ship did not break in two, and could not be broken in two.
She actually attained the perpendicular before sinking. His impression
was that no lights were then burning in the after part not submerged.
It is true that the after part of the vessel settled level with the
water. He watched the ship keenly all the time. After she reached an
angle of 60 degrees there was a rumbling sound which he attributed to
the boilers leaving their beds and crashing down. Finally she attained
an absolute perpendicular position and then went slowly down. He heard
no explosion whatever, but noticed about that time that the water
became much warmer. There were about those on the Engelhardt boat “B,”
several people struggling in the water who came on it. Nearly
twenty-eight or thirty were taken off in the morning at daybreak. In
this rescuing boat (No. 12), after the transfer, there were
seventy-five. It was the last boat to the _Carpathia_. The next
morning (Monday) he saw some icebergs from fifty to sixty to two
hundred feet high, but the nearest was about ten miles away.
After the boats had left the side of the ship he heard orders given by
the commander through the megaphone. He heard him say: “Bring that
boat alongside.” Witness presumed allusion was made to bringing of
boats to the gangway doors. Witness could not gather whether the
orders were being obeyed. Said he had not been on the Engelhardt boat
more than half an hour before a swell was distinctly visible. In the
morning there was quite a breeze. It was when he was at No. 6 boat
that he noticed the list. Though the ship struck on the starboard
side, it was not an extraordinary thing that there should be a list to
port. It does not necessarily follow that there should be a list to
the side where the water was coming in.
* * * * *
Harold Bride, junior Marconi operator in his Report of April 27th to
W. B. Cross, Traffic Manager, Marconi Co. (Am. Inq., p. 1053), says:
Just at this moment the captain said: “You cannot do any more; save
yourselves.” Leaving the captain we climbed on top of the house
comprising the officers’ quarters and our own. Here I saw the last of
Mr. Phillips, for he disappeared, walking aft. I now assisted in
pushing off the collapsible boat on to the Boat Deck. Just as the boat
fell, I noticed Captain Smith dive from the bridge into the sea. Then
followed a general scramble out on to the Boat Deck, but no sooner had
we got there than the sea washed over. I managed to catch hold of the
boat we had previously fixed up and was swept overboard with her. I
then experienced the most exciting three or four hours anyone can
reasonably wish for, and was, in due course with the rest of the
survivors, picked up by the _Carpathia_. As you probably heard, I got
on the collapsible boat the second time, which was, as I had left it,
upturned. I called Phillips but got no response. I learned later from
several sources that he was on this boat and expired even before we
were picked up by the _Titanic’s_ lifeboat (No. 12). I am told that
fright and exposure were the causes of his death. So far as I can find
out, he was taken on board the _Carpathia_ and buried at sea from her,
though for some reason the bodies of those who died were not
identified before burial from the _Carpathia_, and so I cannot vouch
for the truth of this.
* * * * *
He also gave testimony before the American Inquiry (pp. 110, 161):
This boat was over the officers’ cabin at the side of the forward
funnel. It was pushed over on to the Boat Deck. It went over the
starboard side and I went over with it. It was washed off and over the
side of the ship by a wave into the water bottom side upward. I was
inside the boat and under it, as it fell bottom side upward. I could
not tell how long. It seemed a life time to me really. I got on top of
the boat eventually. There was a big crowd on top when I got on. I
should say that I remained under the boat three-quarters of an hour,
or a half hour. I then got away from it as quickly as I could. I freed
myself from it and cleared out of it but I do not know why, but swam
back to it about three-quarters of an hour to an hour afterwards. I
was upside down myself--I mean I was on my back.
It is estimated that there were between thirty and forty on the boat;
no women. When it was pushed over on the Boat Deck we all scrambled
down on to the Boat Deck again and were going to launch it properly
when it was washed over before we had time to launch it. I happened to
be nearest to it and I grabbed it and went down with it. There was a
passenger on this boat; I could not see whether he was first, second
or third class. I heard him say at the time that he was a passenger. I
could not say whether it was Colonel Gracie. There were others who
struggled to get on; dozens of them in the water. I should judge they
were all part of the boat’s crew.
I am twenty-two years old. Phillips was about twenty-four or
twenty-five. My salary from the Marconi Co. is four pounds a month.
As to the attack made upon Mr. Phillips to take away his life belt I
should say the man was dressed like a stoker. We forced him away. I
held him and Mr. Phillips hit him.
* * * * *
J. Collins, cook (Am. Inq., p. 628):
This was my first voyage. I ran back to the upper deck to the port
side with another steward and a woman and two children. The steward
had one of the children in his arms and the woman was crying. I took
the child from the woman and made for one of the boats. Then the word
came around from the starboard side that there was a collapsible boat
getting launched on that side and that all women and children were to
make for it, so the other steward and I and the two children and the
woman came around to the starboard side. We saw the collapsible boat
taken off the saloon deck, and then the sailors and the firemen who
were forward saw the ship’s bow in the water and that she was sinking
by her bow. They shouted out for us to go aft. We were just turning
round to make for the stern when a wave washed us off the deck--washed
us clear of it, and the child was washed out of my arms. I was kept
down for at least two or three minutes under water.
Senator Bourne: Two or three minutes?
Mr. Collins: Yes; I am sure.
Senator Bourne: Were you unconscious?
Mr. Collins: No; not at all. It did not affect me much--the salt
water.
Senator Bourne: But you were under water? You cannot stay under water
two or three minutes.
Mr. Collins: Well, it seemed so to me. I could not exactly state how
long. When I came to the surface I saw this boat that had been taken
off. I saw a man on it. They had been working on it taking it off the
saloon deck, and when the wave washed it off the deck, they clung to
it. Then I made for it when I came to the surface, swimming for it. I
was only four or five yards off of it. I am sure there were more than
fifteen or sixteen who were then on it. They did not help me to get
on. They were all watching the ship. All I had to do was to give a
spring and I got on to it. We were drifting about for two hours in the
water.
Senator Bourne: When you came up from the water on this collapsible
boat, did you see any evidence of the ship as she sank then?
Mr. Collins: I did, sir; I saw her stern end.
Senator Bourne: Where were you on the boat at the time you were washed
off the ship?
Mr. Collins: Amidships, sir.
Senator Bourne: You say you saw the stern end after you got on the
collapsible boat?
Mr. Collins: Yes, sir.
Senator Bourne: Did you see the bow?
Mr. Collins: No, sir.
Senator Bourne: How far were you from the stern end of the ship when
you came up and got on to the collapsible boat?
Mr. Collins: I could not just exactly state how far I was away from
the _Titanic_ when I came up. I was not far, because her lights were
out then. Her lights went out when the water got almost to amidships
on her.
Senator Bourne: As I understand it, you were amidships of the bow as
the ship sank?
Mr. Collins: Yes, sir.
Senator Bourne: You were washed off by a wave? You were under water as
you think for two or three minutes and then swam five or six yards to
the collapsible boat and got aboard the boat? The stern (of ship) was
still afloat?
Mr. Collins: The stern was still afloat.
Senator Bourne: The lights were burning?
Mr. Collins: I came to the surface, sir, and I happened to look around
and I saw the lights and nothing more, and I looked in front of me and
saw the collapsible boat and I made for it.
Senator Bourne: How do you account for this wave that washed you off
amidships?
Mr. Collins: By the suction which took place when the bow went down
in the water. There were probably fifteen on the boat when I got on.
There was some lifeboat that had a green light on it and we thought it
was a ship, after the _Titanic_ had sunk, and we commenced to shout.
All we saw was the green light. We were drifting about two hours, and
then we saw the topmast lights of the _Carpathia_. Then came daylight
and we saw our own lifeboats and we were very close to them. When we
spied them we shouted to them and they came over to us and they lifted
a whole lot of us that were on the collapsible boat.
* * * * *
J. Joughin, head baker (Br. Inq.):
I got on to the starboard side of the poop; found myself in the water.
I do not believe my head went under the water at all. I thought I saw
some wreckage. Swam towards it and found collapsible boat (“B”) with
Lightoller and about twenty-five men on it. There was no room for me.
I tried to get on, but was pushed off, but I hung around. I got around
to the opposite side and cook Maynard, who recognized me, helped me
and held on to me.
* * * * *
The experience of my fellow passenger on this boat, John B. Thayer,
Jr., is embodied in accounts written by him on April 20th and 23rd,
just after landing from the _Carpathia_: the first given to the press
as the only statement he had made, the second in a very pathetic
letter written to Judge Charles L. Long, of Springfield, Mass., whose
son, Milton C. Long, was a companion of young Thayer all that evening,
April 14th, until at the very last both jumped into the sea and Long
was lost, as described:
“Thinking that father and mother had managed to get off in a boat we,
Long and myself, went to the starboard side of the Boat Deck where the
boats were getting away quickly. Some were already off in the
distance. We thought of getting into one of them, the last boat on the
forward part of the starboard side, but there seemed to be such a
crowd around that I thought it unwise to make any attempt to get into
it. I thought it would never reach the water right side up, but it
did.
“Here I noticed nobody that I knew except Mr. Lingrey, whom I had met
for the first time that evening. I lost sight of him in a few minutes.
Long and I then stood by the rail just a little aft of the captain’s
bridge. There was such a big list to port that it seemed as if the
ship would turn on her side.
“About this time the people began jumping from the stern. I thought
of jumping myself, but was afraid of being stunned on hitting the
water. Three times I made up my mind to jump out and slide down the
davit ropes and try to swim to the boats that were lying off from the
ship, but each time Long got hold of me and told me to wait a while. I
got a sight on a rope between the davits and a star and noticed that
the ship was gradually sinking. About this time she straightened up on
an even keel again, and started to go down fairly fast at an angle of
about thirty degrees. As she started to sink we left the davits and
went back and stood by the rail aft, even with the second funnel. Long
and myself stood by each other and jumped on the rail. We did not give
each other any messages for home because neither of us thought we
would ever get back. Long put his legs over the rail, while I
straddled it. Hanging over the side and holding on to the rail with
his hands he looked up at me and said: ‘You are coming, boy, aren’t
you?’ I replied: ‘Go ahead, I’ll be with you in a minute.’ He let go
and slid down the side and I never saw him again. Almost immediately
after he jumped I jumped. All this last part took a very short time,
and when we jumped we were about ten yards above the water. Long was
perfectly calm all the time and kept his nerve to the very end.”
How he sank and finally reached the upset boat is quoted accurately
from the newspaper report from this same source given in my personal
narrative. He continues as follows:
“As often as we saw other boats in the distance we would yell, ‘Ship
ahoy!’ but they could not distinguish our cries from any of the
others, so we all gave it up, thinking it useless. It was very cold,
and the water washed over the upset boat almost all the time. Towards
dawn the wind sprung up, roughening the water and making it difficult
to keep the boat balanced. The wireless man raised our hopes a great
deal by telling us that the _Carpathia_ would be up in about three
hours. About 3.30 or 4 o’clock some men at the bow of our boat sighted
her mast lights. I could not see them as I was sitting down with a man
kneeling on my leg. He finally got up, and I stood up. We had the
Second Officer, Mr. Lightoller, on board. He had an officer’s whistle
and whistled for the boats in the distance to come up and take us off.
Two of them came up. The first took half and the other took the
balance, including myself. In the transfer we had difficulty in
balancing our boat as the men would lean too far over, but we were all
taken aboard the already crowded boats and taken to the _Carpathia_
in safety.”
One of these boats was No. 4, in which his mother was.