“In one unsteady glance I took in a number of things. Near me a
horrible piece of something, and a dead woman. (Afterwards I wondered
why I was so sure she was dead and never stooped to make sure.) _Below
me, on the quarterdeck and second-class promenade deck_, numbers of
people moving to and fro, many with lifebelts on. I never heard a
sound from them, but it did not strike me as odd then. Now I know I
was deafened. So I had been blown up on to the top deck, to the other
end of the ship. I swayed to and fro, and looked for a stairway, but
could find none, and began to be aware that I had only a few moments of
consciousness left me.
“Something must be done if I was not to drown. I forced my will to
concentrate on it, and came to the side, where I found three men
looking down on a lowered boat. I also saw a lifebelt on the ground. I
picked it up and, not having the strength to put it on, I tried to ask
the men to tie it for me. Then I found I could not speak. So I held it
up, and one, an American, understood, and hastily tied it. Then I saw
one of them catch hold of a loose davit rope and swarm down it to the
boat. There was my one chance, I decided. My arms were all right, but
would my legs work? I took hold, and made a mighty effort to cross my
knees round the rope: I succeeded. Then I slid down till I was just
above the water.