I made my way back to my cabin again. There were people dead and dying
on the deck. I saw one man who had started to run up the gangway to
the officer's deck come plunging down again. He had been struck in the
back of the head. Somehow or other, I just felt that my time had not
yet come. This conviction enabled me to keep my wits about me.
In my cabin I flung up the top of my steamer trunk. As I was searching
for my valuables my chambermaid appeared in the doorway; half a dozen
times I had met her rushing frantically and aimlessly up and down.
"Oh, madame, madame--we shall all be killed, we're all going to get
killed!"
"Maria," I advised as quietly and soothingly as I could, still stooping
over my trunk; "don't be so mad, get a lifebelt on, and get up out of
here."
Before she could speak again she was a dead woman. A shot carried away
the port-hole and sheared off the top of her head. It finished its
course by exploding at the other side of the ship. If I had not been
stooping over at the time I would not have lived to write this story.
I snatched up my little jewel-basket with a few favorite trinkets
in it. I put on my cap and sweater. When I got up on deck I saw the
submarine carefully circumnavigating its victims and deliberately
shooting toward us at all angles. I ran along the deck. The sea was
full of deck rails, parts of doors, and other wreckage, and dotted with
human beings, some dead, others alive, and screaming for help. There
was another boat in front that tilted and dumped out its frantic load
into the sea. Peering over the side of the ship, I saw a boat that had
already been lowered to the water's edge. In it I recognized the two
ship's doctors, and two of the seamen. There was also an officer in the
boat, Carlo Lamberti, the chief engineer. He sat at the helm. I called
out to them to take me in.
"Jump!" they shouted back.
I threw my basket down. I had a good twenty-foot drop. I have always
been a good swimmer. Furthermore, I saw that if I jumped into the boat,
crowded with people, sails, water-barrels, and pails for bailing, I
might cause it to capsize. So I told them to push the boat away and
then they could pick me up out of the water.