COLLISION ONLY A SLIGHT JAR--PASSENGERS COULD NOT BELIEVE THE VESSEL
DOOMED--NARROW ESCAPE OF LIFE-BOATS--PICKED UP BY THE CARPATHIA
AMONG the most connected and interesting stories related by the
survivors was the one told by L. Beasley, of Cambridge, England. He
said:
"The voyage from Queenstown had been quite uneventful; very fine weather
was experienced, and the sea was quite calm. The wind had been westerly
to southwesterly the whole way, but very cold, particularly the last
day; in fact after dinner on Saturday evening it was almost too cold to
be out on deck at all.
ONLY A SLIGHT JAR
"I had been in my berth for about ten minutes, when, at about 11.15
P. M., I felt a slight jar, and then soon after a second one, but not
sufficiently violent to cause any anxiety to anyone, however nervous
they may have been. However, the engines stopped immediately afterward,
and my first, thought was, 'She has lost a propeller.'
"I went up on the top (boat) deck in a dressing gown, and found only
a few persons there, who had come up similarly to inquire why we had
stopped, but there was no sort of anxiety in the minds of anyone.
"We saw through the smoking room window a game of cards going on, and
went in to inquire if they knew anything; it seems they felt more of
the jar, and, looking through the window, had seen a huge iceberg go by
close to the side of the boat. They thought we had just grazed it with
a glancing blow, and that the engines had been stopped to see if any
damage had been done. No one, of course, had any conception that the
vessel had been pierced below by part of the submerged iceberg.
"The game went on without any thought of disaster and I retired to my
cabin, to read until we went on again. I never saw any of the players or
the onlookers again.
SOME WERE AWAKENED
"A little later, hearing people going upstairs, I went out again and
found everyone wanting to know why the engines had stopped. No doubt
many were awakened from sleep by the sudden stopping of a vibration to
which they had become accustomed during the four days we had been on
board. Naturally, with such powerful engines as the Titanic carried, the
vibration was very noticeable all the time, and the sudden stopping
had something the same effect as the stopping of a loud-ticking
grandfather's clock in a room.
"On going on deck again I saw that there was an undoubted list downward
from stern to bows, but, knowing nothing of what had happened, concluded
some of the front compartments had filled and weighed her down. I went
down again to put on warmer clothing, and as I dressed heard an order
shouted, 'All passengers on deck with life-belts on.'
"We all walked slowly up, with the belts tied on over our clothing,
but even then presumed this was only a wise precaution the captain was
taking, and that we should return in a short time and retire to bed.
"There was a total absence of any panic or any expressions of alarm, and
I suppose this can be accounted for by the exceedingly calm night and
the absence of any signs of the accident.
"The ship was absolutely still, and except for a gentle tilt downward,
which I don't think one person in ten would have noticed at that time,
no signs of the approaching disaster were visible. She lay just as if
she were waiting the order to go on again when some trifling matter had
been adjusted.
"But in a few moments we saw the covers lifted from the boats and the
crews allotted to them standing by and coiling up the ropes which were
to lower them by the pulley blocks into the water.
"We then began to realize it was more serious than had been supposed,
and my first thought was to go down and get some more clothing and some
money, but, seeing people pouring up the stairs, decided it was better
to cause no confusion to people coming up. Presently we heard the order:
"'All men stand back away from the boats, and all ladies retire to next
deck below'--the smoking-room deck or B deck.
MEN STOOD BACK
"The men all stood away and remained in absolute silence leaning against
the end railings of the deck or pacing slowly up and down.
"The boats were swung out and lowered from A deck. When they were to
the level of B deck, where all the women were collected, they got in
quietly, with the exception of some who refused to leave their husbands.
"In some cases they were torn from them and pushed into the boats, but
in many instances they were allowed to remain because there was no one
to insist they should go.
"Looking over the side, one saw boats from aft already in the water,
slipping quietly away into the darkness, and presently the boats near
me were lowered, and with much creaking as the new ropes slipped through
the pulley blocks down the ninety feet which separated them from the
water. An officer in uniform came up as one boat went down and shouted,
"When you are afloat row round to the companion ladder and stand by with
the other boats for orders.'
"'Aye, aye, sir,' came up the reply; but I don't think any boat was
able to obey the order. When they were afloat and had the oars at work,
the condition of the rapidly settling boat was so much more a sight
for alarm for those in the boats than those on board, that in common
prudence the sailors saw they could do nothing but row from the sinking
ship to save at any rate some lives. They no doubt anticipated that
suction from such an enormous vessel would be more dangerous than usual
to a crowded boat mostly filled with women.
"All this time there was no trace of any disorder; no panic or rush
to the boats and no scenes of women sobbing hysterically, such as one
generally pictures as happening at such times everyone seemed to realize
so slowly that there was imminent danger. When it was realized that we
might all be presently in the sea with nothing but our life-belts
to support us until we were picked up by passing steamers, it was
extraordinary how calm everyone was and how completely self-controlled.
"One by one, the boats were filled with women and children, lowered and
rowed away into the night. Presently the word went round among the men,
'the men are to be put in boats on the starboard side.'
"I was on the port side, and most of the men walked across the deck to
see if this was so I remained where I was and soon heard the call:
"'Any more ladies?'
"Looking over the side of the ship, I saw the boat, No. 13, swinging
level with B deck, half full of ladies. Again the call was repeated,
'Any more ladies?'
"I saw none come on, and then one of the crew, looking up, said:
"'Any more ladies on your deck, sir?'
"'No,' I replied.
"'Then you had better jump.'
"I dropped in, and fell in the bottom, as they cried 'lower away.' As
the boat began to descend two ladies were pushed hurriedly through the
crowd on B deck and heaved over into the boat, and a baby of ten months
passed down after them. Down we went, the crew calling to those lowering
each end to 'keep her level,' until we were some ten feet from the
water, and here occurred the only anxious moment we had during the whole
of our experience from leaving the deck to reaching the Carpathia.
"Immediately below our boat was the exhaust of the condensers, a huge
stream of water pouring all the time from the ship's side just above the
water line. It was plain we ought to be quickly away from this, not to
be swamped by it when we touched water.
NO OFFICER ABOARD
"We had no officer aboard, nor petty officer or member of the crew to
take charge. So one of the stokers shouted: 'Someone find the pin which
releases the boat from the ropes and pull it up!' No one knew where it
was. We felt on the floor and sides, but found nothing, and it was hard
to move among so many people--we had sixty or seventy on board.
"Down we went and presently floated, with our ropes still holding us,
the exhaust washing us away from the side of the vessel and the swell of
the sea urging us back against the side again. The result of all these
forces was an impetus which carried us parallel to the ship's side and
directly under boat 14, which had filled rapidly with men and was coming
down on us in a way that threatened to submerge our boat.
"'Stop lowering 14,' our crew shouted, and the crew of No. 14, now only
twenty feet above, shouted the same. But the distance to the top was
some seventy feet and the creaking pulleys must have deadened all sound
to those above, for down she came, fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet and
a stoker and I reached up and touched her swinging above our heads.
The next drop would have brought her on our heads, but just before she
dropped another stoker sprang to the ropes, with his knife.
JUST ESCAPED ANOTHER BOAT
"'One,' I heard him say, 'two,' as his knife cut through the pulley
ropes, and the next moment the exhaust stream had carried us clear,
while boat 14 dropped into the water, into the space we had the moment
before occupied, our gunwales almost touching.
"We drifted away easily, as the oars were got out, and headed directly
away from the ship. The crew seemed to me to be mostly stewards or cooks
in white jackets, two to an oar, with a stoker at the tiller. There was
a certain amount of shouting from one end of the boat to the other, and
discussion as to which way we should go, but finally it was decided to
elect the stoker, who was steering, as captain, and for all to obey his
orders. He set to work at once to get into touch with the other boats,
calling to them and getting as close as seemed wise, so that when the
search boats came in the morning to look for us, there would be more
chance for all to be rescued by keeping together.
"It was now about 1 A. M.; a beautiful starlight night, with no moon,
and so not very light. The sea was as calm as a pond, just a gentle
heave as the boat dipped up and down in the swell; an ideal night,
except for the bitter cold, for anyone who had to be out in the middle
of the Atlantic ocean in an open boat. And if ever there was a time when
such a night was needed, surely it was now, with hundreds of people,
mostly women and children, afloat hundreds of miles from land.
WATCHED THE TITANIC
"The captain-stoker told us that he had been at sea twenty-six years,
and had never yet seen such a calm night on the Atlantic. As we rowed
away from the Titanic, we looked back from time to time to watch her,
and a more striking spectacle it was not possible for anyone to see.
"In the distance it looked an enormous length, its great bulk outlined
in black against the starry sky, every port-hole and saloon blazing with
light. It was impossible to think anything could be wrong with such a
leviathan, were it not for that ominous tilt downward in the bows, where
the water was by now up to the lowest row of port-holes.
"Presently, about 2 A. M., as near as I can remember, we observed it
settling very rapidly, with the bows and the bridge completely under
water, and concluded it was now only a question of minutes before it
went; and so it proved."
Mr. Beasley went on to tell of the spectacle of the sinking of the
Titanic, the terrible experiences of the survivors in the life-boats and
their final rescue by the Carpathia as already related.