It was seven or eight minutes after 2 o'clock when the torpedo struck
us, and my watch stopped at 2:33, when I went into the water a half
minute before the _Lusitania_ disappeared. Captain Turner was on the
bridge when the ship went down, and the last order I heard him give
was "Hard aport," just before the torpedo struck. It seems as though
he was trying to turn the ship to escape the torpedo. I rushed on deck,
but met two women in the companionway who shouted "torpedo"! I rushed
back to my stateroom for some belongings, but as the water was coming
through the promenade deck I didn't wait, but rushed back to the deck
again. Most everybody went to the cabins for life preservers. There was
no panic, though lots of excitement. Not even a panic when the ship
went down.
The worst thing was the inefficiency with the lifeboats. On the port
side many of the davits wouldn't work and the boats would not go over.
The tackle broke on one of four or five boats I saw lowered, while one
dropped from the davits and split in two. A few of the collapsible
boats floated away upside down, while one raft, which some one cut away
with an axe, crushed some men who were trying to climb into a boat.
There was a great whirlpool when the _Lusitania_ finally settled into
the sea, but no suction. I was drawn into the whirlpool, but had no
trouble in swimming out. She went down very fast at one end. Our
boat, which was the most crowded of all, with eighty-four in it, was
almost swamped by the wireless antennæ, which swept across us as the
_Lusitania_ keeled over for the last time before she righted and sank.
The daughter of Lady Allan told me she saw the submarine, but I know of
no one else who did. Shots were fired while we were in the small boats,
about twenty minutes after the _Lusitania_ sank, but I don't know if
they were from the submarine. They might have been signals from land.
The only boat in sight was a fishing smack, or pilot boat, three or
four miles away. There was smoke on the horizon, and one vessel seemed
to be coming up, but she sheered off.
The wireless operator told me he got in four wireless signals and got
an answer to the last one. The boats rowed toward the smack, which took
part of the people on board and towed two other boatloads. It was 5
o'clock when we were picked up, and at that time no boat was anywhere
near the scene of the wreck. One trawler got to the wreck about 5:30.
It was followed by two torpedo boats and eight or nine other boats.
Captain Turner had ordered some lifeboats swung over the side on
Wednesday and all swung over on Thursday morning, but the rafts and
collapsible boats were not touched, but remained securely fastened.
There was plenty of boat accommodation if there had been time to get
them over.
The men all waited until no women were in sight before they went into
the boats. I never believed it true before, but there seemed to be a
regular chorus all the time on the _Lusitania_: "Women first! Women
first!"