78 the truth about the Titanic
also derived from the same source which the
reader can analyze, for estimating the interval
that I was below the surface of the ocean and
the distance covered in my swim under water; for
after I rose to the surface it appears that I had
passed under both the falling funnel and then
under the upturned boat, and a considerable dis-
tance beyond. Had I gone but a short distance
under water and arisen straight up, I should have
met the horrible fate of being struck by the fall-
ing funnel which, according to the evidence sub-
mitted, must have killed or drowned a number
of unfortunates struggling in the water. I select
these accounts of my shipwrecked companions,
which supplement my personal experience, par-
ticularly the accounts of the same reliable and
authoritative witnesses already cited, and from
those who were rescued, as I was, on the bottom
of the upset Engelhardt boat.
The following is from the account of Mr.
Beesley: "The water was by now up to the last
row of portholes. We were about two miles
from her, and the crew insisted that such a tre-
mendous wave would be formed by suction as
she went down, that we ought to get as far as
possible away. The 'Captain' (as he calls Stoker
Fred Barrett), and all, lay on their oars. Pres-
ently, about 2 a. m. (2.15 a. m. per book account),
STRUGGLING FOR LIFE 79
as near as I can remember, we observed her
settling very rapidly, with the bow and bridge
completely under water, and concluded it was now
only a question of minutes before she went; and
so it proved. She slowly tilted, straight on end,
with the stern vertically upward. . . . To
our amazement, she remained in that upright posi-
tion for a time which I estimate as five minutes/*
On a previous page of my narrative, I have al-
ready quoted from his book account how "the
stern and some 150 feet of the ship stood out-
lined against the star-specked sky, looming black
in the darkness, and in this position she continued
for some minutes — I think as much as five minutes,
but it may have been less.'' Now, when I disap-
peared under the sea, sinking with the ship, there
is nothing more surely established in my testimony
than that about nine-sixteenths of the Titanic
was still out of the water, and when my head
reached the surface she had entirely disappeared.
The New York Times, of April 19, 19 12, con-
tained the story of Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Bishop,
first cabin passengers from Dowagiac, Michigan.
Their short account is one of the best I have read.
As they wrote it independently of Beesley's ac-
count, and from a different point of view, being
in another lifeboat (No. 7, the first to leave the
ship), the following corroborative testimony,
8o THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIc"
taken from their story, helps to establish the
truth :
"We did not begin to understand the situation
till we were perhaps a mile away from the Titanic.
Then we could see the row of lights along the
deck begin to slant gradually upward from the
bow. Very slowly the lines of light began to
point downward at a greater and greater angle.
The sinking was so slow that you could not per-
ceive the lights of the deck changing their posi-
tion. The slant seemed to be greater about every
quarter of an hour. That was the only difference.
*'In a couple of hours she began to go down
more rapidly. . . . Suddenly the ship seemed
to shoot up out of the water and stand there per-
pendicularly. It seemed to us that it stood up-
right in the water for four full minutes,"^ Then
it began to slide gently downwards. Its speed
increased as it went down head first, so that the
stern shot down with a rush."
Harold Bride, who was swept from the Boat
Deck, held on to an oarlock of the Engelhardt
boat (which Clinch Smith and I had left a few
moments before, as has already been described).
I have cited his account of coming up under the
boat and then clambering upon it. He testifies
to there being no suction and adds the following:
* Italics are mine. — Author.
STRUGGLING FOR LIFE 8 1
''I suppose I was 150 feet away when the Titanic,
on her nose with her after-quarter sticking straight
up into the air, began to settle — slowly. When
at last the waves washed over her rudder, there
was not the least bit of suction I could feel. She
must have kept going just so slowly as she had
been." Second Officer Lightoller too, in his con-
versation with me, verified his testimony before
the Senate Committee that, *'The last boat, a flat
collapsible (the Engelhardt) to put off was the
one on top of the officers' quarters. Men jumped
upon it on deck and waited for the water to float
it off. The forward funnel fell into the water,
just missing the raft (as he calls our upset boat).
The funnel probably killed persons in the water.
This was the boat I eventually got on. About
thirty men clambered out of the water on to it."
Seventeen year old "Jack" Thayer was also on
the starboard side of the ship, and jumped from
the rail before the Engelhardt boat was swept
from the Boat Deck by the "giant wave." Young
Thayer's reported description of this is as follows:
"I jumped out, feet first, went down, and as
I came up I was pushed away from the ship by
some force. I was sucked down again, and as
I came up I was pushed out again and twisted
around by a large wave, coming up in the midst
of a great deal of small wreckage. My hand
82 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC'*
touched the canvas fender of an overturned life-
boat. I looked up and saw some men on the top.
One of them helped me up. In a short time the
bottom was covered with twenty-five or thirty men.
The assistant wireless operator (Bride) was right
next to me holding on to me and kneeling in the
water."
In my conversations with Thayer, LightoUer
and others, it appears that the funnel fell in the
water between the Engelhardt boat and the ship,
washing the former further away from the
Titanic^ s starboard side.
Since the foregoing was written, the testimony
before the United States Senate Committee has
been printed in pamphlet form, from which I have
been able to obtain other evidence, and particu-
larly that of Second Officer LightoUer in regard
to the last quarter of an hour or so on board
the ship and up to the time we reached the upset
boat. I have also obtained and substantiated
other evidence bearing upon the same period.
Mr. LightoUer testified as follows: "Half an
hour, or three quarters of an hour before I left
the ship, when it was taking a heavy list — not a
heavy list — a list over to port, the order was
called, I think by the chief officer, "Everyone on
the starboard side to straighten her up," which
I repeated. When I left the ship I saw no women
STRUGGLING FOR LIFE 83
or children aboard whatever. All the boats on
the port side were lowered with the exception of
one — the last boat, which was stowed on top of
the officers' quarters. We had not time to launch
it, nor yet to open it. When all the other boats
were away, I called for men to go up there ; told
them to cut her adrift and throw her down. It
floated off the ship, and I understand the men
standing on top, who assisted to launch it down,
jumped on to it as it was on the deck and floated
off with it. It was the collapsible type of boat,
and the bottom-up boat we eventually got on.
When this lifeboat floated off the ship, we were
thrown off a couple of times. When I came to it,
it was bottom-up and there was no one on it. Im-
mediately after finding that overturned lifeboat,
and when I came alongside of it, there were quite
a lot of us in the water around it preparatory to
getting up on it. Then the forward funnel fell
down. It fell alongside of the lifeboat about four
inches clear of it on all the people there alongside
of the boat. Eventually, about thirty of us got
on it: Mr. Thayer, Bride, the second Marconi
operator, and Col. Gracie. I think all the rest
were firemen taken out of the water."
Compare this with the description given by J.
Hagan in correspondence which he began with
me last May. J. Hagan is a poor chap, who
84 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
described himself in this correspondence as one
who "was working my passage to get to America
for the first time," and I am convinced that he
certainly earned it, and, moreover, was one of us
on that upset boat that night. His name does not
appear on the list of the crew and must not be
confounded with "John Hagan, booked as fire-
man on the steamer, who sailed for England April
20th on the Lapland/^ whereas our John Hagan
was admitted to St. Vincent's hospital on April
22nd. In describing this period John Hagan says
it was by the Captain's orders, when the ship was
listing to port, that passengers were sent to the
starboard side to straighten the ship. He went
half-way and returned to where Lightoller was
loading the last boat lowered. Lightoller told
him there was another boat on the roof of the
officers' house if he cared to get it down. This
was the Engelhardt Boat B which, with three
others, he could not open until assisted by three
more, and then they pushed it, upside down, on
the Boat Deck below. Hagan cut the string of
the oars and was passing the first oar down to
the others, who had left him, when the boat floated
Into the water, upside down. He jumped to the
Boat Deck and into the water after the boat and
"clung to the tail end of the keel." The ship
was shaking very much, part of it being under
STRUGGLING FOR LIFE 85
water. "On looking up at it, I could see death In
a minute for us as the forward funnel was falling
and it looked a certainty it would strike our boat
and smash it to pieces; but the funnel missed
us about a yard, splashing our boat thirty yards
outward from the ship, and washing off several
who had got on when the boat first floated.'*
Hagan managed to cling to it but got a severe
soaking. The cries of distress that he heard near
by were an experience he can never forget. It
appeared to him that the flooring of the ship
forward had broken away and was floating all
around. Some of the men on the upset boat made
use of some pieces of boarding for paddles with
which to help keep clear of the ship.
John Collins, assistant cook on the Titanic, also
gave his interesting testimony before the Senate
Committee. He appears to have come on deck
at the last moment on the starboard side and wit-
nessed the Engelhardt boat when it floated off
into the sea, he being carried off by the same wave
when he was amidships on the bow as the ship
sank, and kept down under water for at least two
or three minutes. When he came up, he saw this
boat again — the same boat on which he had seen
men working when the waves washed it off the
deck, and the men clinging to it. He was only
about four or five yards off and swam over to it
86 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ^TITANIC**
and got on to it. He says he is sure there
were probably fifteen thereon at the time he
got on. Those who were on the boat did not
help him to get on. They were watching the
ship. After he got on the boat, he did not see
any lights on the Titanic, though the stern of the
ship was still afloat when he first reached the
surface. He accounts for the wave that washed
him off amidships as due to the suction which took
place when the bow went down in the water and
the waves washed the decks clear. He saw a mass
of people in the wreckage, hundreds in number,
and heard their awful cries.
CHAPTER V
ALL NIGHT ON BOTTOM OF HALF SUBMERGED UP-
TURNED BOAT
"O God of our salvation. Thou who art the hope of
them that remain in the broad sea . . .'* — Ps. 65:5, 7.
ALL my companions in shipwreck who made
their escape with me on top of the bottom-
side-up Engelhardt boat, must recall the
anxious moment after the limit was reached when
*'about 30 men had clambered out of the water
on to the boat/' The weight of each additional
body submerged our lifecraft more and more be-
neath the surface. There were men swimming in
the water all about us. One more clambering
aboard would have swamped our already crowded
craft. The situation was a desperate one, and
was only saved by the refusal of the crew, es-
pecially those at the stern of the boat,^ to take
aboard another passenger. After pulling aboard
the man who lay exhausted, face downward in
front of me, I turned my head away from the
sights in the water lest I should be called upon
87
It ^ . ^^,^n
88 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
to refuse the pleading cries of those who were
struggling for their lives. What happened at
this juncture, therefore, my fellow companions
in shipwreck can better describe. Steward Thomas
Whiteley, interviewed by the New York Tribune,
said: *'I drifted near a boat wrong-side-up.
About 30 men were clinging to it. They refused
to let me get on. Somebody tried to hit me with
an oar, but I scrambled on to her." Harry Senior,
a fireman on the Titanic, as interviewed in the
London Illustrated News of May 4th, and in the
New York Times of April 19th, is reported as
follows: *'0n the overturned boat in question
were, amongst others, Charles Lightoller, Second
Officer of the Titanic; Col. Archibald Gracie, and
Mr. J. B. Thayer, Jr., all of whom had gone down
with the liner and had come to the surface again";
and '*I tried to get aboard of her, but some chap
hit me over the head with an oar. There were
too many on her. I got around to the other side
of the boat and climbed on. There were thirty-
five of us, including the second officer, and no
women. I saw any amount of drowning and dead
around us." Bride's story in the same issue of
the New York Times says: *'It was a terrible
sight all around — men swimming and sinking.
Others came near. Nobody gave them a hand..
The bottom-up boat already had more men than
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT 89
it would hold and was sinking. At first the large
waves splashed over my clothing; then they began
to splash over my head and I had to breathe when
I could."
Though I did not see, I could not avoid hearing
what took place at this most tragic crisis in all
my life. The men with the paddles, forward
and aft, so steered the boat as to avoid contact
with the unfortunate swimmers pointed out strug-
gling in the water. I heard the constant explana-
tion made as we passed men swimming in the
wreckage, *'Hold on to what you have, old boy;
one more of you aboard would sink us all.'' In
no instance, I am happy to say, did I hear any
word of rebuke uttered by a swimmer because
of refusal to grant assistance. There was no case
of cruel violence. But there was one transcendent
piece of heroism that will remain fixed in my
memory as the most sublime and coolest exhibition
of courage and cheerful resignation to fate and
fearlessness of death. This was when a reluctant
refusal of assistance met with the ringing response
in the deep manly voice of a powerful man, who,
in his extremity, replied: *'A11 right, boys; good
luck and God bless you." I have often wished
that the identity of this hero might be established
and an individual tribute to his memory preserved.
He was not an acquaintance of mine, for the tones
90 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
of his voice would have enabled me to recognize
him.
Collins in his testimony and Hagan in his letter
to me refer to the same incident, the former be-
fore the Senate Committee, saying: "All those
who wanted to get on and tried to get on got on
with the exception of only one. This man was
not pushed off by anyone, but those on the boat
asked him not to try to get on. We were all
on the boat running [shifting our weight] from
one side to the other to keep her steady. If this
man had caught hold of her he would have
tumbled the whole lot of us off. He acquiesced
and said, *that is all right, boys; keep cool; God
bless you,' and he bade us good-bye."
Hagan refers to the same man who "swam
close to us saying, 'Hello boys, keep calm, boys,'
asking to be helped up, and was told he could
not get on as it might turn the boat over. He
asked for a plank and was told to cling to what
he had. It was very hard to see so brave a man
swim away saying, 'God bless you.' "
All this time our nearly submerged boat was
amidst the wreckage and fast being paddled out
of the danger zone whence arose the heart-rending
cries already described of the struggling swim-
mers. It was at this juncture that expressions
were used by some of the uncouth members of
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT 9 1
the ship's crew, which grated upon my sensibilities.
The hearts of these men, as I presently discovered,
were all right and they were far from meaning
any offence when they adopted their usual slang,
sounding harsh to my ears, and referred to our
less fortunate shipwrecked companions as "the
blokes swimming in the water." What I thus
heard made me feel like an alien among my fellow
boatmates, and I did them the injustice of believ-
ing that I, as the only passenger aboard, would, in
case of diversity of interest, receive short shrift
at their hands and for this reason I thought it
best to have as little to say as possible. During
all these struggles I had been uttering silent
prayers for deliverance, and it occurred to me that
this was the occasion of all others when we should
join in an appeal to the Almighty as our last and
only hope in life, and so it remained for one of
these men, whom I had regarded as uncouth, a
Roman Catholic seaman, to take precedence in
suggesting the thought in the heart of everyone
of us. He was astern and in arm's length of me.
He first made inquiry as to the religion of each
of us and found Episcopalians, Roman Catholics
and Presbyterians. The suggestion that we should
say the Lord's Prayer together met with instant
approval, and our voices with one accord burst
forth in repeating that great appeal to the Creator
iir^^r^ » ^^,^t»
92 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
and Preserver of all mankind, and the only prayer
that everyone of us knew and could unite in,
thereby manifesting that we were all sons of God
and brothers to each other whatever our sphere
in life or creed might be. Recollections of this
incident are embodied in my account as well as
those of Bride and Thayer, independently re-
ported in the New York papers on the morning
after our arrival. This is what Bride recalls:
^'Somebody said 'don^t the rest of you think we
ought to pray?' The man who made the sugges-
tion asked what the religion of the others was.
Each man called out his religion. One was a
Catholic, one a Methodist, one a Presbyterian.
It was decided the most appropriate prayer for
all of us was the Lord's Prayer. We spoke it
over in chorus, with the man who first suggested
that we pray as the leader."
Referring to this incident in his sermon on
**The Lessons of the Great Disaster," the
Rev. Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis, of Plymouth
Church, says: *'When Col. Gracie came up,
after the sinking of the Titanic, he says that
he made his way to a sunken raft. The sub-
merged little raft was under water often, but
every man, without regard to nationality, broke
into instant prayer. There were many voices, but
they all had one signification — their sole hope was
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT 93
in God. There were no millionaires, for millions
fell away like leaves; there were no poor; men
were neither wise nor ignorant; they were simply
human souls on the sinking raft; the night was
black and the waves yeasty with foam, and the
grave where the Titanic lay was silent under them,
and the stars were silent over them! But as they
prayed, each man by that inner light saw an in-
visible Friend walking across the waves. Hence-
forth, these need no books on Apologetics to prove
there is a God. This man who has written his
story tells us that God heard the prayers of some
by giving them death, and heard the prayers of
others equally by keeping them in life; but God
alone is great!"
The lesson thus drawn from the incident de-
scribed must be well appreciated by all my boat-
mates who realized the utter helplessness of our
position, and that the only hope we then had in
life was in our God, and as the Rev. Dr. Hillis
says: "In that moment the evanescent, transient,
temporary things dissolved like smoke, and the
big, permanent things stood out — God, Truth,
Purity, Love, and Oh ! how happy those who were
good friends with God, their conscience and their
record."
We all recognize the fact that our escape from
a watery grave was due to the conditions of wind
94 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE '*TITANIC"
and weather. All night long we prayed that the
calm might last. Towards morning the sea be-
came rougher, and it was for the two-fold pur-
pose of avoiding the ice-cold water,* and also
to attract attention, that we all stood up in column,
two abreast, facing the bow. The waves at this
time broke over the keel, and we maintained a
balance to prevent the escape of the small volume
of air confined between sea and upset boat by
shifting the weight of our bodies first to port and
then to starboard. I believe that the life of every-
one of us depended upon the preservation of this
confined air-bubble, and our anxious thought was
lest some of this air might escape and deeper down
our overloaded boat would sink. Had the boat
been completely turned over, compelling us to
cling to the submerged gunwale, it could not
have supported our weight, and we should have
been frozen to death in the ice-cold water be-
fore rescue could reach us. My exertions had
been so continuous and so strenuous before I got
aboard this capsized boat that I had taken no
notice of the icy temperature of the water. We
all suffered severely from cold and exposure. The
boat was so loaded down with the heavy weight
* Temperature of water 28 degrees, of air 27 degrees
Fahrenheit, at midnight, April 14th (American Inquiry, page
1142).
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT 95
It carried that it became partly submerged, and
the water washed up to our waists as we lay in
our reclining position. Several of our companions
near the stern of the boat, unable to stand the
exposure and strain, gave up the struggle and
fell off.
After we had left the danger zone in the
vicinity of the wreck, conversation between
us first developed, and I heard the men aft of
me discussing the fate of the Captain. At least
two of them, according to their statements made
at the time, had seen him on this craft of ours
shortly after it was floated from the ship. In the
interviews already referred to, Harry Senior the
fireman, referring to the same overturned boat,
said: *'The Captain had been able to reach this
boat. They had pulled him on, but he slipped
off again." Still another witness, the entree cook
of the Titanic^ J. Maynard, who was on our boat,
corroborates what I heard said at the time about
the inability of the Captain to keep his hold on
the boat. From several sources I have the in-
formation about the falling of the funnel, the
splash of wTiich swept from the upturned boat
several who were first clinging thereto, and among
the number possibly was the Captain. From the
following account of Bride, it would appear he
was swept off himself and regained his hold later.
g6 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ^TITANIC*'
*'I saw a boat of some kind near me and put all
my strength into an effort to swim to it. It was
hard work. I was all done when a hand reached
out from the boat and pulled me aboard. It was
our same collapsible. The same crew was on
it. There was just room for me to roll on the
edge. I lay there, not caring what happened.''
Fortunately for us all, the majority of us were
not thus exhausted or desperate. On the con-
trary, these men on this upset boat had plenty of
strength and the purpose to battle for their lives.
There were no beacon torches on crag and cliff;
no shouts in the pauses of the storm to tell them
there was hope; nor deep-toned bell with its
loudest peal sending cheerily, o'er the deep, com-
fort to these wretched souls in their extremity.
There were, however, lights forward and on the
port side to be seen all the time until the Car-
pathia appeared. These lights were only those of
the Titanic s other lifeboats, and thus it was, as
they gazed with eager, anxious eyes that
'Fresh hope did give them strength and strength
deliverance." *
The suffering on the boat from cold was intense.
My neighbor in front, whom I had pulled aboard,
* Maturin's Bertram.
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT 97
must also have been suffering from exhaustion,
but it was astern of us whence came later the
reports about fellow boatmates who gave up the
struggle and fell off from exhaustion, or died,
unable to stand the exposure and strain. Among
the number, we are told by Bride and Whiteley,
was the senior Marconi operator, Phillips, but
their statement that it was Phillips' lifeless body
which we transferred first to a lifeboat and thence
to the Carpathia is a mistake, for the body re-
ferred to both Lightoller and myself know to
have been that of a member of the crew, as de-
scribed later. Bride himself suffered severely.
^'Somebody sat on my legs," he says. ''They were
wedged in between slats and were being
wrenched." When he reached the Carpathia he
was taken to the hospital and on our arrival in
New York was carried ashore with his **feet
badly crushed and frostbitten."
The combination of cold and the awful scenes
of suffering and death which he witnessed from
our upturned boat deeply affected another first
cabin survivor, an Enghshman, Mr. R. H. Bark-
worth, whose tender heart is creditable to his
character.
Another survivor of our upturned boat, James
McGann, a fireman, interviewed by the New York
Tribune on April 20th, says that he was one of
98 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE **TITANIC"
the thirty of us, mostly firemen, clinging to it as
she left the ship. As to the suffering endured
that night he says: *'A11 our legs were frost-
bitten and we were all in the hospital for a day
at least/'
"Hagan'' also adds his testimony as to the
sufferings endured by our boatmates. He says:
*'One man on the upturned boat rolled off, into the
water, at the stern, dead with fright and cold.
Another died in the lifeboat." Here he refers
to the lifeless body which we transferred, and
finally put aboard the Carpathia, but which was
not PhilHps'.
Lightoller testified: *'I think there were three
or four who died during the night aboard our
boat. The Marconi junior operator told me that
the senior operator was on this boat and died,
presumably from cold."
But the uncommunicative little member of the
crew beside me did not seem to suffer much. He
was like a number of others who were possessed
of hats or caps — his was an outing cap; while
those who sank under water had lost them. The
upper part of his body appeared to be compara-
tively dry; so I believe he and some others escaped
being drawn under with the Titanic by clinging
to the Engelhardt boat from the outset when it
parted company with the ship and was washed
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT 99
from the deck by the "giant wave.'' He seemed
so dry and comfortable while I felt so damp in
my waterlogged clothing, my teeth chattering and
my hair wet with the icy water, that I ventured to
request the loan of his dry cap to warm my head
for a short while. "And what wad oi do?" was
his curt reply. "Ah, never mind,'' said I, as I
thought it would make no difference a hundred
years hence. Poor chap, it would seem that all
his possessions were lost when his kit went down
with the ship. Not far from me and on the star-
board side was a more loquacious member of the
crew. I was not near enough, however, to him
to indulge in any imaginary warmth from the
fumes of the 0-be-joyful spirits which he gave
unmistakable evidence of having indulged in be-
fore leaving the ship. Most of the conversation,
as well as excitement, came from behind me,
astern. The names of other survivors who, be-
sides those mentioned, escaped on the same nearly
submerged life craft with me are recorded in the
history of Boat B in chapter V, which contains the
results of my research work in regard thereto.
After we paddled away free from the wreckage
and swimmers in the water that surrounded us,
our undivided attention until the dawn of the next
day was concentrated upon scanning the horizon
in every direction for the lights of a ship that
100 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
might rescue us before the sea grew rougher,
for the abnormal conditions of wind and weather
that prevailed that night were the causes of the
salvation, as well as the destruction, of those
aboard this ill-fated vessel. The absolute calm
of the sea, while it militated against the detection
of the iceberg in our path, at the same time made
it possible for all of the lifeboats lowered from
the davits to make their long and dangerous de-
scent to the water without being smashed against
the sides of the ship, or swamped by the waves
breaking against them, for, notwithstanding news-
paper reports to the contrary, there appears no
authentic testimony of any survivor showing that
any loaded boat in the act of being lowered was
capsized or suffered injury. On the other hand,
we have the positive statements accounting for
each individual boatload, showing that every one
of them was thus lowered in safety. But it was
this very calm of the sea, as has been said, which
encompassed the destruction of the ship. The
beatings of the waves against the iceberg's sides
usually give audible warning miles away to the
approaching vessel, while the white foam at the
base, due to the same cause, is also discernible.
But in our case the beautiful star-lit night and
cloudless sky, combined with the glassy sea,
further facilitated the iceberg's approach with-
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT lOI
out detection, for no background was afforded
against which to silhouette the deadly outline
of this black appearing Protean monster which
only looks white when the sun is shining
upon it.
All experienced navigators of the northern seas,
as I am informed on the highest authority, know-
ing the dangers attending such conditions, invaria-
bly take extra precautions to avoid disaster. The
Titanic*s officers were no novices, and were well
trained in the knowledge of this and all other
dangers of the sea. From the Captain down, they
were the pick of the best that the White Star Line
had in its employ. Our Captain, Edward J.
Smith, was the one always selected to ^'try out"
each new ship of the Line, and was regarded, with
his thirty-eight years of service in the company,
as both safe and competent. Did he take any
precautions for safety, in view of the existing
dangerous conditions ? Alas ! no ! as appears from
the testimony in regard thereto, taken before the
Investigating Committee and Board in America
and in England which we review in another chap-
ter. And yet, warnings had been received on the
Titanic s bridge from six different neighboring
ships, one in fact definitely locating the latitude
and longitude where the iceberg was encountered,
and that too at a point of time calculated by one
102 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC^*
of the Titanic^ s officers. Who can satisfactorily
explain this heedlessness of danger?
It was shortly after we had emerged from the
horrible scene of men swimming in the water that
I was glad to notice the presence among us on
the upturned boat of the same officer with whom
all my work that night and all my experience was
connected in helping to load and lower the boats
on the Titanic's Boat Deck and Deck "A." I
identified him at once by his voice and his ap-
pearance, but his name was not learned until I met
him again later in my cabin on board the Carpathia
— Charles H. LightoUer. For what he did on the
ship that night whereby six or more boatloads of
women and children were saved and discipline
maintained aboard ship, as well as on the Engel-
hardt upturned boat, he is entitled to honor and
the thanks of his own countrymen and of us
Americans as well. As soon as he was recognized,
the loquacious member of the crew astern, already
referred to, volunteered in our behalf and called
out to him "We will all obey what the officer
orders." The result was at once noticeable. The
presence of a leader among us was now felt, and
lent us purpose and courage. The excitement at
the stern was demonstrated by the frequent sug-
gestion of, "Now boys, all together"; and then in
unison we shouted, "Boat ahoy! Boat ahoy!"
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT IO3
This was kept up for some time until it was seen
to be a mere waste of strength. So it seemed to
me, and I decided to husband mine and make pro-
vision for what the future, or the morrow, might
require. After a while Lightoller, myself and
others managed with success to discourage these
continuous shouts regarded as a vain hope of
attracting attention.
When the presence of the Marconi boy at the
stern was made known, Lightoller called out, from
his position in the bow, questions which all of us
heard, as to the names of the steamships with
which he had been in communication for assist-
ance. We on the boat recall the names men-
tioned by Bride — the Baltic, Olympic and Car-
pathia. It was then that the Carpathians name
was heard by us for the first time, and it was to
catch sight of this sturdy little Cunarder that we
strained our eyes in the direction whence she
finally appeared.
We had correctly judged that most of the lights
seen by us belonged to our own Titanic^s life-
boats, but Lightoller and all of us were badly
fooled by the green-colored lights and rockets
directly ahead of us, which loomed up especially
bright at intervals. This, as will be noticed in
a future chapter, was Third Officer BoxhalPs
Emergency Boat No. 2. We were assured that
104 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
these were the lights of a ship and were all glad
to believe it. There could be no mistake about it
and our craft was navigated toward it as fast as
its propelling conditions made possible; but it did
not take long for us to realize that this light, what-
ever it was, was receding instead of approaching
us.
Some of our boatmates on the Titanic*s decks
had seen the same white light to which I have
already made reference in Chapter II, and the
argument was now advanced that it must have
been a sailing ship, for a steamer would have soon
come to our rescue; but a sailing ship would be
prevented by wind, or lack of facilities in coming
to our aid. I imagined that it was the lights of
such a ship that we again saw on our port side
astern in the direction where, when dawn broke,
we saw the icebergs far away on the horizon.
Some time before dawn a call came from the
stern of the boat, *'There is a steamer coming be-
hind us.'* At the same time a warning cry was
given that we should not all look back at once
lest the equilibrium of our precarious craft might
be disturbed. Lightoller took in the situation and
called out, "All you men stand steady and I will
be the one to look astern.'* He looked, but there
was no responsive chord that tickled our ears with
hope,
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT 105
The incident just described happened when we
were all standing up, facing forward in column,
two abreast. Some time before this, for some un-
defined reason, LightoUer had asked the question,
*'How many are there of us on this boat?'' and
someone answered ^'thirty, sir." All testimony on
the subject establishes this number. I may cite
LightoUer, who testified: *'I should roughly esti-
mate about thirty. She w^as packed standing from
stem to stern at daylight. We took all on
board that we could. I did not see any effort
made by others to get aboard. There were a
great number of people in the water but not
near us. They were some distance away
from us."
Personally, I could not look around to count,
but I know that forward of me there were eight
and counting myself and the man abreast would
make two more. As every bit of room on the
Engelhardt bottom was occupied and as the
weight aboard nearly submerged it, I believe that
more than half our boatload was behind me.
There is a circumstance that I recall which fur-
ther establishes how closely packed we were.
When standing up I held on once or twice
to the life-preserver on the back of my boatmate
in front in order to balance myself. At the same
time and in the same way the man in my rear held
I06 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
on to me. This procedure, being objectionable
to those concerned, was promptly discontinued.
It was at quite an early stage that I had seen far
in the distance the unmistakable mast lights of a
steamer about four or five points away on the port
side, as our course was directed toward the green-
colored lights of the imaginary ship which we hoped
was coming to our rescue, but which, in fact, was
the already-mentioned Titanic lifeboat of Officer
Boxhall. I recall our anxiety, as we had no lights,
that this imaginary ship might not see us and
might run over our craft and swamp us. But my
eyes were fixed for hours that night on the lights
of that steamer, far away in the distance, which
afterwards proved to be those of the Carpathia.
To my great disappointment, they seemed to make
no progress towards us to our rescue. This we
were told later was due to meeting an iceberg as
she was proceeding full speed toward the scene
of the Titanic' s wreck. She had come to a stop
in sight of the lights of our lifeboats (or such as
had them). The first boat to come to her sides
was Boxhall's with its green lights. Finally da^m
appeared and there on the port side of our upset
boat where we had been looking with anxious
eyes, glory be to God, we saw the steamer Car-
pathia about four or five miles away, with other
Titanic lifeboats rov/ing towards her. But on our
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT IO7
Starboard side, much to our surprise, for we had
seen no lights on that quarter, were four of the
Titanic* s lifeboats strung together in line. These
were respectively Numbers 14, 10, 12 and 4, ac-
cording to testimony submitted in our next chap-
ter.
Meantime, the water had grown rougher, and,
as previously described, was washing over the keel
and we had to make shift to preserve the equili-
brium. Right glad were all of us on our up-
turned boat when in that awful hour the break of
day brought this glorious sight to our eyes.
Lightoller put his whistle to his cold lips and blew
a shrill blast, attracting the attention of the boats
about half a mile away. "Come over and take
us off," he cried. "Aye, aye, sir,'' was the ready
response as two of the boats cast off from the
others and rowed directly towards us. Just be-
fore the bows of the two boats reached us,
Lightoller ordered us not to scramble, but each to
take his turn, so that the transfer might be made
in safety. When my turn came, in order not to
end?.nger the lives of the others, or plunge them
into the sea, I went carefully, hands first, into the
rescuing lifeboat. Lightoller remained to the last,
lifting a lifeless body into the boat beside me. I
worked over the body for some time, rubbing the
temples and the wrists, but when I turned the neck
I08 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
It was perfectly stiff. Recognizing that rigor
mortis had set In, I knew the man was dead. He
was dressed like a member of the crew, and I
recall that he wore gray woollen socks. His hair
was dark. Our lifeboat was so crowded that I
had to rest on this dead body until we reached
the Carpathia, where he was taken aboard and
burled. My efforts to obtain his name have been
exhaustive, but futile. LIghtoller was uncertain
as to which one he was of two men he had in
mind; but we both know that It was not the body
of Phillips, the senior Marconi operator. In the
lifeboat to which we were transferred were said
to be sixty-five or seventy of us. The number was
beyond the limit of safety. The boat sank low
In the water, and the sea now became rougher.
LIghtoller assumed the command and steered at
the stern. I was glad to recognize young Thayer
amidships. There was a French woman in the
bow near us actively ill but brave and considerate.
She was very kind In loaning an extra steamer rug
to Barkworth, by my side, who shared it with a
member of the crew (a fireman perhaps) and
myself. That steamer rug was a great comfort
as we drew it over our heads and huddled close
together to obtain some warmth. For a short
time another Titanic lifeboat was towed by ours.
My life-belt was wet and uncomfortable and I
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT 109
threw It overboard. Fortunately there was no
further need of It for the use intended. I regret
I did not preserve it as a relic. When we were
first transferred and only two of the lifeboats
came to our rescue, some took it hard that the
other two did not also come to our relief, when we
saw how few these others had aboard; but the
officer in command of them, whom we afterwards
knew as Fifth Officer Lowe, had cleverly rigged
up a sail on his boat and, towing another astern,
made his way to the Carpathia a long time ahead
of us, but picked up on his way other unfortunates
in another Engelhardt boat. Boat A, which had
shipped considerable water.
My research, particularly the testimony taken
before the Senate Committee, establishes the
identity of the Titanic lifeboats to which, at day-
dawn, we of the upset boat were transferred.
These were Boats No. 12 and No. 4. The for-
mer was the one that LIghtoller, Barkworth,
Thayer, Jr., and myself were In. Frederick
Clench, able seaman, was in charge of this boat,
and his testimony, as follows, is interesting:
"I looked along the water's edge and saw some
men on a raft. Then I heard two whistles blown.
I sang out, 'Aye, aye, I am coming over,' and
we pulled over and found it was not a raft ex-
actly, but an overturned boat, and Mr. LIghtoller
110 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
was there on that boat and I thought the wireless
operator, too. We took them on board our boat
and shared the amount of room. They were all
standing on the bottom, wet through apparently.
Mr. Lightoller took charge of us. Then we
started ahead for the Carpathia, We had to row
a tidy distance to the Carpathia because there
were boats ahead of us and we had a boat in tow,
with others besides all the people we had aboard.
We were pretty well full up before, but the ad-
ditional ones taken on made about seventy in our
boat."
This corresponds with Lightoller's testimony on
the same point. He says:
"I counted sixty-five heads, not including myself,
and none that were in the bottom of the boat.
I roughly estimated about seventy-five in the boat,
which was dangerously full, and it was all I could
do to nurse her up to the sea."
From Steward Cunningham's testimony I found
a corroboration of my estimate of our distance,
at daydawn, from the Carpathia. This he says
"was about four or five miles."
Another seaman, Samuel S. Hemming, who
was in Boat No. 4, commanded by Quar-
termaster Perkis, also gave his testimony as
follows :
*'As day broke we heard some hollering going
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT III
on and we saw some men standing on what we
thought was ice about half a mile away, but we
found them on the bottom of an upturned boat.
Two boats cast off and we pulled to them and
took them in our two boats. There were no
women or children on this boat, and I heard there
was one dead body. Second Officer Lightoller
was on the overturned boat. He did not get into
our boat. Only about four or five got into
ours and the balance of them went into the
other boat."
It seemed to me an interminable time before we
reached the Carpathia. Ranged along her sides
were others of the Titanic^ s lifeboats which had
been rowed to the Cunarder and had been emptied
of their loads of survivors. In one of these boats
on the port side, standing up, I noticed my friend,
Third Officer H. J. Pitman, with whom I had
made my trip eastward on the Atlantic on board
the Oceanic. All along the sides of the Carpathia
were strung rope ladders. There were no per-
sons about me needing my assistance, so I mounted
the ladder, and, for the purpose of testing my
strength, I ran up as fast as I could and ex-
perienced no difficulty or feeling of exhaustion. I
entered the first hatchway I came to and felt like
falling down on my knees and kissing the deck
in gratitude for the preservation of my life. I
112 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
made my way to the second cabin dispensary, where
I was handed a hot drink. I then went to the
deck above and was met with a warm reception in
the dining saloon. Nothing could exceed the kind-
ness of the ladies, who did everything possible for
my comfort. All my wet clothing, overcoat and
shoes, were sent down to the bake-oven to be dried.
Being thus in lack of clothing, I lay down on the
lounge in the dining saloon corner to the right of
the entrance under rugs and blankets, waiting for
a complete outfit of dry clothing.
I am particularly grateful to a number of kind
people on the Carpathia who helped replenish my
wardrobe, but especially to Mr. Louis M. Ogden,
a family connection and old friend. To Mrs.
Ogden and to Mr. and Mrs. Spedden, who were
on the Titanic, and to their boy's trained nurse,
I am also most grateful. They gave me hot
cordials and hot coffee which soon warmed me
up and dispersed the cold. Among the Carpathians
passengers, bound for the Mediterranean, I dis-
covered a number of friends of Mrs. Gracie's
and mine — Miss K. Steele, sister of Charles
Steele, of New York, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H.
Marshall and Miss Marshall, of New York.
Leaning over the rail of the port side I saw
anxiously gazing down upon us many familiar
faces of fellow survivors, and, among them,
ALL NIGHT ON UPTURNED BOAT II3
friends and acquaintances to whom I waved my
hand as I stood up In the bow of my boat. This
boat No. 12 was the last to reach the Carpathia
and her passengers transferred about 8.30 a. m.
CHAPTER VI
THE PORT side: WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
Foreword
THE previous chapters, describing my per-
sonal experience on board the Titanic and
remarkable escape from death in the icy
waters of the middle Atlantic, were written some
months ago. In the interim I have received the
pamphlets, printed in convenient form, containing
the hearings of both the American and British
Courts of Inquiry, and have given them consid-
erable study.
These official sources of information have
added materially to my store of knowledge con-
cerning the shipwreck, and corroborate to a
marked degree the description from my personal
viewpoint, all the salient points of which were
written before our arrival in New York, and on
the S. S. Carpathia, under circumstances which
will be related in a future chapter.
During the same interval, by correspondence
with survivors and by reading all available printed
114
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST II 5
matter in books, magazine articles and news-
papers, I have become still more conversant with
the story of this, the greatest of maritime disas-
ters, which caused more excitement in our country
than any other single event that has occurred in
its history within a generation.
The adopted standard by which I propose to
measure the truth of all statements in this book
is the evidence obtained from these Courts of In-
quiry, after it has been subjected to careful and
impartial analysis. All accounts of the disaster,
from newspapers and individual sources, for which
no basis can be found after submission to this re-
fining process, will find no place or mention herein.
In the discussion of points of historical interest
or of individual conduct, where such are matters
of public record, I shall endeavor to present them
fairly before the reader, who can pass thereon
his or her own opinion after a study of the testi-
mony bearing on both sides of any controversy.
In connection with such discussion where the re-
flections cast upon individuals in the sworn testi-
mony of witnesses have already gained publicity,
I claim immunity from any real or imaginary ani-
madversions which may be provoked by my im-
partial reference thereto.
I have already recorded my personal observa-
tion of how strictly the rule of human nature,
Il6 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE **TITANIC
»»
*'Women and Children First/' was enforced on
the port side of the great steamship, whence no
man escaped aHve who made his station on this
quarter and bade good-bye to wife, mother or
sister.
I have done my best, during the limited time
allowed, to exhaust all the above-defined sources
of information, in an effort to preserve as com-
plete a list as possible of those comrades of mine
who, from first to last, on this port side of the
ship, helped to preserve order and discipline, up-
holding the courage of women and children, until
all the boats had left the Titanic, and who then
sank with the ship when she went down.
I shall now present the record and story of each
lifeboat, on both port and starboard sides of the
ship, giving so far as I have been able to obtain
them the names of persons loaded aboard each
boat, passengers and crew; those picked up out of
the water; the stowaways found concealed beneath
the thwarts, and those men who, without orders,
jumped from the deck into boats being lowered,
injuring the occupants and endangering the lives
of women and children. At the same time will be
described the conditions existing when each boat
was loaded and lowered, and whatever incidents
occurred in the transfer of passengers to the
rescuing steamer Carpathia.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST II7
The general testimony of record, covering the
conduct which was exhibited on the port side of
the ship, is contained in the careful statements of
that splendid officer, Charles H. Lightoller, be-
fore the United States Senate Committee: (Am.
Inq., p. 88.)
Senator Smith: From what you have said,
you discriminated entirely in the interest of the
passengers — first women and children — in filling
these lifeboats?
Mr. Lightoller: Yes, sir.
Senator Smith: Why did you do that? Be-
cause of the captain's orders, or because of the
rule of the sea?
Mr. Lightoller: The rule of human na-
ture.
And also in his testimony before the British
Liquiry (p. 71) :
''I asked the captain on the Boat Deck, ^Shall
I get women and children In the boats ?' The cap-
tain replied, *Yes, and lower away.' I was carry-
ing out his orders. I am speaking of the port
side of the ship. I was running the port side only.
All the boats on this side were lowered except
the last, which was stowed on top of the officers'
quarters. This was the surf boat — the Engel-
hardt boat (A). We had not time to launch it,
nor yet to open it."
Il8 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC''
(Br. Inq.) "I had no difficulty in filling the
boat. The people were perfectly ready and
quiet. There was no jostling or pushing or
crowding whatever. The men all refrained
from asserting their strength and from crowd-
ing back the women and children. They
could not have stood quieter if they had been
in church.''
And referring to the last boats that left the
ship (Br. Inq., p. 83) :
"When we were lowering the women, there
were any amount of Americans standing near who
gave me every assistance they could.''
The crow's nest on the foremast was just about
level with the water when the bridge was sub-
merged. The people left on the ship, or that part
which was not submerged, did not make any dem-
onstration. There was not a sign of any lamen-
tation.
On the port side on deck I can say, as far as
my own observations went, from my own en-
deavor and that of others to obtain women, there
were none left on the deck.
My testimony on the same point before the
United States Senate Committee (Am. Inq., p.
992) was as follows:
"I want to say that there was nothing but the
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST II 9
most heroic conduct on the part of all men and
women at that time where I was at the bow on
the port side. There was no man who asked to
get in a boat with the single exception that I have
already mentioned. (Referring to Col. Astor's
request to go aboard to protect his wife. Am.
Inq., p. 991.) No women even sobbed or wrung
their hands, and everything appeared perfectly
orderly. LightoUer was splendid in his conduct
with the crew, and the crew did their duty. It
seemed to me it was a httle bit more difficult than
it should have been to launch the boats alongside
the ship. I do not know the cause of that. I
know I had to use my muscle as best I could in
trying to push those boats so as to get them over
the gunwale. I refer to these in a general way
as to its being difficult in trying to lift them and
push them over. (As was the case with the
Engelhardt "D.") The crew, at first, sort of
resented my working with them, but they were
very glad when I worked with them later on.
Every opportunity I got to help, I helped.''
How these statements are corroborated by the
testimony of others is recorded in the detailed
description of each boat that left the ship on the
port side as follows:
I20 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
BOAT No. 6.*
No male passengers.
Passengers: Miss Bowerman, Mrs. J. J.
Brown, Mrs. Candee, Mrs. Cavendish and her
maid (Miss Barber), Mrs. Meyer, Miss Norton,
Mrs. Rothschild, Mrs. L. P. Smith, Mrs. Stone
and her maid (Miss Icard).
Ordered in to supply lack of crew: Major A.
G. Peuchen.
Said good-bye to wives and sank with ship:
Messrs. Cavendish, Meyer, Rothschild and L. P.
Smith.
Crew: Hitchens, Q. M. (in charge). Seaman
Fleet. (One fireman transferred from No. i6 to
row.) Also a boy with injured arm whom Captain
Smith had ordered in.
Total: 28. (Br. Inq.)
INCIDENTS
Lightoller's testimony (Am. Inq., p. 79) :
I was calling for seamen and one of the seamen
jumped out of the boat and started to lower away.
* British Report (p. 38) puts this boat first to leave port
side at \2.65. LightoUer's testimony shows it could not have
been the first.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 121
The boat was half way down when a woman
called out that there was only one man in it. I
had only two seamen and could not part with them,
and was in rather a fix to know what to do when
a passenger called out: ^'If you like, I will go."
This was a first-class passenger. Major Peuchen,
of Toronto. I said: "Are you a seaman?" and
he said: "I am a yachtsman." I said: "If you
are sailor enough to get out on that fall — that is
a difficult thing to get to over the ship's side, eight
feet away, and means a long swing, on a dark
night — if you are sailor enough to get out there,
you can go down"; and he proved he was, by
going down.
F. Fleet, L. O. (Am. Inq., 363) and (Br. Inq.) :
Witness says there were twenty-three women.
Major Peuchen and Seamen Hitchens and himself.
As he left the deck he heard Mr. Lightoller shout-
ing: "Any more women?" No. 6 and one other
cut adrift after reaching the Carpathia,
Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen, Manufactur-
ing Chemist, Toronto, Canada, and Major of
Toronto's crack regiment. The Queen's Own
Rifles (Am. Inq., p. 334), testified:
I was standing on the Boat Deck, port side,
122 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tiTANIC'*
near the second officer and the captain. One of
them said: "We must get these masts and sails
out of these boats; you might give us a hand.''
I jumped in, and with a knife cut the lashings
of the mast and sail and moved the mast out of
the boat. Only vi^omen were allowed in, and the
men had to stand back. This was the order, and
the second officer stood there and carried it out
to the limit. He allowed no men, except sailors
who were manning the boat. I did not see one
single male passenger get in or attempt to get in.
I never saw such perfect order. The discipline
was perfect. I did not see a cowardly act by any
man.
When I first came on this upper deck there were
about 100 stokers coming up with their dunnage
bags and they seemed to crowd this whole deck
in front of the boats. One of the officers, I don't
know which one, a very powerful man, came along
and drove these men right off this deck like a lot
of sheep. They did not put up any resistance.
I admired him for it. Later, there were counted
20 women, one quartermaster, one sailor and one
stowaway, before I was ordered in.
In getting into the boat I went aft and said to
the quartermaster: "What do you want me to
do?" "Get down and put that plug in," he an-
swered. I made a dive down for the plug. The
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 23
ladies were all sitting pretty well aft and I could
not see at all. It was dark down there. I felt
with my hands and then said it would be better
for him to do it and me do his work. I said,
*'Now, you get down and put in the plug and I
will undo the shackles/' that is, take the blocks
off, so he dropped the blocks and got down to
fix the plug, and then he came back to assist me
saying, "Hurry up." He said: "This boat Is
going to founder." I thought he meant our lifeboat
was going to founder, but he meant the large boat,
and that we were to hurry up and get away from
it, so we got the rudder in and he told me to
go forward and take an oar. I did so, and got
an oar on the port side. Sailor Fleet was on my
left on the starboard side. The quartermaster
told us to row as hard as we could to get
away from the suction. We got a short
distance away when an Italian, a stowaway,
made his appearance. He had a broken wrist
or arm, and was of no use to row. He was
stowed away under the boat where we could not
see him.
Toward morning we tied up to another boat
(No. 16) for fifteen minutes. We said to those
In the other boat: "Surely you can spare us one
man If you have so many." One man, a fireman,
was accordingly transferred, who assisted in row-
124 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC'*
ing on the starboard side. The women helped
with the oars, and very pluckily too.*
We were to the weather of the Carpathian and
so she stayed there until we all came down on her.
I looked at my watch and it was something after
eight o'clock.
Mrs. Candee's account of her experience is as
follows :
She last saw Mr. Kent in the companionway
between Decks A and B. He took charge of an
ivory miniature of her mother, etc., which after-
wards were found on his body when brought into
Halifax. He appeared at the time to hesitate
accepting her valuables, seeming to have a pre-
monition of his fate.
She witnessed the same incident described by
Major Peuchen, when a group of firemen came
up on deck and were ordered by the officer to re-
turn below. She, however, gives praise to these
men. They obeyed like soldiers, and without a
murmur or a protest, though they knew better
than anyone else on the ship that they were going
straight to their death. No boats had been
lowered when these firemen first appeared upon
*"An English girl (Miss Norton) and I rowed for four
hours and a half." — Mrs. Meyer in New York Times, April
14th, 1912.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 25
the Boat Deck, and . it would have been an
easy matter for them to have "rushed" the
boats.
Her stateroom steward also gave an exhibition
of courage. After he had tied on her life pre-
server and had locked her room as a precaution
against looters, which she believed was done all
through the deck, she said to this brave man:
"It is time for you to look out for yourself,'* to
which the steward replied, "Oh, plenty of time for
that, Madam, plenty of time for that." He was
lost.
As she got into boat No. 6, it being dark and
not seeing where she stepped, her foot encountered
the oars lying lengthwise in the boat and her
ankle was thus twisted and broken.
Just before her boat was lowered away a man's
voice said : "Captain, we have no seaman." Cap-
tain Smith then seized a boy by the arm and said:
"Here's one." The boy went into the boat as
ordered by the captain, but afterwards he was
found to be disabled. She does not think he was
an Italian.
Her impression is that there were other boats
in the water which had been lowered before hers.
There was a French woman about fifty years of
age in the boat who was constantly calling for her
son. Mrs. Candee sat near her. After arrival
126 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIc"
on the Carpathia this French woman became
hysterical.
Notwithstanding Hitchens' statements, she says
that there was absolutely no upset feeling on the
women's part at any time, even when the boat, as
it was being lowered, on several occasions hung
at a dangerous angle — sometimes bow up and
sometimes stern up. The lowering process seemed
to be done by jerks. She herself called out to
the men lowering the boat and gave instructions:
otherwise they would have been swamped.
The Italian boy who was in the boat was not a
stowaway, he was ordered in by the captain as
already related. Neither did he refuse to row.
When he tried to do so, it was futile, because of
an injury to his arm or wrist.
Through the courtesy of another fellow pas-
senger, Mrs. J. J. Brown, of Denver, Colorado, I
am able to give her experiences in boat No. 6,
told in a delightful, graphic manner; so much so
that I would like to insert it all did not space pre-
vent:
In telling of the people she conversed with,
that Sunday evening, she refers to an exceedingly
intellectual and much-travelled acquaintance, Mrs.
Bucknell, whose husband had founded the Buck-
nell University of Philadelphia; also to another
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 27
passenger from the same city, Dr. Brewe, who
had done much in scientific research. During her
conversation with Mrs. Bucknell, the latter re-
iterated a statement previously made on the tender
at Cherbourg while waiting for the Titanic. She
said she feared boarding the ship because she had
evil forebodings that something might happen.
Mrs. Brown laughed at her premonitions and
shortly afterwards sought her quarters.
Instead of retiring to slumber, Mrs. Brown
was absorbed in reading and gave little thought
to the crash at her window overhead which threw
her to the floor. Picking herself up she proceeded
to see what the steamer had struck; but thinking
nothing serious had occurred, though realizing
that the engines had stopped immediately after the
crash and the boat was at a standstill, she picked
up her book and began reading again. Finally
she saw her curtains moving while she was read-
ing, but no one was visible. She again looked out
and saw a man whose face was blanched, his eyes
protruding, wearing the look of a haunted crea-
ture. He was gasping for breath and in an un-
dertone gasped, "Get your hfe preserver." He
was one of the buyers for Gimbel Bros., of Paris
and New York.
She got down her life preserver, snatched up
her furs and hurriedly mounted the stairs to A
128 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC'*
Deck, where she found passengers putting on life-
belts like hers. Mrs. Bucknell approached and
whispered, *'Didn't I tell you something was go-
ing to happen?" She found the lifeboats lowered
from the falls and made flush with the deck.
Madame de Villiers appeared from below in a
nightdress and evening slippers, with no stockings.
She wore a long woollen motorcoat. Touching
Mrs. Brown's arm, in a terrified voice she said
she was going below for her money and valuables.
After much persuasion Mrs. Brown prevailed
upon her not to do so, but to get into the boat.
She hesitated and became very much excited, but
was finally prevailed upon to enter the lifeboat.
Mrs. Brown was walking away, eager to see what
was being done elsewhere. Suddenly she saw a
shadow and a few seconds later someone seized
her, saying: "You are going, too," and she was
dropped fully four feet into the lowering lifeboat.
There was but one man in charge of the boat. As
it was lowered by jerks by an officer above, she
discovered that a great gush of water was spout-
ing through the porthole from D Deck, and the
lifeboat was in grave danger of being submerged.
She immediately grasped an oar and held the Hfe-
boat away from the ship.
When the sea was reached, smooth as glass,
she looked up and saw the benign, resigned coun-
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 29
tenance, the venerable white hair and the Chester-
fieldlan bearing of the beloved Captain Smith
with whom she had crossed twice before, and only
three months previous on the Olympic. He peered
down upon those in the boat, like a solicitous fa-
ther, and directed them to row to the light in the
distance — all boats keeping together.
Because of the fewness of men in the boat she
found it necessary for someone to bend to the
oars. She placed her oar in an oarlock and asked
a young woman nearby to hold one while she
placed the other on the further side. To Mrs.
Brown^s surprise, the young lady (who must have
been Miss Norton, spoken of elsewhere), im-
mediately began to row like a galley slave, every
stroke counting. Together they managed to pull
away from the steamer.
By this time E and C Decks were completely
submerged. Those ladies who had husbands,
sons or fathers on the doomed steamer buried
their heads on the shoulders of those near them
and moaned and groaned. Mrs. Brown's eyes
were glued on the fast-disappearing ship. Sud-
denly there was a rift in the water, the sea opened
up and the surface foamed like giant arms and
spread around the ship and the vessel disappeared
from sight, and not a sound was heard.
Then follows Mrs. Brown's account of the
130 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
conduct of the quartermaster in the boat
which will be found under the heading pres-
ently given, and it will be noticed that her state-
ments correspond with those of all others in the
boat.
The dawn disclosed the awful situation. There
were fields of ice on which, like points on the
landscape, rested innumerable pyramids of ice.
Seemingly a half hour later, the sun, like a ball of
molten lead, appeared in the background. The
hand of nature portrayed a scenic effect beyond
the ken of the human mind. The heretofore
smooth sea became choppy and retarded their
progress. All the while the people in boat No.
6 saw the other small lifeboats being hauled
aboard the Carpathia. By the time their boat
reached the Carpathia a heavy sea was running,
and. No. 6 boat being among the last to approach,
it was found difficult to get close to the ship.
Three or four unsuccessful attempts were made.
Each time they were dashed against the keel, and
bounded off like a rubber ball. A rope was then
thrown down, which was spliced in four at the
bottom, and a Jacob's ladder was made. Catch-
ing hold, they were hoisted up, where a dozen of
the crew and officers and doctors were waiting.
They were caught and handled as tenderly as
though they were children.
women and children first i3i
kitchens' conduct
Major Peuchen (Am. Inq., p. 334) continued:
There was an officers' call, sort of a whistle,
calling us to come back to the boat. The quarter-
master told us to stop rowing. We all thought we
ought to go back to the ship, but the quartermas-
ter said "No, we are not going back to the boat;
it is our lives now, not theirs." It was the women
who rebelled against this action. I asked him to
assist us in rowing and let some of the women
steer the boat, as it was a perfectly calm night and
no skill was required. He refused, and told me
he was in command of that boat and that I was
to row.
He imagined he saw a light. I have done a
great deal of yachting in my life. I have owned
a yacht for six years. I saw a reflection. He
thought it was a boat of some kind; probably it
might be a buoy, and he called out to the next boat
asking them if they knew any buoys were around
there. This struck me as being perfectly absurd.
I heard what seemed to be one, two, three
rumbling sounds; then the lights of the ship went
out. Then the terrible cries and calls for help —
moaning and crying. It affected all the women in
our boat whose husbands were among those in
the water. This went on for some time, grad-
iirT.,r^ . ^,,^»
132 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
ually getting fainter and fainter. At first it was
horrible to listen to. We must have been five-
eighths of a mile away when this took place.
There were only two of us rowing a very heavy
boat with a good many people In It, and I do not
think we covered very much ground. Some of
the women In the boat urged the quartermaster to
return. He said there was no use going back, —
that there were only a "lot of stiffs there." The
women resented It very much.
Seaman Fleet (Am. Inq., p. 363) :
All the women asked us to pull to the place
where the Titanic went down, but the quarter-
master, who was at the tiller all the time, would
not allow It. They asked him, but he would not
hear of It.
Mrs. Candee continues :
HItchens was cowardly and almost crazed with
fear all the time. After we left the ship he
thought he heard the captain say: "Come along-
side," and was for turning back until reminded by
the passengers that the captain's final orders were:
"Keep boats together and row away from the
ship." She heard this order given.
After that he constantly reminded us who were
at the oars that if we did not make better speed
WOMEN ANt) CHILDREN FIRST 1^3
with our rowing we would all be sucked under
the water by the foundering of the ship. This he
repeated whenever our muscles flagged.
Directly the Titanic had foundered a discussion
arose as to whether we should return. Hitchens
said our boat would immediately be swamped if
we went into the confusion. The reason for this
was that our boat was not manned with enough
oars.
Then after the sinking of the Titanic Hitchens
reminded us frequently that we were hundreds of
miles from land, without water, without food,
without protection against cold, and if a storm
should come up that we would be helpless. There-
fore, we faced death by starvation or by drown-
ing. He said we did not even know the direction
in which we were rowing. I corrected him by
pointing to the north star immediately over our
bow.
When our boat came alongside No. i6, Hit-
chens immediately ordered the boats lashed to-
gether. He resigned the helm and settled down to
rest. When the Carpathia hove in sight he or-
dered that we drift. Addressing the people in
both boats Mrs. Candee said: "Where those
lights are lies our salvation; shall we not go to-
wards them?'* The reply was a murmur of ap-
proval and immediate recourse to the oars.
134 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC**
Hitchens was requested to assist in the toilsome
rowing. Women tried to taunt and provoke him
into activity. When it was suggested that he per-
mit the injured boy to take the tiller and that
Hitchens should row, he declined, and in every
case he refused labor. He spoke with such un-
civility to one of the ladies that a man's voice was
heard in rebuke: "You are speaking to a lady,'*
to which he replied: "I know whom I am speaking
to, and I am commanding this boat.''
When asked if the Carpathia would come and
pick us up he replied: "No, she is not going to
pick us up; she is to pick up bodies." This when
said to wives and mothers of the dead men was
needlessly brutal.
When we neared the Carpathia he refused to go
round on the smooth side because it necessitated
keeping longer in the rough sea, so we made a
difficult landing.
In Mrs. Brown's account of her experience she
relates the following about the conduct of the
quartermaster in charge of the boat in which she
was:
He, Quartermaster Hitchens, was at the rudder
and standing much higher than we were, shivering
like an aspen. As they rowed away from the
ship he burst out in a frightened voice and warned
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST I35
them of the fate that awaited them, saying that
the task in rowing away from the sinking ship
was futile, as she was so large that in sinking she
would draw everything for miles around down
with her suction, and, if they escaped that, the
boilers would burst and rip up the bottom of the
sea, tearing the icebergs asunder and completely
submerging them. They were truly doomed either
way. He dwelt upon the dire fate awaiting them,
describing the accident that happened to the S. S.
New York when the Titanic left the docks at
Southampton.
After the ship had sunk and none of the ca-
lamities that were predicted by the terrified quar-
termaster were experienced, he was asked to re-
turn and pick up those in the water. Again the
people in the boat were admonished and told how
the frantic drowning victims would grapple the
sides of the boat and capsize it. He not yielding
to the entreaties, those at the oars pulled away
vigorously towards a faintly glimmering light on
the horizon. After three hours of pulling the
light grew fainter, and then completely disap-
peared. Then this quartermaster, who stood on
his pinnacle trembling, with an attitude like some
one preaching to the multitude, fanning the air
with his hands, recommenced his tirade of awful
forebodings, telling those in the bo^t that they
136 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE * TITANIC
were likely to drift for days, all the while re-
minding them that they were surrounded by ice-
bergs, as he pointed to a pyramid of ice looming
up in the distance, possibly seventy feet high. He
forcibly impressed upon them that there was no
water in the casks in the lifeboats, and no bread,
no compass and no chart. No one answered him.
All seemed to be stricken dumb. One of the
ladies in the boat had had the presence of mind to
procure her silver brandy flask. As she held it
in her hand the silver glittered and he being at-
tracted to it implored her to give it to him, saying
that he was frozen. She refused the brandy, but
removed her steamer blanket and placed it around
his shoulders, while another lady wrapped a sec-
ond blanket around his waist and limbs, he look-
ing "as snug as a bug in a rug."
The quartermaster was then asked to relieve
one or the other of those struggling at the oars,
as someone else could manage the rudder while
he rowed. He flatly refused and continued
to lampoon them, shouting: "Here, you fel-
low on the starboard side, your oar is not be-
ing put in the water at the right angle.'' No one
made any protest to his outbursts, as he broke the
monotony, but they continued to pull at the oars
with no goal in sight. Presently he raised his
voice and shouted to another lifeboat to pull near
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 37
and lash alongside, commanding some of the other
ladies to take the light and signal to the other life-
boats. His command was immediately obeyed.
He also gave another command to drop the oars
and lay to. Some time later, after more shouts,
a lifeboat hove to and obeyed his orders to throw
a rope, and was tied alongside. On the cross-
seat of that boat stood a man in white pajamas,
looking like a snow man in that icy region. His
teeth were chattering and he appeared quite numb.
Seeing his predicament, Mrs. Brown told him he
had better get to rowing and keep his blood in
circulation. But the suggestion met with a forci-
ble protest from the quartermaster in charge.
Mrs. Brown and her companions at the oars, after
their exercise, felt the blasts from the ice-fields
and demanded that they should be allowed to row
to keep warm.
Over into their boat jumped a half-frozen
stoker, black and covered with dust. As he was
dressed in thin jumpers, she picked up a large
sable stole which she had dropped into the boat
and wrapped it around his limbs from his waist
down and tied the tails around his ankles. She
handed him an oar and told the pajama man to
cut loose. A howl arose from the quartermas-
ter in charge. He moved to prevent it, and Mrs.
Brown told him if he did he would be thrown
tir^^r^. ^,,^»»
138 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
overboard. Someone laid a hand on her shoulder
to stay her threats, but she knew it would not be
necessary to push him over, for had she only
moved in the quartermaster's direction, he would
have tumbled into the sea, so paralyzed was he
with fright. By this time he had worked himself
up to a pitch of sheer despair, fearing that a
scramble of any kind would remove the plug from
the bottom of the boat. He then became very im-
pertinent, and our fur-enveloped stoker in as
broad a cockney as one hears in the Hay-
market shouted: "Oi sy, don't you know you
are talkin' to a lidy?" For the time being the
seaman was silenced and we resumed our task
at the oars. Two other ladies came to the
rescue.
While glancing around watching the edge of
the horizon, the beautifully modulated voice of
the young Englishwoman at the oar (Miss Nor-
ton) exclaimed, *'There is a flash of lightning."
*'It is a faUing star," replied our pessimistic sea-
man. As it became brighter he was then con-
vinced that it was a ship. However, the distance,
as we rowed, seemed interminable. We saw the
ship was anchored. Again the declaration was
made that we, regardless of what our quartermas-
ter said, would row toward her, and the young
Englishwoman from the Thames got to work, ac-
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST I39
companying her strokes with cheerful words to the
wilted occupants of the boat.
Mrs. Brown finishes the quartermaster in her
final account of him. On entering the dining-
room on the Carpathia, she saw him in one cor-
ner — this brave and heroic seaman ! A cluster of
people were around him as he wildly gesticulated,
trying to impress upon them what difiiculty he had
in maintaining discipline among the occupants of
his boat; but on seeing Mrs. Brown and a few
others of the boat nearby he did not tarry long,
but made a hasty retreat.
R. Hitchens, Q. M. (Am. Inq., p. 451. Br.
Inq.) explains his conduct:
I was put in charge of No. 6 by the Second Of-
ficer, Mr. Lightoller. We lowered away from the
ship. I told them in the boat somebody would have
to pull. There was no use stopping alongside the
ship, which was gradually going by the head. We
were in a dangerous place, so I told them to man
the oars — ladies and all. "All of you do your
best.*' I relieved one of the young ladies with an
oar and told her to take the tiller. She imme-
diately let the boat come athwart, and the ladies
in the boat got very nervous; so I took the tiller
back again and told them to manage the best way
they could. The lady I refer to, Mrs. Meyer,
I40 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
was rather vexed with me in the boat and I spoke
rather straight to her. She accused me of wrap-
ping myself up in the blankets in the boat, using
bad language and drinking all the whisky, which
I deny, sir. I was standing to attention, exposed,
steering the boat all night, which is a very cold
billet. I would rather be pulling the boat than
be steering, but I saw no one there to steer, so I
thought, being in charge of the boat, it was the
best way to steer myself, especially when I saw
the ladies get very nervous.
I do not remember that the women urged me
to go toward the Titanic. I did not row toward
the scene of the Titanic because the suction of the
ship would draw the boat, with all its occupants,
under water. I did not know which way to go back
to the Titanic. I was looking at all the other boats.
We were looking at each other's lights. After the
lights disappeared and went out, we did hear cries
of distress — a lot of crying, moaning and scream-
ing, for two or three minutes. We made fast to
another boat — that of the master-at-arms. It was
No. 1 6. I had thirty-eight women in my boat.
I counted them, sir. One seaman. Fleet; the Ca-
nadian Major, who testified here yesterday, my-
self and the Italian boy.
We got down to the Carpathia and I saw every
lady and everybody out of the boat, and I saw
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 14!
them carefully hoisted on board the Carpathia,
and I was the last man to leave the boat.
BOAT NO. 8 *
No male passengers in this boat.
Passengers: Mrs. Bucknell and her maid (Al-
bina Bazzani) ; Miss Cherry, Mrs. Kenyon, Miss
Leader, Mrs. Pears, Mrs. Penasco and her maid
(Mile. Olivia) ; Countess Rothes and her maid
(Miss Maloney) ; Mrs. Swift, Mrs. Taussig,
Miss Taussig, Mrs. White and her maid (Amelia
Bessetti) ; Mrs. Wick, Miss Wick, Miss Young
and Mrs. Straus' maid (Ellen Bird).
Women : 24.
Said good-bye to wives and sank with the ship:
Messrs. Kenyon, Pears, Penasco, Taussig and
Wick.
Crew: Seaman T. Jones, Stewards Crawford
and Hart, and a cook.
Total: 2S.
INCIDENTS
T. Jones, seaman (Am. Inq., p. 570).
The captain asked me if the plug was in the
boat and I answered, 'Tes, sir.'' ''All right," he
* British Report (p. 38) puts this boat second on port
side at 1.10. Notwithstanding Seaman Fleet's testimony
(Am. Inq., p. 363), I think she must have preceded No. 6.
142 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
said, "any more ladles?" He shouted twice
again, "Any more ladies?"
I pulled for the light, but I found that I could
not get to it; so I stood by for a while. I wanted
to return to the ship, but the ladies were fright-
ened. In all, I had thirty-five ladies and three
stewards, Crawford, Hart and another. There
were no men who offered to get in the boat. I
did not see any children, and very few women
when we left the ship. There was one old lady
there and an old gentleman, her husband. She
wanted him to enter the boat with her but he
backed away. She never said anything; if she did,
we could not hear it, because the steam was blow-
ing so and making such a noise.*
Senator Newlands : Can you give me the names
of any passengers on this boat?
Witness : One lady — she had a lot to say and I
put her to steering the boat.
Senator Newlands: What was her name?
Witness: Lady Rothes; she was a countess, or
something.
A. Crawford, steward (Am. Inq., pp. in, 827,
842).
* By the testimony of the witness and Steward Craw-
ford it appears that Mr. and Mrs. Straus approached this
boat and their maid got in, but Mr. Straus would not follow
his wife and she refused to leave him.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 43
After we struck I went out and saw the iceberg,
a large black object, much higher than B Deck,
passing along the starboard side. We filled No.
8 with women. Captain Smith and a steward
lowered the forward falls. Captain Smith told
me to get in. He gave orders to row for the light
and to land the people there and come back to the
ship. The Countess Rothes was at the tiller all
night. There were two lights not further than
ten miles — stationary masthead lights. Every-
body saw them — all the ladies in the boat. They
asked if we were drawing nearer to the steamer,
but we could not seem to make any headway, and
near daybreak we saw another steamer coming
up, which proved to be the Carpathia, and then
we turned around and came back. We were the
furthest boat away. I am sure it was a steamer,
because a sailing vessel would not have had two
masthead lights.
Mrs. J. Stuart White (Am. Inq., p. 1008).
Senator Smith: Did you see anything after the
accident bearing on the discipline of the officers or
crew, or their conduct which you desire to speak
of?
Mrs. White : Before we cut loose from the ship
these stewards took out cigarettes and lighted
them. On an occasion Hke that! That is one
tt^ . ^»»
144 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
thing I saw. All of these men escaped under the
pretence of being oarsmen. The man who rowed
near me took his oar and rowed all over the boat
in every direction. . I said to him: *'Why don't
you put the oar in the oarlock?" He said: "Do
you put it in that hole?" I said: "Certainly." He
said: "I never had an oar in my hand before." I
spoke to the other man and he said: "I have never
had an oar in my hand before, but I think I can
row." These were the men we were put to sea
with, that night — with all those magnificent fel-
lows left on board who would have been such a
protection to us — those were the kind of men with
whom we were put to sea that night! There were
twenty-two women and four men in my boat.
None of the men seemed to understand the man-
agement of a boat except one who was at the end
of our boat and gave the orders. The officer who
put us in the boat gave strict orders to make for
the light opposite, land passengers and then get
back just as soon as possible. That was the light
everybody saw in the distance. I saw it distinctly.
It was ten miles away, but we rowed, and rowed,
and rowed, and then we all decided that it was
impossible for us to get to it, and the thing to do
was to go back and see what we could do for the
others. We had only twenty-two in our boat.
We turned and went back and lingered around for
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST I45
a long time. We could not locate the other boats
except by hearing them. The only way to look
was by my electric light. I had an electric cane
with an electric light in it. The lamp in the boat
was worth absolutely nothing. There was no ex-
citement whatever on the ship. Nobody seemed
frightened. Nobody was panic-stricken. There
was a lot of pathos when husbands and wives
kissed each other good-bye.
We were the second boat (No. 8) that got
away from the ship and we saw nothing that hap-
pened after that. We were not near enough. We
heard the yells of the passengers as they went
down, but we saw none of the harrowing part of
it. The women in our boat all rowed — every one
of them. Miss Young rowed every minute. The
men (the stewards) did not know the first thing
about it and could not row. Mrs. Swift rowed
all the way to the Carpathia. Countess Rothes
stood at the tiller. Where would we have been
if it had not been for the women, with such men
as were put in charge of the boat? Our head sea-
man was giving orders and these men knew noth-
ing about a boat. They would say: "If you don't
stop talking through that hole in your face there
will be one less in the boat.'* We were in the
hands of men of that kind. I settled two or three
fights between them and quieted them down. Im-
146 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
agine getting right out there and taking out a pipe
and smoking it, which was most dangerous. We
had woollen rugs all around us. There was an-
other thing which I thought a disgraceful point.
The men were asked when they got in if they
could row. Imagine asking men who are sup-
posed to be at the head of lifeboats if they can
row!
Senator Smith : There were no male passengers
in your boat?
Mrs. White: Not one. I never saw a finer
body of men in my life than the men passengers
on this ship — athletes and men of sense — and if
they had been permitted to enter these lifeboats
with their families, the boats would have been
properly manned and many more lives saved, in-
stead of allowing stewards to get in the boats
and save their lives under the pretence that they
could row when they knew nothing about it.
BOAT NO. 10.*
No male passengers in this boat.
Passengers: First cabin. Miss Andrews, Miss
Longley, Mrs. Hogeboom. Second cabin, Mrs.
Parrish, Mrs. Shelley. 41 women, 7 children.
* British Report (p. 38) says third at 1.20. I think No. 6
went later, though Buley (Am. Inq., p. 604) claims No. 10 as
the last lifeboat lowered.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST I47
Crew: Seamen: Buley (in charge), Evans;
Fireman Rice ; Stewards Burke and one other.
Stowaway: i Japanese.
Jumped from A Deck into boat being lowered:
I Armenian.
Total: SS-
INCIDENTS
Edward J. Buley, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 604).
Chief Officer Wilde said: ''See if you can find
another seaman to give you a hand, and jump in."
I found Evans, my mate, the able-bodied seaman,
and we both got in the boat.
Much of Seaman Buley's and of Steward
Burke's testimony is a repetition of that of Sea-
man Evans, so I cite the latter only:
F. O. Evans, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 675).
I went up (on the Boat Deck) with the remain-
der of the crew and uncovered all of the port
boats. Then to the starboard side and lowered
the boats there with the assistance of the Boat-
swain of the ship, A. Nichol. I went next (after
No. 12) to No. 10. Mr. Murdoch was standing
there. I lowered the boat with the assistance of
a steward. The chief officer said: "Get into that
boat.'' I got into the bows. A young ship's
148 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC"
baker (J. Joughin) was getting the children and
chucking them into the boat. Mr. Murdoch and
the baker made the women jump across into the
boat about two feet and a half. "He threw them
on to the women and he was catching children
by their dresses and chucking them in.'* One
woman in a black dress slipped and fell. She
seemed nervous and did not like to jump at first.
When she did jump she did not go far enough,
but fell between the ship and the boat. She was
pulled in by some men on the deck below, went up
to the Boat Deck again, took another jump, and
landed safely in the boat. There were none of
the children hurt. The only accident was with this
woman. The only man passenger was a for-
eigner, up forward. He, as the boat was being
lowered, jumped from A Deck into the boat — de-
liberately jumped across and saved himself.
When we got to the water it was impossible to
get to the tripper underneath the thwart on ac-
count of women being packed so tight. We had
to lift the fall up off the hook by hand to release
the spring to get the block and fall away from it.
We pushed off from the ship and rowed away
about 200 yards. We tied up to three other
boats. We gave the man our painter and made
fast to No. 12. We stopped there about an hour,
and Officer Lowe came over with his boat No. 14
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST I49
and said: *'You seamen will have to distribute
these passengers among these boats. Tie them to-
gether and come into my boat to go over to the
wreckage and pick up anyone that is alive there."
Witness testified that the larger lifeboats would
hold sixty people.
Senator Smith: Do you wish to be understood
that each lifeboat like Nos. 12 and 14 and 10
could be filled to its fullest capacity and lowered
to the water with safety?
Mr. Evans : Yes, because we did it then, sir.
Senator Smith : That is a pretty good answer.
Mr. Evans : It was my first experience in seeing
a boat loaded like that, sir.
The stern of the ship, after plunging forward,
remained floating in a perpendicular position about
four or five minutes.
W. Burke, dining-room steward (Am. Inq., p.
822).
I went to my station and found that my boat,
No. I, had gone. Then to the port side and as-
sisted with No. 8 boat and saw her lowered.
Then I passed to No. 10. The officer said, '*Get
right in there," and pushed me toward the boat,
and I got in. When there were no women to be
had around the deck the officer gave the order
for the boat to be lowered.
150 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
After the two seamen (Buley and Evans) were
transferred to boat No. 14, some of the women
forward said to me: *'There are two men down
here in the bottom of the boat." I got hold of
them and pulled one out. He apparently was a
Japanese and could not speak English. I put him
at an oar. The other appeared to be an Italian.
I tried to speak to him but he said: ^'Armenian."
I also put him at an oar. I afterwards made fast
to an officer's boat — I think it was Mr. Lightol-
ler's (i. e., No. 12).
Mrs. Imanita Shelley's affidavit (Am. Inq.,
p. 1146).
Mrs. Shelley with her mother, Mrs. L. D. Par-
rish, were second cabin passengers. Mrs. Shelley
had been sick and it was with difficulty that she
reached the deck, where she was assisted to a
chair. After some time a sailor ran to her and
implored her to get in the lifeboat that was then
being launched — one of the last on the ship.
Pushing her mother toward the sailor, Mrs. Shel-
ley made for the davits where the boat hung.
There was a space of between four or five feet
between the edge of the deck and the suspended
boat. The sailor picked up Mrs. Parrish and threw
her bodily into the boat. Mrs. Shelley jumped and
landed safely. There were a fireman and a ship's
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST I5I
baker among the crew at the time of launching.
The boat was filled with women and children, as
many as could get in without overcrowding. There
was trouble with the tackle and the ropes had to
be cut.
Just as they reached the water, a crazed Italian
jumped from the deck into the lifeboat, landing on
Mrs. Parrish, severely bruising her right side and
leg.
Orders had been given to keep in sight of the
ship's boat which had been sent out ahead to look
for help. Throughout the entire period, from the
time of the collision and taking to the boats, the
ship's crew behaved in an ideal manner. Not a
man tried to get into a boat unless ordered to,
and many were seen to strip off their clothing and
wrap it around the women and children, who came
up half-clad from their beds. Mrs. Shelley says
that no crew could have behaved in a more perfect
manner.
J. Joughin, head baker (Br. Inq.)
Chief Officer Wilde shouted to the stewards to
keep the men passengers back, but there was no
necessity for the order as they were keeping back.
The order was splendid. The stewards, firemen
and sailors got in line and passed the ladies in;
and then we had difficulty to find ladies to go into
152 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE *'tITANIC"
the boat. No distinction at all as to class was
made. I saw a number of third-class women with
their bags, which they would not let go.
The boat was let down and the women were
forcibly drawn into it. The boat was a yard and
a half from the ship's side. There was a slight
list and we had to drop them in. The officer or-
dered two sailors and a steward to get in.
BOAT NO. 12.*
No male passenger in this boat.
Passengers: Miss Phillips.
Bade good-bye to his daughter and sank with
the ship: Mr, Phillips. Women and children, 40.
Crew: Seamen Poigndestre (in charge), F.
Clench. Later, Lucas and two firemen were trans-
ferred from boat '*D."
Jumped from deck below as boat was lowered:
I Frenchman.
Total: 43.
Transfers were made to this boat first from
Engelhardt "D" and second, from Engelhardt up-
set boat "B,'' so that it reached the Carpathians
side with seventy, or more.
* British Report (p. 38) says this was the fourth boat
lowered on port side at 1.25 a. m.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 53
INCIDENTS
F. Clench, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 636).
The second officer and myself stood on the gun-
wale and helped load women and children. The
chief officer passed them along to us and we filled
three boats, No. 12 first. In each there were
about forty or fifty people. After finishing No.
16 boat, I went back to No. 12. **How many men
(crew) have you in this boat?" the chief officer
said, and I said, "Only one, sir.'' He looked up
and said: "Jump into that boat,'' and that made a
complement of two seamen. An able seaman was
in charge of this boat. (Poigndestrc.) We had
instructions to keep our eye on No. 14 and keep
together.
There was only one male passenger in our boat,
and that was a Frenchman who jumped in and
we could not find him. He got under the thwart,
mixed up with the women, just as we dropped into
the water before the boat was lowered and with-
out our knowledge. Officer Lowe transferred
some of his people into our boat and others, mak-
ing close on to sixty, and pretty full up. When
Mr. Lowe was gone I heard shouts. I looked
around and saw a boat in the way that appeared
to be like a funnel; we thought it was the top of
a funnel. (It was Engelhardt overturned boat
154 THE TRUTH ABOUT TH^ "tITANIC"
*'B.") There were about twenty on this, and we
took off approximately ten, making seventy in my
boat.
John Poigndestre, A. B. (Br. Inq., p. 82).
Lightoller ordered us to layoff and stand by close
to the ship. Boat "D" and three lifeboats made
fast to No. 12. Stood off about 100 yards after
ship sank. Not enough sailors to help pick up
swimmers. No light. Transfer of about a dozen
women passengers from No. 14 to No. 12. About
150 yards off when Titanic sank. No compass.
BOAT NO. 14.*
No male passenger in this boat.
Passengers: Mrs. Compton, Miss Compton,
Mrs. Minahan, Miss Minahan, Mrs. Collyer,
Miss Collyer.
Picked lip out of sea: W. F. Hoyt (who died),
Steward J. Stewart, and a plucky Japanese.
Women: 50.
Volunteer when crew was short: C. Williams.
Crew: Fifth Officer Lowe, Seaman Scarrot, 2
firemen, Stewards Crowe and Morris.
* British Report (p. 38) says this was the fifth boat on the
port side, lowered at 1.30.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 55
Stowaway: i Italian.
Bade good-hye and sank with ship: Dr. Mina-
han, Mr. Compton, Mr. CoUyer.
Total: 60.
INCIDENTS
H. G. Lowe, Fifth Officer (Am. Inq., 116).
Nos. 12, 14 and 16 were down about the same
time. I told Mr. Moody that three boats had
gone away and that an officer ought to go with
them. He said: *'You go.'' There was difficulty
in lowering when I got near the water. I dropped
her about five feet, because I was not going to
take the chance of being dropped down upon by
somebody. While I was on the Boat Deck, two
men tried to jump into the boat. I chased them
out.
We filled boats 14 and 16 with women and chil-
dren. Moody filled No. 16 and I filled No. 14.
Lightoller was there part of the time. They were
all women and children, barring one passenger,
who was an Italian, and he sneaked in dressed
like a woman. He had a shawl over his head.
There was another passenger, a chap by the name
of C. Williams, whom I took for rowing. He
gave me his name and address (referring to
book), "C. Williams, Racket Champion of the
156 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE '^TITANIc"
World, 2 Drury Road, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Mid-
dlesex, England.'*
As I was being lowered, I expected every mo-
ment that my boat would be doubled up under my
feet. I had overcrowded her, but I knew that I
had to take a certain amount of risk. I thought
if one additional body was to fall into that boat,
that slight additional weight might part the hooks,
or carry away something; so as we were coming
down past the open decks, I saw a lot of Latin
people all along the ship's rails. They were glar-
ing more or less like wild beasts, ready to spring.
That is why I yelled out to "look out," and let
go, bang! right along the ship's side. There was
a space I should say of about three feet between
the side of the boat and the ship's side, and as I
went down I fired these shots without any inten-
tion of hurting anybody and with the positive
knowledge that I did not hurt anybody. I fired,
I think, three times.
Later, 150 yards away, I herded five boats to-
gether. I was in No. 14; then I had 10, 12, col-
lapsible **D" and one other boat (No. 4), and
made them tie up. I waited until the yells and
shrieks had subsided for the people to thin out,
and then I deemed it safe for me to go amongst
the wreckage; so I transferred all my passengers,
somewhere about fifty-three, from my boat and
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 57
equally distributed them among my other four
boats. Then I asked for volunteers to go with
me to the wreck, and it was at this time that I
found the Italian. He came aft and had a shawl
over his head, and I suppose he had skirts. Any-
how, I pulled the shawl off his face and saw he
was a man. He was in a great hurry to get into
the other boat and I got hold of him and pitched
him in.
Senator Smith; Pitched him in?
Mr. Lowe: Yes; because he was not worth be-
ing handled better.
Senator Smith: You pitched him in among the
women?
Mr. Lowe: No, sir; in the forepart of the life-
boat in which I transferred my passengers.
Senator Smith: Did you use some pretty em-
phatic language when you did this?
Mr. Lowe: No, sir; I did not say a word to
him.
Then I went off and rowed to the wreckage and
around the wreckage and picked up four people
alive. I do not know who these live persons were.
They never came near me afterwards either to say
this or that or the other. But one died, Mr. W.
F. Hoyt, of New York. After we got him in the
boat we took his collar off so as to give him more
chance to breathe, but unfortunately, he died. He
158 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC'*
was too far gone when we picked him up. I then
left the wreck. I went right around, and, strange
to say, I did not see a single female body around
the wreckage. I did not have a light In my boat.
Then I could see the Carpathia comxing up and I
thought: *'Well, I am the fastest boat of the lot,''
as I was sailing, you see. I was going through
the water four or five knots, bowhng along very
nicely.
By and by, I noticed a collapsible boat, Engel-
hardt **D." It looked rather sorry, so I thought:
*'Well, I will go down and pick her up and make
sure of her." This was Quartermaster Bright's
boat. Mrs. H. B. Harris, of New York, was in
it. She had a broken arm. I had taken this first
collapsible (''D") In tow and I noticed that there
was another collapsible ("A") In a worse plight
than this one that I had in tow. I got to her just
in time and took off, I suppose, about twenty men
and one lady. I left three male bodies In It. I may
have been a bit hard-hearted in doing this. I
thought: ''I am not here to worry about bodies; I
am here to save life and not bother about bodies.''
The people on the raft told me these had been
dead for some time. I do not know whether any
one endeavored to find anything on their persons
that would Identify them, because they were all up
to their ankles in water when I took them off.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 59
Joseph Scarrot, A. B. (Br. Inq., pp. 29, 30) : I
myself took charge of No. 14 as the only sailor-
man there. The Chief Officer ordered women and
children to be taken in. Some men came and tried
to rush the boat. They were foreigners and could
not understand the orders I gave them, but I
managed to keep them away. I had to use some
persuasion with a boat tiller. One man jumped
in twice and I had to throw him out the third
time. I got all the women and children into the
boat. There were fifty-four women and four
children — one of them a baby in arms. There
were myself, two firemen, three or four stewards
and Mr. Lowe, who got into the boat. I told
him the trouble I had with the men and he brought
out his revolver and fired two shots and said: *'If
there is any more trouble I will fire at them."
The shots fired were fired between the boat and
the ship's side. The after fall got twisted and we
dropped the boat by the releasing gear and got
clear of the ship. There were four men rowing.
There was a man in the boat who we thought
was a sailor, but he was not. He was a window
cleaner. The Titanic was then about fifty yards
off, and we lay there with the other boats. Mr.
Lowe was at the helm. We went in the direction
of the cries and came among hundreds of dead
bodies and life belts. We got one man, who died
l6o THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
shortly after he got nito the boat. One of the
stewards tried to restore him, but without avail.
There was another man who was calling for help,
but among the bodies and wreckage it was too late
for us to reach him. It took half an hour to get
to that man. Cannot say exactly, but think we got
about twenty off of the Engelhardt boat ("A'') .
E. J. Buley, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 605) :
(After his transfer from No. 10 to No. 14.)
Then, with Lowe in his boat No. 14, I went back
to where the Titanic sank and picked up the re-
maining live bodies. We got four; all the others
were dead. We turned over several to see if they
were ahve. It looked as if none of them were
drowned. They looked as if frozen. The hfe
belts they had on were that much (indicating)
out of the water, and their heads lay back with
their faces on the water. They were head and
shoulders out of water, with their heads thrown
back. In the morning, after we had picked up all
that were alive, there was a collapsible boat
("A'') swamped, which we saw with a lot of
people up to their knees in water. We sailed over
to them. We then picked up another boat (**D")
and took her In tow. I think we were about the
seventh or eighth boat alongside the Carpathian
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST l6l
F. O. Evans, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 677) :
So from No. 10 we got Into his (Lowe's) boat,
No. 14, and went straight over towards the wreck-
age with eight or nine men and picked up four
persons alive, one of whom died on the way to the
Carpathia. Another picked up was named J.
Stewart, a steward. You could not hardly count
the number of dead bodies. I was afraid to look
over the sides because It might break my nerves
down. We saw no other people In the water or
heard their cries, other than these four picked
up. The officer said: *'HoIst a sail forward."
I did so and made sail in the direction of the
collapsible boat *'A" about a mile and a half
away, which had been swamped. There were in
it one woman and about ten or eleven men. Then
we picked up another collapsible boat ('^D") and
took her in tow to the Carpathia. There were
then about twenty-five people in our boat No. 14,
including the one who died.
One of the ladies there passed over a flask of
whisky to the people who were all wet through.
She asked if anybody needed the spirits, and these
people were all soaking wet and nearly perished
and they passed it around among these men and
women. It took about twenty minutes after we
sighted the Carpathia to get alongside of her.
We saw five or six icebergs — some of them tre-
u^^,^«^^,^>»
162 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
mendous, about the height of the Titanic — and
field ice. After we got on the Carpathia we saw,
at a rough estimate, a twenty-five mile floe, sir,
flat like the floor.
F. Crowe, steward (Am. Inq., p. 615) :
I assisted in handing the women and children
into boat No. 12, and was asked if I could take
an oar. I said: *'Yes,'' and was told to man
the boat, I believe, by Mr. Murdoch. After get-
ting the women and children in we lowered down
to within four or five feet of the water, and then
the block and tackle got twisted in some way,
causing us to have to cut the ropes to allow the
boat to get into the water. This officer, Lowe,
told us to do this. He was in the boat with us.
I stood by the lever — the lever releasing the
blocks from the hooks in the boat. He told me
to wait, to get away and cut the line to raise the
lever, thereby causing the hooks to open and allow
the boat to drop in the water.
There was some shooting that occurred at the
time the boat was lowered. There were various
men passengers, probably Italians or some foreign
nationality other than English or American, who
attempted to "rush" the boats. The officers
threatened to shoot any man who put his foot
into the boat. An officer fired a revolver, but
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 63
either downward or upward, not shooting at any
one of the passengers at all and not injuring any-
body. He fired perfectly clear upward and down-
ward and stopped the rush. There was no dis-
order after that. One woman cried, but that
was all. There was no panic or anything in the
boat.
After getting into the water I pushed out to
the other boats. In No. 14 there were fifty-seven
women and children and about six men, including
one officer, and I may have been seven. I am
not quite sure. I know how many, because when
we got out a distance the officer asked me how
many people were in the boat.
When the boat was released and fell I think
she must have sprung a leak. A lady stated that
there was some water coming up over her ankles.
Two men and this lady assisted in bailing it out
with bails that were kept in the boat for that
purpose. We transferred our people to other
boats so as to return to the wreck and see if we
could pick up anybody else. Returning to the
wreck, we heard various cries and endeavored
to get among them, and we were successful in
doing so, and picked up one body that was float-
ing around in the water. It was that of a man
and he expired shortly afterwards. Going fur-
ther into the wreckage we came across a steward
164 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC"
(J. Stewart) and got him into the boat. He was
very cold and his hands were kind of stiff. He
recovered by the time that we got back to the
Carpathia.
A Japanese or Chinese young fellow that we
picked up on top of some wreckage, which may
have been a sideboard or a table that was float-
ing around, also survived.* We stopped (in the
wreckage) until daybreak, and we saw in the dis-
tance an Engelhardt collapsible boat ("A*') with
a crew of men in it. We went over to the boat
and found twenty men and one woman ; also three
dead bodies, which we left. Returning under sail
we took another collapsible boat in tow (boat
*'D") containing fully sixty people, women and
children.
I did not see the iceberg that struck the ship.
When it came daylight and we could see, there
were two or three bergs around, and one man
pointed out that that must have been the berg, and
another man pointed out another berg. Really,
I do not think anybody knew which one struck
the ship.
Mrs. Charlotte CoUyer, third-class passenger,
* Undoubtedly reference is here made to the same Jap-
anese described in an account attributed to a second-class
passenger, Mrs. CoUyer, and which follows Crowe's testi-
mony.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 65
in The Semi-Monthly Magazine, May, 191 2:
A little further on we saw a floating door that
must have been torn loose when the ship went
down. Lying upon it, face downward, was a
small Japanese. He had lashed himself with a
rope to his frail raft, using the broken hinges
to make the knots secure. As far as we could
see, he was dead. The sea washed over him
every time the door bobbed up and down, and he
was frozen stiff. He did not answer when he
was hailed, and the officer hesitated about trying
to save him.
"What's the use?'' said Mr. Lowe. *^He's
dead, likely, and if he isn't there's others better
worth saving than a Jap!"
He had actually turned our boat around, but
he changed his mind and went back. The
Japanese was hauled on board, and one of the
women rubbed his chest, while others chafed his
hands and feet. In less time than it takes to
tell, he opened his eyes. He spoke to us in his
own tongue; then, seeing that we did not under-
stand, he struggled to his feet, stretched his arms
above his head, stamped his feet and in five
minutes or so had almost recovered his strength.
One of the sailors near to him was so tired that
he could hardly pull his oar. The Japanese
bustled over, pushed him from his seat, took his
1 66 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE '^TITANIC
11
oar and worked like a hero until we were finally
picked up. I saw Mr. Lowe watching him in
open-mouthed surprise.
"By Jove!'* muttered the oflScer, "I'm ashamed
of what I said about the little blighter. I'd
save the likes o' him six times over if I got the
chance."
Miss Minahan's affidavit (Am. Inq., p. 1109) :
After the Titanic went down the cries were
horrible. Some of the women implored Officer
Lowe of No. 10 to divide his passengers among
the three other boats and go back to rescue them.
His first answer to these requests was: "You
ought to be d glad you are here and have
got your own life." After some time he was
persuaded to do as he was asked. As I came up
to him to be transferred to the other boat, he
said: "Jump, G — d d — n you, jump." I had
shown no hesitancy and was waiting until my turn.
He had been so blasphemous during the hours
we were in his boat that the women in my end of
the boat all thought he was under the influence
of liquor. (Testimony elsewhere shows that
Officer Lowe is a teetotaler.) Then he took all
the men who had rowed No. 14, together with
the men from other boats, and went back to the
scene of the wreck. We were left with a steward
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 67
and a stoker to row our boat, which was crowded.
The steward did his best, but the stoker refused
at first to row, but finally helped two men who
were the only ones pulling on that side. It was
just four oVlock when we sighted the Carpathia,
and we were three hours getting to her. On the
Carpathia we were treated with every kindness
and given every comfort possible.
The above affidavit being of record shows
Officer Lowe in an unfortunate, bad light. There
is no doubt of it that he was intemperate in his
language only. In all other respects he was a
first-class officer, as proven by what he accom-
plished. But I am glad that I have the account
of another lady passenger in the same boat, which
is a tribute to what he did. I met Officer Lowe
in Washington the time that both of us were sum-
moned before the U. S. Court of Inquiry, and I
am quite sure that the only point against him is
that he was a little hasty in speech in the accom-
plishment of his work.
Miss Compton, who lost her brother, I had the
pleasure of meeting on the Carpathia, She is still
a sufferer from injuries received in the wreck, and
yet has been very kind in sending me an account
of her experience, from which I cite the follow-
ing:
1 68 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
As she Stood on the rail to step into boat No.
14 it was impossible to see whether she would
step into the boat or into the water. She was
pushed into. the boat with such violence that she
found herself on her hands and knees, but for-
tunately landed on a coil of rope. This seemed
to be the general experience of the women. All
the passengers entered the lifeboat at the same
point and were told to move along to make place
for those who followed. This was difficult, as
the thwarts were so high that it was difficult to
climb over them, encumbered as the ladies were
with lifebelts. It was a case of throwing one's
self over rather than climbing over.
Miss Compton from her place in the stern of
the lifeboat overheard the conversation between
Officer Lowe and another officer, which the for-
mer gave in his testimony.
Just before the boat was lowered a man jumped
in. He was immediately hauled out. Mr. Lowe
then pulled his revolver and said: *'If anyone
else tries that this is what he will get.'' He then
fired his revolver in the air.
She mentions the same difficulties, elsewhere
recorded, about the difficulties in lowering the
boat, first the stern very high, and then the bow;
also how the ropes were cut and No. 14 struck
the water hard. At this time the count showed
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 69
58 in the boat, and a later one made the number
60. A child near her answered in neither of
the counts.
^*Mr. Lowe's manly bearing,'* she says, "gave
us all confidence. As I look back now he seems
to me to personify the best traditions of the
British sailor. He asked us all to try and find
a lantern, but none was to be found. Mr. Lowe
had with him, however, an electric light which
he flashed from time to time. Almost at once
the boat began to leak and in a few moments
the women in the forward part of the boat were
standing in water. There was nothing to bail
with and I believe the men used their hats.
**OiBcer Lowe insisted on having the mast put
up. He crawled forward 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 re-
pHed: 'I don't like to leave her, but if you feel
170 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC^^
that way about it we will pull away a little
distance.' "
Miss Compton's account corroborates other in-
formation about boat No. 14, which we have else-
where. 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 look-
ing towards the horizon. With daylight we saw
the Carpathian 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/^
No. 16.*
No male passenger.
Passengers: Fifty women and children —
second and third-class.
* British Report (p. 38) gives this as the sixth boat low-
ered from the port side at 1.35 a. m.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST I? I
Crew: Master-at-arms Bailey in charge. Sea-
man 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 passen-
gers 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 no-
body 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 w^ere repelled from getting in; every-
thing 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
172 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE '*TITANIC''
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 trans-
ferred 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.*
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:
* British Report (p. 38) gives this as the seventh boat
lowered on the port side at 1.45 a. m.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 73
Brahim Youssef, Hanne Youssef, and children
Marian and Georges. The rest second and third-
class.
Bade good-hye 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 sallorman (Osman), a steward (John-
ston), 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 be-
174 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ''tITANIC"
fore 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 75
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
176 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
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 be-
cause 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?
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 77
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 per-
haps McCullough. (None such on list.) Box-
hall 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. iioo) :
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
<<rw>^r,,«^T,^n
178 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
one knew how. We tried to steer under Mr. Box-
halFs 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. Box-
hall 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 (nee Allen) :
My aunt, Mrs. Roberts' 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 rephed 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 re-
turned to us immediately to say her cabin, which
was forward on Deck E, was flooded.
We were on the Boat Deck some minutes be-
fore being ordered into the lifeboat. Neither my
aunt, Mrs. Roberts, my cousin, Miss Madill, nor
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 79
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 stok-
ers. An officer* 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.
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 dis-
tinctively, 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
* Probably the same officer, Murdoch, described by Maj.
Peuchen, p. 122, this chapter.
(ir^,r^ » ^^,^>»
1 80 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
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 in-
tervals, 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
manoeuvre the ship to get as close to the boat as
possible, as I knew well it would be difficult to
do the puUIng. 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 ice-
bergs that would be anywhere from about 150
to 200 feet high, and numerous smaller bergs;
also numerous ones we call "growlers'' anywhere
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 181
from lo to 12 feet high and lO to 15 feet long,
above the water.
BOAT No. 4.*
No man passenger 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,t Lyons; J Storekeeper
Foley and Assistant Storekeeper Prentice ;t Fire-
men: Smith and Dillon ;t Greasers: Granger and
Scott ;t Stewards: Cunningham,! Siebert.J
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.)
* British Report (p. 38) says this was the eighth and last
lifeboat that left the ship and lowered at 1.55 a. m.
t Picked up from sea.
% Picked up from sea but died in boat.
182 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
INCIDENTS
C. H. Lightoller, Second Officer (Am. Inq.,
p. 8i):
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 in-
tending 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." *
* I agree with this statement though other testimony and
the British Report decide against us. The diiference may
be reconciled by the fact that the loading of this boat began
early, but the final lowering was delayed.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 183
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 passen-
gers. 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, Symon and
Hogg:)
All three of you seem to be pretty capable
young men and have had a great deal of ex-
184 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC''
perience 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. Sena-
tor, 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 185
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 be-
cause 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. Symon (boat No. i), not to pick up any
more people?
Mr. Symon: 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. Symon pulled away from
the ship and then when he came back there they
picked up all the people that were around?
Mr. Symon 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
186 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
boat I tried to get hold of the grab-line on the
bows. I pulled my head above the gunwale, and
1 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 187
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 (store-
keeper) 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, Nq. 4, which had come back be-
cause 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
188 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC"
boat. Perkis, quartermaster, and Hemmlngs 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 89
that boy goes with his mother; he is only thir-
teen" ; 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. Some-
one called for a knife, but it was not needed until
we got into the water as it was but a short dis-
tance; 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
1 90 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE **TITANIC'*
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 downc
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 row-
ing, 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 per-
sisted, 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.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 191
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 volun-
teer 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 stand-
ing 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 re-
main 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 swim-
ming — two of whom were drunk and gave us
u^,,^ . ^^,^>>
192 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
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 not 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 Car-
pathia 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 93
kindly handed me for publication in my book con-
tains 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 separ-
ated 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 w^e got up. The ship listed heav-
ily 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 wire-
less 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.'
*'0n 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
194 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 95
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 diffi-
culty 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
196 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
»
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 after-
wards 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 life-
boats near us and an order was given to tie to-
gether, 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, fol-
lowed the officer and we pulled over to what
proved to be an overturned boat crowded with
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 97
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 re-
turns to the prior period of night time.
"The sea was smooth and the jiight 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, every-
one 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 day-
light 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.
u^,^*^^,^n
198 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
"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 Httle 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 1 99
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." *
No male passenger 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. LightoUer, Second Officer (Am. Inq.,
p. 8i):
* British Report (p. 38) puts this as the last boat lowered
at ^,05.
200 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC''
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 mean-
time 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
nationahty.
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,
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 201
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 fnr 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
Hfeboats 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 lov/ered before they could be
used. The same tackle with which the lifeboats
and the Emergency boats were lowered was em-
202 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ''tITANIC'^
ployed after they had gone in lowering the col-
lapsible 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 fore-
castle 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.*
They had a lantern in the boat but no oil to light
it. After leaving the boat, witness heard some-
thing but not an explosion. It was like a rattling
of chains more than anything else.
* The interval of time can then, be approximated as nearly
a half hour, that we remained on the ship after the lifeboats
left.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 203
After *'D'* got away Mr. Lowe came along-
side 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.) :
I 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
204 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE **TITANIC''
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 to-
gether. He, having a full complement of passen-
gers 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 passen-
gers 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 20^
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 for-
ward 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 pas-
sengers; 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 ex-
pected 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 along-
side. This I did, and to my surprise saw the boat
(t^^_ , ^_,^)»
206 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
*'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 Hghts 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, pre-
paring 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?
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 207
Mr. Woolner : Yes.
Senator Smith : You saw a collapsible boat be-
ing 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 back-
wards.
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 down-
ward.
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
208 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
far down if the water was on A Deck; it must
have been out.
Mr. Woolner: Chiefly out; but it was suffi-
ciently 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 209
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 Navatil 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 ex-
pense 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 Mar-
coni Operator Bride, Firemen: McGann, Senior;
210 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
Chief Baker Joughin; Cooks: Collins, May-
nard; 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 for-
ward 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 211
fiddley leads. Colonel Grade, 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 over-
turned boat. This was before the Titanic sank.
The funnel then fell down and if there was any-
body 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 ques-
tion 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 propel-
ling 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
212 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
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 visi-
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 213
ble, 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 rum-
bling sound which he attributed to the boilers leav-
ing their beds and crashing down. Finally she at-
tained an absolute perpendicular position and then
went slowly down. He heard no explosion what-
ever, 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 morn-
ing 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 morn-
ing (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
214 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE *'tiTANIC"
to bringing of boats to the gangway doors. Wit-
ness could not gather whether the orders were
being obeyed. Said he had not been on the Engel-
hardt 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 can-
not do any more; save yourselves.*' Leaving the
captain we climbed on top of the house compris-
ing 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 col-
lapsible 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 pre-
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 215
viously 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 sur-
vivors, picked up by the Carpathia, As you prob-
ably heard, I got on the collapsible boat the sec-
ond time, which was, as I had left it, upturned. I
called PhilHps 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. no, 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
2l6 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
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 my-
self from it and cleared out of it but I do not
know why, but swam back to it about three-quar-
ters of an hour to an hour afterwards. I was up-
side 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 be-
fore 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 passen-
ger. 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
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 217
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 turn-
ing 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.
2l8 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
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 min-
utes.
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?
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST 219
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 hghts 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. ColHns: 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 ?
220 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE *'tITANIC"
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 Ti-
tanic 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 col-
lapsible 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 ac-
WOMEN first; men next 221
counts 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 man-
aged 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 for-
ward part of the starboard side, but there seemed
to be such a crowd around that I thought it un-
wise 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
222 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC'*
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: Tou are
coming, boy, aren't you?' I replied: 'Go ahead,
ril 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 v/hen 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."
WOMEN first; men next 223,
How he sank and finally reached the upset
boat is quoted accurately from the news-
paper 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. Ligh-
toller, 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, includ-
ing 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
224 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
crowded boats and taken to the Carpathia in
safety."
One of these boats was No. 4, in which his
mother was.
CHAPTER VII
STARBOARD SIDE: WOMEN FIRST, BUT MEN WHEN
THERE WERE NO WOMEN
I KNOW of the conditions existing on the port
side of the ship from personal knowledge,
as set forth in the first five chapters de-
scribing my personal experience, while the pre-
vious chapter VI is derived from an exhaustive
study of official and of other authoritative infor-
mation relating to the same side from experiences
of others. I have devoted an equal amount of
study to the history of what happened on the star-
board side of the ship, and the tabulated state-
ments in this chapter are the outcome of my re-
search into the experiences of my fellow passen-
gers on this side of the ship where I was located
only during the last half hour before the ship
foundered, after all passengers on the port side
had been ordered to the starboard in consequence
of the great list to port, and after the departure
of the last boat "D,'' that left the ship on the
port side. During this last half hour, though it
225
226 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
seemed shorter, my attention was confined to the
work of the crew, assisting them in their vain ef-
forts to launch the Engelhardt boat "B'^ thrown
down from the roof of the officers' house. All the
starboard boats had left the ship before I came
there.
Many misunderstandings arose in the public
mind because of ignorance of the size of the ship
and inability to understand that the same condi-
tions did not prevail at every point and that the
same scenes were not witnessed by every one of us.
Consider the great length of the ship, 852 feet;
its breadth of beam, 92.6 feet; and its many decks,
eleven In number; counting the roof of the of-
ficers' house as the top deck, then the Boat Deck,
and Decks A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and, in the
hold, two more. Bearing this in mind I illustrated
to my New York friends, in answer to their ques-
tions, how impossible it would be for a person
standing at the corner of 50th Street and Fifth
Avenue to know just what was going on at 52nd
Street on the same Avenue, or what was going on
at the corner of 52nd Street and Madison Avenue.
Therefore, when one survivor's viewpoint differs
from that of another, the explanation is easily
found.
Consideration must also be taken of the fact
that the accident occurred near midnight, and
WOMEN first; men next 227
though it was a bright, starlit night, and the
ship's electric lights shone almost to the last, it
was possible to recognize only one's intimates at
close quarters.
My research shows that there was no general
order from the ship's officers on the starboard
side for "Women and children first." On the
other hand, I have the statements of Dr. Wash-
ington Dodge, John B. Thayer, Jr., and Mrs.
Stephenson, also the same of a member of the
crew testifying before the British Court of In-
quiry, from which it appears that some sort of a
command was issued ordering the women to the
port side and the men to the starboard, indicating
that no men would be allowed in the port boats,
and only in the starboard side boats after the
women had entered them first. If such were the
orders, they were carried out to the letter. An-
other point of difference, especially conspicuous to
myself, is the fact that on the starboard side there
appears to have been an absence of women at the
points where the boats were loaded, while on the
port side all the boats loaded, from the first up to
the last, found women at hand and ready to enter
them. It was only at the time of the loading of
the last boat "D," that my friend, CHnch Smith,
and I ran up and down the port side shouting:
"Are there any more women?" This too is the
22 8 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
testimony of Officer LIghtoller, in charge of load-
ing boats on the port side.
BOAT NO. 7 *
No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.
Passengers: Mesdames Bishop, Earnshaw,
Gibson, Greenfield, Potter, Snyder, and Misses
Gibson and Hays, Messrs. Bishop, Chevre,
Daniel, Greenfield, McGough, Marechal, Seward,
Sloper, Snyder, Tucker.
Transferred from Boat No. 5; Mrs. Dodge
and her boy; Messrs. Calderhead and Flynn.
Crew: Seamen: Hogg (in charge), Jewell,
Weller.
Total: 2^.
INCIDENTS
Archie Jewell, L. O. (Br. Inq.) :
Was awakened by the crash and ran at once on
deck where he saw a lot of ice. All went below
again to get clothes on. The boatswain called all
hands on deck. Went to No. 7 boat. The ship
had stopped. All hands cleared the boats, cleared
away the falls and got them all right. Mr. Mur-
* First to leave ship starboard side at 12.45 [Br. Rpt., p. 38.]
WOMEN first; men next 229
doch gave the order to lower boat No. 7 to the
rail with women and children in the boat. Three
or four Frenchmen, passengers, got into the boat.
No. 7 was lowered from the Boat Deck. The
orders were to stand by the gangway. This boat
was the first on the starboard side lowered into the
water. All the boats were down by the time it
was pulled away from the ship because it was
thought she was settling down.
Witness saw the ship go down by the head very
slowly. The other lifeboats were further off, his
being the nearest. No. 7 was then pulled further
off and about half an hour later, or about an hour
and a half after this boat was lowered, and when it
was about 200 yards away, the ship took the final
dip. He saw the stern straight up in the air with
the lights still burning. After a few moments she
then sank very quickly and he heard two or three
explosions just as the stern went up in the air.
No. 7 picked up no dead bodies. At daylight
they saw a lot of icebergs all around, and reached
the Carpathia about 9 o'clock. This boat had no
compass and no light. (The above, given in de-
tail, represents the general testimony of the next
witness.)
G. A. Hogg, A. is. (Am. Inq., p. 577) :
He had forty-two when the boat was shoved
U ™ . ^»)
230 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
from the ship's side. He asked a lady if she could
steer who said she could. He pulled around in
search of other people. One man said: "We have
done our best; there are no more people around.''
He said: ''Very good, we will get away now."
There was not a ripple on the water; it was as
smooth as glass.
Mrs. H. W. Bishop, first-class passenger (Am.
Inq., p. 998) :
The captain told Colonel Astor something In
an undertone. He came back and told six of us
who were standing with his wife that we had bet-
ter put on our life belts. I had gotten down two
flights of stairs to tell my husband, 'who had re-
turned to the stateroom for the moment, before I
heard the captain announce that the life belts
should be put on. We came back upstairs and
found very few people on deck. There was very
little confusion — only the older women were a" lit-
tle frightened. On the starboard side of the Boat
Deck there were only two people — a young
French bride and groom. By that time an old
man had come upstairs and found Mr. and Mrs.
Harder, of New York. He brought us all to-
gether and told us to be sure and stay together —
that he would be back in a moment. We never
saw him again.
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 23 1
About five minutes later the boats were lowered
and we were pushed in. This was No. 7 lifeboat.
My husband was pushed in with me and we were
lowered with twenty-eight people in the boat. We
counted off after we reached the water. There
were only about twelve women and the rest were
men — three crew and thirteen male passengers;
several unmarried men — three or four of them
foreigners. Somewhat later five people were put
into our boat from another one, making thirty-
three in ours. Then we rowed still further away
as the women were nervous about suction. We
had no compass and no light. We arrived at the
Carpathia five or ten minutes after five. The con^
duct of the crew, as far as I could see, was abso-
lutely beyond criticism. One of the crew in the
boat was Jack Edmonds, (?) and there was an-
other man, a Lookout (Hogg), of whom we all
thought a great deal. He lost his brother.
D. H. Bishop, first-class passenger (Am. Inq.,
p. 1000) :
There was an oflicer stationed at the side of the
lifeboat. As witness's wife got in, he fell into the
boat. The French aviator Marechal was in the
boat; also Mr. Greenfield and his mother. There
was little confusion on the deck while the boat
was being loaded; no rush to boats at all. Wit-
232 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC''
ness agrees with his wife in the matter of the
counting of twenty-eight, but he knows that there
were some who were missed. There was a
woman with her baby transferred from another
lifeboat. Witness knows of his own knowledge
that No. 7 was the first boat lowered from the
starboard side. They heard no order from any
one for the men to stand back or "women first/'
or "women and children first." Witness also says
that at the time his lifeboat was lowered that that
order had not been given on the starboard side.
J. R. McGough's affidavit (Am. Inq., p. 1 143) :
After procuring life preservers we went back
to the top deck and discovered that orders had
been given to launch the lifeboats, which were
already being launched. Women and children
were called for to board the boats first. Both
women and men hesitated and did not feel inclined
to get into the small boats. He had his back
turned, looking in an opposite direction, and was
caught by the shoulder by one of the officers who
gave him a push saying: "Here, you are a big
fellow; get into that boat."
Our boat was launched with twenty-eight peo-
ple in all. Five were transferred from one of the
others. There were several of us who wanted
drinking water. It was unknown to us that there
WOMEN first; men next 233
was a tank of water and crackers also in our boat
until we reached the Carpathia, There was no
light in our boat.
Mrs. Thomas Potter, Jr. Letter:
There was no panic. Everyone seemed more
stunned than anything else. . . . We watched
for upwards of two hours the gradual sinking of
the ship — first one row of light and then another
disappearing at shorter and shorter intervals,
with the bow well bent in the water as though
ready for a dive. After the lights went out, some
ten minutes before the end, she was like some
great living thing who made a last superhuman
effort to right herself and then, failing, dove bow
forward to the unfathomable depths below.
We did not row except to get away from the
suction of the sinking ship, but remained lashed
to another boat until the Carpathia came in sight
just before dawn.
BOAT NO. 5 *
No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.
Passengers: Mesdames Cassebeer, Chambers,
Crosby, Dodge and her boy, Frauenthal, Golden-
* Second boat lowered on the starboard side at 12.55 [Br.
Rpt., p. 38.]
234 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE **TITANIC"
berg, Harder, Kimball, Stehli, Stengel, Taylor,
Warren, and Misses Crosby, Newson, Ostby and
Frolicher Stehli.
Messrs: Beckwith, Behr, Calderhead, Cham-
bers, Flynn, Goldenberg, Harder, Kimball, Stehli,
Taylor.
Bade good-hye to wives and daughters and sank
with ship: Captain Crosby, Mr. Ostby and Mr.
Warren.
Jumped from deck into boat being lowered:
German Doctor Frauenthal and brother Isaac, P.
Mauge.
Crew: 3rd Officer Pitman. Seaman: Olliver,
Q. M.; Fireman Shiers; Stewards, Etches, Guy.
Stewardess .
Total: 41.
INCIDENTS
H. J. Pitman, 3rd Officer (Am. Inq., p. 277,
and Br. Inq.) :
I lowered No. 5 boat to the level with the rail
of the Boat Deck. A man in a dressing gown said
that we had better get her loaded with women and
children. I said: "I wait the commander's or-
ders," to which he replied: "Very well,'' or some-
thing like that. It then dawned on me that it
might be Mr. Ismay, judging by the description I
WOMEN first; men next 235
had had given me. I went to the bridge and saw
Captain Smith and told him that I thought it was
Mr. Ismay that wanted me to get the boat away
with women and children in it and he said: *'Go
ahead; carry on.'' I came along and brought in
my boat. I stood in it and said: *'Come along,
ladies." There was a big crowd. Mr. Ismay
helped get them along. We got the boat nearly
full and I shouted out for any more ladies. None
were to be seen so I allowed a few men to get
into it. Then I jumped on the ship again. Mr.
Murdoch said: *'You go in charge of this boat
and hang around the after gangway.'' About
thirty (Br. Inq.) to forty women were in the boat,
two children, half a dozen male passengers, my-
self and four of the crew. There would not have
been so many men had there been any women
around, but there were none. Murdoch shook
hands with me and said: *'Good-bye; good luck,"
and I said: "Lower away." This boat was the
second one lowered on the starboard side. No
light in the boat.
The ship turned right on end and went down
perpendicularly. She did not break in two. I
heard a lot of people say that they heard boiler
explosions, but I have my doubts about that. I
do not see why the boilers would burst, because
there was no steam there. They should have
i(^,^.^,,^H
236 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
been stopped about two hours and a half. The
fires had not been fed so there was very little
steam there. From the distance I was from the
ship, if it had occurred, I think I would have
known it. As soon as the ship disappeared I said:
^'Now, men, we will pull toward the wreck."
Everyone in my boat said it was a mad idea be-
cause we had far better save what few I had in
my boat than go back to the scene of the wreck
and be swamped by the crowds that were there.
My boat would have accommodated a few more —
about sixty in all. I turned No. 5 boat around to
go in the direction from which these cries came but
was dissuaded from my purpose by the passen-
gers. My idea of lashing Nos. 5 and 7 together
was to keep together so that if anything hove in
sight before daylight we could steady ourselves
and cause a far bigger show than one boat only.
I transferred two men and a woman and a child
from my boat to No. 7 to even them up a bit.
H. S. Etches, steward (Am. Inq., p. 810) :
Witness assisted Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Ismay,
Mr. Pitman and Quartermaster Olliver and two
stewards in the loading and launching of No. 7,
the gentlemen being asked to keep back and the
ladies in first. There were more ladies to go in
No. 7 because No. 5 boat, which we went to next,
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 237
took In over thirty-six ladies. In No. 7 boat I
saw one child, a baby boy, with a small woollen
cap. After getting all the women that were there
they called out three times — Mr. Ismay twice —
in a loud voice: "Are there any more women be-
fore this boat goes?" and there was no answer.
Mr. Murdoch called out, and at that moment a
female came up whom he did not recognize. Mr.
Ismay said: **Come along; jump in." She said:
*'I am only a stewardess." He said: "Never mind
— you are a woman; take your place." That was
the last woman I saw get into boat No. 5. There
were two firemen in the bow; Olliver, the sailor,
and myself; and Officer Pitman ordered us into
the boat and lowered under Murdoch's order.
Senator Smith: What other men got into that
boat?
Mr. Etches : There was a stout gentleman, sir,
stepped forward then. He had assisted to put his
wife in the boat. He leaned forward and she
stood up in the boat and put her arms around his
neck and kissed him, and I heard her say: "I can-
not leave you," and with that I turned my head.
The next moment I saw him sitting beside her in
the bottom of the boat, and some voice said:
"Throw that man out of the boat," but at that
moment they started lowering away and the man
remained.
238 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE *'tITANIC''
Senator Smith: Who was he?
Mr. Etches: I do not know his name, sir, but
he was a very stout gentleman. (Dr. H. W.
Frauenthal.)
We laid off about 100 yards from the ship and
waited. She seemed to be going down at the head
and we pulled away about a quarter of a mile and
laid on our oars until the Titanic sank. She
seemed to rise once as though she was going to
take a final dive, but sort of checked as though
she had scooped the water up and had levelled
herself. She then seemed to settle very, very
quiet, until the last when she rose and seemed to
stand twenty seconds, stern in that position (indi-
cating) and then she went down with an awful
grating, like a small boat running off a shingley
beach. There was no inrush of water, or any-
thing. Mr. Pitman then said to pull back to the
scene of the wreck. The ladies started calling out.
Two ladies sitting in front where I was pulling
said: "Appeal to the officer not to go back. Why
should we lose all of our lives in a useless attempt
to save others from the ship?" We did not go
back. When we left the ship No. 5 had forty-
two, including the children and six crew and the
officer. Two were transferred with a lady and a
child into boat No. 7.
Senator Smith: Of your own knowledge do you
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 239
know whether any general call was made for pas-
sengers to rouse themselves from their berths;
and when It was, or whether there was any other
signal given?
Mr. Etches: The second steward (Dodd), sir,
was calling all around the ship. He was directing
some men to storerooms for provisions for the
lifeboats, and others he was telling to arouse all
the passengers and to tell them to be sure to take
their life preservers with them.
There was no lamp in No. 5. On Monday
morning we saw a very large floe of flat ice and
three or four bergs between in different places,
and on the other bow there were two large bergs
in the distance. The field ice was about three-
quarters of a mile at least from us between four
and five o'clock in the morning. It was well over
on the port side of the Titanic in the position she
was going.
A. Olllver, Q. M. (Am. Inq., p. 526) :
There were so many people in the boat when I
got Into it that I could not get near the plug to
put the plug in. I implored the passengers to
move so I could do It. When the boat was put In
the water I let the tripper go and water came into
the boat. I then forced my way to the plug and
put it in; otherwise It would have been swamped.
240 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ^'TITANIC*'
There was no rush when I got into the boat. I
heard Mr. Pitman give an order to go back to the
ship, but the women passengers implored him not
to go. We were then about 300 yards away.
Nearly all objected.
A. Shiers, fireman (Br. Inq., p. 48) :
He saw no women left. There were about
forty men and women in the boat. There was no
confusion among the officers and crew. We did
not go back when the Titanic went down. The
women in the boat said: "Don't go back." They
said: "If we go back the boat will be swamped."
No compass in boat.
Paul Mauge, Ritz kitchen clerk (Br. Inq.) :
Witness was berthed in the third-class corridor.
Was awakened and went up on deck. Went down
again and woke up the chef. Going through the
second-class cabin he noticed that the assistants
of the restaurant were there and not allowed to
go on the Boat Deck. He saw the second or third
boat on the starboard side let down into the water,
and when it was about ten feet down from the
Boat Deck he jumped into it. Before this he
asked the chef to jump, but he was too fat and
would not do so. (Laughter.) I asked him
again when I got in the boat, but he refused.
WOMEN first; men next 241
When his boat was passing one of the lower decks
one of the crew of the Titanic tried to pull him
out of the boat. He saw no passengers prevented
from going up on deck. He thinks he was al-
lowed to pass because he was dressed like a pas-
senger.
Mrs. Catherine E. Crosby's affidavit (Am.
Inq., p. 1144) :
Deponent is the widow of Captain Edward
Gifford Crosby and took passage with him and
their daughter, Harriette R. Crosby.
At the time of the collision, Captain Crosby
got up, dressed, went out, came back and said to
her: *'You will lie there and drown,'' and went out
again. He said to their daughter: *'The boat is
badly damaged, but I think the water-tight com-
partments will hold her up."
Mrs. Crosby then got up and dressed, as did
her daughter, and followed her husband on deck.
She got into the first or second boat. About thirty-
six persons got in with them.
There was no discrimination between men and
women. Her husband became separated from
her. She was suffering from cold while drifting
around and one of the officers (Pitman) put a
sail around her and over her head to keep her
warm.
242 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE **TITANIC"
George A. Harder, first-class passenger (Am.
Inq., p. 1028) :
As we were being lowered, they lowered one
side quicker than the other, but reached the water
safely after a few scares. Someone said the plug
was not in, and they could not get the boat de-
tached from the tackle. Finally, a knife was
found and the rope cut. We had about forty-
two people in the boat — about thirty women. Of-
ficer Pitman, a sailor and three men of the crew.
We rowed some distance from the ship — it may
have been a quarter or an eighth of a mile. We
were afraid of the suction. Passengers said:
"Let us row a little further." They did so. Then
this other boat, No. 7, came along. We tied
alongside. They had twenty-nine in their boat,
and we counted at the time thirty-six in ours, so
we gave them four or five of our people in order
to make it even.
After the ship went down we heard a lot of
cries and a continuous yelling and moaning. I
counted about ten icebergs in the morning. Our
boat managed very well. It is true that the of-
ficer did want to go back to the ship, but all the
passengers held out and said: "Do not do that; it
would only be foolish; there would be so many
around that it would only swamp the boat."
There was no light in our boat.
WOMEN first; men next 243
C. E. H. Stengel, first cabin passenger (Am.
Inq., p. 975):
Senator Smith : Did you see any man attempt to
enter these lifeboats who was forbidden to do so?
Mr. Stengel : I saw two. A certain physician *
in New York, and his brother, jumped into the
same boat my wife was in. Then the officer, or
the man who was loading the boat said: "I will
stop that. I will go down and get my gun." He
left the deck momentarily and came right back
again. I saw no attempt of anyone else to get
into the lifeboats except these two gentlemen that
jumped into the boat after it was started to lower.
Senator Bourne : When you were refused ad-
mission into the boat in which your wife was, were
there a number of ladies and children there at the
time?
Mr. Stengel: No, sir, there were not. These
two gentlemen had put their wives in and were
standing on the edge of the deck and when they
started lowering away, they jumped in. I saw
only two.
N. C. Chambers, first-class passenger (Am.
Inq., 1041) :
Witness referring to boat No. 5 as appearing
sufficiently loaded says: "However, my wife said
* Dr. H. W. Frauenthal.
244 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ''tITANIC"
she was going in that boat and proceeded to jump
in, calling to me to come. As I knew she would
get out again had I not come, I finally jumped
into the boat, although I did not consider it, from
the looks of things, safe to put many more in. As
I remember it, there were two more men, both
called by their wives, who jumped in after I did.
One of them, a German I believe, told me as I
recollect it on the Carpathia that he had looked
around and had seen no one else, and no one to
ask whether he could get in, or not, and had
jumped in. Witness describes the difficulty in
finding whether the plug was in, or not, and re-
calls someone calling from above: "It's your own
blooming business to see that the plug is in any-
how."
Mrs. C. E. H. Stengel, first-class passenger,
writes as follows:
*'As I stepped into the lifeboat an officer in
charge said: 'No more; the boat is full.' My
husband stepped back, obeying the order. As the
boat was being lowered, four men deliberately
jumped into it. One of them was a Hebrew doc-
tor — another was his brother. This was done at
the risk of the lives of all of us in the boat. The
two companions of this man who did this were the
ones who were later transferred to boat No. 7, to
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 245
which we were tied. He weighed about 250
pounds and wore two life preservers. These men
who jumped in struck me and a little child. I was
rendered unconscious and two of my ribs were
very badly dislocated. With this exception there
was absolutely no confusion and no disorder in the
loading of our boat/*
Mrs. F. M. Warren, first-class passenger's ac-
count :
Following this we then went to our
rooms, put on all our heavy wraps and went to
the foot of the grand staircase on Deck D, again
interviewing passengers and crew as to the dan-
ger. While standing there Mr. Andrews, one of
the designers of the vessel, rushed by, going up the
stairs. He was asked if there was any danger
but made no reply. But a passenger who was
afterwards saved told me that his face had on it
a look of terror. Immediately after this the re-
port became general that water was in the squash
courts, which were on the deck below where we
were standing, and that the baggage had already
been submerged.
At the time we reached the Boat Deck, star-
board side, there were very few passengers there,
apparently, but it was dark and we could not es-
timate the number. There was a deafening roar
246 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE **TITANIC"
of escaping steam, of which we had not been
conscious while inside.
The only people we remembered seeing, except
a young woman by the name of Miss Ostby, who
had become separated from her father and was
with us, were Mr. Astor, his wife and servants,
who were standing near one of the boats which
was being cleared preparatory to being lowered.
The Astors did not get into this boat. They
all went back inside and I saw nothing of
them again until Mrs. Astor was taken onto the
Carpathia.
We discovered that the boat next to the one the
Astors had been near had been lowered to the
level of the deck, so went towards it and were
told by the officers in charge to get in. At this
moment both men and women came crowding to-
ward the spot. I was the second person assisted
in. I supposed that Mr. Warren had followed,
but saw when I turned that he was standing back
and assisting the women. People came in so rap-
idly in the darkness that it was impossible to dis-
tinguish them, and I did not see him again.
The boat was commanded by Officer Pitman
and manned by four of the Titanic's men. The
lowering of the craft was accomplished with great
difficulty. First one end and then the other was
dropped at apparently dangerous angles, and we
WOMEN first; men next 247
feared that we would swamp as soon as we struck
the water.
Mr. Pitman's orders were to pull far enough
away to avoid suction if the ship sank. The sea
was like glass, so smooth that the stars were
clearly reflected. We were pulled quite a distance
away and then rested, watching the rockets in ter-
rible anxiety and realizing that the vessel was
rapidly sinking, bow first. She went lower and
lower, until the lower lights were extinguished,
and then suddenly rose by the stern and slipped
from sight. We had no light on our boat and
were left in intense darkness save from an occa-
sional glimmer of light from other lifeboats and
one steady green light on one of the ship's boats
which the officers of the Carpathia afterwards
said was of material assistance in aiding them to
come direct to the spot.
With daylight the wind increased and the sea
became choppy, and we saw icebergs in every di-
rection; some lying low in the water and others
tall, like ships, and some of us thought they were
ships. I was on the second boat picked up.
From the time of the accident until I left the
ship there was nothing which in any way resem-
bled a panic. There seemed to be a sort of aim-
less confusion and an utter lack of organized ef-
fort.
248 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
BOAT No. 3.*
No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.
Passengers: Mesdames Cardeza and maid
(Anna Hard), Davidson, Dick, Graham, Harper,
Hays and maid (Miss Pericault), Spedden and
maid (Helen Wilson) and son Douglas and his
trained nurse. Miss Burns, and Misses Graham
and Shutes.
Men: Messrs. Cardeza and man-servant
(Lesneur), Dick, Harper and man-servant
(Hamad Hassah) and Spedden.
Men who helped load women and children in
this boat and sank with the ship: Messrs. Case,
Davidson, Hays and Roebling.
Crew: Seamen: Moore (in charge), For-
ward Pascoe. Steward: McKay; Firemen: "5
or 6''; or **io or 12.''
Total: 40.t
INCIDENTS
G. Moore, A. B. (Am. Inq., 559) :
When we swung boat No. 3 out I was told by
the first officer to jump in the boat and pass the
* Third boat lowered on starboard side 1.00 (Br. Rpt., p. 38).
t British Report (p. 38) says 15 crew, 10 men passen-
gers, 25 women and children. Total 50.
WOMEN first; men NEXT 249
ladies in, and when there were no more about
we took in men passengers. We had thirty-two
in the boat, all told, and then lowered away. Two
seamen were in the boat. There were a few men
passengers and some five or six firemen. They
got in after all the women and children. I took
charge of the boat at the tiller.
Mrs. Frederick O. Spedden, first-class passen-
ger's account:
. . . Number 3 and Number 5 were both
marked on our boat. Our seaman told me that
it was an old one taken from some other ship,*
and he didn't seem sure at the time which was the
correct number, which apparently was 3.
We tied up to a boat filled with women once,
but the rope broke and we got pretty well separ-
ated from all the other lifeboats for some time.
We had in all about forty in our boat, including
ten or twelve stokers in the bow with us who
seemed to exercise complete control over our cox-
swain, and urged him to order the men to row
away from the sinking Titanic, as they were in
mortal terror of the suction. Two oars were lost
soon after we started and they didn't want to
take the time to go back after them, in spite of
*" All boats were new and none transferred from an-
other ship," President Ismay's testimony.
250 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ''TITANIC^*
some of the passengers telling them that there
was absolutely no danger from suction. All this
accounts for the fact of our being some distance
off when the ship went down. We couldn't per-
suade the coxswain to turn around till we saw
the lights of the Carpathia on the horizon. It
was then that we burned some paper, as we
couldn't find our lantern. When the dawn ap-
peared and my small boy Douglas saw the bergs
around us and remarked: ''Oh, Muddie, look at
the beautiful north pole with no Santa Claus on
it," we all couldn't refrain from smiling in spite
of the tragedy of the situation.
No more accurately written or interesting ac-
count (one which I freely confess moves me to
tears whenever re-read) has come to my notice
than the following, which I have the consent of
the author to insert in its entirety:
WHEN THE "titanic" WENT DOWN
By
Miss Elizabeth W. Shutes
Such a biting cold air poured into my state-
room that I could not sleep, and the air had so
WOMEN first; men next 251
strange an odor,* as if it came from a clammy
cave. I had noticed that same odor in the ice
cave on the Eiger glacier. It all came back to
me so vividly that I could not sleep, but lay in
my berth until the cabin grew so very cold that
I got up and turned on my electric stove. It
threw a cheerful red glow around, and the room
was soon comfortable; but I lay waiting. I have
always loved both day and night on shipboard,
and am never fearful of anything, but now I was
nervous about the icy air.
Suddenly a queer quivering ran under me, ap-
parently the whole length of the ship. Startled
by the very strangeness of the shivering motion,
I sprang to the floor. With too perfect a trust
in that mighty vessel I again lay down. Some
one knocked at my door, and the voice of a friend
said: *'Come quickly to my cabin; an iceberg has
just passed our window; I know we have just
struck one.*'
No confusion, no noise of any kind, one could
believe no danger imminent. Our stewardess
came and said she could learn nothing. Looking
out into the companionway I saw heads appearing
asking questions from half-closed doors. All
sepulchrally still, no excitement. I sat down
again. My friend was by this time dressed; still
* Seaman Lee testifies to this odor.
252 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE *'tiTANIC''
her daughter and I talked on, Margaret pretend-
ing to eat a sandwich. Her hand shook so that
the bread kept parting company from the chicken.
Then I saw she was frightened, and for the first
time I was too, but why get dressed, as no one
had given the slightest hint of any possible danger?
An officer's cap passed the door. I asked: "Is
there an accident or danger of any kind?" ''None,
so far as I know," was his courteous answer,
spoken quietly and most kindly. This same officer
then entered a cabin a little distance down the
companionway and, by this time distrustful of
everything, I listened intently, and distinctly
heard, "We can keep the water out for a while."
Then, and not until then, did I realize the horror
of an accident at sea. Now it was too late to
dress; no time for a waist, but a coat and skirt
were soon on; slippers were quicker than shoes;
the stewardess put on our life-preservers, and we
were just ready when Mr. Roebling came to tell
us he would take us to our friend's mother, who
was waiting above.
We passed by the palm room, where two short
hours before we had listened to a beautiful con-
cert, just as one might sit in one's own home.
With never a realizing sense of being on the
ocean, why should not one forget? — no motion,
no noise of machinery, nothing suggestive of a
WOMEN first; men NEXT 253
ship. Happy, laughing men and women con-
stantly passing up and down those broad, strong
staircases, and the music went on and the ship
went on — nearer and nearer to its end. So short
a life, so horrible a death for that great, great
ship. What is a more stupendous work than a
ship ! The almost human pieces of machinery,
yet a helpless child, powerless in its struggle
with an almighty sea, and the great boat sank,
fragile as a rowboat.
How different are these staircases now! No
laughing throng, but on either side stand quietly,
bravely, the stewards, all equipped with the white,
ghostly life-preservers. Always the thing one
tries not to see even crossing a ferry. Now only
pale faces, each form strapped about with those
white bars. So gruesome a scene. We passed on.
The awful good-byes. The quiet look of hope in
the brave men's eyes as the wives were put into
the lifeboats. Nothing escaped one at this fearful
moment. We left from the Sun Deck, seventy-
five feet above the water. Mr. Case and Mr.
Roebling, brave American men, saw us to the
lifeboat, made no effort to save themselves, but
stepped back on deck. Later they went to an
honored grave.
Our lifeboat, with thirty-six in it, began lower-
ing to the sea. This was done amid the greatest
254 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
confusion. Rough seamen all giving different
orders. No officer aboard. As only one side of
the ropes worked, the lifeboat at one time was
in such a position that it seemed we must capsize
in mid-air. At last the ropes worked together,
and we drew nearer and nearer the black, oily
water. The first touch of our Hfeboat on that
black sea came to me as a last good-bye to life,
and so we put off — a tiny boat on a great sea —
rowed away from what had been a safe home
for five days. The first wish on the part of all
was to stay near the Titdnic. We all felt so much
safer near the ship. Surely such a vessel could
not sink. I thought the danger must be exag-
gerated, and we could all be taken aboard again.
But surely the outline of that great, good ship
was growing less. The bow of the boat was
getting black. Light after light was disappearing,
and now those rough seamen put to their oars and
we were told to hunt under seats, any place, any-
where, for a lantern, a light of any kind. Every
place was empty. There was no water — no stim-
ulant of any kind. Not a biscuit — nothing to keep
us alive had we drifted long. Had no good
Carpathia, with its splendid Captain Rostron, its
orderly crew, come to our rescue we must have
all perished. Our men knew nothing about the
position of the stars, hardly how to pull together.
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 255
Two oars were soon overboard. The men's hands
were too cold to hold on. We stopped while they
beat their hands and arms, then started on again.
A sea, calm as a pond, kept our boat steady, and
now that mammoth ship is fast, fast disappearing.
Only one tiny light is left — a powerless little
spark, a lantern fastened to the mast. Fascinated,
I watched that black outline until the end. Then
across the water swept that awful wail, the cry
of those drowning people. In my ears I heard:
"She's gone, lads; row Hke hell or we'll get the
devil of a swell." And the horror, the helpless
horror, the worst of all — need it have been?
To-day the question is being asked, **Would
the Titanic disaster be so discussed had it not been
for the great wealth gathered there?" It surely
would be, for at a time like this wealth counts
for nothing, but man's philanthropy, man's brains,
man's heroism, count forever. So many men that
stood for the making of a great nation, morally
and politically, were swept away by the sinking
of that big ship. That is why, day after day, the
world goes on asking the why of it all. Had a
kind Providence a guiding hand in this? Did our
nation need so mighty a stroke to prove that man
had grown too self-reliant, too sure of his own
power over God's sea? God's part was the sav-
ing of the few souls on that calmest of oceans
256 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIc"
on that fearful night. Man's part was the pushing
of the good ship, pushing against all reason, to
save what? — a few hours and lose a thousand
souls — to have the largest of ships arrive in port
even a few hours sooner than anticipated. Risk
all, but push, push on, on. The icebergs could
be avoided. Surely man's experience ought to
have lent aid, but just so surely it did not.
In years past a tendency to live more simply
away from pomp and display led to the founding
of our American nation. Now what are we de-
manding to-day? Those same needless luxuries.
If they were not demanded they would not be
supplied. Gymnasiums, swimming pools, tea
rooms, had better give way to make space for the
necessary number of lifeboats; lifeboats for the
crew, also, who help pilot the good ship across
the sea.
Sitting by me in the lifeboat were a mother
and daughter (Mrs. Hays and Mrs. Davidson).
The mother had left a husband on the Titanic,
and the daughter a father and husband, and
while we were near the other boats those two
stricken women would call out a name and ask,
"Are you there?" "No,'' would come back the
awful answer, but these brave women never lost
courage, forgot their own sorrow, telling me to
sit close to them to keep warm. Now I began
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 257
to wish for the warm velvet suit I left hanging
in my cabin. I had thought of it for a minute,
and then had quickly thrown on a lighter weight
skirt. I knew the heavier one would make the
life-preserver less useful. Had I only known how
calm the ocean was that night, I would have felt
that death was not so sure, and would have
dressed for life rather than for the end. The
life-preservers helped to keep us warm, but the
night was bitter cold, and it grew colder and
colder, and just before dawn, the coldest, darkest
hour of all, no help seemed possible. As we
put off from the Titanic never was a sky more
brilliant, never have I seen so many falling stars.
All tended to make those distress rockets that
were sent up from the sinking ship look so small,
so dull and futile. The brilliancy of the sky only
intensified the blackness of the water, our utter
loneliness on the sea. The other boats had
drifted away from us; we must wait now for
dawn and what the day was to bring us we dare
not even hope. To see if I could not make the
night seem shorter, I tried to imagine myself
again in Japan. We had made two strange night
departures there, and I was unafraid, and this
Atlantic now was calmer than the Inland sea had
been at that time. This helped a while, but my
hands were freezing cold, and I had to give up
258 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE tiTANIC"
pretending and think of the dawn that must soon
come.
Two rough looking men had jumped into our
boat as we were about to lower, and they kept
striking matches, lighting cigars, until I feared we
would have no matches left and might need them,
so I asked them not to use any more, but they
kept on. I do not know what they looked like.
It was too dark to really distinguish features
clearly, and when the dawn brought the light it
brought something so wonderful with it no one
looked at anything else or anyone else. Some
one asked: "What time is it?'' Matches were
still left; one was struck. Four o'clock! Where
had the hours of the night gone? Yes, dawn
would soon be here; and it came, so surely, so
strong with cheer. The stars slowly disappeared,
and in their place came the faint pink glow of
another day. Then I heard, "A light, a ship."
I could not, would not, look while there .was a
bit of doubt, but kept my eyes away. All night
long I had heard, *'A light!" Each time it proved
to be one of our other lifeboats, someone lighting
a piece of paper, anything they could find to
burn, and now I could not believe. Someone
found a newspaper; it was lighted and held up.
Then I looked and saw a ship. A ship bright
with lights; strong and steady she waited, and
WOMEN first; men next 259
we were to be saved. A straw hat was offered
(Mrs. Davidson's) ; it would burn longer. That
same ship that had come to save us might run us
down. But no; she is still. The two, the ship
and the dawn, came together, a living painting.
White was the vessel, but whiter still were those
horribly beautiful icebergs, and as we drew nearer
and nearer that good ship we drew nearer to
those mountains of ice. As far as the eye could
reach they rose. Each one more fantastically
chiselled than its neighbor. The floe glistened like
an ever-ending meadow covered with new-fallen
snow. Those same white mountains, marvellous
in their purity, had made of the just ended night
one of the blackest the sea has ever known. And
near them stood the ship which had come in such
quick response to the Titanic's call for help. The
man who works over hours is always the worth-
while kind, and the Marconi operator awaiting
a belated message had heard the poor ship's
call for help, and we few out of so many
were saved.
From the Carpathia a rope forming a tiny
swing was lowered into our lifeboat, and one by
one we were drawn into safety. The lady pulled
up just ahead of me was very large, and I felt
myself being jerked fearfully, when I heard some
one say: **Careful, fellers; she's a lightweight."
26o THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tiTANIC"
I bumped and bumped against the side of the ship
until I felt like a bag of meal. My hands were
so cold I could hardly hold on to the rope, and
I was fearful of letting go. Again I heard:
''Steady, fellers; not so fast!^' I felt I should
let go and bounce out of the ropes ; I hardly think
that would have been possible, but I felt so at
the time. At last I found myself at an opening
of some kind and there a kind doctor wrapped me
in a warm rug and led me to the dining room,
where warm stimulants were given us immediately
and everything possible was done for us all.
Lifeboats kept coming in, and heart-rending was
the sight as widow after widow was brought
aboard. Each hoped some lifeboat ahead of hers
might have brought her husband safely to this
waiting vessel. But always no.
I was still so cold that I had to get a towel
and tie it around my waist. Then I went back to
the dining-room and found dear Httle Louis,* the
French baby, lying alone; his cold, bare feet had
become unwrapped. I put a hot water bottle
against this very beautiful boy. He smiled his
thanks.
Knowing how much better I felt after taking
the hot stimulant, I tried to get others to take
* One of the Navratil children whose pathetic story has
been fully related in the newspapers.
WOMEN first; men next 261
something; but often they just shook their heads
and said, "Oh, I can't."
Towards night we remembered we had nothing
— no comb, brush, nothing of any kind — so we
went to the barber-shop. The barber always has
everything, but now he had only a few tooth-
brushes left. I bought a cloth cap of doubtful
style; and felt like a walking orphan asylum, but
very glad to have anything to cover my head.
There were also a few showy silk handkerchiefs
left. On the corner of each was embroidered in
scarlet, "From a friend." These we bought and
we were now fitted out for our three remaining
days at sea.
Patiently through the dismal, foggy days we
lived, waiting for land and possible news of the
lost. For the brave American man, a heart full
of gratitude, too deep for words, sends out a
thanksgiving. That such men are born, live and
die for others is a cause for deep gratitude. What
country could have shown such men as belong to
our American manhood? Thank God for them
and for their noble death.
EMERGENCY BOAT No. |*
No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.
* This was the fourth boat to leave the starboard side.
262 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
Passengers: Lady Duff Gordon and maid
(Miss Francetelll).
Men: Lord Duff Gordon and Messrs. Solo-
mon and Stengel.
Total: 5.
Crew: Seamen: Symons (in charge), Hors-
well. Firemen: Collins, Hendrickson, Pusey,
Shee, Taylor.
Total: 7.
Grand Total: 12.
INCIDENTS
G. Symons, A. B. (Br. Inq.) :
Witness assisted in putting passengers m Nos.
5 and 3 under Mr. Murdoch's orders, women and
children first. He saw 5 and 3 lowered away and
went to No. i. Mr. Murdoch ordered another
sailor and five firemen in. Witness saw two ladies
running out of the Saloon Deck who asked if
they could get in the boat. Murdoch said : "Jump
in.'* The officer looked around for more, but
none were in sight and he ordered to lower away,
with the witness in charge. Before leaving the
Boat Deck witness saw a white light a point and
a half on the port bow about five miles away.
Just after boat No. i got away, the water was
up to C Deck just under where the ship's name is.
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 263
Witness got about 200 yards away and ordered
the crew to lay on their oars. The ship's stern
was well up in the air. The foremost lights had
disappeared and the only light left was the mast
light. The stern was up out of the water at an
angle of forty-five degrees; the propeller could
just be seen. The boat was pulled away a little
further to escape suction; then he stopped and
watched.
After the Titanic went down he heard the
people shrieking for help, but was afraid to go
back for fear of their swarming upon him, though
there was plenty of room in the boat for eight or
a dozen more. He determined on this course
himself as '^master of the situation,'^ * About a
day before landing in New York a present of five
pounds came as a surprise to the witness from
Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon.
The President: You state that you were sur-
prised that no one in the boat suggested that you
should go back to the assistance of the drowning
people?
Witness : Yes.
The President: Why were you surprised?
Witness: I fully expected someone to do so.
The President: It seemed reasonable that such
a suggestion should be made?
* Italics are mine. — ^Author.
264 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC*'
Witness: Yes; I should say it would have
been reasonable.
The President: You said in America to Sena-
tor Perkins that you had fourteen to twenty pas-
sengers in the boat?
Witness: I thought I had; I was in the dark.
The President : You were not in the dark when
you gave that evidence.
Witness said he thought he was asked how
many people there were in the boat, all told.
The Attorney General: You meant that the
14 to 20 meant everybody?
Witness : Yes.
The Attorney General: But you know you
only had twelve all told?
Witness : Yes.
The President: You must have known per-
fectly well when you gave this evidence that the
number in your boat was twelve. Why did you
tell them in America that there were fourteen to
twenty in the boat?
Witness: I do not know; it was a mistake I
made then and the way they muddled us up.
The Attorney General: It was a very plain
question. Did you know the names of any pas-
sengers?
Witness: I knew Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon's
name when we arrived in America,
WOMEN first; men next 265
The Attorney General : Did you say anything
in America about having received the five pounds?
Witness: No, sir; and I was not asked.
The Attorney General : You were asked these
very questions in America which we have been
putting to you to-day about going back?
Witness: Yes, sir.
The Attorney General : Why did you not say
that you heard the cries, but in the exercise of
your discretion as "master of the situation" you
did not go back?
Witness: They took us in three at a time in
America and they hurried us through the ques-
tions.
The Attorney General : They asked you : "Did
you make any effort to get there," and you said:
"Yes; we went back and could not see anything."
But you said nothing about your discretion. Why
did you not tell them that part of the story? You
realized that if you had gone back you might
have rescued a good many people?
Witness: Yes.
The Attorney General : The sea was calm, the
night was calm and there could not have been
a more favorable night for rescuing people?
Witness : Yes.
The testimony at the American Inquiry above
<<^T^« ^T»^»>
266 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
referred to, because of which this witness was
called to account, follows :
G. Symons, L. O. (Am. Inq., p. 573) :
I was in command of boat No. i.
Senator Perkins: How many passengers did
you have on her?
Mr. Symons : From fourteen to twenty.
Senator Perkins: Were they passengers or
crew?
Mr. Symons: There were seven men ordered
in; two seamen and five firemen. They were or-
dered in by Mr. Murdoch.
Senator Perkins: How many did you have all
told?
Mr. Symons: I would not say for certain; it
was fourteen or twenty. Then we were ordered
away.
Senator Perkins : You did not return to the ship
again?
Mr. Symons : Yes ; we came back after the ship
was gone and saw nothing.
Senator Perkins: Did you rescue anyone that
was in the water?
Mr. Symons: No, sir; we saw nothing when
we came back.
Witness then testified that there was no confu-
sion or excitement among the passengers. It
was just the same as if it was an everyday affair.
WOMEN first; men next 267
He never saw any rush whatever to get into either
of the two boats. He heard the cries of the
people in the water.
Senator Perkins : Did you say your boat could
take more? Did you make any effort to get
them?
Mr. Symons: Yes. We came back, but when
we came back we did not see anybody or hear
anybody.
He says that his boat could have accommo-
dated easily ten more. He was in charge of her
and was ordered away by Officer Murdoch. Did
not pull back to the ship again until she went
down.
Senator Perkins : And so you made no attempt
to save any other people after you were ordered
to pull away from the ship by someone?
Mr. Symons : I pulled off and came back after
the ship had gone down.
Senator Perkins: And then there were no peo-
ple there?
Mr. Symons: No, sir; I never saw any.
C. E. H. Stengel, first-class passenger (Am.
Inq., p. 97i)-
There was a small boat they called an Emer-
gency boat in which were three people. Sir Duff
Gordon, his wife and Miss Francatelli. I asked
268 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
to get into the boat. There was no one else
around that I could see except the people working
at the boats. The officer said: "Jump in.** The
railing was rather high. I jumped onto it and
rolled into the boat. The officer said: "That's
the funniest thing I have seen to-night," and
laughed heartily. After getting down part of the
way the boat began to tip and somebody "hol-
lered" to stop lowering. A man named A. L.
Soloman also asked to get in with us. There
were five passengers, three stokers and two sea-
men in the boat.
Senator Smith: Do you know who gave in-
structions ?
Mr. Stengel: I think between Sir Cosmo Duff
Gordon and myself we decided which way to go.
We followed a light that was to the bow of the
ship. . . .Most of the boats rowed toward that
light, and after the green lights began to burn I
suggested that it was better to turn around and
go towards them. They were from another life-
boat. When I got into the boat it was right up
against the side of the ship. If it had not been,
I would have gone right out into the water be-
cause I rolled. I did not step in it; I just simply
rolled. There was one of the icebergs particu-
larly that I noticed — a very large one which
looked something like the Rock of Gibraltar.
WOMEN first; men next 269
THE DUFF GORDON EPISODE
Charles Hendricksen, leading fireman (Br.
Inq.) :
When the ship sank we picked up nobody.
The passengers would not listen to our going back.
Of the twelve in the boat, seven were of the crew.
Symons, who was in charge, said nothing and we
all kept our mouths shut. None of the crew ob-
jected to going back. It was a woman who ob-
jected. Lady Duff Gordon, who said we would be
swamped. People screaming for help could be
heard by everyone in our boat. I suggested go-
ing back. Heard no one else do so. Mr. Duff
Gordon upheld his wife.
After we got on the Carpathia Gordon sent for
them all and said he would make them a present.
He was surprised to receive five pounds from him
the day after docking in New York.
Hendricksen recalled.
Witness cross examined by Sir Cosmo Duff
Gordon's counsel.
What did you say about Sir Cosmo's alleged
statement preventing you from going back?
Witness : It was up to us to go back.
Did anyone in the boat say anything to you
about going back?
270 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
Witness: Lady Duff Gordon said something to
the effect that if we went back the boat would be
swamped.
Who was it that first said anything about Sir
Cosmo making a presentation to the crew?
Witness : Fireman CoUins came down and said
so when we were on board the Carpathia.
Before we left the Carpathia all the people
rescued were photographed together. We mem-
bers of the crew wrote our names on Lady Duff
Gordon's life-belt. From the time we first left
off rowing until the time the vessel sank, Lady
Duff Gordon was violently seasick and lying on
the oars.
A. E. Horswell, A. B. (Br. Inq.) :
Witness said it would have been quite a safe
and proper thing to have gone back and that it
was an inhuman thing not to do so, but he had to
obey the orders of the coxswain. Two days after
boarding the Carpathia some gentlemen sent for
him and he received a present.
J. Taylor, fireman (Br. Inq.) :
Witness testifies that No. i boat stood by about
100 yards to avoid suction and was 200 yards off
when the Titanic sank. He heard a suggestion
made about going back and a lady passenger
talked of the boat's being swamped if they did so.
WOMEN first; men next 271
Two gentlemen in the boat said it would be dan-
gerous.
Did your boat ever get within reach of drown-
ing people?
Witness: No.
How many more could the boat have taken in?
Witness: Twenty-five or thirty in addition to
those already in it.
Did any of the crew object to going back?
Witness : No.
Did you ever hear of a boat^s crew consisting
of six sailors and one fireman?
Witness: No.
Lord Mersey: What was it that Sir Cosmo
Duff Gordon said to you in the boat?
Witness : He said he would write to our homes
and to our wives and let them know that we were
safe.
Witness said he received five pounds when he
was on board the Carpathia.
R. W. Pusey, fireman (Br. Inq.) :
After the ship went down we heard cries for a
quarter of an hour, or twenty minutes. Did not
go back in the direction the Titanic had sunk. I
heard one of the men say: "We have lost our kit,"
and then someone said: "Never mind, we will
give you enough to get a new kit.'' I was sur-
272 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
prised that no one suggested going back. I was
surprised that I did not do so, but we were all
half dazed. It does occur to me now that we
might have gone back and rescued some of the
strugglers. I heard Lady Duff Gordon say to
Miss FrancatelH: "You have lost your beautiful
nightdress/' and I said: "Never mind, you have
saved your lives; but we have lost our kit"; and
then Sir Cosmo offered to provide us with new
ones.
Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon (Br. Inq.) :
No. 7 was the first boat I went to. It was just
being filled. There were only women and the
boat was lowered away. No. 3 was partially
filled with women, and as there were no more,
they filled it up with men. My wife would not go
without me. Some men on No. 3 tried to force
her away, but she would not go. I heard an offi-
cer say : "Man No. i boat." I said to him : "May
we get in that boat?" He said: "With pleasure;
I wish you would." He handed the ladies in and
then put two Americans in, and after that he said
to two or three firemen that they had better get
in. When the boat was lowered I thought the
Titanic was in a very grave condition. At the
time I thought that certainly all the women
had gotten off. No notice at all was taken
WOMEN first; men next 273
in our boat of these cries. No thought en-
tered my mind about its being possible to go
back and try to save some of these people.
I made a promise of a present to the men in
the boat.
There was a man sitting next to me and about
half an hour after the Titanic sank a man said to
me: "I suppose you have lost everything?" I
said: *Tes.'* He said: "I suppose you can get
more." I said: ^Tes." He said: "Well, we
have lost all our kit, for we shall not get any-
thing out of the Company, and our pay ceases
from to-night." I said: ''Very well, I will give
you five pounds each towards your kit."
Were the cries from the Titanic clear enough
to hear the words, "My God, My God"?
No. You have taken that from the story in the
American papers.
Mr. Stengel in his evidence in New York said,
"Between Mr. Duff Gordon and myself we de-
cided the direction of the boat."
That's not so ; I did not speak to the coxswain
in any way.
Lady Duff Gordon (Br. Inq.) :
After the three boats had been gotten away my
husband and I were left standing on the deck.
Then my husband went up and said, might we
274 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
not get into this boat, and the officer said very
politely: *'If you will do so I should be very
pleased." Then somebody hitched me up at the
back, lifted me up and pitched me into the boat
My husband and Miss FrancatelH were also
pitched into the boat; and then two Americans
were also pitched in on top of us. Before the
Titanic sank I heard terrible cries.
Q. Is it true in an article signed by what pur-
ports to be your signature that you heard the last
cry which was that of a man shouting, "My God,
My God"?
A. Absolutely untrue.
Address by Mr. A. Clement Edwards, M. P.,
Counsel for Dock Workers' Union (Br. Inq.) :
Referring to the Duff Gordon incident he said
that the evidence showed that in one of the boats
there were only seven seamen and five passengers.
If we admitted that, this boat had accommoda-
tion for twenty-eight more passengers.
The primary responsibility for this must neces-
sarily be placed on the member of the crew who
was in charge of the boat — Symons, no conduct of
anyone else in the boat, however reprehensible,
relieving that man from such responsibility.
Here was a boat only a short distance from the
ship, so near that the cries of those struggling in
the water could be heard. Symons had been told
WOMEN first; men next 275
to stand by the ship, and that imposed upon him
a specific duty. It was shown in Hendricksen's
evidence that there was to the fullest knowledge
of those in the boat a large number of people in
the water, and that someone suggested that they
should return and try to rescue them. Then it
was proved that one of the ladies, who was shown
to be Lady Duff Gordon, had said that the boat
might be swamped if they went back, and Sir
Cosmo Duff Gordon had admitted that this also
represented his mental attitude at the time. He
(Mr. Edwards) was going to say, and to say
quite fearlessly, that a state of mind which could,
while within the hearing of the screams of drown-
ing people, think of so material a matter as the
giving of money to replace kits was a state of
mind which must have contemplated the fact that
there was a possibility of rescuing some of these
people, and the danger which might arise if this
were attempted.
He was not going to say that there was a blunt,
crude bargain, or a deal done with these men: "If
you will not go back I will give you five pounds" ;
but he was going to suggest as a right and true
inference that the money was mentioned at that
time under these circumstances to give such a sense
of ascendancy or supremacy to Sir Cosmo Duff
Gordon in the boat that the view to which he
276 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC"
gave expression that they should not go back
would weigh more with the men than if he had
given it as a piece of good advice. There were
twenty-eight places on that boat and no one on
board had a right to save his own life by avoid-
ing any possible risk involved in filling the vacant
places. To say the least of it, it was most repre-
hensible that there should have been any offer of
money calculated to influence the minds of the
men or to seduce them from their duty.
From the address of the Attorney-General, Sir
Rufus Isaacs, K. C, M. P. (Br. Inq.) :
In regard to boat No. i, I have to make some
comment. This was the Emergency boat on the
starboard side, which figured somewhat promi-
nently in the inquiry on account of the evidence
which was given in the first instance by Hendrick-
sen, and which led to the calling of Sir Cosmo
Duff Gordon. Any comment I have to make in
regard to that boat is, I wish to say, not directed
to Sir Cosmo or his wife. For my part, I would
find it impossible to make any harsh or severe
comment on the conduct of any woman who, in
circumstances such as these, found herself on the
water in a small boat on a dark night, and was
afraid to go back because she thought there was
a danger of being swamped. At any rate, I will
WOMEN first; men next 277
make no comment about that, and the only rea-
son I am directing attention to No. i boat is that
it is quite plain that it was lowered with twelve
persons in it instead of forty. I am unable to say
why it was that that boat was so lowered with
only five passengers and seven of the crew on
board, but that circumstance, I contend, shows the
importance of boat drill.
As far as he knew from the evidence, no order
was given as to the lowering of this boat. He
regretted to say that he was quite unable to offer
any explanation of it, but he could not see why
the boat was lowered under the circumstances.
The point of this part of the inquiry was two-
fold — (i) the importance of a boat drill; (2)
that you should have the men ready.
No doubt if there had been proper organiza-
tion there would have been a greater possibility
of saving more passengers. What struck one was
that no one seemed to have known what his duty
was or how many persons were to be placed in
the boat before it was lowered. In all cases no
boat had its complement of what could be carried
on this particular night. The vessel was on her
first passage, and if all her crew had been en-
gaged on the next voyage no doubt things would
have been better, but there was no satisfactory
organization with regard to calling passengers
278 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIc"
and getting them on deck. Had these boats had
their full complement it would have been another
matter, but the worst of them was this boat No i,
because the man, Symons, in charge did not ex-
ercise his duty. No doubt he was told to stand
by, but he went quite a distance away. His evi-
dence was unsatisfactory, and gave no proper ac-
count why he did not return. He only said that
he '^exercised his discretion,'^ and that he was
"master of the situation." There was, however,
no explanation why he went away and why he did
not go back except that he would be swamped.
That was no explanation. I can see no justifica-
tion for his not going back. From the evidence,
there were no people on the starboard deck at
the time. They must have been mistaken in mak-
ing that statement, because, as they knew, four
more boats were subsequently lowered with a
number of women and children. The capacity of
this boat was forty. No other boat went away
with so small a proportion as compared with its
capacity, and there was no other boat which went
away with a larger number of the crew. I
confess It is a thing which I do not understand
why that boat was lowered when she was. Speak-
ing generally, the only boats that took their full
quantity were four. One had to see what ex-
planation could be given of that. In this particu-
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 279
lar case it happened that the officers were afraid
the boats would buckle. Then they said that no
more women were available, and, thirdly, it was
contemplated to go back. It struck one as very
regrettable that the officers should have doubts
in their minds on these points with regard to the
capacity of the boats.
BOAT NO. 9*
No disorder when this boat was loaded and
lowered.
Passengers: Mesdames Aubert and maid (Mile
Segesser), Futrelle, Lines; Miss Lines, and sec-
ond and third-class.
Men: Two or three.
Said good-bye to wife and sank with ship: Mr.
Futrelle.
Crew: Seamen: Haines (in charge), Wynne,
Q. M., McGough, Peters; Stewards Ward, Widg-
ery and others.
Total: 56.
INCIDENTS
A. Haines, boatswain's mate (Am. Inq., 755) :
Officer Murdoch and witness filled boat 9 with
ladies. None of the men passengers tried to get
into the boats. Officer Murdoch told them to
* The fifth boat lowered on starboard side, 1.20 (Br. Rpt.,
p. 38),
2 8o THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC '
Stand back. There was one woman who refused
to get in because she was afraid. When there
were no more women forthcoming the boat was
full, when two or three men jumped into the bow.
There were two sailors, three or four stewards,
three or four firemen and two or three men pas-
sengers. No. 9 was lowered from the Boat Deck
with sixty-three people in the boat and lowered
all right. Officer Murdoch put the witness In
charge and ordered him to row off and keep
clear of the ship. When we saw it going down
by the head he pulled further away for the safety
of the people In the boat: about lOO yards away
at first. Cries were heard after the ship went
down. He consulted with the sailors about going
back and concluded with so many in the boat it
was unsafe to do so. There was no compass in
the boat, but he had a little pocket lamp. On
Monday morning he saw from thirty to fifty ice-
bergs and a big field of ice miles long and large
bergs and "growlers,'' the largest from eighty to
one hundred feet high.
W. Wynne, Q. M. (Br. Inq.) :
Officer Murdoch ordered witness Into boat No.
9. He assisted the ladles and took an oar. He
says there were fifty-six all told in the boat, forty-
two of whom were women. He saw the light of
WOMEN first; men next 281
a steamer — a red light first, and then a white one
— about seven or eight miles away. After an
interval both lights disappeared. Ten or fifteen
minutes afterwards he saw a white light again in
the same direction. There was no lamp or com-
pass in the boat.
W. Ward, steward (Am. Inq., 595) :
Witness assisted in taking the canvas cover off
of boat No. 9 and lowered it to the level of the
Boat Deck.*
Officer Murdoch, Purser McElroy and Mr. Is-
may were near this boat when being loaded. A
sailor came along with a bag and threw it into
the boat. He said he had been sent to take charge
of it by the captain. The boatswain's mate,
Haines, was there and ordered him out. He got
out. Either Purser McElroy or Officer Murdoch
said: "Pass the women and children that are here
into that boat." There were several men stand-
ing around and they fell back. There were quite
a quantity of women but he could not say how
many were helped into the boat. There were no
children. One old lady made a great fuss and
absolutely refused to enter the boat. She went
* Brice, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 648) and Wheate, Ass't. 2nd
Steward (Br. Inq.), say No. 9 was filled from A Deck with
women and children only.
<<r^,r«.^^,^n