282 the truth about the Titanic
back to the companionway and forced her way in
and would not get into the boat. One woman,
a French lady, fell and hurt herself a little. Pur-
ser McElroy ordered two more men into the boat
to assist the women. When No. 9 was being low-
ered the first listing of the ship was noticeable.
From the rail to the boat was quite a distance
to step down to the bottom of it, and in the dark
the women could not see where they were step-
ping. Purser McElroy told witness to get into
the boat to assist the women. Women were called
for, but none came along and none were seen on
deck at the time. Three or four men were then
taken into the boat until the officers thought there
were sufficient to lower away with safety.
No. 9 was lowered into the water before No.
II. There was some difficulty in unlashing the
oars because for some time no one had a knife.
There were four men who rowed all night, but
there were some of them in the boat who had
never been to sea before and did not know the
first thing about an oar, or the bow from the
stern. Haines gave orders to pull away. When
200 yards off, rowing was stopped for about an
hour. Haines was afraid of suction and we pulled
away to about a quarter of a mile from the ship.
The ship went down very gradually for a while
by the head. We could just see the ports as she
WOMEN first; men next 283
dipped. She gave a kind of a sudden lurch for-
ward. He heard a couple of reports like a vol-
ley of musketry; not like an explosion at all. His
boat was too full and it would have been mad-
ness to have gone back. He thinks No. 9 was
the fourth or fifth boat picked up by the Car-
pathia. There was quite a big lot of field ice and
several large icebergs in amongst the field; also
two or three separated from the main body of the
field.
J. Widgery, bath steward (Am. Inq., 602) :
Witness says that all passengers were out of
their cabins on deck before he went up.
When he got to the Boat Deck No. 7 was about
to be lowered, but the purser sent him to No. 9.
The canvas had been taken off and he helped
lower the boat. Purser McElroy ordered him
into the boat to help the boatswain's mate pass in
women. Women were called for. An elderly
lady came along. She was frightened. The
boatswain's mate and himself assisted her, but
she pulled away and went back to the door (of
the companionway) and downstairs. Just before
they left the ship the officer gave the order to
Haines to keep about 100 yards off. The boat
was full as it started to lower away. When they
got to the water he was the only one that had a
284 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIc"
knife to cut loose the oars. He says that the bal-
ance of his testimony would be the same as that
of Mr. Ward, the previous witness.
BOAT NO. II*
No disorder when this boat was loaded and
lowered.
Passengers: Women: Mrs. Schabert and two
others of first cabin; all the rest second and third
class. Fifty-eight women and children in all.
Men: Mr. Mock, first cabin, and two others.
Crew: Seamen: Humphreys (in charge), Brice;
Stewards: Wheate, MacKay, McMicken, Thes-
singer, Wheelton; Fireman ; Steward-
ess: Mrs. Robinson.
Total: 70.
INCIDENTS
W. Brice, A. B. (Am. Inq., 648) :
This boat was filled from A Deck. An officer
said: **Is there a sailor in the boat?" There was
no answer. I jumped out and went down the fall
into the bow. Nobody was in the stern. I went
aft and shipped the rudder. By that time the boat
had been filled with women and children. We
had a bit of difficulty in keeping the boat clear of
a big body of water coming from the ship's side.
* Sixth boat lowered on starboard side, 1.25 (Br. Rpt., p. 38).
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 285
The after block got jammed, but I think that must
have been on account of the trip not being pushed
right down to disconnect the block from the boat.
We managed to keep the boat clear from this
body of water. It was the pump discharge.
There were only two seamen in the boat, a fire-
man, about six stewards and fifty-one passengers.
There were no women and children who tried to
get into the boat and were unable to do so. There
was no rush and no panic whatever. Everything
was done in perfect order and discipline.
Mr. Humphreys, A. B., was in charge of No.
II. There was no light or lantern in our boat.
I cut the lashing from the oil bottle and cut rope
and made torches. The ship sank bow down first
almost perpendicularly. She became a black mass
before she made the final plunge when boat was
about a quarter of a mile away. Boat No. 9 was
packed. Passengers were about forty-five women
and about four or five children in arms.
E. Wheelton, steward (Am. Inq.) :
As I made along B Deck I met Mr. Andrews,
the builder, who was opening the rooms and look-
ing in to see if there was anyone in, and closing
the doors again. Nos. 7, 5 and 9 had gone. No.
II boat was hanging in the davits. Mr. Mur-
doch said: *'You go too." He shouted: ''Women
286 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE *'TITANIC"
and children first.'* He was then on the top deck
standing by the taffrail. The boat was loaded
with women and children, and I think there were
eight or nine men in the boat altogether, includ-
ing our crew, and one passenger.
"Have you got any sailors in?" asked Mr.
Murdoch. I said: "No, sir.'' He told two sail-
ors to jump into the boat. We lowered away.
Everything went very smooth until we touched
the water. When we pushed away from the ship's
side we had a slight difficulty in hoisting the after
block. We pulled away about 300 yards. We
rowed around to get close to the other boats.
There were about fifty-eight all told in No. 11.
It took all of its passengers from A Deck except
the two sailors. I think there were two boats left
on the starboard side when No. 1 1 was lowered.
The eight or nine men in the boat included a pas-
senger. A quartermaster (Humphreys) was in
charge.
C. D. MacKay, steward (Br. Inq.) :
No. 1 1 was lowered to A Deck. Murdoch or-
dered me to take charge. We collected all the
women (40) on the Boat Deck, and on A Deck
we collected a few more. The crew were five
stewards, one fireman, two sailors, one forward
and one aft. There was Wheelton, McMicken,
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 287
Thessenger, Wheate and myself. The others
were strangers to the ship. There were two sec-
ond-class ladies, one second-class gentleman, and
the rest were third-class ladies. I found out that
they were all third-class passengers. We had
some diiBculty in getting the after fall away. We
went away from the ship about a quarter of a
mile. No compass. The women complained that
they were crushed up so much and had to stand.
Complaints were made against the men because
they smoked.
J. T. Wheate, Ass't. 2nd Steward (Br. Inq.) :
Witness went upstairs to the Boat Deck where
Mr. Murdoch ordered the boats to the A Deck
where the witness and seventy of his men helped
pass the women and children into boat No. 9, and
none but women and children were taken in. He
then filled up No. 1 1 with fifty-nine women and
children, three male passengers and a crew of
seven stewards, two sailors and one fireman. He
could not say how the three male passengers got
there. The order was very good. There was
nobody on the Boat Deck, so the people were
taken off on the A Deck.
Philip E. Mock, first cabin passenger [letter] :
No. II carried the largest number of passen-
gers of any boat — about sixty-five. There were
U^,^.^ )»
288 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
only two first cabin passengers in the boat besides
my sister, Mrs. Schabert, and myself. The re-
mainder were second-class or stewards and stew-
ardesses. We were probably a mile away when
the Titanic* s lights went out. I last saw the ship
with her stern high in the air going down. After
the noise I saw a huge column of black smoke
slightly lighter than the sky rising high into the
sky and then flattening out at the top like a mush-
room.
I at no time saw any panic and not much con-
fusion. I can positively assert this as I was near
every boat lowered on the starboard side up to
the time No. 1 1 was lowered. With the exception
of some stokers who pushed their way into boat
No. 3 or No. 5, I saw no man or woman force
entry into a lifeboat. One of these was No. 13
going down, before we touched the water.
From address of the Attorney-General, Sir
Rufus Isaacs, K. C, M. P.
"No. II took seventy, and carried the largest
number of any boat.'*
BOAT NO. 13*
No disorder when this boat was loaded and
lowered.
* Seventh boat lowered on starboard side, 1.25 (Br. Rpt.,
p. 38).
WOMEN first; men next 289
Passengers: Women: Second cabin, including
Mrs. Caldwell and her child Alden. All the rest
second and third-class women.
Men: Dr. Dodge only first cabin passenger.
Second cabin, Messrs. Beasley and Caldwell.
One Japanese.
Crew: Firemen: Barrett (in charge), Beau-
champ, Major and two others. Stewards: Ray,
Wright and another; also baker .
Total: 64.
incidents
Mr. Lawrence Beesley's book, already cited,
gives an excellent description of No. 13's history,
but for further details, see his book. The Loss of
the SS. Titanic, Houghton, MifBin Co., Boston.
F. Barrett, leading stoker (Br. Inq.) :
Witness then made his escape up the escape
ladder and walked aft on to Deck A on the star-
board side, where only two boats were left, Nos.
13 and 15. No. 13 was partly lowered when he
got there. Five-sixths in the boat were women.
No. 15 was lowered about thirty seconds later.
When No. 13 got down to the water he shouted:
*'Let go the after fall," but, as no one took any
notice, he had to walk over women and cut the
fall himself. No. 15 came down nearly on top of
them, but they just got clear. He took charge of
290 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "TITANIC"
the boat until he got so cold that he had to give
up to someone else. A woman put a cloak over
him, as he felt so freezing, and he could not re-
member anything after that. No men waiting on
the deck got into his boat. They all stood in one
line in perfect order waiting to be told to get into
the boat. There was no disorder whatever.
They picked up nobody from the sea.
F. D. Ray, steward (Am. Inq., 798) :
Witness assisted in the loading of boat No. 9
and saw it and No. 11 boat lowered, and went
to No. 13 on A Deck. He saw it about half filled
with women and children. A few men were or-
dered to get in; about nine to a dozen passengers
and crew. Dr. Washington Dodge was there and
was told that his wife and child had gone away in
one of the boats. Witness said to him: "You had
better get in here then," and got behind him and
pushed him and followed after him. A rather
large woman came along crying and saying: "Do
not put me in the boat; I don't want to get in one.
I have never been in an open boat in my life.'*
He said: "You have got to go and you may as
well keep quiet." After that there was a small
child rolled in a blanket thrown into the boat to
him. The woman that brought it got into the
boat afterwards.
WOMEN first; men next 291
We left about three or four men on the deck at
the rail and they went along to No. 15 boat. No.
13 was lowered away. When nearly to the water,
two or three of them noticed a very large dis-
charge of water coming from the ship's side
which he thought was the pumps working. The
hole was about two feet wide and about a foot
deep with a solid mass of water coming out.
They shouted for the boat to be stopped from be-
ing lowered and they responded promptly and
stopped lowering the boat. They pushed it off
from the side of the ship until they were free
from this discharge. He thinks there were no
sailors or quartermasters in the boat because they
apparently did not know how to get free from the
tackle. Knives were called for to cut loose. In
the meantime they were drifting a little aft and
boat No. 15 was being lowered immediately upon
them about two feet from their heads and they
all shouted again, and they again replied very
promptly and stopped lowering boat No. 15.
They elected a fireman (Barrett) to take charge.
Steward Wright was in the boat; two or three
children and a very young baby seven months old.
Besides Nos. 9, 11, and 13, No. 15 was lowered
to Deck A and filled from it. He saw no male
passengers or men of the crew whatever ordered
out or thrown out of these lifeboats on the star-
292 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "TITANIC*'
board side. Everybody was very orderly and
there was no occasion to throw anybody out. In
No. 13 there were about four or five firemen, one
baker, three stewards; about nine of the crew.
Dr. Washington Dodge was the only first-class
passenger and the rest were third-class. There
was one Japanese. There was no crowd what-
ever on A Deck while he was loading these boats.
No. 13 was full.
Extracts from Dr. Washington Dodge's ad-
dress: *'The Loss of the Titajtic/^ a copy of which
he kindly sent me:
I heard one man say that the Impact was due
to Ice. Upon one of his listeners' questioning the
authority of this, he replied: *'Go up forward and
look down on the fo'castle deck, and you can see
for yourself." I at once walked forward to the
end of the promenade deck, and looking down
could see, just within the starboard rail, small
fragments of broken Ice, amounting possibly to
several cartloads. As I stood there an Incident
occurred which made me take a more serious view
of the situation, than I otherwise would.
Two stokers, who had slipped up onto the
promenade deck unobserved, said to me: "Do
you think there is any danger, sir?" I replied:
"If there is any danger It would be due to the
WOMEN first; men next 293
vessel's having sprung a leak, and you ought to
know more about it than I." They replied, in
what appeared to me to be an alarmed tone:
''Well, sir, the water was pouring into the stoke
'old when we came up, sir." At this time I ob-
served quite a number of steerage passengers,
who were amusing themselves by walking over
the ice, and kicking it about the deck. No ice or
iceberg was to be seen in the ocean.
I watched the boats on the starboard side, as
they were successively filled and lowered away.
At no time during this period, was there any
panic, or evidence of fear, or unusual alarm. I
saw no women nor children weep, nor were there
any evidences of hysteria observed by me.
I watched all boats on the starboard side, com-
prising the odd numbers from one to thirteen, as
they were launched. Not a boat was launched
which would not have held from ten to twenty-
five more persons. Never were there enough
women or children present to fill any boat before
it was launched. In all cases, as soon as
those who responded to the officers' call were
in the boats, the order was given to "Lower
away."
What the conditions were on the port side of
the vessel I had no means of observing. We were
in semi-darkness on the Boat Deck, and owing to
294 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC*'
the immense length and breadth of the vessel, and
the fact that between the port and the starboard
side of the Boat Deck, there were officers' cabins,
staterooms for passengers, a gymnasium, and in-
numerable immense ventilators, it would have
been impossible, even in daylight, to have ob-
tained a view of but a limited portion of this boat
deck. We only knew what was going on within
a radius of possibly forty feet.
Boats Nos. 13 and 15 were swung from the
davits at about the same moment. I heard the
officer in charge of No. 13 say: "We'll lower this
boat to Deck A.'' Observing a group of possibly
fifty or sixty about boat 15, a small proportion of
which number were women, I descended by means
of a stairway close at hand to the deck below,
Deck A. Here, as the boat was lowered even
with the deck, the women, about eight in num-
ber, were assisted by several of us over the rail
of the steamer into the boat. The officer in
charge then held the boat, and called repeatedly
for more women. None appearing, and there
being none visible on the deck, which was then
brightly illuminated, the men were told to tumble
in. Along with those present I entered the boat.
Ray was my table steward and called to me to
get in.
The boat in which I embarked was rapidly
WOMEN first; men next 295
lowered, and as it approached the water I ob-
served, as I looked over the edge of the boat,
that the bow, near which I was seated, was being
lowered directly into an enormous stream of
water, three or four feet in diameter, which was
being thrown with great force from the side of
the vessel. This was the water thrown out by the
condenser pumps. Had our boat been lowered
into the same it would have been swamped in an
instant. The loud cries which were raised by the
occupants of the boat caused those who were
sixty or seventy feet above us to cease lowering
our boat. Securing an oar with considerable dif-
ficulty, as the oars had been firmly lashed to-
gether by means of heavy tarred twine, and as in
addition they were on the seat running parallel
with the side of the lifeboat, with no less than
eight or ten occupants of the boat sitting on them,
none of whom showed any tendency to disturb
themselves — we pushed the bow of the lifeboat,
by means of the oar, a sufficient distance away
from the side of the Titanic to clear this great
stream of water which was gushing forth. We
were then safely lowered to the water. During
the few moments occupied by these occurrences I
felt for the only time a sense of impending dan-
ger.
We were directed to pull our lifeboat from the
296 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIc"
steamer, and to follow a light which was carried
in one of the other lifeboats, which had been
launched prior to ours. Our lifeboat was found
to contain no lantern, as the regulations require;
nor was there a single sailor, or officer in the boat.
Those who undertook to handle the oars were
poor oarsmen, almost without exception, and our
progress was extremely slow. Together with two
or three other lifeboats which were in the vicinity,
we endeavored to overtake the lifeboat which
carried the light, in order that we might not drift
away and possibly become lost. This light ap-
peared to be a quarter of a mile distant, but, in
spite of our best endeavors, we were never en-
abled to approach any nearer to it, although we
must have rowed at least a mile.
BOAT NO. 15.*
No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.
Passengers: All third-class women and children
(53) and
Men: Mr. Haven (first-class) and three others
(third-class) only. Total: 4.
Crew: Firemen: Diamond (in charge), Cavell,
Taylor; Stewards: Rule, Hart. Total: 13.
Grand Total (Br. Rpt., p. 38) : 70.
'•' Br. Rpt., p. 38, places this next to last lowered on star-
bQ£^rd side at 1.35.
WOMEN first; men next 297
INCIDENTS
G. Cavell, trimmer (Br. Inq.) :
The officer ordered five of us In the boat. We
took on all the women and children and the boat
was then lowered. We lowered to the first-class
(I. e. A) deck and took on a few more women
and children, about five, and then lowered to the
water. From the lower deck we took In about
sixty. There were men about but we did not take
them In. They were not kept back. They were
third-class passengers, I think — sixty women,
Irish. Fireman Diamond took charge. No other
seaman In this boat. There were none left on the
third-class decks after I had taken the women.
S. J. Rule, bathroom steward (Br. Inq.) :
Mr. Murdoch called to the men to get Into the
boat. About six got In. "That will do," he said,
"lower away to Deck A." At this time the ves-
sel had a slight list to port. We sent scouts
around both to the starboard and port sides.
They came back and said there were no more
women and children. We filled up on A Deck —
sixty-eight all told — the last boat to leave the
starboard side. There were some left behind.
There was a bit of a rush after Mr. Murdoch
i«^,«,.^^,^H