298 the truth about the Titanic
said we could fill the boat up with men standing
by. We very nearly came on top of No. 13 when
we lowered away. A man, Jack Stewart, a stew-
ard, took charge. Nearly everybody rowed. No
lamp. One deckhand in the boat, and men,
women and children. Just before it was
launched, no more could be found, and about
half a dozen men got in. There were sixty-
eight in the boat altogether. Seven members of
the crew.
J. E. Hart, third-class steward (Br. Inq., 75) :
Witness defines the duties and what was done
by the stewards, particularly those connected with
the steerage.
''Pass the women and children up to the Boat
Deck,'* was the order soon after the collision.
About three-quarters of an hour after the colli-
sion he took women and children from the C Deck
to the first-class main companion. There were
no barriers at that time. They were all opened.
He took about thirty to boat No. 8 as it was be-
ing lowered. He left them and went back for
more,' meeting third-class passengers on the way
to the boats. He brought back about twenty-five
more steerage women and children, having some
little trouble owing to the men passengers want-
ing to get to the Boat Deck. These were all
WOMEN first; men next 299
third-class people whom we took to the only boat
left on the starboard side, viz., No. 15. There
were a large number already in the boat, which
was then lowered to A Deck, and five women,
three children and a man with a baby in his
arms taken in, making about seventy people
in all, including thirteen or fourteen of the
crew and fireman Diamond in charge. Mr.
Murdoch ordered witness into the boat. Four
men passengers and fourteen crew was the
complement of men; the rest were women and
children.
When boat No. 15 left the boat deck there
were other women and children there — some first-
class women passengers and their husbands. Ab-
solute quietness existed. There were repeated
cries for women and children. If there had been
any more women there would have been found
places for them in the boat. He heard some of
the women on the A Deck say they would not
leave their husbands.
There is no truth in the statement that any of
the seamen tried to keep back third-class passen-
gers from the Boat Deck. Witness saw masthead
light of a ship from the Boat Deck. He did his
very best, and so did all the other stewards, to
help get the steerage passengers on the Boat Deck
as soon as possible.
300 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC''
ENGELHARDT BOAT "C/' *
No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.
Passengers: President Ismay, Mr. Carter.
Balance women and children.
Crew: Quartermaster Rowe (in charge).
Steward Pearce. Barber Weikman. Firemen,
three.
Stowaways: Four Chinamen, or Filipinos.
Total: 39.
INCIDENTS
G. T. Rowe, Q. M. (Am. Inq., p. 519, and Br.
Inq.):
To avoid repetition, the testimony of this wit-
ness before the two Courts of Inquiry is consoli-
dated :
He assisted the officer (Boxhall) to fire dis-
tress signals until about five and twenty minutes
past one. At this time they were getting out the
starboard collapsible boats. Chief Officer Wilde
wanted a sailor. Captain Smith told him to get
into the boat "C" which was then partly filled.
He found three women and children in there with
* Br. Rpt., p. 38, makes this last boat lowered on starboard
side at 1.40.
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 3OI
no more about. Two gentlemen got in, Mr. Is-
may and Mr. Carter. Nobody told them to get
In. No one else was there. In the boat there
were thirty-nine altogether. These two gentle-
men, five of the crew (including himself), three
firemen, a steward, and near daybreak they found
four Chinamen or Filipinos who had come up be-
tween the seats. All the rest were women and
children.
Before leaving the ship he saw a bright light
about five miles away about two points on the
port bow. He noticed it after he got into the
boat. When he left the ship there was a list to
port of six degrees. The order was given to
lower the boat, with witness in charge. The rub
strake kept on catching on the rivets down the
ship's side, and it was as much as we could do to
keep off. It took a good five minutes, on account
of this rubbing, to get down. When they reached
the water they steered for a light in sight, roughly
five miles. They seemed to get no nearer to it
and altered their course to a boat that was carry-
ing a green light. When day broke, the Car-
pathia was in sight.
In regard to Mr. Ismay's getting into the boat,
the witness's testimony before the American
Court of Inquiry is cited in full:
Senator Burton : Now, tell us the circumstances
302 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC" ';■
under which Mr. Ismay and that other gentleman
got into the boat.
Mr. Rowe : When Chief Officer Wilde asked if
there were any more women and children, there
was no reply, so Mr. Ismay came into the boat.
Senator Burton : Mr. Wilde asked if there were
any more women and children? Can you say
that there were none?
Mr. Rowe: I could not see, but there were
none forthcoming.
Senator Burton : You could see around there on
the deck, could you not?
Mr. Rowe: I could see the fireman and stew-
ard that completed the boat's crew, but as re-
gards any families I could not see any.
Senator Burton: Were there any men passen-
gers besides Mr. Ismay and the other man?
Mr. Rowe: I did not see any, sir. '
Senator Burton: Was it light enough so that
you could see anyone near by?
Mr. Rowe : Yes, sir.
Senator Burton : Did you hear anyone ask Mr.
Ismay and Mr. Carter to get in the boat? ):|
Mr. Rowe: No, sir.
Senator Burton: If Chief Officer Wilde had
spoken to them would you have known it?
Mr. Rowe : I think so, because they got in the
after part of the boat where I was.
WOMEN first; men next 303
Alfred Pearce, pantryman, third-class (Br.
Inq.):
Picked up two babies in his arms and went into
a collapsible boat on the starboard side under
Officer Murdoch's order, in which were women
and children. There were altogether sixty-six
passengers and five of the crew, a quartermaster
in charge. The ship had a list on the port side,
her lights burning to the last. It was twenty min-
utes to two when they started to row away. He
remembers this because one of the passengers
gave the time.
J. B. Ismay, President International Mercan-
tile Marine Co. of America, New Jersey, U. S. A.
(Am. Inq., pp. 8, 960) :
There were four in the crew — one quartermas-
ter, a pantryman, a butcher and another. The
natural order would be women and children first.
It was followed as far as practicable. About
forty-five in the boat. He saw no struggling or
jostling or any attempts by men to get into the
boats. They simply picked the women out and
put them into the boat as fast as they could — the
first ones that were there. He put a great many
in — also children. He saw the first lifeboat low-
ered on the starboard side. As to the circum-
stances of his departure from the ship, the boat
*<^T^T^A..^T^>»
304 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
was there. There was a certain number of men
in the boat and the officer called and asked if
there were any more women, but there was no
response. There were no passengers left on the
deck, and as the boat was in the act of being low-
ered away he got into it. The Titanic was sink-
ing at the time. He felt the ship going down. He
entered because there was room in it. Before he
boarded the lifeboat he saw no passengers jump
into the sea. The boat rubbed along the ship^s
side when being lowered, the women helping to
shove the boat clear. This was when the ship
had quite a list to port. He sat with his back to
the ship, rowing all the time, pulling away. He
did not wish to see her go down. There were
nine or ten men in the boat with him. Mr. Car-
ter, a passenger, was one. All the other people
in the boat, so far as he could see, were third-
class passengers.
Examined before the British Court of Inquiry
by the Attorney-General, Sir Rufus Isaacs,
Mr. Ismay testified:
I was awakened by the impact; stayed in bed
a little time and then got up. I saw a steward
who could not say what had happened. I put a
coat on and went on deck. I saw Captain Smith.
I asked him what was the matter and he said we
WOMEN first; men NEXT 305
had struck ice. He said he thought it was seri-
ous. I then went down and saw the chief engi-
neer, who said that the blow was serious. He
thought the pumps would keep the water under
control. I think I went back to my room and
then to the bridge and heard Captain Smith give
an order in connection with the boats. I went to
the boat deck, spoke to one of the officers, and
rendered all the assistance I could in putting the
women and children in. Stayed there until I left
the ship. There was no confusion; no attempts
by men to get into the boats. So far as I knew
all the women and children were put on board the
boats and I was not aware that any were left.
There was a list of the ship to port. I think I
remained an hour and a half on the Titanic after
the impact. I noticed her going down by the
head, sinking. Our boat was fairly full. After
all the women and children got in and there were
no others on that side of the deck, I got in while
the boat was being lowered. Before we got into
the boat I do not know that any attempt was made
to call up any of the passengers on the Boat Deck,
nor did I inquire.
And also examined by Mr. A. C. Edwards, M.
P., counsel for the Dock Workers' Union. Mr.
Ismay's testimony was taken as follows :
306 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
Mr. Edwards : You were responsible for deter-
mining the number of boats?
Mr. Ismay: Yes, in conjunction with the ship-
builders.
Mr. Edwards : You knew when you got into the
boat that the ship was sinking?
Mr. Ismay: Yes.
Mr. Edwards: Had it occurred to you apart
perhaps from the captain, that you, as the repre-
sentative managing director, deciding the number
of lifeboats, owed your life to every other person
on the ship?
The President : That is not the sort of question
which should be put to this witness. You can
make comment on it when you come to your
speech if you like.
Mr. Edwards: You took an active part in di-
recting women and children into the boats?
Mr. Ismay: I did all I could.
Mr. Edwards : Why did you not go further and
send for other people to come on deck and fill the
boats?
Mr. Ismay: I put in everyone who was there
and I got in as the boat was being lowered away.
Mr. Edwards : Were you not giving directions
and getting women and children in?
Mr. Ismay : I was calling to them to come in.
Mr. Edwards : Why then did you not give in-
WOMEN first; men next 307
structions or go yourself either to the other side
of the deck or below decks to get people up?
Mr. Ismay: I understood there were people
there sending them up.
Mr. Edwards: But you knew there were hun-
dreds who had not come up ?
Lord Mersey: Your point, as I understand it
now, Is that, having regard for his position as
managing director, It was his duty to remain on
the ship until she went to the bottom?
Mr. Edwards : Frankly, that is so, and I do not
flinch from it; but I want to get it from the wit-
ness, inasmuch as he took it upon himself to give
certain directions at a certain time, why he did not
discharge his responsibility after in regard to
other persons or passengers.
Mr. Ismay: There were no more passengers
who would have got into the boat. The boat was
being actually lowered away.
Examined by Sir Robert Finley for White Star
Line:
Mr. Finley: Have you crossed very often to
and from America?
Mr. Ismay: Very often.
Mr. Finley: Have you ever, on any occasion,
attempted to interfere with the navigation of the
vessel on any of these occasions?
308 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC"
Mr. Ismay: No.
Mr. Finley: When you left the deck just be-
fore getting into the collapsible boat, did you hear
the officer calling out for more women?
Mr. Ismay: I do not think I did; but I heard
them calling for women very often.
Mr. Edwards: When the last boat left the
Titanic you must have known that a number of
passengers and crew were still on board?
Mr. Ismay: I did.
Mr. Edwards: And yet you did not see any
on the deck?
Mr. Ismay: No, I did not see any, and I
could only assume that the other passengers had
gone to the other end of the ship.
From an address (Br. Inq.) by Mr. A. Clement
Edwards, M. P., Counsel for Dock Workers'
Union :
What was Mr. Ismay's duty?
Coming to Mr. Ismay's conduct, Mr. Edwards
said it was clear that that gentleman had taken
upon himself to assist in getting women and
children into the boats. He had also admitted
that when he left the Titanic he knew she was
doomed, that there were hundreds of people in
the ship, that he didn't know whether or not
there were any women or children left, and that
WOMEN first; men next 309
he did not even go to the other side of the Boat
Deck to see whether there were any women and
children waiting to go. Counsel submitted that
a gentleman occupying the position of managing
director of the company owning the Titanic, and
who had taken upon himself the duty of assisting
at the boats, had certain special and further duties
beyond an ordinary passenger's duties, and that he
had no more right to save his life at the expense
of any single person on board that ship than the
captain would have had. He (Mr. Edwards)
said emphatically that Mr. Ismay did not dis-
charge his duty at that particular moment by
taking a careless glance around the starboard side
of the Boat Deck. He was one of the few persons
who at the time had been placed in a position of
positive knowledge that the vessel was doomed,
and it was his clear duty, under the circumstances,
to see that someone made a search for passengers
in other places than in the immediate vicinity of
the Boat Deck.
Lord Mersey: Moral duty do you mean?
Mr. Edwards: I agree; but I say that a
managing director going on board a liner, com-
mercially responsible for it and taking upon him-
self certain functions, had a special moral obliga-
tion and duty more than is possessed by one
passenger to another passenger.
310 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
Lord Mersey: But how is a moral duty rela-
tive to this inquiry? It might be argued that
there was a moral duty for every man on board
that every woman should take precedence, and I
might have to inquire whether every passenger
carried out his moral duty.
Mr. Edwards agreed that so far as the greater
questions involved in this case were concerned
this matter was one of trivial importance.
From address of Sir Robert Finlay, K. C, M.
P., Counsel for White Star Company (Br. Inq.) :
It has been said by Mr. Edwards that Mr.
Ismay had no right to save his life at the expense
of any other life. He did not save his life at
the expense of any other life. If Mr. Edwards
had taken the trouble to look at the evidence he
would have seen how unfounded this charge is.
There is not the slightest ground for suggesting
that any other life would have been saved if Mr.
Ismay had not got into the boat. He did not get
into the boat until it was being lowered away.
Mr. Edwards has said that it was Mr. Ismay's
plain duty to go about the ship looking for pas-
sengers, but the fact is that the boat was being
lowered. Was it the duty of Mr. Ismay to have
remained, though by doing so no other life could
have been saved? If he had been impelled to
WOMEN first; men next 311
commit suicide of that kind, then it would have
been stated that he went to the bottom because
he dared not face this inquiry. There is no ob-
servation of an unfavorable nature to be made
from any point of view upon Mr. Ismay's con-
duct. There was no duty devolving upon him of
going to the bottom with his ship as the captain
did. He did all he could to help the women and
children. It was only when the boat was being
lowered that he got into it. He violated no point
of honor, and if he had thrown his life away in
the manner now suggested it would be said he did
it because he was conscious he could not face this
inquiry and so he had lost his life.
ENGELHARDT BOAT "A.''
Floated off the ship.
Passengers: T. Beattie,* P. D. Daly,{ G.
Rheims, R. N. Williams, Jr., first-class; O.
Abelseth,t W. J. Mellers, second-class; and Mrs.
Rosa Abbott, { Edward Lindley,t third-class.
Crew: Steward: E. Brown. Firemen: J.
Thompson, one unidentified body,* Seaman:
one unidentified body.*
*Body found in boat by Oceanic.
tDied in boat.
jPulled into boat out of sea.
312 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
An extraordinary story pertains to this boat.
At the outset of my research it was called a "boat
of mystery/' occasioned by the statements of the
Titanic^ s officers. In his conversations with me,
as well as in his testimony, Officer Lightoller stated
that he was unable to loosen this boat from the
ship in time and that he and his men were com-
pelled to abandon their efforts to get it away.
The statement in consequence was that this boat
*'A'* was not utilized but went down with the
ship. My recent research has disabused his mind
of this supposition. There were only four Engel-
hardt boats in all as we have already learned,
and we have fully accounted for *'the upset boat
B," and "D,'* the last to leave the ship in the
tackles, and boat "C,'' containing Mr. Ismay,
which reached the Carpathians side and was
unloaded there. After all the mystery we have
reached the conclusion that boat ''A" did not
go down with the ship, but was the one
whose occupants were rescued by Officer Lowe
in the early morning, and then abandoned
with three dead bodies in it. This also was
the boat picked up nearly one month later by the
Oceanic nearly 200 miles from the scene of the
wreck.
I have made an exhaustive research up to date
WOMEN first; men next 313
for the purpose of discovering how Boat A left
the ship. Information in regard thereto is ob-
tained from the testimony before the British
Court of Inquiry of Steward Edward Brown,
from first-class passenger R. N. Williams, Jr.,
and from an account of William J. Mellers, a
second cabin passenger as related by him to Dr.
Washington Dodge. Steward Brown, it will be
observed, testified that he was washed out of the
boat and yet *'did not know whether he went
down In the water." As he could not swim, an
analysis of his testimony forces me to believe
that he held on to the boat and did not have
to swim and that boat *'A" was the same one
that he was in when he left the ship. I am
forced to the same conclusion in young Williams'
case after an analysis of his statement that he
took off his big fur overcoat in the water and
cast it adrift while he swam twenty yards
to the boat, and in some unaccountable way
the fur coat swam after him and also got
into the boat. At any rate it was found in
the boat when it was recovered later as shown
in the evidence.
I also have a letter from Mr. George Rheims,
of Paris, indicating his presence on this same boat
with Messrs. Williams and Mellers and Mrs.
Abbott and others.
314 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tiTANIC'*
INCIDENTS
Edward Brown, steward (Br. Inq.) :
Witness helped with boats 5, 3, i and C, and
then helped with another collapsible; tried to get
it up to the davits when the ship gave a list to
port. The falls were slackened but the boat
could not be hauled away any further. There
were four or five women waiting to get into the
boat. The boat referred to was the collapsible
boat "A" which they got off the officers' house.
They got it down by the planks, but witness does
not know where the planks came from. He
thinks they were with the bars which came from
the other boats; yet he had no difficulty in getting
the boat oft the house. The ship was then up
to the bridge under water, well down by the head.
He jumped into the boat then and called out to
cut the falls. He cut them at the aft end, but
cannot say what happened to the forward fall.
He was washed out of the boat but does not know
whether he went down in the water."^ He had
his lifebelt on and came to the top. People were
all around him. They tore his clothes away
struggling in the water. He could not swim, but
got into the collapsible boat **A." Only men were
in it, but they picked up a woman and some men
* Italics are mine. — Author.
WOMEN first; men next 315
afterwards, consisting of passengers, stewards
and crew. There were sixteen men. Fifth
Officer Lowe in boat No. 14 picked them up.
O. Abelseth (Am. Inq.) :
Witness describes the period just before the
ship sank when an effort was made to get out
the collapsible boats on the roof of the officers'
house. The officer wanted help and called out:
"Are there any sailors here?" It was only about
five feet to the water when witness jumped off.
It was not much of a jump. Before that he could
see the people were jumping over. He went under
and swallowed some water. A rope was tangled
around him. He came on top again and tried
to swim. There were lots of men floating around.
One of them got him on the neck and pressed
him under the water and tried to get on top, but
he got loose from him. Then another man hung
on to him for a while and let go. Then he swam
for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Saw some-
thing dark ahead of him; swam towards it and
it was one of the Engelhardt boats ("A"). He
had a life-preserver on when he jumped from
the ship. There was no suction at all. "I will
try and see," he thought, "if I can float on the
lifebelt without help from swimming," and he
floated easily on the lifebelt. When he got on
tir^^r^ . ^^,^n
316 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
boat * W no one assisted him, but they said when
he got on: ^'Don't capsize the boat/' so he hung
on for a little while before he got on.
Some were trying to get on their feet who were
sitting or lying down; others fell into the water
again. Some were frozen and there were two
dead thrown overboard. On the boat he raised
up and continuously moved his arms and swung
them around to keep warm. There was one lady
aboard this raft and she (Mrs. Abbott) was
saved. There were also two Swedes and a first-
class passenger. He said he had a wife and child.
There was a fireman also named Thompson who
had burned one of his hands; also a young boy
whose name sounded like ''Volunteer." He and
Thompson were afterwards at St. Vincent's Hos-
pital. In the morning he saw a boat with a sail
up, and in unison they screamed together for help.
Boat A was not capsized and the canvas was not
raised up, and they could not get it up. They
stood all night in about twelve or fourteen inches
of water* — their feet in water all the time. Boat
No. 14 sailed down and took them aboard and
transferred them to the Carpathia, he helping to
row. There must have been ten or twelve saved
from boat A; one man was from New Jersey,
with whom he came in company from London.
* Italics are mine. — Author.
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 317
At daybreak he seemed unconscious. He took
him by the shoulder and shook him. *'Who are
you?" he said; *'let me be; who are you?" About
half an hour or so later he died.
In a recent letter from Dr. Washington Dodge
he refers to a young man whom he met on the
Carpathia, very much exhausted, whom he took
to his stateroom and gave him medicine and
medical attention. This young man was a gentle-
man's valet and a second cabin passenger. This
answers to the description of William J. Mellers,
to whom I have written, but as yet have received
no response. Dr. Dodge says he believes this
young man's story implicitly: He, Mellers, *'was
standing by this boat when one of the crew was
endeavoring to cut the fastenings that bound it
to the vessel just as the onrush of waters came
up which tore It loose. It was by clinging to this
boat that he was saved."
R. N. Williams, Jr., in his letter writes me as
follows :
*'I was not under water very long, and as soon
as I came to the top I threw off the big fur coat
I had on. I had put my lifebelt on under the coat.
I also threw off my shoes. About twenty yards
away I saw something floating. I swam to it and
"r,,,r,.*^^-r^n
318 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
found it to be a collapsible boat. I hung on to
it and after a while got aboard and stood up in
the middle of it. The water was tip to my waist.^
About thirty of us clung to it. When Officer
Lowe's boat picked us up eleven of us were alive;
all the rest were dead from cold. My fur coat
was found attached to this Engelhardt boat *A'
by the Oceanic^ and also a cane marked 'C
Williams! This gave rise to the story that my
father's body was in this boat, but this, as you
see, is not so. How the cane got there I do not
know.*'
Through the courtesy of Mr. Harold Wingate
of the White Star Line in letters to me I have
the following information pertaining to boat "A" :
"One of the bodies found in this boat was that
of Mr. Thompson Beattie. We got his watch and
labels from his clothes showing his name and
that of the dealer, which we sent to the executor.
Two others were a fireman and a sailor, both
unidentified. The overcoat belonging to Mr.
Williams I sent to a furrier to be re-conditioned,
but nothing could be done with it except to dry
it out, so I sent it to him as it was. There was
no cane in the boat. The message from the
Oceanic and the words 'R. N. Williams, care of
♦Italics are mine. — Author,
WOMEN FIRST; MEN NEXT 319
Duane PFilliams/ were twisted by the receiver of
the message to *RIchard N. Williams, cane of
Duane Williams^* * which got into the press, and
thus perpetuated the error.
"There was also a ring found in the boat whose
owner we eventually traced in Sweden and re-
stored the property to her. We cannot account
for its being in the boat, but we know that her
husband was a passenger on the Titanic — Edward
P. Lindell, a third-class passenger. The widow's
address is, care of Nels Persson, Helsingborg,
Sweden."
Rescue of the occupants of boat "A" at day-
light Monday morning is recorded in the testi-
mony of Officer Lowe and members of the crew
of his boat No. 14 and the other boats 12, 10, 4
and *'D" which were tied together. No. 14 we
recall was emptied of passengers and a crew
taken from all the boats referred to went back
to the wreck. The substance of the testimony
of all of them agrees and I need only cite that
of Quartermaster Bright, in charge of boat "D,"
as follows:
A. Bright, Q. M. (in charge) (Am. Inq., 834) :
Just at daylight witness saw from his place in
♦Italics are mine. — Author.
u^,^ « ^^,^n
320 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
boat ''D'' one of the other collapsible boats, ''A,"
that was awash just flush with the water. Ofiicer
Lowe came and towed witness's boat to the other
collapsible one that was just awash and took from
it thirteen men and one woman who were in the
water up to their ankles. They had been singing
out in the dark. As soon as daylight came they
could be seen. They were rescued and the boat
turned adrift with two dead bodies in it, covered
with a lifebelt over their faces.
Admiral Mahan on Ismay's duty:
Rear Admiral A. T. Mahan, retired, in a
letter which the Evening Post publishes, has this
to say of J. Bruce Ismay's duty:
In the Evening Post of April 24 Admiral
Chadwick passes a distinct approval upon the
conduct of Mr. Ismay in the wreck of the Titanic
by characterizing the criticisms passed upon it as
the "acme of emotionalism.''
Both censure and approval had best wait upon
the results of the investigations being made in
Great Britain. Tongues will wag, but if men like
Admiral Chadwick see fit to publish anticipatory
opinions those opinions must receive anticipatory
comment.
Certain facts are so notorious that they need
WOMEN first; men next 321
no Inquiry to ascertain. These are ( i ) that
before the collision the captain of the Titanic
was solely responsible for the management of the
ship; (2) after the collision there were not boats
enough to embark more than one-third of those
on board, and, (3) for that circumstance the
White Star Company is solely responsible, not
legally, for the legal requirements were met, but
morally. Of this company, Mr. Ismay is a prom-
inent if not the most prominent member.
For all the loss of life the comxpany is re-
sponsible, individually and collectively: Mr.
Ismay personally, not only as one of the mem-
bers. He believed the Titanic unsinkable; the
belief relieves of moral guilt, but not of respon-
sibility. Men bear the consequences of their mis-
takes as well as of their faults. He — and Ad-
miral Chadwick — justify his leaving over fifteen
hundred persons, the death of each one of whom
lay on the company, on the ground that it was
the last boat half filled; and Mr. Ismay has said,
no one else to be seen.
No one to be seen; but was there none to be
reached? Mr. Ismay knew there must be many,
because he knew the boats could take only a third.
The Titanic was 882 feet long; 92 broad; say,
from Thirty-fourth street to a little north of
Thirty-seventh. Within this space were con-
322 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "tITANIC"
gregated over 1,500 souls, on several decks.
True, to find any one person at such a moment
in the intricacies of a vessel were a vain hope;
but to encounter some stragglers would not seem
to be. Read in the Sun and Times of April 25
Col. Gracie's account of the "mass of humanity,
men and women" that suddenly appeared before
him after the boats were launched.
In an interview reported in the New York
Times April 25 Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, a
very distinguished officer, holds that Mr. Ismay
was but a passenger, as other passengers. True,
up to a certain point. He is in no sense responsi-
ble for the collision; but when the collision had
occurred he confronted a wholly new condition
for which he was responsible and not the captain,
viz., a sinking vessel without adequate provision
for saving life. Did no obligation to particularity
of conduct rest upon him under such a condition?
I hold that under the conditions, so long as
there was a soul that could be saved, the obhga-
tion lay upon Mr. Ismay that that one person and
not he should have been in the boat. More than
1,500 perished. Circumstances yet to be de-
veloped may justify Mr. Ismay's actions com-
pletely, but such justification is imperatively re-
quired. If this be "the acme of emotionalism"
I must be content to bear the imputation.
WOMEN first; men NEXT 323
Admiral Chadwick urges the **preservlng a
life so valuable to the great organization to which
Mr. Ismay belongs." This bestows upon Mr.
Ismay's escape a kind of halo of self-sacrifice. No
man is indispensable. There are surely brains
enough and business capacity enough in the White
Star company to run without him. The reports
say that of the rescued women thirty-seven were
widowed by the accident and the lack of boats.
Their husbands were quite as indispensable to
them as Mr. Ismay to the company. His duty
to the ship^s company was clear and primary; that
to the White Star company so secondary as to
be at the moment inoperative.
We should be careful not to pervert standards.
Witness the talk that the result is due to the
system. What is a system, except that which
individuals have made it and keep it? Whatever
thus weakens the sense of individual responsibility
is harmful, and so likewise is all condonation of
failure of the individual to meet his responsibility.
CONCLUDING NOTE
By Charles Vale
COLONEL GRACIE died on the fourth
of December, 19 12. He had been in
feeble health all through the summer, but
had no definite physical complaint. He felt ill
and weak, and ascribed his condition to the ex-
posure and strain through which he went in the
Titanic disaster. Mrs. Gracie and his daughter
were with him up to the end, which he knew was
coming, for the day before he died he had the
minister of the Church of the Incarnation brought
to his bedside, and Holy Communion was admin-
istered. On the next day he was unconscious for
twelve hours; but just before he died he
became conscious for about ten minutes, recogniz-
ing everyone and bidding them good-bye.
The funeral service was held at Calvary
Church, where he was married, and a large num-
ber of the members of the Seventh Regiment, to
which he belonged, were present. The church
was beautifully decorated. Mrs. Astor was there,
325,
<t^T^*^.,^»>
326 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "TITANIC
and many other Titanic survivors, several of
whom Colonel Gracie had helped into the boats
at the time of the disaster. The interment took
place at the Gracie plot at Woodlawn.
And so his book finishes here. He had in-
tended to write a final chapter, reviewing the
tragedy of the Titanic in retrospect, and in the
light of all the later information that he had
gathered; drawing the lessons that seemed most
necessary in the present, and most serviceable for
the future; and rounding out his story with the
finishing touches.
But the actual Finis must be written by another
hand. Well, it does not greatly matter. The
real work has been completed, in its entirety.
The picture has been drawn, the details faithfully
gathered together and arranged in their due
order. The rest was merely an affair of reflection
and comment; and of such looking backward
there has been already sufficient.
I met Colonel Gracie, for the first — and last —
time, at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria, in
New York, when the world was still ringing with
echoes of the great catastrophe. The extraor-
dinary experiences through which he had passed,
and the terrible scenes that he had witnessed, were
CONCLUDING NOTE 327
Still as Vivid to him as if they had happened the
day before; but he talked very quietly, directly,
unaffectedly, neither obtruding nor avoiding the
personal element. There was something strangely
gracious in his attitude; I heard no harsh or con-
demnatory word from him : he seemed to have the
rare gift of comprehension of human nature, the
rare sense of proportion. He accused no man of
cowardice or inefficiency; but narrated the facts
as he saw them, volunteering no inferences. And
gradually, in that atmosphere of careless, casual
security; with men and women from every corner
of more than one continent scattered about the
room ; with all the obvious, and more subtle, pre-
suppositions of civilization that a luxurious hotel
in a huge metropolis illustrates; — there was
evolved the picture of the great ship, going to her
doom in the night, with her living cargo. I can-
not express fully the vividness of that image, —
carved, as it were, from the darkness of memory
and imposed on the sunlight of a summer's day.
It stands out for me, ineffaceable, unforgettable —
as it must stand out for all who passed through
those tragic hours and still live to recall how
near they were to death. One retraced the grow-
ing realization of the gravity of the situation ; the
conviction that the ship must inevitably sink be-
fore help could arrive; and, finally, the resolute
<«r,^,„,--,.TT^»»
328 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC
facing of destiny. Good and bad deeds were done
that night and morning: but the good outvalue
the bad, immeasurably; and when the littlenesses
have been duly reckoned, and the few cowards
dismissed, and the uncouth or selfish weighed and
found wanting, there remains the grand total of
brave and steadfast men and women whose names
must be enrolled imperishably in any record of
world-heroism.
In a note like this, closing a work which de-
pends so much on the intimate connection of the
author with the scenes that he describes, it is per-
missible to be personal. I had read, in a daily
paper, Colonel Gracie's first account of his ex-
periences; had been struck by the special quality
of the writing, by the pervading atmosphere of
true chivalry — no other word can suggest quite
adequately the impression conveyed by that nar-
rative, written under the stress of poignant
memories. I think that the effect produced by the
account was the same with all who read it: cer-
tainly I have met no one who did not recognize
the spirituality and fineness shining through the
written words — a spirituality not opposed to, but
entirely in consonance with, the unmistakable
virility of the author. And so, when I met him,
I was peculiarly interested in his personality: it
seemed to me that this man who was sitting at my
CONCLUDING NOTE 329
left hand, talking quietly, had descended as dis-
tinctly into hell as any human being would care
to acknowledge, and had risen again from the
dead — or, at least, from the sea of the dead — into
a world which could never again be quite the
same to him. I found myself looking from time
to time at his eyes ; and I saw in them what I have
seen only once or twice in the eyes of living men —
the experience of death, the acceptance of death,
and the irrevocable impress of death. And,'
though he carried himself as a man accustomed
to adventures and unafraid of the big or little
ironies of destiny, he was conscious, I think, of a
certain isolation, a new aloofness from the ordi-
nary routine of daily life. He had been so near
to the end of dreams, had seen the years flash
past so suddenly into true perspective, that it was
difficult to resume the trivial round and recon-
stitute a mental world in which details should ac-
quire again their former pretence of importance.
Colonel Gracie survived for less than eight
months after the loss of the Titanic, Judged by
the imperfect reckoning of impulse, it would seem
almost unfair that he should have gone through
so much, winning his life in the face of such
deadly hazards, only to surrender it after a brief
interval. But he himself would have been the
last to complain. His implicit faith in Providence
330 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE '^TITANIC^*
could not be shaken by any personal suffering.
He made a brave fight for life, as he had made
a brave fight for the lives of others while the
Titanic was sinking. When the end was inevi-
table, he accepted it with composure, though he
had foreseen it with sadness.
The thought of the tragedy with which his
name will always be associated, was constantly in
his mind. The writing of his book involved a
great deal of intimate correspondence, with the
perpetual revival of painful memories. He made
no effort to evade this strain: it was part of the
task that he had undertaken. He felt strongly
that the work he was doing was absolutely neces-
sary, and could not be neglected. It was both a
public service and a private duty. Simply and
sincerely, he dedicated himself to that service and
duty. And now, he has done his work, and lived
his life, and gone out into the light beyond the
darkness. His country has lost a very gallant
gentleman. The world has one more legend of
brave deeds.
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