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
lights 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, preparing 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?

Mr. Woolner: Yes.

Senator Smith: You saw a collapsible boat being 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 backwards.

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 downward.

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 far down if the water was
on A Deck; it must have been out.

Mr. Woolner: Chiefly out; but it was sufficiently 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 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 Navratil 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
expense 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 Marconi Operator Bride;
Firemen: McGann, Senior; Chief Baker Joughin; Cooks: Collins,
Maynard; 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 forward 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 fiddley leads. Colonel Gracie, 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 overturned boat. This was before
the _Titanic_ sank. The funnel then fell down and if there was anybody
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 question 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 propelling 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
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 visible, 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 rumbling sound which he attributed to
the boilers leaving their beds and crashing down. Finally she attained
an absolute perpendicular position and then went slowly down. He heard
no explosion whatever, 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 morning 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
morning (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 to bringing of
boats to the gangway doors. Witness could not gather whether the
orders were being obeyed. Said he had not been on the Engelhardt 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 cannot do any more; save
yourselves.” Leaving the captain we climbed on top of the house
comprising 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 collapsible 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 previously 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
survivors, picked up by the _Carpathia_. As you probably heard, I got
on the collapsible boat the second time, which was, as I had left it,
upturned. I called Phillips 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. 110, 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 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
myself from it and cleared out of it but I do not know why, but swam
back to it about three-quarters of an hour to an hour afterwards. I
was upside 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 before 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 passenger. 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 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 turning
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.

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 minutes.

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?

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 lights 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. Collins: 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?

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 _Titanic_ 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 collapsible 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 accounts 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 managed 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
forward part of the starboard side, but there seemed to be such a
crowd around that I thought it unwise 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 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: ‘You are coming, boy, aren’t
you?’ I replied: ‘Go ahead, I’ll 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 when 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.”

How he sank and finally reached the upset boat is quoted accurately
from the newspaper 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. Lightoller, 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, including 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 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 describing
my personal experience, while the previous Chapter VI is derived from
an exhaustive study of official and of other authoritative information
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
starboard side of the ship, and the tabulated statements in this
chapter are the outcome of my research into the experiences of my
fellow passengers 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 seemed shorter, my attention was confined to the
work of the crew, assisting them in their vain efforts 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
conditions 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 officers’ 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 questions, 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 though it was a bright, star-lit 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. Washington Dodge, John B.
Thayer, Jr., and Mrs. Stephenson, also the same of a member of the
crew testifying before the British Court of Inquiry, 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. Another 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, Clinch Smith, and I ran up and down the port side
shouting: “Are there any more women?” This too is the testimony of
Officer Lightoller, in charge of loading boats on the port side.

BOAT NO. 7.[21]

    [21] First to leave ship starboard side at 12.45 [Br. Rpt., p.
    38.]

No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.

_Passengers:_ Mesdames Bishop, Earnshaw, Gibson, Greenfield, Potter,
Snyder, and Misses Gibson and Hays, Messrs. Bishop, Chevré, Daniel,
Greenfield, McGough, Maréchal, 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:_ 28.

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.
Murdoch 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
detail, represents the general testimony of the next witness.)

G. A. Hogg, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 577):

He had forty-two when the boat was shoved 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 better
put on our life belts. I had gotten down two flights of stairs to tell
my husband, who had returned 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 little 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
together and told us to be sure and stay together--that he would be
back in a moment. We never saw him again.

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 conduct of the crew, as far as I
could see, was absolutely beyond criticism. One of the crew in the
boat was Jack Edmonds,(?) and there was another 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 officer stationed at the side of the lifeboat. As
witness’s wife got in, he fell into the boat. The French aviator
Maréchal 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. Witness 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. 1143):

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 people 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 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.[22]

    [22] Second boat lowered on the starboard side at 12.55 (Br.
    Rpt., p. 38.)

No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.

_Passengers:_ Mesdames Cassebeer, Chambers, Crosby, Dodge and her boy,
Frauenthal, Goldenberg, Harder, Kimball, Stehli, Stengel, Taylor,
Warren, and Misses Crosby, Newson, Ostby and Frolicher Stehli.

Messrs. Beckwith, Behr, Calderhead, Chambers, Flynn, Goldenberg,
Harder, Kimball, Stehli, Taylor.

_Bade good-bye 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. Maugé.

_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 orders,” to which
he replied: “Very well,” or something like that. It then dawned on me
that it might be Mr. Ismay, judging by the description I 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,
myself 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 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 because 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 passengers. 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,
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 before 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 cannot 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.

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 (indicating)
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
anything. 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 know whether any general
call was made for passengers 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. Olliver, 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. 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 Maugé, 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. 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 allowed
to pass because he was dressed like a passenger.

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 compartments 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.

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 detached from the
tackle. Finally, a knife was found and the rope cut. We had about
forty-two people in the boat--about thirty women, Officer 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 officer 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.

  [Illustration: PHOTOGRAPHED FROM THE CARPATHIA, APRIL 15, 1912]

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[23] 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.

    [23] Dr. H. W. Frauenthal.

Senator Bourne: When you were refused admission 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., p. 1041):

Witness referring to boat No. 5 as appearing sufficiently loaded says:
“However, my wife said 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 recalls someone calling from above: “It’s
your own blooming business to see that the plug is in anyhow.”

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 doctor--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 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 account:

... 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 danger. 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 report 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, starboard side, there were very
few passengers there, apparently, but it was dark and we could not
estimate the number. There was a deafening roar 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 toward 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
rapidly in the darkness that it was impossible to distinguish 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 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 terrible 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 occasional 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 direction; 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 resembled a panic. There seemed to be a sort of
aimless confusion and an utter lack of organized effort.

BOAT NO. 3.[24]

    [24] Third boat lowered on starboard side 1.00 (Br. Rpt., p.
    38).

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), Forward Pascoe. Steward: McKay;
Firemen: “5 or 6”; or “10 or 12.”

_Total:_ 40.[25]

    [25] British Report (p. 38) says 15 crew, 10 men passengers, 25
    women and children. Total 50.

INCIDENTS

G. Moore, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 559):

When we swung boat No. 3 out I was told by the first officer to jump
in the boat and pass the 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 passenger’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,[26] and he
didn’t seem sure at the time which was the correct number, which
apparently was 3.

    [26] “All boats were new and none transferred from another
    ship,” President Ismay’s testimony.

We tied up to a boat filled with women once, but the rope broke and we
got pretty well separated 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
coxswain, 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 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 persuade 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 appeared 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 account (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 stateroom that I could not
    sleep, and the air had so strange an odor,[27] 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.

        [27] Seaman Lee testifies to this odor.

    Suddenly a queer quivering ran under me, apparently 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 her daughter and I talked on, Margaret
    pretending 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 concert, 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 ship. Happy, laughing men and women
    constantly 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 lowering to the sea.
    This was done amid the greatest 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 lifeboat 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 _Titanic_. We all felt so much safer near the ship.
    Surely such a vessel could not sink. I thought the danger must
    be exaggerated, 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, anywhere, for a
    lantern, a light of any kind. Every place was empty. There was
    no water--no stimulant 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. 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 like
    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 saving of
    the few souls on that calmest of oceans 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 demanding 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 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 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 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 worthwhile
    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.” 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
    little Louis,[28] 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.

        [28] One of the Navratil children whose pathetic story has been
        fully related in the newspapers.

    Knowing how much better I felt after taking the hot stimulant, I
    tried to get others to take 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 toothbrushes
    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. 1.[29]

    [29] This was the fourth boat to leave the starboard side.

No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.

_Passengers:_ Lady Duff Gordon and maid (Miss Francatelli).

_Men:_ Lord Duff Gordon and Messrs. Solomon and Stengel.

_Total:_ 5.

_Crew:_ Seamen: Symons (in charge), Horswell. Firemen: Collins,
Hendrickson, Pusey, Shee, Taylor.

_Total:_ 7.

_Grand Total:_ 12.

INCIDENTS

G. Symons, A. B. (Br. Inq.):

Witness assisted in putting passengers in Nos. 5 and 3 under Mr.
Murdoch’s orders, women and children first. He saw 5 and 3 lowered
away and went to No. 1. 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. 1 got away, the water was up to C Deck just under
where the ship’s name is. 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_.”[30]
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.

    [30] Italics are mine.--Author.

The President: You state that you were surprised 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?

Witness: Yes; I should say it would have been reasonable.

The President: You said in America to Senator Perkins that you had
fourteen to twenty passengers 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 perfectly 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 passengers?

Witness: I knew Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon’s name when we arrived in
America.

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 questions.

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 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. 1.

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 ordered 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 confusion or excitement among
the passengers. It was just the same as if it was an everyday affair.
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 accommodated 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 people there?

Mr. Symons: No, sir; I never saw any.

C. E. H. Stengel, first-class passenger (Am. Inq., p. 971):

There was a small boat they called an Emergency boat in which were
three people, Sir Duff Gordon, his wife and Miss Francatelli. I asked
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 “hollered” to stop lowering. A man
named A. L. Solomon also asked to get in with us. There were five
passengers, three stokers and two seamen in the boat.

Senator Smith: Do you know who gave instructions?

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 lifeboat. 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 because I
rolled. I did not step in it; I just simply rolled. There was one of
the icebergs particularly that I noticed--a very large one which
looked something like the Rock of Gibraltar.

THE DUFF GORDON EPISODE

Charles Hendrickson, 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 objected to going back. It was a woman
who objected, Lady Duff Gordon, who said we would be swamped. People
screaming for help could be heard by everyone in our boat. I suggested
going 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.

Hendrickson 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?

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 Collins 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 members of the crew wrote our names on Lady
Duff Gordon’s lifebelt. 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. 1 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. Two gentlemen in the boat said
it would be dangerous.

Did your boat ever get within reach of drowning 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 surprised 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 Francatelli: “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 officer say: “Man No. 1
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 in our boat
of these cries. No thought entered 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: “Yes.” He said: “I suppose you can get more.” I said: “Yes.”
He said: “Well, we have lost all our kit, for we shall not get
anything 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 decided 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 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
Francatelli 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 purports 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 accommodation for
twenty-eight more passengers.

The primary responsibility for this must necessarily 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 to stand by the ship, and that imposed upon him a specific duty.
It was shown in Hendrickson’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 drowning 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 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 avoiding any possible risk involved in filling
the vacant places. To say the least of it, it was most reprehensible
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. 1, I have to make some comment. This was the
Emergency boat on the starboard side, which figured somewhat
prominently in the inquiry on account of the evidence which was given
in the first instance by Hendrickson, 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 make no comment about that, and the only reason I am
directing attention to No. 1 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--(1) the importance of a boat drill; (2) that you should
have the men ready.

No doubt if there had been proper organization 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 engaged on the next voyage no doubt things would have been
better, but there was no satisfactory organization with regard to
calling passengers 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. 1, because the man, Symons, in charge did
not exercise his duty. No doubt he was told to stand by, but he went
quite a distance away. His evidence was unsatisfactory, and gave no
proper account 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
justification 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 making 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. Speaking generally, the only boats that took their full quantity
were four. One had to see what explanation could be given of that. In
this particular 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.[31]

    [31] The fifth boat lowered on starboard side, 1.20 (Br. Rpt.,
    p. 38).

No disorder when this boat was loaded and lowered.

_Passengers:_ Mesdames Aubert and maid (Mlle. Segesser), Futrelle,
Lines; Miss Lines, and second 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, Widgery and others.

_Total:_ 56.

INCIDENTS

A. Haines, boatswain’s mate (Am. Inq., p. 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
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
passengers. 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 100 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 icebergs
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
ladies 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 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 compass in the boat.

W. Ward, steward (Am. Inq., p. 595):

Witness assisted in taking the canvas cover off of boat No. 9 and
lowered it to the level of the Boat Deck.[32]

    [32] 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.

Officer Murdoch, Purser McElroy and Mr. Ismay 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
standing 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 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. Purser McElroy ordered two more
men into the boat to assist the women. When No. 9 was being lowered
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
stepping. 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. 11. 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 dipped. She
gave a kind of a sudden lurch forward. He heard a couple of reports
like a volley of musketry; not like an explosion at all. His boat was
too full and it would have been madness to have gone back. He thinks
No. 9 was the fourth or fifth boat picked up by the _Carpathia_. 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., p. 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 knife to cut loose the oars. He says that
the balance of his testimony would be the same as that of Mr. Ward,
the previous witness.

BOAT NO. 11.[33]

    [33] Sixth boat lowered on starboard side, 1.25 (Br. Rpt., p.
    38).

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, Thessinger, Wheelton; Fireman: ----; Stewardess:
Mrs. Robinson.

_Total:_ 70.

INCIDENTS

W. Brice, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 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. 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 fireman, 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. 11. 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 looking in to see if there was anyone in, and closing
the doors again. Nos. 7, 5 and 9 had gone. No. 11 boat was hanging in
the davits. Mr. Murdoch said: “You go too.” He shouted: “Women 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, including our crew, and one
passenger.

“Have you got any sailors in?” asked Mr. Murdoch. I said: “No, sir.”
He told two sailors 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. 11 was
lowered. The eight or nine men in the boat included a passenger. A
quartermaster (Humphreys) was in charge.

C. D. MacKay, steward (Br. Inq.):

No. 11 was lowered to A Deck. Murdoch ordered 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,
Thessinger, Wheate and myself. The others were strangers to the ship.
There were two second-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 difficulty 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. 11 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. 11 carried the largest number of passengers of any boat--about
sixty-five. There were only two first cabin passengers in the boat
besides my sister, Mrs. Schabert, and myself. The remainder were
second-class or stewards and stewardesses. 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 mushroom.

I at no time saw any panic and not much confusion. I can positively
assert this as I was near every boat lowered on the starboard side up
to the time No. 11 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. 11 took seventy, and carried the largest number of any boat.”

BOAT NO. 13.[34]

    [34] Seventh boat lowered on starboard side, 1.25 (Br. Rpt., p.
    38).

No disorder when this boat was loaded and lowered.

_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), Beauchamp, 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, Mifflin 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 starboard 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 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 remember 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., p. 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 ordered 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.

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 discharge 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
being 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
starboard 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 whatever on A
Deck while he was loading these boats. No. 13 was full.

Extracts from Dr. Washington Dodge’s address: “The Loss of the
_Titanic_,” 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 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
observed 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, comprising 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
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
innumerable immense ventilators, it would have been impossible, even
in daylight, to have obtained 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
number, 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 lowered, and as it
approached the water I observed, 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 difficulty, as the oars
had been firmly lashed together 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 danger.

We were directed to pull our lifeboat from the 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 appeared to be a quarter of a mile distant, but, in spite
of our best endeavors, we were never enabled to approach any nearer to
it, although we must have rowed at least a mile.

BOAT NO. 15.[35]

    [35] Br. Rpt., p. 38, places this next to last lowered on
    starboard side at 1.35.

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.

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
vessel 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 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 steward, 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
collision 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 being
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 wanting to get to the Boat Deck. These were all
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.
Absolute 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 passengers 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.

ENGELHARDT BOAT “C.”[36]

    [36] Br. Rpt., p. 38, makes this last boat lowered on starboard
    side at 1.40.

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 witness before the two
Courts of Inquiry is consolidated:

He assisted the officer (Boxhall) to fire distress 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 no more
about. Two gentlemen got in, Mr. Ismay and Mr. Carter. Nobody told
them to get in. No one else was there. In the boat there were
thirty-nine altogether. These two gentlemen, five of the crew
(including himself), three firemen, a steward, and near daybreak they
found four Chinamen or Filipinos who had come up between 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 carrying a
green light. When day broke, the _Carpathia_ 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 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 steward that completed the
boat’s crew, but as regards any families I could not see any.

Senator Burton: Were there any men passengers 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.

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 minutes to two
when they started to row away. He remembers this because one of the
passengers gave the time.

J. B. Ismay, President International Mercantile Marine Co. of America,
New Jersey, U. S. A. (Am. Inq., pp. 8, 960):

There were four in the crew--one quartermaster, 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 lowered on the
starboard side. As to the circumstances of his departure from the
ship, the boat 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 lowered away he got into it.
The _Titanic_ was sinking 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. Carter, 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 had struck ice. He said he thought it was
serious. I then went down and saw the chief engineer, 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:

Mr. Edwards: You were responsible for determining the number of
boats?

Mr. Ismay: Yes, in conjunction with the shipbuilders.

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 representative 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 directing 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 instructions 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 hundreds 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 witness, 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 Finlay for White Star Line:

Mr. Finlay: Have you crossed very often to and from America?

Mr. Ismay: Very often.

Mr. Finlay: Have you ever, on any occasion, attempted to interfere
with the navigation of the vessel on any of these occasions?

Mr. Ismay: No.

Mr. Finlay: When you left the deck just before 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 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 discharge 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, commercially responsible for it and taking upon himself
certain functions, had a special moral obligation and duty more than
is possessed by one passenger to another passenger.

Lord Mersey: But how is a moral duty relative 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 passengers, 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 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 observation of an unfavorable nature to be made
from any point of view upon Mr. Ismay’s conduct. 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,† W. J. Mellers, second-class; and Mrs.
Rosa Abbott,† Edward Lindley,‡ third-class.

_Crew:_ Steward: E. Brown. Firemen: J. Thompson, one unidentified
body.* Seaman: one unidentified body.*

    * Body found in boat by _Oceanic_.

    † Pulled into boat out of sea.

    ‡ Died in boat.

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 compelled 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 Engelhardt 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 _Carpathia’s_ 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 for the purpose of
discovering how Boat A left the ship. Information in regard thereto is
obtained 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.

INCIDENTS

Edward Brown, steward (Br. Inq.):

Witness helped with boats 5, 3, 1 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 off 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_.[37] 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