HEROES OF THE TITANIC.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1448, 24 May 1912, Page 5

HEROES OF THE TITANIC.

HOW THE LINER WENT TO HER DOOM. THRILLING NARRATIVE OF THE GREAT TRAGEDY. THE NIGHT IN THE BOATS.

cstordiiy i San Francisco mail brought io nand .American and English newspapers .with the full accounts of the ■titanic disaster. Among thoiu was the following fine narrative, written up by the ".New York Evening Tost," from tlio stories of tlie survivors on the C'arpathin:— The narratives of all tho survivors (says tlie "Post") agree on one point, at least—nobody exacted that the ship would sink, no matter how, badly she might have been wounded. Tlie shock of the collision with tho iceberg was so slight ns scarcely to excite the passengers, although it was sufficient to wake up those who were asleep. "It was close to midnight," said Jlcody, Hio sislh officer, iu describing tho accident, "and I was on tlie bridge with the second officer, who was in command, Suddenly ho shouted, Tort your helm.' I did «j, but it was too "late. AVo struck tho submerged portion of tho berg."

indeed, so negligent were the passengers concerning tho serious nature of tho accident that the mem who rushed out of the smoking and card-rooms after the collision only stared upward at.the mass of ice rearing high above them in. the starlight with mometary curiosity. N lint was the usfl of being w'crried, they asked themselves The Titanic, largest, steamship afloat or over built, had collided with an iceberg. AVell, so much tho worse for the iceberg.

Water Bcoan To Pour In. But ill the nwantinie Captain Smith and his oflicors had become apprised of the fact that their vessel had suffered far more serious danuigo than would have resulted from a mere head-on collision. Tho captain was-in the smoking-room at the time, according to one account, there having seemed no imincdinto need for his presence 011 tiio bridge; but the watch offer on duty had promptly thrown tho switch closing the itoors in the collision bulkheads, Vet, notwithstanding this, Captain Smith, 011 reaching tho bridge, found that the reports from tile engineroom, iire-room, and oilier parts of the bowels of the ship, were somewhat discouraging. The watertight compartments had been sealed, but tho ship was taking water at an alarming rate. The commander went below to make a personal inspection of tho damage, meantime instructing the wireless operators to flash tho distress signal to tho limit of their instrument's capacity. Captain Smith's personal examination proved still more disquieting. Water was flowing into tho Titanic hi enormous quantities. He caused a general alarm to lxs Sent through the ship for all passengers to como on deck, mul went along the decks in person to reassure';them that there was no need to be frightened. But, as a matter of fact, by this time Captain' Smith knew that practically tho whole of tho lower port side and bottom of his ship had been ripped oil' by tho edge of tho berg, over which the Titanic had scrapped her way. He must have known, too, that in the circumstances tli® largest or strongest ever built stood 110 more chance than a fishing dory. But, according to all the authentic accounts of c.vc-wifuossas of tho tragedy, ho was perfectly caim at this stage, as at all others. 'He told the passengers, and he caused his 'officers to tell them, that' the damage was not serious, and that every effort would be made to avoid tile inconvcniwice of ordering them to the lifeboats. lVrliaps lie knew the horrible situation which would, bo created by recourse to t.liG lifeboats. -At any vale, he reassured such of the passengers as were disposed to be timorous, these being comparatively few in number. Did Not Believe She Would Sink. The passengers admitted themselves that, they did not. think the great ship would sink, even after they had left ber. But presently, before the tivst of (he boats had got'away from the Titanic's side, all siuvMihe danger of the situation. This moment in the story, pitiful, unutterably tragic, was that which proved that the men aboard the Titanic were men. All knew tho truth, by tlipn: all knew that what had been regarded as impossible bad happened, that tho greatest of steamships was slowly sinking to her doom. But nobody quivered or lost confulencn in the face of the death that loomed ahead, nobody cried out, or asked for mercy or said that Fate had been unkind. Nobody, that is, except a scant few, whose ignominy is mentioned solely because it throws out in higher relief tho heroism of the many who met death without, flinching. Chinese Coolies Mid in Boats. One of the few dark spots in the story wa.9 the discovery of four Chinese cooiies, wedged beneath the seats in one of t!ie boats, where they had hidden themselves .at HlO first alarm, before the davits were even manned. They were not discovered until after tho boat had been hauled 011 board tho Carpatliia, incredible as it may seem, and in (hat space of time two of them had died from the exposure and the crushing they had been subjected to by the fescned' passengers, who sat upon them without knowing of their presence—a detail which gives one an idea of the condition of mind the survivors must have been in.

"\yonien and. children first!" That order wont up and down the Titaiiic's decks, as tho boatswain's whistle summoned the life-boats' crews to their stations by the davits. Officers stood at intervals, revolvers ready, lo enforce tho order and' to supervise the distribution of persons, for although women were favoured, it was nt>( feasible to send only wonioii in each bant. A few men woro placed in each small craft, so as to provide strong arms for the oars, in addition to !Ise members of the regular crews. Once, on one of i.helilower doclr.s in the Ithird-elass section, a white-faced steward, crazed with fear, fought, his way into a boat, containing women and children, and when lie refused to step back, the first officer's pMol flashed, and he tumbled over the side. A pain, in the steerage, a mob of men, driven hysterical by the sudden knowledge that all could not be saved, made a rush for the boats into which some of their women were being lowered, and four or> five had lo bo shot before the ring-leaders were cowed. The Rest Were Brave Men. But thee incidents count for Tittie 'in view of the comities of fearlessness and -oif-sriorifloo that abounded elsewhere. One likes io think, above all eKe. porh.il>-'. of the plucky stoker*, who stuck lo their inlr-, way down in lho. depth-' of the -hip, and fed lho fires until the'water rolled over their grates, and the h=t of them wore swept off the ladders by the inru-hiug waves. There is no end to the list. All of the time the passengers were embarking in the lifeboats, and until within two minutes of the Titanic'® end, the ship's band played in the ?alflon. And as the lifeboat pulled slowly away from her. the lost figure they saw was the figure of Cantain Smith, standing erect on tli" oridge, fulfilling lu's duty to the very end. tilings biol out the memory of the few awful incidents that might otherwise mar a glorious page in ihe story of trans-Allan-lie. (ravel. As it is, no man need lie ashamed of the end of the Titanic. ?\foie than one man. as the last boats wore pulling oft", -topped ,v,u ' ; ' am * P avp ' lis place to another weaker than hinn-elf. A piiv it is the-e men Itm4 be The Victoria Cros- would not have been too good for any of them. Women Who Stood By Husbands, Mr?. Ftwus was not the only woman jyha to. leave hex. InubßAd, Soma,

refused to go, ami were picked up bodily and earned to the mil. It was not a time in which men stopped to think of the war of doing things. Certain tilings had to be done, certain standards maintained, certain rules of- life upheld. The.v did them. They did them with coo) assurance, as a matter of course, that did much to rob (lie scene of its tragic side. In fact, nil of th'o survivors commented upon the lack of tensity on tho Titanic's decks. Comparatively lew knew of the dramatic moment in the steerage, or of the pistoling of the steward by tho first oificoi— who went down with his skipper at his post, by tho way, true to tho principles of the British mercantile marine. The Titanic's enormous size prevented people from keeping track of all that went on.

When Boats Were Lowered. Tiie first lifeboat to leave the ship, after all hope had been abandoned, contained only thirteen persons, survivors said, although it had a minimum capacity of fifty. This was said to have been duo to confusion, resulting from heroism on the part of malo passengers, who declined to enter a boat 1111fm 11 -" i 0 ?™ m<m had been accommodated, the Titanic at that time was slowly sinking ljy the port bow, and the first boat, dropped from that side, had to be got away quickly in consequence. Notwithstanding the precautions taken, however, this boat was either crushed in (ho surrounding ice or swamped when it struck the water, for'none of its occupants is known to have been saved. Tho last boat to leave the Titanic was said to have been the 0110 which carried .T. liruce Ismay to safety, tho White Star official assuming command of the boat in theinbsence of the first officer of the Titanic, 'who remained on board. | Gave Their Coats to Women. Strange as it may seem, in view of the fact that a considerable number of minutes had elapsed .since tho collision, many of tho passengers who were put in had neglected to provide themselves with anything liko adequate clothing. The women wero the chief sufferers in this way. Soma of them had 011 nothing but night-dresses, covered by H»ht kimonos. Others were little more warmly clad, and tho first thing don? by the men in tho lifeboats was to strip off'their own outer garments, if they had any, and wrap them around the women who needed them most.

As tho group of lifeboats, eighteen iu all, crept away from the settling hull of tho giant liner, these t.hinly-e'iad voyagers v,-ero Already beginning to suffer. They looked at. tho tremendous luilk of t.b'o Titanic, still seemingly safe, for all tlio sinister list to port, her lights Hashing through a myriad of portholes, the steady throb of her engines pulsing over the icefilled sea, and above all other noises tho plaintively-triumphant music of her band, playing the ship to the bottom, as it were —and, perhaps, they thought that they had not been v.'iso to abandon such a refuge for tho insecurity of overcrowded open boats. A. few women took up tho notes of the hymn tho band was playing, but towards the end of tho vove they hushed their voices. Tho men who were playing were playing in fullest ex ; pectation of realising the sentiment of the words within tho next few seconds. So | only the piercing wail of the violins and flutes prevailed in the melcdy. But even as they looked, it became apparent that tho tragedy was Hearing its final stage. Through all her BS2 feet of length a shudder shook the Titanic, and her bow. which had been setting gradually, rolled deeper with every plunge. Oa her decks could bo seen little groups and knots of figures, f,omc motionless and calm, some running hither and thither in obvious excitement and consiern.ntidn. Presently tho ednidder ceased, and it looked as if the sea was rising up along Sier massive sides. For a moment nobody realised what, it meant. Then n sercam went up from the group of lifeboats. The Titanic was sinking. .Slowly, very slowly, almost without any perceptible regularity, she settled farther and farther down in the water. The most dramatic moment came when the lights on the lowest deck winked out. Then, ono by one, tltfe lights on the other decks were extinguished. It looked just as if somebody had thrown off a series lof switches, ono regulating the lights on each deck. •• Leased into the Water. As she settled the figures o;i her deck began to leap overboard. Ail of the steerage passengers left aboard had swarmed up from their quarters to the higher decks, and were mingled with the first and second cabin people, who had been unable to find room in the boats. But many men, and the few women left on board, seemed to face the icy plunge with the stoicism of wonderful courage or despair. At any rate, here and there one saw people standing, even as Captain Smith and his first officer, Merdock, stood on the bridge, motionless, with arms folded. One re-/, port was that Mcrdock shot himself just before the ship sank, but (his could not i be authenticated.

T!se Titanic sank so gradually that few worn able to appreciate the i'ncl: that, she was going until just before her Tipper decks were awash, when she suddenly heaved up Jier stem, « full sixty feet into the air. according to the onlookers, revealing her racing propellers and massive rudder, and steed momentarily on her beam ends. Then, with a buckling and grinding of plates and frames, she broke in two in the middle, part of her stern floating olf and remaining oil the surface of the water for a few instants, while the rest of her enormous hull sank, ta the accompaniment of a series of explosions of her boilers ami decks. Inside of two minutes there was nothing to show where .she had been, save a litter of wrcckngo and hundreds of bodies. Two Boats Suckcd Down. Such boats as were not too dangerously overloaded pulled rapidly 'toward the spot where she had sunk. According to some accounts, two boats nearest to her were drawn down by the suction. A number of men vho had donned life-preservers were picked up by the lifeboats, but most of those who had been obliged to stick by the doomed' liner were either paralysed by the bitter cold of the water or else drawn down bv the powerful suction of the sinking 'hull and drowned. Frantic and Frozen in Boats. The t»o hours and a half that passed after the Titanic sank were so many hour:', of torture to the hundreds hmidlist in the lifeboats .Besides the terrible cold, a "ririsk wind had -'lining up which fanned a choppy sea. sending the big <-ake.» of Hoe-ice crunching against the boats'side*, and there was the added niiseiv uf the inxlios that dotted I lie whole expanse of sea. Women who had left (heir husbands \vilh wuiis of despair became mere and more hysterical as the minutes passed. Sometimes they had to be foreibiv restrained from jumping overboard. Other.', on the contrary, persisted in I3se .belief that their men folks must bo in some boat or perhaps or. board' one of the fishing smacks, several of which had ben sighted in the vicinity of the disaster. ~ In one boat two women died from exposure. Soon it became necessary ■to put the women at the oar?, not Wauso tlio men were tired or unwilling to work, hut because the physical exercise was theonlv tiling that could keep their blood circulating and protect them from the awj'ul cold that blew upon them laden with the ehiil breath of tlie scores of icebergs snrroun(S inpr them. These people knew that wireless calls for assistaaco had been tent, out before the Titanic sank, but thev did not kno.w. from Fhich direction the aid .would

como, nor low long it'would be in appearing, Tlioy simply toiled and waited, always hoping, always searching the gray pcrepcctivo of tho early dawn tor the smoke of a rescue ship. It was just alsout- sunrise when the Carpathia appeared on tha horizon edge, steaming full speed through tlje, broken field of bergs and teo {iocs'oil litfr'erHnfl of mercy, Those who wore passengers cm the Cunarder say they will never- ferret tho scenes of that morning as lons ''as they live. All had been apprised of : thi\,; | purpose of their sprint into the ice 'field,' I and most of her company were 011 deckv \ keeping watch with officers and crew for the first sign of survivors of the disaster, . It was still dark when the.lookout, di- ' cerned several isolated dots of light in the disianeo—tho lamps hoisted to the tops of masts that stood in tho bow of caelt lifeboat, • > ' ■' Coming of the Carpathia. By 5 o'clock the Carpathia was abreast of tho first boat, and from then until 8 o'clock she ijas busied in picking ui) fho 5 eighteen boats' which sho found. ■ Two of these boats wero bottoip up, however. Ono of these was that 011 which tlio coal- , trimmer of the Titanic, was discovered, none the worse for his seven "hours' ex* posit re to the cold. ' '

Tho Carpathian passengers and' crew wero appalled at what thev saw in th'o Ixiats that crept up alongside, one after another. Women clad in filmy night rolies mu! low-necked evening dresses with sailors' rough pea-jackets - thrown '.over'/their shoulders, puiled at the oars—women whose tooth wero clinched 011 lips that bled, whose faces were ' contorted with agony. Shrieks rose out of thesa bents teeming with agonised human beings, driven half mad by the snffcrinsn'.'. of less than ten hours. Bodies lay Haip across tho thwarts.

The Carpathia spent several hours.cruising over the scene of tho Titanic's sinking, after the eighteen lifeboats had been picked up; but she saw jiotlpng of other two lifeboats which- had;'/been launched, nor did she see .anything elso save bodies of the drowned. There wow literally hundreds of these, scattered over ■» a wide area of sea, and as th© Cunarder steamod across this area, in tho centre of which the White Star liner had gon« , down, a clergyman among the Carpathian passengers stood at the rail and read the commitment service for the dead at.spa,,., so that a Christian burial might bo "iynwhsafed to tho 1500 unfortunates who had perished. , ... Ti.v this time the Californian of ! th* >r T.eyland Line had appeared, and as the Cnrpnthia wished to land the Titanic's survivors as -_on as possible, so' that'they might receive adequate mcdical attention and she might continue her interrupted voyage to the Mediterranean, she signalled' to tho Californian to take up the more. , or less perfunctory search, and turned back to Xew York'.

. MR, iSMAY'S STORY.

TELLS HOW HE WAS SAVED. " "WHAT KIND OF A MAN DO YOU THINK 1 AM?" Mr. .T, Bruce Ism ay, managing director of the AVliito Star Line,.when seen, after his arrival in New York, siiiil Hint Ilia experience had taught lain much. "Hereafter 1 will son personally that every shiji of the International Mercantile Marine is equipped with;, lifeboats enough to carry every living person on board," ho declared. lsinuy also said he wished the crew of tho Titanic to return immediately," not because bo feared any'.exposures .they might make, but simply because the show was no place for them. They would get into trouble, ho thought. Tho published assertions that ho had given orders to increase the speed of tho Titanic in order to shoot by the icc-ficlds was absolutely unfounded, Ismn.v said.

In talking of his rescue, after h<3 had boon questioned by the Federal investigators, Ismay said that it was absolutely untrue that the "White Star management tried to keep from the public the dotails of the disaster. "There was no attempt to suppress anything, and any sensible person knows how impossible that' would Ijo," ho said. "I had nothing to do vifk anything that was sent out from the Gnrpathin. The wireless was not under my control, and, as a matter of fact, I did'not make a request about what should bo sent. I do not believe it possiblo that tho officers in New York delayed giving out the news of the sinking. 1 think, the first news of the extent of the disaster went to tho public almost as roon iis'it was received. The captain o? the C'arpathia came to me, after wo went on board his ship and asked nie if I tv,lilted to send a message to inj*_ company. I wrote one out then, ami it did not get here until AYemicsduy, two days ofter messages. eanie from C'ajitaui Haddock, which v;ent to the press immediate|v. A message thai' should-have been here hours before did not come until after or about the time the Carpalhia arrived last night." When lie was ashed' if there \vere,'any;' women or children on tho deck when ha-w-cut into the lifeboat, he said:'"What kind of a man do you think I am? Certainly there were no women and children arouiul, and I thought they had all been, saved. I think it was the last- boat that' was lowered that I went into, and T <iid. then just what any other passenger wou]d, do. And tell me how I was different-' than any other passenger?' "I was not running the ship,- -and was asleep in my stateroom when the collision occurred. If they say lam presidentof the company that owns (lie ship; then I want to know where, you will line? \ "As I lay in. my stateroom on ,b<KS.r,d. the C'nrnathia I went over every detail -of J the affair. There was nothing that I-'ilid that I am sorry for. I tried to think if I had done the right thing, and I can truthfully say that my conscience , ,i.i» clear. If it was otherwise*, if " I thought for a moment that a life had been lost by any act or oinission of mine, T would never have a happy moment again us long as T lived. r eali't' # realiso even nov that ihe Titanic- is* no*

more. She represented all tli.it'was great nnd fine in ships. Not a single thin? had been slighted to make her less safe.- ».V few of the passengers who knew '.T rfaS interested in the ownership, came to -m*. mid congratulated me oil snch a fine vev,

sel. , "Many different slorios, or stones differine: in detail. have boon told nVrnt tlm poliisioii. and the sinking of flip ship. T do not believe that aiiv person can toll what occurred or the details of what took place. - • • - - , "The Senatorial Committee wis' 'liedft asking the 'ocoiur officer 1 howtion.s wore in this boal and hou - many were in Unit: one. T helped load several of the bonis, and 1 know I could not answer the 'iiiestions about • those. ;.' "I have oft'eved to help in any . why t can the investigation t!wt is hrin'tt conducted, but you can hardly lilaine m« for wniting to let bock to mv home'.' T lost ail my clcthins? except what T 'liaVf!','on. «>ii' it «•« "nly l)v the' merest chance flint T did not shin «n the fedrie arfd Veftini to England. If T had 1 Mipppse it wonM hevp been said thit T was runnms when, .as a mailer of fort. T did not know that am' investigation was oontemniated until after the 'Carpathia arrived la«t night." FORWARD BULKHEADS (3!YE.,, , .STORV OF I'll?K IN THK Bl'NKUBfc. Surviving members of • the 'i'i'.Vnu's crew (say? ilie "Xw York Pusl") iell a story which may have ;i hearing in th n investigation of the rapid >i jikisi fr <-f the ship. They say a fire started in one of the coal iHinkers of the >iiort]y after she left her dock at Southampton, anil that it was not extinguished until Saturday afternoon. As told by a fireman,' the story is «s follows:— . "It had boon liece.ssa ry t a take the' coal'" out of Sections 2 and .'I on the side, forward, and when the waver came, rushing in after the collision with the iee the bulkheads would not hoM because llicy (lid not have the. supporting weight of the coal. -Someb-riv !•< to Chief Engineer Bidl that'the., .bulkheads had Riven .away'.' , w l w . gineer replied, 'My God,' we' life MS'" "Th.e eusriiiwrs- stayed by the piniV;>r and went down willf tho ship. Th.> lii>inoii ami stokers were sphl dock !iu> minutes before the Titanic sink, who;:-! was seen that they would inevitalihvh.v lost- if they stayed linger ai iho-r W : rk of trying to keep, the'ti.'ras i'i-H:e. 1; and the pwops at • work. ''IV: li?ht"i buried to the last bee;s\i«e Uhmlv-iwmos" \vcro run br oil ciwinos.".