LINER'S ESCAPE FROM TITANIC'S DOOM.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1560, 2 October 1912, Page 3

LINER'S ESCAPE FROM TITANIC'S DOOM.

DRAMATIC NARRATIVE OF ICEBERG COLLISION. SPLENDID NAVIGATION BY BKITISH CAI'TAIN. , ■After aii experience resembling that of ■the Titan'.c, but without disastrous result, tho Allan liner Corsican arrived at Liverpool on Wednesday, August 21. Her bows were smashed as the. result of a collision with an iceberg near Belle Isle, Newfoiindlond, on August 12. Captain E. Cook, commander of the Corsican, gave the following account of the accideut:—. '■ "On Monday, August 12, the weather was moderately clear until 1 p.m., when it began to get hazy. Speed was reduced to dead slow. At 5 o'clock p.m. we sighted a largo berg, right ahead. Tho engines were immediately put full speed α-scerh, but before the ship had lost her 'way' she touched the berg, with her stem head, setting that bnck 10ft., but doing no damage within 10ft. of the water-line. "From that time we had dense fo» for two days, and proceeded at a moderate, speed as it cleared. As a preventive mea'suro wo bulk-headed the upper forward decks. All tho damage is well above, the water-line, and the ship has made no water whatever. Immediately after the impact the crew were called to the stations. The boats were swung out and taken in a few minutes afterwards. Watertight doors were closed. We blew whistles and made other signals." Splendid Navigation. The accident confirms'the evidence given at tho Titfliiic inquiry to the effect that the best* way to meet an iceberg, if a meeting is unavoidable, is with the stem head. Tho preventive measures .undertaken subsequently consisted of constructing bulkheads just abaft the damage betwcpn the upper decks. This temporary work, constructed of deal, reflected the , greatest credit on tho captain, the chief engineer, and the staff. While this work was being carried out part of the-crew' who had been berthed close up to the bow were. accommodated elsewhere. Although the accident occurred on Monday, August 12, at 5 p.m., the fog held until Wednesday at 8.30 a.m.. during the whole of which time Captain Cook remained on deck. The ship was navigated across the Atlantic without a hitch, although she encountered a gale which induced the captain to take the route round the south coast of Ireland. . . . ' The passengers assembled in the. saloon at Liverpool and presented the captain with a gold watch and a purse of gold in recognition of the skill and care with which ho had handled the vessel during the emergency. Passenger's, Narrative. . The following account of the mishap is given by Mr. E. E. Foot, who was returning to London, after eighteen months in Canada and the United States:. After the impact with the iceberg there followed a momentary stillness, and then a, pattering of feot, which resolved itself into a rash of lower-deck ratings of all sorts to the boats. " '.' The' next thing I remember, as the men gathered around the boats, was seeing a saloon passenger with a camera in his hand, and hearing a woman say in a voice shaken with emotion: "Camera be ! Ton won't need that!" , Tho ship had ceased to progress and was heaving in the trough of the seas with tha known and the unknown lost in the darkness of. the surrounding fog. The men were swinging out the boats with alljthe energy that nien could muster, but with little'of the skill with which the work would have ■ been carried out by trained bluejackets. The passengers were gathered hurriedly in all manner of garments, and all had in their minds the awfulness of the recent catastrophe to the Titanic, which seemed about to be repeated to ourselves, with the added dread of the allpervading fog which swallowed everything beyond tho length of the ship. To their credit be it said, 1 heard no wail or cry of any sort from any woman or from any man.

The tension of the wait, during which I believe many were occupied in considering their.last farewe]ls,..rais ended by the most inspiring phrase I ever remember to have heard. It was simply. "Swing in the boats.". Then the bugles sounded the call for dinner* and soms.of us were soon sitting round a table which we had scarcely expected to see again. ,