A GRAPHIC STORY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1034, 23 April 1912, Page 2

A GRAPHIC STORY.

London, Apiil 19. Prolessor Edward Spencer Beesley, science master at Dulwich College, in his narrative of the disaster, says that there was fine weather and a calm sea on Sunday night. Then a very slight jar was felt, lasting ten to fifteen seconds. It became somewhat greater, but insufficient to create anxiety. The engines were stopped, and it was thought that the Titanic had lost a propeller. He went on deck, but only a lew persons were about. Some card players m the smoking room noticed the jar.

Looking out he saw an iceberg at the vessel’s side giving a grazing glancing blow. Professor Beesley went to his cabin and returned to the deck later, and found that the Titanic was unmistakably down at the head.

He then went below, and heard the cry, “All passengers on deck with lifebelts on.”

The passengers merely regarded this as a precaution. There was no panic or alarm, and no visible signs of disaster. The boats wer§ swung out, and the passengers were awakened to the danger by the next order: “All men stand from boats; women retire to the deck below.” As the boats reached the lower deck the women quietly entered, with the exception of some who, refusing to leave their husbands, were in some cases forcibly torn from them and pushed into the boats. As the boats touched the water they slipped away into the darkness.

There was no hysterical sobbing, only an extraordinary calm.

The men were then ordered into the boats. He saw a boat half full of women on the port side, and a sailor asked if there were any more ladies on his deck. There were none. The professor was then invited to jump in. There were no officers in the boat, and no one seemed to know what to do. The boat swung under another descending boat, but with promptitude a stoker cut a fall and prevented all being crushed. The stoker then took charge of the boat. “The leviathan loomed up against the sky,” said Professor Beesley, “ every porthole blazing. At 2 o’clock the vessel settled rapidly by the bows, the bridge going under water. The. lights flickered, then were extinguished. The stern tilted, and all the machinery roared down through the vessel with a noise audible for miles. About one hundred and fitly feet of the stern protruded straight up for about five minutes; the boat then made a slanting dive. This was followed by appalling cries tor help from hundreds of human beings in the icy water.” A number embarked iu the collapsible boats, which the lifeboats subsequently picked up. Mr W, T. Stead was last seen on deck near the smoke room.

Another account states that he jumped overboard after the boats left.

Others think that Mr Stead and Colonel Astor both reached a raft, but then succumbed to the cold and dropped oft. Colonel Astor, after placing his wile in a boat, asked permission to accompany her, but the second officer said: “No, sir, no man shall enter the boats till the women are off.” Colonel Astor then assisted in clearing away the other boats and reassuring nervous women.

Mrs Edgar J. Meyer, of New York, a daughter of Mr Andrew (a prominent New Yorker), lost her husband. She pleaded with her husband to allow her to remain with him, but he threw her into a lifeboat, reminding her of their nine-year-old child at home. Mrs Marvin, who was on her honeymoon, was prostrated when she learned ashore that her husband had been drowned. As she was being placed in the lifeboat, he had exclaimed : “It’s all right, little girl. You go : X will

stay.” When the boat was shoved off he threw her a kiss. That was the last she saw ol him. Mr C. M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railway, was last seen bidding farewell to the passengers as they were leaving the sinking vessel.

Mrs Astor hazily remembers that when, amidst the confusion, she was about to be placed In a boat, her husband stood by her side. She has no knowledge as to how he died.

Mr Ismay was rescued in his slippers, pyjamas, and overcoat, dazed and cold. Several narratives show he gave active assistance in filling and lowering boats. New York, April 20.

The inquiry ordered by the Senate’s Merchant Marine Committee into the circumstances attending the disaster has been opened. Mr J. B. Ismay, managing director of the White Star Company, stated that he was asleep at the time the Titanic struck. The Titanic was not pushed to her speed limit, but averaged about 21 knots an hour. He only once consulted the captain about the vessel’s movements, when it was arranged that they should not attempt to reach New York before 5 o’clock on Wednesday morning. He only entered a boat when there was no response to the call for women. He left about an hour after the collision.

Mr Ismay said be believed the ship was struck between the bow and the bridge.

SECOND OFFICER’S EXPERIENCE.

Mr Llghtoller, second officer of the Titanic, maintained that the boats were well filled, and preference was given to women. He accounted for the saving of so many of the crew by stating that five out of every six were picked up in the water. All were firemen and stewards. There was no demonstration on the ship —not even lamentation among those left behind. He dived as the vessel sank, and was sucked under. He was holding t.iM ag nnst a blower when a icrnhc gust through the blower—due probably to the explosion of a boiler —blew him clear and he reached the surface near a boat.

At All Saints’ Church, on Sunday, the vicar, Rev. G. Woodward, preached in the morning from the 130th Psalm. He said this Psalm seemed to express the sorrow each felt in the present sad catastrophe. The vicar drew the lesson that we were in the position of the psalmist, we were looking upon a national disaster, and he dwelt on the suddenness uf the wreck, and the courage and love of the men for the women and children. He said there were two ways by which we could look upon the awful catastrophe. The wrong way would be by looking upon God as an unpitying Creator and a blind Force. The right way, in the spirit of the Psalmist in penitence and hope. Then he explained how the Resurrection of Christ was the hope and the comfort of both suvivors and drowned. At the evening service the vicar said people were unable to understand the awfulness of the disaster that had stunned the world —so shocking were the details that for a moment they were staggered. But the Gospel for the day pointed to the Good Shepherd, and in Him was the comfort needed. All the tears, all the bitter anguish, the hearts torn asunder by the loss of loved ones, were all known to the Good Shepherd, and were all marked on His Sacred Heart. He knew and heard the bleating of His sheep. When they found His Hand in theirs they would see it was a pierced Hand, and would understand that He knew what sorrow was. Then, for those brave men who bad died, the Good Shepherd would take that martyrdom as a Baptism into His Kingdom. He had laid down His own life, and they had followed His example. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ” The purpose of the Good Shepherd was for both. Those who had survived would realise that in Christ was life. “I came that they may have life.” And for those who had passed over to the shores of eternity, there joy would be “that they might have it more abundantly,” The vicar then asked the congregation to stand while the organ played the Dead March.