Titanic Disaster.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 257, 30 April 1912, Page 5

Titanic Disaster.

[ THE CREW IN LONDON. : ' CAPTAIN AND ENGINEER. A HEROIC STOKEHOLD. By Cable—'Press Association—Copyright. Received 29, 9.36 p.m. London, April 29. One hundred and fifty-seven of the ffitanic's crew have arrived. They declined to submit to examination until representatives of the Seafarers' Union were present. Several of them freely narrated various incidents. One said that he saw the captain swim with a baby to a boat, and that he helped others, afterwards returning to the vessel. He showed no lesire to survive. Others state that the engineer was imprisoned in the pump-room when the watertight doors were closed. The whole of the stokehold watch were flcowned. There was no engineer on the deck after the collision, and the engineroom staff kept the lights going until the vessel was submerged.

AN OPEN AIR SERVICE. THE T.ITANIC OUT OF POSITION. ADMIRAL MAHON'S SEVERE STRICTURES. Received 29, 10.40 p.m. London, April 29. A detachment of the Titanic's crew received an emotional welcome at Southampton. An open-air thanksgiving service was attended by the naval and military Teservists, Territorials and 60,000 civilians.

Captain Moore stated that when he arrived at the Titanic's position at 4.30 in the morning he saw nothing but ice. and the tramp steamer Carpathia informed him that she had picked up the boats. The Titanic's speed was not wise in view of the warnings she had received. Undoubtedly her officers had not fixed her position properly, and he estimated that she was eight miles further east than reported. Etches, a steward, testified that after Mr. Ismay had twice called for more women to enter the boat, a woman advanced, saying "We are only the stewardesses." "Never mind." exclaimed Mr. Ismay; "you women get in." She obeyed.

Admiral Mahon, after expressing the opinion that censure or approval should await the official investigation, attacks Mr. Ismay, whose company was responsible individually and collectively, and Mr. Ismay personally, for the loss of life. His belief that the Titanic was unsinkable relieved him of moral guilt, but not of responsibility. He adds that Mr. Ismay was justified in taking a place in a boat, because it was the last boat and only half-filled, but as long as a soul could be picked up the obligation lay on Mr. Ismay that that person, and not he, should occupy a place in the boat. An American committee, consisting of the captain of the Titanic's friends, is raising funds for his family.

THE SENATE COMMISSION. THE ICE FIELD. SMITH'S IGNORANCE. THE ROCKET STORY. Washington, April 28. Giving evidence before the commission, a seaman named Hemming said that he ■was asleep -when the collision took place. He returned to bed later, but the boatswain called, "Turn out, you fellows; you haven't half an hour to live! That's from Mr. Andrews. Keep it to yourselves."

Mr. Andrews represented the builders. Captain Lord said that the ice field was twenty-five miles long and several miles wide. He doubled the watch owing to the ice. When he stated that he stopped the Californian owing to the ice, Senator Bmith asked him whether he cast anchor, apparently being ignorant that the sea was two miles deep at that spotEvans alleged that Gill stated that lie expected the newspapers would give five hundred dollars for the rocket story. Crowe, a steward, gave evidence that the Titanic stood almost perpendicular before sinking, and then broke clean in two. The aft section floated back, and there was an explosion. The section then turned and sank.

Csman, a seaman, declared that after the Titanic got to a certain angle Bhe broke in halves, and the aft section sank. For a certain distance the passengers climbed on the top deck and top poop, which were black with people. Moore, captain of the Mount Temple, examined, eaid that he received the Titanic'e signal when forty-nine miles off. He hastened to the scene, but was compelled by the ice to slow down and eventually stop. When fourteen miles tiatant he saw fifty bergs in the Titanic's vicinity. He believed the mysterious lights belonged to a tramp, which the Mount Temple passed, and which did ■ot respond to wireless messages. Cunningham, a steward, said that the order to call all passengers waß not given until fifty minutes after the collision.

1 A FARCICAL ENQUIRY. New York, April 28. The American Merchant Marine Association has issued a manifesto protesting at what it describes as a farcical enquiry. SURVIVORS" REACH ENGLAND. London, April 28. Survivors of the Titanic arriving today will not be allowed to communicate with the public until the Board of Trade examination is finished. Memorials are being promoted for the Titanic's band

and for Phillips, the wireless operator. Relief funds now total £300,000. The Pannonia, from New York, reports passing many icebergs, some from one hundred to three hundred feet in height. The body of Mr. Millett has been identified. Cunningham, a steward, says that Mr. W. T. Stead was the last passenger under his charge to take a lifebelt.

THE BRITISH ENQUIRY. London, April 28. Rear-Admiral Cough-Calthorpe, Captain A. W. Clark, Commander Lyon, and Professor Biles will act with Lord Mersey, President of the Admiralty Division, as assessors.

COMPULSORY WIRELESS. Washington, April 28. Senator Smith, chairman of the Titanic committee, interviewed, said lie thought that a good case had been established to legislate regarding the use of wireless telegraphy, particularly for an obligatory contmuaus service.

MR. HAVELOOK WILSON'S VIEWS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Yesterday. Speaking to a crowded audience at the Opera House last night, Mr. Havelock Wilson, general president of the National British Seamen's and Firemen's Union, said he did not believe that any blame or responsibility for the Titanic disaster rested on Mr. Ismay or his colleagues. The name of Ismay stood very high in the shipping trade, and no more conscientious Kian was engaged in it. Whatever blame there was rested on the Board of Trade, which allowed the existing state of things to continue, despite the suggestions of the advisory committee. He hoped that the commission, while realising the importance of an increased number of boats, would not disregard the fact that it was more important still to make better provision to keep the vessel afloat. Mr. Wilson made various suggestions for better provision against such disasters, which were embodied in a resolution and carried. The collection in aid of sufferers amounted to £4l.

LOST LINERS. In an article on "Lost Liners" in Chambers's Journal, Mr. Joseph Horner recalls the number of vessels which have from time to time disappeared mysteriously, leaving not a single survivor to tell the story. In the North Atlantic service alone, between 1841 and 1890, no fewer than twenty-four big steamers were totally blotted out of human knowledge, together with their crews and passengers, numbering 1453. The President, with 130 souls on board, was the first of these to be lost for ever in 1841. The. City of Glasgow disappeared in 1854 without leaving a trace, and she had 480 souls on board. In 1856 the Pacific, with a living freight of 240, sailed from Liverpool in June, and was never more heard of. The Tempest, with 150 souls, mysteriously disappeared in 1850. The City of Boston, with 170 persons, vanished in 1870. The Huronian. an Allan liner, disappeared in 1902; and the British gunboat Condor was lost in the Pacific in 1901. In 1893 a cattle steamer, the Naronic, with 77 hands, was lost. As to the possible causes of the catastrophes, it is only possible to surmise capsizing: damage from within, such as explosion, breakdown of machinery, or Are; or damage from without, such as collision with an iceber" or with a derelict hulk, have all been 3suggested to explain the losses of these vessels. The Captain capsized, and hundreds of lives were lost, and it is now generally assumed that the Waratah capsized by reason of top-heaviness. As to damage to machinery, we have the ease of the City of Paris, which had a big smash in one of her engine-rooms in 1890. She was near the Irish coast, but though both engine-rooms were filled with water in about ten minutes, she was kept afloat owing to her watertight compartments for three days till help came and she was towed into Queenstown. In the case of a fire, everything, probably, would be consumed to the water's edge, and if this happened far from land the chances of rescue would be remote. Heavy weather and tidal waves with the older vessels, at any rate, were probably other Teasons for shipwreck.