THE TITANIC DISASTER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 284, 28 May 1912, Page 7

THE TITANIC DISASTER

NEWS BY THE MAIL. SURVIVORS' STATEMENTS. PATHETIC STATEMENTS. By the San Francisco mail which arrived last week there came to hand the latest American papers, which contain full accounts of the terrible di*Mt*r it the Titanic. As the cable meisage* indicated, the catastrophe was attended by imany memorable incidents, some of which are recorded. WIRELESS OPERATOR'S STORY. A DRAMATIC NARRATIVE. Mr. Bride, the wireless operator, gave an interesting account of the last moments of the Titanic. His narrative, drawn from him piecemeal by the questioning of Senator Smith, of Michigan, chairman of the committee, held enthralled the committee and the audience (according to one paper). When the ordeal ended he was almost on the verge of collapse. Bride was closely questioned as to the first call for aid sent out by the Titanic. He said the first vessel to answer was the Frankfurt, ol the North German Lloyd Line. The operator of the i Frankfurt, according to the witness, con- I sidered the call more or less trivial, for I half an hour after the imperative appeal of the sea he called the Titanic to enquire specifically just what was wrong. "Mr. Phillips said lie was a fool," Bride testified, referring to the chief operator on the Titanic, who lost his life, "and told him to keep out." By keeping out, Bride declared, Phillips meant that the Frankfurt should not keep its wireless going, but should leave the trackless realm of the air free for the Titanic's call. No effort was made to re-establish communication with the Frankfurt, although Phillips felt certain that the ves- ; sel was much nearer than the Carpathia, with which communication had been established. , This, Bride said, Phillips judged by reason of the greater power of the Hertzian waves. THE FINAL SCENE. Bride and his superior, Phillips, were among the last to leavp, and were witnesses of the closing scenes ,on the boatdeck,. the topmost parade deck of the lost ship. Bride's story was fragment- i ary, because it was drawn from a memory that had not cease,d tp,see the actual horror of it. Without Senator Smith's interrogations, it ran about as follows: "We did not feel the .shock when the ship struck. In fa,ct, j was asleep at the time and was not even awakened by the impact. When tjie engines stopped, Mr. Phillips called me, and I put on the j telephone apparatus lyhije, he went out to see what was the . - A little I later he came back. .(He-said things' looked 'queer'—T suppose he meant that everything was not as jt. should be. "At this time, how^yer,.,nqit-her of us worried a bit. Whew we"heard confusion on the deck I wp,nt out to investigate, and when I returned .j 'found Mr. Phillips sending out a.. ,'G.QJV'call,' giv-' ing our position. Wo-raised.jtlie Frankfurt first and then the Caupathia and the/: Baltic. As I have sa^,we-,did-not tty'i for the Frankfurt for ;anjvAeiigt-h of time,.', but concentrated our .messages' on the : Carpathia, which had answered that alj'e was rushing to our aid. r " ' "The captain came, :into the wireless cabin from the deck when, the, Carpathia advised us of her position, and lie- figured I out the 'time when that- vessel probably would"arrive. "He left.-wheil that was disposed of and proceed®! r ttfth-e bridge. Then we began to unofficially < keep in communication-with t-hfc forpathia, Iv, '' ALMOST i'PAOTtt. •

"From time to lips or ,1, would go ;pn jfck, fo, <-!)servc the. situation. .. Thp .Jps't fcipLei.J went on deck I found ths running around- in r pd, there was almost a panic. Thqjc y,'ere, seeking for lifebelts., All of the l?,i;ge Ijfebpats were gone, hut-there was. e-rp-ft' remaining. ~ It. had4)een .la«he^' ( on. ( thei top of the quarters on the boatrdepK .A nuin.-[ ber of men were striwin.fi to launch it. "I went hack to the wireless .cabin then. •. Mr. Phillips, t was,f spring to send .out; a v ftna][ power lpw oould.'aot tell exactly whether it carried 0 r not,' for we were cabin and we could- not hear/ the; crackle' of' the wireless at the mast if Phillips..kept oil 1 ; sending, however,, whi}e[f; ,bu«Wed '(sn lifebelt and put on iny-owny, Then We'' both cared for a fainted and who had been brough.t- : tnto our cabin. /■■■ mir! 1 »':*

"Then, about ten miiuttes! Ibeftfre the' ship sank, Captain Smith, gave ■ for; everyone to look to hi« 6wn> safety.' *f sprang to aid <thd to launch the life-raft,- arid e Hiad Buoceeded in getting to the -iddjsv df' the 'boat when a giant tfate dahWd rS'aw'4y. went with it 'fend found.-tmyself' iiin ( der r , neath. Struggling throirgH'an' eternity, I finally emerged, and Wag'wimthing. 15,0 ft from the Titanic when ''she Went down, I felt no suction as the' Vessel 'plunged." • MR. ISMAY'S '^MlpSj'-' WHAT OCOIJRREJT) tW TlTANItt^ The investigation in Nijw r York somewhat rehabilitated Mr. *J. Bruce Isinay, president of the International, Mercantile Marine, owners ,of sn\AVhite Star Line, although opinion (aci rding to the Post's San Francisco correspondent) was still very much divided as to whether he was justified in saving himself while a single passenger remained aboard! Mr. Ismay has been fiercely assailed in the Senate and in the press. He went about guarded by a squad of private detectives. The traditional law that the captain should perish with his ship, if there is I any loss of life at all, was held to apply I to the owner as well. Mr. Ismay's own ] story was that when he entered the lifeboat in which he was saved there was no other passenger—male or female—on the deck, and that as a passenger he considered he was perfectly justified in saving his life. He says that after searching his mind with the deepest care his conscience is celar. BELIEVED VESSEL UNSINKABLE.

"I deeply regret," he said, "that I am compelled to make any personal statement when my whole thought is on the horror of the disaster. In building the Titanic it was the hope of my associates and myself that we had built a vessel which could not be destroyed by the perils of the sea or the dangers of navigation. The event has proved the futil•of that hope. The present legal re-

i'rements have proved inadequate. They must be changed, but whether they are changed or not this awful experience has taught the steamship owners of the world that too much reliance -has been placed on water-tight compartments and on wireless telegraphy, and that they must equip every vessel with life-boats and rafts sufficient to provide for every soul on board, and sufficient men to handle them." TERRIBLE SUSPENSE. EXPERIENCES ON A RAFT. Colonel Gracie told a remarkable story of personal hardship, and denied the reports that there had been any panic

on hoard. He praised in the highest terms the behaviour of both the passengers and the crew, and paid a high tribute to the heroism of the women passengers. "Mrs Isidor Straus," he said, "went to her death because she would not desert her husband: Although he pleaded with her to take her place in the boat she steadfastly refused, and when the boat , settled at the head the two were engulfed by the wave that swept it."

| Mr. Grade told of how he was driven I to the topmost deck when the ship settled, and was the sole survivor after the wave that swept it just before its final plunge had passed. _"I jumped with the wave," .said he, j "just as I often have jumped with the breakers at the seashore. By great, good fortune I managed to grasp the brass railing on the deck above, and I hung on by might and main. When the ship plunged down I was forced to let go, and I iwas swirled around and around for what seemed to be an undeterminable time. Eventually I came to the surface to find the sea a mass of ' tangled wreckage. Luckily I was unhurt, and seized a wooden grating floating near by. When I had recovered my breath I discovered a "larger canvas and cork raft which had floated up. A man whose name I did not learn was struggling toward it from some wreckage to which he had .clung. I cast off and helped him to got into the raft, and we then began the work of rescuing those who had jumped into the sea and were floundering in the water. "When dawn broke there were thirty of us on the raft, standing knee-deep in icy water and afraid to move lest the cranky craft be overturned. Several unfortunates, benumbed and half dead, besought us to save them, and' one or two made an effort to reach us, but we had to warn them away. Had -we made any effort to save them Ave all might have perished. "The hours that elapsed before we were picked up by the Carpathia were the longest and most terrible that I ever spent. Practically without any sensation of feeling because of the icy water, we were almost dropping of fatigue. We were afraid to turn round to see whether we were seen by passing craft, and when someone who Was facing astern passed the word that something that looked like a steamer was coming up one of the men became hysterical under the strain. The rest of us, too, were nearing the breaking point."

Colonel Grade said revolvers were fired on the Titanic for the purpose of intimidating some steerage passengers who had tumbled into a boat before it was prepared for launching. ■ JARRED FROM BERTH.

The army officer was in his berth when the vessel smashed into tlie submerged portion of the berg, and was aroused by the jar. ITe looked at his watch, hfe said, and found it was just midnight. The ship sank with him at 2.22 a.m., for his watch stopped at that hour. . "Before I retired," said Colonel Gracie, "I had a long chat with Charles W. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railway. Onci-of the last things Hays said was J this: 3

'The White Star, the Cunard and the ■Hamburg-American lines are devoting their attention and ingenuity in vying with each other to attain the supremacy in luxurious ships, and in making speed reoords. . The time will come when this will -be capped by some appalling disaster-.' . Poor' fellow, a few hours later he was dead."

The conduct of Colonel John Jacob Astor was deserving of the highest praise, Colonel Gracie declared. "The millionaire New Yorker," he said, "devoted all his energies to saving liis young bride, nee Miss Force, of New York, who . in .delicate health. '.,;JVSTOR AIDED IN WORK.

i: f 'C6lonel Astor helped us in our efforts t ( p get' her "into the boqt. I lifted her into''the'boat, and as she took her place Colonel Astor requested permission -of the second officer to go with her for her own protection.

" 'No, sir,' replied the officer, 'not a man shall go in a boat until the women are all off.'''

"Colonel Astor then enquired the numt&fobf Jhe/h6at which was being lowered iktfd turned to the work of clearing I other beats and reassuring the frightened and nervous women,

■ "By this time the boat begin to list frightfully to port. This became so dangerous that the second officer ordered every one to rush to starboard. This ;W;e : and we found the crew trying to get a boat, off in that quarter. Here I fsW,',tjie last of John B. Thayer and . Gqprgft-B. Widener, of Philadelphia." ' ; 'Bit) N<JT SLOW DOWN.

; Colonel Gracie said that, despite the warnings of icebergs, no slowing down of speed ordered by the commander of /the Titanic., . JTliere were other warn l iiigs,'tqo,h&.,said. ■ ,'$ n twenty-four hours' run ending 14th," he said, "the ship's run t was '.,546 .irjiles, -and then we were told jfyaf'.'ilie .next twenty-four hours would better record posted. No .dimjmjtion of speed was indicated in the the engines kept up their steady I r.uariing. ; •

"When Sunday evening came we all noticed the increasing cold, which gave plain warning that the ship was in close proximity to icebergs and icefields. "The officers, I am credibly informed, had -been advised by wireless from other ships of the presence of icebergs and dangerous floes in that vicinity. The sea yra,s as smooth as glass, and the tteither clear, so that it seems that there was no occasion for fear.

■ "When the vessel struck, the passengers were so little alarmed that they joked oVer the matter. The few that appeared on the deck early had taken their 'time to dress properly, and there was' not the slightest indication of panic. Some of the fragments of ice had fallen on the deck, and these were picked up and passed around by some of the facetious ones.