A STEWARD'S STORY

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10615, 23 April 1912, Page 5

A STEWARD'S STORY

'" A PRAYER THAT WAS ANSWERED.

(Received Last Night, 11.10 o'clock.)

NEW YORK, April 22. Mr .Whitley, a first-class steward, who is in tho hospital suffering from frozen feet, stated at the enquiry that lie overheard two of the Titanic's crow's-nest lookouts talking. One ■said that fifteen minutes before the collision he reported to Mr Murdock, the first officer, who was on the fcridge, that he fancied he saw an iceberg. Twice afterwards the lookouts gaVeia warning. Murdock was most Indignant, arid no attention, was paid to the warnings. One of the lookouts added, ""'No wonder Murdock shot Jiimself." Whitley, when assisting to iauncli the lifeboat, was caught in a rope...as iti,uncoiled, and was thrown Into' the sea. A lifebelt kept him afloat till he found an .'oak wardrobe, -which rose to the surface after the Titanic sank. Two men dropped off exhausted. At daybreak Whitley saw « collapsible raft, black with men, all standing. He swam to it, but was not Allowed to board. He was told, "It's thirty-one lives'against yours.-' "I prayed," he said, "that someone «n the raft might die so that I could take liis place. Someone did die, and I was •allowed aboard." Afterwards, those on the raft were transferred to seven of . the Titariic!s lifeboats, which were lashed together. It was here that he heard the lookouts conversation. He believed the lookouts were returning to England by the steamer Lapland.

DECK PASSENGER'S EVIDENCE.

A fleck passenger states that. Andrews, ono of tho Titanic's engineers, wont below and reported to a group of ■passengers that the vessel was torsi to bits below, but would not sink if tho bulkheads would hold. He stated that she was ripped by an underlying peak pi ice, which had torn many ot the forward plates from their bolts. The deck passenger added that it seemed impossible that this could be true, but many of tho group smiled.

THE ASSISTANT OPERATOR. Mr Bride, the assistant wireless operator, was wheeled into the inquiry room at the Waldorf. Astoria Hotel, owing to his being crippled in tho feet. The Press photographers exploded a .flashlight. The Chairman of the inquiry protested thai this was intolerable. Mr Bride .stated that he intercepted a message from the California, announeiiig three icebergs. He gave tho message to the Captain, who .acknowledged it. Mr Bride added that tho Frankfurt was the first vessel to au-ow-er tho signals of, distress. The strength of the current showed that the Frankfurt was nearer to the Titanic than tho Carpathia by twenty minutes. The Fvankfurt'fi operator wirelessed "What's the matter?" "Captain Smith was told of the question, and he said, "Tho fellow's- a fool." Mr Phillips, the Titanic's chief operator, wirelessed the Frank-

CABLE NEWS

(United Frm Anociation—By Mootrie Telegraph—Copyright.)

furt's operator, "You're a fool; keep out of it." Mr Bride explained that Phillips preferred to reply to the Carpathia, which meanwhile wirelessed, "Hastening towards the Titanic." THE SECOND OFFICER. Mr Lihtollor, the second officer, gave evidence that he the nearness of ieobergs with Captain Smith, who did not toll him to slow up. A LUCKY PASSENGER. Thomas McOorinack, who is in the hospital suffering from wounds to the head, declares that he jumped when the Titanic was sinking. He got his hands on the gunwale of a. lifeboat. The members of the crew struck him on the head and tore his hands loose. After repeated efforts he swam to another 'boat, where he met with the saime reception. Finally two sisters (Mary and Kate Murphy) pulled him aboard despite tho-crew'-s efforts.

A WOMAN'S NARRATIVE. Mrs J. Brown, wife of a Denver mine owner, stated tlfat, ,]the whole thing was so formal that it was difficult to realise there was a tragedy, men and women talked and laughed in little groups. "I was looking at the boats," she said, "when two men seized mc and threw me in, saying, 'You're going, too.' " After tucking the women in, many of tho men went to tho restaurant to smoke. Knowing how cold the water was, she took off ! her lifebelt, because, in the event of I drowning she did not wish to linger. She then took an oar and kept warm \by rowing. She .saved many lives, but soon a great wave came, and she knew the Titanic had. gone. One man began to complain. They had no food, water or compass. "I called to him to be quiet," said th« woman, "or go overboard." Dawn revealed a wonderful sight. Finst a grey and then a flood of. light, and ball of red fire illuminated forty miles of icebergs.

BELIEF FUNDS.

Received This Morning, 12.40 o'clock

LONDON, April 22. The Daily Mail fund has reached £13,000, and the Daily Telegraph fund £9749. Tho Olympic is shipping a sufficient number of collapsible boats for all aboard.

RECOVERING THE BODIES. ►

SOME UNRECOGNISABLE,

Received This Morning, 12.40 o'clock

NEW YORK. April 22. The steamer Mackay Bennett reports having recovered sixty-four bodies, which are identifiable. Others, which were unrecognisable, were hurried at sea.

A DENIAL

Received This Morning, 12.15 o'clock

BREMEN, April 22. The Ciptain of tho steamer Frankfurt denies Mr Bride's statement in regard to the wireless messages. He states that he immediately steamed 140 miles, and arrived on the scene, at 10.40.

LADY DUFF-GORDON'S STORY

THRILLING DESCRIPTION OF THE END.

CONTINUED CHORUS OF UTTER AGONY.

(Received April 22, 8.5 a.m.)

LONDON, April 21. Lady Cosmo Duff-Gordon, who was ono of the rescued passengers in the Titanic disaster, in an interview published in tho Daily News, says : "I was asleep when the crash came. I had previously been watching he fields of ice, when an officer pointed out a berg, apparently a- hundred feet > high and several miles long. I was awakeied by a long, grinding crash, and I aroused Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon. } He ran-to investigate, and', returned j and said, 'We have.hit--a.bigiceberg.' j NOBODY DREAMED SHE COULD , SINK. "We adjusted our'-life-preservers I and went on deck. There was no ox- j citement, the ship had listed slightly, I but nobody dreamed she could sink. J There was little alarm even when the officers came running down announcing that the women and children must- go to tho boats. It was thought that this was only an ordinary prccauion> "Our boat was the twelfth or thirteenth launched, ami those in- it included five stokers, two A mericans. named Solomon and Stengel, two sailors, Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon and myself, Miss Frank, an English girl. 'Numbers oi" men who were standing near joked at us because we.were going out on the ocean. 'You'll get your death of cold out amid tho ice,' they said. j A TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION, j "We cruised around for two hours, I and then suddenly the Titanic gave a curious shiver. There were.no lights | on tho ship except a few lanterns. "I heard several pistol shots and arcat .screaming from the decks. The vessel's stern lift*-*! in-the air. there was a tremendous explosion, then 'another explosion, and the whole tovward part went under. Tho stern rose a hundred feet, like an enormous black finger against the sky. Little figures clung to the points by their lingers, and then dropped into the water The screaming was agonising. I have never beard such a continued chorus of u ttcr agony. ' "A minute or two later," sa.d Lad> Gordon, "the Titanic's stern slow.y disappeared, as though a grca* hand was pushing it gently under the waves. As she sank th« screaming of tlie poor souls aboard seemed to grow louder. A MOMENT'S AWFUL,SILENCE. "We were two hundred yards away and watched her go down slowly, almost peacefully. For a moment there was iva awful*silence, then from tho water where the-Titanic had been rose a bedlam of shrieks and cries of women and men clinging to wreckage in the icy water. It was at least -i" hour before the awful chorus of shrieks ceased, gradually dying into a mo:.m of despair. The very last cry was a man's. 'My God, my God!' lie cried pitcously, in a dull, hopeless way.

GLOOM ON THE OABPATHIA. "There Avaa one iceberg," conthuusd Lady Gordon, "possibly the. ouo "the Titanic struck, wMffe seemed to pur-

sue us. The rowers made frantic: efforts to pet- past it. At last morning' came. On one side were icefloes a:xl big bergs, and on the other we were horrified to see a school of tremendous ivluilos. "We then caught sight of the C'arpathia looming up in the distance and heading straight for us. Wo wore too numb with cold at)([ horror to utter a .sound. There, were more than fifty women wht) lost their husbands, including fifteen brides. The gloom on the Csrpathia war. ghastly. T buried myself in iny cabin and did riot come on deck until wo reached NewYork."