‘How long after the impact?’ – ‘About five minutes. I stayed at the wheel until twenty-three minutes past 12. I was relieved by Quartermaster Perkis. One of the officers said: “That will do with the wheel; get the boats out.” I got in No. 6 boat, put in charge of her by Mr Lightoller. We lowered away from the ship and were told to, “Pull towards that light,” which we started to do. Everybody seemed in a bad condition in the boat. Everybody was quite upset, and I told them somebody would have to pull – there was no use stopping there alongside of the ship, and the ship gradually going by the head. We were in a dangerous place, so I told them to man the oars, ladies and all: “All of you do your best.” We got away about a mile, I suppose, from the ship, going after this light, which we expected to be a codbanker – a schooner that comes out on the Banks.’
‘A fisherman’s boat?’ – ‘Yes, sir, but we did not get any nearer the light. There were several other boats around us at this time and one boat that had no light came close up to us. He had four to six men in his boat and I borrowed one fireman from him to put in my boat, to enable me to pull. We did not seem to get any nearer the light, so we conversed together, and we tied our boats side by side. We stopped there until we saw the Carpathia heave in sight about daybreak. The wind had sprung up a bit then, and it got very choppy. I relieved one of the young ladies with the oar, and told her to take the tiller. She immediately let the boat come athwart, and the ladies in the boat got very nervous. So I took the tiller back again, and told them to manage the best way they could. The lady I refer to, Mrs Meyer, she was rather vexed with me in the boat and I spoke rather straight to her, and she accused me of wrapping myself up in the blankets in the boat, using bad language, and drinking all the whisky, which I deny, sir. I was standing to attention, exposed, steering the boat all night, which is a very cold billet. I would rather be pulling the boat than be steering. But I saw no one there to steer, so I thought, being in charge of the boat, it was the best way to steer myself, especially when I saw the ladies get very nervous with the nasty tumble on. We got down to the Carpathia and I saw every lady and everybody out of the boat, and I saw them carefully hoisted on board the Carpathia. I was the last man to leave the boat.’
(US Inquiry, 24 April 1912)
CALIFORNIAN 20 MILES AWAY, OPERATOR ASLEEP
Here are some facts, anyone may see just how near we were to the Titanic when she struck, said Capt. Stanley Lord of the Leyland liner Californian today.
On April 14 at 10.21 p.m. when we were in latitude 42.05, longitude 50.07, the engines were shut off and the Californian stopped in the middle of the ice field. There we remained till six the next morning, when we proceeded to the position of the Titanic in latitude 41.46, longitude 50.14 given to us by the Virginian. This shows the vessels to have been 20 miles apart.
The Californian is a 12-knot ship. We started as soon as we got the position of the Titanic, at six o’clock, and the ship was driven for all it was worth. We stopped alongside the Carpathia at 8.30 and learnt that everyone had been picked up.
We remained in the vicinity four hours, thinking we might find someone on floating wreckage.
The wireless operator on the Californian went to bed about 11 o’clock the night before. Up to the moment of shutting down, no message of distress or any signal was received or sighted.
The first thing the Californian’s operator got was a confused message from the Frankfurt, from which he finally made out that the Titanic was in distress.
The captain of the Californian did not sight any other ship which might have been the steamer said to have passed so close and refused aid. This is believed to bear certain significance inasmuch as if the vessel which was seen from the Titanic while she was sinking was moving it should have at some time during the night passed near enough to the Californian to have been sighted by her, and no such ship was seen, according to Capt. Lord.
(New York World, 25 April 1912)
FIFTH OFFICER’S ORDERS
Peremptory Advice to Mr Ismay
‘Get to hell out of this’ was the peremptory advice given to Mr Bruce Ismay by Mr G. Lowe, the Fifth Officer of the Titanic, when the chairman of the White Star Line was repeatedly urging him to lower away the lifeboats before the liner sank.
In stating this in evidence yesterday before the Senatorial Commission at Washington, Mr Lowe admitted that at the time he did not know to whom he was talking, but Mr Ismay walked away and assisted at another boat.
Mr Lowe, questioned as to the speed of the Titanic, declared that she could have travelled at 24 or 25 knots had she been required to do so. He was submitted to half an hour’s detailed examination regarding the rules in force on the liner, and stated that there was no boat drill after the liner left Southampton.
Mr Lowe indignantly denied that he had been drinking on the night of the disaster. He was not a drinker. After the collision occurred he got out a revolver.
‘Why?’ – ‘You never know when you will need it.’
He took charge of the launching of lifeboat No. 5, said Mr Lowe. Mr Ismay, whom he did not know at the time, was present, and seemed over-anxious and excited. Mr Ismay kept repeatedly urging him to ‘lower away’. He resented Mr Ismay’s interference, and in the heat of the moment exclaimed: ‘If you will get the hell out of this I shall be able to do so.’
Mr Ismay made no reply, but walked away and assisted at boat No. 3. He believed there were fifty people in the first boat lowered, including ten men. Five men were necessary to man it.
After the Titanic sank he transferred some of the passengers from his boat to another, and then returned to where the wreckage was floating. He picked up four persons alive. One of them was Mr Hoyt, of New York, who was bleeding from the nose and mouth and afterwards died. Mr Lowe said he saw no females in the wreckage.
At daybreak he took on board, from an overturned collapsible boat, twenty men and one woman. The woman was Mrs Henry B. Harris, of New York, one of whose arms was broken. Three people found clinging to the boat were dead.
‘It would have been suicide,’ said Mr Lowe, ‘for us to go back into the zone where the 1500 people, whose cries we heard, were drowning. I did my best, and went as near the scene as I dared. I am not ashamed of what I did.’
The Second Officer, Mr Lightoller, said that Mr Ismay, when on board the Carpathia, had expressed his regret at having been saved, and added that he should have remained on board and gone down with the Titanic.
The Second Officer told the committee that Mr Ismay’s words were: ‘I ought to have gone down with the ship. Women went down. I should.’
(Daily Sketch, 25 April 1912)
Quartermaster Alfred Olliver, twenty-seven, was just entering the bridge when the collision occurred.
I had been relieved from the wheel at 10 o’clock, and I was standby after 10 o’clock. I was running messages and doing various other duties. I had just performed an errand when I heard three bells rung up in the crow’s nest, which I knew meant that it was something ahead. So I looked, but I did not see anything. I happened to be looking at the lights in the standing compass at the time. That was my duty, and I was trimming them so that they would burn properly. When I heard the report, I looked, but could not see anything, and I left that and was just entering the bridge just as the shock came. I knew we had touched something. I found out we had struck an iceberg.
‘Did you see that iceberg?’ – ‘Yes, I did. It was about the height of the boat deck; if anything, just a little higher. The top did not touch the side of the boat, but it was almost alongside of the boat.’
‘What kind of a sound was there?’ – ‘The sound was like she touched something; a long grinding sound, like.’
‘What was the length of the iceberg beside the boat?’ – ‘That I could not say, because I only saw the top. It was impossible to see the length of the iceberg from where I was standing.’
‘What was the shape at the top?’ – ‘The shape was pointed. It was not white, as I expected
to see an iceberg. It was a kind of a dark blue.’
‘Did you notice the course of the berg as it passed you?’ – ‘No, sir. It went towards the after part of the ship, but I did not see it afterwards because I did not have time to know where it was going.’
‘Do you know whether the wheel was hard aport then?’ – ‘What I know about the helm is, hard aport.’
‘Do you mean hard aport or hard astarboard?’ – ‘I know the orders I heard when I was on the bridge after we had struck the iceberg. I heard hard aport, and there was Hichens, the man at the wheel, and the Sixth Officer, Mr Moody. The officer was seeing it was carried out right.’
‘You do not know whether the helm was put hard astarboard first, or not?’ – ‘No, sir.’
‘But you know it was put hard aport after you got there?’ – ‘After I got there; yes, sir.’
‘Where was the iceberg, do you think, when the helm was shifted?’ – ‘The iceberg was away up stern.’
‘That is when the order “hard aport” was given?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Who gave the order?’ – ‘The First Officer.’
‘And that order was immediately executed, was it?’ – ‘Immediately executed, and the Sixth Officer saw that it was carried out.’
(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)
As the crew member in charge of collapsible boat ‘C’, quartermaster George Rowe witnessed J. Bruce Ismay’s controversial escape.
‘Tell us the circumstances under which Mr Ismay and that other gentleman (Carter) got into the boat.’ – ‘When Chief Officer Wilde asked if there was any more women and children, there was no reply. So Mr Ismay came aboard the boat.’
‘Was it light enough so that you could see anyone nearby?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’
‘I understand there were firemen and stokers in that neighbourhood?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’
‘But no women and children?’ – ‘No women or children, sir.’
‘Did you see Mr Ismay and Mr Carter get in the boat?’ – ‘I saw the gentlemen get in; yes, sir.’
‘Did you hear anyone ask them to get in?’ – ‘No, sir.’
‘How were you occupied at the time they got in?’ – ‘I was occupied in attending the after fall, sir.’
‘Were you watching Chief Officer Wilde?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Did you see him speak to them?’ – ‘No, sir.’
‘If he had spoken to them, would you have known it?’ – ‘I think so, because they got in the afterpart of the boat.’
‘Did you see the light of a boat, or anything of that kind?’ – ‘I saw the light – that was the light we were pulling for when we left the ship.’
‘What do you conclude that light was?’ – ‘A sailing ship.’
‘What sort of light was it?’ – ‘A white light, a stern light.’
‘Did you get any nearer to it?’ – ‘We did not seem to get nearer to it. We kept on pulling for it, because it was the only stationary light. Towards daylight the wind sprung up, and she sort of hauled off from us.’
‘What was the bearing of this light with regard to the Titanic – forward or aft?’ – ‘Right forward, sir.’
‘Dead ahead?’ – ‘Not dead ahead, but just a little on the port bow.’
‘When did you first see her?’ – ‘When I was on the bridge firing rockets. I saw it myself, and I worked the Morse lamp at the port side of the ship to draw her attention.’
(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)
Able Seaman Edward Buley described leaving in boat No. 10 and the harrowing search for survivors.
‘How many people were in that boat?’ – ‘60 to 70.’
‘Were any ladies on the deck when you left?’ – ‘No. Ours was the last boat up there, and they went around and called to see if there were any, and they threw them in the boat at the finish because they didn’t like the idea of coming in.’
‘Pushed them in, you mean?’ – ‘Threw them in. One young lady slipped, and they caught her by the foot on the deck below, and she came up then and jumped in. We got away from the ship, and about an hour afterwards Officer Lowe came alongside, and he had his boat filled up. He distributed them among the other boats, and he said to all the seamen in the boat to jump in his boat until he went back among the wreckage to see if there were any people that had lived.’
‘Who had charge of the boat you were in?’ – ‘I was in charge.’
‘But when you left that?’ – ‘I left that, and I believe he put some more stewards in the boat to look after the women. All the boats were tied together.’
‘You were then with Lowe in his boat and went back to where the Titanic sank?’ – ‘Yes, sir, and we picked up the remaining live bodies.’
‘How many did you get?’ – ‘There were not very many there. We got four of them. All the others were dead.’
‘Were there many dead?’ – ‘Yes, there were a good few dead. Of course you could not discern them exactly on account of the wreckage, but we turned over several of them to see if they were alive. It looked as though some were drowned. They looked as though they were frozen. The lifebelts they had on were out of the water and their heads laid back, with their faces on the water.’
‘They were head and shoulders out of the water?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’
‘With the head thrown back?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’
‘And the face out of the water?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’
‘They were not, apparently, drowned?’ – ‘It looked as though they were frozen altogether.’
(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)
George Crowe, a steward from Southampton, stated that his colleagues initially thought the collision to be little more than a joke. His testimony did little to improve Anglo-Italian relations.
About 11.40 there was a kind of shaking of the ship and a little impact, from which I thought one of the propellers had been broken off. I had been dozing in my berth on ‘E’ deck. I got out of my bed. I came out of the alleyway and saw quite a number of stewards and steerage passengers carrying their baggage from forward to aft. I inquired of the trouble and was told it was nothing, and to turn in again. The stewards were making quite a joke of it. They did not think of the seriousness of it at the time. I went back to my bunk again, and a saloon steward came down shortly afterwards and told me to come up on the upper deck with as much warm clothes on as I could get. I went up on the boat deck. When I got outside of the companion-way, I saw them working on boat No. 1. After that I went to boat No. 14, the boat allotted to me – that is, in the case of fire or boat drill – and I stood by according to the proceedings of the drill. I assisted in handing the women and children into the boat, and was asked if I could take an oar. I said, ‘Yes’ and was told to man the boat.
‘Was there any shooting that occurred at the time the boat was lowered?’ – ‘Yes, sir. There were various men passengers, probably Italians or some foreign nationality other than English or American, who attempted to rush the boats. The officers threatened to shoot any man who put his foot into the boat. He fired the revolver, but either downward or upward, not shooting at any of the passengers at all and not injuring anybody. He fired perfectly clear, upward or downward.’
‘Did that stop the rush?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’
‘There was no disorder after that?’ – ‘No disorder.’
(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)
Yorkshireman George Hogg was a Titanic lookout on the 12 to 2 watch. He rued the lack of glasses.
‘Could anything have been done to save more lives than were saved?’ – ‘No, sir. The only thing I can suggest is in regard to the glasses. If we had had the glasses, we might have seen the berg before.’
‘In an ordinary way, can you not see better with your plain eyes than you can with artificial glasses?’ – ‘But the idea of the glasses is that if you happen to see something on the horizon you can pick your ship out – if it is a ship, for instance.’
‘As soon as you see anything, you signal the officer on t
he bridge, do you not?’ – ‘Yes, sir. You would strike the bell. But you would make sure if you had the glasses that it was a vessel and not a piece of cloud on the horizon. On a very nice night, with the stars shining, something you might think it was a ship when it was a star on the horizon. If you had glasses, you could soon find out whether it was a ship or not.’
‘As soon as you discover anything unusual, however, you call the attention of the officer on the bridge to it, do you not?’ – ‘Quite so.’
‘And he has glasses, of course?’ – ‘Yes, sir. He has glasses.’
(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)
Lookout George Symons, twenty-four, from Weymouth, Dorset, was placed in charge of emergency lifeboat No. 1. He was interrogated by Senator Perkins regarding the empty spaces in his boat.
‘How many passengers did you have on her?’ – ‘From fourteen to twenty. First they put in seven of the crew. There were seven men ordered in – two seamen and five firemen. They were ordered in by Mr Murdoch.’
‘How many did the boat carry?’ – ‘I could not say for certain. It was one of the small accident boats.’
‘After she got into the water, would she take any more?’ – ‘She would have taken more.’
‘You did not return to the ship again?’ – ‘Yes, we came back after the ship was gone, and we saw nothing.’
‘Did you rescue anyone that was in the water?’ – ‘No, sir. We saw nothing when we came back.’
‘Did you hear any cries of people in the water?’ – ‘Oh, yes, sir. I heard the cries.’
‘Did you say your boat could take more? Did you make any effort to get them?’ – ‘Yes, we came back. But when we came back we did not see anybody or hear anybody.’
Voices from the Titanic Page 45