Titanic: A Survivor's Story

by Gracie, Archibald

  Officer Lowe called out to tie together, and as soon as we could make out the other boats in the dark five were tied together. We could dimly see an overturned boat with about twenty men standing on it, back to back. As the sailors in our boat said we could still carry from eight to ten people, we called for another boat to volunteer and go and rescue them, so we cut loose our painters and between us got all the men off. Then when the sun rose we saw the Carpathia standing up about five miles away, and for the first time saw the icebergs all around us. We got on board about 8 o’clock.

  Mrs. Thayer’s affidavit:

  The after part of the ship then reared in the air, with the stern upwards, until it assumed an almost vertical position. It seemed to remain stationary in this position for many seconds (perhaps twenty), then suddenly dove straight down out of sight. It was 2.20 a.m. when the Titanic disappeared, according to a wrist watch worn by one of the passengers in my boat.

  We pulled back to where the vessel had sunk and on our way picked up six men who were swimming – two of whom were drunk and gave us much trouble all the time. The six men we picked up were hauled into the boat by the women. Two of these men died in the boat.

  The boat we were in started to take in water; I do not know how. We had to bail. I was standing in ice cold water up to the top of my boots all the time, and rowing continuously for nearly five hours. We took off about fifteen more people who were standing on a capsized boat. In all, our boat had by that time sixty-five or sixty-six people. There was no room to sit down in our boat, so we all stood, except some sitting along the side.

  I think the steerage passengers had as good a chance as any of the rest to be saved.

  The boat I was in was picked up by the Carpathia at 7 a.m. on Monday, we having rowed three miles to her, as we could not wait for her to come up on account of our boat taking in so much water that we would not have stayed afloat much longer.

  I never saw greater courage or efficiency than was displayed by the officers of the ship. They were calm, polite and perfectly splendid. They also worked hard. The bedroom stewards also behaved extremely well.

  Mrs. Stephenson’s and Miss Eustis’s story kindly handed me for publication in my book contains the following:

  We were in the companionway of A Deck when order came for women and children to Boat Deck and men to starboard side. Miss Eustis and I took each other’s hands, not to be separated in the crowd, and all went on deck, we following close to Mrs. Thayer and her maid and going up narrow iron stairs to the forward Boat Deck which, on the Titanic, was the captain’s bridge.

  At the top of the stairs we found Captain Smith looking much worried and anxiously waiting to get down after we got up. The ship listed heavily to port just then. As we leaned against the walls of the officers’ quarters rockets were being fired over our heads, which was most alarming, as we fully realized if the Titanic had used her wireless to ill effect and was sending rockets it must be serious. Shortly after that the order came from the head dining room steward (Dodd) to go down to A Deck, when Mrs. Thayer remarked, ‘Tell us where to go and we will follow. You ordered us up here and now you are taking us back,’ and he said, ‘Follow me.’

  On reaching the A Deck we could see, for the decks were lighted by electricity, that a boat was lowered parallel to the windows; these were opened and a steamer chair put under the rail for us to step on. The ship had listed badly by that time and the boat hung far out from the side, so that some of the men said, ‘No woman could step across that space.’ A call was made for a ladder on one of the lower decks, but before it ever got there we were all in the boat. Whether they had drawn the boat over with boathooks nearer the side I do not know, but the space was easily jumped with the help of two men in the boat.’

  I remember seeing Colonel Astor, who called ‘Goodbye’ and said he would follow in another boat, asking the number of our boat, which they said was ‘No. 4.’ In going through the window I was obliged to throw back the steamer rug, for, with my fur coat and huge cork life-preserver, I was very clumsy. Later we found the stewards or crew had thrown the steamer rugs into the boat, and they did good service, Miss Eustis’ around a baby thinly clad, and mine for a poor member of the crew pulled in from the sea.

  Our boat I think took off every woman on the deck at that time and was the last on the port side to be lowered.

  When we reached the sea we found the ship badly listed, her nose well in so that there was water on the D Deck, which we could plainly see as the boat was lighted and the ports on D Deck were square instead of round. No lights could be found in our boat and the men had great difficulty in casting off the blocks as they did not know how they worked. My fear here was great, as she seemed to be going faster and faster and I dreaded lest we should be drawn in before we could cast off.

  When we finally were ready to move the order was called from the deck to go to the stern hatch and take off some men. There was no hatch open and we could see no men, but our crew obeyed orders, much to our alarm, for they were throwing wreckage over and we could hear a cracking noise resembling china breaking. We implored the men to pull away from the ship, but they refused, and we pulled three men into the boat who had dropped off the ship and were swimming toward us. One man was drunk and had a bottle of brandy in his pocket which the quartermaster promptly threw overboard and the drunken man was thrown into the bottom of the boat and a blanket thrown over him. After these three men were hauled in, they told how fast the ship was sinking and we all implored them to pull for our lives to get out from the suction when she should go down. The lights of the ship burned till just before she went. When the call came that she was going I covered my face and heard some one call, ‘She’s broken.’ After what seemed a long time I turned my head only to see the stern almost perpendicular in the air so that the full outline of the blades of the propeller showed above the water. She then gave her final plunge and the air was filled with cries. We rowed back and pulled in five more men from the sea. Their suffering from the icy water was intense and two men who had been pulled into the stern afterwards died, but we kept their bodies with us until we reached the Carpathia, where they were taken aboard and Monday afternoon given a decent burial with three others.

  After rescuing our men we found several lifeboats near us and an order was given to tie together, which we obeyed. It did not seem as if we were together long when one boat said they could rescue more could they get rid of some of the women and children aboard and some of them were put into our boat. Soon after cries of ‘Ship ahoy’ and a long low moan came to us and an officer in command of one of the boats ordered us to follow him. We felt that we were already too crowded to go, but our men, with quartermaster and boatswain in command, followed the officer and we pulled over to what proved to be an overturned boat crowded with men. We had to approach it very cautiously, fearing our wash would sweep them off. We could take only a few and they had to come very cautiously. The other boat (No. 12) took most of them and we then rowed away.

  This rescue, which Mrs. Stephenson so well describes, occurred at dawn. Her story now returns to the prior period of night time.

  The sea was smooth and the night brilliant with more stars than I had ever seen.

  Occasionally a green light showed which proved to be on the Emergency boat, and our men all recognized it as such. We all prayed for dawn, and there was no conversation, everyone being so awed by the disaster and bitterly cold.

  With the dawn came the wind, and before long quite a sea was running. Just before daylight on the horizon we saw what we felt sure must be the lights of a ship. The quartermaster was a long time in admitting that we were right, urging that it was the moon, but we insisted and they then said it might be the Carpathia as they had been told before leaving the Titanic that she was coming to us. For a long time after daylight we were in great wreckage from the Titanic, principally steamer chairs and a few white pilasters.

  We felt we could never reach the Carpathia when we found she had stopped
, and afterwards when we asked why she didn’t come closer we were told that some of the early boats which put off from the starboard side reached her a little after four, while it was after six when we drew under the side of the open hatch.

  It had been a long trying row in the heavy sea and impossible to keep bow on to reach the ship. We stood in great danger of being swamped many times and Captain Rostron, who watched us come up, said he doubted if we could have lived an hour longer in that high sea. Our boat had considerable water in the centre, due to the leakage and also the water brought in by the eight men from their clothing. They had bailed her constantly in order to relieve the weight. Two of the women near us were dying seasick, but the babies slept most of the night in their mothers’ arms. The boatswain’s chair was slung down the side and there were also rope ladders. Only few, however, of the men were able to go up the ladders. Mail bags were dropped down in which the babies and little children were placed and hoisted up. We were told to throw off our life-preservers and then placed in a boatswain’s chair and hoisted to the open hatch where ready arms pulled us in; warm blankets waited those in need and brandy was offered to everybody. We were shown at once to the saloon, where hot coffee and sandwiches were being served.

  ENGELHARDT BOAT ‘D’16

  No male passenger in this boat.

  Passengers: Mrs. J.M. Brown, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Frederick Hoyt, the Navratil children.

  Picked up from the sea: Frederick Hoyt.

  Bade goodbye to wife and sank with ship: Mr. Harris.

  Crew: Bright, Q.M., in charge; Seaman Lucas; Steward Hardy.

  Stowaway: One steerage foreigner, Joseph Dugemin.

  Jumped from deck below as boat was lowered: H.B. Steffanson (Swede), and H. Woolner (Englishman).

  Total: 44. British Report (p. 38): Crew 2, men passengers 2, women and children 40.

  Incidents

  C.H. Lightoller, Second Officer (Am. Inq., p. 81):

  In the case of the last boat I got out, the very last of all to leave the ship, I had the utmost difficulty in finding women. After all the other boats were put out we came forward to put out the Engelhardt collapsible boats. In the meantime the forward Emergency boat (No. 2) had been put out by one of the other officers, so we rounded up the tackles and got the collapsible boat to put that over. Then I called for women and could not get any. Somebody said: ‘There are no women.’ This was on the Boat Deck where all the women were supposed to be because the boats were there. There were between fifteen and twenty people put into this boat – one seaman and another seaman, or steward. This was the very last boat lowered in the tackles. I noticed plenty of Americans standing near me, who gave me every assistance they could, regardless of nationality.

  And before the British Court of Inquiry the same officer testified:

  Someone shouted: ‘There are no more women.’ Some of the men began climbing in. Then someone said: ‘There are some more women,’ and when they came forward the men got out of the boat again. I saw no men in her, but I believe a couple of Chinese stowed away in her.

  When that boat went away there were no women whatever. I did not consider it advisable to wait, but to try to get at once away from the ship. I did not want the boat to be ‘rushed.’ Splendid order was maintained. No attempt was made to ‘rush’ that boat by the men. When this boat was being loaded I could see the water coming up the stairway. There was splendid order on the boat until the last. As far as I know there were no male passengers in the boats I saw off except the one man I ordered in, Major Peuchen.

  A.J. Bright, Q.M. (Am. Inq., p. 831):

  Quartermaster Rowe, Mr. Boxhall and myself fired the distress signals, six rockets I think in all, at intervals. After we had finished firing the distress signals, there were two boats left (Engelhardt collapsibles ‘C’ and ‘D’). All the lifeboats were away before the collapsible boats were lowered. They had to be, because the collapsible boats were on the deck and the other boats had to be lowered before they could be used. The same tackle with which the lifeboats and the Emergency boats were lowered was employed after they had gone in lowering the collapsible boats.

  Witness says that both he and Rowe assisted in getting out the starboard collapsible boat ‘C’ and then he went to the port side and filled up the other boat ‘D’ with passengers, about twenty-five in all. There was a third-class passenger, a man, in the boat, who was on his way to Albion, N.Y. (The passenger list shows this man to have been Joseph Dugemin.)

  We were told to pull clear and get out of the suction. When boat ‘D’ was lowered the forecastle head was just going under water; that would be about twenty feet lower than the bridge, and the ship had then sunk about fifty feet – all of that, because when boat ‘D’ was lowered the foremost fall was lower down and the after one seemed to hang and he called out to hang on to the foremost fall and to see what was the matter and leg go the after fall. Boat ‘D’ was fifty to a hundred yards away when the ship sank.17 They had a lantern in the boat but no oil to light it. After leaving the boat, witness heard something but not an explosion. It was like a rattling of chains more than anything else.

  After ‘D’ got away Mr. Lowe came alongside in another boat, No. 14, and told them to stick together and asked for the number in ‘D’ boat. Steward Hardy counted and told him. Lowe then put about ten or a dozen men from some other boat into witness’s boat because it was not filled up. One seaman was taken out. This would make thirty-seven in ‘D’ boat. Just at daylight they saw one of the collapsible boats, ‘A,’ that was awash – just flush with the water. Officer Lowe came and took boat ‘D’ in tow, because it had very few men to pull, and towed it to boat ‘A’ and took twelve men and one woman off and put them into his boat No. 14. They were standing in water just about to their ankles when No. 14 and ‘D’ came up to them. They turned the swamped boat adrift with two (three) dead bodies. They were then towed under sail by Mr. Lowe’s boat to the Carpathia, about four miles away.

  William Lucas, A.B. (Br. Inq.):

  Got into Engelhardt ‘D.’ The water was then right up under the bridge. Had not gone more than 100 yards when there was an explosion and 150 yards when the Titanic sank. Had to get some of the women to take oars. There was no rudder in the boat. Changed oars from one side to the other to get her away. Saw a faint red light abaft the Titanic’s beam about nine miles away – the headlight also. The witness was transferred to No. 12.

  J. Hardy, Chief Steward, second-class (Am. Inq., p. 587):

  We launched this boat filled with passengers. Mr. Lightoller and myself loaded it. I went away in it with the quartermaster (Bright) and two firemen. There were Syrians in the bottom of the boat, third-class passengers, chattering the whole night in their strange language. There were about twenty-five women and children. We lowered away and got to the water; the ship then had a heavy list to port. We got clear of the ship and rowed out some distance from her. Mr. Lowe told us to tie up with other boats, that we would be better seen and could keep better together. He, having a full complement of passengers in his boat, transferred about ten to ours, making thirty-five in our boat. When we left the ship, where we were lowered, there were no women and children there in sight at all. There was nobody to lower the boat. No men passengers when we were ready to lower it. They had gone; where, I could not say. We were not more than forty feet from the water when we were lowered. We picked up the husband (Frederick W. Hoyt) of a wife that we had loaded in the boat. The gentleman took to the water and climbed in the boat after we had lowered it. He sat there wringing wet alongside me, helping to row.

  I had great respect and great regret for Officer Murcoch. I was walking along the deck forward with him and he said: ‘I believe she is gone, Hardy.’ This was a good half hour before my boat was lowered.

  Senator Fletcher: Where were all these passengers; these 1,600 people?

  Mr. Hardy: They must have been between decks or on the deck below or on the other side of the ship. I cannot conceive where they were.

&nbs
p; In his letter to me, Mr. Frederick M. Hoyt relates his experience as follows:

  I knew Captain Smith for over fifteen years. Our conversation that night amounted to little or nothing. I simply sympathized with him on the accident; but at that time, as I then never expected to be saved, I did not want to bother him with questions, as I knew he had all he wanted to think of. He did suggest that I go down to A Deck and see if there were not a boat alongside. This I did, and to my surprise saw the boat ‘D’ still hanging on the davits (there having been some delay in lowering her), and it occurred to me that if I swam out and waited for her to shove off they would pick me up, which was what happened.

  Hugh Woolner, first-class passenger (Am. Inq., p. 887):