ABRIDGED AND EDITED
by
BRUCE M. CAPLAN
THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC
COPYRIGHT 1997
SEATTLE MIRACLE INC.
SEATTLE MIRACLE PRESS
PUBLISHED BY
SEATTLE MIRACLE PRESS INC.
PO BOX 3547
REDMOND, WASHINGTON 98073
Email- [email protected]
Copyright 1997 by Seattle Miracle Incorporated
All rights reserved
First Printing October 1996
Second Printing July 1997
Third Printing February 1998
Fourth Printing March 1998
Fifth Printing July 1999
Sixth Printing March 2000
Seventh Printing May 2001
Eighth Printing November 2001
Ninth Printing August 2002
Tenth Printing June 2003
Eleventh Printing August 2004
Twelfth Printing May 2005
Thirteenth Printing September 2005
Fourteenth Printing May 2006
Fifteenth Printing April 2007
Sixteenth Printing October 2008
Seventeenth Printing December 2009
Eighteenth Printing August 2011
ISBN: 0-9644610-1-3
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-96592
Manufactured in the United States
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.
1912 DEDICATION
To the 1,635 souls who were bst with the ill-fated Titanic, and especially to those heroic men, who, instead of trying to save themselves, stood aside that women and children might have their chance; of each of them let it be written, as it was written of a Greater One-
“He Died that Others might Live”
Eighteenth Printing
In Memory of
my good friend
Harvey Poll
A wonderful man
Who died too young!
1997 DEDICATION
To all the victims who perished when the Titanic sank—
may they be forever remembered with compassion.
To the unsung heroes—Captain Rostron,
his crew and the passengers of the Carpathia
for their valiant rescue efforts.
Most of all to the City of New York,
where the citizens banded together
to alleviate the suffering of the survivors.
CONTENTS
FORWARD
CHAPTER I
FIRST NEWS OF THE GREATEST MARINE DISASTER IN HISTORY
“THE TITANIC IN COLLISION, BUT EVERYBODY SAFE”—ANOTHER TRIUMPH SET DOWN TO WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY—THE WORLD GOES TO SLEEP PEACEFULLY—THE SAD AWAKENING
CHAPTER II
THE MOST SUMPTUOUS PALACE AFLOAT
DIMENSIONS OF THE TITANIC—CAPACITY—PROVISIONS FOR THE COMFORT AND ENTERTAINMENT OF PASSENGERS— MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT—THE ARMY OF ATTENDANTS REQUIRED
CHAPTER III
THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE TITANIC
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE—VOYAGE—SCENES OF GAYETY—THE BOAT SAILS—INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE—A COLLISION NARROWLY AVERTED—THE BOAT ON FIRE—WARNED OF ICEBERGS
CHAPTER IV
SOME OF THE NOTABLE PASSENGERS
SKETCHES OF PROMINENT MEN AND WOMEN ON BOARD, INCLUDING MAJOR ARCHIBALD BUTT, JOHN JACOB ASTOR, BENJAMIN GUGGENHEIM, ISIDOR STRAUS, J. BRUCE ISMAY, CHARLES M. HAYS, AND OTHERS.
CHAPTER V
THE TITANIC STRIKES AN ICEBERG
TARDY ATTENTION TO WARNING RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENT—THE DANGER NOT REALIZED AT FIRST—AN INTERRUPTED CARD GAME— PASSENGERS JOKE AMONG THEMSELVES—THE REAL TRUTH DAWNS—PANIC ON BOARD—WIRELESS CALLS FOR HELP
CHAPTER VI
“WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!”
COOL-HEADED OFFICERS AND CREW BRING ORDER OUT OF CHAOS— FILLING THE LIFE-BOATS—HEARTRENDING SCENES AS FAMILIES ARE PARTED—FOUR LIFE-BOATS LOST—INCIDENTS OF BRAVERY—“THE BOATS ARE ALL FILLED!”
CHAPTER VII
LEFT TO THEIR FATE
COOLNESS AND HEROISM OF THOSE LEFT TO PERISH—SUICIDE OF MURDOCK—CAPTAIN SMITH’S END—THE SHIP’S BAND PLAYS A NOBLE HYMN AS THE VESSEL GOES DOWN
CHAPTER VIII
THE CALL FOR HELP HEARD
THE VALUE OF THE WIRELESS—OTHER SHIPS ALTER THEIR COURSE—RESCUERS ON THE WAY
CHAPTER IX
IN THE DRIFTING LIFE-BOATS
SORROW AND SUFFERING—THE SURVIVORS SEE THE TITANIC GO DOWN WITH THEIR LOVED ONES ON BOARD—A NIGHT OF AGONIZING SUSPENSE—WOMEN HELP TO ROW—HELP ARRIVE—PICKING UP THE LIFE-BOATS
CHAPTER X
ON BOARD THE CARPATHIA
AID FOR THE SUFFERING AND HYSTERICAL—BURYING THE DEAD—VOTE OF THANKS TO CAPTAIN ROSTRON OF THE CARPATHIA—IDENTIFYING THOSE SAVED—COMMUNICATING WITH LAND—THE PASSAGE TO NEW YORK
CHAPTER XI
PREPARATIONS ON LAND TO RECEIVE THE SUFFERERS
POLICE ARRANGEMENTS—DONATIONS OF MONEY AND SUPPLIES—HOSPITALS AND AMBULANCES MADE READY—PRIVATE HOUSES THROWN OPEN—WAITING FOR THE CARPATHIA TO ARRIVE—THE SHIP SIGHTED!
CHAPTER XII
THE TRAGIC HOME-COMING
THE CARPATHIA REACHES NEW YORK—AN INTENSE AND DRAMATIC MOMENT—HYSTERICAL REUNIONS AND CRUSHING DISAPPOINTMENT AT THE DOCK—CARING FOR THE SUFFERERS—FINAL REALIZATION THAT ALL HOPE FOR OTHERS IS FUTILE—LIST OF SURVIVORS—ROLL OF THE DEAD
CHAPTER XIII
THE STORY OF CHARLES F. HURD
HOW THE TITANIC SANK—WATER STREWN WITH DEAD BODIES—VICTIMS MET DEATH WITH HYMN ON THEIR LIPS
CHAPTER XIV
THRILLING ACCOUNT BY L. BEASLEY
COLLISION ONLY A SLIGHT JAR—PASSENGERS COULD NOT BELIEVE THE VESSEL DOOMED—NARROW ESCAPE OF LIFE-BOATS—PICKED UP BY THE CARPATHIA
CHAPTER XV
JACK THAYER’S OWN STORY OF THE WRECK
SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD SON OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD OFFICIAL TELLS MOVING STORY OF HIS RESCUE—TOLD MOTHER TO BE BRAVE—SEPARATED FROM PARENTS—JUMPED WHEN VESSEL SANK—DRIFTED ON OVERTURNED BOAT—PICKED UP BY CARPATHIA
CHAPTER XVI
WIRELESS OPERATOR PRAISES HEROIC WORK
STORY OF HAROLD BRIDE, THE SURVIVING WIRELESS OPERATOR OF THE TITANIC, WHO WAS WASHED OVERBOARD AND RESCUED BY LIFE-BOAT—BAND PLAYED RAG-TIME AND “AUTUMN”
CHAPTER XVII
TIME FOR REFLECTION AND REFORMS
SURVIVORS URGE REFORM—INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RECOMMENDED—PROMPT REFORMS—1912 U.S. SENATE RECOMMENDATIONS
DR. VAN DYKE’S SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION TO THE SURVIVORS OF THE TITANIC.
CONCLUSION
FACTS ABOUT THE WRECK OF THE TITANIC
INDEX
Foreword
In 1995, I was asked to re-edit the very first narrative published after the Titanic sank. Logan Marshall’s original account with first-hand interviews rolled off the presses less than a month after the demise of the great ship. This Centennial Memorial Edition is the 18th printing of my edited version of Marshall’s text. During the past two decades I’ve traveled the world giving lectures about the Titanic.
I’ve been helped by so many! I want to thank my uncle Theodore Kaplan (Of Blessed Memory) for all his input! I’ve never met James Cameron, but his fantastic movie was so important to the success of my book. My thanks go to Mary Kellogg-Joslyn and her husband John Joslyn for their two mesmerizing Titanic Museums in Branson, Missouri and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
To Premiere Exhibits for their thrillin
g displays. To Lee Meredeth and his great book, “1912 Titanic Facts”. To Walter Lord for his outstanding books about the Titanic. To my friend Phil Ottewell and his splendid Titanic Pages.
Further I want to thank Ed Kamuda and all he’s done to preserve the memory of Titanic through the Titanic Historical Society. To Lowell Lytle, for his wonderful portrayal of Captain E.J. Smith. To Jaynee Vandenberg the Titanic Star of Pigeon Forge and Branson!
To the hundreds of wonderful staff working at all the Titanic Exhibits I owe so much. To Jill Cueni-Cohen my publicist who has done such a great job. To Diane Simmons, Edward Guanco, and Dan Murphy at KIXI AM Seattle, who have been so supportive of my weekly radio shows. To Andrea Lewis for her inspiration and technical support.
To the wonderful crew and passengers of Princess Cruises where Diane Zammel and To Sea With Z have arranged for me to give so many great lectures and travel the world! To Larry Gilbert, and Michelle Olvera of Event Network who helped me in such a big way to catapult my book to success! To Lois Pepin Warner who has arranged so many great book signings.
I want to thank the tens of thousands of visitors that I’ve met at all the Titanic Exhibits and the thousands of children that I’ve spoken to in their classes. I want to thank their wonderful teachers too! Most of all I want to thank my wife Esther, and our beautiful family for all their support!
The world since 1912 has gone through many evolutions,--some good and some not so good. As you read the pages of this narrative you’ll be transported in time for a few hours to an era where there was political peace and tranquility.
Enjoy your journey!
Bruce M. Caplan
CHAPTER I
FIRST NEWS OF THE GREATEST MARINE DISASTER IN HISTORY
“THE TITANIC IN COLLISION, BUT EVERYBODY SAFE”—ANOTHER TRIUMPH SET DOWN TO WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY—THE WORLD GOES TO SLEEP PEACEFULLY—THE SAD AWAKENING.
LIKE a bolt out of a clear sky came the wireless message on Monday, April 15,1912, that on Sunday night the great Titanic, on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, had struck a gigantic iceberg, but that all the passengers were saved. The ship had signaled her distress and another victory was set down to wireless. Twenty-one hundred lives saved!
Additional news was soon received that the ship had collided with a mountain of ice in the North Atlantic, off Cape Race, Newfoundland, at 10.25 Sunday evening, April 14th. At 4.15 Monday morning the Canadian Government Marine Agency received a wireless message that the Titanic was sinking and that the steamers towing her were trying to get her into shoal water near Cape Race, for the purpose of beaching her.
Wireless despatches up to noon Monday showed that the passengers of the Titanic were being transferred aboard the steamer Carpathia, a Cunarder, which left New York, April 13th, for Naples. Twenty boat-loads of the Titanic’s passengers were said to have been transferred to the Carpathia then, and allowing forty to sixty persons as the capacity of each life-boat, some 800 or 1200 persons had already been transferred from the damaged liner to the Carpathia. They were reported as being taken to Halifax, whence they would be sent by train to New York.
Another liner, the Parisian, of the Allan Company, which sailed from Glasgow for Halifax on April 6th, was said to be close at hand and assisting in the work of rescue. The Baltic, Virginian and Olympic were also near the scene, according to the information received by wireless.
While badly damaged, the giant vessel was reported as still afloat, but whether she could reach port or shoal water was uncertain. The White Star officials declared that the Titanic was in no immediate danger of sinking, because of her numerous water-tight compartments.
“While we are still lacking definite information,” Mr. Franklin, vice-president of the White Star Line, said later in the afternoon, “we believe the Titanic’s passengers will reach Halifax, Wednesday evening. We have received no further word from Captain Haddock, of the Olympic, or from any of the ships in the vicinity, but are confident that there will be no loss of life.”
With the understanding that the survivors would be taken to Halifax, the line arranged to have thirty Pullman cars, two diners and many passenger coaches leave Boston Monday night for Halifax to get the passengers after they were landed. Mr. Franklin made a guess that the Titanic’s passengers would get into Halifax on Wednesday. The Department of Commerce and Labor notified the White Star Line that customs and immigration inspectors would be sent from Montreal to Halifax in order that there would be as little delay as possible in getting the passengers on trains.
Monday night the world slept in peace and assurance. A wireless message had finally been received, reading:
“All Titanic’s passengers safe.”
It was not until nearly a week later that the fact was discovered that this message had been wrongly received in the confusion of messages flashing through the air, and that in reality the message should have read:
“Are all Titanic’s passengers safe?”
With the dawning of Tuesday morning came the awful news of the true fate of the Titanic.
CHAPTER II
THE MOST SUMPTUOUS PALACE AFLOAT
DIMENSIONS OF THE TITANIC—CAPACITY—PROVISIONS FOR THE COMFORT AND ENTERTAINMENT OF PASSENGERS— MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT—THE ARMY OF ATTENDANTS REQUIRED.
THE statistical record of the great ship has news value at this time.
Early in 1908 officials of the White Star Company announced that they would eclipse all previous records in shipbuilding with a vessel of staggering dimensions. The Titanic resulted.
The keel of the ill-fated ship was laid in the summer of 1909 at the Harland & Wolff yards, Belfast. Lord Pirrie, considered one of the best authorities on shipbuilding in the world, was the designer. The leviathan was launched on May 31, 1911, and was completed in February 1912, at a cost of $10,000,000.
SISTER SHIP OF OLYMPIC
The Titanic, largest liner in commission, was a sister ship of the Olympic. The registered tonnage of each vessel was estimated as 45,000, but officers of the White Star Line said that the Titanic measured 45,328 tons. The Titanic was commanded by Captain E. J. Smith, the White Star admiral, who had previously been on the Olympic.
She was 882.5 feet long, or about four city blocks, and was 5,000 tons bigger than a battleship, twice as large as the dreadnought Delaware.
Like her sister ship, the Olympic, the Titanic was a four funnelled vessel, and had eleven decks. The distance from the keel to the top of the funnels was 175 feet. She had an average speed of twenty-one knots.
The Titanic could accommodate 2,500 passengers. The steamship was divided into numerous compartments, separated by fifteen bulkheads. She was equipped with a gymnasium, swimming pool, hospital with operating room, and a grill and palm garden.
CARRIED CREW OF 860
The registered tonnage was 45,000, and the displacement tonnage 66,000. She was capable of carrying 2,500 passengers and the crew numbered 860.
The largest plates employed in the hull were 36 feet long, weighing 4.5 tons each, and the largest steel beam used was 92 feet long, the weight of this double beam being 4 tons. The rudder, which was operated electrically, weighed 100 tons, the anchors 15.5 tons each, the center (turbine) propeller 22 tons, and each of the two “wing” propellers 38 tons. The after “boss-arms,” from which were suspended the three propeller shafts, tipped the scales at 73.5 tons, and the forward “boss-arms” at 45 tons. Each link in the anchor-chains weighed 175 pounds. There were more than 2,000 side-lights and windows to light the public room and passenger cabins.
Nothing was left to chance in the construction of the Titanic. Three million rivets (weighing 1,200 tons) held the solid plates of steel together. To insure stability in binding the heavy plates in the double bottom, half a million rivets, weighing about 270 tons, were used.
All the plating of the hulls was riveted by hydraulic power, driving seven-ton riveting machines, suspended from traveling cranes. The double bottom extended the full length of the vessel, varying from
5 feet 3 inches to 6 feet 3 inches in depth, and lent added strength to the hull.
MOST LUXURIOUS STEAMSHIP
Not only was the Titanic the largest steamship afloat but it was the most luxurious. Elaborately furnished cabins opened onto her eleven decks, and some of these decks were reserved as private promenades that were engaged with the best suites. One of these suites was sold for $4,350 for the boat’s maiden and only voyage. Suites similar, but which were without the private promenade decks, sold for $2,300.
The Titanic differed in some respects from her sister-ship. The Olympic had a lower promenade deck, but in the Titanic’s case these staterooms were brought out flush with the outside of the superstructure, and the rooms themselves made much larger. The sitting rooms of some of the suites on this deck were 15x15 feet.
The restaurant was much larger than that of the Olympic and it had a novelty in the shape of a private promenade deck on the starboard side, to be used exclusively by its patrons. Adjoining it was a reception room, where hosts and hostesses could meet their guests.
Two private promenades were connected with the two most luxurious suites on the ship. The suites were situated about amidships, on either side of the vessel, and each was about fifty feet long. One of the suites comprised a sitting room, two bedrooms and a bath.
These private promenades were expensive luxuries. The cost figured out something like forty dollars a front foot for a six days’ voyage. They, with the suites to which they are attached, were the most expensive transatlantic accommodations yet offered.
THE ENGINE ROOM
The engine room was divided into two sections, one given to the reciprocating engines and the other to the turbines. There were two sets of the reciprocating kind, one working each of the wing propellers through a four-cylinder triple expansion, direct acting inverted engine. Each set could generate 15,000 indicated horse-power at seventy-five revolutions a minute. The Parsons type turbine takes steam from the reciprocating engines, and by developing a horse-power of 16,000 at 165 revolutions a minute, works the third of the ship’s propellers, the one directly under the rudder. Of the four funnels of the vessel three were connected with the engine room, and the fourth or after funnel for ventilating the ship including the gallery.
The Sinking of the Titanic Page 1