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07 - Loss of the S. S. Titanic by Lawrence Beesley · Loss of the S. S. Titanic

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Speaker 1: Chapter seven of the Loss of the s S Titanic
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Speaker 1: by Lawrence Beasley. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain,
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Speaker 1: recorded by Alison Hester, chapter seven, the Carpathia's Return to
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Speaker 1: New York. The journey of the Carpathia from the times
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Speaker 1: she caught the c QD from the Titanic at about
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Speaker 1: twelve thirty a m. On Monday morning, and turned swiftly
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Speaker 1: about to her rescue until she arrived at New York
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Speaker 1: on the following Thursday at eight thirty p m. Was
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Speaker 1: one that demanded of the captain, officers and crew of
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Speaker 1: the vessel, the most exact knowledge of navigation, the utmost
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Speaker 1: vigilance in every department, both before and after the rescue,
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Speaker 1: and a capacity for organization that must sometimes have been
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Speaker 1: taxed to the breaking point. The extent to which all
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Speaker 1: these qualities were found present, and the manner in which
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Speaker 1: they were exercised, stands to be the everlasting credit of
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Speaker 1: the Cunard Line and those of its servants who were
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Speaker 1: in charge of the Carpathia. Captain Rostron's part in all
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Speaker 1: this is a great one, and wrapped up though his
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Speaker 1: action is, and a modesty that is conspicuous in its nobility,
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Speaker 1: it stands out even in his own account, as a
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Speaker 1: piece of work well and courageously done. As soon as
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Speaker 1: the Titanic called for help and gave her position, the
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Speaker 1: Carpathia was turned and headed north. All hands were called
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Speaker 1: on duty, a new watch of stokers was put on,
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Speaker 1: and the highest speed of which she was capable was
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Speaker 1: demanded of the engineers, with the result that the distance
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Speaker 1: of fifty eight miles between the two ships was covered
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Speaker 1: in three and a half hours, a speed well beyond
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Speaker 1: her normal capacity. The three doctors on board each took
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Speaker 1: charge of a saloon in readiness to render help to
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Speaker 1: any who needed their services. The stewards and catering staff
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Speaker 1: were hard at work preparing hot drinks and meals, and
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Speaker 1: the purser's staff ready with blankets and berths for the
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Speaker 1: shipwrecked passengers as soon as they got on board. On deck,
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Speaker 1: the sailors got ready lifeboats, swung them out on the davits,
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Speaker 1: and stood by, prepared to lower away their crews if necessary.
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Speaker 1: Fixed rope ladders, cradle chairs, nooses and bags for the
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Speaker 1: children at the hatches to haul the rescued up to
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Speaker 1: the side on the bridge was the captain with his
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Speaker 1: officers peering into the darkness, eagerly to catch the first
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Speaker 1: signs of the crippled Titanic, hoping, in spite of her
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Speaker 1: last despairing message of sinking by the head, to find
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Speaker 1: her still afloat. When her position was reached, a double
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Speaker 1: watch of lookout men was set for there were other
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Speaker 1: things as well as the Titanic to look for that night,
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Speaker 1: and soon they found them. As Captain Rostron said in
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Speaker 1: his evidence, they saw icebergs on either side of them
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Speaker 1: between two forty five and four am, passing twenty large
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Speaker 1: ones one hundred to two hundred feet high and many
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Speaker 1: smaller ones, and frequently had to maneuver the ship to
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Speaker 1: avoid them. It was a time when every faculty was
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Speaker 1: called upon for the highest use of which it was capable,
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Speaker 1: with the knowledge before them that the enormous Titanic, the
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Speaker 1: supposedly unsinkable ship, had struck ice and was sinking rapidly,
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Speaker 1: with the lookout constantly calling to the bridge as he
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Speaker 1: must have done. Icebergs on the starboard, icebergs on the port.
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Speaker 1: It required courage and judgment beyond the ordinary to drive
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Speaker 1: the ship ahead through that lane of icebergs and maneuver
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Speaker 1: around them. As he himself said, he took the risk
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Speaker 1: of full speed in his desire to save life, and
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Speaker 1: probably some people might blame him for taking such a risk,
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Speaker 1: but the Senate Committee assured him that they, at any
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Speaker 1: rate would not, and we of the life boats have
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Speaker 1: certainly no desire to do so. The ship was finally
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Speaker 1: stopped at four a m. With an iceberg reported dead
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Speaker 1: ahead the same no doubt, we had to row around
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Speaker 1: in boat thirteen as we approached the Carpathia, and about
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Speaker 1: the same time the first lifeboat was sighted again. She
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Speaker 1: had to be maneuvered round the iceberg to pick up
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Speaker 1: the boat, which was the one in charge of mister Bauxhall.
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Speaker 1: From him, the captain learned that the Titanic had gone down,
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Speaker 1: and that he was too late to save any one
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Speaker 1: but those in life boats, which he could now see
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Speaker 1: drawing up from every part of the horizon. Meanwhile, the
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Speaker 1: passengers of the Carpathia, some of them aroused by the
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Speaker 1: unusual vibration of the screw, some by sailors tramping overhead
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Speaker 1: as they swung away the lifeboats and got ropes and
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Speaker 1: lowering tackle. Ready were beginning to come on deck just
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Speaker 1: as day broke, and here an extraordinary sight met their eyes.
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Speaker 1: As far as the eye could reach. To the north
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Speaker 1: and west lay an unbroken stretch of field ice, with
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Speaker 1: icebergs still attached to the floe and rearing aloft their
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Speaker 1: masts as a hill might suddenly rise from a level plain.
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Speaker 1: Ahead and to the south and east, huge floating monsters
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Speaker 1: were showing up through the waning darkness. Their number added
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Speaker 1: to moment by moment as the dawn broke and flushed
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Speaker 1: the horizon pink. It is remarkable how busy all those
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Speaker 1: icebergs made the sea look. To have gone to bed
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Speaker 1: with nothing but sea and sky, and to come on
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Speaker 1: deck to find so many objects in sight made quite
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Speaker 1: a change in the character of the sea. It looked
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Speaker 1: quite crowded, and a lifeboat alongside, and people clambering aboard,
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Speaker 1: mostly women in night dresses and dressing gowns, in cloaks
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Speaker 1: and shawls, in anything but ordinary clothes. Out ahead and
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Speaker 1: on all sides, little torches glittered faintly for a few
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Speaker 1: moments and then guttered out, and shouts and sheers floated
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Speaker 1: across the quiet sea. It would be difficult to imagine
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Speaker 1: a more unexpected sight than this that lay before the
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Speaker 1: Carpathias passengers as they lined the sides that morning in
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Speaker 1: the early dawn. No novelist would dare to picture such
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Speaker 1: an array of beautiful climatic conditions, the rosy dawn, the
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Speaker 1: morning star, the moon on the horizon, the sea stretching
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Speaker 1: in level beauty to the skyline. And on this sea
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Speaker 1: to place an ice field like the Arctic regions, and
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Speaker 1: icebergs in numbers everywhere, white and turning pink and deadly cold,
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Speaker 1: and near them, rowing round the icebergs to avoid them.
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Speaker 1: Little boats coming suddenly out of mid ocean, with passengers
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Speaker 1: rescued from the most wonderful ship the world has no
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Speaker 1: No artist would have conceived such a picture. It would
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Speaker 1: have seemed so highly dramatic as to border on the impossible,
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Speaker 1: and would not have been attempted. Such a combination of
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Speaker 1: events would pass the limit permitted by the imagination of
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Speaker 1: both author and artist. The passengers crowded the rails and
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Speaker 1: looked down at us as we rode up in the
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Speaker 1: early morning, stood quietly aside, while the crew at the
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Speaker 1: gangways below took us aboard and watched us as if
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Speaker 1: the ship had been in dock, and we had rowed
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Speaker 1: up to join her in a somewhat unusual way. Some
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Speaker 1: of them have related that we were very quiet as
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Speaker 1: we came aboard. It is quite true we were, but
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Speaker 1: so were they. There was very little excitement on either side,
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Speaker 1: just the quiet demeanor of people who were in the
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Speaker 1: presence of something too big as yet to lie within
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Speaker 1: their mental grasp, and which they cannot yet discuss. And
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Speaker 1: so they asked us politely to have hot coffee, which
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Speaker 1: we did, and food, which we generally declined we were
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Speaker 1: not hungry. And they said very little at first about
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Speaker 1: the Lost Titanic and our adventures in the night. Much
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Speaker 1: that is exaggerated in faults has been written about the
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Speaker 1: mental condition of passengers as they came aboard. We have
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Speaker 1: been described as being too dazed to understand what was happening,
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Speaker 1: as being too overwhelmed to speak, and as looking before
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Speaker 1: us with set staring gaze, dazed with the shadow of
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Speaker 1: the dread event. That is no doubt what most people
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Speaker 1: would expect in the circumstances, But I know it does
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Speaker 1: not give a faithful record of how we did arrive.
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Speaker 1: In fact, it is simply not true As remarked before,
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Speaker 1: the one thing that matters in describing an event of
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Speaker 1: this kind is the exact truth, as near as the
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Speaker 1: fallible human mind can state it. In my own impression
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Speaker 1: of our mental condition is that of supreme gratitude and
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Speaker 1: relief at treading the firm decks of a ship. Again,
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Speaker 1: I am aware that experiences differed considerably according to the
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Speaker 1: boats occupied, that those who were uncertain of the fate
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Speaker 1: of their relatives and friends had much to make them
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Speaker 1: anxious and troubled, and that it is not possible to
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Speaker 1: look into another person's consciousness and say what is written there.
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Speaker 1: But dealing with mental conditions, as far as they are
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Speaker 1: delienated by facial and bodily expressions, I think Jewey, relief,
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Speaker 1: gratitude were the dominant emotions written on the faces of
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Speaker 1: those who climbed the rope ladders and were hauled up
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Speaker 1: in cradles. It must not be forgotten that no one
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Speaker 1: in any boat knew who were saved in other boats.
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Speaker 1: Few knew even how many boats there were and how
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Speaker 1: many passengers could be saved. It was at the time
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Speaker 1: probable that friends would follow them to the carpathi or
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Speaker 1: be found on other steamers, or even on the pier
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Speaker 1: at which we landed. The hysterical scenes that have been
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Speaker 1: described are imaginative. True, one woman did fill the saloon
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Speaker 1: with hysterical cries immediately after coming aboard, but she could
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Speaker 1: not have known for a certainty that any of her
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Speaker 1: friends were lost. Probably the sense of relief after some
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Speaker 1: hours of journeying about the sea was too much for
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Speaker 1: her for a time. One of the first things we
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Speaker 1: did was to crowd round a steward with a bundle
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Speaker 1: of telegraph forms. He was the bearer of the welcome
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Speaker 1: news that passengers might send Marconograms to their relatives free
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Speaker 1: of charge, and soon he bore away the first sheaf
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Speaker 1: of hastily scribbled messages to the operator. By the time
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Speaker 1: the last boat load was aboard, the pile must have
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Speaker 1: risen high in the Marconi cabin. We learned afterwards that
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Speaker 1: many of these never reached their destination, and this is
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Speaker 1: not a matter for surprise. There was only one operator,
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Speaker 1: Cottam on board, and although he was assisted to some
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Speaker 1: extent later, when Bride from the Titanic had recovered from
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Speaker 1: his injury sufficiently enough to work the apparatus, he had
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Speaker 1: so much to do that he fell asleep over this
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Speaker 1: work on Tuesday night, after three days continuous duty without rest.
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Speaker 1: But we did not know the messages were held back,
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Speaker 1: and imagined our friends were aware of our safety. Then too,
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Speaker 1: A roll call of the rescued was held in the
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Speaker 1: Carpathias Saloon on Monday, and this was Marconi to the
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Speaker 1: land in advance of all messages. It seemed certain then
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Speaker 1: that friends at home would have all anxiety removed, But
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Speaker 1: there were mistakes in the official list first telegraphed. The
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Speaker 1: experience of my own friends illustrates this. The Marcona gram
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Speaker 1: I wrote never got through to England, nor was my
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Speaker 1: name ever mentioned in any list of the saved. Even
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Speaker 1: a week after landing in New York. I saw it
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Speaker 1: in a black edged final list of the missing, and
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Speaker 1: it seemed certain that I had never reached the Carpathia,
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Speaker 1: so much so that as I write, there are before
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Speaker 1: me obituary notices from the English papers giving a short
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Speaker 1: sketch of my life in England. After landing in New
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Speaker 1: York and realizing from the lists of the saved, which
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Speaker 1: a reporter showed me, that my friends had no news
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Speaker 1: since the Titanic sank on Monday morning. Until that night, Thursday,
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Speaker 1: nine p m. I cabled to England at once, as
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Speaker 1: I had but two shillings rescued from the Titanic. The
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Speaker 1: White Star Line paid for the cables, but the messages
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Speaker 1: were not delivered until eight twenty a m. The next morning,
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Speaker 1: at nine a m. My friends read in the papers
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Speaker 1: a short account of the disaster, which I had supplied
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Speaker 1: to the press, so that they knew of my safety
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Speaker 1: and experiences in the wreck. Almost at the same time.
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Speaker 1: I am grateful to remember that many of my friends
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Speaker 1: in London refused to count me among the missing during
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Speaker 1: the three days when I was so reported. There is
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Speaker 1: another side to this record of how the news came through,
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Speaker 1: and a sad one. Indeed, again I wish it were
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Speaker 1: not necessary to tell such things, but since they all
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Speaker 1: bear on the equipment of the Transatlantic lines, powerful Marconi apparatus,
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Speaker 1: relays of operators, et cetera, it is best that they
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Speaker 1: should be told. The name of an African gentleman, The
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Speaker 1: same who sat near me in the library on Sunday afternoon,
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Speaker 1: and whom I identified later from a photograph, was consistently
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Speaker 1: reported in the lists as saved and aboard the Carpathia.
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Speaker 1: His son journeyed to New York to meet him, rejoicing
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Speaker 1: at his deliverance, and never found him there. When I
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Speaker 1: met his family some days later and was able to
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Speaker 1: give them some details of his life aboard ship, it
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Speaker 1: seemed almost cruel to tell them of the opposite experience
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Speaker 1: that had befallen my friends at home. Returning to the
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Speaker 1: journey of the Carpathia, the last boat load of passengers
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Speaker 1: was taken aboard at eight thirty a m. The life
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Speaker 1: boats were hauled on deck, while the collapsibles were abandoned,
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Speaker 1: and the Carpathia proceeded to steam round the scene of
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Speaker 1: the wreck in the hope of picking up any one
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Speaker 1: floating on wreckage. Before doing so, the captain arranged in
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Speaker 1: the saloon a service over the spot where the Titanic sank,
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Speaker 1: as nearly as could be calculated, a service, as he said,
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Speaker 1: of respect to those who were lost, and of gratitude
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Speaker 1: for those who were saved. She cruised round and round
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Speaker 1: the scene, but found nothing to indicate there was any
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Speaker 1: hope of picking up more passengers, and as the Californian
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Speaker 1: had now arrived, followed shortly afterwards, by the Burma, a
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Speaker 1: Russian tramp steamer, Captain Rostrun, decided to leave any further
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Speaker 1: search to them and to make all speed with the
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Speaker 1: rescue to land. As we moved round there was surprisingly
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Speaker 1: little wreckage to be seen, wooden deck chairs and small
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Speaker 1: pieces of other wood, but nothing of any size. But
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Speaker 1: covering the sea in huge patches was a mass of
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Speaker 1: reddish yellow seaweed, as we called it, for want of
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Speaker 1: a name. It was said to be cork, but I
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Speaker 1: never heard definitely its correct description. The problem of where
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Speaker 1: to land us had next to be decided. The Carpathia
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Speaker 1: was bound for Gibraltar, and the captain might continue his
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Speaker 1: journey there, landing us at the Azores on the way,
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Speaker 1: but he would require more linen and provisions. The passengers
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Speaker 1: were mostly women and children, ill clad, disheveled, and in
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Speaker 1: need of many attentions. He could not give them. Then, too,
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Speaker 1: he would soon be out of the range of wireless
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Speaker 1: communication with the weak apparatus his ship had, and he
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Speaker 1: soon decided against that course. Facts was the nearest in
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Speaker 1: point of distance, but this meant steaming north through the ice,
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Speaker 1: and he thought his passengers did not want to see
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Speaker 1: more ice. He headed back therefore to New York, which
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Speaker 1: he had left the previous Thursday, working all afternoon along
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Speaker 1: the edge of the ice field, which stretched away north
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Speaker 1: as far as the unaided eye could reach. I have
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Speaker 1: wondered since if we could possibly have landed our passengers
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Speaker 1: on this ice floe from the lifeboats and gone back
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Speaker 1: to pick up those swimming, had we known it was there.
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Speaker 1: I should think it quite feasible to have done so.
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Speaker 1: It was certainly an extraordinary sight to stand on deck
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Speaker 1: and see the sea covered with solid ice, white and
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Speaker 1: dazzling in the sun, and dotted here and there with icebergs.
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Speaker 1: We ran close up, only two or three hundred yards away,
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Speaker 1: and steamed parallel to the floe until it ended towards night,
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Speaker 1: and we saw, to our infinite satisfaction the last of
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Speaker 1: the icebergs and the field fading away astern. Many of
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Speaker 1: the rescued have no wish ever to see an iceberg again.
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Speaker 1: We learned afterwards the field was nearly seventy miles long
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Speaker 1: and twelve miles wide, and had lain between us and
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Speaker 1: the Burmah. On her way to rescue, mister Boxhall testified
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Speaker 1: that he had crossed the Grand Banks many times, but
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Speaker 1: had never seen field ice before. The testimony of the
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Speaker 1: captains and officers of other steamers in the neighborhood is
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Speaker 1: of the same kind. They had never seen so many
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Speaker 1: icebergs this time of year, or never seen such dangerous
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Speaker 1: ice flows and threatening bergs. Undoubtedly, the Titanic was faced
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Speaker 1: that night with unusual and unexpected conditions of ice. The
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Speaker 1: captain knew not the extent of these conditions, but he
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Speaker 1: knew somewhat of their existence, alas that he heeded not
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Speaker 1: their warning. During the day, the bodies of eight of
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Speaker 1: the crew were committed to the deep. Four of them
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Speaker 1: had been taken out of the boats dead, and four
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Speaker 1: died during the day. The engines were stopped and all
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Speaker 1: passengers on deck bared their heads while a short service
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Speaker 1: was read. When it was over, the ships steamed on
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Speaker 1: again to carry the living back to land. The passengers
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Speaker 1: on the Carpathia were by now hard at work finding
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Speaker 1: clothing for the survivors. The barber shop was raided for ties, collars,
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Speaker 1: hair pins, combs, et cetera, of which it happened there
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Speaker 1: was a large stock in hand. One good Samaritan went
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Speaker 1: round the ship with a box of toothbrushes, offering them
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Speaker 1: indiscriminately to all. In some cases, clothing could not be
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Speaker 1: found for the ladies, and they spent the rest of
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Speaker 1: the time on board in their dressing gowns and cloaks,
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Speaker 1: and which they came away from the Titanic. They even
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Speaker 1: in them, for in the absence of berths, women had
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Speaker 1: to sleep on the floor of the saloons and in
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Speaker 1: the library each night on straw pallgasses, and here it
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Speaker 1: was not possible to undress properly. The men were given
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Speaker 1: the smoking room floor and a supply of blankets, but
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Speaker 1: the room was small, and some elected to sleep out
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Speaker 1: on deck. I found a pile of towels on the
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Speaker 1: bathroom floor, ready for the next morning's baths, and made
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Speaker 1: up a very comfortable bed on these. Later I was
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Speaker 1: waked in the middle of the night by a man
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Speaker 1: offering me a berth in his four berth cabin. Another
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Speaker 1: occupant was unable to leave his birth for physical reasons,
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Speaker 1: and so the cabin could not be given up to ladies.
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Speaker 1: On Tuesday, the survivors met in the saloon and formed
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Speaker 1: a committee among themselves to collect subscriptions for a general fund,
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Speaker 1: out of which It was resolved by vote to provide
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Speaker 1: as far as possible for the destitute among the steers passengers,
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Speaker 1: to present a loving cup to Captain Rostrun and medals
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Speaker 1: to the officers and crew of the Carpathia, and to
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Speaker 1: divide any surplus among the crew of the Titanic. The
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Speaker 1: work of this committee is not yet June first at
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Speaker 1: an end, but all the resolutions except the last one
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Speaker 1: have been acted upon, and that is now receiving the
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Speaker 1: attention of the committee. The presentations to the Captain and
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Speaker 1: crew were made the day the Carpathia returned to New
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Speaker 1: York from her Mediterranean trip, and it is a pleasure
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Speaker 1: to all the survivors to know that the United States
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Speaker 1: Senate has recognized the service rendered to humanity by the
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Speaker 1: Carpathia and has voted Captain Rostrun a gold medal commemorative
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Speaker 1: of the rescue. On the afternoon of Tuesday, I visited
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Speaker 1: the steerage in company with a fellow passenger to take
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Speaker 1: down the names of all who were saved. We grouped
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Speaker 1: them into nationalities English, Irish and Swedish mostly and learned
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Speaker 1: from them their names and homes, the amount of money
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Speaker 1: they possessed, and whether they had friends in America. The
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Speaker 1: Irish girls almost universally had no money rescued from the
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Speaker 1: wreck and were going to friends in New York or
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Speaker 1: places near, while the Swedish passengers, among whom were a
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Speaker 1: considerable number of men, had saved the greater part of
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Speaker 1: their money, and in addition had railway tickets through to
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Speaker 1: their destinations inland. The saving of their money marked a
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Speaker 1: curious racial difference for which I can offer no explanation.
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Speaker 1: No doubt the Irish girls never had very much, but
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Speaker 1: they must have had the necessary amount fixed by the
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Speaker 1: immigration laws. There were some pitiful cases of women with
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Speaker 1: children and the husband lost, some with one or two
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Speaker 1: children saved and the others lost. In one case a
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Speaker 1: whole family was missing, and only a friend left to
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Speaker 1: tell of them. Among the Irish group was one girl
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Speaker 1: of really remarkable beauty, black hair and deep violet eyes,
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Speaker 1: with long lashes and perfectly shaped features, and quite young,
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Speaker 1: not more than eighteen or twenty. I think she lost
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Speaker 1: no relatives on the Titanic. The following letter to the
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Speaker 1: London Times is reproduced here to show something of what
22:25
Speaker 1: our feeling was on board the Carpathia towards the loss
22:28
Speaker 1: of the Titanic. It was written soon after we had
22:32
Speaker 1: the definite information on the Wednesday that ice warnings had
22:36
Speaker 1: been sent to the Titanic, and when we all felt
22:39
Speaker 1: that something must be done to awaken public opinion to
22:42
Speaker 1: safeguard ocean travel in the future. We were not aware,
22:46
Speaker 1: of course, how much the outside world knew, and it
22:50
Speaker 1: seemed well to do something to inform the English public
22:53
Speaker 1: of what had happened at as early an opportunity as possible.
22:58
Speaker 1: I have not had occasion to change any of the
23:00
Speaker 1: opinions expressed in this letter, Sir. As one of few
23:05
Speaker 1: surviving the Englishmen from the steamship Titanic, which sank in
23:10
Speaker 1: mid Atlantic on Monday morning last I am asking you
23:14
Speaker 1: to lay before your readers a few facts concerning the disaster,
23:18
Speaker 1: in the hope that something may be done in the
23:20
Speaker 1: near future to ensure the safety of that portion of
23:23
Speaker 1: the traveling public who uses the Atlantic Highway for business
23:27
Speaker 1: or pleasure. I wish to dissociate myself entirely from any
23:32
Speaker 1: report that would seek to fix the responsibility on any
23:36
Speaker 1: person or persons or body of people, and by simply
23:40
Speaker 1: calling attention to matters of fact, the authenticity of which
23:44
Speaker 1: is I think beyond question and can be established in
23:48
Speaker 1: any court of inquiry. To allow your readers to draw
23:51
Speaker 1: their own conclusions as to the responsibility for the collision.
23:56
Speaker 1: First that it was known to those in charge of
23:59
Speaker 1: the Titanic that we were in the iceberg region, that
24:02
Speaker 1: the atmospheric and temperature conditions suggested the near presence of icebergs.
24:08
Speaker 1: That a wireless message was received from a ship ahead
24:11
Speaker 1: of us warning us that they had been seen in
24:14
Speaker 1: the locality of which latitude and longitude were given. Second
24:19
Speaker 1: that at the time of the collision, the Titanic was
24:22
Speaker 1: running at a high rate of speed. Third that the
24:25
Speaker 1: accommodation for saving passengers and crew was totally inadequate, being
24:30
Speaker 1: sufficient only for a total of about nine hundred fifty.
24:34
Speaker 1: This gave, with the highest possible complement of thirty four hundred,
24:39
Speaker 1: a less than one in three chants of being saved
24:42
Speaker 1: in the case of accident. Fourth that the number landed
24:47
Speaker 1: in the Carpathia, approximately seven hundred, is a high percentage
24:51
Speaker 1: of the possible nine hundred fifty and bears excellent testimony
24:55
Speaker 1: to the courage, resource and devotion to duty of the
24:59
Speaker 1: office and crew of the vessel. Many instances of their
25:03
Speaker 1: nobility and personal self sacrifice are within our possession, and
25:08
Speaker 1: we know that they did all they could do with
25:10
Speaker 1: the means at their disposal. Fifth that the practice of
25:14
Speaker 1: running mail and passenger vessels through fog and iceberg regions
25:18
Speaker 1: at a high speed is a common one. They are
25:21
Speaker 1: timed to run almost as an express train is run,
25:25
Speaker 1: and they cannot therefore slow down more than a few
25:28
Speaker 1: knots in time of possible danger. I have neither knowledge
25:33
Speaker 1: nor experience to say what remedies I consider should be applied,
25:37
Speaker 1: but perhaps the following suggestions may serve as a help.
25:41
Speaker 1: First that no vessel should be allowed to leave a
25:45
Speaker 1: British port without sufficient boat and other accommodation to allow
25:49
Speaker 1: each passenger and member of the crew a seat, and
25:53
Speaker 1: that at the time of booking this fact should be
25:56
Speaker 1: pointed out to a passenger and the number of the
25:58
Speaker 1: seat in the particular by vote allotted to him. Then second,
26:03
Speaker 1: that as soon as is practicable after sailing, each passenger
26:06
Speaker 1: should go through boat drill in company with the crew
26:09
Speaker 1: assigned to his boat. Third that each passenger boat engaged
26:14
Speaker 1: in the Transatlantic service should be instructed to slow down
26:18
Speaker 1: to a few knots when in the iceberg region, and
26:21
Speaker 1: should be fitted with an efficient searchlight. Yours faithfully, Lawrence Beasley.
26:28
Speaker 1: It seemed well too, while on the Carpathia to prepare
26:32
Speaker 1: as accurate an account as possible of the disaster, and
26:35
Speaker 1: to have this ready for the press, in order to
26:38
Speaker 1: calm public opinion and to forestall the incorrect and hysterical
26:43
Speaker 1: accounts which some American reporters are in the habit of preparing.
26:47
Speaker 1: On occasions of this kind, the first impression is often
26:51
Speaker 1: the most permanent, and in a disaster of this magnitude,
26:55
Speaker 1: where exact and accurate information is so necessary, preparation of
27:00
Speaker 1: a report was essential. It was written in odd corners
27:04
Speaker 1: of the deck and saloon of the Carpathia, and fell
27:07
Speaker 1: it seemed very happily into the hands of the one
27:11
Speaker 1: reporter who could best deal with it, the Associated Press.
27:15
Speaker 1: I understand it was the first report that came through
27:18
Speaker 1: and had a good deal of the effect intended. The
27:22
Speaker 1: Carpathia returned to New York in almost every kind of
27:26
Speaker 1: climatic conditions, icebergs, ice fields, and bitter cold. To commence
27:31
Speaker 1: with brilliant, warm sun, thunder and lightning in the middle
27:36
Speaker 1: of one night, and so closely did the peel follow
27:39
Speaker 1: the flash that women in the saloon leaped up in alarm,
27:43
Speaker 1: saying rockets were being sent up again. Cold winds most
27:48
Speaker 1: of the time, fogs every morning, and during a good
27:52
Speaker 1: part of one day, with the fog horn blowing constantly, rain,
27:56
Speaker 1: choppy sea, with the spray blowing overboard and coming in
28:00
Speaker 1: through the saloon windows. We said we had almost everything
28:04
Speaker 1: but hot weather and stormy seas. So that when we
28:08
Speaker 1: were told that Nantucket lightship had been sighted on Thursday
28:12
Speaker 1: morning from the bridge, a great sigh of relief went
28:15
Speaker 1: round to think New York and Land would be reached
28:19
Speaker 1: before next morning. There is no doubt that a good
28:23
Speaker 1: many felt the waiting period of those four days very trying,
28:28
Speaker 1: the ship crowded far beyond its limits of comfort, the
28:32
Speaker 1: want of necessities of clothing and toilet, and above all
28:36
Speaker 1: the anticipation of meeting with relatives on the pier, with
28:39
Speaker 1: in many cases the knowledge that other friends were left
28:43
Speaker 1: behind and would not return home again. A few looked
28:47
Speaker 1: forward to meeting on the pier their friends to whom
28:49
Speaker 1: they had said our revoir on the Titanic steck, brought
28:54
Speaker 1: there by a faster boat, they said, or at any
28:57
Speaker 1: rate to hear that they were following behind us in
28:59
Speaker 1: another A very few indeed, for the thought of the
29:04
Speaker 1: icy water and the many hours immersion seemed to weigh
29:07
Speaker 1: against such a possibility. But we encouraged them to hope
29:11
Speaker 1: the Californian and the Burma had picked some up. Stranger
29:15
Speaker 1: things have happened, and we had all been through strange experiences.
29:20
Speaker 1: But in the midst of this rather tense feeling, one
29:24
Speaker 1: fact stands out as remarkable. No one was ill. Captain
29:29
Speaker 1: Rostrun testified that on Tuesday the doctor reported a clean
29:33
Speaker 1: bill of health, except for frost bites and shaken nerves.
29:38
Speaker 1: There were none of the illnesses supposed to follow from
29:41
Speaker 1: exposure for hours in the cold night. And it must
29:45
Speaker 1: be remembered a considerable number swam about for some time
29:49
Speaker 1: when the Titanic sank, and then either sat for hours
29:53
Speaker 1: in their wet things, or lay flat on an upturned
29:56
Speaker 1: boat with the sea water washing partly over them until
29:59
Speaker 1: they they were taken off in a lifeboat. No scenes
30:03
Speaker 1: of women weeping and brooding over their losses. Hour by
30:06
Speaker 1: hour until they were driven mad with grief. Yet all
30:10
Speaker 1: this has been reported to the press by people on
30:13
Speaker 1: board the Carpathia. These women met their sorrow with the
30:18
Speaker 1: sublimest courage, came on deck and talked with their fellow
30:22
Speaker 1: men and women face to face, and in the midst
30:25
Speaker 1: of their loss, did not forget to rejoice with those
30:28
Speaker 1: who had joined their friends on the Carpathia's deck, or
30:32
Speaker 1: come with them in a boat. There was no need
30:35
Speaker 1: for those ashore to call the Carpathia a death ship,
30:38
Speaker 1: or to send coroners and coffins to the peer to
30:41
Speaker 1: meet her. Her passengers were generally in good health, and
30:45
Speaker 1: they did not pretend they were not. Presently, land came
30:50
Speaker 1: in sight, and very good it was to see it again.
30:54
Speaker 1: It was eight days since we left Southampton, but the
30:58
Speaker 1: time seemed to have stretched out to the crack of doom,
31:01
Speaker 1: and to have become eight weeks instead. So many dramatic
31:06
Speaker 1: incidents had been crowded into the last few days that
31:09
Speaker 1: the first four peaceful, uneventful days, marked by nothing that
31:14
Speaker 1: seared the memory, had faded almost out of recollection. It
31:18
Speaker 1: needed an effort to return to Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown,
31:23
Speaker 1: as though returning to some event of last year, I
31:27
Speaker 1: think we all realized that time may be measured more
31:30
Speaker 1: by events than by seconds and minutes. What the astronomer
31:35
Speaker 1: would call two twenty a m. April fifteenth, nineteen twelve,
31:40
Speaker 1: the survivors called the sinking of the Titanic. The hours
31:45
Speaker 1: that followed were designated being adrift in an open sea,
31:49
Speaker 1: and four thirty a m. Was being rescued by the Carpathia.
31:55
Speaker 1: The clock was a mental one, and the hours, minutes
31:59
Speaker 1: and seconds marked deeply on its face. Were emotions strong
32:03
Speaker 1: and silent, surrounded by tugs of every kind, from which,
32:09
Speaker 1: as well as from every available building near the river,
32:12
Speaker 1: magnesium bombs were shut off by photographers. While reporters shouted
32:17
Speaker 1: for news of the disaster and photographs of the passengers.
32:21
Speaker 1: The Carpathia drew slowly to her station at the Cunard Pier.
32:25
Speaker 1: The gangways were pushed across, and we set foot at
32:29
Speaker 1: last on American soil. Very thankful, grateful people. The mental
32:35
Speaker 1: and physical condition of the rescued as they came ashore
32:39
Speaker 1: has here again been greatly exaggerated. One description says we
32:44
Speaker 1: were half fainting, half hysterical bordering on hallucination, only now
32:50
Speaker 1: beginning to realize the horror. It is unfortunate such pictures
32:55
Speaker 1: should be presented to the world. There were some painful
32:58
Speaker 1: scenes of meeting between relatives of those who were lost,
33:02
Speaker 1: but once again women showed their self control and went
33:06
Speaker 1: through the ordeal, in most cases with extraordinary calm. It
33:10
Speaker 1: is well to record that the same account added a few,
33:15
Speaker 1: strangely enough, are calm and lucid. If for few we
33:20
Speaker 1: read a large majority, it will be much nearer to
33:24
Speaker 1: the true description of the landing on the Cunard Pier
33:27
Speaker 1: in New York. There seems to be no adequate reason
33:31
Speaker 1: why a report of such a scene should depict mainly
33:34
Speaker 1: the sorrow and grief, should seek for every detail to
33:38
Speaker 1: satisfy the horrible and the morbid in the human mind.
33:42
Speaker 1: The first questions the excited crowds of reporters asked as
33:46
Speaker 1: they crowded round, were whether it was true that officers
33:50
Speaker 1: shot passengers and then themselves, whether passengers shot each other,
33:56
Speaker 1: whether any scenes of horror had been noticed. In what
33:59
Speaker 1: they were, it would have been well to have noticed
34:02
Speaker 1: the wonderful state of health of most of the rescued,
34:06
Speaker 1: their gratitude for their deliverance. The thousand and one things
34:10
Speaker 1: that gave calls for rejoicing. In the midst of so
34:14
Speaker 1: much description of the hysterical side of the scene, place
34:18
Speaker 1: should be found for the normal, And I venture to
34:20
Speaker 1: think that the normal was the dominant feature in the
34:23
Speaker 1: landing that night. In the last chapter, I shall try
34:28
Speaker 1: to record the persistence of the normal all through the disaster.
34:32
Speaker 1: Nothing has been a greater surprise than to find people
34:36
Speaker 1: that do not act in conditions of danger in grief
34:39
Speaker 1: as they would be generally supposed to act, and I
34:43
Speaker 1: must add, as they are generally described as acting. And so,
34:48
Speaker 1: with her work of rescue well done, the good ship
34:51
Speaker 1: Carpathia returned to New York. Every one who came in her,
34:56
Speaker 1: every one on the dock, and every one who heard
34:59
Speaker 1: of her journey, will agree with Captain Rostron when he says,
35:03
Speaker 1: I thank God that I was within wireless hailing distance,
35:07
Speaker 1: and that I got there in time to pick up
35:09
Speaker 1: the survivors of the wreck. End of chapter seven