Titanic, First Accounts

by Tim Maltin

  Another instance when the ladies were made to feel that they were overstepping their bounds in their endeavor to relieve the situation for those people was when the resolutions were read. They were told emphatically it was an absolute affront to the owners and manager who was on board. We replied we were only compelled to do what he had neglected as his duty. If this interest had been shown by him, it would have placed him in a very different light than that of doing as he did, concealing himself behind closed doors to the exclusion of everyone. The contrast was extremely noticeable, as he was the most conspicuous figure on the Titanic before she went down. He was six feet tall and of the oriental type, with manner of pacing the deck with an expression of intensity of purpose and determination, he had always been in extreme evidence. Assuming this attitude at this time was extremely ridiculous.

  In passing up the stairs at noon on the day we were rescued, two tall men stood aside for me to pass. Looking up, I saw the face of the man and his friend who had told me to get my life-preserver and who later put me into the boat when I was walking away on the Titanic. Putting out my hand, it is needless to say how profuse I was in expressing my gratitude. I asked to whom I was indebted for my life and safety. He handed me their cards, reading “Calderhead and Bough, buyers for Kimball Brothers, New York.” They stated that, in seeing the distress of many women who were bereft of their husbands and some who had perished, it made them feel extremely embarrassed, and their attitude in keeping out of sight other than when they came to the dining salon for meals, was that of men feeling that their lives being saved was somewhat of a stigma, and the worn expression of their faces, as though they continually asked themselves the question, what woman’s place in the lifeboat did they fill, and in an apologetic manner they told how inadvertently they caught the last boat being lowered half-empty. They told me of the navigation laws restricting men from the boats when women and children were on board. I replied that such must have been the ancient law, and now that equal rights existed, truly all should be relieved, as I chance; that their conscience on that score should be relieved, as I was a living evidence of their thoughtfulness to womankind, as at the time they placed me in the boat I had no intention of getting off, but was most concerned in knowing what was taking place on the other side of the steamer, and marveling all the while at the clumsiness of the crew in letting down the lifeboats, comparing the discipline of what I had seen in my travels on German liners, where a daily drill of military tactics in handling lifeboats took place. It was truly shown at the time that the crew of the Titanic were amateurs in comparison to what I had seen on a German ship on the China seas, when we encountered the outer forces of a typhoon that set us aground until the tide took us out to the rescue of those floating around in the wreckage of a submerged tramp steamer. The comparison seemed crude indeed, as there was no organization or discipline shown at the time, though it was known, as soon as she struck the high iceberg and when riding over the submerged one, the bottom of the boat was ripped off, as immediately trunks began to float about in the hold and an officer was seen dragging the mailbags a few minutes after she struck, giving them time to realize the worst had happened and for the crew to be at their posts.

  On the contrary, it was plain to be seen that of the seventy stewards who were saved, none attempted to warn those in the staterooms of their danger.

  One of the heroes on board was the eighteen-year-old son of the Thayers of Philadelphia. He and his father, after having taken an affectionate farewell of his mother after placing her in the lifeboat, while walking on the deck of the Titanic plunged off. While swimming, he was drawn twice under the keel by the suction. In his struggles he grasped hold of the collapsible boat and was among those who were rescued. He was on board the Carpathia when his mother was hoisted from the lifeboat. She was under the impression that both her husband and son had perished on the Titanic, but, to her supreme joy, she was clasped in her son’s arms. In her great thankfulness in having one spared her, for the rest of the voyage not more than a few minutes at a time would she permit him to be separate from her.

  The attitude of the men who were rescued was indeed pathetic. Each and all seemed as though they were trying to efface themselves when they were encountered passing to and fro. It was noticed how they all tried to explain how it came about like a miracle that their lives were saved, with an expression of apology as though it were a blight on their manhood. One man displaying an order he had demanded from the officer when asked to get into the lifeboat half-filled with women that he might row, all stating that they took the boats when there was no one around to get in.

  The third day on the Carpathia I talked at great length with one of the officers of the Titanic [Fifth Officer Lowe] who had had in his command five lifeboats, he having the one that went back and rescued those on the collapsible. In talking it over, he stated that they saw to it that, among those who were saved would not be any of the rich nabobs, again reiterating the same, adding, “We saw to it that they would take their chances with good men.” While preening his feathers over this fact, he stated that there was one who got through without the officers knowing it. He later displayed his weapon and told how with that, he made one who persistently attempted to get in the boat with his wife, was told in the strong expletive of the masculine lexicon to “chase himself around the deck.” He stated the only thing he regretted was the oaths he had used towards the ladies in the boats.

  William T. Sloper,

  Hartford Times,

  APRIL 19, 1912

  While it is still on my mind I shall try to set down here for the benefit of my friends and those interested, as clearly as I can, what I saw and experienced as a passenger on the ill-fated ship Titanic.

  I did not book passage on this ship until the day before she sailed, and I should not have done so had I not met friends who came over with me in January and with whom I had been more or less in Egypt during the winter. There were fourteen of us who were on the Titanic, who had been in Egypt together, and as I write this there are only seven survivors.

  On Sunday evening a gentleman who I had not met previously, asked me if I would make a fourth at bridge. A mother and her daughter from New York and himself. I accepted his invitation, and to this fact I feel that I owe my life, as I had been going to bed early every night previously and I should probably have been in bed when the accident happened.

  We played in the “Lounge,” and at 11:30 the steward asked us to finish our game, as everyone else had gone to bed and the lights were going to be put out in the room. We finished the game, and at 11:40 I said good-night to the ladies and was on the stairway going down to my cabin. Suddenly there was a lurch and a creaking crash; the boat seemed to shiver and keel over to port.

  A half-dozen room stewards and I rushed out onto the promenade deck and peered into the starlit darkness. We could see what appeared to be a sail or something white standing out off our starboard side, astern. It was very cold, and we soon went back into the companionway, where it was warmer.

  Meanwhile the engines had stopped and frightened faced people commenced to appear, many scantily attired, inquiring anxiously as to what had happened. They told them that the ship had struck an iceberg, but as it was apparently a glancing blow that it could not have done much damage and that there was no danger.

  I was not so sure, however, about there being no danger, and when the ladies, with whom I had been playing cards, appeared I told them to go to their cabins and change their evening clothes for heavier ones. It being Sunday night I had not dressed for dinner, so that I had on a very heavy sack suit. I went for my sweater and heavy overcoat and took my pocket-book from another coat pocket—this was all that I saved, but I’m not complaining.

  When I left my cabin, which was in the bow of the ship, I noticed that the floor seemed uneven and that the ship was listing toward the starboard bow. Meeting the ladies again on the stairs and the gentleman
who had been playing cards with us, we went out on deck together and took a turn about the deck. As we started forward from the stern my heart sank to see that there was really quite a pitch downward of the deck under our feet. Many more people had appeared on deck, some clad only in night clothes and dressing gowns.

  There was no confusion, however, or anything resembling a panic. The stewards assured everyone who asked them that the water tight bulkheads were closed and that while there was a hole in her, she could not possibly sink, and many who had got out of bed to ascertain the trouble returned satisfied. All this time the steam from the boilers was blowing off furiously overhead, and the noise on the deck was deafening. We went back into the companionway, and Miss ——, who had only just recovered from an attack of nervous prostration, and was greatly alarmed and excited, stopped everyone as they came out from the lower deck and asked them if there was any danger. The designer of the Titanic, who was aboard, came rushing up from below at this minute, and although he said nothing about the seriousness of the trouble, one look at his face convinced me he was worried.

  Someone else appeared at this moment and said that the water was rushing in through the squash court wall, and that she was filling rapidly. We were now ordered by the stewards to put on life preservers in case anything should happen that should make it necessary for us to leave the ship. We returned to our staterooms for our life preservers and assembled on the upper stairway leading out on the top deck. The feeling which came over me as I stood in the companionway with these people while we tied on our life preservers cannot be put down adequately on paper. As long as I live I shall never forget that feeling. I had read many stories and accounts of just this thing, and here I was going through the terrible experience myself.

  I could only think that I must be asleep and in an awful dream. As a man, I was bound to cheer up the ladies and act as calm as I could, but to say that I felt that way underneath would be untrue. All this time there was no sign of panic or distress among passengers or crew. Everyone behaved wonderfully calm and cheerful. I felt as certain as anyone could feel that we had come to the end, and that many, if not all, would soon be gone. All of the people who were there in this companionway at this time, passed out quietly onto the deck where the lifeboats were. I remember distinctly that there was no crowding through the doorway—everyone was over polite.

  The covers had been taken off the lifeboats and they were quickly swung off on the davits and lowered to the level of the deck. From this deck, we were, if I remember correctly, somewhere about eighty feet above the water, and to leave a well-lighted ship that at the time seemed to have listed slightly, and step into a small boat that might plunge down into the darkness below, or, if it reached the sea safely, be capsized by the water, was a question which made some people hold back.

  Miss G—, who was now in a state of high nervous excitement, made toward the first boat, and for fear that she might misstep or jump, I kept hold of her arm, and I remember tried to quiet her by saying “Keep a stiff upper lip.” When the officers in charge of the first boat motioned for us to step in she stepped forward with her mother and the gentleman who had been playing cards with us, and I helped them into the boat and followed after them. People sort of hung back at this time. Many men wouldn’t leave the ship or let their friends, as they couldn’t believe that the ship could really go down.

  Colonel Astor was directly behind me, with Mrs. Astor, and he suddenly drew back and pulled his wife back with him. Someone spoke to him, but I did not overhear what was said. At any rate they did not follow us into the boat. When twenty-nine people, including three of the crew, were in the boat, and as nobody else seemed ready to follow, the officer on the deck gave word to “lower away.”

  We might have taken a few more people and managed somehow, although the boat was pretty well filled. While we were being lowered I expected one end of the boat would drop faster than the other and that we should be thrown out into the sea, but we were finally in the water without any mishap. Cutting loose from the ship we pulled away as quickly as we could, as other boats were being lowered overhead and we wished to get out of the way of them. When the people above on the Titanic saw the first two or three lifeboats get away safely they eventually decided to come, too, for the rest of the boats on our side quickly filled and were lowered.

  Fortunately, the sea was as smooth as a mill pond, and for the time being I felt that we were safe. It was very cold and I was glad to take an oar and help row. As we left the deck somebody had thrown in a number of steamer rugs which were wrapped around the women. The people in our boat were evenly divided, as half were men and half women. Most of the boats that followed afterward had only two or three men in them and had a hard time making headway with so few to manage the boat. One of the three sailors took our tiller and the command of the boat. After we had rowed 300 yards or so we rested on our oars and waited to see what should happen.

  The Titanic was settling rapidly in the bow and it was evident that it was only a question of a few minutes when the largest and finest ship in the world would go down. Every one began to question the three sailors in our boat as to whether there were boats for everyone to get off in, whether the wireless operator had been at his post and whether he had been in communication with other ships when we struck the iceberg. When we realized that there were at least 2,200 souls and that the lifeboats filled with the same number as ours would only accommodate 800, we began to realize the awfulness of the situation. The sailors told us that there were rafts and collapsible boats enough to take nearly every one, but that in the confusion and at the rate that the Titanic was filling they were afraid that these rafts and boats would not be gotten ready in time.

  We were rapidly drifting away from the ship and we could dimly see other lifeboats around us full of people. I looked at my watch at this time and it was a quarter of two in the morning. As we sat there on the calm sea with the stars overhead and watched the big ship’s bow sinking lower and lower, suddenly the lights dimmed and we knew that the end was near. In a minute the lights went out entirely and then the stern seemed to rise up perpendicularly in the air.

  There were two loud explosions, a grinding crash, and the big ship plunged down out of sight. Then followed the most awful thing that I have ever listened to—the screams and cries of all of the hundreds of poor people who were not instantly killed by the explosion, and who were struggling in the water. The ship’s barber (whom I didn’t know had been saved for two days afterwards, as he was quite badly injured) told me that he was on the upper deck trying to unfasten one of the collapsible boats when the plunge came, which preceded the two explosions. He was thrown off the ship and fell onto several deck chairs which were floating in the sea. He lay there on his stomach and when the explosions came he was badly injured by something heavy falling on his back and across his legs.

  Just before he was pitched off the ship he saw hundreds of the third class passengers and some of the officers, with the ship’s two doctors, standing on the top deck near the stern of the vessel. When the stern stood up perpendicularly these people were flung helter skelter against a barrier which divided first class from the second class portion of the deck. Then when the explosions came many of these people were blown up into the air along with a lot of debris. The barber was picked up in one of the last boats which left the ship just before the end and brought to the Carpathia.

  I might tell here of many other thrilling escapes from death, such as the barber had, but I will not take the space to do so, as this account is supposed to be just my own experience. We made fast to another lifeboat full of people which drew alongside of our boat and waited for what should follow. Except for a ground swell the sea was motionless and we sat there anxiously scanning the horizon for the lights of a ship which should come to rescue us from our perilous position. As the other lifeboat had thirty-five people we took three people and a baby over into our boat. We had no lights and
we sat there in darkness and silence, wondering if the wireless operator had succeeded in reaching anybody before the Titanic went down.

  One of the lifeboats kept burning green fire, which I afterward learned one of the stewards had brought in his pocket, he having been shipwrecked once before. We kept close behind this boat and just before dawn we saw the mast lights of a ship on the horizon, and we felt sure that they must have seen the green fire or the rockets that were sent up from the Titanic’s bridge just before she sank. At any rate we felt pretty sure that we should be rescued.

  Casting off from the other boat we each rowed with renewed strength for the ship which we could see more and more clearly with every passing moment. As the dawn approached we could see that the sea around us was dotted here and there with icebergs and in one direction there seemed to be an ice field of some miles in length. Here and there was a lifeboat, all headed toward the ship; a breeze sprang up with the rising sun, making the sea rougher, and it was very difficult for landlubbers like myself to manage the long heavy oars with which we were trying to row the boat. As lifeboats were approaching the ship from all directions she lay to and waited for us to row alongside. We finally pulled up under the lee of the vessel, which proved to be the Carpathia, and after waiting for half an hour for our turn we were at last safely on board.