Voices from the Titanic

by Geoff Tibballs

  A later message says wireless telegraphy brings word that two vessels are standing by the Titanic and all the passengers have been taken off.

  NEW YORK, April 15 – A despatch from Halifax states that all the passengers of the Titanic had left the ship by 8.30 this morning – Reuter.

  NEW YORK, April 15 – The Montreal Star reports from Halifax that the Titanic is still afloat, and is making her way slowly to Halifax..

  NEW YORK, April 15, 10.40 – A wireless message has just come through from the Virginian stating that the Titanic is sinking.

  The Olympic, which sent a wireless message to the Titanic direct at 24 minutes past four, was informed in a reply that great damage had been done.

  The captain reported he would tranship the passengers to the first steamer which came alongside. The Virginian, which will in all probability be the vessel, will it is believed, go back to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

  THE TITANIC IN TOW

  NEW YORK, April 15, 11.30 a.m. – A wireless message says 24 boat loads of passengers have already been taken aboard the Carpathia from the Titanic. The Olympic is nearing the Titanic, as also is the Baltic, while the Parisian and Carpathia are in attendance. An unofficial message says the Virginian has taken the Titanic in tow. – Reuter.

  NEW YORK, April 15 – An official message, via the cable ship Minia, off Cape Race, says steamers are towing the Titanic and endeavouring to get her into shoal water near Cape Race for the purpose of beaching her.

  A Halifax message states that the Government Marine Agency has received a wireless message that the Titanic is sinking.

  The vice-president of the International Mercantile Marine today gave out the following, received from the White Star Line’s Boston office: ‘Allan Line, Montreal, confirm report Virginian, Parisian, Carpathia in attendance, standing by Titanic.’

  ALL PASSENGERS TRANSFERRED

  NEW YORK, April 15 – The transfer of the Titanic’s passengers was made safely in calm weather to the Carpathia and the Parisian. The Baltic was reported at three o’clock hurrying to get to these vessels for the purpose of taking over the Titanic’s passengers who should reach Halifax tomorrow. Most of the Titanic’s crew remained aboard. It was reported at 4 o’clock that all the passengers had been transferred from the Titanic. – Reuter.

  The following cablegram was received last night at the White Star Line offices, Liverpool:

  ‘Captain Haddock of the Olympic wires: The Parisian reports the Carpathia to be in attendance on the Titanic, and has picked up twenty boats of passengers. The Baltic is returning to give assistance. Position not given. It is reported that all the passengers are saved, and that the Virginian is towing the Titanic towards Halifax, Nova Scotia. The report is also confirmed that the Virginian, Parisian and Carpathia are in attendance on the Titanic.’

  WIRELESS OPERATOR’S MESSAGE

  The Press Association’s Godalming correspondent telegraphs: Mr and Mrs Phillips, of Farncombe, Godalming, parents of a wireless telegraphy operator on the Titanic, last night received the following message from their son: ‘Making slowly for Halifax; practically unsinkable. Don’t worry.’

  (Western Daily Mercury, 16 April 1912)

  ANXIOUS FATHER’S MISTAKE

  A Godalming correspondent telegraphs that the message stated to have been received last night by Mr and Mrs Phillips from their son, the wireless operator aboard the Titanic, turns out not to have been from him at all, but from another son in London. On receiving the message the father came to the conclusion that it was from his son on the Titanic, but this morning he stated that he felt he was mistaken.

  (Liverpool Evening Express, 16 April 1912)

  TERROR TO CAPTAINS

  Death Lurking from Floating Ice Monsters

  With the movement of the ice southwards each year the perils of the Atlantic passages are increased. Ships’ captains warn each other of the presence of these great floating islands, but they are often hidden by fog – even in broad daylight there may be only a few feet of a monster floe visible above the surface – and there is little warning of their presence.

  Monster bergs have been reported in the month of May. The French liner Lorraine saw one in a recent May which was 675fthigh and 1,500ft long. The steamer American sighted another in June 1905, in the very neighbourhood from which the urgent calls came from the Titanic, and that berg was 300ft high and 900ft long.

  Generally the portion of the berg visible above water is only one-eighth or one-tenth of the total depth.

  Many ships have been wrecked by these floating monsters. In 1903, 23 steamers met with serious accidents through contact with ice near the Banks, and two were totally lost.

  In 1879 the liner Arizona drove her stern against a berg almost to the foremast, but floated owing largely to the fact that 300 tons of ice were jammed in her forepeak. She had 650 people on board, but got them all to port.

  The City of Berlin, with a company of 700, had a similar experience. In the spring of 1899 ten large tramp steamers were all put on the list of missing, and each of them was in the neighbour-hood of the Newfoundland Banks when last heard of. Another bad ice year was 1909, when the ice peril was exceptionally severe.

  It is generally believed that the two missing liners of the sixties, the City of Washington and the City of Boston, which disappeared with all hands, were lost by collision with icebergs.

  PREVIOUS DISASTERS

  Lives lost

  HMS Victoria, sunk after collision with HMS Camperdown , June 22, 1893 359

  Elbe , sunk off Lowestoft, January 30, 1895 334

  Reina Regence , Spanish cruiser, wrecked off Cape Trafalgar March 10, 1895 400

  Colinia , wrecked off coast of Mexico, May 27, 1895 108

  Drummond Castle , wrecked off Ushant, June 16, 1896 247

  Saliar , wrecked off north coast of Spain, December 7, 1896 139

  Aden , wrecked off Socotra, June 9, 1897 32

  La Bourgogne , sunk after collision in Atlantic, July 4, 1898 546

  Mohegan , wrecked on Manacles, October 14, 1898 107

  Stella , wrecked off Casquets, March 30, 1899 105

  City of Rio de Janeiro , wrecked off San Francisco, February 22, 1901 122

  Cobra torpedo boat destroyer , sunk in a gale on the uter Downing Shoal, Lincolnshire, 1901 67

  Asian , Turkish transport, wrecked in Red Sea, April 1, 1901 180

  Govermoria , lost in cyclone, Bay of Bengal, May 6, 1902 739

  General Slocum , burnt, Long Island Sound, June 15, 1904 1020

  Norge , emigrant ship, wrecked on Rocan Reef, June 28, 1904 654

  Mikasa , Admiral Togo’s fl agship, sunk by explosion in her magazine, September 10, 1905 599

  Hilda , wrecked off St Malo, November 19, 1905 125

  Berlin , Great Eastern Harwich boat, driven by a violent gale on to a pier at the Hook of Holland and totally lost, February 21, 1907 141

  (Nottingham Evening News, 16 April 1912)

  FEARED LOSS OF ALL STEERAGE OCCUPANTS

  But Relatives, for Lack of Money, Were Denied Tidings

  That all the 800 steerage passengers of the Titanic went down with the liner after the collision with the iceberg was feared at first. While fortunes were spent by relatives of wealthy surviving and missing passengers for news incoming by wireless, there was no money to facilitate the obtaining of tiding anent the third-class passengers.

  In the pitiful crowd of sad-faced men and women who remained on the pavement outside of the White Star offices were many who will not know the fate of relatives and friends for several days. The penalty of poverty will keep thousands in ignorance until the ships that searched for survivors over the Titanic’s grave have made some port. For the names of steerage passengers are not being forwarded by wireless.

  (New York Call, 17 April 1912)

  THE FOUNDERING OF THE TITANIC

  Details of the great ocean disaster are still lacking, but it seems clear that only some 868 persons were saved when the Tita
nic foundered in the early hours of Monday morning after collision with an iceberg.

  The following message from the King was received last night by the White Star Company:

  The Queen and I are horrified at the appalling disaster which has happened to the Titanic and at the terrible loss of life. We deeply sympathize with the bereaved relations, and feel for them in their great sorrow with all our hearts.

  George R. and I.

  Queen Alexandra telegraphed: ‘It is with feelings of the deepest sorrow that I hear of the terrible disaster to the Titanic and of the awful loss of life. My heart is full of grief and sympathy for the bereaved families of those who have perished.’

  All the circumstances combine to invest the loss of the mammoth liner with the sense of supreme tragedy.

  She was on her maiden voyage; she was the last word in mechanical skill and daring as applied to shipbuilding; she was, it was fondly thought, all but danger-proof.

  The floating township of more than 2300 souls left the Old World amid rejoicings; the New World was awaiting to welcome her.

  And then, after four brief days, when the voyage should have been nearing its triumphal end, came the wireless cry out of the night. The great steamer had struck an iceberg and was in deadly peril.

  Even then the belief in her power to reach port, crippled but not vanquished, was slow to die. Throughout Monday the world listened for the wireless messages that came from over the Atlantic. They were sadly conflicting, but they did not wholly extinguish the hope that the Titanic’s first voyage would not be her last. And they did suggest that the greater number of the passengers and crew would be safe.

  Then, just after midnight yesterday, came the dread news that the Titanic had sunk. At first it was reported that the vessel had gone down without loss of life, but soon the extent of the disaster began to be revealed.

  In special editions of the Daily Graphic the terrible story was briefly told. At that time the loss of life was thought to be some 1600, the number of the saved being returned as 675.

  Now there is reason to hope that almost 200 more have been rescued by the Cunarder Carpathia, which reached the scene of the foundering some hours after it took place and picked the survivors up from the lifeboats to which they had committed themselves.

  Beyond this there is nothing to minimize the remorseless extent of the disaster. Among the 1400 victims are believed to be scores of those whose names are familiar on both sides of the Atlantic – men such as the veteran journalist Mr W. T. Stead.

  But in a disaster which overtakes the Anglo-Saxon race it is the men who wait behind to die, and the race will for long be proud to remember that it was the women and children on the Titanic who were saved, while the men went down with her. Of 248 names of the saved which have been reported only 79 are those of men.

  Of the many liners that raced to the Titanic’s rescue the Carpathia was the only one, as far as is known, to be rewarded by the rescue of survivors. She is steaming to New York, and by President Taft’s orders is to be met by a fast United States scout cruiser which, equipped with a powerful wireless installation, will transmit to the American Government the full list of the saved.

  It was at first thought that liners like the Virginian and the Parisian might have survivors on board. This hope, however, is now abandoned, and to the Carpathia, and the Carpathia alone, the anxious eyes of friends and relatives are turning.

  (Daily Graphic, 17 April 1912)

  SAD SOUTHAMPTON

  – From Our Special Correspondent

  Southampton is a stricken town. More than 700 of the Titanic’s crew were Southampton men, and there is scarcely a street in the town which has not given toll.

  Eager crowds last night besieged the White Star offices, and anxiously packed Canute Road. They went home at midnight happy in the belief that the report, ‘All saved’ was correct.

  But this morning brought a terrible awakening, and wives, mothers, sisters and sweethearts thronged the road outside the company’s office from eight o’clock, and diminished and grew again throughout the whole of the day.

  The message which was posted up soon after midday that 200 of the crew were on the Carpathia brought a gleam of hope, but with it a terrible nerve-racking suspense.

  I stood by one woman for a few moments this afternoon. She had brought a sympathetic neighbour with her.

  ‘Bill’s sure to be all right, ain’t he?’ she suggested pathetically to her friend. ‘He was always one of the lucky ones; look how he got out before.’ The friend agreed eagerly.

  The next moment a clerk made his appearance for a moment on the office steps. The crowd surged towards him with one tumultuous impulse, and fifty voices pleaded for news.

  The boy looked abashed. ‘We haven’t any,’ he said slowly and sorrowfully. ‘As soon as we have we’ll tell you.’

  From time to time women with dragging steps and backward glances detached themselves from the crowd and went home to get tea for the children or – forlorn hope! – to see if by chance there were a telegram; for every wife knows that the company will not keep her in suspense a moment longer than can be helped.

  At six o’clock a notice was posted on the west gate of the docks. Two constables stood guard by the few words upon a piece of foolscap telling that the names of the survivors among the crew would be posted there as soon as they were received. They would be received by wireless, and there might be delay, ran the words significantly; but from then onwards an ever-swelling crowd clustered about the gates and spread over the green.

  The two stalwart Hampshire policemen were full of patience and tact. To every inquiry throughout the long evening (and they came at the rate of about ten to every sixty seconds) they replied kindly and sympathetically. They reiterated the same sad story, ‘No news.’

  One woman stood dry-eyed and haggard for hours. A baby was in her arms; two mites clung to her skirts. The children grew fretful, and wanted supper and bed. She soothed them in a whisper, and when at last the baby awoke with a whimper she fed it. It was like waiting at a pit mouth after some terrible mine disaster.

  As I left to write this I heard a girl sobbingly say, ‘And they were so proud to be on Titanic too.’ It is the greatest tragedy Southampton has ever known.

  (Daily Graphic, 17 April 1912)

  THE TRAGEDY OF THE TITANIC

  No element of tragedy seems to have failed to contribute its share to the overwhelming catastrophe of the Titanic. Not the least bitter aspect of this, perhaps, the greatest disaster in the grim record of the sea, was the confident news of the safety of every soul involved that came immediately with the announcement of the wreck and prevailed, and continued, indeed, to be strengthened, for many hours thereafter. In our earlier issues of yesterday there was every reason to believe with a great thankfulness that a mishap, pregnant with dread possibilities, had miraculously been spared loss of life. Most bitterly, and wringing with a dreadful poignancy hearts that had been bound up with relief and gratitude, this confidence has been falsified. The miracle was too great for man’s endeavours to encompass. The forces of nature shook themselves free from the chains with which he would bind them, burst in all their power from the limits in which he has sought to confine them, and dealt him a blow that has sent mourning through two nations. His last word in ship construction, equipped with every last device making for safety, or for aid in case of need, met at her maiden issue with the sea a challenge that broke her utterly and took her in toll with over 1200 of the lives she carried.

  The magnitude of such a disaster leaves the mind as incapable of expressing the emotions aroused in it as its agencies were powerless to avert the catastrophe. For years we take our eager, heedless way, demanding more and more of life, increasingly impatient of its hindrances to our pleasure and our business, increasingly bold and cunning in overcoming them, and never pausing but to congratulate ourselves upon our triumphs. Every now and then comes some cataclysmic reminder that, if it is not possible to go too far and t
oo fast, it is very possible to congratulate ourselves too well. For a brief moment we are brought to a full stop. We are at such a full stop now; and the lightest among us can scarcely reflect upon its cause without bowed head and thoughts too deep for words. It is in that atmosphere that we trust the relatives of those who have perished may find some solace. They have been called upon to suffer a grief almost unendurable to bear; but at least they suffer it amidst that deepest sympathy which only when we are brought to face the realities of life can be aroused. For us, as for them, moreover, there is heartening thought in one thing that already can be read into the disaster from the facts that have come to light. It is now clear that the rescuing liners did not reach the Titanic until too late. It is terribly clear that scenes of most dreadful horror must have taken place in the few hours between her striking and her disappearance. And it is clear, finally, from the fact that women and children form by far the greater majority of the saved, that in this dire emergency the imperilled rose to supreme heights of courage and devotion. Millionaire and steer-age emigrant alike were called upon: alike they have presented us with that most inspiring of all spectacles – the inherent nobility of mankind.

  (Daily Graphic, 17 April 1912)

  On 17 April most daily newspapers published a preliminary list of passengers rescued from the Titanic by the Carpathia, as sent from New York. The list contained numerous omissions and inaccuracies. For example railroad boss Charles M. Hays was listed as among those saved when it subsequently emerged that he had gone down with the ship. On the other hand, a quantity of passengers not included on this list – and who were therefore presumed lost – emerged safe and well when the Carpathia docked in New York. This initial round-up of names made grim reading for many that morning.

  Abelsom, Anna Angle, Wm.

  Abbott, Rose Allen, Miss E. W.

  Allison, Master and nurse Amadill, Miss Giorgetta

  Andrews, Miss K. T. Anderson, Mr H.

  Appleton, Mrs E. D. Appleton, Mrs Edward W.

  Astor, Mrs John Jacob Bailey, Mr and Mrs D. H.