Voices from the Titanic

by Geoff Tibballs

  ‘Then what did you do after that?’ – ‘We rowed around and picked up with another boat.’

  ‘Did you pass a painter from one boat to another?’ – ‘No, sir. We went close to her. They did not want any assistance, as the women were pulling. I asked if they wanted my assistance, and they would not take it. They said they could pull through.’

  ‘Your boat could have accommodated more. How many more?’ – ‘I should say that she could have accommodated, easily, ten more.’

  ‘And you made no effort to fill her, and you were in charge of her?’ – ‘Yes, sir, I was. I was ordered away by Mr Murdoch, the First Officer. He ordered the boat to be lowered.’

  ‘But you did not pull back to the ship again?’ – ‘Not until she went down.’

  (US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)

  THE WIRELESS MYSTERIES MR MARCONI’S DENIALS AT TITANIC INQUIRY

  The Senatorial inquiry into the Titanic disaster was resumed this morning, when Mr Marconi was placed on the witness stand.

  In his evidence Mr Marconi said that the wireless station at Cape Race was capable of communicating with ships having wireless installations similar to that on the Titanic and Olympic up to a distance of 1200 to 1500 miles.

  He was closely questioned regarding the alleged instructions to the Carpathia’s operator to hold up news of the disaster. Mr Marconi admitted that a wireless message was sent to Mr Cottam, the operator on the Carpathia, which read: ‘Hold news story disaster for four figures.’

  This telegram, however, was not sent until the Carpathia was off Sandy Hook, and it referred not to a general story of the disaster by wireless but to a personal interview. Mr Marconi denied having authorized his wireless operators to sell exclusive stories to newspapers. He said he understood that Mr Bride, the surviving operator of the Titanic, was paid £300 by the New York Times for his narrative.

  ‘There is an ironclad rule of the company’s regulations,’ said Mr Marconi, ‘prohibiting operators from acting as reporters. Under British law it is a penal offence for operators to send out information on their own initiative.

  ‘This is probably the reason why no reports of the disaster were forthcoming from the Carpathia on her way to New York.

  ‘What I meant when I told the operator to take something for the story was that the newspaper reporters would be so interested in what he had to say that, without holding back any general information, they would be willing to pay him for his personal experiences.’

  Mr Marconi thought that the operator on the Carpathia should have sent an earlier description of the disaster.

  (Daily Graphic, 26 April 1912)

  Ernest Gill, assistant engineer on the Californian, fuelled speculation that his ship had seen the Titanic’s distress flares and was near enough to have been the mystery ship sighted by various people on the doomed liner.

  On the night of April 14 I was on duty from 8 p.m. until 12 in the engine room. At 11.50 I came on deck. The stars were shining brightly. It was very clear and I could see for a long distance. The ship’s engines had been stopped since 10.30 and she was drifting amid floe ice. I looked over the rail on the starboard side and saw the lights of a very large steamer about ten miles away. I could see her broadside lights. I watched her for fully a minute. They could not have helped but see her from the bridge and lookout.

  It was now 12 o’clock and I went to my cabin. I woke my mate, William Thomas. He heard the ice crunching alongside the ship and asked, ‘Are we in ice?’ I replied: ‘Yes, but it must be clear off to the starboard, for I saw a big vessel going along full speed. She looked as if she might be a big German.’

  I turned in, but could not sleep. In half an hour I turned out, thinking to smoke a cigarette. Because of the cargo I could not smoke ‘tween decks, so I went on deck again. I had been on deck about ten minutes when I saw a white rocket about ten miles away on the starboard side. I thought it must be a shooting star. In seven or eight minutes I saw distinctly a second rocket in the same place, and I said to myself: ‘That must be a vessel in distress.’ It was not my business to notify the bridge or the lookouts, but they could not have helped but see them.

  I turned in immediately after, supposing that the ship would pay attention to the rockets. I knew no more until I was awakened at 6.40 by the chief engineer who said: ‘Turn out to render assistance. The Titanic has gone down.’

  I went down on watch and heard the second and fourth engineers in conversation. Mr J. O. Evans is the second and Mr Wooten is the fourth. The second was telling the fourth that the third officer had reported rockets had gone up in his watch. I knew then that it must have been the Titanic I had seen.

  (US Inquiry, 26 April 1912)

  Contrary to Ernest Gill’s assertions, Stanley Lord, Captain of the Californian, insisted that his ship was some twenty miles away from the Titanic and therefore out of visual range. But Lord did admit to seeing another vessel – which he claimed was not the Titanic – which had flashed signals. However, he said, they were definitely not distress signals.

  When I came off the bridge at half past ten, I pointed out to the officer that I thought I saw a light coming along, and it was a most peculiar light, and we had been making mistakes all along with the stars, thinking they were signals. We could not distinguish where the sky ended and where the water commenced. You see, it was a flat calm. He said he thought it was a star, and I did not say anything more. I went down below. I was talking with the engineer about keeping the steam ready. We saw these signals coming along and I said, ‘There is a steamer coming. Let’s go to the wireless and see what the news is.’

  On our way down I met the operator. I said: ‘Do you know anything?’ He said: ‘The Titanic.’ So then I gave him instructions to let the Titanic know. I said: ‘This is not the Titanic – there is no doubt about it.’

  She came and lay, at half past eleven, alongside of us until, I suppose, a quarter past one, within four miles of us. We could see everything on her quite distinctly, we could see her lights. We signalled her at half past eleven with the Morse lamp. She did not take the slightest notice of it. That was between 11.30 and 11.40. We signalled her again at 12.10, 12.30, 12.45 and one o’clock. We have a very powerful Morse lamp. I suppose you can see that about ten miles, and she was about four miles off, and she did not take the slightest notice of it.

  When the second officer came on the bridge around 12 o’clock, I told him to watch that steamer, which was stopped, and I pointed out the ice to him. At 12.40 I whistled up the speaking tube and asked him if she was getting any nearer. He said: ‘No, she is not taking any notice of us.’ So I said: ‘I will go and lie down a bit.’ At a quarter past one he said, ‘I think she has fired a rocket.’ He said: ‘She did not answer the Morse lamp and she has commenced to go away from us.’ I said: ‘Call her up and let me know at once what her name is.’ So he put the whistle back, and, apparently, he was calling. I could hear him ticking over my head. Then I went to sleep.

  (US Inquiry, 26 April 1912)

  Twenty-year-old Cyril Furmstone Evans, a native of Liverpool, was the Marconi wireless operator on the Californian. He revealed that he had informed the Titanic of ice at around 11 p.m. on the Sunday night but had been told to ‘shut up.’

  ‘What time did you communicate with the Titanic?’ – ‘In the afternoon, sir. I was sending a message to the Antillian, of our line. I was sending an ice report, handed in by the skipper. The Titanic called me up, and we exchanged signals. I said, “Here is a message, an ice report.” He said, “It’s all right, old man. I heard you send to the Antillian.” ’

  ‘When did you next communicate with the Titanic?’ – ‘9.05 New York time, sir, on the fourteenth, the same evening. I went outside of my room just before that, about five minutes before that and we were stopped, and I went to the captain and I asked him if there was anything the matter. The captain told me he was going to stop because of the ice, and he asked me if I had any boats. I said, “The Titanic.” He said: “Bette
r advise him we are surrounded by ice and stopped.” So I went to my cabin, and at 9.05 New York time I called him up. I said: “Say, old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice.” He turned around and said: “Shut up, shut up, I am busy. I am working Cape Race,” and at that I jammed him.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’ – ‘By jamming we mean when somebody is sending a message to somebody else and you start to send at the same time, you jam him. He does not get his message. I was stronger than Cape Race. Therefore my signals came in with a bang, and he could read me and he could not read Cape Race.’

  ‘What time did you retire that night?’ – ‘At 11.25 I still had the phones on my ears and heard him still working Cape Race. At 11.35 I put the phones down and took off my clothes and turned in.’

  ‘When you were awakened?’ – ‘About 3.30 a.m., New York time, by the chief officer, Mr Stewart. He said, “There is a ship that has been firing rockets in the night. Please see if there is anything the matter.” I jumped out of bed, slipped on a pair of trousers and a pair of slippers, and I went at once to my key and started my motor and gave “C.Q.”. About a second later, I was answered by the Frankfurt. He told me the Titanic had sunk.’

  ‘Did any officer of the ship or member of the crew tell you about Captain Lord being notified three times that a vessel was sending up rockets?’ – ‘I think the apprentice did. Gibson.’

  ‘What did he say to you?’ – ‘I do not know exactly. I know the effect. I think he said that the skipper was being called; called three times. I think that is all he said.’

  (US Inquiry, 26 April 1912)

  In a hard-hitting editorial, the Socialist Daily Herald expressed its outrage at the perceived class distinctions on board the Titanic.

  SLAUGHTER OF THE STEERAGE

  • Driven Back From The Deck

  • Half-Empty Boats Rush Past Them

  • Steerage Passengers Kept At Bay With Revolver Shots

  • ‘Five Thousand Dollars For A Place In The Boat’

  ‘With my own eyes I saw an officer shoot two or three third-class passengers.’

  ‘Five thousand dollars for a place in the boat.’

  The above paragraphs are quotations from our own reporter’s interviews with Titanic survivors at Plymouth last night.

  The first was an interview with a fireman, and the subject of the second remark was a wealthy American struggling in the icy waters during the great debacle.

  Shall we ever know the truth? Will the crime of the Titanic ever be made plain? Or is it possible for 399 steerage men, 81 steerage women and 53 steerage children to be done to death and the world to pass on to discussion of straw hats for summer wear?

  Are we such a superficial people that we can weep over the damning figures, complain of the hardness of fate, and forget?

  We do not believe it. The conscience of England is roused, and justice will be done. But by the people of England! – not by its officials – not by the capitalist press. That great voice of protest which is to be heard in the street finds no echo in the columns of the newspapers. And it is before that final and inexcrable judge – the people – we put the evidence of how the women and children of the steerage died.

  This is how it stands.

  Major Peuchen said:

  The boats were being prepared for lowering at the port side. They would only allow women to pass, and the men had to stand back. No men passengers got into the boat. When I came on deck first at seemed to me that about 100 stokers came up and crowded the deck. One of the officers, a splendid man, drove these men right off the deck like sheep. When we got to the next boat a quartermaster and a sailor were put in, and the boat was then filled with women.

  The Washington correspondent of the Daily Telegraph gives quite another version of this piece of evidence:

  One thing I greatly admired was the conduct of 200 stokers who advanced in a body along the boat deck, and drove every man back so as to give the women a better chance. I do not know that such action was necessary on the part of the stokers, but it was not resented by the men. It seemed to me at the time a brave thing for the stokers to act as a body on behalf of the women and children.

  Who were the men driven back under the orders of this magnificent officer? And were they all men? And were they driven off to give the steerage women a better chance? On the lower decks we shall find the answer to our question.

  Abraham Hyman, steerage passenger, said that he saw many steerage passengers hurrying up but when they got on the deck they were waved back by an officer, who told them there was no danger. Hyman said he also noticed a rope stretched across the deck guarded by several members of the crew. Women came on deck crying, and were waved back by officers.

  One man started a rush and was knocked down. Other men stood their ground, comforting the women. The crowd broke away only when they had seen the water rushing into the steer-age. Then there was a scramble for the boats, but he saw men helping women and children and making no attempt to save themselves.

  The crowd broke away only when they had seen water rushing into the steerage. They rushed on deck and were driven back like sheep by a magnificent officer! But that is not all.

  Mr Lowe was asked:

  ‘Did you hear any pistol shots on that Sunday night?’ – ‘Yes.’

  ‘Where did you hear them?’ – ‘I heard them and fired them.’

  ‘At whom?’ – ‘As lifeboat No. 15 [sic] was going down the ship’s side I expected it would double up under our feet as it was. It would not have done for me to have told anyone else, or there would have been trouble. I feared that many would leap into it as we passed the decks. I thought, well, I shall have to see that no one else gets into that boat. As we were lowering away I saw a lot of Italians at the ship’s rail glaring and ready to spring. I yelled “Look out!” to the men, and fired down the ship’s side.’

  ‘How far was your lifeboat from the ship’s side?’ – ‘About 3ftfrom the rail. I fired the shots with no intention of hurting anyone. I know I did not hurt anyone.’

  ‘How many shots did you fire?’ – ‘Three times. I fired at three decks. I fired horizontally along the boat. Afterwards I locked my revolver. I have never had occasion to use it since.’

  Was the boat full from which Mr Lowe so bravely fired his revolver? Was that the only revolver fired? Were the steer-age passengers kept in their quarters awash with water at the pistol-point?

  Were boats sent down to the water half-full? We know they were. Take this as a sample of the evidence:

  Mr Pitman, Third Officer, admitted that forty persons did not tax the capacity of his boat, which, he said, would have carried sixty at a tight fit. He had transferred women and a child from his boat to boat No. 7.

  ‘Then you think that No. 7 could have held more people?’ – ‘Yes.’

  ‘Both these boats could have held more people then?’ – ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why were not more taken?’ – ‘There were no more women about when my boat was lowered. I can’t say about No. 7.’

  ‘Were there any men around?’ – ‘There may have been.’

  There were no more women (and children?) about when his boat was lowered! Where were they then? Were they penned in their quarters waiting for the water to rush up and cover them? Had they tried to rush up on deck and been driven back? Were they whimpering helplessly in the dark? And were they only Italian men who stood at the ship side glaring and ready to spring?

  Mr Lowe went away with his boat one-third empty, and he did not pull back. Why? The Senatorial Inquiry asked him that.

  ‘Did you hear any cries of distress?’ – ‘Oh, yes.’

  ‘Crying and shouting? Was it in the water?’ – ‘Yes, from the water. I heard no cries of distress before the ship went down. The cries were probably several hundred yards away. Then I told my men to get out their oars and pull towards the wreck so that we might be able to save a few more. They demurred,’ he continued, ‘saying it would be a mad idea,’ but he correct
ed himself at once by saying that it was not the crew who demurred, but the passengers. Even the women did not urge him to go back. He yielded to the importunities of the passengers and let the boat drift aimlessly …

  Is that true? Did he refrain from going back because of the importunities of his first-class passengers? And was it because of their importunities that they hurried past the lower decks?

  Is that the final picture that remains to us – of the boat deck kept clear of steerage passengers, of intruders driven off it like sheep, of men knocked down in ineffectual desperate rushes out of the death trap, of guarded ropes and women and children driven back into the rushing water, of frenzied men (and women?) glaring from the ship’s side at the rapidly descending boats, and frightened away with revolver shots? Do we see first-class passengers urging instant escape, clamorous against a stoppage of the lower decks with their ‘glaring’ occupants, insistent that the half-filled boats should not return?

  Is it the fact that not one boat went down empty to the lower decks, that steerage passengers were driven off the upper deck, that what steerage passengers were saved were saved by sheerest accidents?

  Were the steerage passengers treated like wild beasts to be kept under? Was the order of the day all thought and consideration for the first-class and second-class passengers? Were those dreadful creatures kept as far as possible out of the way until the first-class was clear?

  The people of England shall decide. It has decided already that the course taken by the Titanic was unjustifiable, that the speed held by the Titanic was unjustifiable, that there was too little boat drill, that there were too few boats. Will it come now to the dreadful conclusion that there were too few boats because the lives of the steerage passengers were not worth saving?

  (Daily Herald, 29 April 1912)

  STORY OF THE MOUNT TEMPLE RUSH TO THE RESCUE TITANIC’S LAST MESSAGES WRONG POSITION GIVEN