J.G. Boxhall, Fourth Officer (Am. Inq., p. 240, and Br. Inq.):
I was sent away in Emergency boat 2, the last boat but one on the port side. There was one of the lifeboats (No. 4) lowered away a few minutes after I left. That was the next lifeboat to me aft. Engelhardt boat ‘D’ was being got ready. There was no anxiety of people to get into these boats. There were four men in this boat – a sailorman (Osman), a steward (Johnston), a cook and myself, and one male passenger who did not speak English – a middle-aged man with a black beard. He had his wife there and some children. When the order was given to lower the boat, which seemed to be pretty full, it was about twenty minutes to half an hour before the ship sank. Someone shouted through a megaphone: ‘Some of the boats come back and come around to the starboard side.’ All rowed except this male passenger. I handled one oar and a lady assisted me. She asked me to do it. I got around to the starboard side intending to go alongside. I reckoned I could take about three more people off the ship with safety; and when about 22 yards off there was a little suction, as the boat seemed to be drawn closer, and I thought it would be dangerous to go nearer the ship. I suggested going back (after ship sank) to the sailorman in the boat, but decided it was unwise to do so. There was a lady there, Mrs. Douglas, whom I asked to steer the boat according to my orders. She assisted me greatly in it. They told me on board the Carpathia afterwards that it was about ten minutes after four when we went alongside.
After we left the Titanic I showed green lights most of the time. When within two or three ship lengths of the Carpathia, it was just breaking daylight, and I saw her engines were stopped. She had stopped within half a mile or a quarter of a mile of an iceberg. There were several other bergs, and I could see field ice as far as I could see. The bergs looked white in the sun, though when I first saw them at daylight they looked black. This was the first time I had seen field ice on the Grand Banks. I estimate about 25 in my boat.
F. Osman, A.B. (Am. Inq., p. 538):
All of us went up and cleared away the boats. After that we loaded all the boats there were. I went away in No. 2, the fourth from the last to leave the ship. Boxhall was in command. Murdoch directed the loading. All passengers were women and children, except one man, a third-class passenger, his wife and two children. After I got in the boat the officer found a bunch of rockets which was put in the boat by mistake for a box of biscuits. The officer fired some off, and the Carpathia came to us first and picked us up half an hour before anybody else. Not until morning did we see an iceberg about 100 feet out of the water with one big point sticking on one side of it, apparently dark, like dirty ice, 100 yards away. I knew that was the one we struck. It looked as if there was a piece broken off.
There was no panic at all. There was no suction whatever. When we were in the boat I shoved off from the ship and I said to the officer: ‘See if you can get alongside to see if you can get some more hands – squeeze some more hands in’; so the women started to get nervous after I said that, and the officer said: ‘All right.’ The women disagreed to that. We pulled around to the starboard side of the ship and found that we could not get to the starboard side because it was listing too far. We pulled astern again that way, and after we lay astern we lay on our oars and saw the ship go down. It seemed to me as if all the engines and everything that was in the after part slid down into the forward part. We did not go back to the place where the ship had sunk because the women were all nervous, and we pulled around as far as we could get from it so that the women would not see and cause a panic. We got as close as we would dare to. We could not have taken any more hands into the boat. It was impossible. We might have gotten one in; that is all. There was no panic amongst the steerage passengers when we started manning the boats. I saw several people come up from the steerage and go straight up to the Boat Deck, and the men stood back while the women and children got into the boats – steerage passengers as well as others.
Senator Burton: So in your judgement it was safer to have gone on the boat than to have stayed on the Titanic?
Witness: Oh, yes, sir.
Senator Burton: That was when you left?
Witness: Yes, sir.
Senator Burton: What did you think when the first boat was launched?
Witness: I did not think she was going down then.
J. Johnston, steward (Br. Inq.):
Crew: Boxhall and four men, including perhaps McCullough. (None such on list.) Boxhall said: ‘Shall we go back in the direction of cries of distress?’ which were a half or three-quarters of a mile off. Ladies said: ‘No.’ Officer Boxhall signalled the Carpathia with lamp. Soon after launching the swish of the water was heard against the icebergs. In the morning Carpathia on the edge of ice-field about 200 yards off.
Mrs. Walter D. Douglas’s affidavit (Am. Inq., p. 1100):
Mr. Boxhall had difficulty in getting the boat loose and called for a knife. We finally were launched. Mrs. Appleton and a man from the steerage faced me. Mrs. Appleton’s sister, Mrs. Cornell, was back of me and on the side of her the officer. I think there were eighteen or twenty in the boat. There were many who did not speak English. The rowing was very difficult, for no one knew how. We tried to steer under Mr. Boxhall’s orders, and he put an old lantern, with very little oil in it, on a pole, which I held up for some time. Mrs. Appleton and some other women had been rowing, and did row all the time. Mr. Boxhall had put into the Emergency boat a tin box of green lights like rockets. These he sent off at intervals, and very quickly we saw the lights of the Carpathia, whose captain said he saw our green lights ten miles away and steered directly towards us, so we were the first boat to arrive at the Carpathia. When we pulled alongside, Mr. Boxhall called out: ‘Slow down your engines and take us aboard. I have only one seaman.’
Mrs. J.B. Mennell (née Allen):
My aunt, Mrs. Roberts’ maid, came to the door and asked if she could speak to me. I went into the corridor and she said: ‘Miss Allen, the baggage room is full of water.’ I replied she needn’t worry, that the water-tight compartments would be shut and it would be all right for her to go back to her cabin. She went back and returned to us immediately to say her cabin, which was forward on Deck E, was flooded.
We were on the Boat Deck some minutes before being ordered into the lifeboat. Neither my aunt, Mrs. Roberts, my cousin, Miss Madill, nor myself ever saw or heard the band. As we stood there we saw a line of men file by and get into the boat – some sixteen or eighteen stokers. An officer11 came along and shouted to them: ‘Get out, you damned cowards; I’d like to see everyone of you overboard.’ They all got out and the officer said: ‘Women and children into this boat,’ and we got in and were lowered.
With the exception of two very harrowing leave-takings, we saw nothing but perfect order and quiet on board the Titanic. We were rowed round the stern to the starboard side and away from the ship, as our boat was a small one and Boxhall feared the suction. Mrs. Cornell helped to row all the time.
As the Titanic plunged deeper and deeper we could see her stern rising higher and higher until her lights began to go out. As the last lights on the stern went out we saw her plunge distinctively, bow first and intact. Then the screams began and seemed to last eternally. We rowed back, after the Titanic was under water, toward the place where she had gone down, but we saw no one in the water, nor were we near enough to any other lifeboats to see them. When Boxhall lit his first light the screams grew louder and then died down.
We could hear the lapping of the water on the icebergs, but saw none, even when Boxhall lit his green lights, which he did at regular intervals, till we sighted the Carpathia. Our boat was the first one picked up by the Carpathia. I happened to be the first one up the ladder, as the others seemed afraid to start up, and when the officer who received me asked where the Titanic was, I told him she had gone down.
Capt. A.H. Rostron, of the Carpathia (Am. Inq., p. 22):
We picked up the first boat, which was in charge of an officer who I saw was not under full
control of his boat. He sang out that he had only one seaman in the boat, so I had to manoeuvre the ship to get as close to the boat as possible, as I knew well it would be difficult to do the pulling. By the time we had the first boat’s people it was breaking day, and then I could see the remaining boats all around within an area of about four miles. I also saw icebergs all around me. There were about twenty icebergs that would be anywhere from about 150 to 200 feet high, and numerous smaller bergs; also numerous ones we call ‘growlers’ anywhere from 10 to 12 feet high and 10 to 15 feet long, above the water.
BOAT NO 412
No man passenger in this boat.
Passengers: Mrs. Astor and maid (Miss Bidois), Miss Bowen, Mrs. Carter and maid (Miss Serepeca), Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Cummings, Miss Eustis, Mrs. Ryerson and children, Miss S.R., Miss E. and Master J.B. and maid (Chandowson), Mrs. Stephenson, Mrs. Thayer and maid, Mrs. Widener and maid.
Women and children: 36. (Br. Rpt.)
Crew: Perkis, Q. M., in charge. Seamen: McCarthy, Hemmings,13 Lyons;14 Storekeeper Foley and Assistant Storekeeper Prentice;† Firemen: Smith and Dillon;† Greasers: Granger and Scott;† Stewards: Cunningham,† Siebert.‡
Bade goodbye to wives and sank with ship: Messrs Astor, Clark, Cummings, Ryerson, Thayer, Widener and his son Harry.
Stowaway: One Frenchman.
Total: 40. (Br. Rpt.)
Incidents
C.H. Lightoller, Second Officer (Am. Inq., p. 81):
Previous to putting out Engelhardt Boat ‘D,’ Lightoller says, referring to boat No. 4: ‘We had previously lowered a boat from A Deck, one deck down below. That was through my fault. It was the first boat I had lowered. I was intending to put the passengers in from A Deck. On lowering the boat I found that the windows were closed; so I sent someone down to open the windows and carried on with the other boats, but decided it was not worth while lowering them down – that I could manage just as well from the Boat Deck. When I came forward from the other boats I loaded that boat from A Deck by getting the women out through the windows. My idea in filling the boats there was because there was a wire hawser running along the side of the ship for coaling purposes and it was handy to tie the boat in to hold it so that nobody could drop between the side of the boat and the ship. No. 4 was the fifth boat or the sixth lowered on the port side.’15
W.J. Perkis, Quartermaster (Am. Inq., p. 581):
I lowered No. 4 into the water and left that boat and walked aft; and I came back and a man that was in the boat, one of the seamen, sang out to me: ‘We need another hand down here,’ so I slid down the lifeline there from the davit into the boat. I took charge of the boat after I got in, with two sailormen besides myself. There were forty-two, including all hands. We picked up eight people afterwards swimming with life-preservers when about a ship’s length away from the ship. No. 4 was the last big boat on the port side to leave the ship. Two that were picked up died in the boat – a seaman (Lyons) and a steward (Siebert). All the others were passengers. After we picked up the men I could not hear any more cries anywhere. The discipline on board the ship was excellent. Every man knew his station and took it. There was no excitement whatever among the officers or crew, the firemen or stewards. They conducted themselves the same as they would if it were a minor, everyday occurrence.
Senator Perkins (addressing Perkis, Symon and Hogg:)
All three of you seem to be pretty capable young men and have had a great deal of experience at sea, and yet you have never been wrecked?
Mr. Perkiss: Yes, sir.
Senator Perkins: Is there any other one of you who has been in a shipwreck?
Mr. Hogg: I have been in a collision, Senator, but with no loss of life.
Senator Perkins: Unless you have something more to state that you think will throw light on this subject, that will be all, and we thank you for what you have said.
Mr. Hogg: That is all I have to say except this: I think the women ought to have a gold medal on their breasts. God bless them. I will always raise my hat to a woman after what I saw.
Senator Perkins: What countrywomen were they?
Mr. Hogg: They were American women I had in mind. They were all Americans.
Senator Perkins: Did they man the oars? Did they take the oars and pull?
Mr. Hogg: Yes, sir; I took an oar all the time myself and also steered. Then I got one lady to steer; then another to assist me with an oar. She rowed to keep herself warm.
Senator Perkins: One of you stated that his boat picked up eight people, and the other that he did not pick up any. Could you not have picked up just as well as this other man?
Mr. Hogg: I wanted to assist in picking up people, but I had an order from somebody in the boat (No. 7) – I do not know who it was – not to take in any more; that we had done our best.
Senator Perkins: I merely ask the question because of the natural thought that if one boat picked up eight persons the other boat may have been able to do so. – You did not get any orders, Mr. Symon (boat No. 1), not to pick up any more people?
My Symon: No, sir; there were no more around about where I was.
Senator Perkins: As I understand, one of the boats had more packed into it than the other. As I understand it, Mr. Symon pulled away from the ship and then when he came back there they picked up all the people that were around?
Mr. Symon made no reply.
S.S. Hemming, A.B. (Am. Inq.):
Everything was black over the starboard side. I could not see any boats. I went over to the port side and saw a boat off the port quarter and I went along the port side and got up the after boat davits and slid down the fall and swam to the boat about 200 yards. When I reached the boat I tried to get hold of the grab-line on the bows. I pulled my head above the gunwale, and I said: ‘Give us a hand, Jack.’ Foley was in the boat; I saw him standing up. He said: ‘Is that you, Sam?’ I said: ‘Yes’ to him and the women and children pulled me in the boat.
After the ship sank we pulled back and picked up seven of the crew including a seaman, Lyons, a fireman, Dillon, and two stewards, Cunningham and Siebert. We made for the light of another lifeboat and kept in company with her. Then day broke and we saw two more lifeboats. We pulled toward them and we all made fast by the painter. Then we helped with boat No. 12 to take off the people on an overturned boat (‘B’). From this boat (‘B’) we took about four or five, and the balance went into the other boat. There were about twenty altogether on this boat (‘B’).
A. Cunningham, Steward (Am. Inq., p. 794):
I first learned of the very serious character of the collision from my own knowledge when I saw the water on the post-office deck. I waited on the ship until all the boats had gone, and then threw myself into the water. This was about 2 o’clock. I was in the water about half an hour before the ship sank. I swam clear of the ship about three-quarters of a mile. I was afraid of the suction. My mate, Siebert, left the ship with me. I heard a lifeboat and called to it and went toward it. I found Quartermaster Perkis in charge. Hemmings, the sailor, Foley (storekeeper) and a fireman (Dillon) were in this boat. I never saw any male passengers in the boat. We picked up Prentice, assistant storekeeper. I think No. 4 was the nearest to the scene of the accident because it picked up more persons in the water. About 7.30 we got aboard the Carpathia. When we sighted her she might have been four or five miles away.
R.P. Dillon, trimmer (Br. Inq.):
I went down with the ship and sank about two fathoms. Swam about twenty minutes in the water and was picked up by No. 4. About 1,000 others in the water in my estimation. Saw no women. Recovered consciousness and found Sailor Lyons and another lying on top of me dead.
Thomas Granger, greaser (Br. Inq.):
I went to the port side of the Boat Deck aft, climbed down a rope and got into a boat near the ship’s side, No. 4, which had come back because there were not enough men to pull her. She was full of women and children. F. Scott, greaser, also went down the falls and got into this boat. Perkis, quartermaster, and Hemmings then in
it. Afterwards picked up Dillon and another man (Prentice) out of the water.
F. Scott, greaser (Br. Inq.):
We went on deck on starboard side first as she had listed over to the port side, but we saw no boats. When I came up the engineers came up just after me on the Boat Deck. I saw only eight of them out of thirty-six on the deck. Then we went to the port side and saw boats. An officer fired a shot and I heard him say that if any man tried to get in that boat he would shoot him like a dog. At this time all the boats had gone from the starboard side. I saw one of the boats, No. 4, returning to the ship’s side and I climbed on the davits and tried to get down the falls but fell in the water and was picked up. It was nearly two o’clock when I got on the davits and down the fall.
Mrs. E.B. Ryerson’s affidavit (Am. Inq., p. 1107):
We were ordered down to A Deck, which was partly enclosed. We saw people getting into boats, but waited our turn. My boy, Jack, was with me. An officer at the window said: ‘That boy cannot go.’ My husband said: ‘Of course that boy goes with his mother; he is only thirteen’; so they let him pass. I turned and kissed my husband and as we left he and the other men I knew, Mr. Thayer, Mr. Widener and others, were standing together very quietly. There were two men and an officer inside and a sailor outside to help us. I fell on top of the women who were already in the boat and scrambled to the bow with my eldest daughter. Miss Bowen and my boy were in the stern, and my second daughter was in the middle of the boat with my maid. Mrs. Thayer, Mrs. Widener, Mrs. Astor and Miss Eustis were the only ones I knew in our boat.
Presently an officer called out from the upper deck: ‘How many women are there in that boat?’ Someone answered: ‘Twenty-four.’ ‘That’s enough; lower away.’
The ropes seemed to stick at one end. Someone called for a knife, but it was not needed until we got into the water as it was but a short distance; and then I realized for the first time how far the ship had sunk. The deck we left was only about twenty feet from the sea. I could see all the portholes open and the water washing in, and the decks still lighted. Then they called out: ‘How many seamen have you?’ and they answered: ‘One.’ ‘That is not enough,’ said the officer, ‘I will send you another’; and he sent a sailor down the rope. In a few minutes several other men, not sailors, came down the ropes over the davits and dropped into our boat. The order was given to pull away, and then they rowed off. Someone shouted something about a gangway, and no one seemed to know what to do. Barrels and chairs were being thrown overboard. As the bow of the ship went down the lights went out. The stern stood up for several minutes black against the stars and then the boat plunged down. Then began the cries for help of people drowning all around us, which seemed to go on forever. Someone called out: ‘Pull for your lives or you will be sucked under,’ and everyone that could rowed like mad. I could see my younger daughter and Mrs. Thayer and Mrs. Astor rowing, but there seemed to be no suction. Then we turned and picked up some of those in the water. Some of the women protested, but others persisted, and we dragged in six or seven men. The men rescued were stewards, stokers, sailors, etc., and were so chilled and frozen already that they could hardly move. Two of them died in the stern later and many of them were raving and moaning and delirious most of the time. We had no lights or compass. There were several babies in the boat.
Titanic: A Survivor's Story Page 12
