Voices from the Titanic (18 page)

The first boat that went off was not more than two-thirds full, and the officers said they would have to do something to get the people started.

When the second boat was being loaded we decided that we would certainly put all the women in this boat. We not only put all the women in our party and those that we had advised to come to the boat deck, but also put in two stewardesses, which were all the women on the boat deck at that time.

Mrs Kimball absolutely refused to leave without me, and one of the officers and myself had to pick her up bodily and put her into the boat, together with all the other women and the two stewardesses.

The boat was then swung off, and the officers ordered it to be lowered. I remained behind on the
Titanic
after having helped to load all the women in the boat. After it had been lowered ten or twelve feet one of the officers of the
Titanic
said to me: ‘There are no women on the deck, and there is more room in that lifeboat.
You had better go,' and gave me a push and I jumped and landed in the lifeboat. I feel that I owe my life to that fact.

After we were in the lifeboat the men manned the oars and we rowed away for some distance from the big ship. Even at this time a couple of sailors in our boat stated that they would rather be on the
Titanic
than in the lifeboat, because she was absolutely unsinkable.

After we knew that the
Titanic
was doomed, however, we decided to conserve our strength, as we did not know how soon there would be help. We understood that the
Olympic
would not be along until probably two o'clock the next afternoon, so we tried to row so as to keep near some of the other lifeboats.

Just before daybreak we saw the signal rockets of a boat and rowed towards them. After we had rowed a short time one of the officers in our lifeboat saw the lights but did not know whether it was a ship or only one of our own lifeboats which had a light.

It turned out to be the
Carpathia
and we continued rowing towards it until we came up alongside. We cannot speak too highly of the treatment and kindness shown us by the officers, passengers and stewards of the
Carpathia
.

(
Boston Post
, 20 April 1912)

We saw the crew manning the lifeboats, getting them ready, swinging them out. So we waited around there on the top deck and we were finally told, ‘Go over this way. Go over this way.' So we followed and went over towards the first lifeboat, where Mr and Mrs Bishop were. That boat was filled, so they told us to move to the next one. We got to the second one, and we were told to go right in there. I have been told that Mr Ismay took hold of my wife's arm and pushed her right in. Then I followed. When I jumped in, one foot went in between the oars, and I could not move until somebody pulled me over.

As we were being lowered, they lowered one side quicker than the other, but we finally reached the water safely after a few scares. When we got down into the water, somebody said the plug was not in. So they fished around to see if that was in, and I guess it was in. Then they could not get the boat detached from the tackle, so they fussed around there for a while. Finally they asked if anybody had a knife. One of the passengers did, and the rope was cut.

We had about forty-two people in the boat, of whom roughly thirty were women. There was also an officer, a sailor and three other seamen. We rowed out there some distance from the ship – maybe a quarter of a mile – because we were afraid of the suction. The passengers said: ‘Let us row out a little further.' So they rowed out further, perhaps about half a mile. It may have been three-quarters of a mile. There we waited, and after waiting around a while, there was this other boat that came alongside, that Officer Pitman hailed alongside. It was the boat in which Mr and Mrs Bishop were. We tied alongside of that, and they had twenty-nine people in their boat. We counted the number of people in our boat, and at the time we only counted, I think it was 36. So we gave them four or five of our people in order to make it even, as we were kind of crowded. They say those boats hold sixty people, but we had only the number of people I have mentioned and, believe me, we did not have room to spare.

Then we waited out there until the ship went down. After it went down, we heard a lot of cries and yells. You could not hear any shouts for help, or anything like that. It was a sort of continuous yelling or moaning. You could not distinguish any sounds. I thought it was the steerage in rafts that were all hysterical. That is the way it sounded in the distance.

Our boat was managed very well. Officer Pitman did want to go back to the ship, but all the passengers held out and said: ‘Do not do that. It would only be foolish if we went back there. There will be so many around they will only swamp the boat.' And at that time, I do not think those people appreciated that there were
not enough lifeboats to go around. I never paid any attention to how many lifeboats there were. I did not know.

(US Inquiry, 8 May 1912)

When the first boat was lowered from the left-hand side I refused to get in, and they did not urge me particularly. In the second boat they kept calling for one more lady to fill it, and my husband insisted that I get in it, my friend having gotten in. I refused unless he would go with me. In the meantime Captain Smith was standing with a megaphone on deck. I approached him and told him I was alone, and asked if my husband might be allowed to go in the boat with me. He ignored me personally, but shouted again through his megaphone, ‘Women and children first.' My husband said: ‘Never mind about that, captain – I will see that she gets in the boat.' He then said: ‘I never expected to ask you to obey, but this is one time you must. It is only a matter of form to have women and children first. The boat is thoroughly equipped,
and everyone on her will be saved.' I asked him if that was absolutely honest, and he said: ‘Yes.' I felt better then because I had absolute confidence in what he said. He kissed me goodbye and placed me in the lifeboat with the assistance of an officer. As the boat was being lowered he yelled from the deck: ‘Keep your hands in your pockets, it is very cold weather.'

That was the last I saw of him, and now I remember the many husbands that turned their backs as the small boat was lowered, the women blissfully innocent of their husbands' peril, and said goodbye with the expectation of seeing them within the next hour or two.

By that time our interest was centred on the lowering of the lifeboat, which occurred to me – although I know very little about it – to be a very poor way to lower one. The end I was in was almost straight up, while the lower end came near touching the water. One seaman said at the time that he did not know how to get the rope down, and asked for a knife. Some person in the boat happened to have a knife – a lady, I think – who gave it to him. He cut the rope, and we were about to hit the bottom when someone spoke of the plug. After a few minutes' excitement to find something to stop the hole in the bottom of the boat where the plug is, we reached the water all right. The captain looked over to see us, I suppose, or something of the kind, and noticed there was only one man in the boat. Major Peuchen, of Canada, was then swung out to us as an experienced seaman.

There was a small light on the horizon that we were told to row towards. Some people seemed to think it was a fishing smack or small boat of some description. However we seemed to get no nearer the longer we rowed, and I am of the opinion that it was a star. Many people in our boat said they saw two lights. I could not until I had looked a long time. I think it was the way our eyes focused, and probably the hope for another boat. I do not believe it was anything but a star.

There were twenty-four people in our boat – they are supposed to hold fifty. During the night they looked for water and crackers and a compass, but they found none that night.

We were some distance away when the
Titanic
went down. We watched with sorrow and heard the many cries for help and pitied the captain because we knew he would have to stay with his ship. The cries we heard I thought were seamen, or possibly steerage, who had overslept, it not occurring to me for a moment that my husband and my friends were not saved.

It was bitterly cold, but I did not seem to mind it particularly. I was trying to locate my husband in all the boats that were near us. The night was beautiful – everything seemed to be with us in that respect – and a very calm sea. The icebergs on the horizon were all watched with interest. Some seemed to be as tall as mountains, and reminded me of the pictures I had studied in geography. Then there were flat ones, round ones also.

I am not exactly sure what time, but think it was between 5 and 5.30, when we sighted the
Carpathia
. Our seaman suggested we drift and let them pick us up. However the women refused and rowed towards it. Our seaman was Hichens, who refused to row but sat in the end of the boat wrapped in a blanket that one of the women had given him. I am not of the opinion that he was intoxicated, but a lazy, uncouth man who had no respect for the ladies and who was a thorough coward.

We made no attempt to return to the sinking
Titanic
because we supposed it was thoroughly equipped. Such a thought never entered my head. Nothing of the sort was mentioned in the boat. Having left the ship so early, we were innocent of the poor equipment that we now know of.

The sea had started to get fairly rough by the time we were taken on the
Carpathia
, and we were quite cold and glad for the shelter and protection. I have every praise for the
Carpathia
's captain and its crew, as well as the passengers aboard. They were kindness itself to each and every one of us, regardless of position we occupied on boat. One lady very kindly gave me her berth, and I was as comfortable as can be expected under the circumstances until we arrived in New York. The ship's doctors were particularly nice to us. I know many women who slept on the floor in the smoking
room while Mr Ismay occupied the best room on the
Carpathia
, being in the centre of the boat, with every attention, and a sign on the door: ‘Please do not knock.' There were other men who were miraculously saved, and barely injured, sleeping on the engine-room floor and such places as that, as the ship was very crowded.

The discipline coming into New York was excellent. We were carefully looked after in every way with the exception of a Marconigram I sent from the
Carpathia
on Monday morning, April 15, to my friends. Knowing of their anxiety, I borrowed money from a gentleman and took this Marconigram myself and asked the operator to send it for me, and he promised he would. However it was not received. Had it been sent, it would have spared my family, as well as Mr Smith's, the terrible anxiety which they went through for four days. This is the only complaint I have to make against the
Carpathia
. They did tell me they were near enough to land to send it, but would send it through other steamers, as they were cabling the list of the rescued that way. He also said it was not necessary to pay him, because the White Star Line was responsible. I insisted, however, because I thought that probably the money might have some weight with them, as the whole thing seemed to have been a monied accident.

(US Inquiry, 20 May 1912)

I was afraid and made my husband promise if there was trouble he would not make me leave him. We walked around the deck a while.

An officer came up and cried, ‘All women into the lifeboats.' My husband and I discussed it, and the officer said, ‘You must obey orders.' We went down into the cabin and we decided on account of our baby to part. He helped me put on warm things.
I got into a boat, but there were no sailors aboard. We called to the ship that there were no men in the boat. They sent a sailor down.

An English girl and I rowed for four hours and a half. We were well away from the steamer when it went down, but we heard the screams of the people left on the boat. There were about seventy of us widows on the
Carpathia
, and all were wonderfully brave. The Captain of the
Carpathia
and the passengers did all they could for us. Mrs Harris says my husband and Mr Harris and Mr Douglas lowered the last boatload of women. All three were perfectly calm.

(US press, 19 April 1912)