More than 100,00 people watched and cheered,
with great enthusiasm, and excitement.
What an exciting, historical moment this would be.
Some of the wealthiest people on earth, the most powerful
industrialists of her time, and Immigrants from the Middle East
and Europe who were seeking a new life and social and
economic freedom in the New World stepped aboard
The RMS Titanic for it's First and Last voyage.
Little did the 2,228 people on board know, what fate
had in store for them. In just 5 short days, the dreams
would end, and the tragedy and mysteries would begin.
RMS Titanic
 |
Last Photo Taken
Of Titanic
Taken by: Rev, Brown
"As Titanic set sail
for her First and Last Voyage". |
Sunday-12:00 Noon - April 10,
1912
Sunday was a day like any other day,as passengers
enjoyed many of the activities, events, and entertainment
that the Titanic had to offer. From the perspective of
Captain Smith,
it looked as though Titanic would be on
a course that would make it to New York a day early,
which is what White Star Lines had wanted because of
the extra publicity that it would bring.
Capt. Smith just presided over a Church Of England
service and a similar service was conducted in the
2nd class dining saloon by Reginald Barker.
At the same time Father Thomas Byles was conducting
a Catholic Mass in the 2nd class lounge,
followed by one in steerage ( 3rd class)
While most of the passengers & crew were eating
sunday luncheon,
Harold Bride and
Jack Phillips were busy
in the wireless room trying to catch up on the backlog
of passengers messages. The previous evening the set had
broke down and wasn't fixed until almost 5 am sunday morning.
About 1:40 pm the men were interupted by an incoming message
from the White Star Steamer Baltic. It read as
follows:
"Captain Smith, Titanic.
have had moderate winds and clear fine weather since leaving.
Greek steamer Athinai reports passing icebergs and
large quantities of field ice today
in latitude 41.51 north longitude 49.52 west.
wishes all of you success"
The Baltics message was immedietly given to
Captain
Smith,
who rather than turning it over to the officers on watch,
carried it with him as he proceeded to deck A.
Smith had shown an earlier message to
2nd officer Lightoller
that was from Coronia shortly before 1:00 pm and it had been
posted in the chartroom. According to Ismays later testimony,
Smith handed
him the message without comment,
Ismay glanced at it,and put it in his pocket,
and a moment later went below.
A passenger recalled hearing
Bruce Ismay
tell Captain
Smith:
to increase speed, even
after all the ice warnings,
as he was anxious to beat Olympics time
on crossing the Atlantic.
Due to the cold many of the passengers
stayed indoors.
After lunch, a number of people in 2nd class began dancing
in their general room, and even a few of the off
duty officers joined in. In the 3rd class smoking room,
several card games were already in progress.
Captain Smith ordered a delay in changing the original
course until 5:45, which caused the ship to travel an
additional 16 miles southwest,
Captain Smiths
decision was
probably made due to ice warnings the ship had been recieving.
The ship had since passed the area of ice reported by both ships
without spotting any bergs, but the messages from Caronia and Baltic
indicated ice would be a threat throughout the voyage.
At 735 pm
2nd
officer Lightoller returned to the bridge after dinner,
he noticed the temperature had fallen very quickly
and the sun had gone down. Murdoch mentioned the
temperature had dropped 4 degrees in the half hour Murdoch
was gone. {39 degrees fahrenheit} and an hour later it was
nearly freezing.
Captain Smith
enjoyed dinner with several of the ships
prominent passengers in the Ala Carte Restauraunt on B - deck,
Shortly before 9:00 pm ,he excused himself for the evening
and left for the bridge. In 3rd class an informal party
followed dinner with music provided by fellow passengers.
At one point a rat had scurried across the room causing the
girls to squeal. Everyone was having a good time, and enjoying
themselves, little did they know what tragedy awaited them.
Nearly 100 passengers gathered in the 2nd class dining room
for a hymn singing that was led by Rev, Carter. Meanwhile in
the lookout station the crew were without binoculars ,
which made the job a hard one .
8:55 pm
Captain Smith
arrived on the bridge remarking to
Lightoller
about the cold. Lightoller replied,
"it is a flat calm, Smith repeated
9:20 p.m.
Captain Smith
retires for the night
with the order to rouse him
"if it becomes at all doubtful.
930 pm
Lightoller
instructed 6th officer
Moody to
telephone the
crows nest and tell the men to keep a sharp lookout
for small ice and growlers, and to pass the word
along to subsequent watches. Shortly after 9:30 pm
Phillips recieved another ice warning from the steamer Mesaba,
saying they saw heavy pack ice and a great number of large
bergs, and field ice, but the weather was good and clear.
Phillips had a very long day and seeing as he had already
delivered a number of ice messages to the bridge
he simply replied "Thanks"
The Mesabas operator knowing the message took precendance
over the passengers, waited to hear
Phillips had
relayed the
message to the Captain, when no such reply came across,
the operator sent "Stand By"
indicating he was waiting for an answer.
The message.
The most important message sent to the Titanic ,
so far was never recieved.
10:00 pm
The lights in the 3rd class public rooms were
turned out, encouraging
the passengers to retire for the night. A few minutes later in
2nd class, stewards served coffee to the passengers
as they finished with the hymn singing.
In 1st class concerts ended that were being held in
the 2 reception rooms and passengers began to
head to their rooms. The 1st class smoking room remained
crowded as a number of card games were still in process.
In the crows nest
Fleet and
Lee had replaced
the lookouts.
They told them of the orders they recieved about looking for ice.
It was a moonless night, and the sea was still & calm. It was 31 degrees,
and even colder in the
Crows Nest,
where the wind chill was below 0.
Lightoller
remarked, "we will be up around the ice about 1:00 am"
10:55 p.m.
Some 10 to 19 miles north of the Titanic,
the Californian is stopped in ice field,
and sends out warnings to ships in area.
When the Californian's wireless operator
calls up the Titanic, his ice warning is interrupted by
a blunt "Keep out! Shut up! You're jamming my signal.
I'm working Cape Race."
The Californian's sole operator listens in to the
Titanic's wireless traffic and then at 11:30 turns off
his set and retires for the night, as is the custom.
By now the public rooms had nearly emptied
and most of the passengers in bed.
Elsewhere in the ship all was quite.
11:30 pm
The Titanic was speeding at about 22 1/2 knots,
In the crows nest they had seen nothing but had noticed
the horizon appeared hazy. A few minutes later
Fleet began
to make out a black object immediately in their path,
It could only be one thing. "There is ice ahead" he said...
reaching for the crows nest bell, he quickly rang three times
indicating something dead ahead, a few seconds past 11:39,
and then he picked up the phone, as soon as he heard the sound
of the phone being picked up he said "is anyone there"?
Moody replied,
"yes what do you see"?
Fleet said
" iceberg right ahead"
Moody hung
up and told
Murdoch, By
now he had seen
the berg and rushed to the engine room while signaling
Full speed astern! he ordered " Hard a starboard"!
Hichens promptly turned the wheel hard over.
The distance between the Titanic and the Iceberg
closened, 200 ft, now 100 ft... Just when it began
to look hopeful, the Titanic began to veer to port,
Hearts raced,,,"Would It hit?"
The Iceberg was now on the starboard side and right
upon them, It scraped against the bow,
but was only felt by few. This happened about 1
minute after spotting the Iceberg at 11:41
Most did not even notice they had hit anything.
As the dark mass came closer the 2 lookouts braced
themselves. Finally the nose of the ship began to turn,
At first it looked like the ship would be clear,
but as the berg moved alongside the starboard bow
there came a strange scraping noise.
The ice passed along the starboard side of the bow,
pieces of it falling onto the forecastle and well deck.
Noone will ever know what went through
Officer Murdochs
mind at the time, It was his responsibility and now he
had steered the ship into an iceberg! A seamans nightmare!
Showing no emotion he rang the bells signalling to lower the
water tight doors, he then ordered Quarter Master Oliver
to note the time of the collision, and
Officer Moody
entered it into the log as 11:40 pm.
A moment later
Captain Smith
rushed on the bridge,
and asked, "What have we struck"
Murdoch replied,
"an iceberg sir" then stated all he had done so far.
In his suite on deck B,
Bruce Ismay
was awakened by the noise ,
as he threw on a overcoat and headed for the bridge. He
asked Captain
Smith what had happened. Smith explained and then
Ismay asked "do you think the ship is seriously damaged"
Smith replied " I'm afraid she is" A few minutes later
Thomas Andrews
arrived and it was he who explained
to Smith the full seriousness of the situation.
Andrews knew the ship better than anyone and was fully
aware of the lifeboat shortage, he estimated the ship had
a little more than an hour to live.
11:50 p.m.
During first ten minutes after impact,
water rises 14 feet above the keel, forward.
First five compartments begin to take on water.
Boiler room no. 6, five feet above keel,
is flooded in eight feet of water.
12:00 a.m.
Mail room, 24 feet above keel,
begins taking enough water to float mail bags.
Now on the bridge, water pouring into
number 1, 2, and 3 holds, and boiler room no. 6,
12:05 a.m.
Squash court, 32 feet above keel, is awash.
Orders given to uncover lifeboats and gather the
crew and passengers. The Titanic's bow begins to sink.
The ship is doomed.
Captain Smith
orders CQD
( Come Quick Danger) distress calls for assistance
sent out over ship's wireless.
He also orders SOS, the first ever to use the new signal.
The Titanic's estimated position: 41º 46' N, 50º 14' W.
The boilers are shut down and relief pipes against
funnels blow off relieving a huge noisy clouds of steam.
Smith now faced with the worst, his ship sinking ,
and more than 2.200 people on board were in extreme peril.
 |
It reads:
We are sinking fast,
passengers are being put into boats |
.
THE FINAL HOURS
April 15, 1912 - Monday, 12:05 a.m.
Orders are now given to uncover
lifeboats and gather
the crew and passengers.
There is only enough room for 1178 out of the
estimated 2227 on board even if every boat is filled.
Several crew members on the Californian,
some 10 to 19 miles away, see lights of a steamer.
A number of attempts to make contact with the ship with
Morse lamp fail. Rockets are observed, but as the appear
so low over the ship's deck, and make no sound, they do
not seem like distress rockets, and no great concern is taken.
The distance between ships seem to increase until they
are out of sight of each other.
12:15 a.m.
The
Band begins to play lively ragtime tunes
in first-class lounge on A deck, later moving up to
Boat Deck near port entrance to Grand Staircase.
12:25 a.m.
Orders are given to start loading lifeboats
with women and children.
The Carpathia, southeast some 58 miles,
receives distress call and immediately heads
full speed to rescue.
When the command was given to enter the lifeboats,
many passengers still refused to believe
the ship was in any real danger,People were out on deck
playing with the ice from the iceberg.
Once they realized Titanic was sinking,
there fears no longer were with being on the boat,
but how they would get off.
The boats were loaded with First Class women
and
children being first priority,
then followed by women and children of all classes.
Although there was no escape available for the 3 lower decks.
Before 12:00 midnight the lower decks had
already filled with water,
and those there were already dead or drowning.
100's were already dead,
before anyone ever began boarding the life boats.
12:45 a.m.
First boat, starboard no. 7, safely lowered
away.
It can carry 65 people, but leaves with 28 aboard.
First distress rocket fired. Eight rockets will be fired altogether.
Fourth officer
Boxhall observes a vessel approach
the Titanic and then dissappear despite attempts to
contact her with Morse lamp.
Boat No. 4 begins loading between 12:30 and 12;45.
12:55 a.m.
First port-side boat no. 6 lowered with only
28 aboard, including
Molly Brown
and Major
Peuchen Starboard No. 5 is lowered.
(41 aboard - room for another 24.)
It had been rumored that the lower class passengers had been
locked in, and not allowed to come through the iron gates,
Although this has been denied ever happening,
In the expeditions years later that explored Titanic ,
they found that the iron gates were indeed locked,
and the alternate route at #2 Cargo Hold also had
"locked gates"... there was no escape.
{ The gates were kept locked
to prevent the lower class
passengers from rubbing elbows with the upper
class decks, spread of disease etc..}
1:00 a.m.
Starboard boat no. 3 is lowered
with only 32 aboard including 11 crew.
1:10 a.m.
Starboard no. 1 is lowered (capacity 40) with
only 12 aboard,
including Sir Cosmo and
Lady Duff
Gordon, and seven crew.
Port-side no. 8 is loaded and lowered carrying only 39 people.
It's steered in the water by the
Countess
of Rothes.
1:15 a.m.
Water begins to reach the Titanic's name
on the bow
and she now lists to port. Tilt of deck grows steeper.
Boats now begin to be more fully loaded.
1:20 a.m.
Starboard no. 9 leaves with some 56 people aboard.
The Titanic has now developed a noticeable list to starboard.
1:25 a.m.
Port-side boat no. 12 is lowered,
with 40 women and children aboard.
Two seamen are put in charge of boat.
Boat 12 is subsequently overloaded with 70
1:30 a.m.
Signs of panic begin to appear among some passengers
on the ship. As port-side boat 14 is lowered with
60 people, including
Fifth officer
Lowe,
a group of passengers appears ready to jump in
the already full boat, and Lowe fires shots into the air to
warn them away. The Titanic's distress call now
near desperation. "We are sinking fast"
and "Women and children in boats.
Cannot last much longer."
1:35 a.m.
Port-side boat no. 16 is lowered with over 50
people.
Starboard boat no. 13 leaves with 64 people,
mostly second and third-class women and children.
Starboard boat no. 15 is lowered 30 seconds later with
70 aboard and barely avoids collision with boat 13
as it is lowered on top of no. 13.
The latter pulls away in water in the nick of time.
The ones left onboard knew where the Titanic was taking them,
with only 4 lifeboats remaining and over 1,600 people
still onboard. The band continued to play, as to try to calm,
and ease the atmosphere, they played hymn type tunes,
by 1:40 a.m. Most of the forward boats are now away,
and passengers begin to move to the stern area.
Bruce Ismay
leaves on collapsible C (39 aboard),
the last starboard-side boat launched.
The forward Well Deck is awash.
Many looked at death with courage.
Benjamin
Guggenheim, and his Butler removed their lifebelts
and put on dinner jackets, saying "when they went,
they would go like gentlemen".
Mrs,
Isidor Straus refused to go without her husband,
saying " I've lived with you many years, where you go I will go "
and Mr/ Strauss declined a seat on the lifeboats saying,
he's lived a full life and younger passengers should
take the seats, and the two went and sat
on deck chairs together,
There was also acts of Cowardice...
There is one confirmed case of a male dressing
as a female
to be allowed on the life boat, In another reported case
someone had grabbed a child in the crowd from their
mothers arms, In hopes it would get them on a life boat.
{the child was later returned to it's mother onboard carpathia}
1:45 a.m.
The last words heard from the
Titanic
by the Carpathia were,
-on her way to the rescue -
"Engine room full up to boilers"
Port side boat no. 2 is lowered and leaves with
only 25 people. She can carry 40.
1:55 a.m.
John
Jacob Astor, was refused entry to port-side boat no. 4
by Lightoller
, Astor was wanting permission to go into the boat
with his expecting wife and was told " No men are allowed in
the boats until the women are loaded first"
He sees his wife (
Madeliene
Force Astor) off safely as
The boat is lowered with 40 women and children and
some crew aboard. The boat left two thirds full
Most of the remaining 3rd class passengers and crew
retreated to the stern, with first and second class
remaining on the boat deck. Elsewhere other men prepared
for the ship to sink.
Chief Baker Charles Joughin, with incredible
clarity of mind,
considering he had consumed large amounts of alcohol that
evening, tossed about 50 deck chairs from the A deck one
at a time overboard, with hopes swimmers would be able to
cling onto them. One of the passengers opened the kennels to
free the dogs that had been housed there.
First Class passenger
Norris
Williams and his father
Duane,
wandered to the boat deck and could see lifeboats
in the darkness, and feel the ship sinking fast
underneath them. The extreme cold forced them into
the gymnasium where they rode stationary bicycles,
nearby the gyms instructor
T.W. McCawley
had also gathered
there talking with others. At this point someone came up
from the boat deck and told the 3rd class men
they could go up now, at this time it now seemed pointless,
and most prefered to stay where they were.
2:00 a.m.
Water now only ten feet below Promenade Deck.
with still over 1500 people left on the sinking ship.
Collapsible D is one of the last boats left. It has room for
47 people. To prevent a rush on the boat,
Lightoller
waves (and possibly fires) his pistol
into the air and crew members form a circle around it,
with arms locked together, and allow only women and
children aboard. The boat is lowered with 44 aboard.
The Titanic's forecastle head sinks under water,
the tilt of her decks growing steeper
2:10 a.m.
In the wireless room
Jack Phillips
still worked hard at the key,
and Harold bride helped him on with his lifejacket and over coat.
Then Captain
Smith entered and
Bride noticed
he had not yet
put on his lifejacket. Smith said to them:
"Men you have done your full duty,
you can do no more, abadon your cabin",
They didn't move. "You look out for yourselves"
The captain continued, "I release you".
"Thats the way it is at a time like this, every man for himself".
When Captain
Smith left,
Phillips went
right back to his key,
Bride was moved by the way he remained at his post
while the ship was sinking under him.
2:17 a.m.
From the foward they could hear water pouring
in to
the bridge. Bride
and Phillips
ran out and climbed to the roof
of the officers quarters where
Bride went
to work
helping to free collapsible B. Collapsible A had crashed
to the boat deck.
Thomas Andrews,
the ship's designer,
is last seen alone in the first-class smoking room
staring into space at a painting on the wall. As they worked
to free the boat Capt Smith approached with a megaphone
& shouted to all that were left on deck
" Well boys you did your best for the women and children
and look out for yourselves"
On the port side collapsible B had landed upside
down on the boat deck, suddenly there came a noise as water
began pouring over the front railings onto the bridge
that led to deck A. Now the bow began to purge swiftly
causing a huge wave to wash aft from the foward end of
the boat deck. The moment
Captain Smith
had feared
was here! Now with his ship going down,
Captain Smith
turned and dived into the ocean.
( according to some accounts)
There are a few stories on what happened to Capt Smith
but the most plausible is probably he returned to the
wheel and went down with the ship.
The wave washed many people overboard ,
Colonel Gracie
and
Clinch
Smith
had been heading aft when a crowd began pouring
out of the first class entrance,
many women still among them. Gracie and Smith
both jumped for the roof of the officers quarters and fell back,
but when Gracie came down the advancing water
hit him and he jumped again rising with the wave and
was able to get to the roof, but when he looked for Smith
he was not there. A moment later Gracie was dragged under
as the bow dived and he found himself in a whirlpool spinning
far beneath the surface. He struggled and began to swim away.
The stern slowly rose into the air while the foward half sank
even more. 2nd
officer Lightoller simply walked off into the
water from the roof of the bridge and seeing the crows nest
above he instinctively swam towards it, just as he realized
how useless this was he was sucked against a ventilator,
each time he struggled to get free, he was drawn in closer by
the rush of water that was pouring down. With a great power
of tearing metal, the funnel of the ship toppled toward the bow,
as it crashed down it set off a cloud of soot and sparks.
It created such a wave that it washed everyone clinging onto
collapsible B off and swept the boat 20 feet clear of the ship.
Lightoller now freed from the ventilator by a blast of hot air
below clung to this boat by a rope.
Norris
Williams somehow
escaped being crushed from the falling funnel by inches,but his
father
Mr
. Duane Williams, who was beside him was killed.
2:18 a.m.
The stern began to rise, and the fwd A deck
was
set below. 33.000 tons of water began rushing the deck,
sweeping everything and everyone with it.
Titanic now became a perch for the 1.000's of
unfortunate souls remaining onboard.
The Bow was deep in the water, and people left onboard
at an 80 degree angle, holding on to anything they could find,
and fighting for there lives. Although her bow was now fully
submerged, the lights still casted a glow over the water.
Those in nearby lifeboats can hear an increasing roar as
everything in the ship from the 5 grand pianos , trunks, china,
and silver , begins to crash foward.
The Titanic's bow plunges under
enabling the ensnared
collapsible B to float clear upside down. Father Thomas Byles
hears confession and gives absolution to over 100 second
and third class passengers that have gathered at the
aft end of the Boat Deck. The ships band stops playing
and many passengers and crew jump overboard.
A huge roar is heard as all moveable objects inside
the Titanic crash toward the submerged bow.
The ship's lights blink once and then went out all at once,
leaving the ocean dark and only visible to those in more
distant lifeboats. The stern of the ship remained vertical
and motionless for what was estimated at 30 seconds
to several minutes then it began to plunge,
picking up speed as it disappeared beneath the ocean.
Many survivors witness the ship break in two,
as the ship literally breaks in half, The bow half sinks.
The air was filled with the sounds of explosions,
cries and screams,. Accounts from survivors state,
they would never forget the cries, and sounds that night.
Many survivors later said ,they were only able to cope
with this by convincing themselves that the screams
and pleas they heard were not from their loved
ones.
2:20 a.m.
The Titanic's broken-off stern section
settles back into the water, righting itself for a
few moments. Slowly it fills with water and again tilts
its stern high into the air before slowly sinking into the sea.
At 2:20 A.M. April 15, 1912
The RMS Titanic, The worlds largest, most
luxurious Ocean Liner,
disappeared into the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
Only 3 hours after strinking the Ice berg.
With her she took the lives of 1,523 men, women,& children.
Making more casualties than in any other Marine disaster
in peace time history.
"She's gone lads". a crewsman in lifeboat
no. 3 announced,
"row like hell or we'll get the devil of a swell"
In lifeboat 4 closer to the ship the crewman
yelled out
" pull for your lives or you'll be sucked
under"!
Madeleine Astor and Marian Thayer grabbed oars
and began
helping the crewmen row away. Now tiny lifeboats were scattered
all about on an empty, dark, freezing, screaming ocean.
Lifeboat number 1 and number 8 had people wanting to go
back to search for swimmers, but were over ruled ,
in lifeboat number 1 there were only 12 people and room
for 2 dozen more, In lifeboat 8 Seaman Thomas Jones
told the others in the boat that if any of them were saved
he wanted them to remember that HE wanted to go back,
" I would rather go down with them, than
leave them" he said.
Only one boat (boat #4 ) returned to the scene,
with
Quartermaster
Perkis in charge. The women onboard
soon pulled 5 crewmen from the water, among them were:
Storekeeper Frank Prentice who had stayed in the water
with his unconcious friend
Cyril Ricks
until he died.
The water was so lethally cold that of the 5 men on boat #4
that were rescued a half an hour after the ship went down,
only Andrew Cunningham remained conscious.
Colonel Gracie who had surfaced just after the sinking
succesfully strattled a crate, he spotted overturned
lifeboat collapsible B and swam over, dozens of swimmers
were surrounding the boat and noone attempted to help
him onboard. He finally grabbed the arm of a crewman
and pulled himself on to the boat.
After 30 men were onboard they tried to paddle away
from the others using a loose piece of wood.
Colonel Gracie turned his back to the crowd in the water
not wanting to refuse anyone access.
"Hold onto what you have yelled one of the
crewsman,
one more on board will sink us all".
A voice from a swimmer called back
" All right boys, Good Luck and God Bless",
several later claimed to have recognized the
voice as
Captain
Smiths.
Suddenly a voice on the boat spoke out and said,
"Dont you think we ought to pray"?
They took a quick poll and found the group to be Catholics,
Presbyterians and Episcopalians, soon they all began
reciting the Lords Prayer, then the group in collapsible A
began praying, all in collapsible A stood knee deep in water,
as their boat sank deeper. As the boats listened to the
cries in the water they began to gradually die away
around 3:00 am, forty minutes after Titanic had went down
they finally ceased. Now the twenty lifeboats remained
afloat drifting alone, in the darkness of the North Atlantic.
By now Fifth
Officer Lowe in lifeboat 14 had rounded up other
lifeboats, including Nos. 10, 12 and collapsible D,
and upon finding out no officers were in command of any
of the boats he took command.
Boat #4 soon joined the group,
Lowe tried
reasoning
that he could distribute some of the passengers into other boats
so he could go back for people in the water, he was afraid of
being swamped , so after the cries subsided he called
out saying
" Is anyone out there"?
Yes sir came a
reply".
All right, he said, you will have to distribute
these
passengers among these boats Lowe ordered.
As Lowe began hustling the people into the lifeboats
a shawled figured caught his eye,and seemed to be in
a big hurry, he ripped the shawl off and found it was not
a woman but a man, he said nothing and heaved the
man into the lifeboat. He then had a small crew pull back
towards the wreck, the men could hardly row the water
was so thick from all the corpses, Frank Evans stated
ater he could not even look over the side for fear of breaking down.
It had been an hour since the ship sank and Lowe found
only 3 swimmers still living. William F Hoyt,
( he died withing a few hours),
and They heard a voice muttering that was drifting on
a piece of wood, it took them 30 minutes to row thru the
bodies to reach him, Bath Attendant Harold Phillimore,
he was to numb to reach the oar to get in the boat
and finally he was grabbed by his lifebelt and pulled in.
Eventually 2 of the men on collapsible B died.
Collapsible A had sunk to the point they were loosing people
and being waist deep in water they were loosing body heat.
More than an hour had passed since the titanic sunk and
there came a slight boom, someone said it was a cannon,
then someone commented, there is a flash of lightning,
Hichens replied, " It is a falling star".
Then a light appeared on the horizon and soon another green light,
there was no question the steamer was coming hard,
firing rockets as she came, Then the ship finally showed.
She coasted towards lifeboat no. 2,
Joseph Boxhall
lit one
last flare and said
" shut down your engines and take us aboard"
he cried to the Carpathias bridge.
Capt. Rostron
replied, "alright".
4:10 a.m.
Carpathia begin helping the people
onto the ship,
Chief Baker
Charles Joughin had miraculously been
swimming in the water for two hours oblivious to the cold!
He owed his survival to the large amounts of alcohol he had
consumed, which worked as an effective anti freeze.
When he tried to climb onboard someone pushed him back into
the water, without a word he swam to the other side of the
boat.
In all the rescue took more than 4 hours. As the carpathia
cruised away two services were held, one for the 705 who
had been rescued and another for the more than 1,500
who perished. The Titanic now rest's at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean,
along with the 1.523 lives she took with her, that Tragic morning.
And of those 705 who survived, life would never again be the same.
.
.
ON WITH YOUR VOYAGE
.
.
