Voices from the Carpathia: Rescuing RMS Titanic E-Book

George Behe

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 708

Beschreibung

When Titanic began sending out distress calls, one of the first to reply was the Cunard liner Carpathia. As it turned out, Carpathia was the only vessel to reach the scene in time to save the lives of any of Titanic's passengers, and, after she arrived in New York, reporters crowded the pier and vied with each other to obtain interviews with the survivors of the disaster. In their zeal to interview survivors, though, the reporters brushed past other people who could have provided their own eyewitness accounts – namely, Carpathia's own passengers, largely left to their own devices as to how and when they discussed their participation in events. A few wrote letters to relatives, others wrote accounts intended for publication. The author's collection of these rare written accounts and interviews sheds new light on the tragic way the lives of so many were impacted by the loss of the largest passenger liner in the world.

Leseprobe

For my wife Pat

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Although the majority of the material in this book has been culled from the author’s own files, a considerable number of people and institutions generously provided me with the texts of additional documents that I might otherwise never have seen.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Ed and Karen Kamuda and the Titanic Historical Society and Titanic Museum for granting me permission to reproduce a number of rare documents that were published in back issues of the society’s journal, the Commutator. As always, Don Lynch came through for me by sharing a number of rare documents from his personal collection. Kalman Tanito generously translated several rare accounts that were originally published in Hungary. Craig Sopin kindly provided me with the texts of several rare documents from his personal collection, and Randy Bryan Bigham unhesitatingly shared transcriptions of a number of documents that he uncovered during his own research. Malcolm Cheape was incredibly kind in providing me with the texts of hundreds of documents from the family archive of Joseph Bruce Ismay, and Jim Harper went above and beyond the call of duty in transcribing the texts of numerous original documents from the Frank Blackmarr scrapbooks.

Other individuals were equally kind in making the texts of unique documents available to me, and, so as not to show apparent favouritism to one person at the expense of another, I’m forced to list these people in alphabetical order: Virginia Birt Baker, Richard M. Barbour, David Billnitzer, Patrick Bogue of Onslows, the family of Roger Bricoux, Muffet Brown, Shelley Dziedzic, Gordon Gardiner, Kristen Iversen, John Lamoreau, Anita Leslie, Olivier Mendez, Beverly Anne Mitchell, Charles and Lee Ann Otter, Tony Probst, Steve Rigby, Helen Ryder, Steve Santini, Eric Sauder, Les St Clair, Richard Stead, Craig Stringer, Geoffrey Ward, Gladys Weaver, Joan Webb, Ed Weichsler, Mrs Lawrence Grant White, Geoff Whitfield and Bill Wormstedt.

A number of institutions and archives were equally generous in sharing the texts of documents from their collections: the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, Library of Congress, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Blunt White Library, British Titanic Society, Fishburn Archives at Park University, Marconi Company Limited, National Archives, National Maritime Museum, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Naval Historical Center, Royal Mail Streamline, Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Society of Professional Journalists, Straus Historical Society and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

To all of these individuals and institutions I offer my sincere thanks.

CONTENTS

Title

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Carpathia Passenger and Crew Letters

2 Carpathia Passenger and Crew Interviews

3 Documents from Other Vessels

By the Same Author

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

When the White Star liner Titanic began sending out distress calls after striking an iceberg in April 1912, one of the first vessels to reply to those distress calls was the Cunard liner Carpathia. As it turned out, Carpathia was the only vessel that reached the scene of the disaster in time to save the lives of any of Titanic’s passengers and crewmen, and after she arrived in New York, newspaper reporters crowded the Cunard pier and vied with each other to obtain detailed first-hand interviews with the survivors of the disaster. In their zeal to interview Titanic survivors, though, the reporters often brushed right past other people who could have provided their own eyewitness accounts of the Titanic rescue – Carpathia’s own passengers.

Although there were occasional exceptions to the rule, the Carpathia’s passengers and crewmen were usually left to their own devices as to how and when they discussed their own participation in the aftermath of the world’s greatest maritime disaster. A few Carpathia passengers wrote letters to relatives describing the things they had witnessed during the Titanic rescue, and a few others wrote accounts that were specifically intended for publication. Although the number of such first-hand accounts that have come to light since 1912 has been relatively small, one advantage of this fact is that the present author has been able to collect the texts of most of these documents and reproduce them in a single volume – the volume you are holding in your hands. For the most part, these first-hand accounts have never been utilised in telling the story of the Titanic, and they are being offered here as a new source of information for future historians of the disaster.

In a similar vein, the number of Carpathia passengers who were interviewed by newspaper reporters in 1912 was so small that the present author has been able to gather together the vast majority of these interviews and present them here for the reader’s perusal. Even though these newspaper interviews are second-hand accounts whose reliability cannot be regarded with the same level of confidence as first-hand letters and memoirs, the interviews nevertheless assume importance as being the only surviving record of the experiences of many of those people on the Carpathia who witnessed the rescue of the Titanic’s passengers.

In reading this collection of letters and interviews, historians will soon discover that not every word of these accounts can be accepted as gospel, since some of the documents contain information that was undoubtedly obtained second-hand on board the Carpathia. Even so, the documents contain enough solid facts to make them a valuable supplement to the existing body of evidence surrounding the Titanic disaster, and experienced researchers will easily recognise many Titanic passengers who remain unnamed in the documents themselves but whose described experiences in the disaster are well known.

While searching for accounts written by and about Carpathia passengers, the present author also ran across the texts of a number of interesting letters and accounts that were written by people on board other vessels that had a more distant connection with the Titanic disaster. It is hoped that these accounts will shed additional light on the tragic way the lives of many ‘peripheral’ people were impacted by the loss of the largest passenger liner in the world.

The author hopes that the present volume will serve as a useful sourcebook of brand new information about the Titanic disaster.

George Behe

Mount Clemens, Michigan

1

CARPATHIA PASSENGERAND CREW LETTERS

JOHN BADENOCH

On 18 April, while the Carpathia was approaching New York, Mr Badenoch sent the following Marconigram to Percy Straus, the son of victims Mr and Mrs Isidor Straus:

Every boat watched. Father and mother not on the Carpathia.

Badenoch1

After interviewing multiple Titanic survivors regarding the fate of Mr and Mr Isidor Straus, Mr Badenoch dictated the following account to a reporter after arriving in New York:

Mr. and Mrs. Straus, when the crash came, immediately appeared in the companionway and inquired about the danger. They were reassured by one of the officers as well as by several of the other passengers that there was practically no danger and were advised to go back to their stateroom at that time and took the precaution of putting on extra clothing.

Mr. Straus insisted on their maid dressing to the fullest extent, wearing the heaviest clothing that she had. They again went on deck and were again reassured by an officer that there was no danger, but that they were going to take the precaution of lowering the boats for the women and children should something unforeseen happen.

They chatted on deck for some time after that discussing the possibility of the outcome resulting seriously. At this time several of the passengers impressed upon Mr. Straus the necessity of putting on life belts.

Mrs. Straus again looked after the safety of her maid by insisting that she take her place among the women that were being placed on the nearest lifeboat. The maid seemed rather reluctant, but Mrs. Straus was insistent. After the maid had embarked, Mr. and Mrs. Straus began to realize that there was a necessity for them taking to the boats.

Mr. Straus, now convinced that this was the case, urged Mrs. Straus to get into a boat. She refused. Then he commanded her to do so, at which time several of the passengers as well as the officer of the boat then going out, which was the last to leave the doomed ship, tried to force her into the boat by main strength. She strongly resisted and absolutely refused to go. Saying to her husband:

‘No, dear. I will not leave you. When you go I go, but never until then.’

By this time all of the other women near them had been removed to the other boats, and another attempt was made to persuade Mrs. Straus to go.

Finally, when Mr. Straus led his wife by the arm to the last boat, someone gave an order:

‘Back, men, back’. Mr. Straus was pushed back against the walls of the cabin. Mrs. Straus left the gangway and came to him. She threw one arm around him and with the other caressed him, murmuring as she did so: ‘Dear, we will stay here together.’

And so they went to their death.2

❖❖❖

On 24 April Mr Badenoch wrote the following detailed letter to Percy Straus:

Dear Mr. Percy,

As per your request, I submit herewith the facts as desired. About 1:30 on the morning of April 15th I was awakened by the unusual sounds of activity on the deck over head. Just then the fog-horn blew and I got up and looked out of the port hole. It was a perfectly clear star light night and the sea was without a ripple. Of course I immediately realized that either we or some other vessel was in trouble. I then went into the companion-way and saw a steward who informed me that it was the Titanic that was in trouble. He said they had been in communication with her since twelve o’clock and at that time, which was about 1:45, had just received her last message in which it was said she was sinking. The discipline about the Carpathia was perfect and she was using every ounce of steam to hurry her to the scene of the accident.

At about 3:15 we sighted the first life boat and it was alongside at 3:45, just as day was breaking. This first boat was about three quarters filled with people about one quarter of whom were women. None of those rescued in the first life boat knew whether or not your Father and Mother were on the Titanic. The second boat which came alongside about fifteen minutes later was fairly well filled, and almost exclusively with men. There were not more than four or five women in that boat. From one of the passengers on this second boat, I received the information that Mr. & Mrs. Straus were aboard the Titanic. It was not until the third boat arrived that I was able to get a Titanic passenger list and verify the statement that your Father and Mother were booked as passengers. I watched every boat load with intense interest and while it was almost impossible to distinguish the faces of the first arrivals, it was quite day light by the time the fourth or fifth boat arrived. After that they unloaded four boats at one time, two on the port side and two on the starboard side. As I could not watch all these boats unloading, I described your parents to a fellow passenger, so that they would not be brought aboard unobserved by me. After that, however, the boats came in singly. About from the sixth to the ninth boat, two of them came in with not over twelve people in her and the other not having more than twenty people.

At 7:30 we had taken in all the boats in sight. We then steamed at slow speed into the wreckage and again lay to, expecting to find more boats. It was then about 8:30 o’clock and the Captain of the Carpathia seemed to think that he had taken aboard all who were in the boats. I then spoke to an officer who appeared to be one of the White Star men, (he was the third officer) and asked him to tell me whether or not all of the Titanic’s boats had been accounted for. He refused at first but when I stated my reason for knowing and insisted on an answer, he told me that all the boats had been accounted for and that in his judgment there was almost no hope for those who were not already rescued. Thinking possibly that your father and mother had been taken aboard and I had missed them, I covered the entire ship from bow to stern, and searched the saloon, second and steerage. Also looked in every stateroom, irrespective of its occupants so that I could satisfy myself beyond a doubt whether or not they were aboard. By this time it was almost ten o’clock. I then wrote the message which you received Thursday morning, handed it to the Purser and explained to him the absolute necessity of getting it off at once. He replied very courteously that he would do the best he could but that the muster was just being made and that it must take precedence over private messages. This I accepted as being reasonable. The muster was not completed until noon time when they assured everyone that the names had been sent to the offices of the line in New York. I fully expected that such being the case, all the names of the survivors would be published in the New York papers by three o’clock that afternoon. Later in the afternoon, I asked the officer if any of the private messages had been sent and he replied that he did not think any of them had been sent, but that they would surely be sent that night.

At this point Mr Badenoch wrote a rather lengthy description about the difficulty he experienced in getting a message sent. He believed his message was not sent until late Wednesday:

Realizing how anxious you would be to get the most accurate information about the last that was seen of your Father and Mother, I circulated among the survivors and although many claimed to have some knowledge of their actions, those whom you have personally interviewed are the ones I finally decided could give the most authentic account. From what I heard on board and that which I have learned since, I think that the statement given to you by Mr. Woolner is the most accurate. All the survivors agree on one fact and this is if the proper discipline had obtained, there is not the least doubt but that your Father and Mother would have been saved.

Taking the statements of eight or ten of the survivors and comparing them, I believe that the following can be considered the most accurate.

Mr. & Mrs. Straus were in bed at the time of the accident. Immediately after the boat struck they were seen in the companion-way, in bath robes. At this time an officer, as well as several of the passengers assured them that there was no trouble and the best they could do would be to return to their rooms. The maid’s story after this is that your Mother seemed to realize the danger and prepared to dress, requesting your Father to do likewise. To hurry matters, she sent the maid for his valet to assist him in dressing. Shortly thereafter they both appeared on deck, fully clothed, mingled with the other passengers and discussed the danger in a perfectly calm and collected manner. They evidently did not believe that there was any great danger of the ship sinking. On the advice of the Captain, they put on life preservers over their fur coats, and assisted other passengers in doing the same. By that time the boats were being filled with women and children and your Mother was asked by an officer in charge and urged by your Father to get into one of the life boats. She refused to do so and insisted that the maid take her place in boat No. 8. They stood by while other boats were being filled, all the while your Father continuously urging your Mother to enter one of them. Finally when it became apparent that there was no hope of the Titanic staying afloat, your Father insisted that your Mother enter the second from the last boat that was being launched from the side they were on. She still refused, saying she would not go without him, and when the officer in charge again urged her to enter, and, in fact, attempted force, aided by the urging of your Father, she placed her foot in the boat, thinking at the time that your Father would accompany her. Just then, some demonstration seems to have been made by the men standing around and the officer in charge ordered all the men back. Mr. Isidor, thinking that your Mother was safe in the lifeboat, stepped back with the other men. Your Mother, looking around and seeing that your Father was not with her, got out of the boat, went to where your Father was standing and put her arms around him. The officer in charge seeing that it was no use in trying to get your Mother to leave your Father ordered the boat lowered away. Your Father and Mother then walked to the opposite side of the ship and when last seen were standing, clasped in each other’s arms, calmly waiting for any help that might come. Just what happened after that is not quite clear, but I believe they did not attempt to enter any other boat or make any effort to get away, caused, I believe by the unruly behavior of a number of the passengers.

It is now history all over the world that they displayed the most magnificent courage, self sacrifice and devotion known to modern times.

Yours respectfully,

John A. Badenoch3

❖❖❖

MAY BIRKHEAD

While on board the Carpathia, Miss Birkhead wrote the following account for publication:

It was half-past four on the morning of Monday, April 15, when I was awakened by much rushing around of hasty footsteps on deck above, just over my head. I got out and on deck by five and was greeted with a most beautiful sight of icebergs on every side – some of much greater dimensions than the ship, and then some baby ones – all beautiful white in the calm sea and glittering sun, a most impressive view, but one that turned from gorgeous beauty to sickening pangs when I learned the great disaster one had caused.

The sea was dotted with tiny life-boats from the Titanic, and much to my amazement there was one at our side and our sailors were pulling the passengers up onto our deck with ropes. Some were so cold it was impossible for them to climb the ladders, and had to be put in bags to be hauled up. Then I heard one, then another woman calling for her husband – husbands who have never yet appeared.

One gentleman (Titanic passenger) told me that he was in the smoking room of the Titanic at quarter to twelve when he felt the shock of the big ship as if it had run against something, but he thought little of it – in fact, he thought so little of it that he went to his room to retire. He was ready for bed, but hearing increasing noises he dressed with his room mates, who had been awakened by the jar but thought nothing of it, and went out to see what it was all about, having no idea that anything serious had happened.

They went on deck and found that boats were being lowered. This was before the extent of the catastrophe was even guessed. The seamen were really having difficulty filling the lifeboats, because no one had any idea that the ship would sink. A lifeboat was being lowered only about half filled, and as there were no more women close around these men got in as it was swung off the ship and out to sea. They received orders from the captain to row out until the lowest row of lights were hidden by the waves from observers in the boat.

The seamen said eight or ten hours would cover the time for the boat to sink, if it sunk at all, but after rowing out a mile from the ship it could be seen that one row of lights and then another would disappear, and the final plunge came at twenty minutes after 2 a.m. making the time from the first jar to the final plunge, two hours and a half.

Mrs. Clark of Los Angeles told me that she had just gotten into her bed when she felt this sudden jar and heard the engine’s immediate stop with a death-like stillness. Thinking the engine was panting, she listened to hear it take up again. At that moment she looked at her window, the Titanic having huge windows instead of portholes, and instead of seeing the blackness of the night she saw a perfectly white background. She got up very calmly and not at all frightened and went to the window, and as far as she could see she saw this huge white thing. She had no thought of an iceberg – the thing was so huge she thought it a tremendous ship with its white bow at the window. She then went to her bathroom, climbed up on her tub and put her head out the porthole and there was nothing to be seen, which shows the rapidity with which the ship must have passed the huge white thing after it was hit.

From this account it evidently hit the ship a little to the side of the front and then scraped along tearing the bottom and side entirely out. After looking out this porthole this woman started back to bed, thinking the damage would be easily and soon repaired, but just then the steward came and told her to put on a life preserver and warm clothes and go out on deck. She did so, not at all willingly, as she had such explicit confidence in the Titanic and much preferred risking her life to that ship instead of a small lifeboat. This seemed to have been the general feeling. Nobody believed the boat could sink, as it had been pronounced absolutely non-sinkable by the Board of Trade of the English government.

There was absolutely no panic in getting into the lifeboats. The women, of course, were put in first. They kissed their husbands good-bye, thinking they were going out to sea for a short time only by way of precaution and would return as soon as the ship was righted. This woman whom I speak of was so perfectly sure of returning that she scarcely had a thought of her husband coming, too, and he did not offer to come. After her boat was put out to sea she could see that they had to row rapidly to get away from the ship. She realized then and only then that the ship was sinking and the suction would be great and they would have to row fast to get away from it.

In the meantime some of the men had grown frightened, and not being allowed to get into the lifeboats until the women were saved had jumped from the ship and were swimming for the lifeboats. The women who had left husbands, on seeing this, wanted to go back for them, but others wanted to row hard to get away from being sucked in by the ship.

There were only sixteen lifeboats – not nearly enough to accommodate half the passengers, so at the very best there must have been some heart-sickening scenes among the men, when they discovered there was nothing in which they could put to sea. They simply had to go down with the ship.

There was one bunch of twenty-five men and two women who made a raft of chairs and any pieces of wood that they could find. Only eight of these souls reached the Carpathia.

One of the women died from the cold and exposure. The other woman reached the Carpathia almost frozen to death. She had only her nightgown and a coat to cover her and had been standing in that icy water up to her knees for five hours. She had been prostrated ever since she was taken up by the Carpathia. One by one the men died and were put into the sea until just eight reached other boats. I had this story from a 13-year-old boy who was on the rafts and saw his father go down. One of the men had his feet frozen to the knee.

There were 710 persons rescued by this ship, four or five of whom died since we turned toward New York. Besides the sixteen lifeboats there were two canvas lifeboats, one of which reached us among the first of the boats. The other cannot be accounted for. Supposedly it was either capsized, was lost or picked up by another ship later in the day.

The Carpathia must have been anchored very near the actual spot of the sinking of the Titanic, as there was much debris floating around us and we were very close to a number of icebergs.

Not one vestige of the Titanic could be seen when the Carpathia came into sight of the lifeboats at dawn – not even one mast sticking up as might have been expected. That non-sinkable boat was entirely out of view in just those two and one-half hours.

I had it from the wireless operator on board the Carpathia that he received the ‘C.Q.D.’ message at twenty minutes after eleven o’clock New York Time, and the marvelous part of it is that in five more minutes he would not have received the message at all, as he was just going to bed and was ready to turn off the instrument.

However, immediately upon receiving the message our Captain Rostron turned us to the north with all possible speed and went between ninety and a hundred miles to the scene of the disaster. I am told that our small ship – very small compared to the tremendous Titanic – looked to those shipwrecked souls, many of whom had given up hope of being rescued, like a huge angel from heaven, larger than any ship they had ever seen.

I am also told that there was some discussion on our bridge as to taking our passengers into the dangers that had been the death of the Titanic and its twenty-two hundred passengers, but being warned of the icebergs, we could take the necessary precautions of a good watch, and there was only the one thing left to do, and our captain did it.

Among the rescued ones who came on board the Carpathia was the president of the White Star Line. Mr. Ismay, who naturally feels the loss most keenly, and a pitiable sight he was – hatless, as they all were, but with Romeo slippers and pajamas on and an overcoat.

I am told that the lookout of the Titanic, who is on board the Carpathia now, says he signaled the bridge that icebergs were ahead, and there was no response. It was alleged that there was no officer on the bridge at the time, but this is not authentic and scarcely seems possible. I am also told that Captain Smith of the Titanic shot himself with a pistol as the ship was going down. On the other hand, I have heard it contradicted, and it is said he went down with the ship, as did the second officer. The second officer, Lightoller by name, had the most wonderful escape of which I have yet heard. He actually went down with the ship and was blown out by an explosion, which occurred after the ship had sunk with tremendous force. After going down the second time he was blown near a raft of men, and as he was being pulled on the raft he was struck by some funnel part of the ship which had been blown out and was knocked off the raft. Then he was pulled on again and is here to tell the tale.

From all I can gather the truth of the Titanic seems to be that it was not completed. It seems that the workmen were pushed very hard to start her on the day she was booked and consequently left numerous little things undone. For instance, the lifeboats were not supplied as they should have been with food and brandy and such necessities, and one can realize what horror might have been added to the already too great disaster had our ship not received the ‘C.Q.D.’ message, it being the only ship that did receive the message. Those people would have been left to drift the seas in hunger and to reach their death through starvation.

These poor souls say after leaving the Titanic in the lifeboats that the cries for help of those left to go down were the most harrowing. They will never forget them as long as they live if they live for a thousand years, and some can’t sleep at night for hearing those awful cries.

After the bottom was taken out of the Titanic by this iceberg I was told that the water reached E deck almost immediately. The cafe or dining room, which I assume was forward, was filled with water at once, and hardly any of those attached to it were saved.

After we picked up the lifeboats with their passengers we circled around the scene to see if we had missed any. We were within two miles of the most tremendous floe of ice that has ever been known in that part of the Atlantic. By actual count we steamed fifty-two miles by the side of this ice monstrosity before we could get around it, and it loomed near enough to be reached with a stone’s throw. There were at least twenty-five icebergs in plain view from where we were anchored.

After not being able to get into one of the lifeboats Mr. Williams and son jumped into the water and clung to some part of the ship, but the water dislodged them and the father was overcome and sank. The son, being stronger, eventually succeeded in gaining a lifeboat after the Titanic had gone down. He feared that the dreadful suction of the sinking ship would draw him under before he reached his objective point, but it seemed to have the contrary effect of driving him away.

Those saved from the Titanic by the Carpathia were:

First class

220

Second class

120

Third class

160

Crew

201

Total

710

The total crew on board the Titanic was 900.

I am told the band was playing as the big ship went down, and when last heard it was playing ‘Nearer My God, to Thee’.

Sir Duff Gordon with his wife, Lady Duff Gordon, and her maid and two oarsmen were among the first to be taken on board the Carpathia from a small boat containing only those five persons. They seemed to have really the easiest time of all with life.

There are several children on board who have lost their parents – one baby of eleven months with a nurse, who, coming on board the Carpathia with the first boat, watched with eagerness and sorrow for each incoming boat, but to no avail. The parents had gone down.

There is a woman in the second class cabin who lost seven children out of ten, and there are many other losses quite as horrible. Such a loss of life has never before been known on the sea, and who is to be blamed can scarcely be told. All seems to have been done that could have been on board the Titanic after she started to sink. The implicit confidence of her passengers seems to have been their undoing. I have not yet found any one among those rescued ones who was frightened when they started out to sea in the small boats or who had a thought of its being anything but a temporary arrangement.

The work of the crew on board the Carpathia in rescuing was most noble and remarkable, and these three or four days that the ship has been overcrowded with its 710 extra passengers could not have been better handled. The stewards have worked with undying strength – although one was overcome with so much work and died and was put into his grave at sea.

Every cabin had been filled with women and children sleeping on the floors in the dining saloon, library and smoking rooms. The passengers of the Carpathia have divided their clothes with the shipwrecked ones until they have at least kept warm. ’Tis true that many women have had to appear on deck in kimonos and some in underclothes with a coat thrown over them, but their lives have been spared and they have not thought of dress. Some children were entirely without clothes in the second cabin, but the women have joined together and made warm clothes out of the blankets belonging to the Carpathia and with needles and thread they could pick up from passenger to passenger.

Among other notable passengers rescued we have Mrs. J.J. Astor, Mr. Astor having been lost with the majority. Mrs. Astor has been ill ever since she came on board, and many others have not so far been able to recover from the dreadful loss.

After we got the Titanic’s passengers on board our ship it was a question as to where we should take them. Some said the Olympic would come out and meet us and take them on to New York, but others said they would die if they had to be lowered again into small boats to be taken up by another, so we finally turned toward New York, delaying the Carpathia’s passengers eight days in reaching Gibraltar.

These subscriptions were taken up on board the Carpathia on Monday:

Mrs. William Bucknell

$250.00

Mrs. Walter Clark

$200.00

Mr. Washington Dodge

$150.00

Mr. Richard Beckwith

$100.00

Mrs. George N. Stone

$100.00

Mrs. Leo D. Greenfield and Mr. William B. Greenfield

$100.00

Mr. E.N. Kimball, Jr.

$100.00

Dr. H.W. Frauenthal

$100.00

Mr. Robert W. Daniel

$200.00

Mr. F.C. Spedden

$100.00

Mrs. J.J. Brown

$100.00

Mrs. E.E. Lines

$5.00

Mr. Frederick H. Seward

$20.00

Mrs. C. Williams

$50.00

Other subscriptions were made by Mr. Charles Whilems, Mrs. G.L. Longley Hudson, Mrs. Edward S. Robert, Miss Georgette Madill, Miss Elizabeth W. Allen and Mr. Harry Anderson.

One woman who was in the first lifeboat told me that when the order first came for her to get into it she declined, saying, ‘I do not believe the Titanic is in danger. I will stay here with my husband.’

To that the officer replied, ‘Madam, if you do not obey orders you will spread confusion among the other ladies of the ship. You owe it to yourself and to everybody on board to do as you are told in this matter.’

Then the woman obeyed, taking her place.

Five women saved their pet dogs, carrying them in their arms. Another woman saved a little pig, which she said was her mascot. Though her husband is an Englishman and she lives in England, she is an American and was on her way to visit her folk here. How she cared for the pig aboard ship I do not know, but she carried it up the side of the ship in a big bag. I did not mind the dogs so much, but it seemed to me to be too much when a pig was saved and human beings went to death.

Mrs. Isidor Straus was drowned because she would not leave her husband. A person who was standing beside the aged couple on the deck of the Titanic heard Mr. Straus say to his wife, ‘Get into the lifeboat.’ To that she replied, ‘I will not leave you. I will get into the boat only if you will.’

Mr. Straus refused to make a move toward the boat. They must have died together.

The attitude of Mrs. Straus seemed to typify that of the other women who were saved. They went into the boats because they obeyed, and I heard several of these express regret that they had not been allowed to remain and drown with their husbands.

Though most of the women were overcome by the disaster when they realized its enormity, that was not invariably the case. One woman whose husband was drowned never mentioned him, but never ceased to bewail the loss of her jewels, which she repeatedly assured all who would listen to her were worth $30,000.

Some of the costumes which the women wore into the lifeboats seemed similarly inappropriate. Lady Duff Gordon had a moleskin coat over a purple silk kimono.

All night the people in the lifeboats sang, according to Lord Duff Gordon. This was in part to keep their ears and minds closed to the awful cries for help which came from the Titanic when it became clear that the ship was going down.

A steward who was saved told me that when he went to one of the first cabin passengers – a woman – and told her to dress and put on a life preserver, she merely laughed.

‘If that little bump is all that has happened, I’ll stay right here,’ she said.

‘Madam,’ replied the steward, ‘my orders are from the captain to tell you to dress and put on a life preserver.’

‘My orders to myself are to get back into bed and go to sleep again,’ said the woman. And she did. She paid for that with her life.

A woman from Wisconsin said that she was not called at all, and if she had not heard Mrs. Astor out in the passageway crying she would have remained in her stateroom.

One first class passenger, after all the lifeboats had been put out, heard several stokers saying that they knew where there was a collapsible boat, which they proposed to put overboard. So the passenger kept close to the stokers and, sure enough, they launched the boat. He got in it with them and was saved. These same stokers yesterday decided to put some cheer into the dreary atmosphere on board the Carpathia, so they took an accordion and several tin pans and gave a burlesque entertainment. That served to dispel some of the gloom.

Two French children, three and five years old, were brought aboard the Carpathia without their father, who was lost. They could not speak to us, and it was not known at first whether they were speechless from cold or could not speak English. Spoken to finally by a Frenchman, they answered in their native tongue, and were soon crying for their father. Women in the boat with them comforted them as best they could.

In the boat with Mrs. John Jacob Astor, who wanted to put back toward the Titanic to rescue men who after plunging overboard were struggling to save themselves, were other women who wanted to keep going forward. Mrs. Astor was inclined to return to the men, her own husband had been left behind, and she was urged to offer the oarsmen any amount of her wealth if they would put back; but the will of those who were opposed prevailed and the oarsmen rowed onward.

Mrs. Astor was ill aboard the Titanic, but she bore up well in the lifeboat. She was taken aboard the Carpathia in negligee costume. The captain of the Carpathia gave up his cabin to her and she was made perfectly comfortable. She did not leave it until New York was reached. All of the rescued women were made as comfortable as possible, passengers aboard the Carpathia either giving up their staterooms entirely or else sharing them.

Many of the survivors of the Titanic, especially women, as may be expected, were in a violent state of excitement when rescued, and one woman appeared to have lost her mind entirely. She seemed to be beyond recovery. She appeared to be in possession of her mental faculties when the rescue was being made; her husband was among the missing and she scanned every lifeboat for him. When the last lifeboat had come alongside the Carpathia and he was not among the passengers, then it was that her mind gave way. She became suddenly frantic, and all efforts of women and men to quiet her were in vain. The mental suffering of many others from shock was severe.

All of the men in the lifeboats, except one, conducted themselves most commendably. They worked well and rowed hard. The exception was a man who absolutely refused to work at all. There was but one other man in the boat with him. This beast (I wish I could tell you his name!) not only refused to work, but took for himself all blankets in the boat, the women having to go without and shiver and also row.

One of the women in the boat finally told this man that she would shoot him if he did not give up the blankets and work. The display of a pistol had the desired effect.

Only two of the Carpathia’s passengers knew at two o’clock in the morning that the Carpathia was rushing to the aid of those aboard the doomed Titanic. They were awakened by the rushing around of the crew making ready for the work that was ahead of them, and went out on deck and asked what it all meant. They were told that nothing at all was the matter, but they were convinced that something unusual and of great moment had happened. Just by accident it was learned at five o’clock what was going on.

Major Arthur Peuchen, of Canada, owes his life to the fact that he is a yachtsman. His story was one of the most interesting of those told aboard the Carpathia. When the boats were putting out from the Titanic Captain Smith noticed that one of the places for oarsmen was vacant. The sailor whose place that was was not at hand. Captain Smith, addressing the men passengers, asked, ‘Can any of you men handle an oar?’

There was silence for a moment, and then Major Peuchen, stepping forward, said, ‘I am a yachtsman, Captain, and am familiar with small boats, too.’

‘Get aboard,’ ordered Captain Smith.

Major Peuchen jumped to a rope which hung over the side and hand over hand made his way to the lifeboat below. He rowed all night, and when he came on board the Carpathia his hands were a mass of blisters.

Lord Duff Gordon, one of those who was saved, said that the last thing he did before entering the lifeboat was to put his pistol in his pocket, thinking that there might be trouble and he would need it.

The sea was practically calm when the rescue was made and all during the time that the rescue was being made, but shortly afterward a storm swept over the sea and, according to seamen, a lifeboat could not have gone fifty feet in it.

Lord Gordon wanted a picture of the men who had rowed him; he wanted it with the men in the life preservers, but some of the rescued women could not bear the sight of a life preserver, and out of deference none was brought out. Lord Gordon gave to each of the men a check, which he called a ‘fiver’, probably five pounds sterling.

As there were no other boats or life rafts of any description within sight after the last survivor had been taken aboard the Carpathia, we were led to believe that perhaps some were saved by other ships which might have been passing on another course.

There were no bodies to be seen afloat except that of a child, which was supported by a life preserver. It presumably had been frozen to death.

One second cabin woman lost seven children out of a family of ten.

Only the steerage passengers, we were told, were hard to handle aboard the Titanic. Many of these had to be driven either backward or forward as officers may have desired.

One man who persisted in his efforts to enter a lifeboat was shot dead and his body either tumbled or was thrown overboard.4

❖❖❖

FRANK BLACKMARR

On 17 April, while he was on board the Carpathia, Dr Blackmarr bribed the vessel’s wireless operator to send the following message to Chicago:

Carpathia picked up 700 Titanic, mostly women. Over 2,000 lost. Iceberg continuous mass was twenty-five miles. Chicagoans this ship well. 8:35 a.m.

Dr. F.H. Blackmarr5

❖❖❖

On 18 April Dr Blackmarr cabled the following account to his hometown newspaper:

On Monday morning at 1:15 the Carpathia’s wireless operator, Harold Thomas Cottam, picked up a distress signal from the steamship Titanic. It was the habit of this boy before retiring for the night to pick up the nearest ship and say ‘Good Night’. Having received the distress signal he at once notified the officers of the ship. When we arrived at the spot the Titanic had sunk. The sea was covered with wreckage of all kinds, mahogany splinters, white enameled wood, silk covered couches, pillows, and mattresses. We all saw a woman’s hat floating in the debris. One fur coat floated by, suspended on a piece of wood.

From near at hand and from a distance, too, lifeboats were coming towards us, women occupying rowing seats in many of them, with a man at the tiller. Not a sound escaped their lips; no hysteria was in evidence. Their faces were pinched with cold. The task of raising them from the lifeboats to the ship’s deck was difficult. The women with their blistered hands found it hard to climb any ladders. The majority of them were lifted in by a swing which consisted of a board with a rope from each side, connecting with a single large cable.

Officers, stewards, and stewardesses had been on duty for hours preparing to receive them. These same officers and crew after that had no opportunity to lie down for a rest until their journey was over.

Many of the women that came in the boats huddled together in the seats with a dead sailor lying in the bottom of the boat.

When asked why it was there were so few men saved – an estimate of one in five – a woman passenger who had lost her husband said she begged him to get into the boat with her, but that he refused out of sympathy for the poor fellows who were left.

Col. Astor, it is said, after placing his wife in a boat, as did some of the other rich men, returned to the middle of the deck of the Titanic, folded his arms, and went down with the ship. The conduct of these rich men goes to prove they were heroes.

The only panic at the beginning, as I understand it, was in the steerage, where there were many persons who lacked self-control. There was no shooting, as I learn, except that a steerage passenger told me he saw an officer trying to control the maddened rush by shooting two persons. The same officer shot himself a minute later.

The stairway of the Titanic was so crowded with steerage passengers that it was utterly impossible for some to gain the upper deck. One man told me he climbed along the ledge of the boat until he reached the deck where he loosened a collapsible boat. A moment later the lifeboat was filled on its edges with women, children, and men. It began to sink with the load, and the women and children at the edge gradually slipped off, into the ocean.

The saddest moment of all, after the boat loads had been landed on the deck, was to see the poor widows and sons and daughters whose family relations had been broken, standing at the rail, looking into the distance with hands outstretched trying in hope to see their loved ones. There were numerous sick persons on board, but the illness was not so much physical as it was mental agony.6

❖❖❖

Dr Blackmarr later wrote and delivered a public address regarding the Carpathia’s rescue of the Titanic’s passengers:

The story of the most awful shipwreck of modern times may not be a pleasant subject for either the relater or the hearers, but there is an interest in the details of the loss of the Titanic which warrants me in telling the story. And having been on the boat which rescued the survivors, I may be able to give a more vivid description of the incidents of the rescue than have been conveyed in the manner published in the public press.

When, on the fifth day of April, I sailed from New York on the Carpathia, I had little thought that before the voyage ended I would act a part in the tragedy of the sea, the like of which the world had never before known. It is not for one’s best interests to think of this disaster any longer than necessary. It is necessary, however, to keep this matter constantly before us. Only until you and I and the nations of the world shall see to it that proper precautions are taken in the constructions of vessels, the supplying of safety devices, the proper control and watchful care of those who hold human lives in the palm of their hands, so make a repetition of such a catastrophe an impossibility.

Speed and greed have cost thousands of human lives in the past year. Our fast train systems are the result of demand ingrained by the public, our luxurious express steamers running on scheduled time; stopping for naught, fogs or storm are the result of the public’s demand. The day of restful recreation and moderate business endeavor is passing.

Increased activities in pleasures and business have associated therewith a terrific increase in the proportion of danger. At the speed of our trains and ships are increased, it is not alone coal, fuel and oil that are consumed, but the responsibilities upon those in charge of them is increased to the sapping point of their nervous energies. What I have said already gives the key to my innermost conviction concerning these matters.

The Titanic was, until now, the largest and most beautiful ship ever constructed. 883 feet long, 91 and one half feet broad, 104 feet high from her heel to the bridge. Figure out in your minds how many times you can place this building which you are now on top of itself to reach the length of the Titanic, and you could almost gain an idea what a terrific mass of steel, iron and concrete went to the bottom of the sea last April. She was built in Belfast of the world’s best materials, by the world’s best builders, magnificently equipped, with engines, furnaces and all the mechanisms that science could evolve to make her comfortable and seaworthy. Her passenger equipment, as you know, was all that you could find on land: magnificent suites, gymnasium, swimming tanks, squash-tennis court, a la-carte restaurant, magnificent salons for both men and women, summer gardens, etc.

I returned on the Olympic with the purpose of studying Titanic’s sister ship.

So much for comfort and luxury. On the other side of the ledger we find but sixteen 30-foot lifeboats and several hundred dead bodies to balance the account.

The Titanic sailed from Southampton on Wednesday, April 10 with 2,208 passengers and crew. Sunday night at 11:50 she struck a submerged spur of an enormous iceberg. Two hours and one half later, at 2:20 a.m., she plunged bow on to a depth of over 2 miles into her eternal berth. 688 of her crew and 615 passengers sank in the icy water.

Sunday night I strolled the Carpathia’s deck with my heavy overcoat on, gazing at the wonderful glittering stars in their black background. The ship’s lights did not seem to be as bright at the deck, and were it not for those lights I doubt if I could have seen my hands before my face. Looking over the side of the ship, one could feel that they were gazing into abysmal depths. With the memory of what transpired a few hours later, I never want to see another night uncanny and cold. This night I associate in memory with a night shortly before we arrived in New York when returning with the survivors, when it seemed, with the mist, fog, rain and awful lightening, as though God and nature were displeased.

I retired shortly after 12 o’clock and had just gotten into my berth when I was aroused by a knock. The wireless operator, in going from his quarters to the bridge to deliver the Titanic’s CQD message, had knocked. This young man, Mr. Harold Cottam, had been very kind. His interest in high tension apparatus and therapeutics had made our acquaintance mutually interesting and resulted in my becoming familiar with his apparatus.

The wireless equipment of this ship was decidedly antiquated and consisted of two coils, one of them punctured, a tuning device, a detector, receiver, sending key and old condensers.

Immediately after reception of the messages, the ship’s crew was in action and everything was quickly arranged and surely arranged, and very few of the passengers knew what was going on. Our captain, Captain Rostron, a most remarkable military man and officer of His Majesty’s Naval Reserves, managed the details of the preparation for the subsequent care and nursing of the survivors without fuss or friction. Large bales of old blankets materialized.

Stimulants, hot foods, etc. seemed to come to the surface as if by magic.

The ship had been put about to the rescue.

I have often wished to know what [the] sensations were that passed over and over through the mind of this brave man. [During] Captain Rostron’s testimony before a court of inquiry he was asked about the dangers encountered by his own ship in this awful trip to the rescue. He said ‘I took the risk of full speed in my desire to save life, and probably some people may blame me for taking such a risk’. The Senate committee assured him they would not. He also stated in his evidence that between 2:45 and 4:00 a.m. they had passed over twenty large icebergs from 100 to 200 feet high and a great many smaller ones. It was a matter of constant maneuvering to go around them and between them.

Our deck was covered with lookouts, and you can imagine with the atmospheric conditions I have briefly described how busy the Captain and crew must have been in avoiding these ghostly monsters.

When we were in the field, located as described in the Titanic’s message of distress, rockets were sent up to show the survivors our position. At 4 a.m. we stopped with an enormous iceberg directly in front of us, and as the dawn lifted we saw just beyond the iceberg one of the lifeboats. The crew had provided a cradle, swings and ladders for both sides of the ship to hasten the matter of rescue. The women were seated in the swings and raised with nooses under their shoulders. The men climbed the ladders. There were some who tried to climb but were so badly frozen that it made our hearts ache. The babies and small children were put in bags and raised to the deck. While these poor people were being raised to the deck I went from side to side of our vessel and looked down into their faces.

Many stories have been written and published describing these people and their behavior at the moment of their arrival; that they were hysterical and some were too dazed to realize what they were passing through. But I want to tell you that there was only evidence of one thing written on their faces – and that was gratitude, thankfulness that they were to be saved. There was absolutely no hysteria; only one woman had hysteria and that was when she was brought into the cabin of the ship and was undoubtedly due first to the joy of her being saved and the awful strain under which she had been laboring, because she was one of the women who had pulled an oar of a lifeboat.

Mr. Duff Gordon made the statement that the only hysterical individual who was in evidence that night of the disaster was a man.

The setting of this disaster, the picture that remains with me of the silvery sheen of the dawn with those magnificent great white bergs coming toward us out of the dawn. Boats filled mostly with women who wore white life preservers such as I show you. Back beyond this picture in the background later showed beautiful mountains and stretches of glittering ice. Mr. Cooper, a well-known artist, made drawings of this setting, and with my photographs which I now show you, will help you imagine the picture that I am trying to make indelible to you.

The work of raising the survivors progressed very rapidly, the boats coming up on either side of our vessel until the sea began to come up. We were worried for some time, because several of the lifeboats that were coming in from great distances were loaded down almost to the tops of the boats and the poor women who rowed them had difficulty in keeping out of the troughs of the waves.

After all but one of the boats had been emptied, I began to take notice of the wreckage. For acres and acres about our ship there seemed to be a yellow scum on the surface of the water which appeared to be like ground cork. At the right of us, we stood still, one of the lifeboats lay bottom up, steamer chairs, fine woods, clothing, what seemed to be the front of a piano, one trunk.

I counted six soft sofa pillows. In fact anything almost can be found on the surface of the water here which you can find on land. Concerning the cork or what seemed to be cork, the following letter will give you an idea about some of the recent agitation that is taking place now:

Letter Dated 20 April 1912

Dear Dr. Blackmarr,

I am enclosing a letter from the ParisHerald which explains itself. As I remember, you took one of the Titanic lifebelts to show with you, and if you still have it it would be most interesting to make a test of it. The belts I cut up on board the Carpathia contained a poor quality of cork, some of which I still have. Could you not make a test by floating it with, say, 160lbs of weight and see how long it will remain afloat. It would of course make some difference if the water was not salt, but that difference would be slight. I am hoping you can make this test and let me know the results.

With best regards, I am faithfully yours,

Lewis M. Ogden

In the ParisHerald of 11 August, Mr Ogden said:

On reading the report of the Titanic conditions I noticed the question of efficiency of lifebelts is not touched upon. When the Carpathia arrived at the scene of the disaster it was most naturally expected that numerous bodies supported by lifebelts would be found, but such was not the case. What was the reason for this? And why was such a grave question ignored by the commission? The evidence shows the following facts; first that each person on the Titanic was supplied with a lifebelt, second, that many testified to hearing cries for an hour after the vessel sank; third, that the Carpathia found practically no bodies afloat on her arrival; fourth, the bodies that were picked up a week later were found floating with belts properly adjusted. In these circumstances is it not fair to assume that the belts were constructed with improper materials which, becoming water-logged, allowed the bearers to sink only to arise later owing to natural causes?

At 4:10 a.m., an hour and fifty minutes after the Titanic sank, the first boat was alongside, and shortly after daybreak the Carpathia was in the wreckage.

The immense quantities of small squares of cork, presumably from belts, covered the sea. Also, the overturned lifeboat, a few chairs etc. etc., but to our enormous surprise there were no bodies. We are still awaiting the explanation.

The commission has answered the question ‘should searchlights have been provided and used’ in the negative. Nevertheless, had these three ships been equipped with searchlights, the Carpathia might have greatly aided in her dash through the bergs, the Californian