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CONTENTS
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

MEMORIAL EDITION

SINKING OF THE “TITANIC”

MOST APPALLING

Ocean Horror

WITH GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF HUNDREDS SWEPT TO ETERNITY BENEATH THE WAVES; PANIC STRICKEN MULTITUDE FACING SURE DEATH, AND THRILLING

STORIES OF THIS MOST OVERWHELMING CATASTROPHE

TO WHICH IS ADDED VIVID ACCOUNTS OF HEART-RENDING SCENES, WHEN HUNDREDS WERE DOOMED TO WATERY GRAVES, COMPILED FROM SOUL STIRRING STORIES TOLD BY EYE WITNESSES OF THIS TERRIBLE HORROR OF THE BRINY DEEP

BY JAY HENRY MOWBRAY, PH.D., LL.D.

The Well Known Author

Profusely Illustrated with a Great Many Photographs of Thrilling Scenes in this Fearful Catastrophe

To Which is Added Accounts of Other Great Disasters

THE MINTER COMPANY
HARRISBURG, PA.


ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS IN THE YEAR 1912, BY
GEO. W. BERTRON
THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C., U. S. A.

PREFACE.

“WE are as near Heaven by sea as by land,” cried Sir Humphrey Gilbert, ere his ship sank with him; and the hundreds who perished in the ocean within reach of the exultant welcome and the festal preparation of the shore have found Paradise as surely, and in giving “the last full measure of devotion” have gone as brave men would wish to go.

Sorrow that is too deep and strong for words clutches the heart-strings of humanity and the Nation mourns for the heroic dead, who were carried down into the sea with the crushed “Titanic.” They faced death with high hearts, making the Supreme Sacrifice so that the women and the helpless little ones might live.

It is a heart-rending story, redeemed and ennobled by the heroism of the victims. Its details are appalling. The world is full of mournings for the dead. Nature has conquered again, destroying with ruthless hand the most marvelous ship that ever floated on the bosom of the deep.

It is the worst disaster that ever befell any vessel. It is the wrecking of a whole armada within one hull of steel, vaunted as unsinkable.

The sinking of the “Titanic” is an appalling catastrophe, in the contemplation of which any words that can be uttered are as futile as in the presence of the awful majesty of the Angel of Death.

The maiden trip of the newest, staunchest and greatest of the modern ocean greyhounds has thus apparently ended in the most appalling marine disaster ever recorded.

The first advices brought word of the safe removal of all the passengers and the possible success of the crew in their endeavor to bring the noblest ship afloat to shallow water. Another triumph of the wireless telegraph was hailed, and from both shores went up a paean of thanksgiving that the overwhelming loss was not of life but of things material, that, however valuable, are far less dear and can one day be replaced.

But now as a bolt from the blue, and as a forecast of the final mortal terrors of the Day of Judgment, comes the message that of 2300 souls aboard, but 700—chiefly women and children—have been saved.

All earthly concerns beside this calamity seem to fade into littleness and nothingness. The sole redeeming circumstance is that heroes met their death like men, and that human love was victorious over human terror, and mightier than Death and the open grave of the remorseless deep.

The one alleviating circumstance in this terrible tragedy is the fact that the men stood aside and insisted that the women and children should first have places in the boats.

There were men who were accustomed merely to pronounce a wish to have it gratified. For one of the humblest fishing smacks or a dory they could have given the price that was paid to build the immense ship that has become the most imposing mausoleum that ever housed the bones of men since the Pyramids rose from the desert sands.

But these men stood aside—one can see them—and gave place not merely to the delicate and the refined, but to the scared woman from the steerage with her toddler by her side, coming through the very gate of Death and out of the mouth of Hell to the imagined Eden of America.

To many of those who went it was harder to go than to stay there on the vessel gaping with its mortal wounds and ready to go down. It meant that tossing on the waters they must wait in suspense, hour after hour, even after the lights of the ship were engulfed in appalling darkness, hoping against hope for the miracle of a rescue dearer to them than their own lives.

It was the tradition of Anglo-Saxon heroism that was fulfilled in the frozen seas during the black hours of the night. The heroism was that of the women who went, as well as of the men who remained.

The sympathy of all the world will go out to the stricken survivors of the victims of a world-wide calamity.

INTRODUCTION.

HE human imagination is unequal to the reconstruction of the appalling scene of the disaster in the North Atlantic. No picture of the pen or of the painter’s brush can adequately represent the magnitude of the calamity that has made the whole world kin.

How trivial in such an hour seem the ordinary affairs of civilized mankind—the minor ramifications of politics, the frenetic rivalry of candidates, the haggle of stock speculators. We are suddenly, by an awful visitation, made to see our human transactions in their true perspective, as small as they really are.

Man’s pride is profoundly humbled: he must confess that the victory this time has gone to the blind, inexorable forces of nature, except in so far as the manifestation of the heroic virtues is concerned.

The ship that went to her final resting place two miles below the placid, unconfessing level of the sea represented all that science and art knew how to contribute to the expedition of traffic, to the comfort and enjoyment of voyagers.

She had 15 watertight steel compartments supposed to render her unsinkable. She was possessed of submarine signals with microphones, to tell the bridge by means of wires when shore or ship or any other object was at hand.

There was a collision bulkhead to safeguard the ship against the invasion of water amidships should the bow be torn away. In a word, the boat was as safe and sound as the shipbuilder could make it.

It was the pride of the owners and the commander that what has happened could not possibly occur. And yet the Titanic went down, and carried to their doom hundreds of passengers and men who intimately knew the sea and had faced every peril that the navigator meets.

In the hours between half-past 10 on Sunday night and half-past 2 Monday morning, while the ship still floated, what did the luxuries of their $10,000,000 castle on the ocean avail those who trod the eight steel decks, not knowing at what moment the whole glittering fabric might plunge with them—as it did plunge—to the unplumbed abyss below?

What was it, in those agonizing hours, to the men who remained aboard, or to the women and children placed in the boats, that there were three electric elevators, squash courts and Turkish baths, a hospital with an operating room, private promenade decks and Renaissance cabins? What is it to a man about to die to know that there is at hand a palm garden or a darkroom for photography, or the tapestry of an English castle or a dinner service of 10,000 pieces of silver and gold?

In that midnight crisis the one thing needful was not provided, where everything was supplied. The one inadequacy was—the lack of lifeboats.

In the supreme confidence of the tacit assumption that they never would be needed, the means of rescue—except in a pitiably meagre insufficiency—was not at hand. There were apparently but 20 boats and rafts available, each capable of sustaining at most 60 persons.

Yet the ship was built to carry 2435 passengers and 860 in the crew—a total of 3295 persons.

Whatever the luxuriousness of the appointments, the magnificence of the carvings and the paintings that surfeited the eye, the amplitude of the space allotted for the promenade, it seems incredible no calculation was made for the rescue of at least 2000 of the possible floating population of the Titanic.

The result of the tragedy must be that aroused public opinion will compel the formulation of new and drastic regulations, alike by the British Board of Trade and by the Federal authorities, providing not merely for the adequate equipment of every ship with salvatory apparatus but for rigorous periodical inspection of the appliances and a constant drill of the crew.

Let there be an end of boasting about the supremacy of man to the immitigable laws and forces of nature. Let the grief of mankind be assuaged not in idle lamentation but in amelioration of the conditions that brought about the saddest episode in the history of ships at sea.

The particular line that owned and sent forth the vessel that has perished has been no more to blame than others that similarly ignored elemental precautions in favor of superfluous comforts, in a false sense of security.

When the last boatload of priceless human life swung away from the davits of the Titanic, it left behind on the decks of the doomed ship hundreds of men who knew that the vessel’s mortal wound spelt Death for them also. But no cravens these men who went to their nameless graves, nor scourged as the galley slave to his dungeon.

Called suddenly from the ordinary pleasure of ship life and fancied security, they were in a moment confronted with the direct peril of the sea, and the absolute certainty that, while some could go to safety, many must remain.

It was the supreme test, for if a man lose his life he loses all. But, had the grim alternative thought to mock the cowardice of the breed, it was doomed to disappointment.

Silently these men stood aside. “Women first,” the inexorable law of the sea, which one disobeys only to court everlasting ignominy, undoubtedly had no place in their minds. “Women first,” the common law of humanity, born of chivalry and the nobler spirit of self-sacrifice, prevailed.

They simply stood aside.

The first blush of poignant grief will pass from those who survive and were bereft. But always will they sense in its fullest meaning this greatest of all sacrifice. Ever must it remain as a reassuring knowledge of the love, and faithfulness, and courage, of the Man, and of his care for the weak.

“Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend.”

CONTENTS.

PREFACE	iii
INTRODUCTION	v
CONTENTS	ix
GREAT MARINE DISASTERS FROM 1866 TO 1911	xiii
Hymn for the Survivors of the Titanic, by Hall Caine, the Great English Novelist	xvi
CHAPTER I. FROM A DAY OF DELIGHT TO DEATH.
April 14, 1912, a Fateful Date—Lulled to False Security—Peaceful Sabbath Ends in Dire Disaster—Hopes Sink Beneath the Cruel and Treacherous Waves of the Atlantic—Man’s Proudest Craft Crumbles Like an Eggshell	17
CHAPTER II. HEART-RENDING SCENES ON CARPATHIA.
The Next Day—Caring for the Sick—Meeting of the Survivors—Personal Wireless Messages Gives Precedence—Marconi’s Appeal Fruitless—Quartermaster Tells Story	35
CHAPTER III. BAND PLAYED TO THE LAST.
Suffering in the Lifeboats—Statement by Ismay—Would not Desert Husband—Thirty on Raft in Icy Water—Colonel Astor a Hero—Joked Over Collision—Officer Saves Many Lives	45
CHAPTER IV. NEGLECT CAUSED DISASTER.
Tardy Answer to Telephone Call—Lookout’s Signals Not Answered—Ship Could Have Been Saved—Three Fatal Minutes—Ismay Accused—Women Help With Oars—Ship Broken in Two—Band Played Till Last	57
CHAPTER V. BELIEVED SHIP UNSINKABLE.
Shots and Hymn Mingle—Titanic Settled Slowly—Best Traditions Upheld by Passengers and Crew—Boiler Explosions Tore Ship Apart—Anguish in the Boats—Survivors Carried to Carpathia—Not Enough Provision Against Accident	68
CHAPTER VI. HOW SURVIVORS ESCAPED.
Managing Director Accused—Stoker Makes Direct Charge—Supported by Many Survivors—Tells About It—“Please Don’t Knock”—Demanded Food—Brave Lot of Women—First Officer Shot Himself	81
CHAPTER VII. WOMAN’S THRILLING NARRATIVE.
Barber Says Good Word for Accused Shipowner—Claims He was a Witness—Saw the Whole Scene—Woman Tells Different Tale—Mrs. Carter’s Thrilling Narrative—Barber’s Story Differs From Ismay’s Own	95
CHAPTER VIII. SURVIVORS’ STIRRING STORIES.
Survivors’ Stirring Stories—How Young Thayer Was Saved—His Father, Second Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Drowned—Mrs. Straus’ Pathetic Death—Black Coward Shot—Countess Aids in Rowing Boat	103
CHAPTER IX. HOW ASTOR WENT TO DEATH.
How Astor Went to Death—“I Resign Myself to My Fate,” He Said—Kissed Wife Fond Farewell—Lifted Cap to Wife as Boat Left Ship—Crushed to Death By Ice—Famous Novelist’s Daughter Hears of His Death—Philadelphia Millionaires’ Heroism—Last to See Widener Alive—Major Butt Dies a Soldier’s Death	113
CHAPTER X. NOTABLE WOMAN SAVED.
Praises Captain and Crew—Bids President of Grand Trunk Railway Good-bye—In Water for Six Hours—Saved by Cake of Ice—Boats not Filled, she says—Millionaire Died to Save Wife’s Maid—Heroic Sacrifice of Railroad Official	126
CHAPTER XI. MAJOR BUTT, MARTYR TO DUTY.
Major Butt Martyr to Duty—Woman’s Soul-Stirring Tribute—Died Like a Soldier—Was the Man of the Hour—Assisted Captain and Officers in Saving Women—Cool as if on Dress Parade—Robert M. Daniel Tells of Disaster and Death of Heroes—Tiny Waifs of the Sea	138
CHAPTER XII. MRS. ASTOR’S BRAVERY.
Showed Wonderful Fortitude in the Hour of Peril—Sailors in Lifeboat Tell of Her Heroism—Pleaded to Remain With Husband—Change Clothes to Embark—Seamen Confirm Murdock’s Suicide—One Heartless Fiend—Williams Killed as Funnel Fell	148
CHAPTER XIII. LIFEBOATS BUNGLINGLY HANDLED.
Widow of College Founder Scores Management for Lack of Drill—First Thought Damage was Slight—Aid May Have Been Near—No Oil in Life Lamps—Hudson, N. Y., Woman’s Pathetic Recital—A. A. Dick, of New York, Talks	159
CHAPTER XIV. NOT LIKE BOURGOGNE DISASTER.
Lone Woman Survivor Makes Comparison—Does Not Like “Law of the Sea”—Families First, It Should Be, She Says—Husband Greeted Like the Hero He was—Privations and Horror Hasten Death	171
CHAPTER XV. BOY’S DESPERATE FIGHT FOR LIFE.
Plunged Into Icy Sea—Did Not See Berg—Parted From Parents—Saw Many Jump Overboard—Leaped Into Ocean—Eight Year Old Boy’s Narrative—Was “Very Quiet After He Was In Boat”—Another Lad Tells How He Saw His Uncle Die	188
CHAPTER XVI. CARPATHIA TO THE RESCUE.
Cunarder’s Race to Titanic’s Aid—Captain Rostrom’s Unvarnished but Dramatic Report—Knot in Operator’s Shoelace Saved Hundreds of Lives—Was About to Retire, But Slight Delay Enabled Him to Hear Message—Icebergs Defied in Desperate Rush	199
CHAPTER XVII. REFUSED TO LEAVE HUSBAND.
“Where You Are I Shall Be,” Says Mrs. Isidor Straus—He Begged Her in Vain to Enter the Waiting Lifeboat—Women Row Lifeboats—Stokers no Oarsmen—Crazed Men Rescued—Collapsible Boats Failed to Work	205
CHAPTER XVIII. LADY DUFF-GORDON’S EXPERIENCES.
Says it was as if Giant Hand had Pushed Ship Down—Realistic Picture of Titanic’s Death Plunge—The Long, Dreary Wait—Man at Wheel Tells of Crash—Told by Phone “Iceberg Ahead” Just as Ship Struck—Saw Captain on Bridge	216
CHAPTER XIX. SENATORS HEAR STARTLING STORIES.
Senators Hear Startling Stories—Probing Committee Took Prompt Action—Special Investigation to Forstall Spiriting Away of Witnesses—Prominent Persons on Stand—Carpathia’s Captain and Head of White Star Line Chief Witnesses—Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy Also Testifies	235
CHAPTER XX. SURVIVING OPERATOR’S EXPERIENCES.
Surviving Operator’s Experiences—Tells Senator How He Escaped—Tale of Suffering and Death—Managing Director’s Flight Balked—Long Hours and Low Wages for Wireless Men—Refused Help from Frankfurt—Called Its Operator a Fool—Laxity of Wireless—Denies Sending “Saved” Message—Gave Warning of Ice	248
CHAPTER XXI. THE FUNERAL SHIP AND ITS DEAD.
116 Buried at Sea—Nearly all Sailors—No Prominent Men Buried—No Bullet Wounds Found—Halifax’s Bells Toll for Dead—Astor’s Body Identified—Death Ship’s Voyage—The Captain’s Story—Canon Hind’s Narrative	258
CHAPTER XXII. INQUIRY BY UNITED STATES SENATE.
Loading at the Rail—Inadequate Life-saving Appliances—No Extra Lookout—Searchlights Blinding—Wireless Rivals Not All Aroused—Went to Death in Sleep—Scratch Seamen—Cries of Agony—A Pitiful Story—Senators Ascertain Pertinent Facts—Much Good Accomplished	271
List of Titanic Passengers Missing and Rescued	281

GREAT MARINE DISASTERS FROM 1866 TO 1911.

Among the great marine disasters on record that have resulted in loss of lives and vessels are:

1866,	Jan. 11.—Steamship London, on her way to Melbourne, foundered in the Bay of Biscay; 220 lives lost.
1866,	Oct. 3.—Steamship Evening Star, from New York to New Orleans, foundered; about 250 lives lost.
1867,	Oct. 29.—Royal Mail steamships Rhone and Wye and about 50 other vessels driven ashore and wrecked at St. Thomas, West Indies, by a hurricane; about 100 lives lost.
1870,	—Indian Line steamship City of Boston left New York with 117 passengers and was never heard from.
1871,	July 30.—Staten Island ferryboat Westfield exploded in New York hurricane; about 1000 lives lost.
1873,	Jan. 22.—British steamship North Fleet sunk in collision off Dungeness; 300 lives lost.
1873,	Nov. 23.—White Star liner Atlantic wrecked off Nova Scotia; 547 lives lost.
1873,	Nov. 23.—French liner Ville du Havre, from New York to Havre, lost in collision with ship Lochearn; sank in 16 minutes; 110 lives lost.
1874,	Dec. 26.—Immigrant vessel Cospatrick took fire and sank off Auckland; 476 lives lost.
1875,	May 7.—Hamburg Mail steamship Schiller wrecked in fog on Sicily Isles; 200 lives lost.
1875,	Nov. 4.—American steamship Pacific in collision 30 miles southwest of Cape Flattery; 236 lives lost.
1877,	Nov. 24.—U. S. sloop of war Huron wrecked off North Carolina coast; 110 lives lost.
1878,	Jan. 31.—Steamship Metropolis wrecked off North Carolina; 104 lives lost.
1878,	March 24.—British training ship Eurydice, a frigate, foundered near the Isle of Wight; 300 lives lost.
1878,	Sept. 3.—British iron steamship Princess Alice sunk in collision in the Thames; 700 lives lost.
1878,	Dec. 18.—French steamship Byzantin sunk in collision in the Dardanelles with the British steamship Rinaldo; 210 lives lost.
1879,	Dec. 2.—Steamship Borusia sunk off coast of Spain; 174 lives lost.
1880,	Jan. 31.—British training ship Atlanta left Bermuda with 290 men and was never heard from.
1881,	Aug. 30.—Steamship Teuton wrecked off the Cape of Good Hope; 200 lives lost.
1883,	July 3.—Steamship Daphne turned turtle in the Clyde; 124 lives lost.
1884,	Jan. 18.—American steamship City of Columbus wrecked on Gay Head Light, Mass.; 99 lives lost.
1884,	April 19.—Bark Ponema and steamship State of Florida sank in mid-ocean after collision; 145 lives lost.
1884,	July 23.—Spanish steamship Gijon and British steamship Lux in collision off Finistere; 150 lives lost.
1887,	Jan. 29.—Steamship Kapunda in collision with bark Ada Melore off coast of Brazil; 300 lives lost.
1887,	Nov. 15.—British steamship Wah Young caught fire between Canton and Hongkong; 400 lives lost.
1888,	Sept. 13.—Italian steamship Sud America and steamship La France in collision near the Canary Islands; 89 lives lost.
1889,	March 16.—U. S. warship Trenton, Vandalia and Lipsic and German ships Adler and Eber wrecked on Samoan Islands; 147 lives lost.
1890,	Jan. 2.—Steamship Persia wrecked off Corsica; 130 lives lost.
1890,	Feb. 17.—British steamship Duburg wrecked in China Sea; 400 lives lost.
1890,	March 1.—British steamship Quetia foundered in Lorres Straits; 124 lives lost.
1890,	Sept. 19.—Turkish frigate Ertogrul foundered off Japan; 540 lives lost.
1890,	Dec. 27.—British steamship Shanghai burned in China Sea; 101 lives lost.
1891,	March 17.—Anchor liner Utopia in collision with British steamship Anson off Gibraltar and sunk; 574 lives lost.
1891,	April 16.—British ship St. Catharis wrecked off Caroline Island; 90 lives lost.
1892,	Jan. 13.—Steamship Namehow wrecked in China Sea; 414 lives lost.
1892,	Oct. 28.—Anchor liner Romania wrecked off Corsica; 113 lives lost.
1893,	Feb. 8.—Anchor line Trinalria wrecked off Spain; 115 lives lost.
1893,	June 22.—British battleship Pretoria sunk in collision with the Camperdown off Syria; 357 lives lost.
1894,	Nov. 1.—Steamship Wairaro wrecked off New Zealand; 134 lives lost.
1894,	June 25.—Steamship Norge wrecked on Rockall Reef in North Atlantic; nearly 600 lives lost.
1895,	Jan. 30.—German steamship Elbe, sunk in collision with British steamship Grathie in North Sea; 335 lives lost.
1895,	March 11.—Spanish cruiser Reina Regenta foundered in Atlantic at entrance to Mediterranean; 400 lives lost.
1898,	July 2.—Steamship Bourgogne rammed British steel sailing vessel Cromartshire and sank rapidly; 571 lives lost.
1904,	June 15.—General Slocum, excursion steamboat with 1400 persons aboard; took fire going through Hell Gate, East River; more than 1000 lives lost.
1905,	Sept. 12.—Japanese warship Mikasa sunk after explosion in Sasebo harbor; 599 lives lost.
1907,	Feb. 12.—Steamship Larchmont in collision with Harry Hamilton in Long Island Sound; 183 lives lost.
1907,	Feb. 21.—English mail steamship Berlin wrecked off the Hook of Holland; 142 lives lost.
1907,	Feb. 24.—Austrian Lloyd steamship Imperatrix, from Trieste to Bombay, wrecked on Cape of Crete and sunk; 137 lives lost.
1907,	Jan.—British steamship Pengwern foundered in the North Sea; crew and 24 men lost.
1907,	Jan.—Prinz Waldemar, Hamburg-American line, aground at Kingston, Jamaica, after earthquake; 3 lives lost.
1907,	Feb.—French warship Jean Bart, sunk off coast of Morocco.
1907,	March.—Steamship Congo sunk at mouth of Ems river by German steamship Nerissa; 7 lives lost.
1907,	March.—French warship Jena, blown up at Toulon; 120 lives lost.
1907,	July.—Steamship Columbia, sunk off Shelton Cove, California, in collision with steamship San Pedro; 50 lives lost.
1908,	Feb. 3.—Steamship St. Cuthbert, bound from Antwerp to New York, burned at sea on Nova Scotia; 15 lives lost.
1908,	April 25.—British cruiser Gladiator rammed by American liner St. Paul off Isle of Wight; 30 lives lost.
1908,	July.—Chinese warship Ying King foundered; 300 lives lost.
1908,	Aug. 24.—Steamship Folgenenden wrecked; 70 persons lost.
1908,	Nov. 6.—Steamship Taish sunk in storm off Etoro Island; 150 lives lost.
1911,	Feb. 2.—Steamship Abenton wrecked; 70 lives lost.
1911,	April 23.—Steamship Asia ran aground; 40 lives lost.
1911,	Sept. 5.—Steamship Tuscapel wrecked; 81 lives lost.
1911,	Oct. 2.—Steamship Hatfield in collision and sunk; 207 lives lost.
1911,	April 2.—Steamship Koombuna wrecked; 150 lives lost.

HUNDREDS WEEP AT MEMORIAL SERVICES HELD
FOR “ARCHIE” BUTT.

Fifteen hundred sincere mourners for Major Archibald W. Butt, lost on the Titanic, wept unashamed at his home in Augusta, Georgia, on May 2, when President Taft called his former aid affectionately by his first name and choked with tears as he paid a personal tribute to the army officer.

It was at a monster memorial service for the soldier, where all Augusta paid homage to his memory. President Taft was the main speaker. He was deeply affected by the solemn ritual.

“If Archie could have selected a time to die he would have chosen the one God gave him,” the President said, his voice broken with emotion.

“His life was spent in self-sacrifice, serving others. His forgetfulness of self had become a part of his nature.

“Everybody who knew him called him Archie.

“I couldn’t prepare anything in advance to say here,” the President continued. “I tried, but couldn’t. He was too near me. He was loyal to my predecessor, Mr. Roosevelt, who selected him to be military aid, and to me he had become as a son or a brother.”

Taft pictured a new side to Major Butt’s character—his love for his mother.

“I think he never married because of that love for her who was taken from him two years ago,” the President declared.