Sinking Of The Titanic And Great Sea Disasters, Logan Marshall [ebook reader with highlight function TXT] 📗
- Author: Logan Marshall
Book online «Sinking Of The Titanic And Great Sea Disasters, Logan Marshall [ebook reader with highlight function TXT] 📗». Author Logan Marshall
Not Slackened.
"That The Number Of Life-Boats On The Titanic Was Insufficient
To Accommodate More Than One-Third Of The Passengers,
To Say Nothing Of The Crew. Most Members Of The Crew Say
There Were Sixteen Life-Boats And Two Collapsibles; None Say
There Were More Than Twenty Boats In All. The 700 Escaped
Filled Most Of The Sixteen Life-Boats And The One Collapsible
Which Got Away, To The Limit Of Their Capacity.
"Had The Ship Struck The Iceberg Head On At Whatever
Chapter 13 Pg 127{Illust. Caption = Mrs. George D. Widener
Mrs. Widener Was Saved,....}
{Illust. Caption = George D. Widener
Who With His Son....}
{Illust. Caption = Copyright By Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
William T. Stead
The Great English Writer, Who Was A Passenger On Board The Ill-Fated
White Star Line Steamer Titanic.}
Speed And With Whatever Resulting Shock, The Bulkhead System
Of Water-Tight Compartments Would Probably Have Saved The
Vessel. As One Man Expressed It, It Was The Impossible That
Happened When, With A Shock Unbelievably Mild, The Ship's
Side Was Torn For A Length Which Made The Bulkhead System
Ineffective."
After Telling Of The Shock And The Lowering Of The Boats
The Account Continues:
"Some Of The Boats, Crowded Too Full To Give Rowers A
Chance, Drifted For A Time. Few Had Provisions Or Water,
There Was Lack Of Covering From The Icy Air, And The Only
Lights Were The Still Undimmed Arcs And Incandescents Of The
Settling Ship, Save For One Of The First Boats. There A Steward,
Who Explained To The Passengers That He Had Been Shipwrecked
Twice Before, Appeared Carrying Three Oranges And
A Green Light.
"That Green Light, Many Of The Survivors Say, Was To The
Shipwrecked Hundreds As The Pillar Of Fire By Night. Long
After The Ship Had Disappeared, And While Confusing False
Lights Danced About The Boats, The Green Lantern Kept Them
Together On The Course Which Led Them To The Carpathia.
"As The End Of The Titanic Became Manifestly But A Matter
Of Moments, The Oarsmen Pulled Their Boats Away, And The
Chilling Waters Began To Echo Splash After Splash As Passengers
And Sailors In Life-Preservers Leaped Over And Started
Chapter 13 Pg 128Swimming Away To Escape The Expected Suction.
"Only The Hardiest Of Constitutions Could Endure For More
Than A Few Moments Such A Numbing Bath. The First Vigor-
Ous Strokes Gave Way To Heart-Breaking Cries Of `Help! Help!'
And Stiffened Forms Were Seen Floating On The Water All
Around Us.
"Led By The Green Light, Under The Light Of The Stars, The
Boats Drew Away, And The Bow, Then The Quarter, Then The
Stacks And At Last The Stern Of The Marvel-Ship Of A Few Days
Before, Passed Beneath The Waters. The Great Force Of The
Ship's Sinking Was Unaided By Any Violence Of The Elements,
And The Suction, Not So Great As Had Been Feared, Rocked But
Mildly The Group Of Boats Now A Quarter Of A Mile Distant
From It.
"Early Dawn Brought No Ship, But Not Long After 5 A. M.
The Carpathia, Far Out Of Her Path And Making Eighteen Knots,
Instead Of Her Wonted Fifteen, Showed Her Single Red And Black
Smokestack Upon The Horizon. In The Joy Of That Moment,
The Heaviest Griefs Were Forgotten.
"Soon Afterward Captain Rostron And Chief Steward
Hughes Were Welcoming The Chilled And Bedraggled Arrivals
Over The Carpathia's Side.
"Terrible As Were The San Francisco, Slocum And Iroquois
Disasters, They Shrink To Local Events In Comparison With This
World-Catastrophe.
"True, There Were Others Of Greater Qualifications And
Longer Experience Than I Nearer The Tragedy--But They, By
Every Token Of Likelihood, Have Become A Part Of The Tragedy.
The Honored--Must I Say The Lamented--Stead, The Adroit
Jacques Futrelle, What Might They Not Tell Were Their Hands
Able To Hold Pencil?
"The Silence Of The Carpathia's Engines, The Piercing Cold,
The Clamor Of Many Voices In The Companionways, Caused Me
To Dress Hurriedly And Awaken My Wife, At 5.40 A. M. Monday.
Our Stewardess, Meeting Me Outside, Pointed To A
Wailing Host In The Rear Dining Room And Said. `From The
Titanic. She's At The Bottom Of The Ocean.'
"At The Ship's Side, A Moment Later, I Saw The Last Of The
Line Of Boats Discharge Their Loads, And Saw Women, Some
With Cheap Shawls About Their Heads, Some With The Costliest
Of Fur Cloaks, Ascending The Ship's Side. And Such Joy As The
First Sight Of Our Ship May Have Given Them Had Disappeared
From Their Faces, And There Were Tears And Signs Of Faltering
As The Women Were Helped Up The Ladders Or Hoisted Aboard
In Swings. For Lack Of Room To Put Them, Several Of The
Titanic's Boats, After Unloading, Were Set Adrift.
Chapter 13 Pg 129"At Our North Was A Broad Ice Field, The Length Of Hundreds
Of Carpathias. Around Us On Other Sides Were Sharp And
Glistening Peaks. One Black Berg, Seen About 10 A. M., Was
Said To Be That Which Sunk The Titanic."
ImprintPublication Date: 05-14-2014
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