Titanic: A Survivor's Story (14 page)

Mrs. Imanita Shelley’s affidavit (Am. Inq., p. 1146).

Mrs. Shelley with her mother, Mrs. L.D. Parrish, were second cabin passengers. Mrs. Shelley had been sick and it was difficulty that she reached the deck, where she was assisted to a chair. After some time a sailor ran to her and implored her to get in the lifeboat that was then being launched – one of the last on the ship. Pushing her mother toward the sailor, Mrs. Shelley made for the davits where the boat hung.

There was a space of between four or five feet between the edge of the deck and the suspended boat. The sailor picked up Mrs. Parrish and threw her bodily into the boat. Mrs. Shelley jumped and landed safely. There were a fireman and a ship’s baker among the crew at the time of launching. The boat was filled with women and children, as many as could get in without overcrowding. There was trouble with the tackle and the ropes had to be cut.

Just as they reached the water, a crazed Italian jumped from the deck into the lifeboat, landing on Mrs. Parrish, severely bruising her right side and leg.

Orders had been given to keep in sight of the ship’s boat which had been sent out ahead to look for help. Throughout the entire period, from the time of the collision and taking to the boats, the ship’s crew behaved in an ideal manner. Not a man tried to get into a boat unless ordered to, and many were seen to strip off their clothing and wrap it around the women and children, who came up half-clad from their beds. Mrs. Shelley says that no crew could have behaved in a more perfect manner.

J. Joughin, head baker (Br. Inq.)

Chief Officer Wilde shouted to the stewards to keep the men passengers back, but there was no necessity for the order as they were keeping back. The order was splendid. The stewards, firemen and sailors got in line and passed the ladies in; and then we had difficulty to find ladies to go into the boat. No distinction at all as to class was made. I saw a number of third-class women with their bags, which they would not let go.

The boat was let down and the women were forcibly drawn into it. The boat was a yard and a half from the ship’s side. There was a slight list and we had to drop them in. The officer ordered two sailors and a steward to get in.

B
OAT
N
O
12
⁶

No male passenger in this boat.

Passengers
: Miss Phillips.

Bade goodbye to his daughter and sank with the ship
: Mr. Phillips. Women and children, 40.

Crew
: Seamen Poigndestre (in charge), F. Clench. Later, Lucas and two firemen were transferred from boat ‘D.’

Jumped from deck below as boat was lowered
: 1 Frenchman.

Total
: 43.

Transfers were made to this boat first from Engelhardt ‘D’ and second, from Engelhardt upset boat ‘B,’ so that it reached the
Carpathia
’s side with seventy, or more.

Incidents

F. Clench, A.B. (Am. Inq., p. 636).

The second officer and myself stood on the gunwale and helped load women and children. The chief officer passed them along to us and we filled three boats, No. 12 first. In each there were about forty or fifty people. After finishing No. 16 boat, I went back to No. 12. ‘How many men (crew) have you in this boat?’ the chief officer said, and I said, ‘Only one, sir.’ He looked up and said: ‘Jump into that boat,’ and that made a complement of two seamen. An able seaman was in charge of this boat. (Poigndestre.) We had instructions to keep our eye on No. 14 and keep together.

There was only one male passenger in our boat, and that was a Frenchman who jumped in and we could not find him. He got under the thwart, mixed up with the women, just as we dropped into the water before the boat was lowered and without our knowledge. Officer Lowe transferred some of his people into our boat and others, making close on to sixty, and pretty full up. When Mr. Lowe was gone I heard shouts. I looked around and saw a boat in the way that appeared to be like a funnel; we thought it was the top of a funnel. (It was Engelhardt overturned boat ‘B.’) There were about twenty on this, and we took off approximately ten, making seventy in my boat.

John Poigndestre, A. B. (Br. Inq., p. 82).

Lightoller ordered us to lay off and stand by close to the ship. Boat ‘D’ and three lifeboats made fast to No. 12. Stood off about 100 yards after ship sank. Not enough sailors to help pick up swimmers. No light. Transfer of about a dozen women passengers from No. 14 to No. 12. About 150 yards off when
Titanic
sank. No compass.

B
OAT
N
O
14
⁷

No male passenger in this boat.

Passengers
: Mrs. Compton, Miss Compton, Mrs. Minahan, Miss Minahan, Mrs. Collyer, Miss Collyer.

Picked up out of sea
: W.F. Hoyt (who died), Steward J. Stewart, and a plucky Japanese.

Women
: 50

Volunteer when crew was short
: C. Williams.

Crew
: Fifth Officer Lowe, Seaman Scarrot, 2 firemen, Stewards Crowe and Morris.

Stowaway
: 1 Italian.

Bade goodbye and sank with ship
: Dr Minahan, Mr. Compton, Mr. Collyer.

Total
: 60.

Incidents

H.G. Lowe, Fifth Officer (Am. Inq., 116).

Nos. 12, 14 and 16 were down about the same time. I told Mr. Moody that three boats had gone away and that an officer ought to go with them. He said: ‘You go.’ There was difficulty in lowering when I got near the water. I dropped her about five feet, because I was not going to take the chance of being dropped down upon by somebody. While I was on the Boat Deck, two men tried to jump into the boat. I chased them out.

We filled boats 14 and 16 with women and children. Moody filled No. 16 and I filled No. 14. Lightoller was there part of the time. They were all women and children, barring one passenger, who was an Italian, and he sneaked in dressed like a woman. He had a shawl over his head. There was another passenger, a chap by the name of C. Williams, whom I took for rowing. He gave me his name and address (referring to book), ‘C. Williams, Racket Champion of the World, 2 Drury Road, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex, England.’

As I was being lowered, I expected every moment that my boat would be doubled up under my feet. I had overcrowded her, but I knew that I had to take a certain amount of risk. I thought if one additional body was to fall into that boat, that slight additional weight might part the hooks, or carry away something; so as we were coming down past the open decks, I saw a lot of Latin people all along the ship’s rails. They were glaring more or less like wild beasts, ready to spring. That is why I yelled out to ‘look out,’ and let go, bang! right along the ship’s side. There was a space I should say of about three feet between the side of the boat and the ship’s side, and as I went down I fired those shots without any intention of hurting anybody and with the positive knowledge that I did not hurt anybody. I fired, I think, three times.

Later, 150 yards away, I herded five boats together. I was in No. 14; then I had 10, 12, collapsible ‘D’ and one other boat (No. 4), and made them tie up. I waited until the yells and shrieks had subsided for the people to thin out, and then I deemed it safe for me to go amongst the wreckage; so I transferred all my passengers, somewhere about fifty-three, from my boat and equally distributed them among my other four boats. Then I asked for volunteers to go with me to the wreck, and it was at this time that I found the Italian. He came aft and had a shawl over his head, and I suppose he had skirts. Anyhow, I pulled the shawl off his face and saw he was a man. He was in a great hurry to get into the other boat and I got hold of him and pitched him in.

Senator Smith:
Pitched him in?

Mr. Lowe:
Yes; because he was not worth being handled better.

Senator Smith:
You pitched him in among the women?

Mr. Lowe:
No, sir; in the forepart of the lifeboat in which I transferred my passengers.

Senator Smith:
Did you use some pretty emphatic language when you did this?

Mr. Lowe:
No, sir; I did not say a word to him.

Then I went off and rowed to the wreckage and around the wreckage and picked up four people alive. I do not know who these live persons were. They never came near me afterwards either to say this or that or the other. But one died, Mr. W.F. Hoyt, of New York. After we got him in the boat we took his collar off so as to give him more chance to breathe, but unfortunately, he died. He was too far gone when we picked him up. I then left the wreck. I went right around, and, strange to say, I did not see a single female body around the wreckage. I did not have a light in my boat. Then I could see the
Carpathia
coming up and I thought: ‘Well, I am the fastest boat of the lot,’ as I was sailing, you see. I was going through the water four or five knots, bowling along very nicely.

By and by, I noticed a collapsible boat, Engelhardt ‘D.’ It looked rather sorry, so I thought: ‘Well, I will go down and pick her up and make sure of her.’ This was Quartermaster Bright’s boat. Mrs. H.B. Harris, of New York, was in it. She had a broken arm. I had taken this first collapsible (‘D’) in tow and I noticed that there was another collapsible (‘A’) in a worse plight than this one that I had in tow. I got to her just in time and took off, I suppose, about twenty men and one lady. I left three male bodies in it. I may have been a bit hard-hearted in doing this. I thought: ‘I am not here to worry about bodies.’ The people on the raft told me these had been dead for some time. I do not know whether any one endeavored to find anything on their persons that would identify them, because they were all up to their ankles in water when I took them off.

Joseph Scarrot, A.B. (Br. Inq., pp. 29, 30):

I myself took charge of No. 14 as the only sailorman there. The Chief Officer ordered women and children to be taken in. Some men came and tried to rush the boat. They were foreigners and could not understand the orders I gave them, but I managed to keep them away. I had to use some persuasion with a boat tiller. One man jumped in twice and I had to throw him out the third time. I got all the women and children into the boat. There were fifty-four women and four children – one of them a baby in arms. There were myself, two firemen, three or four stewards and Mr. Lowe, who got into the boat. I told him the trouble I had with the men and he brought out his revolver and fired two shots and said: ‘If there is any trouble I will fire at them.’ The shots fired were fired between the boat and the ship’s side. The after fall got twisted and we dropped the boat by the releasing gear and got clear of the ship. There were four men rowing. There was a man in the boat who we thought was a sailor, but he was not. He was a window cleaner. The
Titanic
was then about fifty yards off, and we lay there with the other boats. Mr. Lowe was at the helm. We went in the direction of the cries and came among hundreds of dead bodies and life belts. We got one man, who died shortly after he got in the boat. One of the stewards tried to restore him, but without avail. There was another man who was calling for help, but among the bodies and wreckage it was too late for us to reach him. It took half an hour to get to that man. Cannot say exactly, but think we got about twenty off of the Engelhardt boat (‘A’).

E.J. Buley, A.B. (Am. Inq., p. 605):

(After his transfer from No. 10 to No. 14.)

Then, with Lowe in his boat No. 14, I went back to where the
Titanic
sank and picked up the remaining live bodies. We got four; all the others were dead. We turned over several to see if they were alive. It looked as if none of them were drowned. They looked as if frozen. The life belts they had on were that much (indicating) out of the water, and their heads lay back with their faces on the water. They were head and shoulders out of the water, with their heads thrown back. In the morning, after we had picked up all that were alive, there was a collapsible boat (‘A’) swamped, which we saw with a lot of people up to their knees in water. We sailed over to them. We then picked up another boat (‘D’) and took her in tow. I think we were about the seventh or eighth boat alongside the
Carpathia
.

F.O. Evans, A.B. (Am. Inq., p. 677):

So from No. 10 we got into his (Lowe’s) boat, No. 14, and went straight over towards the wreckage with eight or nine men and picked up four persons alive, one of whom died on the way to the
Carpathia
. Another picked up was named J. Stewart, a steward. You could not hardly count the number of dead bodies. I was afraid to look over the sides because it might break my nerves down. We saw no other people in the water or heard their cries, other than these four pickdd up. The officer said: ‘Hoist a sail forward.’ I did so and made sail in the direction of the collapsible boat ‘A’ about a mile and a half away, which had been swamped. There were in it one woman and about ten or eleven men. Then we picked up another collapsible boat (‘D’) and took her in tow to the
Carpathia
. There were then about twenty-five people in our boat No. 14, including the one who died.