Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean; Titanic (Steamship)
"Ismay reached the Carpathia in about the seventh life-boat," said the
officer. "I didn't know who he was, but afterward I heard the other
members of the crew discussing his desire to get something to eat the
minute he put his foot on deck. The steward who waited on him reported
that Ismay came dashing into the dining room and said.
"'Hurry, for God's sake, and get me something to eat, I'm starved. I
don't care what it costs or what it is. Bring it to me.'"
"The steward brought Ismay a load of stuff and when he had finished
it he handed the man a two dollar bill. 'Your money is no good on this
ship,' the steward told him.
"'Take it,' insisted Ismay. 'I am well able to afford it. I will see
to it that the boys of the Carpathia are well rewarded for this night's
work.'
"This promise started the steward making inquiries as to the identity of
the man he had waited on. Then we learned that he was Ismay. I did not
see Ismay after the first few hours. He must have kept to his cabin."
REPLY TO CHARGES
Mr. Ismay's plans had been to return immediately to England, and he
had wired that the steamer Cedric be held for himself and officers and
members of the crew; but public sentiment and subpoenas of the Senate's
investigating committee prevented. In the face of the criticism aimed
against him Mr. Ismay issued a long statement in which he not only
disclaimed responsibility for the Titanic's fatal collision, but also
sought to clear himself of blame for everything that happened after the
big ship was wrecked.
He laid the responsibility for the tragedy on Captain Smith.
He expressed astonishment that his own conduct in the disaster had been
made the subject of inquiry. He denied that he gave any order to Captain
Smith. His position aboard was that of any other first cabin passenger,
he insisted, and he was never consulted by the captain. He denied
telling anyone that he wished the ship to make a speed record. He
called attention to the routine clause in the instructions to White Star
captains ordering them to think of safety at all times. He did not dine
with the captain, he said, and when the ship struck the berg, he was not
sitting with the captain in the saloon.
The managing director added that he was in his stateroom when the
collision occurred. He told of helping to send women and children away
in life-boats on the starboard side, and said there was no woman in
sight on deck when he and William E. Carter, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., entered
the collapsible boat--the last small craft left on that side of the
vessel. He asserted that he pulled an oar and denied that in sending the
three messages from the Carpathia, urging the White Star officials to
hold the Cedric for the survivors of the Titanic's officers and crew, he
had any intention to block investigation of the tragedy. Ismay asserted
that he did not know there was to be an investigation until the Cunarder
docked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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