Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean; Titanic (Steamship)
Charles Herbert Lightoller, previously mentioned, stood by the ship
until the last, working to get the passengers away, and when it appeared
that he had made his last trip he went up high on the officers' quarters
and made the best dive he knew how to make just as the ship plunged down
to the depths. This is an excerpt from his testimony before the Senate
investigating committee:
"What time did you leave the ship?"
"I didn't leave it."
"Did it leave you?"
"Yes, sir."
Children shall hear that episode sung in after years and his own
descendants shall recite it to their bairns. Mr. Lightoller acted as an
officer and gentleman should, and he was not the only one.
A MESSAGE FROM A NOTORIOUS GAMBLER
That Jay Yates, gambler, confidence man and fugitive from justice, known
to the police and in sporting circles as J. H. Rogers, went down with
the Titanic after assisting many women aboard life-boats, became known
when a note, written on a blank page torn from a diary: was delivered to
his sister. Here is a fac-simile of the note:
{illust.}
This note was given by Rogers to a woman he was helping into a
life-boat. The woman, who signed herself "Survivor," inclosed the note
with the following letter.
"You will find note that was handed to me as I was leaving the Titanic.
Am stranger to this man, but think he was a card player. He helped me
aboard a life-boat and I saw him help others. Before we were lowered I
saw him jump into the sea. If picked up I did not recognize him on the
Carpathia. I don't think he was registered on the ship under his right
name."
Rogers' mother, Mrs. Mary A. Yates, an old woman, broke down when she
learned son had perished.
"Thank God I know where he is now," she sobbed. "I have not heard from
him for two years. The last news I had from him he was in London."
FIFTY LADS MET DEATH
Among the many hundreds of heroic souls who went bravely and quietly to
their end were fifty happy-go-lucky youngsters shipped as bell boys
or messengers to serve the first cabin passengers. James Humphreys, a
quartermaster, who commanded life-boat No. 11, told a li{t}tle story
that shows how these fifty lads met death.
Humphreys said the boys were called to their regular posts in the main
cabin entry and taken in charge by their captain, a steward. They were
ordered to remain in the cabin and not get in the way. Throughout the
first hour of confusion and terror these lads sat quietly on their
benches in various parts of the first cabin.
Then, just toward the end when the order was passed around that the ship
was going down and every man was free to save himself, if he kept away
from the life-boats in which the women
{illust. caption = "WHO HATH MEASURED THE WATERS IN THE HOLLOW OF
HIS HAND."--Isaiah XL:xii}
were being taken, the bell boys scattered to all parts of the ship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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