Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean; Titanic (Steamship)
"One of these men seemed to think that we should not start away from
the sinking ship until it could be learned whether the other boats would
accommodate the rest of the women. He seemed to think that; more could
be crowded into ours, if necessary.
"'I would rather go back and go down with the ship than leave under
these circumstances.' he cried.
"The captain shouted to him to obey orders and to pull for a little
light that could just be discerned miles in the distance. I do not know
what this little light was. It may have been a passing fishing vessel,
which, of course could not know our predicament. Anyway, we never
reached it.
"We rowed all night, I took an oar and sat beside the Countess de
Rothes. Her maid had an our and so did mine. The air was freezing cold,
and it was not long before the only man that appeared to know anything
about rowing commenced to complain that his hands were freezing: A woman
back of him handed him a shawl from about her shoulders.
"As we rowed we looked back at the lights of the Titanic. There was
not a sound from her, only the lights began to get lower and lower,
and finally she sank. Then we heard a muffled explosion and a dull roar
caused by the great suction of water.
"There was not a drop of water on our boat. The last minute before our
boat was launched Captain Smith threw aboard a bag of bread. I took
the precaution of taking a good drink of water before we started, so I
suffered no inconvenience from thirst."
Mrs. Lucien Smith, whose young husband perished, was another heroine. It
is related by survivors that she took turns at the oars, and then, when
the boat was in danger of sinking, stood ready to plug a hole with her
finger if the cork stopper became loose.
In another boat Mrs. Cornell and her sister, who had a slight knowledge
of rowing, took turns at the oars, as did other women.
The boat in which Mrs. J. J. Brown, of Denver, Col., was saved contained
only three men in all, and only one rowed. He was a half-frozen seaman
who was tumbled into the boat at the last minute. The woman wrapped him
in blankets and set him at an oar to start his blood. The second man was
too old to be of any use. The third was a coward.
Strange to say, there was room in this boat for ten other people. Ten
brave men would have received the warmest welcome of their lives if they
had been there. The coward, being a quartermaster and the assigned head
of the boat, sat in the stern and steered. He was terrified, and the
women had to fight against his pessimism while they tugged at the oars.
The women sat two at each oar. One held the oar in place, the other did
the pulling. Mrs. Brown coached them and cheered them on. She told them
that the exercise would keep the chill out of their veins, and she spoke
hopefully of the likelihood that some vessel would answer the wireless
calls. Over the frightful danger of the situation the spirit of this
woman soared.
THE PESSIMIST
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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