Sinking of the "Titanic" : $b most appalling ocean horror; with graphic descriptions of hundreds swept to eternity beneath the waves ...Mowbray, Jay Henry
History
Sinking of the "Titanic" : $b most appalling ocean horror; with graphic descriptions of hundreds swept to eternity beneath the waves ...
Mowbray, Jay Henry
Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 20th century; Titanic (Steamship)
“Then came another blast. The lights were turned on all over the ship.
I heard the officers and crew running up and down the decks. I dressed
hurriedly, thinking something was wrong on the Carpathia. I hastened
to the deck. It was about 2 o’clock in the morning and the stars were
shining brightly overhead.
“I met Captain Rostrom and asked what was the trouble. ‘The Titanic has
struck an iceberg and is sinking. Great God, men,’ he shouted, turning
to his officers, ‘get ready to save these poor souls. There must be
2,500 on board.’
“Before the captain had told us of the wreck the Carpathia was being
turned around toward the Titanic. I went on the boat deck and met many
of our passengers. I heard the wireless buzz, and I knew the operator
was trying to talk to the Titanic. I tried to get below to see the
wireless instrument and operator, but I was told to go on deck again.
The operator was clad only in his trousers and undershirt.
“Captain Rostrom said: ‘Can’t you get her?’ ‘No,’ replied the operator,
‘she doesn’t answer.’
“‘She’s going down,’ said Captain Rostrom, and he ordered the engineer
to put on full speed.
SPEEDED FASTER THAN USUAL.
“I don’t know how fast we went, but the speed of the Carpathia at that
time was greater by far than the way we had been traveling on our way
across the ocean. You can imagine the excitement aboard the Carpathia.
Everyone was dressed and on deck before we got to the Titanic, or
rather what was left of her.
“I guess it was about 3.30 o’clock when we got near the boats of the
Titanic. The Carpathia had all her boats hanging on the davits and
Captain Rostrom was ready. I heard women scream as the Carpathia
approached the Titanic’s boats. I shrieked with them because every one
was saying, ‘Oh, oh, it’s awful, awful.’ I saw the first boat of the
Titanic taken from the water.
“I saw the icebergs all around the boats. I wonder now how they kept
afloat. Before the Carpathia had slackened speed much a lifeboat from
our ship was in the water and the men were pushing toward the other
boats.
“They tied a rope to the Titanic’s boats and then moved back to the
Carpathia and the first boatload of survivors were taken from the water
only a few minutes after we saw it.
“There were about fifty women and children in it; some had fainted and
lay motionless. Others were screaming and were hysterical. There were
no men in the boat and none of the survivors were dressed properly.
“They had on night robes, furs, evening gowns, anything they could
find. Some were almost frozen. A little girl, they called her Emily,
was shrieking, ‘Oh, mama, mama, I’m sick. Oh, mama, mama!’
“Her mother could not comfort her, because she collapsed as soon as she
was lifted to the deck of the Carpathia. All the women on our boat got
their heavy clothing and threw it around the survivors. Captain Rostrom
told us to take them to our staterooms, and we did all we could to make
them comfortable.
NEARLY ALL BOATS TAKEN FROM WATER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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