The Loss of the S. S. Titanic: Its Story and Its LessonsBeesley, Lawrence
History
The Loss of the S. S. Titanic: Its Story and Its Lessons
Beesley, Lawrence
Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean; Titanic (Steamship)
Returning for a moment to the motion of the Titanic, it was
interesting to stand on the boat-deck, as I frequently did, in the
angle between lifeboats 13 and 15 on the starboard side (two boats I
have every reason to remember, for the first carried me in safety to
the Carpathia, and it seemed likely at one time that the other would
come down on our heads as we sat in 13 trying to get away from the
ship's side), and watch the general motion of the ship through the
waves resolve itself into two motions--one to be observed by
contrasting the docking-bridge, from which the log-line trailed away
behind in the foaming wake, with the horizon, and observing the long,
slow heave as we rode up and down. I timed the average period occupied
in one up-and-down vibration, but do not now remember the figures. The
second motion was a side-to-side roll, and could be calculated by
watching the port rail and contrasting it with the horizon as before.
It seems likely that this double motion is due to the angle at which
our direction to New York cuts the general set of the Gulf Stream
sweeping from the Gulf of Mexico across to Europe; but the almost
clock-like regularity of the two vibratory movements was what
attracted my attention: it was while watching the side roll that I
first became aware of the list to port. Looking down astern from the
boat-deck or from B deck to the steerage quarters, I often noticed how
the third-class passengers were enjoying every minute of the time: a
most uproarious skipping game of the mixed-double type was the great
favourite, while "in and out and roundabout" went a Scotchman with his
bagpipes playing something that Gilbert says "faintly resembled an
air." Standing aloof from all of them, generally on the raised stern
deck above the "playing field," was a man of about twenty to
twenty-four years of age, well-dressed, always gloved and nicely
groomed, and obviously quite out of place among his fellow-passengers:
he never looked happy all the time. I watched him, and classified him
at hazard as the man who had been a failure in some way at home and
had received the proverbial shilling plus third-class fare to America:
he did not look resolute enough or happy enough to be working out his
own problem. Another interesting man was travelling steerage, but had
placed his wife in the second cabin: he would climb the stairs leading
from the steerage to the second deck and talk affectionately with his
wife across the low gate which separated them. I never saw him after
the collision, but I think his wife was on the Carpathia. Whether they
ever saw each other on the Sunday night is very doubtful: he would not
at first be allowed on the second-class deck, and if he were, the
chances of seeing his wife in the darkness and the crowd would be very
small, indeed. Of all those playing so happily on the steerage deck I
did not recognize many afterwards on the Carpathia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account