Whoever reads the account of the cries that came to us afloat on the sea from those sinking in the ice-cold water must remember that they were addressed to him just as much as to those who heard them, and that the duty, of seeing that reforms are carried out devolves on every one who knows that such cries were heard in utter helplessness the night the Titanic sank. CONTENTS I. CONSTRUCTION AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE FIRST VOYAGE II. FROM SOUTHAMPTON TO THE NIGHT OF THE COLLISION III. THE COLLISION AND EMBARKATION IN LIFEBOATS IV. THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC, SEEN FROM A LIFEBOAT V. THE RESCUE VI. THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC, SEEN FROM HER DECK VII. THE CARPATHIA'S RETURN TO NEW YORK VIII. THE LESSONS TAUGHT BY THE LOSS OF THE TITANIC IX. SOME IMPRESSIONS ILLUSTRATIONS THE TITANIC From a photograph taken in Belfast Harbour. Copyrighted by Underwood and Underwood, New York. VIEW OF FOUR DECKS OF THE OLYMPIC, SISTER SHIP OF THE TITANIC From a photograph published in the "Sphere," May 4,1918 TRANSVERSE (amidship) SECTION THROUGH THE TITANIC After a drawing furnished by the White Star Line. LONGITUDINAL SECTIONS AND DECK PLAN OF THE TITANIC After plans published in the "Shipbuilder." THE CARPATHIA From a photograph furnished by the Cunard Steamship Co. CHAPTER I CONSTRUCTION AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE FIRST VOYAGE The history of the R.M.S. Titanic, of the White Star Line, is one of the most tragically short it is possible to conceive. The world had waited expectantly for its launching and again for its sailing; had read accounts of its tremendous size and its unexampled completeness and luxury; had felt it a matter of the greatest satisfaction that such a comfortable, and above all such a safe boat had been designed and built--the "unsinkable lifeboat";--and then in a moment to hear that it had gone to the bottom as if it had been the veriest tramp steamer of a few hundred tons; and with it fifteen hundred passengers, some of them known the world over! The improbability of such a thing ever happening was what staggered humanity. If its history had to be written in a single paragraph it would be somewhat as follows:--