The Loss of the S. S. Titanic: Its Story and Its Lessons — John Shaqi
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)
her tug trailing behind moved obliquely down the dock, her stern
gliding along the side of the Titanic some few yards away. It gave an
extraordinary impression of the absolute helplessness of a big liner
in the absence of any motive power to guide her. But all excitement
was not yet over: the New York turned her bows inward towards the
quay, her stern swinging just clear of and passing in front of our
bows, and moved slowly head on for the Teutonic lying moored to the
side; mats were quickly got out and so deadened the force of the
collision, which from where we were seemed to be too slight to cause
any damage. Another tug came up and took hold of the New York by the
bows; and between the two of them they dragged her round the corner of
the quay which just here came to an end on the side of the river.
We now moved slowly ahead and passed the Teutonic at a creeping pace,
but notwithstanding this, the latter strained at her ropes so much
that she heeled over several degrees in her efforts to follow the
Titanic: the crowd were shouted back, a group of gold-braided
officials, probably the harbour-master and his staff, standing on the
sea side of the moored ropes, jumped back over them as they drew up
taut to a rigid line, and urged the crowd back still farther. But we
were just clear, and as we slowly turned the corner into the river I
saw the Teutonic swing slowly back into her normal station, relieving
the tension alike of the ropes and of the minds of all who witnessed
the incident.
[Illustration: FOUR DECKS OF OLYMPIC, SISTER SHIP OF TITANIC]
Unpleasant as this incident was, it was interesting to all the
passengers leaning over the rails to see the means adopted by the
officers and crew of the various vessels to avoid collision, to see on
the Titanic's docking-bridge (at the stern) an officer and seamen
telephoning and ringing bells, hauling up and down little red and
white flags, as danger of collision alternately threatened and
diminished. No one was more interested than a young American
kinematograph photographer, who, with his wife, followed the whole
scene with eager eyes, turning the handle of his camera with the most
evident pleasure as he recorded the unexpected incident on his films.
It was obviously quite a windfall for him to have been on board at
such a time. But neither the film nor those who exposed it reached the
other side, and the record of the accident from the Titanic's deck has
never been thrown on the screen.
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