Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 20th century; Titanic (Steamship)
no explosion whatever, but noticed about that time that the water
became much warmer. There were about those on the Engelhardt boat “B,”
several people struggling in the water who came on it. Nearly
twenty-eight or thirty were taken off in the morning at daybreak. In
this rescuing boat (No. 12), after the transfer, there were
seventy-five. It was the last boat to the _Carpathia_. The next
morning (Monday) he saw some icebergs from fifty to sixty to two
hundred feet high, but the nearest was about ten miles away.
After the boats had left the side of the ship he heard orders given by
the commander through the megaphone. He heard him say: “Bring that
boat alongside.” Witness presumed allusion was made to bringing of
boats to the gangway doors. Witness could not gather whether the
orders were being obeyed. Said he had not been on the Engelhardt boat
more than half an hour before a swell was distinctly visible. In the
morning there was quite a breeze. It was when he was at No. 6 boat
that he noticed the list. Though the ship struck on the starboard
side, it was not an extraordinary thing that there should be a list to
port. It does not necessarily follow that there should be a list to
the side where the water was coming in.
* * * * *
Harold Bride, junior Marconi operator in his Report of April 27th to
W. B. Cross, Traffic Manager, Marconi Co. (Am. Inq., p. 1053), says:
Just at this moment the captain said: “You cannot do any more; save
yourselves.” Leaving the captain we climbed on top of the house
comprising the officers’ quarters and our own. Here I saw the last of
Mr. Phillips, for he disappeared, walking aft. I now assisted in
pushing off the collapsible boat on to the Boat Deck. Just as the boat
fell, I noticed Captain Smith dive from the bridge into the sea. Then
followed a general scramble out on to the Boat Deck, but no sooner had
we got there than the sea washed over. I managed to catch hold of the
boat we had previously fixed up and was swept overboard with her. I
then experienced the most exciting three or four hours anyone can
reasonably wish for, and was, in due course with the rest of the
survivors, picked up by the _Carpathia_. As you probably heard, I got
on the collapsible boat the second time, which was, as I had left it,
upturned. I called Phillips but got no response. I learned later from
several sources that he was on this boat and expired even before we
were picked up by the _Titanic’s_ lifeboat (No. 12). I am told that
fright and exposure were the causes of his death. So far as I can find
out, he was taken on board the _Carpathia_ and buried at sea from her,
though for some reason the bodies of those who died were not
identified before burial from the _Carpathia_, and so I cannot vouch
for the truth of this.
* * * * *
He also gave testimony before the American Inquiry (pp. 110, 161):
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account