Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 20th century; Titanic (Steamship)
founded on the following facts, to wit: First, that neither I nor
anyone else, so far as I know, ever saw any of them on the Boat Deck,
and second, that the bodies of none of them were ever recovered,
indicating the possibility that all went down inside the ship or the
enclosed deck.
[1] See page --.
I next find myself forward on the port side, part of the time on the
Boat Deck, and part on the deck below it, called Deck A, where I
rejoined Clinch Smith, who reported that Mrs. Candee had departed on
one of the boats. We remained together until the ship went down. I was
on the Boat Deck when I saw and heard the first rocket, and then
successive ones sent up at intervals thereafter. These were followed
by the Morse red and blue lights, which were signalled near by us on
the deck where we were; but we looked in vain for any response. These
signals of distress indicated to every one of us that the ship’s
fate was sealed, and that she might sink before the lifeboats could be
lowered.
[Illustration: FIRST-CLASS SMOKING ROOM]
And now I am on Deck A again, where I helped in the loading of two
boats lowered from the deck above. There were twenty boats in all on
the ship: 14 wooden lifeboats, each thirty feet long by nine feet one
inch broad, constructed to carry sixty-five persons each; 2 wooden
cutters, emergency boats, twenty-five feet two inches long by seven
feet two inches broad, constructed to carry forty persons each; and 4
Engelhardt “surf-boats” with canvas collapsible sides extending above
the gunwales, twenty-five feet five inches long by eight feet broad,
constructed to carry forty-seven persons each. The lifeboats were
ranged along the ship’s rail, or its prolongation forward and aft on
the Boat Deck, the odd numbered on the starboard and the even numbered
on the port side. Two of the Engelhardt boats were on the Boat Deck
forward beneath the Emergency boats suspended on davits above. The
other Engelhardt boats were on the roof of the officers’ house forward
of the first funnel. They are designated respectively by the letters,
A. B. C. D.; A and C on the starboard, B and D on the port sides. They
have a rounded bottom like a canoe. The name “collapsible boat”
generally applied has given rise to mistaken impressions in regard to
them, because of the adjustable canvas sides above-mentioned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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