Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 20th century; Titanic (Steamship)
There was not one woman who shed tears or gave any sign of
fear or distress. There was not a man at this quarter of the ship who
indicated a desire to get into the boats and escape with the women.
There was not a member of the crew who shirked, or left his post. The
coolness, courage, and sense of duty that I here witnessed made me
thankful to God and proud of my Anglo-Saxon race that gave this
perfect and superb exhibition of self-control at this hour of severest
trial. “The boat’s deck was only ten feet from the water when I
lowered the sixth boat,” testified Lightoller, “and when we lowered
the first, the distance to the water was seventy feet.” We had now
loaded all the women who were in sight at that quarter of the ship,
and I ran along the deck with Clinch Smith on the port side some
distance aft shouting, “Are there any more women?” “Are there any more
women?” On my return there was a very palpable list to port as if the
ship was about to topple over. The deck was on a corresponding slant.
“All passengers to the starboard side,” was Lightoller’s loud
command, heard by all of us. Here I thought the final crisis had come,
with the boats all gone, and when we were to be precipitated into the
sea.
Prayerful thoughts now began to rise in me that my life might be
preserved and I be restored to my loved ones at home. I weighed myself
in the balance, doubtful whether I was thus deserving of God’s mercy
and protection. I questioned myself as to the performance of my
religious duties according to the instructions of my earliest
Preceptor, the Rev. Henry A. Coit, whose St. Paul’s School at Concord,
N. H., I had attended. My West Point training in the matter of
recognition of constituted authority and maintenance of composure
stood me in good stead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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