Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 20th century; Titanic (Steamship)
To attain this courage in the hour of danger is very much a matter of
physical, mental and religious training. But courage and strength
would have availed me little had I not providentially escaped from
being knocked senseless, or maimed, as so many other strong swimmers
undoubtedly were. The narrow escapes that I had from being thus
knocked unconscious could be recapitulated, and I still bear the scars
on my body of wounds received at the moment, or moments, when I was
struck by some undefined object. I received a blow on the top of my
head, but I did not notice it or the other wounds until I arrived on
board the _Carpathia_, when I found inflamed cuts on both my legs and
bruises on my knees, which soon became black and blue, and I was sore
to the touch all over my body for several days.
It is necessary for me to turn to the accounts of others for a
description of what happened during the interval that I was under
water. My information about it is derived from many sources and
includes various points of general interest, showing how the _Titanic_
looked when she foundered, the undisputed facts that there was very
little suction and that the forward funnel broke from the ship,
falling on the starboard side into the sea. Various points of personal
interest are also derived from the same source which the reader can
analyze, for estimating the interval that I was below the surface of
the ocean and the distance covered in my swim under water; for after I
rose to the surface it appears that I had passed under both the
falling funnel and then under the upturned boat, and a considerable
distance beyond. Had I gone but a short distance under water and
arisen straight up, I should have met the horrible fate of being
struck by the falling funnel which, according to the evidence
submitted, must have killed or drowned a number of unfortunates
struggling in the water. I select these accounts of my shipwrecked
companions, which supplement my personal experience, particularly the
accounts of the same reliable and authoritative witnesses already
cited, and from those who were rescued, as I was, on the bottom of the
upset Engelhardt boat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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