Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 20th century; Titanic (Steamship)
It was shortly after we had emerged from the horrible scene of men
swimming in the water that I was glad to notice the presence among us on
the upturned boat of the same officer with whom all my work that night
and all my experience was connected in helping to load and lower the
boats on the _Titanic’s_ Boat Deck and Deck “A.” I identified him at
once by his voice and his appearance, but his name was not learned until
I met him again later in my cabin on board the _Carpathia_--Charles H.
Lightoller. For what he did on the ship that night whereby six or more
boatloads of women and children were saved and discipline maintained
aboard ship, as well as on the Engelhardt upturned boat, he is entitled
to honor and the thanks of his own countrymen and of us Americans as
well. As soon as he was recognized, the loquacious member of the crew
astern, already referred to, volunteered in our behalf and called out to
him “We will all obey what the officer orders.” The result was at once
noticeable. The presence of a leader among us was now felt, and lent us
purpose and courage. The excitement at the stern was demonstrated by the
frequent suggestion of, “Now boys, all together”; and then in unison we
shouted, “Boat ahoy! Boat ahoy!” This was kept up for some time until
it was seen to be a mere waste of strength. So it seemed to me, and I
decided to husband mine and make provision for what the future, or the
morrow, might require. After a while Lightoller, myself and others
managed with success to discourage these continuous shouts regarded as a
vain hope of attracting attention.
When the presence of the Marconi boy at the stern was made known,
Lightoller called out, from his position in the bow, questions which
all of us heard, as to the names of the steamships with which he had
been in communication for assistance. We on the boat recall the names
mentioned by Bride--the _Baltic_, _Olympic_ and _Carpathia_. It was
then that the _Carpathia’s_ name was heard by us for the first time,
and it was to catch sight of this sturdy little Cunarder that we
strained our eyes in the direction whence she finally appeared.
We had correctly judged that most of the lights seen by us belonged to
our own _Titanic’s_ lifeboats, but Lightoller and all of us were badly
fooled by the green-colored lights and rockets directly ahead of us,
which loomed up especially bright at intervals. This, as will be
noticed in a future chapter, was Third Officer Boxhall’s Emergency
Boat No. 2. We were assured that these were the lights of a ship and
were all glad to believe it. There could be no mistake about it and
our craft was navigated toward it as fast as its propelling conditions
made possible; but it did not take long for us to realize that this
light, whatever it was, was receding instead of approaching us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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