Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters Part 4

Another person of prominence was Charles Melville Hays, president of the Grand Trunk and the Grand Trunk Pacific railways. He was described by Sir Wilfrid Laurier at a dinner of the Canadian Club of New York, at the Hotel Astor last year, as "beyond question the greatest railroad genius in Canada, as an executive genius ranking second only to the late Edward H. Harriman." He was returning aboard the t.i.tanic with his wife and son-in-law and daughter; Mr. and Mrs. Thornton Davidson, of Montreal.

CHAPTER V. THE t.i.tANIC STRIKES AN ICEBERG!

TARDY ATTENTION TO WARNING RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENT--THE DANGER NOT REALIZED AT FIRST--AN INTERRUPTED CARD GAME--Pa.s.sENGERS JOKE AMONG THEMSELVES--THE REAL TRUTH DAWNS--PANIC ON BOARD--WIRELESS CALLS FOR HELP

SUNDAY night the magnificent ocean liner was plunging through a comparatively placid sea, on the surface of which there was much mushy ice and here and there a number of comparatively harmless-looking floes.

The night was clear and stars visible. First Officer William T. Murdock was in charge of the bridge The first intimation of the presence of the iceberg that he received was from the lookout in the crow's nest.

Three warnings were transmitted from the crow's nest of the t.i.tanic to the officer on the doomed steams.h.i.+p's bridge 15 minutes before she struck, according to Thomas Whiteley, a first saloon steward.

Whiteley, who was whipped overboard from the s.h.i.+p by a rope while helping to lower a life-boat, finally reported on the Carpathia aboard one of the boats that contained, he said, both the crow's nest lookouts.

He heard a conversation between them, he a.s.serted, in which they discussed the warnings given to the t.i.tanic's bridge of the presence of the iceberg.

Whiteley did not know the names of either of the lookout men and believed that they returned to England with the majority of the surviving members of the crew.

{ill.u.s.t. caption = A GRAPHIC ILl.u.s.tRATION OF THE FORCE WITH WHICH A VESSEL STRIKES AN ICEBERG}

"I heard one of them say that at 11.15 o'clock, 15 minutes before the t.i.tanic struck, he had reported to First Officer Murdock, on the bridge, that he fancied he saw an iceberg!" said Whiteley. "Twice after that, the lookout said, he warned Murdock that a berg was ahead. They were very indignant that no attention was paid to their warnings."

TARDY ATTENTION TO WARNING RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENT

Murdock's tardy answering of a telephone call from the crow's nest is a.s.signed by Whiteley as the cause of the disaster.

When Murdock answered the call he received the information that the iceberg was due ahead. This information was imparted just a few seconds before the crash, and had the officer promptly answered the ring of the bell it is probable that the accident could have been avoided, or at least, been reduced by the lowered speed.

The lookout saw a towering "blue berg" looming up in the sea path of the t.i.tanic, and called the bridge on the s.h.i.+p's telephone. When, after the pa.s.sing of those two or three fateful minutes an officer on the bridge lifted the telephone receiver from its hook to answer the lookout, it was too late. The speeding liner, cleaving a calm sea under a star-studded sky, had reached the floating mountain of ice, which the theoretically "unsinkable" s.h.i.+p struck a cras.h.i.+ng, if glancing, blow with her starboard bow.

MURDOCK PAID WITH LIFE

Had Murdock, according to the account of the tragedy given by two of the t.i.tanic's seamen, known how imperative was that call from the lookout man, the men at the wheel of the liner might have swerved the great s.h.i.+p sufficiently to avoid the berg altogether. At the worst the vessel would probably have struck the ma.s.s of ice with her stern.

Murdock, if the tale of the t.i.tanic sailor be true, expiated his negligence by shooting himself within sight of all alleged victims huddled in life-boats or struggling in the icy seas.

When at last the danger was realized, the great s.h.i.+p was so close upon the berg that it was practically impossible to avoid collision with it

VAIN TRIAL TO CLEAR BERG

The first officer did what other startled and alert commanders would have done under similar circ.u.mstances, that is

{ill.u.s.t. caption = THE LOCATION OF THE DISASTER}

he made an effort by going full speed ahead on the starboard propeller and reversing his port propeller, simultaneously throwing his helm over, to make a rapid turn and clear the berg. The maneuver was not successful. He succeeded in saving his bows from cras.h.i.+ng into the ice-cliff, but nearly the entire length of the underbody of the great s.h.i.+p on the starboard side was ripped. The speed of the t.i.tanic, estimated to be at least twenty-one knots, was so terrific that the knife-like edge of the iceberg's spur protruding under the sea cut through her like a can-opener.

The t.i.tanic was in 41.46 north lat.i.tude and 50.14 west longitude when she was struck, very near the spot on the wide Atlantic where the Carmania encountered a field of ice, studded with great bergs, on her voyage to New York which ended on April 14th. It was really an ice pack, due to an unusually severe winter in the north Atlantic. No less than twenty-five bergs, some of great height, were counted.

The shock was almost imperceptible. The first officer did not apparently realize that the great s.h.i.+p had received her death wound, and none of the pa.s.sengers had the slightest suspicion that anything more than a usual minor sea accident had happened. Hundreds who had gone to their berths and were asleep were unawakened by the vibration.

BRIDGE GAME NOT DISTURBED

To ill.u.s.trate the placidity with which practically all the men regarded the accident it is related that Pierre Marechal, son of the vice-admiral of the French navy, Lucien Smith, Paul Chevre, a French sculptor, and A.

F. Ormont, a cotton broker, were in the Cafe Parisien playing bridge.

The four calmly got up from the table and after walking on deck and looking over the rail returned to their game. One of them had left his cigar on the card table, and while the three others were gazing out on the sea he remarked that he couldn't afford to lose his smoke, returned for his cigar and came out again.

They remained only for a few moments on deck, and then resumed their game under the impression that the s.h.i.+p had stopped for reasons best known to the captain and not involving any danger to her. Later, in describing the scene that took place, M. Marechal, who was among the survivors, said: "When three-quarters of a mile away we stopped, the spectacle before our eyes was in its way magnificent. In a very calm sea, beneath a sky moonless but sown with millions of stars, the enormous t.i.tanic lay on the water, illuminated from the water line to the boat deck. The bow was slowly sinking into the black water."

The tendency of the whole s.h.i.+p's company except the men in the engine department, who were made aware of the danger by the inrus.h.i.+ng water, was to make light of and in some instances even to ridicule the thought of danger to so substantial a fabric.

THE CAPTAIN ON DECK

When Captain Smith came from the chart room onto the bridge, his first words were, "Close the emergency doors."

"They're already closed, sir," Mr. Murdock replied.

"Send to the carpenter and tell him to sound the s.h.i.+p," was the next order. The message was sent to the carpenter, but the carpenter never came up to report. He was probably the first man on the s.h.i.+p to lose his life.

The captain then looked at the communicator, which shows in what direction the s.h.i.+p is listing. He saw that she carried five degrees list to starboard.

The s.h.i.+p was then rapidly settling forward. All the steam sirens were blowing. By the captain's orders, given in the next few minutes, the engines were put to work at pumping out the s.h.i.+p, distress signals were sent by the Marconi, and rockets were sent up from the bridge by Quartermaster Rowe. All hands were ordered on deck.

Pa.s.sENGERS NOT ALARMED

The blasting shriek of the sirens had not alarmed the great company of the t.i.tanic, because such steam calls are an incident of travel in seas where fogs roll. Many had gone to bed, but the hour, 11.40 P. M., was not too late for the friendly contact of saloons and smoking rooms. It was Sunday night and the s.h.i.+p's concert had ended, but there were many hundreds up and moving among the gay lights, and many on deck with their eyes strained toward the mysterious west, where home lay. And in one jarring, breath-sweeping moment all of these, asleep or awake, were at the mercy of chance. Few among the more than 2000 aboard could have had a thought of danger. The man who had stood up in the smoking room to say that the t.i.tanic was vulnerable or that in a few minutes two-thirds of her people would be face to face with death, would have been considered a fool or a lunatic. No s.h.i.+p ever sailed the seas that gave her pa.s.sengers more confidence, more cool security.

Within a few minutes stewards and other members of the crew were sent round to arouse the people. Some utterly refused to get up. The stewards had almost to force the doors of the staterooms to make the somnolent appreciate their peril, and many of them, it is believed, were drowned like rats in a trap.

ASTOR AND WIFE STROLLED ON DECK

Colonel and Mrs. Astor were in their room and saw the ice vision flash by. They had not appreciably felt the gentle shock and supposed that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. They were both dressed and came on deck leisurely. William T. Stead, the London journalist, wandered on deck for a few minutes, stopping to talk to Frank Millet.

"What do they say is the trouble?" he asked. "Icebergs," was the brief reply. "Well," said Stead, "I guess it is nothing serious. I'm going back to my cabin to read."

From end to end on the mighty boat officers were rus.h.i.+ng about without much noise or confusion, but giving orders sharply. Captain Smith told the third officer to rush downstairs and see whether the water was coming in very fast. "And," he added, "take some armed guards along to see that the stokers and engineers stay at their posts."

In two minutes the officer returned. "It looks pretty bad, sir," he said. "The water is rus.h.i.+ng in and filling the bottom. The locks of the water-tight compartments have been sprung by the shock."

"Give the command for all pa.s.sengers to be on deck with life-belts on."