Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters Part 44

{ill.u.s.t. caption = A diagrammatic map showing how...}

made by the International Mercantile Marine that all its s.h.i.+ps will be equipped with sufficient life-boats and rafts for every pa.s.senger and every member of the crew, without regard to the regulations in this country and England or Belgium. One of the German liners already had this complement of life-boats, though the German marine as a whole is sufficiently deficient at this point to induce the Reichstag to order an investigation.

Prompt, immediate and gratifying reform marks this action of the International Mercantile Marine. It is doubtless true that this precaution ought to have been taken without waiting for a loss of life such as makes all previous marine disasters seem trivial. But the public itself has been inert. For thirty years, since Plimsoll's day, every intelligent pa.s.senger knew that every British vessel was deficient in life-boats, but neither public opinion nor the public press took this matter up. There were no questions in Parliament and no measures introduced in Congress. Even the legislation by which the United States permitted English vessels reaching American ports to avoid the legal requirements of American statute law (which requires a seat in the life-boats for every pa.s.senger and every member of the crew) attracted no public attention, and occasional references to the subject by those better informed did nothing to awake action.

But this is past. Those who died bravely without complaint and with sacrificing regard for others did not lose their lives in vain. The safety of all travelers for all times to come under every civilized flag is to be greater through their sac-rifice. Under modern conditions life can be made as safe at sea as on the land. It is heartrending to stop and think that thirty-two more life-boats, costing only about $16,000, which could have been stowed away without being noticed on the broad decks of the t.i.tanic, would have saved every man, woman and child on the steamer. There has never been so great a disaster in the history of civilization due to the neglect of so small an expenditure.

It would be idle to think that this was due simply to parsimony. It was really due to the false and vicious notion that life at sea must be made showy, sumptuous and magnificent. The absence of life-boats was not due to their cost, but to the demand for a great promenade deck, with ample s.p.a.ce to look out on the sea with which a continuous row of life-boats would have interfered, and to the general tendency to lavish money on the luxuries of a voyage instead of first insuring its safety.

CHAPTER XXIX. THE SENATORIAL INVESTIGATION

PROMPT ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT--SENATE COMMITTEE PROBES DISASTER AND BRINGS OUT DETAILS--TESTIMONY OF ISMAY, OFFICERS, CREW, Pa.s.sENGERS AND OTHER WITNESSES

PUBLIC sentiment with regard to the t.i.tanic disaster was reflected in the prompt action of the United States Government.

On April 17th the Senate, without a dissenting vote, ordered an investigation of the wreck of the t.i.tanic, with particular reference to the inadequacy of life-saving boats and apparatus. The resolution also directed inquiry into the use by the t.i.tanic of the northern course "over a route commonly regarded as dangerous from icebergs."

Besides investigating the disaster, the committee was directed to look into the feasibility of international agreements for the further protection of ocean traffic.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, in whose charge the investigation was placed, immediately appointed the following sub-committee to conduct the gathering of evidence and the examination of witnesses:

Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan, chairman; Senator Francis Newlands of Nevada, Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr., of Oregon, Senator George C. Perkins of California, Senator Theodore E. Burton of Ohio, Senator Furnifold McL. Simmons of North Carolina and Senator Duncan U.

Fletcher of Florida.

The Senate Committee began its investigation in New York on Friday, April 19th, the morning after the arrival of the Carpathia.

Ismay, the first witness, came to the witness chair with a smile upon his face. He was sworn and then told the committee that he made the voyage on the t.i.tanic only as a voluntary pa.s.senger. n.o.body designated him to come to see how the newly launched monster would behave on the initial trip. He said that no money was spared in the construction, and as she was built on commission there was no need for the builders to slight the work for their own benefit. The accident had happened on Sunday night, April 14th.

"I was in bed and asleep," he said. "The s.h.i.+p was not going at full speed, as has been printed, because full speed would be from seventy-eight to eighty revolutions, and we were making only seventy-five. After the impact with the iceberg I dressed and went on deck. I asked the steward what the matter was and he told me. Then I went to Captain Smith and asked him if the s.h.i.+p was in danger and he told me he thought she was."

Ismay said that he went on the bridge and remained there for some time and then lent a hand in getting the life-boats ready. He helped to get the women and children into the boats.

Ismay said that no other executive officer of the steams.h.i.+p company was on board, which practically made him the sole master of the vessel the minute it pa.s.sed beyond the control of the captain and his fellow-officers. But Ismay, seeming to scent the drift of the questions, said that he never interfered in any way with the handling of the s.h.i.+p.

Ismay was asked to give more particulars about his departure from the s.h.i.+p. He said:

"The boat was ready to be lowered away and the officer called out if there were any more women or children to go or any more pa.s.sengers on deck, but there was none, and I got on board."

CAPTAIN ROSTRON'S TESTIMONY

Captain Rostron, of the Carpathia, followed Mr. Ismay. He said the first message received from the t.i.tanic was that she was in immediate danger.

"I gave the order to turn the s.h.i.+p around as soon as the t.i.tanic had given her position. I set a course to pick up the t.i.tanic, which was fifty-eight miles west of my position. I sent for the chief engineer, told him to put on another watch of stokers and make all speed for the t.i.tanic. I told the first officer to stop all deck work, get out the life-boats and be ready for any emergency. The chief steward and doctors of the Carpathia I called to my office and instructed as to their duties. The English doctor was a.s.signed to the first cla.s.s dining room, the Italian doctor to the second cla.s.s dining room, the Hungarian doctor to the third cla.s.s dining room. They were instructed to be ready with all supplies necessary for any emergency."

{ill.u.s.t. caption = DIAGRAM SHOWING THE PROXIMITY OF OTHER STEAMs.h.i.+PS TO THE t.i.tANIC ON NIGHT OF DISASTER.}

The captain told in detail of the arrangements made to prepare the life-boats and the s.h.i.+p for the receipt of the survivors.

WEEPS AS HE TELLS STORY

Then with tears filling his eyes, Captain Rostron said he called the purser. "I told him," said Captain Rostron, "I wanted to hold a service of prayer--thanksgiving for the living and a funeral service for the dead. I went to Mr. Ismay. He told me to take full charge. An Episcopal clergyman was found among the pa.s.sengers and he conducted the services."

t.i.tANIC WAS A "LIFE-BOAT."

Captain Rostron said that the Carpathia had twenty lifeboats of her own, in accordance with the British regulations.

"Wouldn't that indicate that the regulations are out of date, your s.h.i.+p being much smaller than the t.i.tanic, which also carried twenty life-boats?" Senator Smith asked.

"No. The t.i.tanic was supposed to be a life-boat herself."

WIRELESS FAILED

Why so few messages came from the Carpathia was gone into. Captain Rostron declared the first messages, all substantially the same, were sent to the White Star Line, the Cunard Line and the a.s.sociated Press.

Then the first and second cabin pa.s.senger lists were sent, when the wireless failed.

Senator Smith said some complaint had been heard that the Carpathia had not answered President Taft's inquiry for Major b.u.t.t. Captain Rostron declared a reply was sent, "Not on board."

Captain Rostron declared he issued orders for no messages to be sent except upon orders from him, and for official business to go first, then private messages from the t.i.tanic survivors in order of filing.

Absolutely no censors.h.i.+p was exercised, he said. The wire-less continued working all the way in, the Marconi operator being constantly at the key.

Guglielmo Marconi, the wireless inventor, was the next witness.

Marconi said he was chairman of the British Marconi Company. Under instructions of the company, he said, operators must take their orders from the captain of the s.h.i.+p on which they are employed.

"Do the regulations prescribe whether one or two operators should be aboard the ocean vessels?"

"Yes, on s.h.i.+ps like the late t.i.tanic and Olympic two are carried," said Marconi. "The Carpathia, a smaller boat, carries one. The Carpathia's wireless apparatus is a short-distance equipment."

t.i.tANIC WELL EQUIPPED

"Do you consider that the t.i.tanic was equipped with the latest improved wireless apparatus?"

"Yes; I should say that it had the very best."

"Did you hear the captain of the Carpathia say, in his testimony, that they caught this distress message from the t.i.tanic almost providentally?" asked Senator Smith.

"Yes, I did. It was absolutely providential."