Sinking of the Titanic - Chapters XV-XX



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CHAPTER XV
JACK THAYER'S OWN STORY OF THE WRECK
SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD SON OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD OFFICIAL TELLS MOVING 
STORY OF HIS RESCUE -- TOLD MOTHER TO BE BRAVE -- SEPARATED FROM 
PARENTS -- JUMPED WHEN VESSEL SANK -- DRIFTED ON OVERTURNED BOAT PICKED
UP BY CARPATHIA 

   ONE of the calmest of the passengers was: young Jack Thayer, the 
seventeen-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Thayer. When his mother was 
put into the life-boat he kissed her and told her to be brave, saying that 
he and his father would be all right. He and Mr. Thayer stood on the deck 
as the small boat in which Mrs. Thayer was a passenger made off from the 
side of the Titanic over the smooth sea. 

   The boy's own account of his experience as told to one of his rescuers 
is one of the most remarkable of all the wonderful ones that have come 
from the tremendous catastrophe: 

   "Father was in bed, and mother and myself were about to get into bed. 
There was no great shock, I was on my feet at the time and I do not think 
it was enough to throw 

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anyone down. I put on an overcoat and rushed up on A deck on the port 
side. I saw nothing there. I then went forward to the bow to see if I 
could see any signs of ice. The only ice I saw was on the well deck. I 
could not see very far ahead, having just come out of a brightly lighted 
room. 

   "I then went down to our room and my father and mother came on deck 
with me, to the starboard side of A deck. We could not see anything there. 
Father thought he saw small pieces of ice floating around, but I could not 
see any myself. There was no big berg. We walked around to the port side, 
and the ship had then a fair list to port. We stayed there looking over 
the side for about five minutes. The list seemed very slowly to be 
increasing. 

   "We then went down to our rooms on C deck, all of us dressing quickly, 
putting on all our clothes. We all put on life-preservers, and over these 
we put our overcoats. Then we hurried up on deck and walked around, 
looking out at different places until the women were all ordered to 
collect on the port side.


SEPARATED FROM PARENTS 
   "Father and I said good-bye to mother at the top of the stairs on A 
deck. She and the maid went right out on A deck on the port side and we 
went to the starboard side. As at this time we had no idea the boat would 
sink we walked around A deck and then went to B deck. Then we thought we 
would go back to see if mother had gotten off safely, and went to the port 
side of A deck. We met the chief steward 

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of the main dining saloon and he told us that mother had not yet taken a 
boat, and he took us to her. 

   "Father and mother went ahead and I followed. They went down to B deck 
and a crowd got in front of me and I was not able to catch them, and lost 
sight of them. As soon as I could get through the crowd I tried to find 
them on B deck, but without success. That is the last time I saw my 
father. This was about one half an hour before she sank. I then went to 
the starboard side, thinking that father and mother must have gotten off 
in a boat. All of this time I was with a fellow named Milton C. Long, of 
New York, whom I had just met that evening. 

   "On the starboard side the boats were getting away quickly. Some boats 
were already off in a distance. We thought of getting into one of the 
boats, the last boat to go on the forward part of the starboard side, but 
there seemed to be such a crowd around I thought it unwise to make any 
attempt to get into it. He and I stood by the davits of one of the boats 
that had left. I did not notice anybody that I knew except Mr. Lindley, 
whom I had also just met that evening. I lost sight of him in a few 
minutes. Long and I then stood by the rail just a little aft of the 
captain's bridge.


THOUGHT SHIP WOULD FLOAT 
   "The list to the port had been growing greater all the time. About this 
time the people began jumping from the stern. I thought of jumping myself, 
but was afraid of being stunned on hitting the water. Three times I made 
up my mind to 

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jump out and slide down the davit ropes and try to make the boats that 
were lying off from the ship, but each time Long got hold of me and told 
me to wait a while. He then sat down and I stood up waiting to see what 
would happen. Even then we thought she might possibly stay afloat. 

   "I got a sight on a rope between the davits and a star and noticed that 
she was gradually sinking. About this time she straightened up on an even 
keel and started to go down fairly fast at an angle of about 30 degrees. 
As she started to sink we left the davits and went back and stood by the 
rail about even with the second funnel. 

   "Long and myself said good-bye to each other and jumped up on the rail. 
He put his legs over and held on a minute and asked me if I was coming. I 
told him I would be with him in a minute. He did not jump clear, but slid 
down the side of the ship. I never saw him again. 

   "About five seconds after he jumped I jumped out, feet first. I was 
clear of the ship; went down, and as I came up I was pushed away from the 
ship by some force. I came up facing the ship, and one of the funnels 
seemed to be lifted off and fell towards me about 15 yards away, with a 
mass of sparks and steam coming out of it. I saw the ship in a sort of a 
red glare, and it seemed to me that she broke in two just in front of the 
third funnel. 

   "This time I was sucked down, and as I came up I was pushed out again 
and twisted around by a large wave, coming up in the midst of a great deal 
of small wreckage. As I pushed my hand from my head it touched the cork 
fender of an over-turned 

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life-boat. I looked up and saw some men on the top and asked them to give 
me a hand. One of them, who was a stoker, helped me up. In a short time 
the bottom was covered with about twenty-five or thirty men. When I got on 
this I was facing the ship.

   "The stern then seemed to rise in the air and stopped at about an angle 
of 60 degrees. It seemed to hold there for a time and then with a hissing 
sound it shot right down out of sight with people jumping from the stern. 
The stern either pivoted around towards our boat, or we were sucked 

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towards it, and as we only had one oar we could not keep away. There did 
not seem to be very much suction and most of us managed to stay on the 
bottom of our boat. 

   "We were then right in the midst of fairly large wreckage, with people 
swimming all around us. The sea was very calm and we kept the boat pretty 
steady, but every now and then a wave would wash over it.


SAID THE LORD'S PRAYER 
   "The assistant wireless operator was right next to me, holding on to me 
and kneeling in the water. We all sang a hymn and said the Lord's Prayer, 
and then waited for dawn to come. As often as we saw the other boats in a 
distance we would yell, 'Ship ahoy!' But they could not distinguish our 
cries from any of the others, so we all gave it up, thinking it useless. 
It was very cold and none of us were able to move around to keep warm, the 
water washing over her almost all the time. 

   "Toward dawn the wind sprang up, roughening up the water and making it 
difficult to keep the boat balanced. The wireless man raised our hopes a 
great deal by telling us that the Carpathia would be up in about three 
hours. About 3.30 or 4 o'clock some men on our boat on the bow sighted her 
mast lights. I could not see them, as I was sitting down with a man 
kneeling on my leg. He finally got up and I stood up. We had the second 
officer, Mr. Lightoller, on board. We had an officer's whistle and 
whistled for the boats in the distance to come up and take us off. 

   "It took about an hour and a half for the boats to draw 

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near. Two boats came up. The first took half and the other took the 
balance, including myself. We had great difficulty about this time in 
balancing the boat, as the men would lean too far, but we were all taken 
aboard the already crowded boat, and in about a half or three-quarters of 
an hour later we were picked up by the Carpathia. 

   "I have noticed Second Officer Lightoller's statement that 'J. B. 
Thayer was on our overturned boat,' which would give the impression that 
it was father, when he really meant it was I, as he only learned my name 
in a subsequent conversation on the Carpathia, and did not know I was 
'junior'."



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CHAPTER XVI
INCIDENTS RELATED BY JAMES McGOUGH
WOMEN FORCED INTO THE LIFE-BOATS -- WHY SOME MEN WERE SAVED BEFORE 
WOMEN -- ASKED TO MAN LIFE-BOATS 

   SURROUNDED by his wife and members of his family, James McGough, of 
Philadelphia, a buyer for the Gimbel Brothers, whose fate had been in 
doubt, recited a most thrilling and graphic picture of the disaster. 

   As the Carpathia docked, Mrs. McGough, a brother and several friends of 
the buyer, met him, and after the touching reunion had taken place the 
party proceeded to Philadelphia. 

   Vivid in detail, Mr. McGough's story differs essentially from one the 
imagination would paint. He declared that the boat was driving at a high 
rate of speed at the time of the accident, and seemed impressed by the 
calmness and apathy displayed by the survivors as they tossed on the 
frozen seas in the little life-boats until the Carpathia picked them up. 

   The Titanic did not plunge into the water suddenly, he declared, but 
settled slowly into the deep with its hundreds of passengers. 

   "The collision occurred at 20 minutes of 12," said Mr. 

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McGough. "I was sleeping in my cabin when I felt a wrench, not severe or 
terrifying. 

   "It seemed to me to be nothing more serious than the racing of the 
screw, which often occurs when a ship plunges her bow deep into a heavy 
swell, raising the stern out of water. We dressed hurriedly and ran to the 
upper deck. There was little noise or tumult at the time. 

   "The promenade decks being higher from the base of the ship and thus 
more insecure, strained and creaked; so we went to the lower decks. By 
this time the engines had been reversed, and I could feel the ship backing 
off. Officers and stewards ran through the corridors, shouting for all to 
be calm, that there was no danger. We were warned, however, to dress and 
put life-preservers on us. I had on what clothing I could find and had 
stuffed some money in my pocket.


PARTING OF ASTOR AND BRIDE 
   "As I passed the gymnasium I saw Colonel Astor and his young wife 
together. She was clinging to him, piteously pleading that he go into the 
life-boat with her. He refused almost gruffly and was attempting to calm 
her by saying that all her fears were groundless, that the accident she 
feared would prove a farce. It proved different, however. 

   "None, I believe, knew that the ship was about to sink. I did not 
realize it just then. When I reached the upper deck and saw tons of ice 
piled upon our crushed bow the full realization came to me. 

   "Officers stood with drawn guns ordering the women into 

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the boats. All feared to leave the comparative safety of a broad and firm 
deck for the precarious smaller boats. Women clung to their husbands, 
crying that they would never leave without them, and had to be torn away. 

   "On one point all the women were firm. They would not enter a Life-boat 
until men were in it first. They feared to trust themselves to the seas in 
them. It required courage to step into the frail crafts as they swung from 
the creaking davits. Few men were willing to take the chance. An officer 
rushed behind me and shouted: 

   "'You're big enough to pull an oar. Jump into this boat or we'll never 
be able to get the women off.' I was forced to do so, though I admit that 
the ship looked a great deal safer to me than any small boat. 

   "Our boat was the second off. Forty or more persons were crowded into 
it, and with myself and members of the crew at the oars, were pulled 
slowly away. Huge icebergs, larger than the Pennsylvania depot at New 
York, surrounded us. As we pulled away we could see boat after boat filled 
and lowered to the waves. Despite the fact that they were new and 
supposedly in excellent working order, the blocks jammed in many 
instances, tilting the boats, loaded with people, at varying angles before 
they reached the water.


BAND CONTINUED PLAYING 
   "As the life-boats pulled away the officers ordered the bands to play, 
and their music did much to quell panic. It was a heart-breaking sight to 
us tossing in an eggshell three-fourths 

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of a mile away, to see the great ship go down. First she listed to the 
starboard, on which side the collision had occurred, then she settled 
slowly but steadily, without hope of remaining afloat. 

   "The Titanic was all aglow with lights as if for a function. First we 
saw the lights of the lower deck snuffed out. A while later and the second 
deck illumination was extinguished in a similar manner. Then the third and 
upper decks were darkened, and without plunging or rocking the great ship 
disappeared slowly from the surface of the sea. 

   "People were crowded on each deck as it lowered into the water, hoping 
in vain that aid would come in time. Some of the life-boats caught in the 
merciless suction were swallowed with her. 

   "The sea was calm -- calm as the water in a tumbler. But it was 
freezing cold. None had dressed heavily, and all, therefore, suffered 
intensely. The women did not shriek or grow hysterical while we waited 
through the awful night for help. We men stood at the oars, stood because 
there was no room for us to sit, and kept the boat headed into the swell 
to prevent her capsizing. Another boat was at our side, but all the others 
were scattered around the water. 

   "Finally, shortly before 6 o'clock, we saw the lights of the Carpathia 
approaching. Gradually she picked up the survivors in the other boats and 
then approached us. When we were lifted to the deck the women fell 
helpless. They were carried to whatever quarters offered themselves, while 
the men were assigned to the smoking room. 

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   "Of the misery and suffering which was witnessed on the rescue ship I 
know nothing. With the other men survivors I was glad to remain in the 
smoking room until New York was reached, trying to forget the awful 
experience. 

   "To us aboard the Carpathia came rumors of misstatements which were 
being made to the public. The details of the wreck were wofully 
misunderstood. 

   "Let me emphasize that the night was not foggy or cloudy. There was 
just the beginning of the new moon, but every star in the sky was shining 
brightly, unmarred by clouds. The boats were lowered from both sides of 
the Titanic in time to escape, but there was not enough for all.



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CHAPTER XVII
WIRELESS OPERATOR PRAISES HEROIC WORK
STORY OF HAROLD BRIDE, THE SURVIVING WIRELESS OPERATOR OF THE TITANIC, WHO 
WAS WASHED OVERBOARD AND RESCUED BY LIFE-BOAT -- BAND PLAYED RAG-TIME AND 
"AUTUMN" 

   ONE of the most connected and detailed accounts of the horrible 
disaster was that told by Harold Bride, the wireless operator. Mr. Bride 
said: 

   "I was standing by Phillips, the chief operator, telling him to go to 
bed, when the captain put his head in the cabin. 

   "'We've struck an iceberg,' the captain said, 'and I'm having an 
inspection made to tell what it has done for us. You better get ready to 
send out a call for assistance. But don't send it until I tell you.' 

   "The captain went away and in ten minutes, I should estimate the time, 
he came back. We could hear a terrific confusion outside, but there was 
not the least thing to indicate that there was any trouble. The wireless 
was working perfectly. 

   "'Send the call for assistance,' ordered the captain, barely putting 
his head in the door. 

   "'What call shall I send?' Phillips asked. 

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   "'The regulation international call for help. Just that.' 

   "Then the captain was gone Phillips began to send 'C. Q. D.' He flashed 
away at it and we joked while he did so. All of us made light of the 
disaster. 

   "The Carpathia answered our signal. We told her our position and said 
we were sinking by the head. The operator went to tell the captain, and in 
five minutes returned and told us that the captain of the Carpathia, was 
putting about and heading for us.


GREAT SCRAMBLE ON DECK 
   "Our captain had left us at this time and Phillips told me to run and 
tell him what the Carpathia had answered. I did so, and I went through an 
awful mass of people to his cabin. The decks were full of scrambling men 
and women. I saw no fighting, but I heard tell of it. 

   "I came back and heard Phillips giving the Carpathia fuller directions. 
Phillips told me to put on my clothes. Until that moment I forgot that I 
was not dressed. 

   "I went to my cabin and dressed. I brought an overcoat to Phillips. It 
was very cold. I slipped the overcoat upon him while he worked. 

   "Every few minutes Phillips would send me to the captain with little 
messages. They were merely telling how the Carpathia was coming our way 
and gave her speed. 

   "I noticed as I came back from one trip that they were putting off 
women and children in life-boats. I noticed that the list forward was 
increasing. 

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   "Phillips told me the wireless was growing weaker. The captain came and 
told us our engine rooms were taking water and that the dynamos might not 
last much longer. We sent that word to the Carpathia. 

   "I went out on deck and looked around. The water was pretty close up to 
the boat deck. There was a great scramble aft, and how poor Phillips 
worked through it right to the end I don't know. 

   "He was a brave man. I learned to love him that night and I suddenly 
felt for him a great reverence to see him standing there sticking to his 
work while everybody else was raging about. I will never live to forget 
the work of Phillips for the last awful fifteen minutes. 

   "I thought it was about time to look about and see if there was 
anything detached that would float. I remembered that every member of the 
crew had a special life-belt and ought to know where it was. I remembered 
mine was under my bunk. I went and got it. Then I thought how cold the 
water was. 

   "I remembered I had an extra jacket and a pair of boots, and I put them 
on. I saw Phillips standing out there still sending away, giving the 
Carpathia details of just how we were doing. 

   "We picked up the Olympic and told her we were sinking by the head and 
were about all down. As Phillips was sending the message I strapped his 
life-belt to his back. I had already put on his overcoat. Every minute was 
precious, so I helped him all I could.

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BAND PLAYS IN RAG-TIME 
   "From aft came the tunes of the band. It was a rag-time tune, I don't 
know what. Then there was 'Autumn.' Phillips ran aft and that was the last 
I ever saw of him. 

   "I went to the place where I had seen a collapsible boat on the boat 
deck, and to my surprise I saw the boat and the men still trying to push 
it off. I guess there wasn't a sailor in the crowd. They couldn't do it. I 
went up to them and was just lending a hand when a large wave came awash 
of the deck. 

   "The big wave carried the boat off. I had hold of a row-lock and I went 
off with it. The next I knew I was in the boat. 

   "But that was not all. I was in the boat and the boat was upside down 
and I was under it. And I remember realizing I was wet through, and that 
whatever happened I must not breathe, for I was under water. 

   "I knew I had to fight for it and I did. How I got out from under the 
boat I do not know, but I felt a breath of air at last. 

   "There were men all around me hundreds of them. The sea was dotted with 
them, all depending on their life-belts. I felt I simply had to get away 
from the ship. She was a beautiful sight then. 

   "Smoke and sparks were rushing out of her funnel, and there must have 
been an explosion, but we had heard none. We only saw the big stream of 
sparks. The ship was gradually turning on her nose just like a duck does 
that goes down for a dive. I had one thing on my mind -- to get away from 
the suction. The band was still playing, and I guess they all went down. 

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   "They were playing 'Autumn' then. I swam with all my might. I suppose I 
was 150 feet away when the Titanic, on her nose, with her after-quarter 
sticking straight up in the air, began to settle slowly. 

   "When at last the waves washed over her rudder there wasn't the least 
bit of suction I could feel. She must have kept going just as slowly as 
she had been. 

   "I forgot to mention that, besides the Olympic and Carpathia, we spoke 
some German boat, I don't know which, and told them how we were. We also 
spoke the Baltic. I remembered those things as I began to figure what 
ships would be coming toward us. 

   "I felt, after a little while, like sinking. I was very cold. I saw a 
boat of some kind near me and put all my strength into an effort to swim 
to it. It was hard work. I was all done when a hand reached out from the 
boat and pulled me aboard. It was our same collapsible. 

   "There was just room for me to roll on the edge. I lay there, not 
caring what happened. Somebody sat on my legs; they were wedged in between 
slats and were being wrenched. I had not the heart left to ask the man to 
move. It was a terrible sight all around -- men swimming and sinking. 

   "I lay where I was, letting the man wrench my feet out of shape. Others 
came near. Nobody gave them a hand. The bottom-up boat already had more 
men than it would hold and it was sinking. 

   "At first the larger waves splashed over my head and I had to breathe 
when I could. 

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   "Some splendid people saved us. They had a right-side-up boat, and it 
was full to its capacity. Yet they came to us and loaded us all into it. I 
saw some lights off in the distance and knew a steamship was coming to our 
aid. 

   "I didn't care what happened. I just lay, and gasped when I could and 
felt the pain in my feet. At last the Carpathia was alongside and the 
people were being taken up a rope ladder. Our boat drew near, and one by 
one the men were taken off of it. 

   "The way the band kept playing was a noble thing. I heard it first 
while we were working wireless, when there was a rag-time tune for us, and 
the last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea, with my 
life-belt on, it was still on deck playing 'Autumn.' How they ever did it 
I cannot imagine. 

   "That and the way Phillips kept sending after the captain told him his 
life was his own, and to look out for himself, are two things that stand 
out in my mind over all the rest."



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CHAPTER XVIII
STORY OF THE STEWARD
PASSENGERS AND CREW DYING WHEN TAKEN ABOARD CARPATHIA -- ONE WOMAN SAVED A 
DOG -- ENGLISH COLONEL SWAM FOR HOURS WHEN BOAT WITH MOTHER CAPSIZED 

   SOME of the most thrilling incidents connected with the rescue of the 
Titanic's survivors are told in the following account given by a man 
trained to the sea, a steward of the rescue ship Carpathia: 

   "At midnight on Sunday, April 14th, I was promenading the deck of the 
steamer Carpathia, bound for the Mediterranean and three days out from New 
York, when an urgent summons came to my room from the chief steward, E. 
Harry Hughes. I then learned that the White Star liner Titanic, the 
greatest ship afloat, had struck an iceberg and was in serious 
difficulties. 

   "We were then already steaming at our greatest power to the scene of 
the disaster, Captain Rostron having immediately given orders that every 
man of the crew should stand by to exert his utmost efforts. Within a very 
few minutes every preparation had been made to receive two or three 
thousand persons. Blankets were placed ready, tables laid with hot 

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soups and coffee, bedding, etc., prepared, and hospital supplies laid out 
ready to attend to any injured. 

   "The men were then mustered in the saloon and addressed by the chief 
steward. He told them of the disaster and appealed to them in a few words 
to show the world what stuff Britishers were made of, and to add a 
glorious page to the history of the empire; and right well did the men 
respond to the appeal. Every life-boat was manned and ready to be launched 
at a moment's notice. Nothing further could be done but anxiously wait and 
look out for the ship's distress signal. 

   "Our Marconi operator, whose unceasing efforts for many hours deserve 
the greatest possible praise, was unable at this time to get any reply to 
the urgent inquiries he was sending out, and he feared the worst. 

   "At last a blue flare was observed, to which we replied with a rocket. 
Day was just dawning when we observed a boat in the distance.


ICEBERG AND FIRST BOAT SIGHTED 
   "Eastward on the horizon a huge iceberg, the cause of the disaster, 
majestically reared two noble peaks to heaven. Rope ladders were already 
lowered and we hove to near the life-boat, which was now approaching us as 
rapidly as the nearly exhausted efforts of the men at the oars could bring 
her. 

   "Under the command of our chief officer, who worked indefatigably at 
the noble work of rescue, the survivors in 

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the boat were rapidly but carefully hauled aboard and given into the hands 
of the medical staff under the organization of Dr. McGee. 

   "We then learned the terrible news that the gigantic vessel, the 
unsinkable Titanic, had gone down one hour and ten minutes after striking. 

   "From this time onward life-boats continued to arrive at frequent 
intervals. Every man of the Carpathia's crew was unsparing in his efforts 
to assist, to tenderly comfort each and every survivor. In all, sixteen 
boatloads were receives, containing altogether 720 persons, many in simply 
their night attire, others in evening dress, as if direct from an after-
dinner reception, or concert. Most conspicuous was the coolness and self-
possession, particularly of the women. 

   "Pathetic and heartrending incidents were many. There was not a man of 
the rescue party who was not moved almost to tears. Women arrived and 
frantically rushed from one gangway to another eagerly scanning the fresh 
arrivals in the boats for a lost husband or brother.


A CAPSIZED BOAT 
   "One boat arrived with the unconscious body of an English colonel. He 
had been taking out his mother on a visit, to three others of her sons. He 
had succeeded in getting her away in one of the boats and he himself had 
found a place in another. When but a few-yards from the ill-fated ship the 
boat containing his mother capsized before his eyes. 

   "Immediately he dived into the water and commenced a 

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frantic search for her. But in vain. Boat after boat endeavored to take 
him aboard, but he refused to give up, continuing to swim for nearly three 
hours until even his great strength of body and mind gave out and he was 
hauled unconscious into a passing boat and brought aboard the Carpathia. 
The doctor gives little hope of his recovery. 

   "There were, I understand, twelve newly married couples aboard the big 
ship. The twelve brides have been saved, but of the husbands all but one 
have perished. That one would not have been here, had he not been urged to 
assist in manning a life-boat. Think of the self-sacrifice of these eleven 
heroes, who stood on the doomed vessel and parted from their brides 
forever, knowing full well that a few brief minutes would end all things 
for themselves. 

   "Many similar pathetic incidents could be related. Sad-eyed women roam 
aimlessly about the ship still looking vainly for husband, brother or 
father. To comfort them is impossible. All human efforts are being exerted 
on their behalf. Their material needs are satisfied in every way. But who 
can cure a broken heart?


SAVED HER POMERANIAN 
   "One of the earliest boats to arrive was seen to contain a woman 
tenderly clasping a pet Pomeranian. When assisted to the rope ladder and 
while the rope was being fastened around her she emphatically refused to 
give up for a second the dog which was evidently so much to her. He is now 
receiving as careful and tender attention as his mistress. 

Page 219

   "A survivor informs me that there was on the ship a lady who was taking 
out a huge great Dane dog. When the boats were rapidly filling she 
appeared on deck with her canine companion and sadly entreated that he 
should be taken off with her. It was impossible. Human lives, those of 
women and children, were the first consideration. She was urged to seize 
the opportunity to save her own life and leave the dog. She refused to 
desert him and, I understand, sacrificed her life with him. 

   "One elderly lady was bewailing to a steward that she had lost 
everything. He indignantly replied that she should thank God her life was 
spared, never mind her replaceable property. The reply was pathetic: 

   "'I have lost everything -- my husband,' and she broke into 
uncontrollable grief.


FOUR BOATS ADRIFT HE SAYS 
   "One incident that impressed me perhaps more than any other was the 
burial on Tuesday afternoon of four of the poor fellows who succeeded in 
safely getting away from the doomed vessel only to perish later from 
exhaustion and exposure as a result of their gallant efforts to bring to 
safety the passengers placed in their charge in the life-boats. They were: 

   "W. H. Hoyte, Esq., first class passenger. 

   "Abraham Hornner, third class passenger. 

   "S. C. Siebert, steward. 

   "P. Lyons, sailor. 

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   "The sailor and steward were unfortunately dead when taken aboard. The 
passengers lived but a few minutes after. They were treated with the 
greatest attention. The funeral service was conducted amid profound 
silence and attended by a large number of survivors and rescuers. The 
bodies, covered by the national flag, were reverently consigned to the 
mighty deep from which they had been, alas, vainly, saved. 

   "Most gratifying to the officers and men of the Carpathia is the 
constantly expressive appreciation of the survivors." 

   He then told of the meeting of the survivors in the cabin of the 
Carpathia and of the resolution adopted, a statement of which has already 
been given in another chapter.



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CHAPTER XIX
HOW THE WORLD RECEIVED THE NEWS
NATIONS PROSTRATE WITH GRIEF -- MESSAGES FROM KINGS AND CARDINALS -- 
DISASTER STIRS WORLD TO NECESSITY OF STRICTER REGULATIONS 

   YOUNG and old, rich and poor were prostrated by the news of the 
disaster. Even Wall Street was neglected. Nor was the grief confined to 
America. European nations felt the horror of the calamity and sent 
expressions of sympathy. President Taft made public cablegrams received 
from the King and Queen of England, and the King of Belgium, conveying 
their sympathy to the American people in the sorrows which have followed 
the Titanic disaster. The President's responses to both messages were also 
made public. 

   The following was the cablegram from King George, dated at Sandringham: 

   "The Queen and I are anxious to assure you and the American nation of 
the great sorrow which we experienced at the terrible loss of life that 
has occurred among the American citizens, as well as among my own 
subjects, by the foundering of the Titanic. Our two countries are so 
intimately allied by ties of friendship and brotherhood that any 
misfortunes 

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which affect the one must necessarily affect the other, and on the present 
terrible occasion they are both equally sufferers.
"GEORGE R. AND I." 

   President Taft's reply was as follows: 

   "In the presence of the appalling disaster to the Titanic the people of 
the two countries are brought into community of grief through their common 
bereavement. The American people share in the sorrow of their kinsmen 
beyond the sea. On behalf of my countrymen I thank you for your 
sympathetic message.
"WILLIAM H. TAFT." 

   The message from King Albert of Belgium was as follows: 

   "I beg Your Excellency to accept my deepest condolences on the occasion 
of the frightful catastrophe to the Titanic, which has caused such 
mourning in the American nation." 

   The President's acknowledgment follows: 

   "I deeply appreciate your sympathy with my fellow-countrymen who have 
been stricken with affliction through the disaster to the Titanic."


MESSAGE FROM SPAIN 
   King Alfonso and Queen Victoria sent the following cablegram to 
President Taft: 

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   "We have learned with profound grief of the catastrophe to the Titanic, 
which has plunged the American nation in mourning. We send you our 
sincerest condolence, and wish to assure you and your nation of the 
sentiments of friendship and sympathy we feel toward you." 

   A similar telegram was sent to the King of England. 

   The many expressions of grief to reach President Taft included one 
signed jointly by the three American Cardinals, who were in New York 
attending the meeting of the trustees of the Catholic University. It said: 

   "TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
"The archbishops of the country, in joint session with the trustees of the 
Catholic University of America, beg to offer to the President of the 
United States their expression of their profound grief at the awful loss 
of human lives attendant upon the sinking of the steamship Titanic, and at 
the same time to assure the relatives of the victims of this horrible 
disaster of our deepest sympathy and condolence. 

   "They wish also to attest hereby to the hope that the law-makers of the 
country will see in this sad accident the obvious necessity of legal 
provisions for greater security of ocean travel.
"JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS," Archbishop of Baltimore.
"JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY," Archbishop of New York.
"WILLIAM CARDINAL O'CONNELL," Archbishop of Boston.


HOUSE ADJOURNED 
   Formal tribute to the Titanic's dead was paid by the House of 
Representatives when it adjourned for twenty-four hours. 

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   The prayer of the Rev. Henry N. Couden in opening the House session 
was, in part: 

   "We thank Thee that though in the ordinary circumstances of life 
selfishness and greed seem to be in the ascendancy, yet in times of 
distress and peril, then it is that the nobility of soul, the Godlike in 
man, asserts itself and makes heroes." 

   The flags on the White House and other Government buildings throughout 
the country were at half-staff.


ROME MOURNED MAJOR BUTT 
   A special telegram from Rome stated that one of the victims most 
regretted was Major Butt, whose jovial, bright character made many friends 
there. Besides autograph letters from the Pope and Cardinal Merry del Val 
to President Taft, the major had with him a signed photograph of the 
Pontiff, given by him personally. 

   Cardinal Merry del Val had several conversations with Major Butt, who 
declared that the cardinal was "the first gentleman of Europe." Shortly 
before he was leaving Rome, regretting that he had not a signed picture of 
Cardinal Merry del Val, Major Butt entrusted a friend to ask for one. The 
cardinal willingly put an autograph dedication on a picture, recalling 
their pleasant intercourse.


LONDON NEWSPAPERS CONDEMN LAXITY OF LAW 
   British indignation, which is not easily excited, was aroused over the 
knowledge that an antiquated law enables steamship 

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companies to fail to provide sufficient life-boats to accommodate the 
passengers and crew of the largest liners in the event of such a disaster 
as that which occurred to the Titanic. It will be insisted that there be 
an investigation of the loss of life in the Titanic and that the shortage 
of boats be gone into thoroughly. 

   The newspapers commented adversely on the lack of boats and their views 
were emphasized by the knowledge that no attempt has been made to change 
the regulations in the face of the fact that the inadequacy of boats in 
such an emergency was called to the attention of Parliament at the time of 
the collision between the White Star liner Olympic and the cruiser Hawke. 
It was pointed out at this time that German vessels, much smaller in size 
than the Olympic, carried more boats and also that these boats were of 
greater capacity. 

   T. W. Moore, Secretary of the Merchant Service Guild, when seen at the 
guild's rooms in Liverpool, said: 

   "The Titanic disaster is an example, on a colossal scale, of the 
pernicious and supine system of officials, as represented by the Board of 
Trade. Modern liners are so designed that they have no accommodations for 
more life-boats. Among practical seamen it has long been recognized that 
the modern passenger ship has nothing like adequate boat capacity. 

   "The Board of Trade has its own views, and the shipowners also have 
their views, which are largely based upon the economical factor. The naval 
architects have their opinions, but the practical merchant seaman is not 
consulted. 

   "The Titanic disaster is a complete substantiation of the 

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agitation that our guild has carried on for nearly twenty years against 
the scheme that has precluded practical seamen from being consulted with 
regard to boat capacity and life-saving appliances.


HOUSE OF COMMONS INVESTIGATION 
   Immediate and searching inquiry into the Titanic disaster was promised 
on the floor of the House of Commons April 18th, by President Sidney 
Buxton, of the Board of Trade, which controls all sea-going vessels. 

   Buxton, in discussing the utterly inadequate life-saving equipment of 
the big liner, declared that the committee of the board in charge of life-
saving precautions had recently recommended increased life-boats, rafts 
and life-preservers on all big ships, but that the requirements had been 
found unsatisfactory and had not been put in force. He frankly admitted 
the necessity for increased equipment without delay. 

   The board, he said, was utterly unable to compel the transatlantic 
vessels to reduce their speed in the contest for "express train" ships. He 
also said the board could not force ships to take the southerly passage in 
the spring to avoid ice. 

   The regulations under which the Titanic carried life-boat 
accommodations for only about one-third of her passengers and crew had not 
been revised by the committee since 1894. At that time the regulations 
were made for ships of "10,000 tons or more." The Titanic's tonnage was 45,
000, for which the present requirements are altogether insufficient.

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WORK OF RAISING RELIEF FUNDS PROMPT 
   Several foreign governments telegraphed to the British Government 
messages of condolence for the sufferers. The King sent a donation of 
$2625 to the Mansion House fund. Queen Mary donated $1310 and Queen 
Alexandra $1000 to the same fund. 

   Oscar Hammerstein proffered, and the lord mayor accepted, the use of 
his opera house for an entertainment in aid of the fund. 

   The Shipping Federation donated $10,500 to the Mayor of Southampton's 
fund, taking care to explain that the White Star Line was not affiliated 
with the Federation. 

   Some public institutions also offered to take care of the orphaned 
children of the crew. 

   Large firms contributed liberally to the various relief funds, while 
Covent Garden and other leading theaters prepared special performances to 
aid in the relief work.


INDIGNANT GERMANY DEMANDS REFORMS 
   All Germany as well as England was stunned and grieved by the magnitude 
of the horror of the Titanic catastrophe. Anglo-German recriminations for 
the moment ceased, as far as the Fatherland was concerned, and profound 
and sincere compassion for the nation on whom the blow had fallen more 
heavily was the supreme note of the hour. 

   The Kaiser, with his characteristic promptitude, was one of the first 
to communicate his sympathy by telegraph to King George and to the White 
Star Line. Admiral Prince 

Page 228

Henry of Prussia did likewise, and the first act of the Reichstag, after 
reassembling on Tuesday, was to pass a standing vote of condolence with 
the British people in their distress.


GERMAN LAWS ALSO INADEQUATE 
   The German laws, governing the safety appliances on board trans-oceanic 
vessels, seem to be as archaic and inadequate as those of the British 
Board of Trade. The maximum provision contained in the German statutes 
refers to vessels with the capacity of 50,000 cubic metres, which must 
carry sixteen life-boats. The law also says that if this number of life-
boats be insufficient to accommodate all the persons on board, including 
the crew, there shall be carried elsewhere in the vessel a correspondingly 
additional number of collapsible life-boats, suitable rafts, floating deck-
chairs and life-buoys, as well as a generous supply of life-belts. 

   A vessel of 10,000 tons was a "leviathan" in the days when the German 
law was passed, and it appears to have undergone no change to meet the 
conditions, imposed by the construction of vessels twice or three times 10,
000 tons, like the Hamburg-American Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, or the 
North German Lloyd George Washington, to say nothing of the 50,000ton 
Imperator, which is to be added to the Hamburg fleet next year. 

   The German lines seem, like the White Star Company, to have reckoned 
simply with the practical impossibility of a ship like the Titanic 
succumbing to the elements.

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PERSONAL ANXIETY 
   Although Germany's and Berlin's direct interest in the passengers 
aboard the Titanic was less than that of London, New York or Paris, there 
was the utmost concern for their fate. 

   Ambassador Leishman and other members of the American Embassy were 
particularly interested in hearing about Major "Archie" Butt, who passed 
through Berlin, less than a month before the disaster, en route from 
Russia and the Far East. Vice-president John B. Thayer and family, of 
Philadelphia, were also in Berlin a fortnight ago and were guests of the 
American Consul General and Mrs. Thackara. A score of other lesser known 
passengers had recently stayed in Berlin hotels, and it was local friends 
or kinsmen of theirs who were in a state of distressing unrest over their 
fate. 

   Their anxiety was aggravated by the old-fogey methods of the German 
newspapers, which are invariably twelve or fifteen hours later than 
journals elsewhere in Europe on world news events. Although New York, 
London and Paris had the cruel truth with their morning papers on Tuesday, 
it was not until the middle of the forenoon that "extras" made the facts 
public in Berlin. 

   William T. Stead was well and favorably known in Germany, and his fate 
was keenly and particularly mourned. Germans have also noted that many 
Americans of direct Teutonic ancestry or origin were among the shining 
marks in the death list. Colonel John Jacob Astor is claimed as of German, 
extraction, as well as Isidor Straus, Benjamin 

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Guggenheim, Washington Roebling and Henry B. Harris. All of them had been 
in Germany frequently and had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. 

   Only one well-known resident of Berlin was aboard the Titanic, Frau 
Antoinette Flegenheim, whose name appears among the rescued.



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CHAPTER XX
BRAVERY OF THE OFFICERS AND CREW
ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER OF CAPTAIN E. J. SMITH -- BRAVE TO THE LAST -- 
MAINTENANCE OF ORDER AND DISCIPLINE -- ACTS OF HEROISM -- ENGINEERS DIED 
AT POSTS -- NOBLE-HEARTED BAND 

   IN the anxious hours of uncertainty, when the air cracked and flashed 
with the story of disaster, there was never doubt in the minds of men 
ashore about the master of the Titanic. Captain Smith would bring his ship 
into port if human power could mend the damage the sea had wrought, or if 
human power could not stay the disaster he would never come to port. There 
is something Calvinistic about such men of the old-sea breed. They go down 
with their ships, of their own choice. 

   Into the last life-boat that was launched from the ship Captain Smith 
with his own hand lifted a small child into a seat beside its mother. As 
the gallant, officer performed his simple act of humanity several who were 
already in the boat tried to force the captain to join them, but he turned 
away resolutely toward the bridge. 

Page 232

   That act was significant. Courteous, kindly, of quiet demeanor and soft 
words, he was known and loved by thousands of travelers. 

   When the English firm, A. Gibson & Co.9 of Liverpool, purchased the 
American clipper, Senator Weber, in 1869, Captain Smith, then a boy, 
sailed on her. For seven years he was an apprentice on the Senator Weber, 
leaving that vessel to go to the Lizzie Fennell, a square rigger, as 
fourth officer. From there he went to the old Celtic of the White Star 
Line as fourth officer and in 1887 he became captain of that vessel. For a 
time he was in command of the freighters Cufic and Runic; then he became 
skipper of the old Adriatic. Subsequently he assumed command of the 
Celtic, Britannic, Coptic (which was in the Australian trade), Germanic, 
Baltic, Majestic, Olympic and Titanic, an illustrious list of vessels for 
one man to have commanded during his career. 

   It was not easy to get Captain Smith to talk of his experiences. He had 
grown up in the service, was his comment, and it meant little to him that 
he had been transferred from a small vessel to a big ship and then to a 
bigger ship and finally to the biggest of them all. 

   "One might think that a captain taken from a small ship and put on a 
big one might feel the transition," he once said. "Not at all. The 
skippers of the big vessels have grown up to them, year after year, 
through all these years. First there was the sailing vessel and then what 
we would now call small ships -- they were big in the days gone by -- and 
finally the giants to-day."

Page 233

DISASTER TO OLYMPIC 
   Only once during all his long years of service was he in trouble, when 
the Olympic, of which he was in command, was rammed by the British cruiser 
Hawke in the Solent on September 20, 1911. The Hawke came steaming out of 
Portsmouth and drew alongside the giantess. According to some of the 
passengers on the Olympic the Hawke swerved in the direction of the big 
liner and a moment later the bow of the Hawke was crunching steel plates 
in the starboard quarter of the Olympic, making a thirty-foot hole in her. 
She was several months in dry dock. 

   The result of a naval court inquiry was to put all the blame for the 
collision on the Olympic. Captain Smith, in his testimony before the naval 
court, said that he was on the bridge when he saw the Hawke overhauling 
him. The Olympic began to draw ahead later or the Hawke drop astern, the 
captain did not know which. Then the cruiser turned very swiftly and 
struck the Olympic at right angles on the quarter. The pilot gave the 
signal for the Olympic to port, which was to minimize the force of the 
collision. The Olympic's engines had been stopped by order of the pilot. 

   Up to the moment the Hawke swerved, Captain Smith said, he had no 
anxiety. The pilot, Bowyer, corroborated the testimony of Captain Smith. 
That the line did not believe Captain Smith was at fault, notwithstanding 
the verdict of the board of naval inquiry, was shown by his retention as 
the admiral of the White Star fleet and by his being given the command of 
the Titanic. 

Page 234

   Up to the time of the collision with the Hawke Captain Smith when asked 
by interviewers to describe his experiences at sea would say one word, 
"uneventful." Then he would add with a smile and a twinkle of his eyes: 

   "Of course there have been winter gales and storms and fog and the like 
in the forty years I have been on the seas, but I have never been in an 
accident worth speaking of. In all my years at sea (he made this comment a 
few years ago) I have seen but one vessel in distress. That was a brig the 
crew of which was taken off in a boat by my third officer. I never saw a 
wreck. I never have been wrecked. I have never been in a predicament that 
threatened to end in disaster of any sort."


THE CAPTAIN'S LOVE OF THE SEA 
   Once the interviewer stopped asking personal questions, Captain Smith 
would talk of the sea, of his love for it, how its appeal to him as a boy 
had never died. 

   "The love of the ocean that took me to sea as a boy has never died." he 
once said. "When I see a vessel plunging up and down in the trough of the 
sea, fighting her way through and over great waves, and keeping her keel 
and going on and on -- the wonder of the thing fills me, how she can keep 
afloat and get safely to port. I have never outgrown the wild grandeur of 
the sea." 

   When he was in command of the Adriatic, which was built before the 
Olympic, Captain Smith said he did not believe a disaster with loss of 
life could happen to the Adriatic. 

Page 235

   "I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to the Adriatic," he 
said. "Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that. There will be bigger 
boats. The depth of harbors seems to be the great drawback at present. I 
cannot say, of course, just what the limit will be, but the larger boat 
will surely come. But speed will not develop with size, so far as 
merchantmen are concerned. 

   "The traveling public prefers the large comfortable boat of average 
speed, and anyway that is the boat that pays. High speed eats up money 
mile by mile, and extreme high speed is suicidal. There will be high speed 
boats for use as transports and a wise government will assist steamship 
companies in paying for them, as the English Government is now doing in 
the cases of the Lusitania and Mauretania, twenty-five knot boats; but no 
steamship company will put them out merely as a commercial venture." 

   Captain Smith believed the Titanic to be unsinkable.


BRAVE TO THE LAST 
   And though the ship turned out to be sinkable, the captain, by many 
acts of bravery in the face of death, proved that his courage was equal to 
any test. 

   Captain Inman Sealby, commander of the steamer Republic, which was the 
first vessel to use the wireless telegraph to save her passengers in a 
collision, spoke highly of the commander of the wrecked Titanic, calling 
him one of the ablest seamen in the world. 

   "I am sure that Captain Smith did everything in his power 

Page 236

to save his passengers. The disaster is one about which he could have had 
no warning. Things may happen at sea that give no warning to ships' crews 
and commanders until the harm comes. I believe from what I read that the 
Titanic hit an iceberg and glanced off, but that the berg struck her from 
the bottom and tore a great hole." 

   Many survivors have mentioned the captain's name and narrated some 
incident to bring out his courage and helpfulness in the emergency; but it 
was left to a fireman on board the Titanic to tell the story of his death 
and to record his last message. This man had gone down with the White Star 
giantess and was clinging to a piece of wreckage for about half an hour 
before he finally joined several members of the Titanic's company on the 
bottom of a boat which was floating about among other wreckage near the 
Titanic. 

   Harry Senior, the fireman, with his eight or nine companions in 
distress, had just managed to get a firm hold in the upturned boat when 
they saw the Titanic rearing preparatory to her final plunge. At that 
moment, according to the fireman's story, Captain Smith jumped into the 
sea from the promenade deck of the Titanic with a little girl clutched in 
his arms. It took only a few strokes to bring him to the upturned boat, 
where a dozen hands were stretched out to take the little child from his 
arms and drag him to a point of safety. 

   "Captain Smith was dragged onto the upturned boat," said the fireman. 
"He had a life-buoy and a life-preserver. He clung there for a moment and 
then he slid off again. For a 

Page 237

second time he was dragged from the icy water. Then he took off his life-
preserver, tossed the life-buoy on the inky waters, and slipped into the 
water again with the words: "I will follow the ship."


OTHER FAITHFUL MEN 
   Nor was the captain the only faithful man on the ship. Of the many 
stories told by survivors all seem to agree that both officers and crew 
behaved with the utmost gallantry and that they stuck by the ship nobly to 
the last. 

   "Immediately after the Titanic struck the iceberg," said one of the 
survivors, "the officers were all over the ship reassuring the passengers 
and calming the more excitable. They said there was no cause for alarm. 
When everything was quieted they told us we might go back to bed, as the 
ship was safe. There was no confusion and many returned to their beds. 

   "We did not know that the ship was in danger until a comparatively 
short time before she sank. Then we were called on deck and the life-boats 
were filled and lowered. 

   "The behavior of the ship's officers at this time was wonderful. There 
was no panic, no scramble for places in the boats." 

   Later there was confusion, and according to most of the passengers' 
narratives, there were more than fifty shots fired upon the deck by 
officers or others in the effort to maintain the discipline.


FIFTH OFFICER LOWE 
   A young English woman who requested that her name be omitted told a 
thrilling story of her experience in one of the 

Page 238

collapsible boats which had been manned by eight of the crew from the 
Titanic. The boat was in command of the fifth officer, H. Lowe, whose 
actions she described as saving the lives of many people. Before the life-
boat was launched he passed along the port deck of the steamer, commanding 
the people not to jump in the boats, and otherwise restraining them from 
swamping the craft. When the collapsible was launched Officer Lowe 
succeeded in putting up a mast and a small sail. He collected the other 
boats together, in some cases the boats were short of adequate crews, and 
he directed an exchange by which each was adequately manned. He threw 
lines connecting the boats together, two by two, and thus all moved 
together. Later on he went back to the wreck with the crew of one of the 
boats and succeeded in picking up some of those who had jumped overboard 
and were swimming about. On his way back to the Carpathia he passed one of 
the collapsible boats which was on the point of sinking with thirty 
passengers aboard, most of them in scant night-clothing. They were rescued 
just in the nick of time.


ENGINEERS DIED AT POSTS 
   There were brave men below deck, too. "A lot has been printed in the 
papers about the heroism of the officers," said one survivor, "but little 
has been said of the bravery of the men below decks. I was told that 
seventeen enginemen who were drowned side by side got down on their knees 
on the platform of the engine room and prayed until the water surged up to 
their necks. Then they stood up, clasped hands so as 

Page 239

to form a circle and died together. All of these men helped rake the fires 
out from ten of the forward boilers after the crash. This delayed the 
explosion and undoubtedly permitted the ship to remain afloat nearly an 
hour longer, and thus saved hundreds of lives." 

   In the list of heroes who went down on the Titanic the names of her 
engineers will have a high place, for not a single engineer was saved. 
Many of them, no doubt, could not get to the deck, but they had equally as 
good a chance as the firemen, sixty-nine of whom were saved. 

   The supposition of those who manned the Titanic was that the engineers, 
working below, were the first to know the desperate character of the 
Titanic's injury. The watch called the others, and from that time until 
the vessel was ready for her last plunge they were too hard at work to 
note more than that there was a constant rise of water in the hull, and 
that the pumps were useless. 

   It was engineers who kept the lights going, saw to the proper closing 
of bulkhead doors and kept the stoke hole at work until the uselessness of 
the task was apparent. Most of them probably died at their post of duty. 

   The Titanic carried a force of about sixty engineers, and in addition 
she had at least twenty-five "guarantee" engineers, representatives of 
Harland and Wolff, the builders, and those who had the contract for the 
engineering work. This supplementary force was under Archie Frost, the 
builders' chief engineer, and the regular force was under Chief Engineer 
William Bell, of the White Star Line. 

Page 240

   On the line's ships there is the chief engineer, senior and junior 
second, senior and junior third, and senior and junior fourth engineers. 
The men are assigned each to his own task. There are hydraulic, electric, 
pump and steam packing men, and the "guarantee" engineers, representing 
the builders and the contractors. 

   The duty of the "guarantee" engineers is to watch the working of the 
great engines, and to see that they are tuned up and in working order. 
They also watch the working of each part of the machinery which had 
nothing to do with the actual speed of the ship, principally the electric 
light dynamos and the refrigerating plant.


NOBLE-HEARTED BAND 
   "But what of the bandsmen? Who were they?" 

   This question was asked again and again by all who read the story of 
the Titanic's sinking and of how the brave musicians played to the last, 
keeping up the courage of those who were obliged to go down with the ship. 

   Many efforts were made to find out who the men were, but little was 
made public until the members of the orchestra of the steamship Celtic 
reached shore for the first time after the disaster. One of their first 
queries was about the musicians of the Titanic. Their anxiety was greater 
than that of any New Yorker, for the members of the band of the Celtic 
knew intimately the musicians of the ill-fated liner. 

   "Not one of them saved!" cried John S. Carr, 'cellist on the Celtic. 
"It doesn't seem possible they have all gone. 

Page 241

   "We knew most of them well. They were Englishmen, you know -- every one 
of them, I think. Nearly all the steamship companies hire their musicians 
abroad, and the men interchange between the ships frequently, so we get a 
chance to know one another pretty well. The musicians for the Titanic were 
levied from a number of other White Star ships, but most of the men who 
went down with the Titanic had bunked with us at some time." 

   "The thing I can't realize is that happy 'Jock' Hume is dead," 
exclaimed Louis Cross, a player of the bass viol. "He was the merriest, 
happiest young Scotchman you ever saw. His family have been making musical 
instruments in Scotland for generations. I heard him say once that they 
were minstrels in the old days. It is certainly hard to believe that he is 
not alive and having his fun somewhere in the world." 

   At least he helped to make the deaths of many less cruel.