Page 65 - All About History - Issue 09-14

The unsinkable ship

water seeping inn. It soon became apparent to all
that the ship was sinking and the reactions of the
crew and passengers was striking in their variance.
Some couples separated, with the women taking a
lifeboat and the men staying on the ship but others
refused to part. The co-owner of the department
store Macy’s, Isidor Straus, was reportedly told by
his wide Ida: “We have been living together for
many years. Where you go, I go,” and the pair sat
down in deck chairs and waited for whatever hand
fate dealt them. Industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim
changed out of his life vest and sweater into top hat
and evening dress, stating to those around him he
wished to go down with the ship like a gentleman.
Many members of the Titanic band continued to
play their instruments.
At just after 2.00am the angle the ship was
lurching at became more acute, causing a giant
wave to crash along the forward part of the ship
and wash many passengers into the sea. Sadly, they
Newly-rescued crew were only the first to enter the water that night.
members being
given dry clothes in The ship snapped in half and the stern began to lift
New York City into the air and, to add to the terror, the lights soon
“ That very morning Captain Smith went off, plunging the ship into total darkness.
Soon afterwards the ship would be in darkness
had planned a lifeboat drill but for an forever, as it plunged into the water to make its way
to the bottom of the ocean.
unknown reason it was cancelled” spend hours floating in them, waiting for rescue,
Those lucky enough to be on lifeboats had to
listening to the death throes of those not fortunate
into the ice-cold water below. The first lifeboat mini-maze in order to get out onto the deck; and enough to get on a boat. These poor souls died in
that launched (Lifeboat 7) only carried 24 people, that was if they even realised that something was the freezing waters, crying out in anger, despair
despite having a capacity of 65. The fewest-recorded wrong. The boat had no public address system and fear as debris from the ‘greatest ship in the
people carried on a lifeboat through was one that and while the first-class stewards were responsible world’ floated alongside them. With an estimated
only took 12 even though it had a capacity of 40. for only a few cabins the second and third-class temperate of −2 degrees Celsius (28 degrees
It may have been women and children first but stewards had much greater numbers to take care Fahrenheit), some would have died instantly from
to even have a chance of getting off the ship social of. In the third class the best passengers received the shock of the cold, while for others death by
class was all-important. The third class were located was simply being informed of the need to come hyperthermia would have been agonizingly slower.
in the depths of the ship and had to navigate a up on deck. In some cases it was much worse. Mercifully for those in the water – and those who
Titanic survivor Margaret Murphy was a third- had to hear their cries – most slipped away after
class passenger. She wrote later: “Before all the 20 minutes. Now those in the lifeboats had only
steerage passengers had even a chance of their silence and the black night for company and it
lives, the Titanic’s sailors fastened the doors and was several hours until the Carpathia, which had
companionways leading up from the third-class travelled full steam ahead throughout the night at
section ... A crowd of men was trying to get up considerable risk to herself, arrived at 4.00am.
to a higher deck and were fighting the sailors; The survivors entered their rescuing ship by any
all striking and scuffling and swearing. means they could; some had enough strength left
Women and some children were there to climb up the rope ladders that were dangled
praying and crying. Then the sailors down, others were hoisted up in slings, with mail
fastened down the hatchways leading to sacks being used for children. Either way, for a
the third-class section. They said they lucky few the ordeal was over. The Carpathia
wanted to keep the air down there arrived in New York in the evening of 18 April to
so the vessel could stay up longer. It be greeted by a throng of 40,000, among them
meant all hope was gone for those family members of passengers and some of the
still down there.” world’s media. It was only several days after the
The first lifeboat entered the ship had docked that the sheer scale of the disaster
water at 12.45am, although the crew became public knowledge. Trips would have to be
had initial difficulty in persuading made to try to collect those who had perished and
passengers that they would be safer inquiries would be held to determine the cause of
on them rather than the ‘big ship’. the disaster. The ‘unsinkable ship’, the great marvel
Soon after the first, a number of other of modern technology that was a symbol of man’s © Sol 90 Images; Corbis; Mary Evans
lifeboats entered the freezing water while advancement and skill had vanished into the
crewmen on the Titanic fought a desperate depths, claiming the lives of over 1,500 souls. The
and ultimately doomed mission to expel the world would never be quite the same again.
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