COMPARATIVELY EMPTY BOAT WITHOUT WOMEN.
“Just as it was about half day and dark we came upon a boat. There were eighteen men in it and it was in charge of an officer. There were no women in the boat, and it was not more than one-third filled. All of the men were able to come up the Jacob’s ladder on the Carpathia, which we threw over the port side. Every one of them was given some brandy or hot black coffee. After they were all on board we pulled up their boat.
“It was bright morning by now and all around the Carpathia, here and there, about a quarter mile apart, were more boats. These were fuller than the first and there were women in all of them. The women were hoisted up in bo’suns chairs, and the men who could do so climbed the Jacob’s ladder. Some of the men, however, had to be hauled up, especially the firemen. There was a whole batch of firemen saved. They were nearly naked. They had jumped overboard and swam after the boats, it turned out, and they were almost frozen stiff.
“The women were dressed, and the funny thing about it is only five of them had to be taken to the hospital. Both the men’s hospitals were filled—twenty-four beds in all. We got twelve boatloads, I think, inside of a little more than an hour. Then, between quarter after and half after 8 o’clock, we got the last two boats—crowded to the guards and almost all women.
“After we got the last boatload aboard the Californian came alongside and the captains arranged that we should make straight for New York and the Californian would look around for more boats. We circled round and round, though, and we saw all kinds of wreckage. There was not a person on a stick of it and we did not get sight of another soul.
“While we were pulling in the boatloads of women we saved were quiet enough and not making any trouble at all. But when it seemed sure we would not find any more persons alive then bedlam came.
“I hope I never go through it again. The way those women took on for the folks they had lost was awful and we could not do anything to quiet them until they cried themselves out.
“There were five Chinamen in the boats and not a soul knew where they came from. No one saw them get into the boats; but there they were—wherever they came from.
“The fellows from the crew of the Titanic told us that lots more of them could have got away, only no one would believe that their ship could sink.”
CHAPTER XIX.
SENATORS HEAR STARTLING STORIES.
Senators Hear Startling Stories—Probing Committee Took Prompt Action—Special Investigation to Forestall Spiriting Away of Witnesses—Prominent Persons on Stand—Carpathia’s Captain and Head of White Star Line Chief Witnesses—Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy Also Testifies.
Managing Director of the White Star Line, J. Bruce Ismay; Captain Rostrom, of the Carpathia; Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless; the second officer of the Titanic and others testified before the Senate committee which was investigating the disaster that caused the loss of more than 1600 lives when the Titanic hit an iceberg.
Mr. Ismay was visibly nervous when he took the stand to testify in the Waldorf-Astoria, where the hearings were being held.
Several times he avoided direct answers by saying: “I know nothing about it.” Little if any light was thrown on the sea tragedy by his testimony.
That the Titanic’s rate of speed was approximately 26½ land miles was brought out from his lips.
He was not sure in just what boat he left the Titanic, nor was he sure how long he remained on the liner after she struck.
He added, however, that before he entered a lifeboat he had been told that there were no more women on the deck, and he denied that there had been any censorship of messages from the Carpathia.
The seriousness of the inquiry by the Senate investigating committee in the Titanic disaster was disclosed when Senator Smith, of Michigan, the chairman, at first flatly refused to let any of the officers or the 200 odd members of the crew of the sunken steamship get beyond the jurisdiction of the United States Government. The men were all to have sailed on the steamer Lapland.
Later it was settled that the greater part of the crew would be permitted to sail on this steamer, but that the twelve men and four officers among the survivors now under subpena, together with Mr. Ismay, would not be allowed to depart.
Captain Rostrom told a simple, apparently straightforward story, thrilling from its very simplicity and the sailorman quality of the narrative.
He answered questions direct and gave the first authoritative tale of the hearing of the appeal for help, the rush to aid the sinking liner and the sighting of the ship’s boats and picking them up, the preparations made, while the Carpathia was being urged along under every ounce of steam its boilers could make, to provide for the reception of the survivors on board.