HUSBAND GAVE WIFE BELT; PLUNGED OUT TO SAVE HIMSELF
Mrs. Atwell gave a graphic account of the struggle she and her husband, Major Atwell, had in the seething waters, narrating how with the one life-belt between them her husband chivalrously placed this around her and himself struck out boldly into the waves.
“I was just lightly sleeping when I heard a slight crash,” she said. “We thought the ship had struck the tender or pilot boat. Then I heard the engines start, going as hard as they could. I tried to rouse my husband. We got up almost directly, but by that time the water was coming in, and we climbed up on deck. My husband secured one life-belt and placed it around me. We climbed over the rail, for the ship was listing heavily, but we hung on to the port-hole for a few minutes, and then I heard a slight explosion. Then the water seemed to gush up, and my husband said ‘Jump!’
“In the water I grasped my husband’s clothing and held on to his back; and there we just hung together and swam. My husband swims, but I just kicked and struggled and held on to him, and eventually I found my limbs very stiff, so that I had to be helped into the boat. We were put on the Storstad for a time and then on the Lady Evelyn and put into the cabin.
“One man who had a broken leg went insane. There was very little screaming, and there was nothing in the way of unseemly struggles.”