MAJOR ATWELL’S EXPERIENCE
“Major Atwell hunted for a life-preserver for his wife and finally found one in a life-boat that was out of commission. He strapped it around her and then went to look for something for himself. He found a water cask, emptied the water out and clung to it as he and his wife went overboard. The waves tore the cask away from him and he, with his wife near, went under three times. On the third rising he found somebody’s air cushion in his hands. It saved his life.
“As I swam away from the ship I heard him calling as he and his wife floated in the water. I thought he was sinking and said to myself, ‘There goes poor Major Atwell.’ When he had seen me go over the side he had said, ‘There goes poor Kenneth.’ I swam a mile and a half before being picked up.
“Bert Greenaway, one of the bandsmen, had taken time to put on his trousers and a sweater and tennis shoes. He put the sweater on a woman on deck. He couldn’t swim ten strokes, he told me. He slid down over the side of the ship into a life-boat, being saved without even getting wet or his tennis shoes dirty. Every Salvation Army husband who had his wife with him went down into the water with her, and not one was saved without his wife.”