What awful end his fellows might betide.[81]
“Yet ’mid that wild despair
Nobility of soul found room to stand,
And lustre bright and rare
Enfolds the memory of Knowles and Brand;
Who, face to face with death,
Save of dishonour, showed no coward dread,
Brave hearts to the last breath,
They joined the galaxy of Britain’s dead.”
The shock was described by the survivors as like the concussion of a very powerful cannon. The reader will here make his own reflections. Immediately after the collision the steamer cleared the ship, and before many of the terrified people below could reach the deck she was out of sight. Most of the passengers were awakened by the shock, and a fearful panic ensued. Captain Knowles acted with singular calmness, promptitude, and decision. He caused rockets to be sent up, bells to be rung, and other signals of distress; but the gun to be fired would not go off, the touch-hole being clogged. Meantime he directed the boats to be launched, giving orders that the safety of the women and children should be first secured. There was a disposition to set these orders at defiance, and, on some of the crew crowding to the davits, with a view of effecting their own safety, Captain Knowles drew a revolver, and declared he would shoot the first man who attempted to save himself in the boats before the women were cared for. Most of the crew seemed to understand that the captain was not to be trifled with; but one man, Thomas Biddle, refused to obey the [pg 265]order, and the captain fired at him in a boat alongside the ship. The bullet entered the man’s leg just above the knee.