“I put the shawl back on her lap. Sitting next to Mrs. Astor was a Swedish woman with a little girl that I should take to be three or four years old. The little girl was whimpering with the cold.
“Mrs. Astor took the shawl and threw it about the shoulders of this woman, who thanked her in some foreign lingo. Then the steerage woman kissed her little girl and took her into her arms and wrapped the shawl about her.
“When the explosion occurred aboard the ship Mrs. Astor made some kind of a sound, but I couldn’t understand whether she said anything or merely sobbed. She turned her head away from the direction of the vessel.”
So little was the impact felt at the time of the collision that Mrs. Astor thought the crash was the result of some mishap in the kitchen and paid no attention to it until the engines stopped.
Then, realizing that something was wrong, she inquired of her steward the cause. He informed her that a slight accident had happened, and that the captain had ordered the women to the lifeboats, but he added that this was only a precautionary measure, and that they would all be back soon again on the ship.
Mrs. Astor then entered her stateroom and changed her dress, preparatory to leaving the Titanic for one of the lifeboats in company with her maid.
As she left the room the steward told her he would lock up her suite so that nobody would enter it during her absence, for he thought everybody would soon return.
Colonel Astor accompanied his wife and her maid to lifeboat No. 4. When he attempted to enter it he was pushed back by the sailor in charge, and was told that no men were permitted in it.
“But,” said Colonel Astor, “there are no more women to be taken in, and there is plenty of room.”
“That makes no difference,” replied the man; “the orders are no men, so you cannot get in.”