Her four whistles kept up a deafening blast until the explosions, declare the men. The death cries from the shrill throats of the blatant steam screechers beside the smokestacks so rent the air that conversation among the passengers was possible only when one yelled into the ear of a fellow unfortunate.
“I did not know the Thayer family well,” declared Mr. Barkworth, “but I had met young Thayer, a clean-cut chap, and his father on the trip. I did not see Mr. Thayer throw his son from the ship, but the lad and I struggled in the water for several hours endeavoring to hold afloat by grabbing to the sides and end of an overturned lifeboat.
KEPT AFLOAT BY FUR OVERCOAT.
“I consider my fur overcoat helped to keep me afloat. I had a life preserver under it, under my arms, but it would not have held me up so well out of the water but for the coat. The fur of the coat seemed not to get wet through and retained a certain amount of air that added to buoyancy. I shall never part with it.
“The testimony of J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line, that he had not heard explosions before the Titanic settled, indicates that he must have gotten some distance from her in his lifeboat.
“There were three distinct explosions and the ship broke in the centre. The bow settled headlong first and the stern last. I was looking toward her from the raft to which young Thayer and I had clung.
“I thought I was doomed to go down with the rest. I stood on the deck, awaiting my fate, fearing to jump from the ship. Then came a grinding noise, followed by two others, and I was hurled into the deep. Great waves engulfed me, but I was not drawn toward the ship, so that I believe there was little suction. I swam about for more than one hour before I was picked up by a boat.”
Confirming the statements made by J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line, before the Senatorial Investigating Committee in New York, William E. Carter, of Philadelphia, who was saved, together with his wife and two children, declared that J. Bruce Ismay had not acted like a coward but instead had aided in placing women and children in the boats and had gotten into the last one himself only after he had failed to find any more women after calling for several minutes.
Mr. Carter related his experience on the Titanic from the time the ship struck the mountain of ice until he left the ill-fated vessel on the last lifeboat a short time before she went to her doom.