“It seemed to me that the berg, a mile away, I should say, was about 80 feet out of the water. The ice that showed clear of the water was not what we struck. After the collision I saw ice all over the sea. When we hit the berg we seemed to slide up on it. I could feel the boat jumping and pounding, and I realized that we were on the ice, but I thought we would weather it. I saw the captain only once after the collision. He was telling the men to get the women and children into the boats. I thought then that it was only for precaution, and it was long after the boats had left that I felt the steamer sinking.
“I waited on the upper deck until about 2 o’clock. I took a look below and saw that the Titanic was doomed. Then I jumped into the ocean and within five minutes I was picked up.”
DISCIPLINE DESCRIBED AS PERFECT.
Steffanson also described the discipline upon the boat as perfect. Many women, as well as men, he said, declined to leave the Titanic, believing she was safe.
Miss Cornelia Andrews, of Hudson, N. Y., was one of the first to be put into a lifeboat.
“I saw the Titanic sink,” she said. “I saw her blow up. Our little boat was a mile away when the end came, but the night was clear and the ship loomed up plainly, even at that distance. As our boat put off I saw Mr. and Mrs. Astor standing on the deck. As we pulled away they waved their hands and smiled at us. We were in the open boat about four hours before we were picked up.”
E. W. Beans, a second-cabin passenger, was picked up after swimming in the icy water for twenty minutes. He, too, jumped into the sea after the boats were lowered.
“I heard a shot fired,” said Beans, “just before I jumped. Afterward I was told a steerage passenger had been shot while trying to leap into a lifeboat filled with women and children.”
How the wireless operator on the Carpathia, by putting in an extra ten minutes on duty, was a means of saving 745 lives was told by Dr. J. F. Kemp, the Carpathia’s physician.
“Our wireless operator,” said Dr. Kemp, “was about to retire Sunday night when he said, jokingly: ‘I guess I’ll wait just ten minutes, then turn in.’