“Finally we jumped into the water and were picked up by one of the life-boats.”
HUSBAND GAVE WIFE BELT; PLUNGED OUT TO SAVE HIMSELF
Mrs. Atwell gave a graphic account of the struggle she and her husband, Major Atwell, had in the seething waters, narrating how with the one life-belt between them her husband chivalrously placed this around her and himself struck out boldly into the waves.
“I was just lightly sleeping when I heard a slight crash,” she said. “We thought the ship had struck the tender or pilot boat. Then I heard the engines start, going as hard as they could. I tried to rouse my husband. We got up almost directly, but by that time the water was coming in, and we climbed up on deck. My husband secured one life-belt and placed it around me. We climbed over the rail, for the ship was listing heavily, but we hung on to the port-hole for a few minutes, and then I heard a slight explosion. Then the water seemed to gush up, and my husband said ‘Jump!’
“In the water I grasped my husband’s clothing and held on to his back; and there we just hung together and swam. My husband swims, but I just kicked and struggled and held on to him, and eventually I found my limbs very stiff, so that I had to be helped into the boat. We were put on the Storstad for a time and then on the Lady Evelyn and put into the cabin.
“One man who had a broken leg went insane. There was very little screaming, and there was nothing in the way of unseemly struggles.”
BOAT LISTED SO BADLY PEOPLE COULD NOT GET UP DECK STAIRS
As Adjutant McRae, of the Salvation Army, Montreal, walked down the aisle of a sleeping car, a curtain rustled and parted.