2:30 am April 15th, 2020, marks 108 years since the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic killing over 1,000 men, women and children. Many in the lifeboats watched helplessly as they watched the 46,000 ton Titanic sink into the icy ocean taking many of their loved ones with her. A few months after the tragedy two inquiries took place between New York and London. It’s with this piece that I’d like to shed light on the sinking of the Titanic told by the people that were there.
Many speculate the initial impact on the ship that occurred when Titanic collided with the berg. Ernest Archer, was a seaman working for the White Star Line. When asked about the initial blow to the ship by Senator Borune he described not feeling anything as he was asleep at the time of the collision.
Senator BOURNE: Will you explain, please, in your own way, what occurred immediately preceding and following the accident?
Mr. ARCHER: I was in my bunk, asleep. I heard a kind of a crush, something similar to when you let go the anchor; it wounded like the cable running through the hawse pipe.
Senator BOURNE: Was there a shock, a jar?
Mr. ARCHER: No; no shock and no jar; just a grating sensation.
Senator BOURNE: You were asleep at the time?
Mr. ARCHER: I was asleep at the time.
Senator BOURNE: Are you a sound or a light sleeper?
Mr. ARCHER: A pretty light sleeper, sir.
Senator BOURNE: You are easily awakened?
Mr. ARCHER: Yes, sir.
Senator BOURNE: So, if there had been much of a shock, you think you would have felt it, although you had been asleep?
Mr. ARCHER: Yes, sir.
Senator BOURNE: It was more of a noise?
Mr. ARCHER: More of a noise than a shock, sir.
Dickinson Bishop was a 25 year old first class passenger travelling with his wife Helen . Much like Archer,Bishop had not felt any form of impact at 11:40, he had only found out through word of mouth. Dickinson was heavily questioned about why he was allowed in one of the lifeboats as many of the officers had taken a strict women and children only approach.
Senator SMITH: Who told you to get into the lifeboat?
Mr. BISHOP: One of the officers in charge of the lowering; which one, I could not tell. There was some confusion there at the time, and I did not pay much attention. There was an officer stationed at the side of the lifeboat, and as my wife got in I followed immediately, and he helped me into the boat, or rather indicated, and I fell into the boat.
Fredrick Fleet, was serving as one of six lookouts employed on Titanic. Fleet was on duty with Reginald Lee when he spotted the iceberg. Fleet was scrutinized by the inquiry about why he did not spot the iceberg earlier. Fleet reported who had been on the bridge below the crow’s nest at the time on the collision. Archie Jewell and George Symons had told Lee and Fleet to keep a lookout for ice.
Senator SMITH: What, if anything, did Symons and Jewell, or either one, say to you when you relieved them of the watch?
Mr. FLEET: They told us to keep a sharp lookout for small ice.
Senator SMITH:How long before the collision or accident did you report ice ahead?
Mr. FLEET: I have no idea.
Senator SMITH: About how long?
Mr. FLEET:I could not say, at the rate she was going.
Senator SMITH: How fast was she going?
Mr. FLEET: I have no idea.
Managing Director of the White Star Line; Joseph Bruce Ismay recalls the position of the Titanic when he left the ship. Ismay has become a controversial figure since the disaster. He was reported to have been hovering over the shoulder of fifth officer Harold Lowe. But eventually Ismay left on one of Titanic’s collapsible lifeboat C . Ismay since the sinking was heavily criticised at both the American and British Inquiry. Many felt that Ismay had simply abandoned his ship and dubbed him the coward of the Titanic. The British Wreck Commissioner commented on Ismay’s duty to his own ship.
Commissioner’s comment: “As to the attack on Mr. Bruce Ismay, it resolved itself into the suggestion that, occupying the position of Managing Director of the Steamship Company, some moral duty was imposed upon him to wait on board until the vessel foundered. I do not agree. Mr. Ismay, after rendering assistance to many passengers, found "C" collapsible, the last boat on the starboard side, actually being lowered. No other people were there at the time. There was room for him and he jumped in. (Ismay, 18559) Had he not jumped in he would merely have added one more life, namely, his own, to the number of those lost.”
19056. So that I mean, supposing all your boats did leave the "Titanic" fully loaded, there still must have been a considerable number of passengers and crew left on the ship?
Ismay: Yes.
19057. And, indeed, your boat accommodation was not sufficient to take off all the passengers, without the crew, was it?
Ismay: I believe not.
19058. (The Attorney-General.) I do not know whether your Lordship remembers the figures. It is 1,178 they could carry, all told, and in fact, she carried 1,316 passengers and 892 crew. The object of these questions I am putting to you, Mr. Ismay, is to draw your attention to this, that at any rate when the last boat left the "Titanic" you must have known that a number of passengers and crew were still on board the vessel?
Ismay: I did.
One issue that rose out of the Titanic disaster was the matter of loading the lifeboats. A trend emerged that on the port side women, children and men seemed to able to get a seat in a lifeboat. But the starboard side, manned by second officer Charles Lightoller, only seemed to permit women and children. In the testimony Lightoller had stated Captain Smith’s orders had been exclusive to women and children.
Senator SMITH: What were the last orders you heard him give?
Mr. LIGHTOLLER: When I asked him, "Shall I put the women and children in the boats?" he replied, "Yes; and lower away." Those were the last orders he gave.
Senator SMITH: How were these passengers selected in going to the lifeboats?
Mr. LIGHTOLLER: By their sex.
Senator SMITH: Whenever you saw a woman?
Mr. LIGHTOLLER: Precisely.
Lightoller also received a deal criticism for turning seven members of female staff away from the lifeboats.
Senator SMITH: She was invited to go into one of these boats?
Mr. LIGHTOLLER: Excepting the stewardesses. We turned several of those away.
Among serving crew was John Phillips and Harold Bride. The two were responsible for the Marconi Wireless operation system and had suggested using CQD and SOS to signal other ships that the Titanic was sinking. Both men stopped at their posts until 10 minutes before the Titanic sank. Phillips did not survive the disaster but Harold Bride did survive.
Senator SMITH: You spoke the other day of your mate, Phillips, who was the chief operator, I believe Mr. BRIDE : Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH: (continuing) and yourself, putting on life preservers, as I recollect, about 10 minutes before the boat sank?
Mr. BRIDE: Yes; I think it would be somewhere about that time before the boat sank; I could not say for certain.
Senator SMITH: And you did not leave the ship until the captain gave your permission?
Mr. BRIDE: No.
Senator SMITH: Had everyone else gone?
Mr. BRIDE: No, sir; there were several people about.
The last lifeboat left Titanic at approximately 2:10, just twenty minutes before the Titanic foundered. While only a few hundred escaped on the lifeboats. There was an approximate 1,500 people still left on board the doomed liner. First class passenger Edith Haisman Nee Brown recalled the last minutes of the Titanic.
“it was terrible, lots of shouting and people crying as she went down, people were so upset, never heard anything like it. You could hear the screams of all the people that were left on deck, it was really terrible.”
Brown’s testimony is courtesy of City Heritage Oral History.
Eva Heart was only 12 years old, traveling on the Titanic with her mother and father. Heart’s father was lost during the sinking.
“The sounds of people drowning are something that I cannot describe to you, and neither can anyone else. It’s the most dreadful sound and there is a terrible silence that follows it.”
Second officer Charles Lightoller recalls the moment the Titanic disappeared.
“when the boiler’s broke away she was of course plunged into absolute darkness. Slowly she reared up on end until she was absolutely perpendicular. Then quite quietly, but quicker and quicker she seemed just to slide under the surface until she disappeared.” “As she vanished everyone round me on the upturned boat said as if they couldn’t believe it. She’s gone.”
Titanic officially foundered at 2:30 am April 15th 1912, killing 817 passengers plus an extra 696 members of the crew with a total of 1,513 dead. Only 706 people in total survived accounting for both passengers and crew. Among the deceased was Titanic’s designer Thomas Andrews, John Jacob Astor, Captain Edward John Smith, three officers including first officer William Murdoch and hundreds more. Titanic’s youngest victim Eino Panula was only 13 months old and found in the Atlantic waters. Another victim was Emily Isham, who declined a seat in the lifeboat after her dog was deemed ‘too big to fit’. Isham was found with her arms wrapped around her dog. The sinking of the Titanic certainly made its mark in history as one of the most tragic sea disasters of all time.
Down below is linked the full testimonies of everyone who was mentioned above. The Titanic Inquiry Project is a fantastic organization that has every single testimony spoken at both the British and American Inquiry, the Wreck Commissioner’s comments and liabilities of the inquires.
Testimonies of :
Ernest Archer: https://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq07Archer01.php
Dickinson Bishop: https://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq11BishopD01.php
Fredrick Fleet:https://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq04Fleet01.php
Charles Lightoller: https://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq01Lightoller01.php
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