Thomas Cardeza corroborates this ["The New York Sun", 27/4/1912], "When I felt the collision. I awakened my mother and the two servants and we hurried on our clothes and started for the boat deck. We joined the crowd that was pressing about one of the boats forward when I heard the officer in charge of that part of the deck shout: "What is everybody crowding about here for? There is a much better chance at the stern." I started with my mother to walk back toward the stern and there we came across such a crowd there wasn't any chance apparently of getting by (sic) mother near the boat. Then we went back to the forward part of the starboard side and found a boat that was being loaded and they were calling for women to get in."
The Cardezas managed to get in boat 3. The passengers being directed aft can only have added to the growing crowd at the stern (which we will soon discuss), while depleting the people at the bow. And as we shall presently see, the lack of passengers was a hindrance. But how much? Let us pause to try and ascertain the situation in the area of boats 7, 5, 3 and 1.
Helen Bishop was in the first boat to leave (7) and she said at the American inquiry, "Then we went up onto the boat deck on the starboard side. We looked around, and there were so very few people up there that my husband and I went to the port side to see if there was anyone there. There were only two people, a young French bride and groom, on that side of the boat, and they followed us immediately to the starboard side. By that time an old man had come upstairs and found Mr. and Mrs. Harder, of New York. He brought us all together and told us to be sure and stay together; that he would be back in a moment. We never saw him again. About five minutes later the boats were lowered, and we were pushed in."
Lookout Archie Jewell was also in No.7. He was the very first to testify in Britain: "Well, we put all the women in that was there, and children. Up to that time there was not many people; we could not get them up; they were rather afraid to go into the boat; they did not think there was anything wrong."
John Snyder [OBRT] also found a place in that very first boat: "As soon as they were ready, they told the people to get into them. Nearly everybody stepped back from in front of us and as a result we were almost the very first people placed in the lifeboat. Only a very few people were on deck at that time and they thought it much safer to stay on the big boat than to try the lifeboat."
The next boat aft was No.5, and Richard Beckwith gave his observations to the "Hartford Courtant" of 19/4/1912 and they were summarised thus: "When he got to the boat deck, they were ordered to take to the boats. 'At that time there were only about 65 people on the boat deck'. Soon after boat 7 was swuing into position. 'The second boat load emptied the boat deck of all the women who were there and some of the men.'"
Edwin Kimball [OBRT], also in No.5: "When we arrived upon the deck only a few people were there. As it was about seventy-five [sic] feet from the boat deck to the water, the officers were having great difficulty in getting the people to go into the lifeboats, assuring them at the same time that it would not be a long while before they probably would be back on the big boat. The first boat that went was not more than two-thirds full, and the officers said we would have to do something to get the people started."
Quartermaster Alfred Olliver in America said thus; "[the deck was] not so overcrowded... some [firemen and stokers were there], I think."
5th Officer Lowe was attending to the boats in the area; "there were only little knots around the deck, little crowds." When asked why he did not put more people into boats 5 and 3, he replied, "There did not seem to be any people there ... Those that were there did not seem to want to go ... [The top deck did not appear crowded] ... There was a little knot of people on the forepart of the gymnasium door." [footnote].
Anna Warren in No.5 gave a very detailed account to the "Portland Oregonian" of 27/4/1912. The relevant sections are; ""At the time we reached this deck there were very few passengers there, apparently, but it was dark and we could not estimate the number..."
3rd Officer Pitman testified in the US that White Star Chairman Bruce Ismay helped at the boats; "Then this man in the dressing gown said we had better get her loaded with women and children. So I said, "I await the commander's orders," to which he replied, "Very well," or something like that. It then dawned on me that it might be Mr. Ismay, judging by the description I had had given me. So I went along to the bridge and saw Capt. Smith, and I told him that I thought it was Mr. Ismay that wished me to get the boat away, with women and children in it. So he said, "Go ahead; carry on." I came along and brought in my boat. I stood on it and said, "Come along, ladies." There was a big crowd. Mr. Ismay helped to get them along; assisted in every way. We got the boat nearly full, and I shouted out for any more ladies."
The only source of data I have for boat 3 is Henry Harper [OBRT], who says that, after four or five stokers jumped into his boat, "there was no one in sight on the decks." Boat 1 will be dealt with presently. But apart from Lowe and Beckwith, the majority concensus of existing data is that the starboard forward boat deck had very few people and there was difficultly filling the boats.
There is also little to go on for the port side too. We have Constance Willard in boat 8 who told an unidentified paper, "[I] pulled my young friend through the eddies in the crowds." The use of the word "eddies" may imply a dense crowd was present. The comments of Anna Warren (viz. "Continuing up to the boat deck we tried to get out on the port side, but we were unable to open the door. Noticing the starboard door standing open we went out that way.") could imply that the port side of the ship was so overcrowded that the crew felt it necessary to lock the door. If this is the case, the port side must have been filled very rapidly. Helen Bishop had been on that side of the ship and saw only two passengers. She says that some five minutes later, after crossing over to the other side of the ship, the boats started to be lowered, beginning with No.7. Warren got into boat 5, launched just a few minutes later. And Lowe said he saw a lot of people on deck a little while before he got to boat 5. Of course, "five minutes" may be wrong. Estimates of timing seems to have been very fluid that night. [Footnote.] [Footnote.]
The comparison between the starboard and port sides could not be more stark, if Washington Dodge [OBRT] is correct: "At no time were there many people on the starboard side that night. Why was that? The most reasonable explanation that I can give is that the captain was in charge of the launching of the boats on port side. Now, in times of danger the captain always draws a crowd. The more notable men on board, who were known by sight to the other passengers, knew Captain Smith personally and remained near him. These men attracted others. In this way the crowd grew on the port side, while at no time was there anything like a crowd on the starboard side. Again, the orders for women and children to go to the port side greatly increased the number there." Dodge also gives another reason for the large ensemble to port: "I learned afterwards that the order was given by the officers, for the women and children to go to the port side of the vessel", although it must be said that the order was all but ignored, as husbands accompanied their wives and children regardless of the side of the ship.
There was now one boat left under davits on the forward starboard boat deck; No.1. Laura Francatelli, one of the 12 lucky enough to find room
in a boat for 40, wrote, "After all the lifeboats had gone, everybody seemed to rush to the other side of the boat, & leave ours vacant, but we still stood there, as Sir Cosmo said, we must wait for orders, presently an officer started to swing off a little boat called the 'Emergency' boat, quite an ordinary little rowing boat & started to man it, he saw us & ordered us in, they were then firing the rockets beside us, we had to be nearly thrown up into this boat."
Confirming what Francatelli said, AB George Symons recalled, "Mr. Murdoch then looked around for more, and there was nobody in sight, only just the remaining members of the crew."
5th Officer Lowe seemed to confirm this. He said he took everybody that was there and cleared the deck. [footnote]
Why did people leave the area? A possible reason is that boat 1 was not plainly visible; it was hidden behind a bulwark. Unless you specifically looked for it, it would be possible to miss it in the near darkness of the deck ( although we admittedly have no data to quantify the illumination out on deck, this webpage demonstrates that the Olympic class vessels were quite dark by today's standards.). To those in the area, the only boat left was "C", left lying on the deck and hence (temporarily) unusable.
Shortly after 1.00am, we now have the situation whereby all the boats under davits on the starboard side have gone, but only two on the port side. Evidently, those waiting for boat 4 stayed put, but everyone else was ordered aft - where there was already a crowd forming. Indeed, steward Alfred Crawford testified hearing while he was on the water in No.8, "The Chief Officer told them to go along to No. 10 boat and get in there."[Footnote] [Footnote]
Aft port boat deck
The melee on the aft portside is so well documented that there seems little point in describing it; the erroneous order for men to head from starboard to port (as we will presently see from Beesley's account) no doubt exacerbated the situation. It should be noted that Assistant Steward Andrews, who left in boat 16, testified in the US that "everything was quiet" and there was no confusion or panic in loading the boat. Seaman Ernest Archer, also in the boat says he never saw any effort to crowd into the boat, that there was no confusion, no one repelled from getting in, and that everything was quiet and steady. While this may be the literal truth for No.16, it certainly wasn't true for other boats that were only a few feet away. There are many instances of people being less than candid and not volunteering information in the inquiry testimonies...[Footnote]
Unlike the situation to port, which was gradually accreting more and more people, the situation to starboard is more complex.
The best witness to what was going on on the aft starboard boat deck was 2nd class passenger Lawrence Beesley. The section from his book is worth quoting:
"Reaching the top deck, we found many people assembled there, - some fully dressed, with coats and wraps, well-prepared for anything that might happen; others who had thrown wraps hastily round them when they were called or heard the summons to equip themselves with lifebelts - not in much condition to face the cold of that night ... We stood there quietly looking on at the work of the crew as they manned the lifeboats, and no one ventured to interfere with them or offered to help them. It was plain we should be of no use; and the crowd of men and women stood quietly on the deck or paced slowly up and down waiting for orders from the officers ... All this time people were pouring up from the stairs and adding to the crowd ... I was now on the starboard side of the top boat deck; the time about 12.20. We watched the crew at work on the lifeboats, numbers 9, 11, 13, 15, some inside arranging the oars, some coiling ropes on the deck, - the ropes which ran through the pulleys to lower to the sea, - others with cranks fitted to the rocking arms of the davits. As we watched, the cranks were turned, the davits swung outwards until the boats hung clear of the edge of the deck. Just then an officer came along from the first-class deck and shouted above the noise of escaping steam, "All women and children get down to deck below and all men stand back from the boats." He had apparently been off duty when the ship struck, and was lightly dressed, with a white muffler twisted hastily round his neck. The men fell back and the women retired below to get into the boats from the next deck. Two women refused at first to leave their husbands, but partly by persuasion and partly by force they were separated from them and sent down to the next deck ... But if there were any one who had not by now realized that the ship was in danger, all doubt on this point was to be set at rest in a dramatic manner. Suddenly a rush of light from the forward deck, a hissing roar that made us all turn from watching the boats, and a rocket leapt upwards to where the stars blinked and twinkled above us. Up it went, higher and higher, with a sea of faces upturned to watch it, and then an explosion that seemed to split the silent night in two, and a shower of stars sank slowly down and went out one by one. And with a gasping sigh one word escaped the lips of the crowd: "Rockets!" ... The crew were now in the boats, the sailors standing by the pulley ropes let them slip through the cleats in jerks, and down the boats went till level with B deck [sic]; women and children climbed over the rail into the boats and filled them; when full, they were lowered one by one, beginning with number 9, the first on the second-class deck, and working backwards towards 15. All this we could see by peering over the edge of the boat-deck ... About this time, while walking the deck, I saw two ladies come over from the port side and walk towards the rail separating the second-class from the first-class deck. There stood an officer barring the way. "May we pass to the boats?" they said. "No, madam," he replied politely, "your boats are down on your own deck," pointing to where they swung below. The ladies turned and went towards the stairway ... Almost immediately after this incident, a report went round among men on the top deck - the starboard side - that men were to be taken off on the port side; how it originated, I am quite unable to say, but can only suppose that as the port boats, numbers 10 to 16, were not lowered from the top deck quite so soon as the starboard boats (they could still be seen on deck), it might be assumed that women were being taken off on one side and men on the other; but in whatever way the report started, it was acted on at once by almost all the men, who crowded across to the port side and watched the preparation for lowering the boats, leaving the starboard side almost deserted. Two or three men remained, however ... "
A fascinating discourse. Because of a quirk of the Titanic's geography, there was no easy way for the 2nd class to enter the boats on "A" deck. By retracing their steps down the 2nd class staircase, they would find themselves on "B" deck - and the only way to get to the boats was via a circuitous route going through 1st class territory or by ascending crew's ladders (which is exactly what did happen). Whoever the "officer" was [a member of the pursers office, or an actual bridge "officer"?] he certainly was not familiar that "A" deck was completely 1st class territory.
I have been unable to find out if there were any guards at the similar gate on the port side [Footnote]. There would seem to be no guards fairly early on; Berk Pickard was fast in getting access to the top deck and testified having no trouble in accessing first class territory.
Returning to the discussion about the dichotomy between the assemblage of people on the aft portion of the ship, Steerage passenger Charles Dahl [OBRT]'s recollection was as follows: "When I got [up] I saw them getting ready to put out the lifeboats. I went to the port side and waited for half an hour or more, but no one was allowed into the boats. Some of the passengers came from the starboard side and said that all the lifeboats had left that side. There were hundreds of people waiting on the port side, and when I saw that, I thought there was no chance of being saved on that side of the boat. I ran over to the starboard side and to my surprise saw a boat half lowered nearly full of people."[Footnote].
The subject of how the passengers sent below managed to get to boats 11, 13 and 15 is discussed here. The circumstances surrounded the actual loading of these three craft is to be discussed in another essay, currently in preparation.
Phillip Mock (in an undated edition of "The Evening Sentinel") and his sister Emma Schabert had an interesting experience. By that time [that the forward starboard boats had gone] the number of people on the deck where he was had pretty well thinned out. There were very few around. He was told to go aft where a boat was about be lowered. He and his sister went to that boat (No.9) but it was soon filled, although only six or seven men and women were around when he first reach it, yet they appeared from all directions and soon it was full...When the boat aft was lowered, he and his sister started forward again but they were stopped and sent to the deck below, where they got into boat 11.
This is an excellent summary of boat 9. The people appearing from all directions conforms nicely with passenger Roberta Watt [OBRT]: "The port side of the ship was very crowded, so we went around to the starboard side, and there we heard a call, 'All women and children this way.' We went and got into boat No. 9..." Boatswain's Mate Albert Haines said, "We had the boat crew there, and Mr. Murdoch came along with a crowd of passengers, and we filled the boat with ladies..." So, there does seem to have been an effort to find ladies to port and coerce them in. Steward Joseph Wheat concurred; "When I arrived at No. 9 boat Mr. Murdoch was there with quite a number of our men passing women and children over from the port side into No. 9 boat." [Footnote] [Footnote]
What was the situation like after boat 9 had gone? Steward Walter Nichols was present [OBRT]: "My place was with lifeboat No. 15. So I went up on deck A [sic], where the lifeboats are. On my way up I noticed some of the passengers about, but no one seemed to be worried or excited. I passed by the gymnasium on my way. Inside were a number of passengers amusing themselves. One man was riding the bicycle, one of those exercise machines, and another was punching the bag. No. 15, my boat, was the after boat on the starboard side ... Up on deck A, which is the boat deck [sic], there were only the boat crews. At least that is all I could see. I saw them working away at Boat No. 11 and Boat No. 13. When I looked down I saw that several of the boats were already in the water ... We stood in line waiting for orders while boats 11 and 13 were swung out on the davits and lowered. The crews would make them ready and get into them. Then they would lower them to deck B [sic], where the passengers were."[Footnote] His story is confirmed by Trimmer George Cavell, who had also made his way to the boat deck and headed aft, where boat 13 was being lowered and 15 was still on deck. He says that the only men left on deck were the ones lowering the boats. Bathroom Steward James Widgery had said, that when boat 9 left there were quite a lot of men left behind on the boat deck; obviously they had dispersed in the next few minutes.]
Nichols and Cavell's recollections of a virtually deserted aft deck is to be expected; we know that passengers had departed the starboard boat deck and that there were only crew working to hook up "C" to the vacated falls all the way forward. Presumably if there were any large groups of passengers as he headed aft, Nichols would have noticed but one wonders where the passengers left behind at boat 9 had gone, or why people weren't heading over from the crush on the port side? Maybe they had looked and saw only empty chocks and assumed all the boats had gone not knowing they were on the next deck down? They may have felt more secure staying close to a boat that was in sight - namely, No.10? We simply do not know. [Footnote]
Steward Fred Ray noted, "Steward Wilson [Wheat?] and myself were ordered by Mr. Murdoch to collect all the women we could and take to that A deck, which we did." 40 women were collected from all around the boat deck and shepherded down the nearby crew stairs to "A" deck, where boats 11, 13 and 15 were waiting.
 |
These "middle stairs" were used by the crew to easily move between decks, without passing into passenger areas. They went from E deck (where the steward's quarters were mainly located) and went all the way to the boat deck. On the night of the disaster, passengers were passed down these stairs to allow easy access to "A" deck, where boats 11, 13 and 15 had been placed. |
Forward port boat deck
Resuming their work at the forward end of the superstructure, Lightoller seems to have been seconded to boat 4, which could now be filled as the promenade windows on A deck had been lowered; Wilde took over for emergency boat No.2.
Boat 2 had some interlopers aboard already; a section of Mahala Douglas's affidavit to the US Senate Inquiry is as follows: "Just before we got into the boat the captain called, 'How many of the crew are in that boat? Get out of there, every man of you'; and I can see a solid row of men, from bow to stern, crawl over on to the deck. We women then got in...There were many people about."
Who were these crew who secreted themselves aboard the boat? Gracie's book has the following from Elisabeth Allen: "As we stood there we saw a line of men file by and get into the boat - some sixteen or eighteen stokers. An officer came along and shouted to them: 'Get out, you damned cowards; I'd like to see everyone of you overboard.' They all got out and the officer said: 'Women and children into this boat.' and we got in and were lowered." [Footnote]
Some of these "stokers" were probably amongst the many who piled on to the forward boat deck as preparatory work for the launching started. [Footnote] [Footnote]
Aside from this, there is another incident, germane to our discussion of personnel movement on the decks.
Saloon Steward James Johnstone was waiting at boat 2 saw "30 or 40" ladies going down to "A" deck, evidently to be put into boat 4, and had also seen four or five women nearby. He testified at the British Inquiry thus, "Mr. Ismay tried to walk round and get a lot of women (who were walking up and down) to come to our boat. He took them across to the starboard side then - our boat was standing - I stood by my boat a good ten minutes or a quarter of an hour...He took them across ... he took them round there to the other side abaft the second funnel, I think." The women, for some reason, would not come into Johnstone's boat [Footnote]; certainly he did not notice one woman on deck when it descended. Ismay's actions in escorting the females away may explain why there were a lot of ladies at "C". Elisabeth Walton Allen recounted ("St Louis Globe-Democrat", 24/4/12) that, "there seemed to be few women in the vicinity."
Boxhall's attempts to summon the Californian by Morse lamp and socket signals having failed, he was now ordered to take charge of boat 2. He said in the US that there weren't many people on the boat deck when he got in, but there were some by the "other" boat (presumably boat 4 which left a few minutes after No.2 and which his boat passed on the way down to the water). He did not see any women on the boat deck.
(As a brief diversion, this author notes W.H.Dobbyn was told by his late employer's widow, Madeleine Astor, that "She got in the boat [4], thinking he would follow for there were a number of vacant spaces, and the deck about them deserted.")
On the face of it, there seems little untoward happening at this boat and one must recall the words of Elizabeth Allen: "With the exception of two very harrowing leave-takings, we saw nothing but perfect order and quiet on board the Titanic." The harrowing events must surely be the incident with the stokers in the boat, and the mention of her aunt finding that her stateroom was flooded.
What Allen could not have seen is what was happening further aft on deck. Thanks to the generosity of Titanic researcher Günter Bäbler, relevant portions of steerage passengers Anton Kink's account were made available to me. Kink escaped in boat 2, and this what he said: "When we arrived at the top deck, we were at the front of the pushing crowd that was being held back by several seamen. One seaman took my child into his arms and went 15 – 20 meters to the front where the last two boats stood ... This was the second to the last boat; it was on the left side where the ship was steadily sinking." Kink was restrained but sneaked through the cordon and got into the boat as it was being lowered.
After boat 4 had gone, Storekeeper Frank Prentice returned to the boat deck; he said in a radio interview in 1966 that the deck was packed with people milling around. He confirmed this in an interview with author Walter Lord, stating that "the boat deck was alive." Perhaps the passengers congregating on the aft boat deck, now realising that their hope of rescue was nil, decided to head forward in the search for more boats. If so, it was a forlorn hope. Only 5 boats remained, two of which would float off the ship.
As for what was happening at the stern end of the port boat deck, greaser Frederick Scott told the inquiry that "some" people were stood on the port side then, and that "There were a lot of firemen there, but they did not think about getting up on the davits to get out on to the falls." He could not say if there were any passengers on deck. Scott clambered down the falls and was picked up by boat 4, along with another crewman Thomas Ranger. Ranger found his way initially to the starboard second class deck on B deck, where he saw 20 men, mostly firemen, but no women or children [Footnote]. Soon after, he went up to the boat deck; the deckhands remained below [Footnote]
The final boat to be launched under davits on the port side was collapsible "D". This could only be affixed to the falls when boat 2 had gone. Gracie claimed to have helped push and then hoist this boat over the bulwark. Then, as he writes, "We had now loaded all the women who were in sight at that quarter of the ship, and I ran along the deck with Clinch Smith on the port side some distance aft shouting, 'Are there any more women?' " Evidently, with no response to this plea, the two men returned to the area of boat "D" where they heard the command for everyone to move to the starboard side, (discussed elsewhere in this essay). Gracie, Clinch and other men dutifully obeyed, and this is where Gracie met Mrs Brown and Miss Evans, two forgotten waifs of the 1st class.
Gracie again: "Meantime, I will describe what was going on at the quarter where I left Lightoller loading the last boat on the port side. The information was obtained personally from him, in answer to my careful questioning during the next few days on board the Carpathia, when I made notes thereof, which were confirmed again the next week in Washington, where we were both summoned before the Senate Investigating Committee. 'Men from the steerage,' he said, 'rushed the boat.' "Rush" is the word he used, meaning they got in without his permission. He drew his pistol and ordered them out, threatening to shoot if they attempted to enter the boat again." Gracie was more explicit in his comments to the US investigators, for he said that Lightoller actually fired his weapon.
This was never mentioned by Lightoller in either of his sets of testimonies.[Footnote]
Hearing that there was space in the boat for more women, Gracie marched Evans and Brown back to the other side of the ship; "...I did not get but half way - that is, directly at the bow - when the crew made what you might call a dead line, and said, "No men are allowed beyond this line." So I let the ladies go beyond, and then about six ladies followed after the two that I had particular charge of."
What actually was happening at the boat?
Anton Kink had described sailors holding back the crowd; this line seems to have vanished temporarily but had reformed soon before Gracie had found Evans and Brown.
Able Seaman William Lucas claimed that there were eight sailors [Footnote] besides himself present at the location [Footnote]. As the boat started its descent, Lucas saw two young girls left behind and he told them "Wait a minute, there's another boat going to be put down from the funnel for you." Evidently the firemen who had tried to overrun boat "2" were still in the area; Lucas says that there were about forty of them there.
Chief Second Class Steward John Hardy was also present, and he makes some illuminating comments about the actual descent of the boat. This is what he had to say:
Senator FLETCHER.
Were there passengers on board the ship standing there trying to get on board the lifeboat?
Mr. HARDY.
There was nobody on board, because we could not get our collapsible boat lowered from one end of it. The forward part of the collapsible boat was lowered, but there was nobody there to lower the afterend, which you will find in Mr. Bright's evidence. Mr. Lightoller stepped from the collapsible boat aboard the ship again and did it himself.
Senator FLETCHER.
There were no women and children there?
Mr. HARDY.
No, sir; not in sight at all. There was nobody to lower the boat.
Senator FLETCHER.
There were no men passengers there on the deck?
Mr. HARDY.
No, sir; not when we were ready to lower the boat.
Senator FLETCHER.
When you were ready to lower that boat every passenger in your vicinity had gone?
Mr. HARDY.
Yes, sir; they had gone.
Hardy had also said that, "We launched this [boat] filled with passengers. We launched the boat parallel with the ship's side, and Mr. Lightoller and myself, two sailors, and two firemen - the two sailors were rigging the poles [sic- davits] and getting them in working order and Mr. Lightoller and myself loaded the boat. When the boat was full, Mr. Lightoller was in the boat with me; and the chief officer came along and asked if the boat was full, and he said yes. He said he would step out himself and make room for somebody else, and he stepped back on board the ship and asked if I could row. I told him I could, and I went away in that boat."
Lightoller himself said that there were no ladies left on deck when "D" began its descent.
13996. Was she ["D"] filled? What happened?
We had very great difficulty in filling her with women. As far as I remember she was eventually filled, but we experienced considerable difficulty. Two or three times we had to wait, and call out for women - in fact, I think on one - perhaps two - occasions, someone standing close to the boat said, "Oh, there are no more women," and with that several men commenced to climb in. Just then, or a moment afterwards, whilst they were still climbing in, someone sang out on the deck, "Here are a couple more." Naturally, I judged they were women.
13997. That meant a couple more women?
Yes, and the men got out of the boat again and put the women in. If I am quite right, I think this happened on two occasions?
13998. You say the men got out of the boat. Do you mean men passengers?
I really could not say.
13999. They gave up their places?
Yes.
14005. Were there men passengers about?
There were plenty of people about, no doubt men passengers.
14006. Was good order being maintained then?
Splendid.
QM Bright was in charge of the boat:
Mr. BRIGHT.
...when the boat was lowered the foremost fall was lowered down and the other one seemed to hang and I called out to hang on to the foremost fall and to see what was the matter and let go the after one.
Senator FLETCHER.
Were there any women and children on deck when you left?
Mr. BRIGHT.
There must have been crowds aboard.
Senator FLETCHER.
Where you were?
Mr. BRIGHT.
No, sir.
Senator FLETCHER.
None in hearing distance of you?
Mr. BRIGHT.
I did not see them.
Senator FLETCHER.
Wanting to get on the boat?
Mr. BRIGHT.
I could not say as to that. There were lots that were asked to get into the boat and they said they would rather stay on board the ship; lots of women said that.
Senator SMITH.
Did they say that to you?
Mr. BRIGHT.
Not to me; but I was assisting in getting the boats ready.
Senator FLETCHER.
But did any ladies refuse to get in that boat - that last boat - any who were asked to get in?
Mr. BRIGHT.
Not to my knowledge.
Senator FLETCHER.
Were there some there?
Mr. BRIGHT.
I did not see any when that boat went out.
One regrets that Bright wasn't asked if there were passengers or crew nearby rather than being interrogated about women and children. If he had, we would have known something about the movement of people at the time. But nonetheless, something is truly amiss with the evidence, with Lucas's standing out as the most troublesome, and the most contradictory. He is the only one who mentions ladies who were left behind [Footnote].
So much for the crew. What did the passengers say? May Futrelle gleaned some valuable information from Irene Harris [OBRT]: "She, like Mrs. Hoyt, clung to her husband until they forced her into the last regular boat. By that time the steerage passengers had been driven to the boat deck. There were hardly any women among them. I think that there had been a mistake or confusion of orders below that someone had failed to send up the women. At any rate, after all the women were aboard there still remained a few places in the boat. Mrs. Harris pleaded with the officer, saying: "See, I have been injured. I need my husband to take care of me." Mr. Harris made no move forward, but the steerage passengers, when they saw that there was a chance for a man to go with the boat, began crowding and shoving. The officer saw the situation - there was danger of a panic. He pointed his revolver toward them, fired twice in the air, and ordered the seamen to lower away. Something - perhaps it was one of the explosions - caused the sailors to stop lowering and abandon the davits when the boat was half-way down to the water. She dangled there, in danger of going down with the Titanic. They sat there calling, but no one responded at first; then, suddenly, the lowering was resumed."
Jane Hoyt was another occupant of "D" and her account appeared in the "Amsterdam Evening Recorder and Daily Democrat" (23/4/12)]: "Mr Hoyt and myself got in the last life boat which was only partially filled but there was a sudden rush of steerage passengers for the same and it looked as if it might be upset. My husband got out of the boat when it began to fill and I followed him. Chief Officer Wiley [sic], also drowned, pulled his gun and ordered every man in the boat to get out. There was nothing left then but the collapsible boats, two of which I saw ... the last collapsible life boat was getting in readiness to be lowered by the davits when Mr.Hoyt told me I would have to get in. I did so only after much persuasion ... Seaman started to lower us but the boat suddenly gave a heavy list and the men left us hanging suspended in the air and ran to the upper side so as to save themselves. Finally one or two men came back and completed the task of lowering us to the water."
There is reasonable agreement between Futrelle's/Harris's and Hoyt's comments. It is clear the rush of steerage passengers comes from a boat other than the two collapsibles as she differentiates between them and the boat that she and her husband got into [Footnote]. This situation sounds like the events at boat 2, except that the miscreants have been identified elsewhere as firemen. One small point is that it was Lightoller who manned the davit to resume lowering. The sailors leaving to "save themselves" is an unfortunate slur; an alternative explanation is that they could have been ordered to help get boat "A" down from the roof.[Footnote]
Mr Hoyt himself was interviewed by the press: a quoted example is to be found in "The Springfield Union" of 20/4/1912, "There was no panic at the time...All this talk about shooting on the decks of the Titanic is bosh..." [Footnote] [Footnote]
If one were to listen to the officers and crew of the Titanic, one would be forgiven for thinking that absolutely nothing untoward happened on the forward port side, which is very far from the truth [Footnote]
The forward starboard side
The people surrounding boat C had undoubtedly swelled because of Ismay fetching women from near boat 2.[Footnote] And a recently discovered account by Mauritz Håkan Björnström-Steffansson describes the situation in the vicinity; the crowd was growing thicker when this boat was being loaded, and the rails were so crowded that Steffanson and his friend went down below, to A deck. That there was some kind of scuffle at boat C is undeniable. At the US Inquiry and in a private letter [OBRMST],Hugh Woolner talked of how he and his companion Mauritz Håkan Björnström-Steffansson even helped to eject some of men who were fighting to gain admittance to the boat, and which forced 1st Officer Murdoch to fire his gun into the air to try and restore order. The scrum was even obvious to John B Thayer junior, who wrote, "...we went to the starboard side of the boat deck. There was an awful crowd around the last boat of the forward part of the starboard side, pushing and shoving wildly....we thought it would never reach the water right side up, but it did." Gracie notes that, "There was somewhat of a crowd congregated along the rail." But what does Gracie say about this after his return from escorting Mrs Brown and Miss Evans to the sailors barring access to boat D? If there was a crowd, he does not mention it. He only says that his time spent away from the starboard side was only "a short absence." The only people he explicitly mentions are; quite a number of seamen (some of whom left); two crewmen dressed in white who looked at the rest of the crew as they toiled at the davits; some "other passengers" and Clinch Smith. It does not seem as if there were many people in the vicinity at all. Where did the big crowd at boat "C" go? Perhaps, having seen boat "C" depart, one possibility is that the crowd had migrated to port to see if there was any possibility of salvation there? George Behe suggests that Murdoch's gunfire might have intimidated those nearby - it would have been abundantly clear that they would not be permitted to enter "C".
Gracie's story indicates that very few people were at the area of boat "A". What do others say on this matter?
Steward Edward Brown testified at the British Inquiry that "There were four or five women that [he] could see there waiting to get into this boat if we got it under the davits." These women had come along after boat "C" had gone. Brown also said that it had taken 10 or 12 minutes to get "A" down and while he could not be certain, he estimated that, "there were seven or eight on the top deck and two or three down below receiving [the boat]." Eugene Daly ("The Daily Sketch", 4/5/1912) said that he and six or seven men tried to extricate boat "A" from a rope but they could not. Richard Williams' memoirs says he made his way to the bridge before the end, and apart from himself and his father, only Captain Smith and someone else (who he thought was a quartermaster) were there. [Footnote]
This is hardly anything upon which to base firm conclusions. It would seem to indicate that the crowds at boat "C" had drifted away and that very few were left behind. It is also worth pointing out that Gracie did not mention noticing the women that Brown saw nearby, a peculiar lapse.
We return to Gracie:
"It was about this time, fifteen minutes after the launching of the last lifeboat on the port side, that I heard a noise that spread consternation among us all. This was no less than the water striking the bridge and gurgling up the hatchway forward. It seemed momentarily as if it would reach the Boat Deck. It appeared as if it would take the crew a long time to turn the Engelhardt boat right side up [sic] and lift it over the rail, and there were so many ready to board her that she would have been swamped. Probably taking these points into consideration. Clinch Smith made the proposition that we should leave and go toward the stern, still on the starboard side, so he started and I followed immediately after him. We had taken but a few steps in the direction indicated when there arose before us from the decks below, a mass of humanity several lines deep, covering the Boat Deck, facing us, and completely blocking our passage toward the stern. There were women in the crowd, as well as men, and they seemed to be steerage passengers who had just come up from the decks below. Instantly, when they saw us and the water on the deck chasing us from behind, they turned in the opposite direction towards the stern. This brought them at that point plumb against the iron fence and railing which divide the first and second cabin passengers." [Footnote]
Unquestioningly accepted by Titanic historians for over a century, this passage deserves critical analysis. To some, it proves that steerage were kept below decks and only managed to find their way topside at the very last minute. Is this correct though?
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Gracie said later that, "I was interested in observing that this "expansion joint" was less than twelve feet forward from that point on the Boat Deck whence I jumped." I have marked this location in blue, even though it is clear that he was even closer to the joint; for the sake of discussion, I have taken his "12 feet" value. The other thing to notice are the location of the windows on the Grand Staircase foyer, marked with a red "W". It would be very difficult for Gracie to see anyone coming up from below especially if the lighting was very dim in those final moments (a "devilish red" is how Hugh Woolner talked of them). It is also debateable as to how many people he could see spilling out onto the deck. The double doors of the entrance vestibule (and its small size) would inhibit a large crowd from emerging all at once. |
