Sinking Of The Titanic And Great Sea Disasters by Logan Marshall (best reads of all time txt) 📕

Living. You Women Owe It To Your Relatives And Friends Not

To Allow This Thing To Wreck Your Reason Or Undermine Your

Health." And They Took Pains To See That All The Women Who

Were On The Life-Boat Had Plenty Of Covering To Keep Them From

The Icy Blasts Of The Night.

Help In Sight

The Survivors Were In The Life-Boats Until About 5.30 A. M.

About 3 A. M. Faint Lights Appeared In The Sky And All Rejoiced

To See What Was Supposed To Be The Coming Dawn,  But After

Watching For Half An Hour And Seeing No Change In The Intensity

Of The Light,  The Disappointed Sufferers Realized It Was The Northern

Lights. Presently Low Down On The Horizon They Saw A

Light Which Slowly Resolved Itself Into A Double Light,  And They

Watched Eagerly To See If The Two Lights Would Separate And

So Prove To Be Only Two Of The Boats,  Or Whether These Lights

Would Remain Together,  In Which Case They Should Expect

Them To Be The Lights Of A Rescuing Steamer.

To The Inexpressible Joy Of All,  They Moved As One! Immediately

The Boats Were Swung Around And Headed For The Lights.

Someone Shouted: "Now,  Boys,  Sing!" And Everyone Not

Too Weak Broke Into Song With "Row For The Shore,  Boys."

Tears Came To The Eyes Of All As They Realized That Safety Was

At Hand. The Song Was Sung,  But It Was A Very Poor Imitation

Of The Real Thing,  For Quavering Voices Make Poor Songs. A

Cheer Was Given Next,  And That Was Better--You Can Keep In

Tune For A Cheer.

The "Lucky Thirteen"

"Our Rescuer Showed Up Rapidly,  And As She Swung Round

We Saw Her Cabins All Alight,  And Knew She Must Be A Large

Steamer. She Was Now Motionless And We Had To Row To Her.

Just Then Day Broke,  A Beautiful Quiet Dawn With Faint Pink

Clouds Just Above The Horizon,  And A New Moon Whose Crescent

Just Touched The Horizon. `Turn Your Money Over,  Boys,'

Said Our Cheery Steersman,  `That Is,  If You Have Any With You,'

He Added.

"We Laughed At Him For His Superstition At Such A Time,  But

He Countered Very Neatly By Adding: `Well,  I Shall Never

Say Again That 13 Is An Unlucky Number; Boat 13 Has Been The

Best Friend We Ever Had.' Certainly The 13 Superstition Is

Killed Forever In The Minds Of Those Who Escaped From The

Titanic In Boat 13.

"As We Neared The Carpathia We Saw In The Dawning Light

What We Thought Was A Full-Rigged Schooner Standing Up Near

Her,  And Presently Behind Her Another,  All Sails Set,  And We

Said: `They Are Fisher Boats From The Newfoundland Bank

And Have Seen The Steamer Lying To And Are Standing By To

Help.' But In Another Five Minutes The Light Shone Pink On

Them And We Saw They Were Icebergs Towering Many Feet In

The Air,  Huge,  Glistening Masses,  Deadly White,  Still,  And Peaked

In A Way That Had Easily Suggested A Schooner. We Glanced

Round The Horizon And There Were Others Wherever The Eye

Could Reach. The Steamer We Had To Reach Was Surrounded

By Them And We Had To Make A Detour To Reach Her,  For Between

Her And Us Lay Another Huge Berg."

A Wonderful Dawn

Speaking Of The Moment When The Carpathia Was Sighted.

Mrs. J. J. Brown,  Who Had Cowed The Driveling Quartermaster,

Said:

"Then,  Knowing That We Were Safe At Last,  I Looked About

Me. The Most Wonderful Dawn I Have Ever Seen Came Upon

Us. I Have Just Returned From Egypt. I Have Been All Over

The World,  But I Have Never Seen Anything Like This. First

The Gray And Then The Flood Of Light. Then The Sun Came Up

In A Ball Of Red Fire. For The First Time We Saw Where We Were.

Near Us Was Open Water,  But On Every Side Was Ice. Ice Ten

Feet High Was Everywhere,  And To The Right And Left And Back

And Front Were Icebergs. Some Of Them Were Mountain High.

This Sea Of Ice Was Forty Miles Wide,  They Told Me. We Did

Not Wait For The Carpathia To Come To Us,  We Rowed To It.

We Were Lifted Up In A Sort Of Nice Little Sling That Was Lowered

To Us. After That It Was All Over. The Passengers Of The

Carpathia Were So Afraid That We Would Not Have Room Enough

That They Gave Us Practically The Whole Ship To Ourselves."

It Had Been Learned That Some Of The Passengers,  In Fact All

Of The Women Passengers Of The Titanic Who Were Rescued,

Refer To "Lady Margaret," As They Called Mrs. Brown As The

Strength Of Them All.

Transferring The Rescued

Officers Of The Carpathia Report That When They Reached

The Scene Of The Titanic's Wreck There Were Fifty Bodies Or

More Floating In The Sea. Only One Mishap Attended The Transfer

Of The Rescued From The Life-Boats. One Large Collapsible

Life-Boat,  In Which Thirteen Persons Were Seated,  Turned Turtle

Just As They Were About To Save It,  And All In It Were Lost.

The Dog Hero

Not The Least Among The Heroes Of The Titanic Disaster Was

Rigel,  A Big Black Newfoundland Dog,  Belonging To The First

Officer,  Who Went Down With The Ship. But For Rigel The Fourth

Boat Picked Up Might Have Been Run Down By The Carpathia.

For Three Hours He Swam In The Icy Water Where The Titanic

Went Down,  Evidently Looking For His Master,  And Was Instrumental

In Guiding The Boatload Of Survivors To The Gangway

Of The Carpathia.

Jonas Briggs,  A Seaman Abroad The Carpathia,  Now Has

Rigel And Told The Story Of The Dog's Heroism. The Carpathia

Was Moving Slowly About,  Looking For Boats,  Rafts Or Anything

Which Might Be Afloat. Exhausted With Their Efforts,  Weak

From Lack Of Food And Exposure To The Cutting Wind And Terror-

Stricken,  The Men And Women In The Fourth Boat Had Drifted

Under The Carpathia's Starboard Bow. They Were Dangerously

Close To The Steamship,  But Too Weak To Shout A Warning Loud

Enough To Reach The Bridge.

The Boat Might Not Have Been Seen Were It Not For The Sharp

Barking Of Rigel,  Who Was Swimming Ahead Of The Craft,  And

Valiantly Announcing His Position. The Barks Attracted The

Attention Of Captain Rostron; And He Went To The Starboard

End Of The Bridge To See Where They Came From And Saw The

Boat. He Immediately Ordered The Engines Stopped,  And The

Boat Came Alongside The Starboard Gangway.

Care Was Taken To Get Rigel Aboard,  But He Appeared Little

Affected By His Long Trip Through The Ice-Cold Water. He

Stood By The Rail And Barked Until Captain Rostron Called

Briggs And Had Him Take The Dog Below.

A Thrilling Account Of Rescue

Mr. Wallace Bradford,  Of San Francisco,  A Passenger

Aboard The Carpathia,  Gave The Following Thrilling Account

Of The Rescue Of The Titanic's Passengers.

"Since Half-Past Four This Morning I Have Experienced One

Of Those Never-To-Be-Forgotten Circumstances That Weighs

Heavy On My Soul And Which Shows Most Awfully What Poor

Things We Mortals Are. Long Before This Reaches You The News

Will Be Flashed That The Titanic Has Gone Down And That Our

Steamer,  The Carpathia,  Caught The Wireless Message When

Seventy-Five Miles Away,  And So Far We Have Picked Up Twenty

Boats Estimated To Contain About 750 People.

"None Of Us Can Tell Just How Many,  As They Have Been

Hustled To Various Staterooms And To The Dining Saloons To Be

Warmed Up. I Was Awakened By Unusual Noises And Imagined

That I Smelled Smoke. I Jumped Up And Looked Out Of My

Port-Hole,  And Saw A Huge Iceberg Looming Up Like A Rock Off

Shore. It Was Not White,  And I Was Positive That It Was A

Rock,  And The Thought Flashed Through My Mind,  How In The

World Can We Be Near A Rock When We Are Four Days Out

From New York In A Southerly Direction And In Mid-Ocean.

"When I Got Out On Deck The First Man I Encountered Told

Me That The Titanic Had Gone Down And We Were Rescuing The

Passengers. The First Two Boats From The Doomed Vessel

Were In Sight Making Toward Us. Neither Of Them Was Crowded.

This Was Accounted For Later By The Fact That It Was Impossible

To Get Many To Leave The Steamer,  As They Would Not Believe

That She Was Going Down. It Was A Glorious,  Clear Morning

And A Quiet Sea. Off To The Starboard Was A White Area Of Ice

Plain,  From Whose Even Surface Rose Mammoth Forts,  Castles

And Pyramids Of Solid Ice Almost As Real As Though They Had

Been Placed There By The Hand Of Man.

"Our Steamer Was Hove To About Two And A Half Miles From

The Edge Of This Huge Iceberg. The Titanic Struck About

11.20 P. M. And Did Not Go Down Until Two O'clock. Many

Of The Passengers Were In Evening Dress When They Came

Aboard Our Ship,  And Most Of These Were In A Most Bedraggled

Condition. Near Me As I Write Is A Girl About Eighteen Years

Old In A Fancy Dress Costume Of Bright Colors,  While In Another

Seat Near By Is A Women In A White Dress Trimmed With Lace

And Covered With Jaunty Blue Flowers.

"As The Boats Came Alongside After The First Two All Of Them

Contained A Very Large Proportion Of Women. In Fact,  One

Of The Boats Had Women At The Oars,  One In Particular Containing,

As Near As I Could Estimate,  About Forty-Five Women And

Only About Six Men. In This Boat Two Women Were Handling

One Of The Oars. All Of The Engineers Went Down With The

Steamer. Four Bodies Have Been Brought Aboard. One

Is That Of A Fireman,  Who Is Said To Have Been Shot By One

Of The Officers Because He Refused To Obey Orders. Soon After