the ship to remain afloat nearly an hour longer, and thus saved hundreds of lives.”
In the list of heroes who went down on the Titanic the names of her engineers will have a high place, for not a single engineer was saved. Many of them, no doubt, could not get to the deck, but they had equally as good a chance as the firemen, sixty-nine of whom were saved.
The supposition of those who manned the Titanic was that the engineers, working below, were the first to know the desperate character of the Titanic’s injury. The watch called the others, and from that time until the vessel was ready for her last plunge they were too hard at work to note more than that there was a constant rise of water in the hull, and that the pumps were useless.
It was engineers who kept the lights going, saw to the proper closing of bulkhead doors and kept the stoke hole at work until the uselessness of the task was apparent. Most of them probably died at their post of duty.
The Titanic carried a force of about sixty engineers, and in addition she had at least twenty-five “guarantee” engineers, representatives of Harland and Wolff, the builders, and those who had the contract for the engineering work. This supplementary force was under Archie Frost, the builders’ chief engineer, and the regular force was under Chief Engineer William Bell, of the White Star Line.
On the line’s ships there is the chief engineer, senior and junior second, senior and junior third, and senior and junior fourth engineers. The men are assigned each to his own task. There are hydraulic, electric, pump and steam packing men, and the “guarantee” engineers, representing the builders and the contractors.
The duty of the “guarantee” engineers is to watch the working of the great engines, and to see that they are tuned up and in working order. They also watch the working of each part of the machinery which had nothing to do with the actual speed of the ship, principally the electric light dynamos and the refrigerating plant.
NOBLE-HEARTED BAND
“But what of the bandsmen? Who were they?”
This question was asked again and again by all who read the story of the Titanic’s sinking and of how the brave musicians played to the last, keeping up the courage of those who were obliged to go down with the ship.
Many efforts were made to find out who the men were, but little was made public until the members of the orchestra of the steamship Celtic reached shore for the first time after the disaster. One of their first queries was about the musicians of the Titanic. Their anxiety was greater than that of any New Yorker, for the members of the band of the Celtic knew intimately the musicians of the ill-fated liner.
“Not one of them saved!” cried John S. Carr, ‘cellist on the Celtic. “It doesn’t seem possible they have all gone.
“We knew most of them well. They were Englishmen, you know–every one of them, I think. Nearly all the steamship companies hire their musicians abroad, and the men interchange between the ships frequently, so we get a chance to know one another pretty well. The musicians for the Titanic were levied from a number of other White Star ships, but most of the men who went down with the Titanic had bunked with us at some time.”
“The thing I can’t realize is that happy `Jock’ Hume is dead,” exclaimed Louis Cross, a player of the bass viol. “He was the merriest, happiest young Scotchman you ever saw. His family have been making musical instruments in Scotland for generations. I heard him say once that they were minstrels in the old days. It is certainly hard to believe that he is not alive and having his fun somewhere in the world.”
At least he helped to make the deaths of many less cruel.
CHAPTER XXI
SEARCHING FOR THE DEAD
SENDING OUT THE MACKAY-BENNETT AND MINIA–BREMEN PASSENGERS SEE BODIES–IDENTIFYING BODIES–CONFUSION IN NAMES–RECOVERIES
A FEW days after the disaster the cable steamer Mackay- Bennett was sent out by the White Star Line to cruise in the vicinity of the disaster and search for missing bodies.
Two wireless messages addressed to J. Bruce Ismay, president of the International Mercantile Marine Company, were received on April 21st at the offices of the White Star Line from the cable ship Mackay-Bennett, via Cape Race, one of which reported that the steamship Rhein had sighted bodies near the scene of the Titanic wreck. The first message, which was dated April 20th, read:
“Steamer Rhein reports passing wreckage and bodies 42.1 north, 49.13 west, eight miles west of three big icebergs. Now making for that position. Expect to arrive 8 o’clock to-night. (Signed) “MACKAY-BENNETT.”
The second message read:
“Received further information from Bremen (presumably steamship Bremen) and arrived on ground at 8 o’clock P. M. Start on operation to-morrow. Have been considerably delayed on passage by dense fog.
(Signed) “MACKAY-BENNETT.”
After receiving these messages Mr. Ismay issued the following statement:
“The cable ship Mackay-Bennett has been chartered by the White Star Line and ordered to proceed to the scene of the disaster and do all she could to recover the bodies and glean all information possible.
“Every effort will be made to identify bodies recovered, and any news will be sent through immediately by wireless. In addition to any such message as these, the Mackay-Bennett will make a report of its activities each morning by wireless, and such reports will be made public at the offices of the White Star Line.
“The cable ship has orders to remain on the scene of the wreck for at least a week, but should a large number of bodies be recovered before that time she will return to Halifax with them. The search for bodies will not be abandoned until not a vestige of hope remains for any more recoveries.
“The Mackay-Bennett will not make any soundings, as they would not serve any useful purpose, because the depth where the Titanic sank is more than 2000 fathoms.”
On April 22d the first list of twenty-seven names of bodies recovered was made public. It contained that of Frederick Sutton, a well-known member of the Union League of Philadelphia. It did not contain the name of any other prominent man who perished, although it was thought that the name “George W. Widen” might refer to George D. Widener, son of P. A. B. Widener, of Philadelphia. The original passenger lists of the Titanic did not mention “Widen,” which apparently established the identity of the body as that of Mr. Widener, who, together with his son, Harry, was lost.
The wireless message, after listing the names, concluded, “All preserved,” presumably referring to the condition of the bodies.
A number of the names in the list did not check up with the Titanic’s passenger list, which led to the belief that a number of the bodies recovered were members of the Titanic’s crew.
MINIA SENT TO ASSIST
At noon, April 23d, there was posted on the bulletin in the White Star office this message from the Mackay-Bennett dated Sunday, April 21st:
“Latitude, 41.58; longitude, 49.21. Heavy southwest swell has interfered with operations. Seventy-seven bodies recovered. All not embalmed will be buried at sea at 8 o’clock to-night with divine service. Can bring only embalmed bodies to port.”
To Captain Lardner, master of the Mackay-Bennett, P. A. S. Franklin, vice-president of the White Star Line, sent an urgent message asking that the company be advised at once of all particulars concerning the bodies identified, and also given any information that might lead to the identification of others. He said it was very important that every effort be made to bring all of the bodies possible to port.
Mr. Franklin then directed A. G. Jones, the Halifax agent of the White Star Line, to charter the Minia and send her to the assistance of the Mackay-Bennett. Mr. Jones answered this telegram, and said that the Minia was ready to proceed to sea, but that a southeast gale, which generally brings fog, might delay her departure. She left for Halifax.
NAMES BADLY GARBLED
On April 24th no wireless message was received from the Mackay-Bennett, but the White Star Line officials and telegraphers familiar with the wireless alphabet were busy trying to reconcile some of the names received with those of persons who went down on the Titanic. That the body of William T. Stead, the English journalist and author, had been recovered by the Mackay-Bennett, but through a freakish error in wireless transmission the name of another was reported instead, was one of the theories advanced by persons familiar with the Morse code.
BREMEN SIGHTED MORE THAN A HUNDRED BODIES
When the German liner Bremen reached New York the account of its having sighted bodies of the Titanic victims was obtained.
From the bridge, officers of the ship saw more than a hun- dred bodies floating on the sea, a boat upside down, together with a number of small pieces of wood, steamer chairs and other wreckage. As the cable ship Mackay-Bennett was in sight, and having word that her mission was to look for bodies, no attempt was made by the Bremen’s crew to pick up the corpses.
In the vicinity was seen an iceberg which answered the description of the one the Titanic struck. Smaller bergs were sighted the same day, but at some distance from where the Titanic sank.
The officers of the Bremen did not care to talk about the tragic spectacle, but among the passengers several were found who gave accounts of the dismal panorama through which their ship steamed.
Mrs. Johanna Stunke, a first-cabin passenger, described the scene from the liner’s rail.
“It was between 4 and 5 o’clock, Saturday, April 20th,” she said, “when our ship sighted an iceberg off the bow to the starboard. As we drew nearer, and could make out small dots floating around in the sea, a feeling of awe and sadness crept over everyone on the ship.
“We passed within a hundred feet of the southernmost drift of the wreckage, and looking down over the rail we distinctly saw a number of bodies so clearly that we could make out what they were wearing and whether they were men or women.
“We saw one woman in her night dress, with a baby clasped closely to her breast. Several women passengers screamed and left the rail in a fainting condition. There was another woman, fully dressed, with her arms tight around the body of a shaggy dog.
“The bodies of three men in a group, all clinging to one steamship chair, floated near by, and just beyond them were a dozen bodies of men, all of them encased in life-preservers, clinging together as though in a last desperate struggle for life. We couldn’t see, but imagined that under them was some bit of wreckage to which they all clung when the ship went down, and which didn’t have buoyancy enough to support them.
“Those were the only bodies we passed near enough to distinguish, but we could see the white life-preservers of many more dotting the sea, all the way to the iceberg. The officers told us that was probably the berg hit by the Titanic, and that the bodies and ice had drifted along together.”
Mrs. Stunke said a number of the passengers demanded that the Bremen stop and pick up the bodies, but the officers assured them that they had just received a wireless message saying the cable ship Mackay-Bennett was only two hours away fron{sic} the spot, and was coming for that express purpose.
Other passengers corroborated Mrs. Stunke.
THE IDENTIFED{sic} DEAD.
On April 25th the White Star Line officials issued a corrected list of the identified dead. While the corrected list cleared up two or more of the wireless confusions that caused so much speculation in the original list, there still remained a few names that so far as the record of the Titanic showed were not on board that ship when she foundered.
The new list, however, established the fact that the body of George D. Widener, of Philadelphia, was among those on the Mackay-Bennett, and two of the bodies were identified as those of men named Butt.
THE MACKAY-BENNETT RETURNS TO PORT
After completing her search the Mackay-Bennett steamed for Halifax, reaching that port on Tuesday, April 30th. With her flag at half mast, the death ship docked slowly. Her crew manned the rails with bared heads, and on the aft deck were stacked the caskets with the dead. The vessel carried on board 190 bodies, and announcement was made that 113 other bodies had been buried at sea.
Everybody picked up had been in a life-belt and there were no bullet holes in any. Among those brought to port were the bodies of two women.
THE MINIA GIVES UP THE SEARCH
When at last the Minia turned her bow toward shore only thirteen additional bodies had been recovered, making a total of 316 bodies found by the two ships.
Further search seemed futile. Not only had the two vessels gone thoroughly over as wide a field as might likely prove fruitful, but, in addition, the time elapsed made it improbable that other bodies, if found, could be brought to shore. Thus did the waves completely enforce the payment of their terrible toll.
{illust. caption = ISADOR STRAUS
The New York millionaire merchant and philanthropist who lost his life when the giant Titanic foundered at sea after hitting an iceberg.}
{illust. caption = ICEBERG PHOTOGRAPHED NEAR SCENE OF DISASTER
This photograph shows what is quite…}
LIST OF IDENTIFIED DEAD
Following is a list of those whose identity was wholly or partially established:
ASTOR, JOHN JACOB.
ADONIS, J.
ALE, WILLIAM.
ARTAGAVEYTIA, RAMON.
ASHE, H. W.
ADAHL, MAURITZ.
ANDERSON, THOMAS.
ADAMS, J.
ASPALANDE, CARL.
ALLEN, H.
ANDERSON, W. Y.
ALLISON, H. J.
BUTT, W. (seaman).
BUTT, W. (may be Major Butt).
BUTTERWORTH, ABELJ.
BAILEY, G. F.
BARKER, E. T.
BUTLER, REGINALD.
BIRNBAUM, JACOB.
BRISTOW, R. C.
BUCKLEY, KATHERINE.
CHAPMAN, JOHN H.
CHAPMAN, CHARLES.
CONNORS, P.
CLONG, MILTON.
COX, DENTON.
CAVENDISH, TYRRELL w.
CARBINES, W.
DUTTON, F.
DASHWOOD, WILLIAM.
DULLES, W. C.
DOUGLAS, W. D.
DRAZENOUI, YOSIP (referring probably to Joseph Draznovic).
DONATI, ITALO (waiter).
ENGINEER, A. E. F.
ELLIOTT, EDWARD.
FARRELL, JAMES.
FAUNTHORPE, H.
GILL, J. H.
GREENBERG, H.
GILINSKI, LESLIE.
GRAHAM, GEORGE.
GILES, RALPH.
GIVARD, HANS C.
HANSEN, HENRY D.
HAYTOR, A.
HAYS, CHALES M.
HODGES, H. P.
HELL, J. C.
HEWITT, T.
HARRISON, H. H.
HALE, REG.
HENDEKERIC, TOZNAI.
HINTON, W.
HARBECK, W. H.
HOLVERDON, A. O. (probably A. M.
Halverson of Troy).
HOFFMAN, LOUIS M.
HINCKLEY, G.
Hospital Attendant, no name given.
JOHANSEN, MALCOLM.
JOHANSEN, ERIC.
JOHANSSON, GUSTAF J.
JOHANSEN, A. F.
JONES, C. C.
KELLY, JAMES,
LAURENCE, A.
LOUCH, CHARLES.
LONG, MILTON C.
LILLY, A.
LINHART, WENZELL.
MARRIORTT, W. H. (no such name appears on the list of passengers or crew).
MANGIN, MARY.
McNAMEE, MRS. N. (probably Miss
Elleen McNamee.)
MACK, MRS.
MONROE, JEAN.
McCAFFRY, THOMAS.
MORGAN, THOMAS.
MOEN, SEGURD H.
NEWELL, T. H.
NASSER, NICOLAS.
NORMAN, ROBERT D.
PETTY, EDWIN H.
PARTNER, AUSTIN.
PENNY, OLSEN F.
POGGI, —-.
RAGOZZI, A. BOOTHBY.
RICE, J. R.
ROBINS, A.
ROBINSON, J. M.
ROSENSHINE, GEORGE.
STONE, J.
STEWARD, 76.
STOKES, PHILIP J.
STANTON, W.
STRAUS, ISIDOR.
SAGE, WILLIAM.
SHEA, —-.
SUTTON, FREDERICK.
SOTHER, SIMON.
SCHEDID, NIHIL.
SWANK, GEORGE.
SEBASTIANO, DEL CARLO.
STANBROCKE, A.
TOMLIN, ETNEST P.
TALBOT, G.
VILLNER, HENDRICK K.
VASSILIOS, CATALEVAS (thought to be a confusion of two surnames).
VEAR, W. (may be W. J. Ware or W. T. Stead).
WIDENER, GEORGE W.
WILLIAMS, LESLIE.
WIRZ, ALBERT
WIKLUND, JACOB A.
WAILENS, ACHILLE.
WHITE, F. F.
WOODY, O. S.
WERSZ, LEOPOLD.
ZACARIAN, MAURI DER.
CHAPTER XXII
CRITICISM OF ISMAY
CRIMINAL AND COWARDLY CONDUCT CHARGED–PROPER CAUTION NOT EXERCISED WHEN PRESENCE OF ICEBERGS WAS KNOWN–SHOULD HAVE STAYED ON BOARD TO HELP IN WORK OF RESCUE–SELFISH AND UNSYMPATHETIC ACTIONS ON BOARD THE CARPATHIA–ISMAY’S DEFENSE–WILLIAM E. CARTER’S STATEMENT
FROM the moment that Bruce Ismay’s name was seen among those of the survivors of the Titanic he became the object of acrid attacks in every quarter where the subject of the disaster was discussed. Bitter criticism held that he should have been the last to leave the doomed vessel.
His critics insisted that as managing director of the White Star Line his responsibility was greater even than Captain Smith’s, and while granting that his survival might still be explained, they condemned his apparent lack of heroism. Even in England his survival was held to be the one great blot on an otherwise noble display of masculine courage.
A prominent official of the White Star Line shook his head meaningly when asked what he thought of Ismay’s escape with the women and children. The general feeling seemed to be that he should have stayed aboard the sinking vessel, looking out for those who were left, playing the man like Major Butt and many another and going down with the ship like Captain Smith.
He was also charged with urging a speed record and with ignoring information received with regard to icebergs.
FEELING IN ENGLAND
The belief in England was that the captain of the Carpathia had acted under Ismay’s influence in refusing to permit any account of the disaster to be transmitted previous to the arrival of the vessel in New York. Ismay’s telegram making arrangements for the immediate deportation of the survivors among the Titanic’s crew was taken to be part of the same scheme to delay if not to prevent their stories of the wreck from being obtained in New York.
Another circumstance which created a damaging impression was Ismay’s failure to give the names of the surviving crew, whose distraught families were entitled to as much consideration as those whose relatives occupied the most expensive suites on the Titanic. The anguish endured by the families of members of the crew was reported as indescribable, and Southampton was literally turned into a city of weeping and tragic pathos. The wives of two members of the crew died of shock and suspense.
CRIED FOR FOOD
Mr. Ismay’s actions while on the Carpathia were also criticised as selfish and unwarrantable.
“For God’s sake get me something to eat, I’m starved. I don’t care what it costs or what it is. Bring it to me.”
This was the first statement made by Mr. Ismay a few minutes after he was landed on the Carpathia. It is vouched for by an officer of the Carpathia who requested that his name be withheld. This officer gave one of the most complete stories of the events that took place on the Carpathia from the time she received the Titanic’s appeal for assistance until she landed the survivors at the Cunard Line pier.
“Ismay reached the Carpathia in about the seventh life- boat,” said the officer. “I didn’t know who he was, but afterward I heard the other members of the crew discussing his desire to get something to eat the minute he put his foot on deck. The steward who waited on him reported that Ismay came dashing into the dining room and said.
” `Hurry, for God’s sake, and get me something to eat, I’m starved. I don’t care what it costs or what it is. Bring it to me.’ “
“The steward brought Ismay a load of stuff and when he had finished it he handed the man a two dollar bill. `Your money is no good on this ship,’ the steward told him.
” `Take it,’ insisted Ismay. `I am well able to afford it. I will see to it that the boys of the Carpathia are well rewarded for this night’s work.’
“This promise started the steward making inquiries as to the identity of the man he had waited on. Then we learned that he was Ismay. I did not see Ismay after the first few hours. He must have kept to his cabin.”
REPLY TO CHARGES
Mr. Ismay’s plans had been to return immediately to England, and he had wired that the steamer Cedric be held for himself and officers and members of the crew; but public sentiment and subpoenas of the Senate’s investigating committee prevented. In the face of the criticism aimed against him Mr. Ismay issued a long statement in which he not only disclaimed responsibility for the Titanic’s fatal collision, but also sought to clear himself of blame for everything that happened after the big ship was wrecked.
He laid the responsibility for the tragedy on Captain Smith.
He expressed astonishment that his own conduct in the disaster had been made the subject of inquiry. He denied that he gave any order to Captain Smith. His position aboard was that of any other first cabin passenger, he insisted, and he was never consulted by the captain. He denied telling anyone that he wished the ship to make a speed record. He called attention to the routine clause in the instructions to White Star captains ordering them to think of safety at all times. He did not dine with the captain, he said, and when the ship struck the berg, he was not sitting with the captain in the saloon.
The managing director added that he was in his stateroom when the collision occurred. He told of helping to send women and children away in life-boats on the starboard side, and said there was no woman in sight on deck when he and William E. Carter, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., entered the collapsible boat–the last small craft left on that side of the vessel. He asserted that he pulled an oar and denied that in sending the three messages from the Carpathia, urging the White Star officials to hold the Cedric for the survivors of the Titanic’s officers and crew, he had any intention to block investigation of the tragedy. Ismay asserted that he did not know there was to be an investigation until the Cunarder docked.
Mr. William E. Carter, of Bryn Mawr, who, with his family, was saved, confirmed Mr. Ismay’s assertions.
“Mr. Ismay’s statement is absolutely correct,” said Mr. Carter. “There were no women on the deck when that boat was launched. We were the very last to leave the deck, and we entered the life-boat because there were no women to enter it.
“The deck was deserted when the boat was launched, and Mr. Ismay and myself decided that we might as well enter the boat and pull away from the wreck. If he wants me, I assume that he will write to me.
“I can say nothing, however, that he has not already said, as our narratives are identical; the circumstances under which we were rescued from the Titanic were similar. We left the boat together and were picked up together, and, further than that, we were the very last to leave the deck.
“I am ready to go to Washington to testify to the truth of Mr. Ismay’s statement, and also to give my own account at any time I may be called upon. If Mr. Ismay writes to me, asking that I give a detailed account of our rescue I will do so.”
CHAPTER XXIII
THE FINANCIAL LOSS
TITANIC NOT FULLY INSURED–VALUABLE CARGO AND MAIL –NO CHANCE FOR SALVAGE–LIFE INSURANCE LOSS–LOSS TO THE CARPATHIA
SO great was the interest in the tragedy and so profound the grief at the tremendous loss of life that for a time the financial loss was not considered. It was, however, the biggest ever suffered by marine insurance brokers.
The value of the policy covering the vessel against all ordinary risks was $5,000,000, but the whole of this amount was not insured, because British and Continental markets were not big enough to swallow it. The actual amount of insurance was $3,700,000, of which the owners themselves held $750,000.
As to the cargo, it was insured by the shippers. The company has nothing to do with the insurance of the cargo, which, according to the company’s manifest, was conservatively estimated at about $420,000. Cargo, however, was a secondary matter, so far as the Titanic was concerned. The ship was built for high-priced passengers, and what little cargo she carried was also of the kind that demanded quick transportation. The Titanic’s freight was for the most part what is known as high-class package freight, consisting of such articles as fine laces, ostrich feathers, wines, liquors and fancy food commodities.
LOST MAIL MAY COST MILLIONS
Prior to the sailing of the vessel the postal authorities of Southampton cabled the New York authorities that 3435 bags of mail matter were on board.
“In a load of 3500 bags,” said Postmaster Morgan, of New York, “it is a safe estimate to say that 200 contained registered mail. The size of registered mail packages varies greatly, but 1000 packages for each mail bag should be a conservative guess. That would mean that 200,000 registered packages and letters went down with the Titanic.
“This does not mean, however, that Great Britain will be held financially responsible for all these losses. There were probably thousands of registered packages from the Continent, and in such cases the countries of origin will have to reimburse the senders. Moreover, in the case of money being sent in great quantities, it is usual to insure the registry over and above the limit of responsibility set by the country of origin.
“Probably if there were any shipping of securities mounting up to thousands of dollars, it will be the insurance companies which will bear the loss, and not the European post- offices at all.”
In the case of money orders, the postmaster explained, there would be no loss, except of time, as duplicates promptly would be shipped without further expense.
The postmaster did not know the exact sum which the various European countries set as the limit of their guarantee in registered mail. In America it is $50.
Underwriters will probably have to meet heavy claims of passengers for luggage, including jewelry. Pearls of one American woman insured in London were valued at $240,000.
NO CHANCE FOR SALVAGE
The Titanic and her valuable cargo can never be recovered, said the White Star Line officials.
“Sinking in mid-ocean, at the depth which prevails where the accident occurred,” said Captain James Parton, manager of the company, “absolutely precludes any hopes of salvage.”
LIFE INSURANCE LOSS
In the life insurance offices there was much figuring over the lists of those thought to be lost aboard the Titanic. Nothing but rough estimates of the company’s losses through the wreck were given out.
LOSS TO THE CARPATHIA
The loss to the Carpathia, too, was considerable. It is, of course, the habit of all good steamship lines to go out of their way and cheerfully submit to financial loss when it comes to succoring the distressed or the imperiled at sea. Therefore, the Cunard line in extending the courtesies of the sea to the survivors of the Titanic asked for nothing more than the mere acknowledgment of the little act of kindness. The return of the Carpathia cost the line close to $10,000.
She was delayed on her way to the Mediterranean at least ten days and was obliged to coal and provision again, as the extra 800 odd passengers she was carrying reduced her large allowance for her long voyage to the Mediterranean and the Adriatic very much.
CHAPTER XXIV
OPINIONS OF EXPERTS
CAPTAIN E. K. RODEN, LEWIS NIXON, GENERAL GREELY AND ROBERT H. KIRK POINT OUT LESSONS TAUGHT BY TITANIC DISASTER AND NEEDED CHANGES IN CONSTRUCTION
THE tremendous loss of life necessarily aroused a discussion as to the cause of the disaster, and the prevailing opinion seemed to be that the present tendency in shipbuilding was to sacrifice safety to luxury.
Captain Roden, a well-known Swedish navigator, had written an article maintaining this theory in the Navy, a monthly service magazine, in November, 1910. With seeming prophetic insight he had mentioned the Titanic by name and portrayed some of the dangers to which shipbuilding for luxury is leading.
He pointed out that the new steamships, the Olympic and Titanic, would be the finest vessels afloat, no expense being spared to attain every conceivable comfort for which men or women of means could possibly ask–staterooms with private shower-baths, a swimming pool large enough for diving, a ballroom covering an entire upper deck, a gymnasium, elaborate cafes, a sun deck representing a flower garden, and other luxuries.
After forcibly pointing out the provisions that should be made for the protection of life, Captain Roden wrote in conclusion:
“If the men controlling passenger ships, from the ocean liner down to the excursion barge, were equally disposed to equip their vessels with the best safety appliances as they are to devise and adopt implements of comfort and luxury, the advantage to themselves as well as to their patrons would be plainly apparent.”
VIEW OF LEWIS NIXON
Lewis Nixon, the eminent naval architect and designer of the battleship Oregon, contributed a very interesting comment. He said in part:
“Here was a vessel presumed, and I think rightly so, to be the perfection of the naval architect’s art, yet sunk in a few hours by an accident common to North Atlantic navigation.
THE UNSINKABLE SHIP
“An unsinkable ship is possible, but it would be of little use except for flotation. It may be said that vessels cannot be built to withstand such an accident.
“We might very greatly subdivide the forward compartments, where much space is lost at best, making the forward end, while amply strong for navigation purposes, of such construction that it would collapse and take up some of the energy of impact; then tie this to very much stronger sections farther aft. Many such plans will be proposed by those who do not realize the momentum of a great vessel which will snap great cables like ribbons, when the motion of the vessel is not perceptible to the eye.
“The proper plan is to avoid the accident, and if an accident is unavoidable to minimize the loss of life and property.”
VIEW OF ROBERT H. KIRK
The Titanic disaster was discussed by Robert H. Kirk, who installed the compartment doors in the ships of the United States Navy. Mr. Kirk’s opinion follows:
“The Titanic’s disaster will cause endless speculation as to how similar disasters may be avoided in the future.
BULKHEAD DOORS PROBABLY OPEN
“The Titanic had bulkheads, plenty of them, for the rules of the British Board of Trade and of Lloyds are very specific and require enough compartments to insure floating of the ship though several may be flooded. She also had doors in the bulkheads, and probably plenty of them, for she was enormous and needed easy access from one compartment to another. It will probably never be known how _FEW_ of these doors were closed when she struck the iceberg, but the probability is that many were open, for in the confusion attending such a crash the crews have a multitude of duties to perform, and closing a door with water rushing through it is more of a task than human muscle and bravery can accomplish.
“A Lloyds surveyor in testing one of these hand-operated doors started two men on the main deck to close it. They worked four hours before they had carried out his order. If all the doors on the ship had worked as badly as this one, what would have happened in event of accident?”
MANIA FOR SPEED
General Adolphus W. Greely, U. S. A., noted American traveler and Arctic explorer, vehemently denounced the sinking of the Titanic and the loss of over 1600 souls as a terrible sacrifice to the American mania for speed. He gave his opinion that the Titanic came to grief through an attempt on the part of the steamship management to establish a new record by the vessel on her maiden voyage.
The Titanic, General Greely declared, had absolutely no business above Cape Race and north of Sable Island on the trip on which she went to her doom. Choosing the northern route brought about the dire disaster, in his mind, and it was the saving of three hours for the sake of a new record that ended in the collision with the tragic victory for the ghostlike monster out of the far north.
It was the opinion of General Greely, capable of judging after his many trips in quest of the pole, that neither Captain Smith nor any of his officers saw the giant iceberg which encompassed their ruin until they were right upon it. Then, the ship was plunging ahead at such frightful velocity that the Titanic was too close to avert striking the barrier lined up across its path.
CHAPTER XXV
OTHER GREAT MARINE DISASTERS
DEADLY DANGER OF ICEBERGS–DOZENS OF SHIPS PERISH IN COLLISION–OTHER DISASTERS
THE danger of collision with icebergs has always been one of the most deadly that confront the mariner. Indeed, so well recognized is this peril of the Newfoundland Banks, where the Labrador current in the early spring and summer months floats southward its ghostly argosy of icy pinnacles detached from the polar ice caps, that the government hydrographic offices and the maritime exchanges spare no pains to collate and disseminate the latest bulletins on the subject.
THE ARIZONA
A most remarkable case of an iceberg collision is that of the Guion Liner, Arizona, in 1879. She was then the greyhound of the Atlantic, and the largest ship afloat–5750 tons except the Great Eastern. Leaving New York in November for Liverpool, with 509 souls aboard, she was coursing across the Banks, with fair weather but dark, when, near midnight, about 250 miles east of St. John’s, she rammed a monster ice island at full speed eighteen knots. Terrific was the impact.
The welcome word was passed along that the ship, though sorely stricken, would still float until she could make harbor. The vast white terror had lain across her course,
{illust. caption = THE SHAPE OF AN ICEBERG
Showing the bulk and formation under water and the consequent danger to vessels even without actual contact with the visible part of the iceberg.}
stretching so far each way that, when described, it was too late to alter the helm. Its giant shape filled the foreground, towering high above the masts, grim and gaunt and ghastly, immovable as the adamantine buttresses of a frowning seaboard, while the liner lurched and staggered like a wounded thing in agony as her engines slowly drew her back from the rampart against which she had flung herself.
She was headed for St. John’s at slow speed, so as not to strain the bulkhead too much, and arrived there thirty-six hours later. That little port–the crippled ship’s hospital– has seen many a strange sight come in from the sea, but never a more astounding spectacle than that which the Arizona presented the Sunday forenoon she entered there.
“Begob, captain!” said the pilot, as he swung himself over the rail. “I’ve heard of carrying coals to Newcastle, but this is the first time I’ve seen a steamer bringing a load of ice into St. John’s.”
They are a grim race, these sailors, and, the danger over, the captain’s reply was: “We were lucky, my man, that we didn’t all go to the bottom in an ice box.”
DOZENS OF SHIPS PERISH
But to the one wounded ship that survives collision with a berg, a dozen perish. Presumably, when the shock comes, it loosens their bulkheads and they fill and founder, or the crash may injure the boilers or engines, which explode and tear out the sides, and the ship goes down like a plummet. As long ago as 1841, the steamer President, with 120 people aboard, crossing from New York to Liverpool in March, vanished from human ken. In 1854, in the same month, the City of Glasgow left Liverpool for Philadelphia with 480 souls, and was never again heard of. In February, 1856, the Pacific, from Liverpool for New York, carrying 185 persons, passed away down to a sunless sea. In May, 1870, the City of Boston, from that port for Liverpool, mustering 191 souls, met a similar fate. It has always been thought that these ships were sunk by collision with icebergs or floes. As shipping traffic has expanded, the losses have been more frequent. In February, 1892, the Naronic, from Liverpool for New York; in the same month in 1896, the State of Georgia, from Aberdeen for Boston; in February, 1899, the Alleghany, from New York for Dover; and once more in February, 1902, the Huronian, from Liverpool for St. John’s–all disappeared without leaving a trace. Between February and May, the Grand Banks are most infested with ice, and collision therewith is’ the most likely explanation of the loss of these steamers, all well manned and in splendid trim, and meeting only the storms which scores of other ships have braved without a scathe.
TOLL OF THE SEA
Among the important marine disasters recorded since 1866 are the following:
1866, Jan. 11.–Steamer London, on her way to Melbourne, foundered in the Bay of Biscay; 220 lives lost.
1866, Oct. 3.–Steamer Evening Star, from New York to New Orleans, foundered; about 250 lives lost.
1867, Oct. 29.–Royal Mail steamers Rhone and Wye and about fifty other vessels driven ashore and wrecked at St Thomas, West Indies, by a hurricane; about 1,000 lives lost.
1873, Jan. 22.–British steamer Northfleet sunk in collision off Dungeness; 300 lives lost
1873, Nov. 23.–White Star liner Atlantic wrecked off Nova Scotia; 547 lives lost.
1873, Nov. 23.–French line Ville du Havre, from New York to Havre, in collision with ship Locharn and sunk in sixteen minutes; 110 lives lost.
1874, Dec. 24.–Emigrant vessel Cospatrick took fire and sank off Auckland; 476 lives lost.
1875, May 7.–Hamburg Mail steamer Schiller wrecked in fog on Scilly Islands; 200 lives lost.
1875, Nov. 4.–American steamer Pacific in collision thirty miles southwest of Cape Flattery; 236 lives lost.
1878, March 24.–British training ship Eurydice, a frigate, foundered near the Isle of Wight; 300 lives lost.
1878, Sept. 3.–British iron steamer Princess Alice sunk in the Thames River; 700 lives lost.
1878, Dec. 18.–French steamer Byzantin sunk in collision in the Dardanelles with the British steamer Rinaldo; 210 lives lost.
1879, Dec. 2.–Steamer Borussia sank off the coast of Spain; 174 lives lost.
1880, Jan. 31.–British trading ship Atlanta left Bermuda with 290 men and was never heard from.
1881, Aug. 30.–Steamer Teuton wrecked off the Cape of Good Hope; 200 lives lost.
1883, July 3.–Steamer Daphne turned turtle in the Clyde; 124 lives lost.
1884, Jan. 18.–American steamer City of Columbus wrecked off Gay Head Light, Massachusetts; 99 lived lost.
1884, July 23.–Spanish steamer Gijon and British steamer Lux in collision off Finisterre; 150 lives lost.
1887, Jan. 29.–Steamer Kapunda in collision with bark Ada Melore off coast of Brazil; 300 lives lost.
1887, Nov. 15.–British steamer Wah Young caught fire between Canton and Hong Kong; 400 lives lost.
1888, Sept. 13.–Italian steamship Sud America and steamer La France in collision near the Canary Islands; 89 lives lost.
1889, March 16.–United States warships Trenton, Vandalia and Nipsic and German ships Adler and Eber wrecked on Samoan Islands; 147 lives lost.
1890, Jan. 2.–Steamer Persia wrecked on Corsica; 130 lives lost.
1890, Feb. 17.–British steamer Duburg wrecked in the China Sea; 400 lives lost.
1890, March 1.–British steamship Quetta foundered in Torres Straits; 124 lives lost.
1890, Dec. 27.–British steamer Shanghai burned in China Seas; 101 lives lost.
1891, March 17.–Anchor liner Utopia in collision with British steamer Anson off Gibraltar and sunk; 574 lives lost.
1892, Jan. 13.–Steamer Namehow wrecked in China Sea; 414 lives lost.
1892, Oct. 28.–Anchor liner Romania, wrecked off Portugal; 113 lives lost.
1893, Feb. 8.–Anchor liner Trinairia, wrecked off Spain; 115 lives lost.
1894, June 25.–Steamer Norge, wrecked on Rockall Reef, in the North Atlantic; nearly 600 lives lost.
1895, Jan. 30.–German steamer Elbe sunk in collision with British steamer Crathie in North Sea; 335 lives lost.
1898, July 4.–French line steamer La Bourgogne in collision with British sailing vessel Cromartyshire; 571 lives lost.
1898, Nov. 27.–American steamer Portland, wrecked off Cape Cod, Mass.; 157 lives lost.
1901, April 1.–Turkish transport Aslam wrecked in the Red Sea; over 180 lives lost.
1902, July 21.–Steamer Primus sunk in collision with the steamer Hansa on the Lower Elbe; 112 lives lost.
1903, June 7.–French steamer Libau sunk in collision with steamer Insulerre near Marseilles; 150 lives lost.
1904, June 15. General Slocum, excursion steamboat, took fire going through Hell Gate, East River; more than 1000 lives lost.
1906, Jan. 21.–Brazilian battleship Aquidaban sunk near Rio Janeiro by an explosion of the powder magazines; 212 lives lost.
1906, Jan. 22.–American steamer Valencia lost off Cloose, Pacific Coast; 140 lives lost.
1906, Aug. 4.–Italian emigrant ship Sirio struck a rock off Cape Palos; 350 lives lost.
1906, Oct. 21.–Russian steamer Variag, on leaving Vladivostock, struck by a torpedo and sunk; 140 lives lost.
1907, Feb. 12.–American steamer Larchmond sunk in collision off Rhode Island coast; 131 lives lost.
1907, July 20.–American steamers Columbia and San Pedro collided on the Californian coast; 100 lives lost.
1907, Nov. 26.–Turkish steamer Kaptain foundered in the North Sea; 110 lives lost.
1908, March 23.–Japanese steamer Mutsu Maru sunk in collision near Hakodate; 300 lives lost.
1908, April 30.–Japanese training cruiser Matsu Shima sunk off the Pescadores owing to an explosion; 200 lives lost.
1909, Jan. 24.–Collision between the Italian steamer Florida and the White Star liner Republic, about 170 miles east of New York during a fog; a large number of lives were saved by the arrival of the steamer Baltic, which received the “C. Q. D.,” or distress signal sent up by wireless by the Republic January 22. The Republic sank while being towed; 6 lives lost.
1910, Feb. 9.–French line steamer General Chanzy off Minorca; 200 lives lost.
1911, Sept. 25.–French battleship Liberte sunk by explosion in Toulon harbor; 223 lives lost.
CHAPTER XXVI
DEVELOPMENT OF SHIPBUILDING
EVOLUTION OF WATER TRAVEL–INCREASES IN SIZE OF VESSELS –IS THERE ANY LIMIT?–ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPEED–TITANIC NOT THE LAST WORD.
THE origin of travel on water dates back to a very early period in human history, men beginning with the log, the inflated skin, the dug-out canoe, and upwards through various methods of flotation; while the paddle, the oar, and finally the sail served as means of propulsion. This was for inland water travel, and many centuries passed before the navigation of the sea was dreamed of by adventurous mariners.
The paintings and sculptures of early Egypt show us boats built of sawn planks, regularly constructed and moved both by oars and sails. At a later period we read of the Phoenicians, the most daring and enterprising of ancient navigators, who braved the dangers of the open sea, and are said by Herodotus to have circumnavigated Africa as early as 604 B. C. Starting from the Red Sea, they followed the east coast, rounded the Cape, and sailed north along the west coast to the Mediterranean, reaching Egypt again in the third year of this enterprise.
The Carthaginians and Romans come next in the history of shipbuilding, confining themselves chiefly to the Mediterranean, and using oars as the principal means of propulsion. Their galleys ranged from one to five banks of oars. The Roman vessels in the first Punic war were over 100 feet long and had 300 rowers, while they carried 120 soldiers. They did not use sails until about the beginning of the fourteenth century B. C.
Portugal was the first nation to engage in voyages of discovery, using vessels of small size in these adventurous journeys. Spain, which soon became her rival in this field, built larger ships and long held the lead. Yet the ships with which Columbus made the discovery of America were of a size and character in which few sailors of the present day would care to venture far from land.
England was later in coming into the field of adventurous navigation, being surpassed not only by the Portuguese and Spanish, but by the Dutch, in ventures to far lands.
Europe long held the precedence in shipbuilding and enterprise in navigation, but the shores of America had not long been settled before the venturous colonists had ships upon the seas. The first of these was built at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine. This was a staunch little two- masted vessel, which was named the Virginia, supposed to have been about sixty feet long and seventeen feet in beam. Next in time came the Restless, built in 1614 or 1615 at New York, by Adrian Blok, a Dutch captain whose ships had been burned while lying at Manhattan Island. This vessel, thirty-eight feet long and of eleven feet beam, was employed for several years in exploring the Atlantic coast.
With the advent of the nineteenth century a new ideal in naval architecture arose, that of the ship moved by steam- power instead of wind-power, and fitted to combat with the seas alike in storm and calm, with little heed as to whether the wind was fair or foul. The steamship appeared, and grew in size and power until such giants of the wave as the Titanic and Olympic were set afloat. To the development of this modern class of ships our attention must now be turned.
As the reckless cowboy of the West is fast becoming a thing of the past, so is the daring seaman of fame and story. In his place is coming a class of men miscalled sailors, who never reefed a sail or coiled a cable, who do not know how to launch a life-boat or pull an oar, and in whose career we meet the ridiculous episode of the life-boats of the Titanic, where women were obliged to take the oars from their hands and row the boats. Thus has the old-time hero of the waves been transformed into one fitted to serve as a clown of the vaudeville stage.
The advent of steam navigation came early in the nineteenth century, though interesting steps in this direction were taken earlier. No sooner was the steam-engine developed than men began to speculate on it as a moving power on sea and land. Early among these were several Americans, Oliver Evans, one of the first to project steam railway travel, and James Rumsey and John Fitch, steamboat inventors of early date. There were several experimenters in Europe also, but the first to produce a practical steamboat was Robert Fulton, a native of Pennsylvania, whose successful boat; the Clermont, made its maiden trip up the Hudson in 1807. A crude affair was the Clermont, with a top speed of about seven miles an hour; but it was the dwarf from which the giant steamers of to-day have grown.
Boats of this type quickly made their way over the American rivers and before 1820 regular lines of steamboats were running between England and Ireland. In 1817 James Watt, the inventor of the practical steam-engine, crossed in a steamer from England to Belgium. But these short voyages were far surpassed by an American enterprise, that of the first ocean steamship, the Savannah, which crossed the Atlantic from Savannah to Liverpool in 1819.
Twelve years passed before this enterprise was repeated, the next steam voyage being in 1831, when the Royal William crossed from Quebec to England. She used coal for fuel, having utilized her entire hold to store enough for the voyage. The Savannah had burned pitch-pine under her engines, for in America wood was long used as fuel for steam-making purposes. As regards this matter, the problem of fuel was of leading importance, and it was seriously questioned if a ship could be built to cross the Atlantic depending solely upon steam power. Steam-engines in those days were not very economical, needing four or five times as much fuel for the same power as the engines of recent date.
It was not until 1838 that the problem was solved. On April 23d of that year a most significant event took place. Two steamships dropped anchor in the harbor of New York, the Sirius and the Great Western. Both of these had made the entire voyage under steam, the Sirius, in eighteen and a half and the Great Western in fourteen and a half days, measuring from Queenstown. The Sirius had taken on board 450 tons of coal, but all this was burned by the time Sandy Hook was reached, and she had to burn her spare spars and forty-three barrels of rosin to make her way up the bay. The Great Western, on the contrary, had coal to spare.
Two innovations in shipbuilding were soon introduced. These were the building of iron instead of wooden ships and the replacing of the paddle wheel by the screw propeller. The screw-propeller was first successfully introduced by the famous Swede, John Ericsson, in 1835. His propeller was tried in a small vessel, forty-five feet long and eight wide, which was driven at the rate of ten miles an hour, and towed a large packet ship at fair speed. Ericsson, not being appreciated in England, came to America to experiment. Other inventors were also at work in the same line.
Their experiments attracted the attention of Isambard Brunel, one of the greatest engineers of the period, who was then engaged in building a large paddle-wheel steamer, the Great Britain. Appreciating the new idea, he had the engines of the new ship changed and a screw propeller introduced. This ship, a great one for the time, 322 feet long and of 3443 tons, made her first voyage from Liverpool to New York in 1845, her average speed being 12 1/4 knots an hour, the length of the voyage 14 days and 21 hours.
By the date named the crossing of the Atlantic by steamships had become a common event. In 1840 the British and Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was organized, its chief promoter being Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, whose name has long been attached to this famous line.
The first fleet of the Cunard Line comprised four vessels, the Britannia, Acadia, Caledonia and Columbia. The Unicorn, sent out by this company as a pioneer, entered Boston harbor on June 2, 1840, being the first steamship from Europe to reach that port. Regular trips began with the Britannia, which left Liverpool on July 4, 1840. For a number of years later this line enjoyed a practical monopoly of the steam carrying trade between England and the United States. Then other companies came into the field, chief among them being the Collins Line, started in 1849, and of short duration, and the Inman Line, instituted in 1850.
We should say something here of the comforts and conveniences provided for the passengers on these early lines. They differed strikingly from those on the leviathans of recent travel and were little, if any, superior to those on the packet ships, the active rivals at that date of the steamers. Then there were none of the comfortable smoking rooms, well- filled libraries, drawing rooms, electric lights, and other modern improvements. The saloons and staterooms were in the extreme after part of the vessel, but the stateroom of that day was little more than a closet, with two berths, one above the other, and very little standing room between these and the wall. By paying nearly double fare a passenger might secure a room for himself, but the room given him did not compare well even with that of small and unpretentious modern steamers.
Other ocean steamship companies gradually arose, some of which are still in existence. But no especial change in ship- building was introduced until 1870, when the Oceanic Company, now known as the White Star Line, built the Britannic and Germanic. These were the largest of its early ships. They were 468 feet long and 35 feet wide, constituting a new type of extreme length as compared with their width. In the first White Star ship, the Oceanic, the improvements above mentioned were introduced, the saloons and staterooms being brought as near as possible to the center of the ship. All the principal lines built since that date have followed this example, thus adding much to the comfort of the first-class passengers.
Speed and economy in power also became features of importance, the tubular boiler and the compound engine being introduced. These have developed into the cylindrical, multitubular boiler and the triple expansion engine, in which a greater percentage of the power of the steam is utilized and four or five times the work obtained from coal over that of the old system. The side-wheel was continued in use in the older ships until this period, but after 1870 it disappeared.
It has been said that the life of iron ships, barring disasters at sea, is unlimited, that they cannot wear out. This statement has not been tested, but the fact remains that the older passenger ships have gone out of service and that steel has now taken the place of iron, as lighter and more durable.
Something should also be said here of the steam turbine engine, recently introduced in some of the greatest liners, and of proven value in several particulars, an important one of these being the doing away with the vibration, an inseparable accompaniment of the old style engines. The Olympic and Titanic engines were a combination of the turbine and reciprocating types. In regard to the driving power, one of the recent introductions is that of the multiple propeller. The twin screw was first applied in the City of New York, of the Inman line, and enabled her to make in 1890 an average speed of a little over six days from New York to Queenstown. The best record up to October, 1891, was that of the Teutonic, of five days, sixteen hours, and thirty minutes. Triple-screw propellers have since then been introduced in some of the greater ships, and the record speed has been cut down to the four days and ten hours of the Lusitania in 1908 and the four days, six hours and forty-one minutes of the Mauretania in 1910.
The Titanic was not built especially for speed, but in every other way she was the master product of the shipbuilders’ art. Progress through the centuries has been steady, and perhaps the twentieth century will prepare a vessel that will be unsinkable as well as magnificent. Until the fatal accident the Titanic and Olympic were considered the last words on ship- building; but much may still remain to be spoken.
CHAPTER XXVII
SAFETY AND LIFE-SAVING DEVICES
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY–WATER-TIGHT BULKHEADS–SUBMARINE SIGNALS–LIFE-BOATS AND RAFTS–NIXON’S PONTOON –LIFE-PRESERVERS AND BUOYS–ROCKETS
THE fact that there are any survivors of the Titanic left to tell the story of the terrible catastrophe is only another of the hundreds of instances on record of the value of wireless telegraphy in saving life on shipboard. Without Marconi’s invention it is altogether probable that the world would never have known of the nature of the Titanic’s fate, for it is only barely within the realm of possibility that any of the Titanic’s passengers’ poorly clad, without proper provisions of food and water, and exposed in the open boats to the frigid weather, would have survived long enough to have been picked up by a transatlantic liner in ignorance of the accident to the Titanic.
Speaking (since the Titanic disaster) of the part which wireless telegraphy has played in the salvation of distressed ships, Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of this wonderful science, has said:
“Fifteen years ago the curvature of the earth was looked upon as the one great obstacle to wireless telegraphy. By various experiments in the Isle of Wight and at St. John’s I finally succeeded in sending the letter S 2000 miles.
“We have since found that the fog and the dull skies in the vicinity of England are exceptionally favorable for wireless telegraphy.”
Then the inventor told of wireless messages being transmitted 2500 miles across the Abyssinian desert, and of preparation for similar achievements.
“The one necessary requirement for continued success is that governments keep from being enveloped in political red tape,” said he.
“The fact that a message can be flashed across the wide expanse of ocean in ten minutes has exceeded my fondest expectations. Some idea of the progress made may be had by citing the fact that in eleven years the range of wireless telegraphy has increased from 200 to 3000 miles.
“Not once has wireless telegraphy failed in calling and securing help on the high seas. A recognition of this is shown in the attitude of the United States Government in compelling all passenger-carrying vessels entering our ports to be equipped with wireless apparatus.”
Of the Titanic tragedy, Marconi said:
“I know you will all understand when I say that I entertain a deep feeling of gratitude because of the fact that wireless telegraphy has again contributed to the saving of life.”
WATER-TIGHT BULKHEADS
One of the most essential factors in making ships safe is the construction of proper bulkheads to divide a ship into water-tight compartments in case of injury to her hull. Of the modern means of forming such compartments, and of the complete and automatic devices for operating the watertight doors which connect them, a full explanation has already been given in the description of the Titanic’s physical features, to which the reader is referred. A wise precaution usually taken in the case of twin and triple screw ships is to arrange the bulkheads so that each engine is in a separate compartment, as is also each boiler or bank of boilers and each coal bunker.
SUBMARINE SIGNALS
Then there are submarine signals to tell of near-by vessels or shores. This signal arrangement includes a small tank on either side of the vessel, just below the water line. Within each is a microphone with wires leading to the bridge. If the vessel is near any other or approaching shore, the sounds; conveyed through the water from the distant object are heard through the receiver of the microphone. These arrangements are called the ship’s ears, and whether the sounds come from one side of the vessel or the other, the officers can tell the location of the shore or ship near by. If both ears record, the object is ahead.
LIFEBOATS AND RAFTS
The construction of life-boats adapts them for very rough weather. The chief essentials, of course, are ease in launching, strength in withstanding rough water and bumping when beached; also strength to withstand striking against wreckage or a ship’s side; carrying capacity and lightness. Those carried on board ship are lighter than those used in life-saving service on shore. Safety is provided by air-tight tanks which insure buoyancy in case the boat is filled with water. They have also self-righting power in case of being overturned; likewise self-emptying power. Life-boats are usually of the whaleboat type, with copper air-tight tanks along the side beneath the thwarts, and in the ends.
Life-boats range from twenty-four to thirty feet in length and carry from thirty to sixty persons. The rafts carry from twenty to forty persons. The old-fashioned round bar davits can be got for $100 to $150 a set. The new style davits, quick launchers in type, come as low as $400 a set.
According to some naval constructors, an ocean steamship can carry in davits enough boats to take care of all the passengers and crew, it being simply a question as to whether the steamship owners are willing to take up that much deck room which otherwise would be used for lounging chairs or for a promenade.
Nowadays all life-boats are equipped with air tanks to prevent sinking, with the result that metal boats are as unsinkable as wooden ones. The metal boats are considered in the United States Navy as superior to wooden ones, for several reasons: They do not break or collapse; they do not, in consequence of long storage on deck, open at the seams and thereby spring a leak; and they are not eaten by bugs, as is the case with wooden boats.
Comparatively few of the transatlantic steamships have adopted metal life-boats. Most of the boats are of wood, according to the official United States Government record of inspection. The records show that a considerable proportion of the entire number of so-called “life-boats” carried by Atlantic Ocean liners are not actually life-boats at all, but simply open boats, without air tanks or other special equipment or construction.
{illust. caption = CHAMBERS COLLAPSIBLE LIFE RAFT}
Life-rafts are of several kinds. They are commonly used on large passenger steamers where it is difficult to carry sufficient life-boats. In most cases they consist of two or more hollow metal or inflated rubber floats which support a wooden deck. The small rafts are supplied with life-lines and oars, and the larger ones with life-lines only, or with life-lines and sails.
The collapsible feature of the Chambers raft consists of canvas-covered steel frames extending up twenty-five inches from the sides to prevent passengers from being pitched off. When the rafts are not in use these side frames are folded down on the raft.
The collapsible rafts are favored by the ship-owners because such boats take up less room; they do not have to be carried in the davits, and they can be stowed to any number required. Some of the German lines stack their collapsible rafts one above another on deck.
NIXON’S PONTOON
Lewis Nixon, the well-known ship designer, suggests the construction of a pontoon to be carried on the after end of the vessel and to be made of sectional air-tight compartments. One compartment would accommodate the wireless outfit. Another compartment would hold drinking water, and still another would be filled with food.
The pontoon would follow the line of the ship and seem to be a part of it. The means for releasing it before the sinking of the vessel present no mechanical problem. It would be too large and too buoyant to be sucked down with the wreck.
The pontoon would accommodate, not comfortably but safely, all those who failed to find room in the life-boats.
It is Mr. Nixon’s plan to instal a gas engine in one of the compartments. With this engine the wireless instrument would remain in commission and direct the rescuers after the ship itself had gone down.
LIFE PRESERVERS AND BUOYS
Life-preservers are chiefly of the belt or jacket type, made to fit about the body and rendered buoyant by slabs of cork sewed into the garment, or by rubber-lined air-bags. The use of cork is usually considered preferable, as the inflated articles are liable to injury, and jackets are preferable to belts as they can be put on more quickly.
Life-buoys are of several types, but those most common are of the ring type, varying in size from the small one designed to be thrown by hand to the large hollow metal buoy capable of supporting several people. The latter are usually carried by sea-going vessels and are fitted with lamps which are automatically lighted when the buoy is dropped into the water.
ROCKETS
American ocean-going steamers are required to have some approved means of firing lines to the shore. Cunningham rockets and the Hunt gun are largely used. The inaccuracy of the rocket is of less importance when fired from a ship than when fired from shore.
CHAPTER XXVIII
TIME FOR REFLECTION AND REFORMS
SPEED AND LUXURY OVEREMPHASIZED–SPACE NEEDED FOR LIFE-BOATS DEVOTED TO SWIMMING POOLS AND SQUASH- COURTS–MANIA FOR SPEED RECORDS COMPELS USE OF DANGEROUS ROUTES AND PREVENTS PROPER CAUTION IN FOGGY WEATHER–LIFE MORE VALUABLE THAN LUXURY–SAFETY MORE IMPORTANT THAN SPEED–AN AROUSED PUBLIC OPINION NECESSARY–INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RECOMMENDED– ADEQUATE LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE COMPULSORY–SPEED REGULATIONS IN BAD WEATHER– COOPERATION IN ARRANGING SCHEDULES TO KEEP VESSELS WITHIN REACH OF EACH OTHER–LEGAL REGULATIONS
IT is a long time since any modern vessel of importance has gone down under Nature’s attack, and in general the floating city of steel laughs at the wind and waves. She is not, however, proof against disaster. The danger lies in her own power–in the tens of thousands of horse power with which she may be driven into another ship or into an iceberg standing cold and unyielding as a wall of granite. In view of this fact it is of the utmost importance that present-day vessels should be thoroughly provided with the most efficient life-saving devices. These would seem more important than fireplaces, squash-courts and many other luxuries with which the Titanic was provided. The comparatively few survivors of the ill-fated Titanic were saved by the life-boats. The hundreds of others who went down with the vessel perished because there were no life-boats to carry them until rescue came.
SURVIVORS URGE REFORM
The survivors urge the need of reform. In a resolution drawn up after the disaster they said:
“We feel it our duty to call the attention of the public to what we consider the inadequate supply of life-saving appliances provided for the modern passenger steamships and recommend that immediate steps be taken to compel passenger steamers to carry sufficient boats to accommodate the maximum number of people carried on board. The following facts were observed and should be considered in this connection: The insufficiency of life-boats, rafts, etc.; lack of trained seamen to man same (stokers, stewards, etc., are not efficient boat handlers); not enough officers to carry out emergency orders on the bridge and superintend the launching and control of life-boats; the absence of search lights.
“The Board of Trade allows for entirely too many people in each boat to permit the same to be properly handled. On the Titanic the boat deck was about seventy-five feet from the water and consequently the passengers were required to embark before lowering the boats, thus endangering the operation and preventing the taking on of the maximum number the boats would hold. Boats at all times should be properly equipped with provisions, water, lamps, compasses, lights, etc. Life-saving boat drills should be more frequent and thoroughly carried out and officers should be armed at both drills. There should be greater reduction of speed in fog and ice, as damage if collision actually occurs is liable to be less.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RECOMMENDED
“In conclusion we suggest that an international conference be called to recommend the passage of identical laws providing for the safety of all at sea, and we urge the United States Government to take the initiative as soon as possible.”
That ocean liners take chances with their passengers, though known to the well informed, is newly revealed and comes with a shock of surprise and dismay to most people. If boats are unsinkable as well as fireproof there is no need of any life-boats at all. But no such steamship has ever been constructed.
That it is realized that life-boats may be necessary on the best and newest steamships is proved by the fact that they carry them even beyond the law’s requirements. But if life-boats for one-third of those on the ship are necessary, life-boats for all on board are equally necessary. The law of the United States requires this, but the law and trade regulations of England do not, and these controlled the Titanic and caused the death of over sixteen hundred people.
True, a steamship is rarely crowded to her capacity, and ordinarily accommodations in life-boats for a full list would not be needed. But that is no argument against maximum safety facilities, for when disaster comes it comes unexpectedly, and it might come when every berth was occupied. So there must be life-boats for use in every possible emergency. Places must be found for them and methods for handling them promptly.
Suppose a vessel to be thus equipped, would safety be insured? In calm weather such as the Titanic had, yes, for all that would be needed would be to keep the small boats afloat until help came. The Titanic could have saved everyone aboard. In heavy weather, no. As at present arranged, if a vessel has a list, or, in non-nautical language, has tipped over on one side, only the boats upon the lower side can be dropped, for they must be swung clear of the vessel to be lowered from the davits.
So there is a problem which it is the duty of marine designers to solve. They have heretofore turned their attention to the invention of some new contrivance for comfort and luxury. Now let them grasp the far more important question of taking every soul from a sinking ship. They can do it, and while they are about it, it would be well to supplement life-boats with other methods.
We like to think and to say that nothing is impossible in these days of ceaseless and energetic progress. Certainly it is possible for the brains of marine designers to find a better way for rescue work. Lewis Nixon, ship-builder and designer for years, is sure that we can revolutionize safety appliances. He has had a plan for a long time for the construction of a considerable section of deck that could be detached and floated off like an immense raft. He figures that such a deck- raft could be made to carry the bulk of the passengers.
That may seem a bit chimerical to laymen, but Nixon is no layman. His ideas are worthy of every consideration. Certain it is that something radical must be done, and that the maritime nations must get together, not only in the way of providing more life-saving facilities, but in agreeing upon navigation routes and methods.
Captain William S. Sims, of the United States Navy, who is in a position to know what he is talking about, has made some very pointed comments on the subject. He says:
“The truth of the matter is that in case any large passenger steamship sinks, by reason of collision or other fatal damage to her flotability, more than half of her passengers are doomed to death, even in fair weather, and in case there is a bit of a sea running none of the loaded boats can long remain afloat, even if they succeed in getting safely away from the side, and one more will be added to the long list of `the ships that never return.’
“Most people accept this condition as one of the inevitable perils of the sea, but I believe it can be shown that the terrible loss of life occasioned by such disasters as overtook the Bourgogne and the Titanic and many other ships can be avoided or at least greatly minimized. Moreover, it can be shown that the steamship owners are fully aware of the danger to their passengers; that the laws on the subject of life-saving appliances are wholly inadequate; that the steamship companies comply with the law, though they oppose any changes therein, and that they decline to adopt improved appliances; because there is no public demand for them, the demand being for high schedule speed and luxurious conditions of travel.
“In addition to installing efficient life-saving appliances, if the great steamship lines should come to an agreement to fix a maximum speed for their vessels of various classes and fix their dates and hours of steaming so that they would cross the ocean in pairs within supporting distances of each other, on routes clear of ice, all danger of ocean travel would practically be eliminated.
“The shortest course between New York and the English Channel lies across Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Consequently the shortest water route is over seas where navigation is dangerous by reason of fog and ice. It is a notorious fact that the transatlantic steamships are not navigated with due regard to safety; that they steam at practically full speed in the densest fogs. But the companies cannot properly be blamed for this practice, because if the `blue liners’ slow down in a fog or take a safe route, clear of ice, the public will take passage on the `green liners,’ which take the shortest route, and keep up their schedule time; regardless of the risks indicated.”
PROMPT REFORMS
The terrible sacrifice of the Titanic, however, is to have its fruit in safety for the future. The official announcement is
{illust. caption = A diagrammatic map showing how…}
made by the International Mercantile Marine that all its ships will be equipped with sufficient life-boats and rafts for every passenger and every member of the crew, without regard to the regulations in this country and England or Belgium. One of the German liners already had this complement of life-boats, though the German marine as a whole is sufficiently deficient at this point to induce the Reichstag to order an investigation.
Prompt, immediate and gratifying reform marks this action of the International Mercantile Marine. It is doubtless true that this precaution ought to have been taken without waiting for a loss of life such as makes all previous marine disasters seem trivial. But the public itself has been inert. For thirty years, since Plimsoll’s day, every intelligent passenger knew that every British vessel was deficient in life- boats, but neither public opinion nor the public press took this matter up. There were no questions in Parliament and no measures introduced in Congress. Even the legislation by which the United States permitted English vessels reaching American ports to avoid the legal requirements of American statute law (which requires a seat in the life-boats for every passenger and every member of the crew) attracted no public attention, and occasional references to the subject by those better informed did nothing to awake action.
But this is past. Those who died bravely without complaint and with sacrificing regard for others did not lose their lives in vain. The safety of all travelers for all times to come under every civilized flag is to be greater through their sac- rifice. Under modern conditions life can be made as safe at sea as on the land. It is heartrending to stop and think that thirty-two more life-boats, costing only about $16,000, which could have been stowed away without being noticed on the broad decks of the Titanic, would have saved every man, woman and child on the steamer. There has never been so great a disaster in the history of civilization due to the neglect of so small an expenditure.
It would be idle to think that this was due simply to parsimony. It was really due to the false and vicious notion that life at sea must be made showy, sumptuous and magnificent. The absence of life-boats was not due to their cost, but to the demand for a great promenade deck, with ample space to look out on the sea with which a continuous row of life-boats would have interfered, and to the general tendency to lavish money on the luxuries of a voyage instead of first insuring its safety.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE SENATORIAL INVESTIGATION
PROMPT ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT–SENATE COMMITTEE PROBES DISASTER AND BRINGS OUT DETAILS–TESTIMONY OF ISMAY, OFFICERS, CREW, PASSENGERS AND OTHER WITNESSES
PUBLIC sentiment with regard to the Titanic disaster was reflected in the prompt action of the United States Government.
On April 17th the Senate, without a dissenting vote, ordered an investigation of the wreck of the Titanic, with particular reference to the inadequacy of life-saving boats and apparatus. The resolution also directed inquiry into the use by the Titanic of the northern course “over a route commonly regarded as dangerous from icebergs.”
Besides investigating the disaster, the committee was directed to look into the feasibility of international agreements for the further protection of ocean traffic.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, in whose charge the investigation was placed, immediately appointed the following sub-committee to conduct the gathering of evidence and the examination of witnesses:
Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan, chairman; Senator Francis Newlands of Nevada, Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr., of Oregon, Senator George C. Perkins of California, Senator Theodore E. Burton of Ohio, Senator Furnifold McL. Simmons of North Carolina and Senator Duncan U. Fletcher of Florida.
The Senate Committee began its investigation in New York on Friday, April 19th, the morning after the arrival of the Carpathia.
Ismay, the first witness, came to the witness chair with a smile upon his face. He was sworn and then told the committee that he made the voyage on the Titanic only as a voluntary passenger. Nobody designated him to come to see how the newly launched monster would behave on the initial trip. He said that no money was spared in the construction, and as she was built on commission there was no need for the builders to slight the work for their own benefit. The accident had happened on Sunday night, April 14th.
“I was in bed and asleep,” he said. “The ship was not going at full speed, as has been printed, because full speed would be from seventy-eight to eighty revolutions, and we were making only seventy-five. After the impact with the iceberg I dressed and went on deck. I asked the steward what the matter was and he told me. Then I went to Captain Smith and asked him if the ship was in danger and he told me he thought she was.”
Ismay said that he went on the bridge and remained there for some time and then lent a hand in getting the life-boats ready. He helped to get the women and children into the boats.
Ismay said that no other executive officer of the steamship company was on board, which practically made him the sole master of the vessel the minute it passed beyond the control of the captain and his fellow-officers. But Ismay, seeming to scent the drift of the questions, said that he never interfered in any way with the handling of the ship.
Ismay was asked to give more particulars about his departure from the ship. He said:
“The boat was ready to be lowered away and the officer called out if there were any more women or children to go or any more passengers on deck, but there was none, and I got on board.”
CAPTAIN ROSTRON’S TESTIMONY
Captain Rostron, of the Carpathia, followed Mr. Ismay. He said the first message received from the Titanic was that she was in immediate danger. “I gave the order to turn the ship around as soon as the Titanic had given her position. I set a course to pick up the Titanic, which was fifty-eight miles west of my position. I sent for the chief engineer, told him to put on another watch of stokers and make all speed for the Titanic. I told the first officer to stop all deck work, get out the life-boats and be ready for any emergency. The chief steward and doctors of the Carpathia I called to my office and instructed as to their duties. The English doctor was assigned to the first class dining room, the Italian doctor to the second class dining room, the Hungarian doctor to the third class dining room. They were instructed to be ready with all supplies necessary for any emergency.”
{illust. caption = DIAGRAM SHOWING THE PROXIMITY OF OTHER STEAMSHIPS TO THE TITANIC ON NIGHT OF DISASTER.}
The captain told in detail of the arrangements made to prepare the life-boats and the ship for the receipt of the survivors.
WEEPS AS HE TELLS STORY
Then with tears filling his eyes, Captain Rostron said he called the purser. “I told him,” said Captain Rostron, “I wanted to hold a service of prayer–thanksgiving for the living and a funeral service for the dead. I went to Mr. Ismay. He told me to take full charge. An Episcopal clergyman was found among the passengers and he conducted the services.”
TITANIC WAS A “LIFE-BOAT.”
Captain Rostron said that the Carpathia had twenty lifeboats of her own, in accordance with the British regulations.
“Wouldn’t that indicate that the regulations are out of date, your ship being much smaller than the Titanic, which also carried twenty life-boats?” Senator Smith asked.
“No. The Titanic was supposed to be a life-boat herself.”
WIRELESS FAILED
Why so few messages came from the Carpathia was gone into. Captain Rostron declared the first messages, all substantially the same, were sent to the White Star Line, the Cunard Line and the Associated Press. Then the first and