At 11:40 p.m., lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were in the Crow's Nest. Fleet was alarmed
by a haze he saw on the horizon. Suddenly, he rang the Warning Bell three times and telephoned the Bridge
warning "Iceberg, right ahead!" As the Titanic steamed directly toward the huge black mass of ice, First
Officer William Murdoch ordered the engine's stopped and turned hard to Port, and all of the 15 watertight
doors secured. Despite these efforts, the Titanic scraped against the Iceberg for 10 seconds on her starboard
side.
After the impact, Captain Smith rushed into the chart room as Officers sent for Thomas Andrews.
Fourth Officer Boxhall made an initial inspection of the forward areas and reported that he saw no damage.
Captain Smith and Andrews then inspected the ship for themselves and found that the Iceberg had damaged
the ship's plates in five or six of her watertight compartments. They quickly realized that the ship
would sink, since it could no remain afloat with more than four compartments flooded. Sea water had already
risen 14 feet above the keel, and water was bursting in from the forepeak to Boiler Room 5 as the ship
began sinking by the bow. Many of the passengers had no idea that the Ship was in grave danger. After
the collision, many gathered in the corridors half-dressed.
Everyone seemed conifident that the
ship was all right, recalls first-class passenger Henry Sleeper Harper. At last the call finally came
for all passengers to come up on deck wearing their lifebelts. Soon after Midnight , Captain Smith directed
Crew members to ready the 16 wooden lifeboats and 4 collapsible boats. The noise on deck was horrendous
as steam was released to ease pressure on the Titanic's boilers. Over the noise Lightoller shouted to
the Captain for permission to begin loading the boats. The Captain nodded his agreement.
On the
Port side, only women and children were for the most part permitted in the lifeboats. On the Starboard
side men were allowed to get into the boats only if no women were in sight. Still many women were reluctant
to leave their husbands and the apparent safety of the huge ship for a 70-foot drop down into the dark
ocean in the tiny wooden boats. Some had to be forcefully picked up and dropped into the lifeboats by
Crew members. Very few of the boats were loaded to their capacity with passengers.
At 12:45 a.m.
on April 15, 1912, Quartermaster George Rowe fired distress rockets as lifeboat 7 was lowered with only
28 people aboard, even though it could have carried 65. Realizing the danger of their situation, many
third-class passengers gathered in prayer. Five men jumped into lifeboat 5 as it decended seriously injuring
a woman passenger. By 1:15 the Titanic's bow had plunged beneath the surface. Even as water was rising
in the ship the band continued to play, and the Gymnasium Instructor was assisting Passengers on the
mechanical exercise equipment.
At 2:05 a.m., after the last wooden lifeboats and two of the collapsible
boats had gone, Captain Smith was reported to have told his Crew "That it was now every man for himself".
Another account reports him to have said "Be British". Regardless of which it was this was the last time
Captain Smith was ever saw. A group of men on deck continued to struggle to release one of the two remaining
collapsibles, which was lashed to the top of the Dech House. Hundreds of other passengers were praying,
crying, and jumping from the ship. At 2:10 a.m. the bow dropped further sending water up the deck as
Passengers struggled toward the Stern. At 2:17 a.m. the Stern rose almost vertically into the sky, stopped,
and pivoted. The Titanic's lights flickered and finally went out, as the ship at last eased down into
the water and sank below the surface of the sea not to be seen again for 74 years.
|
