Thursday, April 11, 1912
I spent this morning looking around. The ship is so magnificent it is incredible. I caught a glimpse of an upper class cafe and I was simply amazed at the sheer beauty of it. There is so much detail put into it. There are carvings in even the chairs. The whole place was just so ornate and beautiful by 11:30 a.m., the Titanic was riding at anchor in Queenstown harbour, about two miles from land, and prepared to take aboard additional passengers and mail brought over on the tenders "America" and "Ireland". At 1:30 p.m. the starboard anchor was raised for the last time and the Titanic departed on her crossing, bound for New York. There are an estimated 2,227 passengers and crew on board. The Titanic throbbed to life as the great propellers began to revolve pushing her forward towards her icy journey through the North
Atlantic. A brief stop to drop off the pilot at the Daunt light-ship followed by a wide turn to starboard, the green fields of Ireland slipped past. A French fishing vessel passes dangerously close, so close that the fishermen are splashed with spray from Titanic's bow. Titanic’s watch officer returns their cheering with a blast from her whistles. The people I share a cabin with are Italian and I cant understand a word they are saying.
Friday, April 12, 1912
By daybreak Titanic was well out in the Atlantic. Each day, as the voyage went on, my admiration of the ship increased: for the way she behaved; for the total absence of vibration; for her steadiness even with the ever-increasing speed. The weather was a bit to cold for my liking so I spent a good deal of the time in the small library. I have heard that the wireless on the ship is down and that there is ice everywhere ahead. But this ship, she will never sink.
Saturday, April 13, 1912
I have been in the boiler room today. The heat down there is tremendous. The “black gang” work on. The heat pounds your body and the noise is incredible. The massive pistons going around, faster and faster. It is like torture down there, boiler number six was finally extinguished but I was then escorted back up. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be down there but I was curious about the workings of the ship and the people working there. It is hard to believe the heat down there when it is so cold up on deck
Sunday, April 14, 1912
There was fine weather today but the wireless picked up messages of ice ahead, I was only slightly worried because I thought just the size of this ship would protect us if ice should appear. Just before 6:00 pm the ship's course was altered slightly to south and west of its normal course as a precaution to avoid the ice warned by so many ships. Titanic's speed was actually increasing. At 7:30 pm, 3 warning messages concerning large icebergs were intercepted from the "Californian" indicating that ice was only 50 miles ahead. altogether the many ice warnings received today day showed a huge ice field 78 miles long and directly ahead of Titanic. By this time, 24 of 29 boilers were fired going at the highest speed ever achieved by the ship. At 11:30 pm, lookouts Fleet and Lee noted a slight haze appearing directly ahead. Titanic took a long time to turn and even then it scraped along the starboard side forward for a long distance By 11:55 pm, 15 minutes after the collision, the post office on "G" Deck forward is already flooding. I began to run.
Shortly after midnight, the Squash court, 32 feet above keel, was awash. The majority of the boilers have been shut down and huge clouds of steam roared out of the relief pipes secured to the sides of the funnels. The lifeboats were uncovered. That’s when I knew it was going to sink. There was only enough room for 1,178 people out of an estimated 2,227 on board if every boat was filled to capacity. Rockets were being fired and a string band was playing on A deck. There was not much panic at this point and people were keeping calm.
At 12:25 am Smith gave the order to start loading lifeboats with women and children By 12:45 am, starboard lifeboat No. 7 was safely lowered away with only 28 people while it could of carried 65. This made me angry but there was a man waving a gun about so I didn’t protest. The rockets were firing 800 feet in the air and exploding into 12 brilliant white stars along with a loud report. A ship came close but then disappeared again despite attempts to grab its attention. By this time, seven boats have been lowered but with far fewer passengers and crew than rated capacity. The tilt of the deck grew steeper and boats begun to be more fully loaded with starboard No. 9 lowered at 1:20 am with 56 people aboard. The Titanic then developed a noticeable list to starboard. By 1:30 am signs of panic begun to appear as I jumped into boat number 14 as it was being lowered. The boat took a long time to be lowered and when it got to the bottom I watched as the chaos grew. I watched as the boat began to tilt further and further. There were people screaming and running up the tilt of the boat. There were people jumping into the sea. The lights flicked once and then it all went completely dark. Soon after the boat broke in two between the 3rd and 4th funnels. The ship achieved a completely perpendicular position and remains there for several minutes. At 2:20 am it settled back slightly and slid down into the black freezing water.
That was the end of the greatest ship the world had yet seen. Almost at once, the night was punctuated with the cries of the survivors, growing in number and anguish. The ghastly noise continued for some time but mercifully many froze to death rather than drown. I will remember the horrific sights and sounds of the people trying to survive, hopelessly hanging on. I am now on the Carpathia along with the other survivors. I’m wondering what is next for me as we pass the statue of liberty.
