As I was going to the deck, I noticed a slight slant of the ship. I still had no idea of what had happened. I thought that maybe the front few compartments were filled so I went back to my room to put on some warmer clothes. As I was doing so, I heard the order “All the passengers on deck with lifebelts on.”
Everybody put their lifebelts on and proceeded to the deck. On my second time of going to the deck I noticed the ship had slanted a little bit more. Nobody was in any sort of panic and presumed that the lifebelts were just a safety precaution. We all thought that we could go back to our rooms after the captain would tell us everything was under control. But everything was far from fine.
Everybody on the deck was calm and relaxed, this may have been due to the calmness of the sea and no signs of accidents. The ship had now come to a total halt, with only a slight slant downwards. Hardly anybody noticed the slant of the ship at the time. There were no signs of danger approaching, but only confusion as to why we had been bought up to the freezing deck.
After a few minutes, I saw some of the crew lifting the lifeboat covers of the lifeboats. Other members of the crew began to get in position ready to uncoil the thick ropes by which the lifeboats were suspended by. My very first thought after seeing the lifeboats was to go back to my room to gather more clothing and some valuable items, but I didn’t as there was a large number of people coming up the stairs and me going down would only create more confusion.
The next voice I heard was from the crew, they shouted, “All men stand back away from the boats. All ladies retire to the next deck below.” All the women and their children went to deck B as we called it. Deck B was the deck that was immediately below us. The men then stood a few steps away from the lifeboats.
The lifeboats were lowered until they were in level with deck B, this was where the women and children were to get on the lifeboats. Some women hesitated to get on as they saw the extreme height that the boat was above the water. Other women refused to leave their husbands but were forced to board the boat. The men stayed on the above deck awaiting orders. Some men anxiously looked over the railings at the sea, whilst others paced up and down the deck..
I leant over the side of the ship and could see that some lifeboats had reached the water and were slowly drifting into the darkness of the night. Whilst the boats were being lowered, all I could hear was the creaking of the lifeboat ropes which had been in use for the first time.
The next order issued was to the sailor of the lifeboat from one of the officers, “When you’re afloat, row round to the companion ladder and stand by with other boats for orders.” The reply as usual was “Aye, aye, Sir.” None of the lifeboats obeyed the order as they had begun to sail as far away as possible from the Titanic. This was due to the fact that the Titanic could cause enough suction to pull the lifeboats towards it.
The men on the deck began to realise the danger that we could all end up in the sea with only our lifebelts to save us until we were picked up. The atmosphere was calm considering the circumstances, nobody was panicking or rushing around to get in a life boat which I thought was quiet odd. I heard some of the men talking about some lifeboats on the starboard side of the ship which were half full. Some of the men then went over there to see if it was true. I remained where I was.
The next voice I heard was the voice of another crew member saying, “Any more ladies?” I leant over and saw no ladies coming. The man then looked up at me and said, “Any ladies on your deck, Sir?” I told him that there weren’t any. “Then you’d better jump,” said the man. I delightfully jumped on to the boat and fell to the bottom of it. “Lower away,” was the next order from one of the officers. We were then slowly being lowered. As the boat began to make its long journey to the water, two more ladies were pushed on.
As we rowed away, the Titanic’s front end went deeper under the water, none of us could take our eyes off of it. Every minute the slant became greater and greater. By this time, we were a fair way away, people seem like ants. One had to be as far away from the Titanic as we were to appreciate its massive size.
It was about 1 o’clock in the morning, the sky looked beautiful as the stars could be seen. It was now very cold indeed, the only sounds coming from our lifeboat was the chatter of people’s teeth. The evening was very calm but the Titanic was not. People were still on board and were rushing about, trying to find some way to live another day. The lights from the ship began to flicker. They would go out or flash for a few minutes, then all of a sudden all the lights went out.
By 2 o’clock, the cold had become even more bitter, the Titanic now was at a vertical angle. It was a thought that was hard to take in, because the ship looked indestructible. On board the ship, many people were saying, “.. but she’s unsinkable!” To our amazement, she stay in the upright position for about five minutes, one would think a ship of that size would sink very quickly. Then all of a sudden she disappeared completely out of sight. That was the last time that our eyes would see the amazing Titanic that set out from Southampton so well.
I feel extremely sorry for the people who were not able to get a lifeboat. They all fell into the sea and just swam about. One woman on our boat said that we should go back and pick up survivors. The idea was dismissed as the boat would be swamped. Then came the most awful noise that a human should ever have to listen to, the sound of hundreds of people screaming as they drowned.
A while later, the Carpathia approached us, it picked all the survivors who were on the boat. Latest figures show that there were seven hundred and two survivors. My first thought whilst we boarded the ship was a relief to know that I was safe, my second thought was for those who had died by freezing to death or drowning.
The question that everyone must have thought about was about the number of lifeboats. There were about two thousand of us on the ship, there were enough lifeboats for half of that number. Why weren’t there more boats? After this experience, I shall never travel on a ship no matter how safe it may seem. This event has proved that technology can fail no matter how advanced it is.
