Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters Part 1

Sinking of the t.i.tanic.

by Various.

Dedication

To the 1635 souls who were lost with the ill-fated t.i.tanic, and especially to those heroic men, who, instead of trying to save themselves, stood aside that women and children might have their chance; of each of them let it be written, as it was written of a Greater One--"He Died that Others might Live"

"I stood in unimaginable trance And agony that cannot be remembered."--COLERIDGE

Dr. Van d.y.k.e's Spiritual Consolation to the Survivors of the t.i.tanic

The t.i.tanic, greatest of ships, has gone to her ocean grave. What has she left behind her? Think clearly.

She has left debts. Vast sums of money have been lost. Some of them are covered by insurance which will be paid. The rest is gone. All wealth is insecure.

She has left lessons. The risk of running the northern course when it is menaced by icebergs is revealed. The cruelty of sending a ship to sea without enough life-boats and life-rafts to hold her company is exhibited and underlined in black.

She has left sorrows. Hundreds of human hearts and homes are in mourning for the loss of dear companions and friends. The universal sympathy which is written in every face and heard in every voice proves that man is more than the beasts that perish. It is an evidence of the divine in humanity. Why should we care? There is no reason in the world, unless there is something in us that is different from lime and carbon and phosphorus, something that makes us mortals able to suffer together--

"For we have all of us an human heart."

But there is more than this harvest of debts, and lessons, and sorrows, in the tragedy of the sinking of the t.i.tanic. There is a great ideal.

It is clearly outlined and set before the mind and heart of the modern world, to approve and follow, or to despise and reject.

It is, "Women and children first!"

Whatever happened on that dreadful April night among the arctic ice, certainly that was the order given by the brave and steadfast captain; certainly that was the law obeyed by the men on the doomed ship. But why? There is no statute or enactment of any nation to enforce such an order. There is no trace of such a rule to be found in the history of ancient civilizations. There is no authority for it among the heathen races to-day. On a Chinese ship, if we may believe the report of an official representative, the rule would have been "Men First, children next, and women last."

There is certainly no argument against this barbaric rule on physical or material grounds. On the average, a man is stronger than a woman, he is worth more than a woman, he has a longer prospect of life than a woman.

There is no reason in all the range of physical and economic science, no reason in all the philosophy of the Superman, why he should give his place in the life-boat to a woman.

Where, then, does this rule which prevailed in the sinking t.i.tanic come from? It comes from G.o.d, through the faith of Jesus of Nazareth.

It is the ideal of self-sacrifice. It is the rule that "the strong ought to bear the infirmities of those that are weak." It is the divine revelation which is summed up in the words: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

It needs a tragic catastrophe like the wreck of the t.i.tanic to bring out the absolute contradiction between this ideal and all the counsels of materialism and selfish expediency.

I do not say that the germ of this ideal may not be found in other religions. I do not say that they are against it. I do not ask any man to accept my theology (which grows shorter and simpler as I grow older), unless his heart leads him to it. But this I say: The ideal that the strength of the strong is given them to protect and save the weak, the ideal which animates the rule of "Women and children first," is in essential harmony with the spirit of Christ.

If what He said about our Father in Heaven is true, this ideal is supremely reasonable. Otherwise it is hard to find arguments for it. The tragedy of facts sets the question clearly before us. Think about it. Is this ideal to survive and prevail in our civilization or not?

Without it, no doubt, we may have riches and power and dominion. But what a world to live in!

Only through the belief that the strong are bound to protect and save the weak because G.o.d wills it so, can we hope to keep self-sacrifice, and love, and heroism, and all the things that make us glad to live and not afraid to die.

HENRY VAN d.y.k.e.

PRINCETON, N. J., April 18, 1912.

FACTS ABOUT THE WRECK OF THE t.i.tANIC

NUMBER of persons aboard, 2340. Number of life-boats and rafts, 20.

Capacity of each life-boat, 50 pa.s.sengers and crew of 8. Utmost capacity of life-boats and rafts, about 1100. Number of life-boats wrecked in launching, 4. Capacity of life-boats safely launched, 928. Total number of persons taken in life-boats, 711. Number who died in life-boats, 6.

Total number saved, 705. Total number of t.i.tanic's company lost, 1635.

The cause of the disaster was a collision with an iceberg in lat.i.tude 41.46 north, longitude 50.14 west. The t.i.tanic had had repeated warnings of the presence of ice in that part of the course. Two official warnings had been received defining the position of the ice fields. It had been calculated on the t.i.tanic that she would reach the ice fields about 11 o'clock Sunday night. The collision occurred at 11.40. At that time the ship was driving at a speed of 21 to 23 knots, or about 26 miles, an hour.

There had been no details of seamen a.s.signed to each boat.

Some of the boats left the ship without seamen enough to man the oars.

Some of the boats were not more than half full of pa.s.sengers.

The boats had no provisions, some of them had no water stored, some were without sail equipment or compa.s.ses.

In some boats, which carried sails wrapped and bound, there was not a person with a knife to cut the ropes. In some boats the plugs in the bottom had been pulled out and the women pa.s.sengers were compelled to thrust their hands into the holes to keep the boats from filling and sinking.

The captain, E. J. Smith, admiral of the White Star fleet, went down with his ship.

CHAPTER I. FIRST NEWS OF THE GREATEST MARINE DISASTER IN HISTORY

"THE t.i.tANIC IN COLLISION, BUT EVERYBODY SAFE"--ANOTHER TRIUMPH SET DOWN TO WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY--THE WORLD GOES TO SLEEP PEACEFULLY--THE SAD AWAKENING.

LIKE a bolt out of a clear sky came the wireless message on Monday, April 15, 1912, that on Sunday night the great t.i.tanic, on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, had struck a gigantic iceberg, but that all the pa.s.sengers were saved. The ship had signaled her distress and another victory was set down to wireless. Twenty-one hundred lives saved!

Additional news was soon received that the ship had collided with a mountain of ice in the North Atlantic, off Cape Race, Newfoundland, at 10.25 Sunday evening, April 14th. At 4.15 Monday morning the Canadian Government Marine Agency received a wireless message that the t.i.tanic was sinking and that the steamers towing her were trying to get her into shoal water near Cape Race, for the purpose of beaching her.

Wireless despatches up to noon Monday showed that the pa.s.sengers of the t.i.tanic were being transferred aboard the steamer Carpathia, a Cunarder, which left New York, April 13th, for Naples. Twenty boat-loads of the t.i.tanic's pa.s.sengers were said to have been transferred to the Carpathia then, and allowing forty to sixty persons as the capacity of each life-boat, some 800 or 1200 persons had already been transferred from the damaged liner to the Carpathia. They were reported as being taken to Halifax, whence they would be sent by train to New York.

Another liner, the Parisian, of the Allan Company, which sailed from Glasgow for Halifax on April 6th, was said to be close at hand and a.s.sisting in the work of rescue. The Baltic, Virginian and Olympic were also near the scene, according to the information received by wireless.

While badly damaged, the giant vessel was reported as still afloat, but whether she could reach port or shoal water was uncertain. The White Star officials declared that the t.i.tanic was in no immediate danger of sinking, because of her numerous water-tight compartments.

"While we are still lacking definite information," Mr. Franklin, vice-president of the White Star Line, said later in the afternoon, "we believe the t.i.tanic's pa.s.sengers will reach Halifax, Wednesday evening.

We have received no further word from Captain Haddock, of the Olympic, or from any of the ships in the vicinity, but are confident that there will be no loss of life."

With the understanding that the survivors would be taken to Halifax the line arranged to have thirty Pullman cars, two diners and many pa.s.senger coaches leave Boston Monday night for Halifax to get the pa.s.sengers after they were landed. Mr. Franklin made a guess that the t.i.tanic's pa.s.sengers would get into Halifax on Wednesday. The Department of Commerce and Labor notified the White Star Line that customs and immigration inspectors would be sent from Montreal to Halifax in order that there would be as little delay as possible in getting the pa.s.sengers on trains.

Monday night the world slept in peace and a.s.surance. A wireless message had finally been received, reading: