CONNECTED RELIABLE ACCOUNTS.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXIV, Issue 26, 20 April 1912, Page 5

CONNECTED RELIABLE ACCOUNTS.

THRILLING NARRATIVES. ABSENCE OF DUE EQUiPMCN'J* AND CONTROL. (Received April 20, S.oo a.m.) : .LONDON, April 19. The official statement points out the insufficiency of lifeboats and raits, and the lack of trained seamen to man the boats, insufficient officers to carry out emergency orders on the :hlge, and to superintend the launching and control of boats; also the absence of searchlights. The necessity for talcing ii) passengers before lowering to the water ■ prevented the boats from taking the maximum.

ne captain jumped overboard when the decks were awasbed. Revolver shots were heard prior to his sinking. The evening papers published rumours that the officers had suicided, which the crew discredit.

Members of tbe Stock Exchange brought 20,000 dollars for'distribution to the neediest.

The unexpectedly early arrival prevented the Senate's Investigation Committee from boarding the Carpathia before she was docked. The Chairman states that he learned that the surviving officers and crew contemplated boarding the Cedric immediately to proceed to England, and placing themselves beyond the Committee's jurisdiction. The Chairman adds that lie intends to tell Ismay that in older to avoid trouble the company and the officers should assist the inquiry by the Department of Justice at Washington. They believe the erroneous messages concerning the. fate of the Titanic were a deliberate attempt to postpone the knowledge of the wreck and give time to reinsure the cargo.

TITANIC 2. Beesley, science master at Bulwineh College, gives this narrative:—There was line weather and a calm sea. On Sunday, when it was very cold, a slight jar was felt for ten or fifteen seconds, somewhat greater but insufficient to create anxiety. The engines stopped, and it was thought the ship had lost her propeller. He went on deck, and found only a few persons about, with some card'players in the smoking room. He noticed the jar, and looking out saw an iceberg, which the vessel's side Avas grazing. He went to his cabin, and returned on deck later, when he found her unmistakably down at the head. He went below and heard a cry of "All passengers oh deck, with lifebelts on." The passengers merely regarded this as a precaution, and there was no panic or alarm, and no visible signs of disaster. The boats being outswung awakened us io the danger. The next order was: "All men stand from the boats, and women retire to the deck below." As the boats reached the lower deck the women quietrj entered, with the exception of some who refused to leave their husbands. In some cases they were forcibly torn from their husbands and pushed into the boats; as they touched the water they slipped away' in the darkness. There was no- hysterical sobbing, but an extraordinary calm. TITANIC 3. The men were then ordered into the boats. He saw a boat half full of women on the port side. A sailor asked if there were any more ladies;

on his deck there were none. He was )

then invited to jump in. ' There were no officers in the boat. No one seemed to know what to do. They swung under another descending boat. The promptitude of a stoker in cutting the fall prevented all being crushed. The stoker took charge. Other accounts allege wild disorder and a maniacal struggle in the boats. Hysterical passengers who do not give their names declare that the captain and enginemen suicided. These stories, owing to the confusion at landing, could not be confirmed.

A mass of ice ripped the side like a gigantic ca.n-opener, from the stem to the engine-room. Shortly before she sunk she broke in twain abaft the engine room, carrying away hundreds who were grouped on the decks, and whose cries were pitiable.

JBraden, a passenger, said the captain was standing alone. Once a wave upset him; then as the boat sank another wave knocked him down and lie disappeared. TITANIC 4. Mr Beesley's narrative (continued) : The leviathan loomed up against the sky, every porthole blazing. At two she settled rapidly by the bows. Tho bridge was under water, and the lights flickered and were then extinguished. The stem tilted, and all the machinery roared down through the vessel with a rattle audible for miles. About 150 feet of the stern protruded straight up for about five minutes; then a slanting dive followed and appalling cries for help. Hundreds of human beings were in the icy water. Mr. Ismay welcomed the fullest inquiry. He left the Titanic in the last bmt, and deferred his statement. The survivors at a safe distance witnessed the plunge and heard the band playing. Colonel Gracie emphatically denies shooting with a revolver. He once fired to intimidate some steerage passengers. Colonel Astor, after placing his wife in a boat, asked permission to accompany her. The second officer said "No, sir; no man enters the boatstill the women are off." Astor then assisted in clearing''the other boats, and reassuring nervous women. Several survivors state that the Titanic was travelling 23 knots. TITANIC 5. All the steamers that have already started westward have been ordered to travel further south. President Taft was informed that Colonel Butt had shot twelve and avos then liimself sbot. Among the most affecting scenes at landing' was the sight of the women steerage passengers, thinly clad and shivering, their eyes red with constant weeping, whom the charitable organisations speedily succoured. When the Titanic plunged many jumped overboard. Some were rescued in boats. A. number em'barked in collap-S'ibles, which the boats subsequently picked up. A passenger describes the fifth officer, Lowe, as saving ninny lives, warning the people not to jump and swamp the boats. When his collapsible was launched he hois-ted a mast- and sail and collected, the other collapsibles, arranging an- adequate crew for each ; he connected them by lines, >and afll were moving together.. Later be,-re-turned to the wreck and saved a collapsible containing thirty scantily-clad persons w>ho were on the point of sinking. Some died from exposure while being transferred to the Oarpathia.

Grade states that he was driven to the topmost deck, and saw no other survivors. After a wave had swept the liner, he grasped a. brass, railing desperately, but was forced to release it. When the ship plunged he swirled round, and after what seemed an interminable time, die eventually ca.nie to the surface and seized the wooden grating. When. Qie recovered 'his breath he discovered a large canvas cork-raft. Another person struggled to the, raft and both rescued others who were foundering in the sea. At da.un there were thirty on. the raft, knee-deep in waiter. They were afraid to move lest they sfliouOd be overturned in the long terrible hours before the Canpatihia picked them up.