THE GREAT SHIPWRECK.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 95, 22 April 1912, Page 7

THE GREAT SHIPWRECK.

MORE GRAPHIC NARRATIONS. HOW THE MIGHTY LINER WENT DOWN. UNITED STATES ENQUIRY OPENS. OFFICIAL ESTIMATE OF THOSE DROWNED. [Cable message* received since Saturday point conclusively to the fact that had it not been for the blind faith of many of the passengers, and cr«w in the. unsinkableness of the mammoth liner Titanic, many more lives would have been saved. Appended are graphic descriptions of the scenes on the liner before she took her final plunge into tho depths. Nearly all the statements show that the officers and crew acted with that self-sacrifice which is a tradition of British t>eamanship.]

LADY DUFF-GORDON'S STORY THRILLIN6 DESCRIPTION OF THE END CONTINUED CHOBUS OF UTTER agony: GRADUALLY DIES INTO A MOAN OF DESPAIR. By Telegraph.— Pre»e AjßOciatlon.— Copyright. (Received April 22, 8.5 a.m) LONDON, 21sfc April. Lady Cosmo Duff-Gordon, who was one of the rescued passengers in the Titanic disaster, itt an interview published in the 'Daily News, Bays * — "I was asleep when the crash came. I had previously been watching the fields of ioe, when an officer pointed out one, apparently a hundred feet high and several mites long. I was awakened by a long, grinding crash, and I aroused Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon. He ran to investigate and returned and said, 'We have hit a big berg.' NOBODY DREAMED SHE COULD SINK. "We adjusted our life-preservers and went on deck. There was no excitement, the chip had listed slightly, but nobody dreamed she could sink. There was little alarm even when the officers came running down announcing that the women and children must go to the boats. It wa» thought that thus was but an ordinary precaution. "Our boat was the twelfth or thirteenth launched, and those in it included five stokers, two Americans named Solomon and Stengel, two sailors, Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon and myself, Miss Frank, an English girl. Numbers of men who'' were standing near joked at us because we were going out on the ocean. 'You'll get your death of cold out amid the ice,' they said. A TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION. "We cruised around for two hours, and then suddenly saw the Titanic give a curious shiver. There were no lights on the ship except a few lanterns. "I heard several pistol shot* and great screaming from the decks. The vessel's stern lifted in the air, .there was a tremendous explosion, then another explosion, and Hhe whole forward part went under. The stern rose a hundred feet, like an enormous black finger against the sky. Little figures hung to the point by their, fingers, and then dropped into the water. The screaming was agonising. I have never heard such a continued chorus of utter agony. "A minute or two later," eaid Lady Gordon, "the Titanic's stern slowly disappeared, as though a great hand was pushing it gently under the waves. As she sank the screaming of the poor souls aboard seemed to grow louder. A MOMENT'S AWFUL SILENCE. "We were two hundred yards away and watched her go down slowly, almost peacefully. For a moment there was an awful silence,, then from the water where the Titanic had been arose a bedlam of shrieks and cries of women and men clinging to wreckage in the icy water. It was at least an hour before the awful chorus of shrieks ceased, gradually dying into a moan of despair. The very last cry was a man's. 'My God, my God,' he cvied monotonously, in a dull, hopeless wuy. GLOOM ON THE CARPATHIA. "There was one iceberg," continued Lady Gordon, "possibly the one the Titanic struck, which tseemed to pursue us. The rowers made frantic efforts to get past it. At last morning came. On one Bide there were icefloes and big bergs, and on the other we were horrified* 'to see a school of tremendous whales. "We then caught sight of the Carpathia looming up in the distance and heading straight for us. We were too numb with cold and horror to utter a sound. There were more than fifty women who lost their husbands, including fifteen brides. The gloom on the Garpathia was ghastly. I buried myself in my cabin and did not come on deck until we reached New York." NEW YORK, 21st Aprii. Lady Cosmo Duff -Gordon states that a fetv men tried to rush the boat she was in. An officer drove them off, and' one, persisting, was shot dead, hia body falling into and remaining in the boat till the Carpathia picked it up. Many. Lady Gordon says, were quickly benumbed by the icy cold water, and perished.

The band meanwhile played 1 popular airs to reassure passengers. None wanted to go in the boats, believing there was no ri&k in remaining on board; hence some of the boats Sad few passengers. Their boat was rowed away half a mile. A fairylike spectacle was presented by the Titanic. She stood out, illuminated and stationary, resembling a fantastic stage picture. Then suddenly the lights were extinguished, and an immense clamour arose. Tie air resounded with a supreme cry for help and shrieks of anguish. The Titanic sank quietly. The suciioiv was imperceptible, but a great backwash was felt. After the boats left a group of passengers were seen launching, wiLh dim-/ culty, some of the collapsible boats. They got in, bub the boats gradually filled, and the majority of the occupants freve drowned or perished from cold. The Titanic's crew displayed sublime self-sacrifice. The narrators state that much useless sacrifice might have been avoided but for the blind faith in the vessel's unsinkableness. The sea was strewn with dead all around the spot where the ship sank. Rumours are current of atrocities committed by frenzied members of the crew, including the Bhooting of passengers dn the boats and the braining of swimmers who were trying to enter boats; but the majority of the witnesses do not confirm thus. AN ARRAY~OF HORRORS TOBOGGANING TO DEATH. FOREIGNEES' UGLY RUSH FOR BOATS. ' NEW YORK, 20th AprH. The last scenes presented an agonising array of horrors. As the ship was split in two the stern rose precipitously, and scores of men leaped overboard, while others scrambled madly xipwards to the stern. As the incline of the deck became steeper hundreds lost their footing and' tobogganed downwards, shrieking in a pitiable manner. Hundreds who escaped out of the vortex dung to bite of wreckage and rafts. It is believed: that eight hundred jumped as the vessel sank, but only the liai'diest could stand the icy water. A few vigorous strokes, and the stiffened forms floated away. The boat commanded by the purser was capsized by three women rushing to the side to bid farewell to their relatives. It is believed that none of the thirty women /in that boat survived. A number of foreigners made an ugly rush on one of the boats as it was being got ready for launching, when Mr. Murdock, the first' officer, holding up a revolver, said : "I will kill the first man that rushes." Three essayed the rush, and one dropued, shot through the head. Another 3 jaw was blown away,- and a quartermaster felled the third man.