FRENCH SURVIVORS' NARRATIVE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 22 April 1912, Page 5

FRENCH SURVIVORS' NARRATIVE.

A MOMENTARY PANIC. CONFIDENCE QUICKLY RESTORED, FOREIGNERS RUSH A BOAT. TWO SHOT BY THE CHIEF OFFICER NEW YORK, April 20. Three French survivors state thai they were playing cards, and heard a violent noise, like the screws racing. They saw ice rubbing against the vessel's sides. A tremendous list followed, and there was a momentary panic, which speedily subsided, confidence being restored. The captain said : "Let everybody don a lifebelt ; it is more prudent." The band played popular airs to reassure the passengers. None wanted to go to the boats, believing there was no risk in remaining on board. Hence some of the boats had few passengers. Their boat rowed half a mile.

The spectacle was fairyliko. the Titanic, illuminated and stationary, resembling a fantastic stage picture. •Suddenly the lights were extinguished, and there* wVas a great clamour. The air resounded with a supreme cry for ne/p, and shrieks of anguish. The Titanic sank quietly, tliO; suction being imperceptible, but there was a great- backwash. After the boats left a group of passengers were seen launching with difficulty a collapsible boat. They got in, but the boat gradually filled, and the majority v.-cro drowned, or perished from cold. The Titanic's crew displayed sublime self-sacrifice. .Much useless sacrificcomild have been avoided but for blind faith in the vessel's unsinkableness. The sea. was strewn with dead.

There are rumours of atrocities by frenzied members of the crew, including shooting passengers in the boats and braining swimmers who were trying to enter the boats; but the majority of the witnesses do not confirm these statements.

The last scenes presented an agonising array of horrors. As the ship split the stern rose precipitously, and scores leaped overboard. Others scrambled madlj tip the stern, and as the incline steepened hundreds lost their footing, and tobagganed downwards, amid pitiable shriek ing. Hundreds who escaped the vortex clung to wreckage and rafts. They believed 800 jumped as the vessel sank, but only the hardiest could stand the icy water, though a few made vigorous strokes. Stiffened forms floated away.

Their boat, which was commanded by the purser, was capsized by three women rushing to the side to take farewell of their relatives. They believed none of the thirty women survived. A number of foreigners made an ugly rush, and Mr Murdock, the first officer, drew a revolver, and said, "I will kill the first man that rushes !" Three rushed, and one dropped, shot through the head. Another's jaw was blown away, and the quartermaster felled the third.