1.
CHAPTER I
FIRST NEWS OF THE GREATEST MARINE DISASTER IN HISTORY
"THE TITANIC 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 Titanic, on her maiden voyage across the
Atlantic, had struck a gigantic iceberg, but that all the
passengers 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 Titanic 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
passengers of the Titanic were being transferred aboard the
steamer Carpathia, a Cunarder, which left New York, April
13th, for Naples. Twenty boat-loads of the Titanic's passengers
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 assisting 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
Titanic 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 Titanic's passengers 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 passenger coaches leave Boston Monday
night for Halifax to get the passengers after they were landed.
Mr. Franklin made a guess that the Titanic's passengers
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 passengers on trains.
Monday night the world slept in peace and assurance.
A wireless message had finally been received, reading:
"All Titanic's passengers safe."
It was not until nearly a week later that the fact was
discovered that this message had been wrongly received in
the confusion of messages flashing through the air, and that
in reality the message should have read:
"Are all Titanic's passengers safe?"
With the dawning of Tuesday morning came the awful news
of the true fate of the Titanic.