 |
CHAPTER VII
LEFT TO THEIR FATE
COOLNESS AND HEROISM OF THOSE LEFT TO PERISH—SUICIDE
OF MURDOCK—CAPTAIN SMITH'S END—THE SHIP'S BAND
PLAYS A NOBLE HYMN AS THE VESSEL GOES DOWN
Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters |  |
FIFTY LADS MET DEATH
Among the many hundreds of heroic souls who went bravely and quietly to their end were fifty happy-go-lucky youngsters shipped as bell boys or messengers to serve the first cabin passengers. James Humphreys, a quartermaster, who commanded life-boat No. 11, told a little story that shows how these fifty lads met death.
Humphreys said the boys were called to their regular posts in the main cabin entry and taken in charge by their captain, a steward. They were ordered to remain in the cabin and not get in the way. Throughout the first hour of confusion and terror these lads sat quietly on their benches in various parts of the first cabin.
Then, just toward the end when the order was passed around that the ship was going down and every man was free to save himself, if he kept away from the life-boats in which the women
"WHO HATH MEASURED THE WATERS IN THE HOLLOW OF HIS HAND."—Isaiah XL: xii
[Description: Drawing of a tiny ship on the ocean, cradled in a huge palm. ]Humphreys said he saw numbers of them smoking cigarettes and joking with the passengers. They seemed to think that their violation of the rule against smoking while on duty was a sufficient breach of discipline.
Not one of them attempted to enter a life-boat. Not one of them was saved.
|
CHAPTER VII
LEFT TO THEIR FATE
COOLNESS AND HEROISM OF THOSE LEFT TO PERISH—SUICIDE
OF MURDOCK—CAPTAIN SMITH'S END—THE SHIP'S BAND
PLAYS A NOBLE HYMN AS THE VESSEL GOES DOWN
Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters | |