The Oskaloosa herald., 1912-04-18

Des Moines Capital: IF Captain
Haddock of the Olympic, wired that
the Titanic has gone to the bottom,
she has gone and this despite the fact
that she was credited with being an
'unsinkable boat"
This was the sad comment of Col
Albert w. Swain, United States con-
sui to Southampton, England, on the
wreck of the Titanic. Colonel Swain
reached Des MoineS Monday.
AS a personal friend of Captain
Smith, commander of the Titanic, and
personally acquainted with the major
ity of the crew of that ship. Colonel
Swain talked feelingly this morning
of the worlds greatest marine disast
err. A firm believer that the boat was
unsuitable, thoroughly familiar with
every detail of the "titian of the seas
he vet felt compelled to admit that
mans greatest piece of naval archi.
lecture was as tissue paper when it
met the immovable force of nature.
"The only wav in which 7 can ac-
count for this terrible disaster is the
old story of an irresistible force meet
ing an immovable body" said he. "One
or the other had to give, the force Of
man or the force of nature. The force
of nature refused to bulge and so the
power created by man gave way to
the superior force
Immediately upon his arrival down
town Tuesday morning Colonel Swain
sent the following cablegram to the
mayor of Southampton, England,
where all members of the crew lived:
Deeply shocked at terrible dis.
aster which has befallen Captain
Smith and crew on Titanic. Mrs.
Swain joins me in deepest SYM
pathy to the stricken families"
Life Boats Crushed.
"The only way | can account for the
great loss of life, even if the ship did
sink" said he. discussing the disas
ter. lis that many of the lifeboats
were crushed by the impact. There
were enough lifeboats on the Titanic
to have taken every living soul from
the ship. Those lifeboats are operat-
ed automatically and can be lowered
and manned in two minutes. 1t takes
crew of twelve men to man one life
boat and each boat will hold $50 peo-
pie. In the time which elapsed when
she struck the iceberg and when she
sank, all boats could have been low
cred, manned and all passengers TAX
en- aboard. The fact that so many
lost their lives convinceS me that the
disaster was not what in railroad par
lance would be called a headon col
lision, but that the big boat struck the
iceberg at an angle, crushing in the
bow and side and completely crush.
ing the lifeboats along the side and
on the bow of the boat.
"The Titanic was so constructed
that the bow or the stern could be
knocked completely off and still she
would float This was made possible
by the huge bulkheads. Both in the
bow and stern of the boat there were
no Npassageways, but instead solid
steel bulkheads. These were braced
on every deck, up and down, so that
! it would require terrible force, one
greater than the mind of man can con-
ceiye, to have rendered the ship sink.
able. Every compartment separ.
ate and distinct The boat was equip.
ped to meet every possible emergency
of wind and storm and collision with
other boats.
Solid Ice Beneath Waves.
she must have struck giant field
of ice, sideways. One-fifth of these
icebergs are above the waterline while
four-fifths are below. They stretch
under the water in solid field of ice,
being practically an immoyable body.
Imagine ii you can gigantic thing
of steel and iron, riveted, braced,
banded. moving at good rate of
speed. striking such thing as one of