Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-06-18
THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF TITANIC
STEAMSHIP.

SG4AAEA4Es
on Tuesday, May IS. the senate COM
nittee delivered its official report 70 the
United States senate. a report with
speeches covering between thirty and
forty pages OF closely printed matter.
II is a most exhaustive declaration and
made with remarkable exactness and
patient caretaking-
When one recollects that 157 women
and children and 1850 men went down
10 q watery grave and that everybody
was feeling absolutely safe in an un-
sfnkabIe ship I'VE minutes before the
Titanic coIlided with an iceberg and
plunged TO the bottom OF the sea, the
story as related seems TO Guido fiction
and strains ones imagination TO com
Drehend the catastrophe. The name OF
every passenger. their address. at home
or abroad. is carefully given, and the
labor OF compiling all this data must
have been immense.
This official report lays the blame on
the dead captain. and there was also
current story that this officer had been
q guest at an elegant dinner party Civ
en- by the rich Wideners. OF Philadel-
phia. and had taken too many stimulat-
ing drinks Mrs. Widener fortunately
survived, while her husband was drown
ed. and she testified before the chair
man OF the committee that Captain
smith touched no liquor Of any kind
indeed he asked that all glasses should
Dc removed from his plate We should
be gratiied that the horror was not in
tensifed by having 4 drunken captain
aboard But the poor man is dead, and
not here 70 speak in his own defense.
> Chairman smith visited the Olympic,
the sister ship Of the same line Of boats,
.seektng the head fireman OF the sunken
: Titanic, who gave him SUFFICIENT infor-
NATION 10 show that the iceberg had cut
. long straight cash In the side Of the
Titanic. and this head fireman was down
in the Olympic holds feet before the
level OF the sea while he was giving the
testimony. He saw the water burst
through this long straight gash-twenty
feet below the sea level and a mighty
torrent rushed in. and filled the compart-
ments before the partitions were auto
inaticaIy closed.
The designer OF both the Titanic and
Olympic was aboard. and lost. and he
had claimed that two Of those compart-
ments could MI with water and not
Impair the safety or speed Of the ship
However. the head fireman was able to
say that he saw i've compartments MI
almost instantly
When the fireman looked at the orders
IN the hre-rOom. il said full speed"
There were "a boilers out Of the y max
ALla @LE1Lla anu 81 ~ NAAAAN
the voyage was the speed so great as on
that Sunday afternOon-nor so many
boilers in use. Instantly the water-tight
erompartments were closed but the death
stroke had been given and the ship was
already filing with water. for four bulk
heads had been torn open-and there was
more water aboard than any ship could
carry
the CAV multitude were eating drink
- ~
above the head fireman-and he had to
run for his life-to reach a Hfe-boat- That
was the reason so few OF the steerage
passengers were saved. One or two wit
uesses testified that the water was an
inch deep. when they stepped from their
berfhs 10 the floor. There was no chance
left, but those few boats that hung aloft
from the davits. and il also appears that
there were but few among the crew. that
knew how TO manage them. after the
boats were afloat-
AS soon as the Titanic rushed into the
fce-neId the temperature became sud
denly cold Orders were sent down to
guard the fresh water. to keep it from
freezing.
They also hustled around to unlock
the heater compartments. 10 warm the
Officers quarters. and the chart room,
because OF the intense cold
II does seem that there was enough
81 this freezing temperature 20 Indicate
danger from ice foes even before sew
erai ships sent out wireless warnings
that tcebergs were plentiful
Ut was the unsinkahle ship that at
tracted the great crowd OF passengers
and the crew held the same opinion, so
everything failed while they felt most
eecure-l
= A passenger testified that she saw the
cuartermaster take the temperature at
3 o'clock before the ship struck at IL
d m. and he had only small paint
can 70 do Il. and failed. 50 he dipped
the bucket In some hydrant water on