New-York tribune., 1912-04-19
THOMAS WHITLEY.

Thomas Whitley an intelligent young
fellow of twenty-one, with light hair and
blue eyes, who was a walter In the first
saloon, taken to ST. Vincent's Hospital with
fractured right leg and numerous bruises,
told the following story Of the disaster:
Il had turned in. Ny quarters were o,
the f deck. which 10 five decks down. i
was awakened about IL 80 p. m. did not
feel any shock, but a shpmate Of mine
took me by the shoulder and said 70 get out
said rs 1t 80 o'clock already? He said:
No; we've hit berg
Il looked out OF the port, the sea was
like glass and ] did not believe him.
looked on deck and found It covered with
ice. Stokehole No. II began to I'LL with
water at once All the watertight doors
were closed. They had to be opened again
to let men go down and draw the fires to
prevent an explosion. One fellow. don't
know who 1t was, went down with about
twenty others and drew all the fires.
The order came All hands above decks
with lifebeltsr The deck was crowded
The second officer was getting boat No. !
ready He asked me to give him hand.
helped fill the boats. They were crowded
with women and children. There were two
collapsible boats on each side in addition
to the regular lifeboats At the order OF
the second officer we got the collepsibls
boat on the port side ready and No. ! on
the starboard followed. The collapsible boat
No. on the starboard jammed. ] got my
leg caught in one Of the ropes. The second
officer was hacking at the rope with
knife. was being dragged around the
deck by that rope when ] looked up and
saw the boat filled with people turning end
up on the davits. The boat overturned like
that" He waved his hand TO show Just
how It happened
"In some way l got overheard myself
and found something to hold on to-an oak
dresser about the size OF this hospital bed.
wasn't more than sixty feet from the
Titanic when she went down. 7 was aft
and could see her big stern rise up In air
as she went down bow first. l saw all the
machinery drop out Of her.
II was in the water about half an hour
and could hear the cries Of thousands OF
people, II seemed. Then I drifted near
boat wrong side up. About thirty men
were clinging to 1t. They refused to let
me get on Some one tried TO hit me with
an oar. but scrambled on TO her. At
$40 o'clock in the morning We were taken
aboard the Carpathia.
There was a bit Of panic when 1t first
happened The officers had to use their
revolvers. The chief officer shot one man
1 didn't see this but three others did-and
than he shot himsels But everybody be-
haved spendidly, especially the firemen.
1T was a black berg we struck, and
though the night was clear II was impos
sible to see one of that color. I saw an
other like it when drifting on the over
turned lifeboat
THE berg the Titanic hit was on the
starboard bow, and they were doing twen-
ty-fve knots, trying to break the record
to New York
Phillips, the first Marconi operator, stuck
TO his post till the last. He was on the
overturned lfeboat with me and was dead
when they took him aboard the Carpathia.
They tried to revive him with brandy and
all that, but it was too late. There were
four burials at sea on the Carpathia-one
sailor. two fremen and Phillips"