The Cairo bulletin., 1912-04-20

New bpth, 8pttl Ut Jltc" ia
| $ the account of Mr.. Beasley o.
London
The voyage from Queenstown
had been quite uneventful and goot
weather was experienced and the ses
calm The wind was northwesterly
to southwesterly, but very cold, par.
| ticularly the last day. In fact, after
| dinner on Sunday ii was almost toe
| cold to be on deck at all. l had beer
in my berth for about ten minutes
when at about l1:l5 p. m, felt 6
slight jar and then soon after, a sec.
| ond one, but not sufficiently large te
cause any anxiety to anyone, how.
ever nervous they may have been.
THE engines stopped immediate
lly afterward and my first thought
was she has lost propeller | went
upon the top boat deck in a dress
ing gown, and found only a few peo-
| pie there, who had come up similar
ly to inquire why we had stopped,
but there was no sort of anxiety in
the minds of anyone.
Card Game in Progress.
We saw through the smoki 9g
room window game of cards going
on and went in to inquire if they
knew anything 1t seems they felt
more of the jar and looking through
the window had seen a huge iceberg
go by close to the side of the boat
They thought we had just grazed 1t
with a glancing blow, and the en-
gines had been stopped to see If an,
damage had been done. No one, of
course, had any conception that she
had been pierced below by part OF
the submerged iceberg. The game
went on without any thought of dis
aster and ! retired to my cabin to
read until we went on again. |
never saw any of the players or the
.onlookers again.
"A little later, hearing people
going upstairs, | went out again and
found every one wanting to know
why the engines had stopped. No
doubt many were awakened from
sleep by the sudden stopping of a
vibration TO which they had become
accustomed during the four days we
had been on board. Naturally, with
such powerful engines as the Titanic
carried, the vibration was very
noticeable all the time, and the sud
den stopping had something like the
same effect as the stopping of a loud
ticking grandfather's clock in a
room.
Put on Warmer Clothing.
"On going on deck again, / saw
that there was an undoubted list
downward from stern TO bows, but
knowing nothing of what had hap
pened, concluded some of the front
compartments had filled and weigh
ed her down. I went down again to
put on warmer clothing and as
dressed | heard an order shouted:
AN passengers on deck with
lifebelts on
eve all walked slowly up with
them tied on over our clothing, but
even then presumed this was wise
precaution the captain was taking
and that we should return in a short
time and retire to bed. There was
a total absence of panic or any ex-
pressions of alarm, and suppose
this can be accounted for by the ext
ceedingly calm night and the abb
sence of any signs of the accident.
The ship was absolutely still,
and except for a gentle tilt down
ward, which don't think one per-
son In ten would have noticed at
that time, no signs of the approach
ng disaster were visible. She lay
lust as if she were waiting the order
10 go on again when some trining
matter had been adjusted. But in
lew moments we saw the covers
lifted from the boats and the crews
allotted to them standing by and
up the ropes which were
70 lower them by the pulley blocks
INTO the water.
1--WE then began to realize It was
more serious than had been sup
posed, and my first thought was to
30 down and get more clothing ana
h,,t -. l.. "a