The Washington herald., 1912-04-20
Lady Duff Gordon and Other
Passengers Discuss Details
of Titanic Horror.
SAW LARGE ICE FLoEs
Sailors Frozen to Death in IifebOats
After Leaving Sinking
Ship.

the memory OF the disaster tnrougn WnlCh
they had passed, many of the survivors
were unable even to-day TO discuss con-
nectedly all the details Of the Titanic
horror. The best story was given by
Lady Duf-Gordon, who dictated it. Her
story shows that the Titanic was near
lcebergs before she went to bed on the
night of the disaster. Here is her story
as well as that OF other survivors.
BY LADY DUFF-GORDON.
81 was asleep. The night was perfectly
clear We had watched for some time
the fields Of ice. There was one just be-
fore I went below to retire. 1 noticed
among the fields of ice number of large
bergs. There was one which one Of the
officers pointed out to me. He said that
It must be 100 feet high and seemed to be
miles long. It was away OF in the dis
tance. went to my bedroom and re-
tired. I was awakened by long grind
ing sort of shock. It was not a tremen-
dous crash, but more as though some
one had drawn a giant finger all along
the side of the boat. 1 wakened my hus<
band and told him that thought we had
struck something There was no excite
ment that l could hear, but Sir Cosmo
went up on deck. He returned and told
me that we had hit some ice, apparently
big berg, but that there seemed to be
no danger. We went on deck.
No one apparently thought there was
any danger. We watched a number of
women and children and some men going
into life boats. At last one Of the officers
came to me and said: Lady Gordon, you
had better go in one Of the boats
Little Excursion Party.
Il said to my husband: Well, We, might
as well take the boat. although think
IL
sion until morning
The boat was the twelfth or thirteenth
TO be launched. II was the captains spe-
cial boat. There was still no excitement.
Five stokers got in and two Americans,
A. l. Solomon, whose address is 2g Broad
way, New York City, and L. StengeI, Of
Newark. Besides these, there were two
Of the crew, Sir Cosmo, myself, and a
Miss Frank, an English girl
There were number of other passen-
gers, mostly men, standing near by, and
they joked with us because we were 60
ing on the ocean.
The ship can't sink said one of |
them You will get your death of cold /
out there in the Ice .r-
I'VE were slung of, and the stokers |
began to row us away. We cruised /
around among the ice for two hours. |
Sir Cosmo had looked at his watch when |
We went on It was then exactly I2:15 |
a. m, and / should think fifteen minutes |
after the boat struck.
'Tt was very cold. There was no ex-
citement aboard the Titanic.
Suddenly I clutched the side of the /
boat. I had seen the Titanic give a Gu
rious shiver. The night was perfectly |
clear. There was no fog, and think /
we were Loo feet away. Everything /
could be clearly SEEN. There were no /
lights on the ship. except few Ian
~
on board.
Almost Immediately after the boat gave |
this shiver We heard several pistol shots
and a great screaming arise from the
decks. Then the boats stern lifted in
the air, and there was a tremendous ex-
plosion. After this the Titanic dropped
back again. The awful screaming con-
tinued. Two minutes after this there was
another great explosion. The whole for
ward part of the great liner dropped
down under the water. The stern rose
100 feet, almost perpendicularly. The
boat stood up like an enormous black
finger against the sky. Little figures
hung to the point of the finger and
dropped into the water. The screaming
was agonizing. I never heard such a
continued chorus of utter despair and
agony. o..
Explosion as Ship Sank.
Then there was another great explo-
sion, and the great stern Of the Titanic
slowly sank as though great hand was
pushing it gently down under the, waves
As IT went the screaming of the poor
souls left on board seemed to grow
louder. It took the Titanic perhaps two
minutes to sink after that last explo-
sion. II went down slowly, without q
ripple. We had heard Of the danger of
suction when one of these great liners
sinks. There was no such thing about
the sinking of the Titanic The amazing
part OF It all to me as sat there in the
boat looking at this monster being de-
plished SO gently.
Then began the real agonies of the
night. Up 70 that time no one in our
boat, and imagine no one in any CT I
the other boats had really thought that !
the Titanic was gong to sink. For a
an awful silence seemed to hang
over everything, and then from the wa
ter all about where the Titanic had been
arose a bedlaIn of shrieks and cries.
There were women and men clinging to 9
the bits OF wreckage in the icy waters.
TT was at least an hour before the last I
shrteks died out. remember next the '
very last cry was that of a man who 9
had been calling loudly: Ny God! Ny
GodF He cried monotonously in a dull,
hopeless way. For an entire hour there
had been an awful chorus of shrieks,
gradually dying into a hopeless moan
toward the last. Then all was silent.
when the awful silence came we waited "
gloomily in the boats throughout the rest 81
Of the night. g
Whales Cause Terror.
"At last morning came. On one side Of +,
US was the ice foes and the big bergs b,
and on the other side we were horrifled
10 see a school Of tremendous whales.
Then as the mist lifted. we caught
sight OF the Carpathia looming up in
he distance, and headed straight for :.
as. We were too numbed by the cold =
ard the horror of that awful night to pr
,heer or even TO utter a sound. We Iof
lust gazed blankly at one another ana m
remained speeches. Indeed, there VI
seemed to be no one among US who II
AIRED much what happened. tn
Those In the other boats seemed to fr
nave suffered more than We did. We, NJ
{ seemed. had been miracuIously lucky tn
IN one Of the boats was a woman whose IN
;lothing was frozen to her body. The 70
men on the Carpathia had to chop It
~ before she could be taken to a warm IL.