River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-04-25

tie shock and supposed then nothing
out Of the ordinary had happened
They were both dressed and came on
deck leisurely.
1t was not until the ship began to
take a heavy list to starboard that
tremor of fear pervaded 1t.
Launch Boats Safely.
The crew had been called to clear
away the hfeboats, Of which there
were twenty, four Of which were col
lapsible. The boats that were lowered
on the port side Of the ship touched
the water without capsizing. Some OF
the others lowered to starboard, IN
Guiding one collapsible, were capsized.
All hands on the collapsible boats that
practically went to pieces were res
cued by the other boats.
Sixteen boats In all got away safely.
1t was even then the general impress
sion that the ship was alright and
there is no doubt that that was the
belief of even some Of the officers.
At the lowering of the boats the Off
GERS experimenting it were armed
with revolvers, but there was no ne
cessity for using them as there was
nothing in the nature of panic and
no man made an effort to get into a
boat while the women and children
were being put aboard.
Begin to Jump Into Sea.
AS the ship began to settle to star
board, heeling at an angle of nearly
forty-five degrees, those who had be-
lieved it was all right to stick by the
ship began to have doubt and few
jumped into the sea- These were fol-
lowed Immediately by others and In
few minutes there were scores swim
ming around. Nearly all Of them
wore life preservers.
One man who had Pomeranian
dog leaped overheard with it and strik-
ing a piece of wreckage was badly
stunned He recovered after few
minutes and swan toward one OF the
lifeboats and was taken aboard. Most
of the men who were aboard the Car
pathia, barring the members of the
crew who had manned the boats, had
jumped into the sea as the Titanic was
settling.
Ship Breaks In TWO.
Under instructions from officers and
men in charge the lifeboats were
rowed a considerable distance from
the ship itself in order to get away
from the possible suction that would
follow the laundering. The marvellous
thing about the disappearance was so
little suction as to be hardly appre-
ciable from the point where the boats
were floating.
There was ample time to launch all
boats before the Titanic went down,
as it was two hours and twenty min
utes afloat.
So confident were all hands that 1t
had not sustained a mortal wound
that it was not until 1915 a. M, or
thirty-five minutes after the berg was
encountered, that the boats We're low
cred. Hundreds Of the crew and
large majority of the officers, includ-
ing Captain Smith, stuck to the ship
to the last.
1t was evident after there were sew
eral explosions, which doubtless were
the boilers blowing up, that 1t had but
a few minutes more of life.
The ship broke in half amidship and
almost simultaneously the after half
and the forward half sank, the for
ward half vanishing bow first and the
other half stern first.
Sinks With Little FURRY.
The sinking ship made much less
commotion than the Mortified watch
ers in the lifeboats had expected.
They were close enough to the broken
vessel to see clearly the most grew
some details Of the laundering. All
the spectators agree that the shat
tered sections of the ship went down
so quietly as to excite wonder.
Some Of the rescued were scantiy
clad and suffered exceedingly from
the cold, but the majority of them
were prepared for the emergency. In
the darkness aboard the ship that
came shortly after the collision it was
for those in the boats to
distinguish the identity Of any OF the
persons who leaped into the sea. 1t is
believed that nearly all cabin passen-
gers who had not gone overheard i'm
mediately after the boats were
launched vanished with the officers
and crew.
Had Time to Dress.
Some Of the stewards who formed
part of the lifeboat crew say that aft
er the ship hit the berg the majority
of the cabin passengers went back to
their staterooms and that it was nee
essary to rout them out and in some
instances force life preservers upon
them. All agree that the engines of
the ship were stopped Immediately
after she had made the Intellectual
turn to clear the berg.
The lifeboats' crew were made up of
stewards, stokers, coal trimmers and
ordinary seamen. 1t is said that the
davits were equipped with a new con-
trivance for the swift launching of the
boats, but that the machinery was so
complicated and the men so unfamil-
lar with it that they had trouble in
1t.
Describes Death of Butt.
Among the first of the passengers
to leave the pier were Washington
Dodge his wife. and his Seyen-year-