Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-19
COL. oracle PRAYED,
STANDING ON RAFT
Continued From First Page.)


under the water / recall that | was
most fearful ~of being boiled to death
The second oficer, who was on the top
deck. told me that he had a similar ex-
perience. Innumerable thoughts Of a per-
sonal nature relating,to mental telepathy
mashed through my brain. I thought Of
to them and say goodbye forever. for a
similar experience iii days gone by had
occurred in the history Of a member of
my wife's family, and she was even
awake that night, tortured with PRESENT.
ments.
Prayed Under Water.
Again and again l prayed for deliver
ance. although l felt sure that the end
had come. Ny greatest dificulty was in
holding my breath until l came to the
surface. for / knew that once 1 had in
hailed water l would have suffocated,
| Under the water / struck out with all
my strength for the surface. 1 reached
the surface after a time that seemed
unending. There was nothing in sight
save ice, which dotted the ocean. and a
large field of wreckage. There were dy-
ing men and women all about me, groan-
ing and crying piteously.
The second officer and ]. B. Thayer,
1r,. who were swimming near. told me
the water one of the Titanic's tunnels
separated and fell apart near me, scat
tering the bodies in the water.
saw wreckage everywhere. All that
great. cratelike block of wood fioated
within my grasp and / grabbed it, 1t
seemed to be sufficiently large to keep me
af1oat. At this moment. however, l saw
an overturned boat short distance away
ana swan to it. l caught the arm of a
man who grasped 1t, threw my leg over
the boat and rested on it.
Propelling the Raft.
'On this raft-it was really COLLAPSE
BILE boat that was called a raft-there
were already lying more than twenty men
who seemed to belong to the Titanic's
crew. Two men. one in the bow, the
other in the stern, propelled us through
the wreckage with pieces Of wood which
answered for oars.
Presently the raft became so full that
it seemed she would sink if more came
aboard, and the crew, for self-protection.
mad to refuse to permit others to climb
aboard. This was at once the most
pathetic and the most horrible scene OF
all. The piteous cries Of those around
us still ring In my ears. L will remem.
bersthem to my dying day
Hold on to what you have old how
We shouted to each man who tried TO act
aboard.
One more of you aboard would sink
us all. AND many whom we refused an
sWered, as they went to their death:
Saw Lights Everywhere.
"All the time we were buoyed and sus.
tanned by hope for rescue. We saw lights
in all directions. particularly in front,
where green lights shone and rockets
were fired in the air. We learned later
that the lights and the rockets came from
one Of the Titanic's lifeboats. And SO
we passed the night-with the waves
washing over us and the raft buried deep
in water. under our feet.
did we pray? Through all that wild
night there was not a moment that our
prayers did not rise above the waves.
Men who seemed to have forgotten long
ago how to address their Creator recalled
the prayers of their childhood, and muir.
INJURED them over and over again. We
said the Lords Prayer again and again
together.
Long before light we stood in columns.
two deep, back to back balancing .our.
selves fearful to move lest the delicate
balance should be disturbed and all of
US thrown again into the water. We
were standing and were content to stand
and pray knowing that in that alone lay
our hope for rescue. The hand of God
seemed to have soothed the sea and It
was calm.
Carpathia Is Sighted.
An age seemed to have passed when
We first saw the twinkling lights of the
Carpathia on the horizon. We knew her
and recognized her as our rescuer. The
Marconi operator-one OF the thirty-five
on the differentiated our hopes by say
ing that he, too. knew that 1t was the
Carpathia. While We looked. some one
whispered that there was also a ship be-
hind us. We dared not turn around to
look, 80 fearful were we that we would
disturb the balance
''The second officer finally ordered one