The Washington herald., 1912-04-19
CAPT. ROsTRON
Tells OF RESCUE
The Chief Officer Of Carpa-
thia Relates His Thrill
ing Experiences.
SIGHTED AT DAYLIGHT
By CAPT. R. II. RosTRoN.

Statement By The optsin q the Cunard steamship
Csrpathia, rescuG a the Titanic survivor
'T cannot yet make a connected state
ment have gone through 50 much
since received aboard my ship the arst
distress call OF the Titanic that a COM
plete narrative Is impossible. was be-
tween fifty and sixty miles away from
the Titanic when the wireless sang into
the ears Of my operator the FIRST call
for help. The operator said that we re
ceIved only one call.
The silence after the first frantic
appeal for relief was ominous to me.
Our Marconi sent out rays that scraped
the sky In vain. but there was no re-
sponse whatever TO any of our inquiries.
I swung the Carpathla around straight
to the position the poor Titanics first
aerogram said she occupied. Our en-
gines were put at top speed.
Pessimism at First.
'Ths silence of the air 50 far as the
Titanic was concerned made me shud-
der as We sped on our way to the
rescue. realized what It meant. On
and on we sped Our stokers never
worked harder. When the frst faint
daylight came and knew we we're still
miles from the spot Of the tragedy, /
felt We should arrive too late to be OF
any service.
when, however, after full daylight,
we sighted the first lifeboat filled with
women and children and eight or ten
strong-armed and brave-hearted men OF
the Titanic's crew, realized that We
could at least save a few human lives.
was too busy for the next hour or so
to recall now Just what occurred. Ny
mind was wholly set upon saving the
lives Of the people who crowded the
boats
THE sea was calm. There was scarce
ly a ripple upon its face. Great ice hoes
were crunching down from the north. In
the distance several icebergs shimmered
like mirrors. Why the lfeboats were
not crushed by the swiftly moving Ice
foes could not understand. The sixteen
boats seemed at first TO be occupied sole
ly by women
II remember that # occurred to me
that the good God had stretched out
His mighty hand and had checked FUR
ther murder by His elements.
I'VE got aboard the Carpathia every
human being in the sixteen nfeboats Of
the Titanic. Every oficer ana member
Of our crew stood by ike the brave
and loyal lads they are and did his full
duty.
my mind is in no condition now to
felt during the two hours work Of the
rescue.
Some Were Unconscious.
I'VE took aboard 7o5 women and chill
dren who were alive. but some of them
were unconscious. We also dragged to
the decks OF the Carpathia, four mem
bers of the TitanIc's crew who had been
tolled on to man the Hfeboais and were
stark dead. They had been frozen to
death Their strong, horny fingers still
clutched. the oars that they had been des-
perately pulling. We buried these men
in sailors graves only yesterday from
the deck OF the Carpathia-
II am told that It was reported TO
President Taft by Capt Chandler, of the
scout cruiser Salem. that the CarpathiA
had received Monday night wireless mes
sages from the-commander of the Salem,
asking. in the name of the President, II
Maj. Butt, John Jacob Astor, Frank
Millet, Clarence Moore, and Isidor
Straus were aboard his vessel.
Upon my word as a man. upon my
honor as a sailor. cannot remember
receiving any such message from Capt
Chandler or anybody else m the name Of
the President or any other person. Had
such message been received by me
Immediately would have ordered that all
other business OF the wireless be side
tracked until the answer could have
been sent to the President that none of
his friends, OF whom he had inquired,
was aboard the Carpathia.
TT is possible the Carpathia's wireless
operator acknowledged but refused to
answer messages even from the Presi-
dent of the United States received after
Wednesday night, as he had been at his
post more than seventy-two hours with
out rest. But he never reported such a
message to me, and don't blame him.
No story of Shooting.
After I reached the Cunard pier Il
was asked as to the truth of reports
that some passengers. and particularly
some men passengers, on the Titanic,
were kept back from the Iifeboats at
the point OF the pistol and that two
well known men were shot. or course,
l was not there. / did not see the ship
go down. But from the survivors who
came aboard my ship l heard no such
story.
81 do not give the least credence to
that report. II 1 had to write about
1t would denounce It as an abomInable
lie. The Carpathia was amply provf-
stoned for the accommodation Of the
76 passengers rescued. and, likewise,