9

CALLS FOR HELP

As yet there was no sign of panic on board the ship. Many passengers still slept on, blissfully unaware of the drama being played out on board and the terrible danger they were now facing.

Because the First Class passengers were closer to the open decks, some of those ventured outside to see what had happened. Many were still in their nightclothes and seeing that there appeared to be no danger, returned to the warmth of their beds.

At this stage most of the crew were unaware of the danger. When passengers inquired about what had happened they were told that there had been a minor collision but everything was fine. The ship would soon be under way again.

The passengers readily accepted this explanation. After all, there was no sign of danger or panic. All was calm. And it seemed inconceivable that the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic could sink.

One First Class passenger who had been woken by the collision was Colonel Archibald Gracie. He also became aware that the engines were silent and that the ship had stopped. He got dressed and went up on deck to inspect the ship. There appeared to be no damage but when a fellow passenger handed him a lump of ice, Gracie realised what had happened.

He was a soldier and undoubtedly an astute man. From a description of the iceberg, he realised it was gigantic. If the ship had collided with something that was larger than its self then it was likely that it had sustained serious damage. Gracie decided to remain on deck and await developments.

In the Second Class lounge a group of men were playing cards. They felt the impact and noted that the ship had altered course and then stopped. A steward was sent to investigate and returned to inform them of the collision. When he told them that there was ice on the decks, they laughed and said it could be put in their drinks.

What the steward was referring to was the chunks of ice from the iceberg, which had fallen onto the decks. At the stern, passengers began to kick the chunks around and some were thrown into cabins through open windows. Even here there was little awareness of what had really happened and the presence of the ice was treated as an opportunity for some horseplay.

Another Second Class passenger, Reverand Thomas Byles, was reading his Bible on the boat deck. Despite the bitter cold, he was enjoying the calm, starry night. He too felt the collision but thought little of it and when he had finished his reading, retired to his cabin.

However, down in the Third Class cabins, at the ship's bow, things were rather different. Here the impact was strongly felt. The grating sound as the hull was torn open wakened many of the sleeping passengers. One passenger who both heard and felt the impact was Daniel Buckley, the young man from County Cork.

He decided to investigate. When he swung his legs out of his bunk, he found himself standing in a pool of water. He knew that the ship was holed and he informed those other passengers who shared his cabin that they might be in grave danger. They laughed at him and told him to go back to sleep. But he was sufficiently perturbed to make the decision to get dressed and go up on deck to see what was happening.

In the engine room, the crew had felt the impact as little more than a jolt. They knew something was wrong though when the order to stop and go astern was given. But in boiler room Number 6 there could be no doubt about the seriousness of the situation. As water poured in through the gash in the hull, the bulkhead door was closed. Many of the firemen and stokers working in the boiler room scrambled up the escape ladders and barely escaped with their lives.

The ship's second engineer, James Hesketh, reacted quickly to the emergency. He ordered that the pumps be switched on to try and pump out the water entering the ship. Then he ordered the fires to be damped down. As the ship had been travelling at near maximum speed, the steam which drove the turbines was almost at full pressure. He was aware of the possibility of a catastrophic explosion if that pressure was not reduced immediately.

Water was pumped into the fireboxes to quench the fires. This caused steam to billow out, along with ashes. The working conditions for the stokers and firemen were appalling. It was suffocating, extremely hot and breathing was difficult. But due to heroic work, the fires were damped down, thus averting one possible danger.

Rumours now began to circulate among the firemen and stokers further back towards the stern that the forward compartments and cabins were flooding. But at first this was treated as a joke. There could be no danger to the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic from such a slight impact. Indeed in many parts of the ship, like the kitchens, bakeries and laundry, work went on as usual. Here no one had sensed any real threat of danger.

One thing that added to this air of calm was that the electricity did not fail. Lights still burned throughout the ship. The four electric generators, each capable of generating 400 kilowatts of electrical power, were situated above the water line and continued to function. They were steam driven and engineers and firemen and stokers heroically kept up a sufficient amount of steam throughout the next two hours to keep them operating.

They were vital in the emergency. Not only did they keep the lamps lighting but they were also required to operate pumps, winches and many of the safety systems on the ship, including opening and closing the watertight bulkhead doors.

But the most important generator now on the ship was the one supplying power for the radio transmitter. It was vital that steam be supplied to operate this. It did have back-up batteries for emergencies but having normal operating power meant that the operators had one less problem to worry about. Instead, they could concentrate on the most important task in hand – that of summoning help.

In the wireless room, Phillips tapped out the emergency call sign, CQD, over and over again. On his earphones he listened as best he could for a reply. It was difficult to hear as the roar of the excess steam venting from the safety release valves on the pipes attached to the nearby funnel drowned out almost all other sound.

Phillips had asked Captain Smith on one occasion to shut off the safety valves. But Smith, who himself was only too well aware of the problem, could not comply with this request. If the safety valves were closed there was the danger of steam building up and a boiler exploding.

Resigned to the situation, Phillips remained at his post. Three-quarters of an hour had passed since the ship had struck the iceberg. As yet there was no hope of assistance from any other vessel. Unless that assistance soon came, half of those on board the ship were still destined to perish.