16

TITANIC SINKS

At this point, the last lifeboat launched from the Titanic was lowered to the water on the port side. This was Collapsible Boat D. It had twenty people on board, though it could carry 40.

Why there were only twenty on board was probably due to the fact that it had to be launched in a hurry. By now it was almost impossible to stand upright on the tilted decks and it was becoming extremely difficult to work in such conditions.

As this boat was being loaded, a Second Class passenger called Hoffman came forward with two children. He claimed that the children were his and they were placed in the boat. Mr Hoffman then withdrew, accepting his own fate now that his children were safe.

Later, when the survivors arrived in New York, it was discovered that the man was not called Hoffman. He was, in fact, Michel Navratil and was travelling under the assumed name of Hoffman.

He had snatched the children from his wife. She had been living with her children in France and now their father was taking them back to New York to live with him. The children, Michel Marcel aged three and Edmond Roger aged two, did, in fact, survive. Their father, however, died in the tragedy.

Some passengers did jump into this boat as it was being lowered. Remaining passengers on the deck began to move towards the stern to avoid the water, which was rising much more quickly. By now, the forecastle had disappeared under the waves.

Captain Smith visited the radio room and thanked Phillips and Bride for their endeavours that night and for their courage and dedication to duty. Now it was time for them to try and save their own lives. He also informed his crew that they had done their duty and that they could do no more. They too should now look to saving themselves.

Phillips, however, remained at his post and the last signal ever to be sent from the Titanic was picked up by the Virginian. At this point, the power began to fade. Lights flickered and went dim. But Phillips continued tapping out his SOS even though he must have been aware that there was insufficient power to transmit it.

At this point, Bride entered their sleeping quarters behind a curtain to collect some personal belongings. When he returned he found Phillips grappling with a crewman who was trying to rip the life-jacket from the radio operator.

With the assistance of Bride, the two men overpowered the assailant and left him unconscious in the radio room. Now, as the power faded, both men went out on deck. They could do no more.

On deck, desperate efforts were being made to free Collapsible Boat B from the roof of the officers’ quarters. Why this boat and Boat A were not freed earlier and kept in readiness is another mystery. Again it seems to point towards the confusion that prevailed that night and to a lack of proper training and planning for the possibility that the ship might need to be evacuated in an emergency.

When the boat was eventually freed, it fell onto the deck upside down. As an attempt was made to right it, it was swept overboard by a huge wave which surged forward. Many people were also swept into the water.

Though the boat remained upside down, 30 people swimming in the water managed to climb onto the keel over the next few minutes. They were lucky because all of them were later saved.

The final boat, Collapsible Boat A, was also freed. Its lashing proved difficult to undo and was cut by a knife supplied by Colonel Gracie. Right to the end Gracie was there, trying to assist as best he could.

But as the boat was freed, it was swamped by the huge surge of water. Twenty people managed to clamber into the waterlogged boat. Later, after the Titanic had sunk and Officer Lowe came to their assistance, eight of those on board had died from exposure.

By now passengers were jumping from the aft steerage door into the freezing water. This was a jump of more than 30 metres because by now the Titanic’s stern was rising up out of the water. Many were throwing in whatever objects they could find that might float and then jumping in after them.

One passenger manhandled a door over the side and then jumped in after it. Others, like Colonel Gracie, clung onto whatever was at hand, resigned now to whatever fate had in store for them.

At the aft end of the boat deck, Reverend Thomas Byles and a group of passengers gathered to pray. From within the ship came the sound of loud crashes and bangs as furniture began to move when the decks tilted towards the vertical. Crockery and glasses began to crash to the floors.

The propellers were now visible as the stern rose out of the sea. Captain Smith was sighted for the last time on the bridge. Then the funnel nearest the bow broke away and fell with a terrible crash. Those who were unfortunate enough to find themselves directly in its path were crushed to death.

The lights flickered and went out. The ship was plunged into darkness. Waves washed over the decks, sweeping Officers Wilde, Murdoch and Lightoller into the sea, along with Colonel Gracie.

Lightoller swam to the crow's nest, which was now almost totally under water, and managed to cling on. But realising that the ship would sink in minutes, he let go and tried to swim away.

He found himself trapped, however, against the iron grill of a ventilation shaft. The pressure of the water held him there as the bow sank further. He could not get away and was certain that he would die.

But as more water flooded into the ship, air was forced up the shaft. Lightoller was literally blown upwards to the surface and was able to swim away from the ship. Meanwhile, Colonel Gracie hung onto the roof of the officers’ quarters. When he got his breath back, he too swam away from the ship.

By now it was impossible to stand upright on the decks. People clung on as best they could. But many, exhausted by the cold and their ordeal, lost their grip and began to slide down the decks into the water.

Then there came a most terrible grinding and tearing sound. The Titanic’s hull was splitting in two from the uppermost decks to the keel, between the third and fourth funnels. As the ship split in two, the bow slid beneath the waves. The stern rose until it was almost vertical, the propellers now pointing to the dark starry sky. Those passengers still on the decks now clung on desperately or fell into the water.

The stern flooded and began to sink. Colonel Gracie was sucked down with it. But he found an air bubble escaping from the sinking stern and managed to reach the surface. He swam to the upturned boat and clambered onto the keel.

One hundred metres down, the stern imploded due to the pressures and the air still trapped inside. Four massive explosions ripped through it. Then the surface of the sea was still again. Other than the cries of those in the boats and in the water, an eerie silence prevailed.

It was 2.20am on the morning of Monday 15 April 1912. Two hours and 40 minutes after the collision with the iceberg, the Titanic had disappeared beneath the Atlantic waves.