Heroes of the Night: The Titanic Disaster
On April 14th, Titanic’s fifth night at sea, it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland and foundered two and a half hours later at 2:20 a.m. on April 15th. Approximately 1,500 people died. Four hours after the Titanic disappeared into the sea, the Carpathia rescued the 750 survivors who had been fortunate enough to secure seats in Titanic’s 20 lifeboats. The percentage of Third Class passengers who actually survived is low, though the actual number of those saved is comparable to the number saved in First Class. Only about 200 people from Third Class survived out of about 750, while 210 of the 330 in First Class survived.
Initial news of the sinking had reached the American shore by April 15th, but details were scarce in the days that followed. News agencies, therefore, focused on passengers who were onboard, rather than what had happened, and turned to the relatives and friends of those passengers for information. The stories of what happened on April 14th and 15th would not be learned until the Carpathia reached New York City on April 18th. The Carpathia did not communicate directly with press agencies while it transported Titanic’s survivors to New York, however, it did begin to relay early versions of survivor lists to White Star Line offices so that families could remain informed about the fate of their loved ones. The lists were incomplete and inaccurate in many cases, though. On April 16th, the Brooklyn Daily Times published a list of Brooklyn residents who were reportedly on the ship, but the list of survivors featured a couple that was not even aboard. The April 16th edition of the New York Times featured biographies of many prominent passengers on the Titanic. These articles read like obituaries but refrained from making any definite statements about the fate of their subjects. Benjamin Guggenheim’s biography in the Times, for example, discussed his familial relations and his professional achievements but did not make a definite conclusion about Guggenheim’s fate.
When the Carpathia arrived in New York, reporters finally gained access to survivors, and tales of the sinking began filling the pages of America’s newspapers. Accounts gave vivid depictions of what survivors had witnessed and experienced in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Harry Senior, a Titanic fireman, jumped overboard with a woman and two babies. “I saw an Italian woman holding two babies. I took one of them and made the woman jump overboard with the baby, while I did the same with the other. When I came to the surface the baby in my arms was dead. I saw the woman strike out in good style, but a boiler burst on the Titanic and started a big wave. When the woman saw that wave she gave up. Then, as the child was dead, I let it sink, too.”
Mrs. Churchill Candee recalled some of the scenes she and others witnessed from their lifeboat. “Men frantic in their desire to escape, leaped into the water. Some sank immediately, while others floated around until they were so chilled that they could no longer keep afloat, and gave up the fight … We floated around for six hours, all of us clad only in light garments and some with nothing on but their night clothes. We were picked up by the Carpathia and saved.” While some survivors remember scenes involving panicked passengers, other survivors tell a different story. In a letter to a friend, Dr. Alice Leader described the disaster as being like a scene on the stage with passengers as calm as thoroughbreds. “I shall never forget the sight of that beautiful boat as she went down, the orchestra playing to the last, the lights burning until they were extinguished by the waves … There was no panic. Every one met death with composure.”
The discrepancies between Leader’s and Candee’s accounts are representative of the contradictions among survivor accounts. Recollections tended to vary widely, and very few elements remained constant from one person to the next. Some of those in the boats said they heard the ship’s band playing “Nearer My God to Thee” as the ship went down; others were adamant that the band did not play. Mrs. Jacques Futrelle proclaimed that all men who were rescued sneaked into the boats, with the exception of the men who were required to man the boats. Men who were saved maintained that they did not sneak aboard and that the officers allowed them to enter.
In the weeks and months that followed the sinking, a flurry of activity revolved around the Titanic. Newspapers and magazines also began to publish “In Memoriam” issues about the Titanic and its victims. Books about the Titanic and its sinking quickly appeared. Third parties who were not connected with the ship in any way but wanted to commercially benefit from public interest in the disaster wrote many of these types of books. They often contained glaring inaccuracies. Other books were first-person survivor accounts. Most of the material published right after the sinking told the stories of the rich and famous, but there were some exceptions. Though they were rarer than accounts from First and Second Class survivors, some Third Class accounts appeared in newspapers.
One of the few elements of the disaster that remained constant in accounts was the theme of the heroism exhibited by First Class men and the vilification of Third Class passengers. Dr. Washington Dodge’s report to the San Francisco Bulletin is a good example: ”As the excitement began I saw an officer of the Titanic shoot down two steerage passengers who were endeavoring to rush the lifeboats,” he said. “I have learned since that twelve of the steerage passengers were shot altogether, one officer shooting down six. The first-cabin men and women behaved with great heroism.”
