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Seven years-old in 1912, Eva Hart died on February 15th, 1996 in a London hospital. She was emigrating to Canada with her parents as a Second-Class passenger on the Titanic. Her father - Benjamin Hart, age 43 - was a builder who had decided to start a new life with his family in Winnipeg, Canada and join a friend in a construction company there. The Hart's had been scheduled to sail on the 'Philadelphia' but their plans were changed due to the coal strike. They were transferred instead to the Titanic.
She and her mother survived (Lifeboat #14), but her father did not survive the sinking.
After the disaster, she had nightmares for years. She solved the nightmares by going back to sea and locking herself in a cabin for four days.
She later became a magistrate in England and gave a number of interviews on the subject of the Titanic.
She is famous for the line: "If a ship is torpedoed, that's war. If it strikes a rock in a storm, that's nature. But just to die because there weren't enough lifeboats, that's ridiculous."
She vividly remembered the screams of the drowning people in the water as the ship sank. She swore that she heard the band play 'Nearer My God to Thee', despite conflicting evidence that the band may have played upbeat ragtime tunes almost until the sinking.
When salvage of the wreck began in 1987, Eva Hart was an outspoken critic of any salvage attempts of what she considered a gravesite.
On April 15th, 1995 - the 83rd anniversary of the disaster - the Titanic survivors Eva Hart and Edith Brown (Haisman), another Second-Class passenger, dedicated a memorial garden plaque in the grounds of the National Maritime Museum, London.
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It consists of plants in rememberance: roses, purple sage, rosemay and Irish golden yew.
The stone is carved Cornish granite similar to that used in ships ballasts. The marker is an engraved bronze plaque which duplicates the typeface used for Titanic's name on her hull.
The text on the marker is as follows:
Make your choice by clicking on the item concerned:
Arriving at Cherbourg at 6.30 p.m. the Titanic picked up more passengers and mail. Then an overnight journey to Queenstown where she once more picked up more passengers and mail. She now had aboard 322 First-Class, 277 Second-Class and 709 Third-Class passengers. On April 14th, 1912 at 11.20 a.m. the Titanic received a wireless message from the German liner 'Amerika' warning for ice, which was delivered to the bridge.
Captain Smith deceided to alter course 25 miles further south to avoid the reported ice. The Titanic was travelling with a speed of 22 knots and the air was getting colder as the day went on. The the lookouts had been instructed to watch for ice and at 9.40 p.m. the 'Mesaba' sent a wireless message warning for ice right ahead of the Titanic. The message was received by wireless operator Jack Phillips, but this particular message didn't find it's way to the bridge, leaving the Titanic on collissioncourse with the ice.
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At 11.00 p.m. the Leyland Line's 'Californian', who was halted in the ice not far away from the Titanic tried to warn for the ice ahead, but was told to get out of the air by a busy Jack Phillips. The 'Californian's' wireless operator Cyril Evans then went off to bed.
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It was now 14th April 1912 11.39 p.m. when the Titanic struck an iceberg just below the waterline on the starboard side.
The Titanic is steaming at 20.5 knots. Suddenly, the lookouts, Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Robinson Lee, see an iceberg dead ahead about 500 yards away towering some 55-60 feet above the water. They immediately sound the warning bell with three sharp rings and telephone the bridge: "Iceberg right ahead."
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Sixth officer Moody on the bridge acknowledges the warning, relays the message to First officer Murdoch who instinctively calls "hard-a-starboard" to the helmsman Hichens and orders the engine room to stop engines and then orders full astern. Murdoch then activates the lever to close all watertight doors below the waterline. The helmsman spins the wheel as far as it will go. After several seconds, the Titanic begins to veer to port, but it was too late and the iceberg glanced the side of the ship causing her plates to buckle and rivets to pop below the water line over a lenght of 300 feet.
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Immediately prior to the collision the engineers would have been following their usual routine watchkeeping tasks of supervising the boiler rooms and tending the main engines and turbine. The ship was proceeding at its normal full speed of 20.5 knots and in the engine/boiler rooms those on watch would have had no reason to believe that anything untoward was likely to happen. It is unlikely that any engineer would have been at the engine control platform when the telegraph rang to request an engine stop and then reversal thus there would have been a time delay before the engine controls could have been moved to stop and reverse. How long that delay was must be pure speculation but it would probably not have been longer than 30 seconds. A single engineer could have dealt with both engines within 10 seconds. Unfortunately no engineer survived and the inquiry evidence from the engine room hands who did is confused to say the least.
Engine room hand George Beauchamp (boiler room # 6) mentioned that the telegraph (obviously the boiler room telegraph) rang "Stop" after a thunderous shock: this telegraph would have been actuated by the engineer at the engine control after he had responded to the bridge telegraph and adjusted the engine condition.
The big crash had awakened or alarmed many crew members and passengers in their quarters. The passengers were even awakened less by the sound of the crash than by the sight of water and the sound of water swirling around the decks.
At 12.00 a.m. the Captain is told by Titanic's designer Thomas Andrews and the ship's carpenter John Hall Hutchinson that the ship can only stay afloat for a couple of hours.
Half an hour after the collission the first call for help was sent by the Titanic.
(Click HERE for the Final Wireless Transmissions aboard the R.M.S. Titanic)
The Titanic carried lifeboats for 1,200 people, but that night only 700 people boarded the lifeboats. They were mostly women and children. Women and children first ! ! ! That was the main rule that night, but a few men also got in the lifeboats when they jumped from the Titanic.
Many women who managed to get a seat in the lifeboats didn't take it because their husbands couldn't join them. This meant a certain death for many people.
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The Titanic's orchestra still played their music a long time after their shift was over. There is a myth that the orchestra played 'Nearer My God to Thee' (or 'Songe d'Automne', one isn't quite sure about this) as the ship went down. Later research however indicates that they played a bit more happy music.
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The orchestra had taken up position near the entrance to the First-Class lounge and at 12.15 a.m. ended up on the Boat-Deck. They tried to cheer up the passengers a little bit by playing happy music like waltzes and rags. But shortly before the Titanic sunk they played their final tune: 'Songe d'Automne'. A final greeting from the orchestra to all the people left aboard...
Two components of the geography of the Titanic defeated the efforts of many of the Third-Class passengers ("Steerage") to reach the Boat-Deck.
Among the many hundreds of heroic souls who went bravely to their ends were the happy-go-lucky youngsters shipped as "Bell Boys" to the First-Class passengers, the "Page Boy" and the "Lift Attendants".
Numerous ships receive the Titanic's distress signals, including her sister ship the 'Olympic', some 500 miles away. Several ships, including 'Mount Temple' (49 miles away), 'Frankfort' (153 miles away), 'Birma' (70 miles), 'Baltic' (243 miles), 'Virginian' (170), and 'Carpathia' (58 miles) prepare at various times to come to assist.
The first was the design of the Titanic. There were only a handful of exits available to get to the upper decks, 7 to be exact. All of them by law had to be kept locked.
Third-Class passengers were required by British Law to be kept separated completely from Second-Class passengers and First-Class passengers.
The second was the layout of the Titanic. The Third-Class passengers' cabins were in an area that abounded with dead ends and circuitous passages.
The 'Carpathia', a 13,564 ton Cunard liner, southeast of the Titanic immediately heads full speed to the rescue.
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It was already dawn when the 'Carpathia' arrived. Lots of people were saved by the 'Carpathia', but how many people would die in just a couple of moments?
The Second Officer of the Titanic (Mr. Lightoller) who was saved by the 'Carpathia' wrote these words when he saw the Titanic going down to her final resting place.
Quotation: "Slowly and almost majestically the immense stern reared itself up, with propellors and rudders clearing the water, till at last she assumed the exact perpendicular. Then with an ever quickening glide she slid beneath the water of the cold Atlantic ..... Like a prayer as she dissappeared, the words were breathed, 'She's gone'." end quotation.
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And she was, the 'unsinkable' Titanic had sunk on her maiden voyage between Great Britain and the USA at 2.20 a.m. April 15th, 1912 with over 1,500 people still aboard breaking in two at the surface.
From the 2,228 people aboard 1,523 died and 705 were rescued.
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Final resting place of the Titanic:
Sunday - April 14th:
Several ice warnings are received during the day. Reports come in from the 'Noordamm', 'Caronia', 'Baltic', 'Amerika', 'Californian' and 'Mesaba'.
10.30 a.m.:
Church service is being held in the First-Class dining saloon. The scheduled lifeboat drill is being cancelled.
10.00 p.m.:
Second officer Lightoller relieved on bridge by First officer Murdoch. Lookouts in the crow's nest relieved. Warning to watch for icebergs passed between the watches. Temperature is 32º F, sky cloudless, air clear.
11.39 p.m.:
The Titanic is steaming at 20.5 knots. Suddenly, the lookouts, Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee, see an iceberg dead ahead about 500 yards away towering some 55-60 feet above the water. They immediately sound the warning bell with three sharp rings and telephone the bridge: "Iceberg right ahead." Sixth officer Moody on the bridge acknowledges warning, relays message to First officer Murdoch who instinctively calls "hard-a-starboard" to helmsman Hichens and orders the engine room to stop the engines and then orders full astern.
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Murdoch then activates the lever to close all watertight doors below the waterline. The helmsman spins the wheel as far as it will go. After several seconds, the Titanic begins to veer to port, but the iceberg strikes starboard bow side and brushes along the side of the ship and passes by into the night.
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The impact, although jarring to the crew down in the forward area, is not noticed by many of the passengers. Thirty-seven seconds have passed from sighting to collision.
11.50 p.m.:
Captain Smith asks designer Thomas Andrews and the ship's carpenter John Hall Hutchinson to conduct a visual inspection of the damage. Water had poured in and risen 14 feet in the front part of the ship.
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Monday - April 15th:
12.00 a.m.: The captain is told the ship can only stay afloat for a couple of hours.
Captain Smith gives Third Officer Pitman order to go and check the water levels below. And he added, "take some armed guards along to see that the stokers and engineers stay at their posts". (No wonder the lower crew didn't come on deck till about an hour before the sinking. Some choice. When they did come up apparently most of them where swinging shovels and hitting the crowds of people trying to save themselves.) This was before the passengers where given order to come to the Boat-Deck with their life-belts on.
Captain Smith gives order to the wireless operators John George Phillips and Harold Bride to call for help over the radio.
(Click HERE for the Final Wireless Transmissions aboard the R.M.S. Titanic)
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The Titanic's estimated position: 41º 44' N, 50º 24' W.
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R.M.S. Titanic to Any Ship:
"CQD Titanic 41.44 N 50.24 W"
(CQD was the contemporary distress signal, though soon, the new distress signal - SOS - would be put to use for the very first time).
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12.05 a.m.: The boilers are shut down and relief pipes against the funnels blow off huge noisy clouds of steam.
Orders are given to uncover the lifeboats and to get passengers and crew ready on deck. There is only room for half of the estimated 2,227 aboard in the lifeboats.
12.15 - 2.17 a.m.: Numerous ships receive the Titanic's distress signals, including her sister ship the 'Olympic', some 500 miles away. Several ships, including 'Mount Temple' (49 miles away), 'Frankfort' (153 miles away), 'Birma' (70 miles), 'Baltic' (243 miles), 'Virginian' (170), and 'Carpathia' (58 miles) prepare at various times to come to assist.
12.25 a.m.: Lifeboats are now loading with women and children first. Major Archibald Butt and Colonel Archibald Gracie IV are the only male First-Class passengers that are helping loading the lifeboats.
The 'Carpathia', southeast of the Titanic immediately heads full speed to the rescue.
12.45 a.m.: The first lifeboat is safely lowered away. It can carry 65 people, but only leaves with 28. The first distress rocket is fired. Eight rockets are fired the whole night.
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1.15 a.m.: The tilt of the deck grows steeper. Lifeboats now begin to leave fully loaded.
1.40 a.m.: Most of the forward lifeboats have now gone. Passengers begin to move back to the stern area.
2.05 a.m.: The last lifeboat leaves. There are now over 1,500 people left on the ship. The tilt of Titanic's deck grows steeper and steeper.
2.17 a.m.: The last radio call is sent.
Captain Smith tells his crew "It's every man for himself".
The bow plunges under, many passengers and crew jump off the ship.
A funnel collapses, crushing several people.
Father Thomas Byles hears confession and gives absolution to over 100 Second and Third-Class passengers ("Steerage") gathered at the aft end of the Boat-Deck.
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2.18 a.m.: The ship's lights blink once then go out. Several survivors see the ship break in two. The bow section sinks.
2.20 a.m.: The Titanic's broken off stern settles back into the water, becoming more level for a few moments. Slowly it fills with water and again tilts its end high into the air before sinking into the sea. People in the water slowly freeze to death.
3.30 a.m.: The rescue ship 'Carpathia's' rockets are sighted by survivors in the lifeboats.
4.10 a.m.: The first lifeboat is picked up by the 'Carpathia'.
8.50 a.m.: The 'Carpathia' leaves the area bound for New York after a short burial ceremony for the recovered bodies. She carries 705 survivors.
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J. Bruce Ismay (Managing Director of the White Star Line) wires the White Star Line - New York offices:
"Deeply regret advise you Titanic sank this morning after collision with iceberg, resulting in serious loss of life. Full particulars later."
"It's only a legend".
That's the generally held opinion regarding the old story that - in order to save his own life - an unidentified man disguised himself as a woman in order to secure a place in one of the Titanic's lifeboats. But is the above story really just a legend?
"No, it isn't".
As is the case with several other so-called "legends" surrounding the Titanic tragedy,
"The Man Who Dressed As A Woman" story is based on a true incident. In fact, it may well be based on any (or all) of THREE separate incidents involving three different men who used the art of deception in order to survive the sinking of the Titanic. Although none of the men in question went to the extreme length of donning a woman's dress in order to find a place in a lifeboat, the measures that these men DID resort to were identical in nature and resulted in their being mistaken for women - which permitted each of them to enter a lifeboat unchallenged (or remain in the boat unnoticed).
Let us examine the facts connected with each incident:
Daniel Buckley:
During the latter stages of the sinking a big crowd of men was standing on the Titanic's Boat-Deck while the "sixth lifeboat" (Lifeboat #13) was being prepared for lowering. When a number of these men attempted to save themselves by jumping into the boat, Daniel Buckley decided to take his chances and jumped into the boat with them.
Suddenly two officers approached the lifeboat escorting a large number of steerage passengers of both sexes. The two officers ordered those men already in the boat to get out of it again in order to make room for the ladies. Most of the men seem to have complied with the officers' order, but half-a-dozen firemen and sailors refused to leave the boat and remained where they were. Buckley decided to remain in the boat with them, and - as he told his parents in a letter written aboard the rescue ship 'Carpathia' on April 18th, 1912 - "... I hid in the lower part of the boat."
Buckley's later testimony at the Senate Inquiry revealed what happened next: "I was crying. There was a woman in the boat, and she had thrown her shawl over me, and she told me to stay in there. I believe she was Mrs. Astor. Then they did not see me, and the boat was lowered down into the water, and we rowed away out from the steamer."
Daniel Buckley was a young Irishman who was travelling to America in the Titanic's steerage section. After the collision Buckley went up to the Boat-Deck and stood near several of the ship's lifeboats while they were loaded with passengers and lowered away.
Edward Ryan:
"I stood on the Titanic and kept cool, although she was sinking fast. She had gone down about forty feet by now. The last boat was about being rowed away when I thought in a second if I could only pass out [i.e. get into the boat] I'd be all right. I had a towel round my neck. I just threw this over my head and left it hang in the back. I wore my waterproof overcoat. I then walked very stiff past the officers, who had declared they'd shoot the first man that dare pass out. They didn't notice me. They thought I was a woman. I grasped a girl who was standing by in depair, and jumped with her thirty feet into the boat."
Edward Ryan was another young Irishman who boarded the Titanic at Queenstown in the hope of starting a new life in America. Ryan was one of the few Third-Class passengers ("Steerage") lucky enough to survive the sinking of the Titanic, and on May 6th, 1912 he wrote a letter to his parents telling them the manner in which his life had been spared:
Unidentified Male Passenger:
Fifth Officer Lowe told Senator Smith how he had begun transferring people from his own lifeboat into several other boats so that he could row back to the scene of the sinking and attempt to pick up survivors. Lowe then described how he had come to discover the man in question.
The above three incidents comprise the best proof imagineable that the so-called "legend" of
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that either Daniel Buckley in Lifeboat #13 or Edward Ryan in Lifeboat #14 might have been the man whom Fifth Officer Lowe discovered wearing a shawl in boat #14; if true, this would mean that there were actually only two men (instead of three) who used the "shawl ploy" in order to find places in the Titanic's lifeboats. Even so, the fact that AT LEAST two men unquestionably survived the Titanic disaster by resorting to the abovementioned should demonstrate to historians that the "legend" of a man who disguised himself as a woman is based solidly on facts.
At the 'Senate Titanic Inquiry' Senator William Alden Smith was interrogating Fifth Officer Lowe regarding Lowe's participation in the evacuation of the Titanic. Lowe, who had been in charge of Lifeboat #14, told Senator Smith that his boat contained fifty-eight people, and the senator asked him if all of these people had been women:
Fredrick Fleet:
Mr. Fredrick Fleet was born in October 1887. He never knew his father and his mother abandoned him and ran away with a boyfriend to Springfield, Massachusetts never to be heard from again. Frederick was raised by a succession of foster families and distant relatives via orphanages and Dr. Banardo Homes until the age of twelve when he was sent to a training ship, where he stayed until he was sixteen. In 1903 he went to sea as a deck boy, working his way up to Able Seaman.
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Before signing-on the Titanic he had sailed for over four years as lookout on the 'Oceanic'. His address was given as Norman Rd, Southampton.
As a seaman Fredrick Fleet earned five pounds per month plus an extra 5 shillings for lookout duty. And it was as a lookout that Fleet joined the Titanic in April 1912.
On April 14th, 1912, along with Mr. Reginald Robinson Lee, Fredrick Fleet took watch at 10.00 p.m., relieving Mr. George Symons and Mr. Archie Jewel from the previous watch. Just after seven bells, Fleet saw a black mass ahead, immediately struck three bells and telephoned the bridge. He reported "Iceberg right ahead," receiving the reply "Thank you." While still on the telephone, the ship started swinging to port. The lookouts saw the starboard side of the ship scrape alongside the iceberg, and saw ice falling on the decks. They had thought that it had been either a close shave or a near miss. The lookouts remained in the crows nest until relieved about 20 minutes later.
Fleet then made his way to the Boat-Deck where Second Officer Charles Lightoller put him to help Quarter-Master Robert Hitchins load and launch Lifeboat #6, the first boat to be launched from the port side. After loading some 28 women and children, the boat was lowered to the water. As it was being lowered, Lightoller realized that it was undermanned and called for a experienced seaman. Major Arthur Peuchen volunteered that he was had experience as a yatchtsman. Lightoller told him "I you are sailor enough to get out there - then go down"; and he proved he was by going down the fall to the boat. In the morning, Lifeboat #6 was picked up by the 'Carpathia'.
From June 1912, Fleet served briefly as Seaman on the White Star liner 'Olympic'. He found that the White Star Line looked at the surviving officers and crew as embarassing reminders of the recent disaster and he left the company in August 1912. For the next 24 years Fleet sailed with Union-Castle and various other companies, finishing with the sea in 1936. Ashore, he worked for Harland and Wolff as a shipbuilder, and later was the shore Master-at-Arms for Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co. As he moved into old age, he sold newspapers on a street corner in Southampton.
On December 28th, 1964, Fleet's wife died. Her brother, with whom the couple lived, then evicted Fredrick, and in a state of despondency, he committed suicide two weeks later, his body being discovered on January 10th, 1965. He was buried in an unmarked paupers grave at Hollybrook Cemetry, Southampton. In 1993, a headstone was erected through donations by "The Titanic Historical Society".
Reginald Robinson Lee:
On April 14th, 1912, along with Mr. Fredrick Fleet, Lee - age 41 - took watch at 10.00 p.m., relieving Mr. George Symons and Mr. Archie Jewel from the previous watch. Just after seven bells, Fleet saw a black mass ahead, immediately struck three bells and telephoned the bridge. He reported "Iceberg right ahead," receiving the reply "Thank you." While still on the telephone, the ship started swinging to port. The lookouts saw the starboard side of the ship scrape alongside the iceberg, and saw ice falling on the decks. They had thought that it had been either a close shave or a near miss. The lookouts remained in the crows nest until relieved about 20 minutes later.
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Mr. Reginald Robinson Lee of Threefield Lane, Southampton did survive the sinking of the Titanic and was saved in lifeboat #13. Lifeboat #13 (capacity 65 persons) was launched from the starboard side at 1.40 a.m. under the command of Leading Fireman Fredrick Barrett. It contained 60 or 62 people (mainly men). Lifeboat #13 drifts underneath lifeboat #15 as it is being launched. Leading Fireman Fredrick Barrett tries to cut the ropes to free lifeboat #13. It drifts out of the way at the last minute as lifeboat #15 lands in the water. Lifeboat #13 arrived at the 'Carpathia' at about 4.45 a.m. on the morning of April 15th, 1912.
At the British Inquiry, Lee tried to claim that there was a haze over the water at the time of the impact with the iceberg. Lookout Fleet, Second Officer Lightoller, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Wheel-Master Hichens all denied the existence of a haze, and the matter was written off as "wishful thinking".
Mr. John Hall Hutchinson, 28, was born in Hampshire and was the son of Edward and Dorothy A Hutchinson. He lived at 40 Onslow Rd, Nicholstown, Southampton. He served on the 'Olympic' before joining the Titanic as a Joiner.
During the voyage Hutchinson made the acquaintence of First-Class passenger Miss Marie Young. Miss Young was returning to America with some expensive poultry. Each day Hutchinson took her below to check on the chickens. As a reward for his kindness Miss Young tipped him with some gold coins, Hutchinson was very grateful, and exclaimed, ''It's such good luck to receive gold on a first voyage''.
Archibald Willingham Butt was born on September 26th, 1865 into the prominent Augusta, Georgia, family of Joshua Butt and Pamella Boggs.
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After his graduation in 1888 from the University of the South in Tennessee, Butt began a career in journalism, first writing for the Louisville Courier Journal and later as a reporter in Washington for a group of Southern newspapers. While working in Washington he became secretary of the Mexican Embassy with General "Matt" Ransom, Confederate officer and former United States senator from North Carolina.
In 1898 Butt left Mexico to enter the United States army as a lieutenant during the Spanish-American War, and decided to make the military a second career. He served in the Philippines from 1900 to 1906, then in Cuba before becoming military aide to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. When William Howard Taft became President in 1908, Major Butt continued with Taft. He developed a strong friendship with both men and by the last year of Taft's presidency Butt was caught in an impossible situation. Taft had become extremely unpopular by this time and Roosevelt was beginning to make overtures of running again to defeat Taft. Butt's health began to deteriorate in 1912 because of his attempts to remain neutral during the bitter personal quarrel between Roosevelt and Taft. Needing rest, he took six weeks' leave from the White House and sailed for Europe with his close friend Francis Millet (Cabin E-38), who was en-route to Rome on business at the American Academy which he directed. They were returning to Washington on the Titanic.
On the night of April 14th Major Butt had dined with Captain Smith at the "Widener Dinner Party" in the A la Carte Restaurant. After dinner Butt and his friends retired to the Café Parisien a popular place for Titanic's First-Class passengers to meet and people watch.
When the Titanic struck the iceberg at 11.40 p.m. Major Butt was informed by Captain Smith that the ship was doomed and that the lifeboats were being readied.
When the order to man the boats came, Captain Smith whispered something to Major Butt...the Major immediately became as one in supreme command. You would have thought he was at a White House reception. A dozen or more women became hysterical all at once, as something connected with a lifeboat went wrong. Major Butt stepped over to them and said, 'Really, you must not act like that; we are all going to see you through this thing.' He helped the sailors rearrange the rope or chain that had gone wrong and lifted some of the women in with a touch of gallantry. Not only was there a complete lack of fear in his manner, but there was the action of an aristocrat.
Archibald Butt died that "Fateful Night" and his remains were never recovered.
A marble fountain was erected in Washington D.C. dedicated to Colonel Archibald W. Butt. It was paid for from the private funds of President William Howard Taft, who dedicated it in the memory of his lost friend.
Among the many hundreds of heroic souls who went bravely to their ends were the three happy-go-lucky youngsters shipped as "Bell Boys" - or messengers - to the First-Class passengers, the "Page Boy"and the four "Lift Attendants".
Quartermaster Sidney James Humphreys, who was in command of Life Boat #11, told of the lads death:
Humphreys said the "Bell Boys" were called to their regular posts in the "First Cabin" entry and taken in charge of their captain, a Stewart. They were ordered to remain in the First Cabin and not get in the way. Throughout the first hour of the confusion and terror these lads sat quietly on their bench in the various parts of the First Cabin.
Not one of the Bell Boys, the Page Boy and the Lift Attendants attempted to enter a life boat. Not one of them was saved...
Then, just toward the end when the order was passed around that the ship was going down and every man was free to save himself, if he kept away from the lifeboats in which women were being taken, the Bell Boys, the Page Boy and the Lift Attendants scattered to all parts of the ship.
Humphreys said he saw them smoking cigarettes and joking with the passengers. They seemed to think that their violation of the rules against smoking while on duty was a sufficient breach of discipline.
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