Voices from the Carpathia, page 8
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MARY FABIAN
On 17 April, while the Carpathia was still at sea, Miss Fabian wrote the following letter to her family:
Steamship Carpathia
April 17th
Of course, by now, you must have heard about the terrible disaster of the Titanic, and our newspapers are so remarkable that you may know more about it than we do. It certainly has been a thrilling experience even for us, and at times seems like a kind of nightmare.
Our Marconi man was just going to bed on Sunday night, when he thought he might as well pick up the instrument, and see if there was any message, and got a call for help from the Titanic, almost 100 miles away. The boat was immediately stopped and turned right around, or rather northwest, and they say it never went so fast before, 18 knots. The Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:45 p.m., and sank two hours later.
The people were told at first that there was no danger, and some even went back to bed. Even the officers say that they did not think the boat was really going down, until just at the last. The first two life boats that were put off, were only about a third full, because people really refused to get into them thinking they were safer on the big boat. Then, at the last, they just crowded women and children into the boats, making the men stand back and in two of the boats, the women had to do most of the rowing.
The ship went down so suddenly that they did not have time to get off all the lifeboats. They say all the people could have been saved, if they had only realized the danger, but so far as we know only twenty boats got off.
The Titanic’s fifth officer says he firmly believes that no one else was saved, except those picked up by the Carpathia, because after the Titanic went down he went back with a row boat and six men, among the wreckage, and rescued four men, but that everyone else was beyond rescue. His description of it is too horrible to repeat.
Of course, all the people on board, especially those who have lost husbands, or other members of their families, are hoping that others have been saved, but it is only a hope.
I woke up some time in the middle of the night, feeling that the boat had stopped, but then heard the engines going again at full speed, so went to sleep. About five o’clock I woke again, and heard a great commotion, people running about and moaning, dishes rattling, etc., and I heard a steward say, just outside my door, ‘Look, there come five more boats’. I immediately got up, inquired what was the matter, and hurriedly dressed and went on deck.
It was a wonderful and terrible sight, too. We were surrounded by icebergs, and the Titanic lifeboats were coming in various directions. They had all been rowing most of the night and the last ones did not reach us until about half past eight. A great many of the people were completely exhausted and hysterical, and had to be carried in.
Everything on this boat was wonderfully organized. Our steward told me they had orders to take on 2,000 passengers and in an hour and a half they were ready for them. Several hundred came on board (no one seems to know exactly how many) and were given brandy and coffee and crackers, and as quickly as possible places were found for them to lie down.
Most of the people, however, were too excited to rest until much later. When all the lifeboats in sight had been taken on, we cruised around for some time, going much nearer the icebergs, to see if there were more boats. I have been told that we went by the exact place where the Titanic sank, but was not on deck at the time. We saw some of the wreckage. While we were cruising around, the Californian, Atlantic Transport came up and she went in the other direction, and was to stay around for a few hours, and people think she may have picked up more of the Titanic people.
They say the berg the Titanic struck was about sixty feet high. The night was bright and perfectly still. The sailors on the Carpathia say they could see the icebergs, ten miles away. If it had been one lone iceberg, it would not have seemed so strange, but as we went nearer, (we must have gone within a couple of miles of the ice or nearer – in fact the water where we were was full of ice) we could see an immense field of ice, standing as far as one could see, with numberless separate icebergs besides. They say the Titanic was way north of its course.
Well, we shall be back in New York tomorrow! The captain thought at first of putting in to Halifax, but decided New York was safer, on account of the ice, and of course it would have been worse to take those people to Gibraltar; that would have taken a week, and everyone is glad that this excitement is going to last only one day more.
Most of the Carpathia passengers spent the whole day Monday trying to look after our ‘guests’.
My room was full all day of people who wanted to dress or lie down, or arrange their hair. Many of the people had come off with only their night gowns, and perhaps a skirt or coat, so that we had to try to get clothes for them to wear. The Carpathia’s passengers were very generous. One girl even gave away her one suit and a steamer coat, thinking she would have a chance to get others in New York.
The boat is terribly crowded. The first night, I gave up my room to three exhausted ladies, and managed to get an upper berth in a room for four, though I had expected to sleep on deck. The dining room, library and smoking rooms are full of people each night, sleeping on mattresses on the floors and tables. The meals have been more or less confused until today, but even this morning, I saw two or three people having breakfast, standing up in the hall.
We are wondering what is to become of us, but probably shall not know until we reach New York. Some think we shall be in New York only a few hours, and some say a day. Some people are talking of giving up the trip entirely, but most are going on again.21
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On 19 April Miss Fabian wrote the following letter to her family in Illinois:
The landing of the Carpathia last night was the most thrilling thing you can imagine. Newspaper boats met us away out at the Ambrose Channel Lightship, and one reporter even tried to get on the Carpathia from the pilot’s row boat, but none were allowed on board until just before we reached the dock.
They say there has not been such excitement in New York for years, and it is estimated that there were 30,000 people on, or as near the dock, as they could get. Fourteenth Street was so full of people that the cars could hardly pass. Everyone was very quiet, though, and there was no disturbance.
A reporter from the New York World was among those rescued from the Titanic, and he certainly had a scoop. He did not have a chance to get his reports in, though, until about an hour before the boat docked. Then the World boat managed to come right alongside, and he threw his papers on board. He had two large packages tied together with a long strap, and they caught on the rope of one of the Titanic lifeboats, which was being lowered in order to get them out of the way. The reporter was almost frantic, but a sailor finally fished the papers off, and the World boat steamed away in great triumph.
The Titanic people were, of course, landed first, and the rest of us did not know what was going to become of us, until a few minutes after we reached the dock. Then a notice was posted that the Carpathia would sail at four Friday afternoon.
We were so wrought up all the time that we hardly had time to think, and the landing in New York seemed almost as bad as the actual rescue.22
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CECIL R. FRANCIS
After the Carpathia arrived in New York, Mr Francis wrote the following letter to his hometown newspaper:
Dr. Blackmarr and I were the first passengers on the Carpathia who knew the Titanic was in trouble. Operator Cottam came to our cabin and told us immediately after he notified the captain. We dressed and kept a lookout until dawn, when we sighted some of the lifeboats, which looked like specks in the distance.
When the survivors were brought aboard the majority of the passengers on the Carpathia relinquished their staterooms and provided the unfortunates with clothing. Among the rescued were three motherless babies and a number of small children. One little fellow, a son of Dr. Washington Dodge of San Francisco, was fitted out with a pair of knickerbockers which the women made out of a steamer rug.
The sea in the vicinity of the wreck was covered with debris and floating ice. There was an icefield apparently twenty-five or thirty miles long, with a number of large bergs visible. The temperature was low and my heaviest clothing with a sweater and a big ulster was none too comfortable.
During the trip back to New York everybody, including crew and passengers, seemed to forget themselves in devoting their time and attention to trying to make the survivors of the wreck as comfortable as possible. We slept anywhere we could, a part of the time on mattresses in the cabin, and some of us slept in the dining saloon on the tables.23
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TIM H. HARDGROVE
After the rescue, Dr Hardgrove sent the following Marconigram to George Hardgrove of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin:
Our ship picked up surviving passengers of Titanic and we are now returning to New York. Will start again at 4 o’clock.
Dr. T.A. Hardgrove24
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On 20 April, after the Carpathia arrived in New York, Dr Hardgrove sent the following telegram to his hometown newspaper:
New York
April 20
The Titanic sent a wireless at 12:05 midnight that she was on an iceberg. A few minutes afterward we got the ‘CQD’ call, meaning ‘Come at once’.
‘Goodbye. Our boilers are flooded.’ This was the message we received at 2 a.m.
Our ship steamed straight for the icefield at 17 knots an hour. We reached the spot at 5 a.m. and began taking survivors on board at 7:56.
The Titanic was broken about the center and when the water rushed in, the boat went down with hundreds of souls aboard. A most awful sight to behold and to listen to the hissing sound of the dying demon and the screams of the heroes.
Fond du Lac suffers the loss of Dr. W.E. Minahan, whose wife and sister were among those taken aboard the Carpathia clad in nothing but a few garments. All the survivors were in about the same condition.
Almost every man on board the Titanic was a hero, standing back to allow women and children to go first. About 300 widows and many children, whose parents had perished, were taken aboard the Carpathia.
The Titanic was going too fast. It was too large and there were not enough life boats. Carelessness is the cause of the disaster.25
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MRS TIM H. HARDGROVE
On 17 April Mrs Hardgrove wrote the following letter to her daughter, Miss Mamie Hardgrove:
April 17, 1912
Dear Mamie, Aunt Mary and All,
Well, instead of going on our journey now, we are bound for New York again with about 875 passengers, most of them heartbroken with the loss of some loved one or ones from the Titanic, which lost about 1,500 people Sunday evening. We knew nothing about it until Monday morning when we woke up and heard all the excitement.
It was a terrible, terrible sight, all the people, most of them clad in scant clothing, and in such terrible misery about their lost ones.
Our boat was informed of the danger by the Marconi message between 12 and 1 o’clock. We were 60 miles away and our boat went to them, endangering ourselves with the icebergs, and putting on extra speed, but we did not know the danger surrounding us. The poor people were let out on life boats, about thirty for that whole boat full of people. Some of the women and children were thrown into the boats. They drifted (or were rowed around) until dawn. I cannot tell you all of the awful experiences they told about. There are 200 widows on this boat now. Of one family of eleven the mother and one child only are left.
Yesterday we found Mrs. Minahan on board and the doctor is missing. Of course some of the lost may be found. Some floated around all night on rafts and wreckage. There are several sick now and no wonder from the awful exposure.
We took one little English woman with two little girls into our room. One of her children is a baby, and her husband is among the missing. They are not even comfortable with clothes. We did what we could. One little girl has Maurice’s blouse on for a dress, one lady my shoes, etc., but it is heart breaking to think what they will find at New York, no news of the lost. So many of them had all of their belongings with them, and all are gone. I never in my life passed through anything like it.
One little baby is saved with the nurse, the rest of the family gone. It must have been from a wealthy family. Two sweet little boys with curly hair were left alone. They were sick last night with a high fever. One lady with a seven weeks old baby and little girl is among the saved. They put the child on the steam pipes in the kitchen to bring it to life. And the lady didn’t eat anything from yesterday morning until this noon. Couldn’t eat in the steerage, and wasn’t allowed to stay up. These are only a few incidences. It is just heart breaking.
The Titanic was like a palace and sank in one and a half hours. The saved watched it sink and did not know people were in it until the terrible cries were heard.
It is a lucky thing that our boat was so near or all of those people might have perished. There is not much difference in station now. They are all putting up with great inconvenience and I believe many are suffering with the cold. In the Titanic, the musicians played within ten minutes before the boat sank, and then were all lost. As the boat went down the people sang, ‘Nearer My God to Thee’.
We have all been frightened since. Had a storm last night. I don’t know what we’ll do when we reach New York. We have all lost courage just now. I believe we may not start again on the voyage, but will write. This letter is not written well, but it is raining, and I am writing it out on deck.
With love,
Minnie26
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Mrs Hardgrove wrote another letter which included the following statements:
We were 60 miles away and our boat went to them endangering ourselves with the icebergs and putting on extra speed. But we did not know the danger surrounding us. The poor people were let out on lifeboats, about 30 for that boat-full of people … I cannot tell you the awful experiences they told about.27
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LUCIUS HOYT
On 24 April, after the Carpathia resumed her interrupted voyage to Europe, Mr Hoyt wrote the following letter:
Royal Mail Steamship Carpathia
Mid Ocean
April 24, 1912
Dear Bird,
In the Providence of God it has come to Emma and myself to be of assistance to our fellow men and women in the greatest ‘Tragedy of the Seas’ and Bird it was a tragedy. The horror of it all was appalling. Monday morning April 15 about four o’clock Emma woke me and said the boat had stopped and that there was considerable moving about. I put my head out the cabin door and was told by a steward that ‘the White Star Steamer Titanic is in distress’. Dressing and going down on deck we learned that, about midnight our ship received a wireless and immediately changed her course, steaming 58 miles to the position of the Titanic arriving about four o’clock, and it was the stopping of the ship that awoke Emma. Nothing was to be seen however, and it was supposed the Titanic had gone down with all on board, but soon appeared out of the ‘Dark of the Dawn’ first one boat and the other, 18 in all, loaded with men, women & children & babies, most of them scantily clothed, some of the ladies in evening dress, and the night bitterly cold, the boats were attracted by the rockets we were sending up, and were received without any ‘fuss or frather’ or confusion, owing to the marvelous discipline always prevailing on a Cunarder, in fact there was so little noise that I had to awaken Mr. Weidman and his cabin mate and their room was not fifteen feet from where the rescued were coming aboard. Upon arrival of seventh or eighth boat I surrendered our cabin and we bunked with Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds during the voyage to New York, and it was soon filled with four men who were in very bad shape. By about nine o’clock all boats in sight having been cared for, and, the Leyland Liner Californian steaming up, we left her cruising in the vicinity and started for New York with our load of sorrow and woe and misery. We were over 1100 miles out and they were long, long days, we passed our time being mostly occupied with the poor unfortunates. There is an incident of what we were up against. I remarked to Mr. Weidman,‘that Englishman in my room is in bad shape. I’m going to get a doctor for him’; immediately a young woman lying on a lounge raised her head and said, ‘I wonder if it is my husband’, ‘no madam he is a single man’ was my reply. Just think, Bird, of the hope and despair of that one moment, and there were about 150 made widows on board and the fatherless & motherless and mothers without sons to the end of the chapter. All talk about the shrieks of women ringing through our ship which you have probably read in the papers is the worst rot, if you had seen the fortitude with which they bore their sufferings and woe you would be prouder than ever of your sex. Most of the statements in the New York papers are of like untruth, caused by our captain refusing to let the reporters aboard at the lightship. In [the] fifth boat was a sailor from the Titanic, who I saw shake hands with one of our sailors and pointing to an iceberg said ‘that is the one that did it’. It was immense, estimated by a Civil Engineer as 180ft in height. You have no doubt seen pictures in the magazines of rescue parties in the polar seas. Well, that is the best description of the scene I can give you. In the background was an immense ice floe with berg after berg which had not broken loose, and other bergs floating around, our ship standing off the floe and the boats approaching from the direction of the floe. I think this a perfect picture of the scene. The ice floe was immense. We steamed 52 miles to get away and around it, and it extended in the other direction beyond the horizon, in fact in the New York papers some Captain reported it as 100 miles in length. We gave away many things until I was down to the underclothing I have on. The sea was calm all the way to New York. All that died of the rescued were buried at sea, four in number. As you know from the papers, we left New York again April 19th and thus far have had clear weather. We should be at Gibraltar April 29. We have no definite plans beyond that, as we have not decided how long we will remain in Spain. Emma has been remarkably well except the effect of the strain we have been under. It took almost everyone two or three days to get over that. The crew was called together Monday and thanked by the Captain for their good work. They certainly were entitled to it and appreciated his thanks as one of them said to me afterward ‘he is proud of us ain’t he’. He surely had reason to be. Later a picture of the officers was taken on the forward deck. We have music by the orchestra every evening at nine and at dinner and lunch. One night instead of music, Señor Jose Mardones, First Baritone Boston Opera Co., gave us several numbers. I don’t know of anything more to interest you. Address c/o American Express Company, 546 Haymarket London England. Emma joins with me in love to you all.
