As the Titanic sat motionless on the ocean, her forward compartments slowly filling with water, a drama was unfolding upon her decks that will be forever replayed in history. Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, who was still standing in the wheel house inside the bridge even though the ship no longer needed steering, realized that the Titanic doomed.

Suddenly, the wheel house telephone rang and Boxhall, answering it, was greeted by the voice of Quartermaster George Rowe who had been keeping watch on the aft docking bridge. Rowe reported that he had just seen a lifeboat in the water just off the starboard side of the ship. Boxhall was surprised by this information as he had not ordered the launching of any lifeboats. He ordered Rowe to get some distress rockets and bring them to him on the bridge.

Meanwhile, steerage passengers were beginning to gather on the aft well deck. Many had tried to go to the boat deck but had found it blocked by closed doors or crewmen who refused to allow them to enter the first-class or second-class areas.

On the boat deck, First Officer Murdoch found himself in charge of the odd-numbered starboard lifeboats, while Chief Officer Wilde was in charge of the even-numbered ones on the port side. Third Officer Herbert Pitman, who was working under Murdoch, was preparing boat No. 5 for lowering. Bruce Ismay, who was standing nearby, watched Pitman impatiently.

“There is not time to waste,” Ismay suddenly announced, apparently suggesting that Pitman was working too slowly. Pitman did not recognize the managing director of the White Star Line and so ignored the comment.

After a few more comments from Ismay, Pitman suddenly realized that this gentleman talking to him matched a description he had been given of the White Star managing director and so walked forward to the bridge and informed the Captain. After acknowledgment from Captain Smith, he was ordered to carry on with his work.

Pitman returned to boat No.5 and jumped into it. He then called out to some ladies to get into the lifeboat. After a number of women, children, and men had gotten aboard, Ismay called out several times to see if there was anyone else before the boat was lowered. Finally a lady came running up.

“Come along, jump in,” he ordered.

“I am only a stewardess,” she replied.

“Never mind,” Ismay told her. “You are a woman. Take your place.”

Pitman allowed a few more men into the lifeboat until the boat held over forty occupants, its capacity being 65. He then jumped out of the boat to assist in lowering it and left Quartermaster Alfred Olliver in charge.

As the lifeboat was lowered someone on deck yelled down, “Be sure and see the plug is in that boat,” referring to the hole that allowed water to drain from the lifeboats when they were stored on deck. As the lifeboat was lowered into the water, Quartermaster Olliver began searching frantically for the plug and asked the passengers to move out of the way. He finally ended up pushing past them and forced the plug in only after water had started to enter the boat.

Back in the wireless room Jack Phillips continued sending out distress signals that the Titanic was sinking and in need of immediate assistance. A response was soon received from the German steamer Frankfurt, asking him to stand by, probably while the operator informed his captain. Phillips told Harold Bride to tell Captain Smith.

By the time the operator had returned, Phillips had received a response from the Cunarder Carpathia, who gave her position and said that she was coming hard. Upon Bride's return, Phillips ordered him again to inform Captain Smith of the contact. Smith soon returned with Bride and asked Phillips what other ships he had contacted, the reply being the Olympic, the Titanic's sister ship. However, the Olympic was headed towards England and was five hundred miles away.

“What are you sending?” Smith asked.

“CQD,” Phillips replied, which was the standard distress signal at that time. Bride suggested to Phillips that he send the new signal, SOS. He remarked that it was probably their last chance to send it and this caused some chuckling between the operators who were apparently still finding it difficult to take the ship's plight seriously. Smith left a few moments later without comment.

Only three ships, so far, had responded to the Titanic's distress signals. The Frankfurt signal seemed the strongest but when she sent her position it was discovered that she was 170 miles away. The Olympic wouldn't arrive until sometime the next night. Only the Carpathia was anywhere close. Would the Titanic survive long enough for the Cunarder ship to reach her and mount a rescue attempt?

On the port side of the ship work continued to ready the lifeboats for lowering. Soon the ship's band came up for the lounge and assembled on the deck. They then began to play cheerful ragtime numbers.

Fourth Officer Boxhall, who was still standing on the bridge, waited impatiently for Quartermaster Rowe to arrive with the rockets he had asked for. The reason for his impatience laye roughly ten miles away from the Titanic off her port side. Looking once again through a pair of binoculars Boxhall tried to make out the light that kept flickering into view. There was no doubt in his mind that what he was seeing was a steamer, and she appeared to be approaching. He wanted to use the distress rockets to draw the unknown ship's attention.

When it appeared that the steamer was in signaling range, Boxhall began using the morse lamp from the port side of the bridge. Captain Smith, seeing what Boxhall was doing, ordered him to tell the ship to come at once.

Soon, Quartermaster Rowe arrived on the bridge with the rockets. Smith ordered him to fire a rocket every five or six minutes. The time was now 12:45am. Just over an hour had passed since the Titanic had hit the iceberg.

On the port side forward boat deck, boat No.8 was slowly being loaded with women. Ida Straus, wife of the founder of Macy's Department Store, was about to get on the lifeboat with her maid. Ellen Bird. Mrs. Straus handed a blanket to her and then returned to her husband, Isidor, and said: “We have been living together for many years, and where you go, I go.”

She was urged by friend to reconsider but she refused. “I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so we will die together.”

In all, only two dozen women entered the lifeboat. Seaman Thomas Jones, who was onboard the lifeboat, was ordered by Captain Smith to row straight for the ship lights that had been seen by Boxhall earlier.

At approximately 1:00am there were now five lifeboats in the water. However, many people still did not realize the seriousness of the situation. Word was still spreading that everyone was to put on their lifejackets and prepare to abandon ship. Many passengers continued to place hope that the nearby steamer, whose lights still remained visible, would come to their rescue. Other passengers assumed that many ships would be racing to their assistance and arrive long before a ship such as the size of the Titanic could sink. Surely the Olympic would be there within an hour or so and wouldn't it be fantastic to see the two sisters side by side on the calm ocean?

Most passengers on the well decked waited quietly, watching the lifeboats pulling away from the side of the ship, and the rockets bursting overhead. At one point an officer came and told the hundreds gathered there to be quiet because a ship was coming. Without saying anything else, the officer left.

Although everything appeared calm on the boat deck, deep within the bowels of the Titanic crewmen still labored hard to keep the lights burning and the pumps working, despite risking their own safety. In boiler room No.5, which was directly below the forward Grand Staircase, a gigantic wave of green foam suddenly came pouring from between he forward boiler, flooding the room.

Stoker Fred Barrett was climbing up an escape ladder when he watched in horror as two engineers were engulfed by water. Unable to help, he continued climbing.

Steward F. Dent Ray had returned to his room to get his overcoat when he discovered that the water had reached E-deck in the forward part of the bow. The corridor was flooded almost as far as the main staircase.. As the forward compartments filled with water and spilled over into those farther aft, the rate of sinking increased. The Titanic was now quickly dying.

Boat No.13, under Sixth Officer James Moody's charge, was soon filled to capacity. The boat then began a shaky descent to the sea, tilting down at the bow one moment and the stern the next. Ruth Becker, a young passenger aboard the lifeboat, looked up and saw that the decks above were crowded with faces. How were all this people to be saved?, she wondered.

When the lifeboat finally hit the ocean's surface, the wash from the nearby exhaust water pushed it astern until the ropes still attached to it grew taut. Boat No.13 was suddenly directly below boat No.15 which was being lowered! The crew desperately sought in vain to release the ropes, but they were so tight that the mechanisms would not work. As No.15 continued to descend, those in boat No.13 called out frantically to stop lowering it, but they were either unheard or ignored.

Fred Barrett, who was aboard boat No.13, jumped to the after falls with a knife while Seaman Robert Hopkins did the same at the bow. Both cut the ropes at the same time and No.13 drifted out from under just before boat No.15 landed.

As boat No.14 began to lower, Officer Lowe could see certain men who looked as if they were preparing to jump in. Scared that the sudden increase in weight might buckle the boat, he fired his revolved along the side of the ship. No one jumped.

It was now well past 1:30am. The view of the Titanic from the fourteen lifeboats that had left the ship were presented with an spectacular sight. The leviathan stood dead still in the water, her bow deep into the water and her huge propellers looming out of the water. The decks, however, were still brightly lit, and the strains of music drifted across the ocean surface.

Aboard the Titanic, Thomas Andrews, who had spent much of the time opening staterooms searching for passengers, was shocked at how many women still remained aboard. “ladies, you must get in at once” he cried as the last boats were being loaded. “There is not a minute to lose. You cannot pick and choose your boat. Don't hesitate. Get in. Get in!”

At around 2:00am all of the Titanic's rockets had been fired and all the lifeboats had been lowered save for collapsible boats C and D. Collapsibles A and B were still lashed upside down to the roof of the officers' quarters.

Collapsible C was soon filled with women and children and, as it was being lowered, two gentlemen stepped on board. One was William Carter, the other Bruce Ismay. With the Titanic close to sinking, Ismay had clearly decided to save himself.

Second Officer Lightoller was working on lowering collapsible D. When several men tried to rush the boat, he drew a gun from his pocket and ordered them to back off. The crew then formed a ring around the lifeboat and allowed only women to pass through. Once loaded, the collapsible was lowered to the ocean and with it, the last means of escape.

Time had run out for the Titanic and there was still over fifteen hundred people aboard her.

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 Copyright ©1997 Gary Arnold