These were at intervals of about fifteen minutes. From that
time there was a different scene. The rush for the remaining
boats became a stampede.
The stokers rushed up from below and tried to beat a path
through the steerage men and women and through the sailors
and officers, to get into the boats. They had their iron bars
and shovels, and they struck down all who stood in their
way.
The first to come up from the depths of the ship was an
engineer. From what he is reported to have said it is probable
that the steam fittings were broken and many were scalded
to death when the Titanic lifted. He said he had to dash
through a narrow place beside a broken pipe and his back
was frightfully scalded.
Right at his heels came the stokers. The officers had pistols,
but they could not use them at first for fear of killing the
women and children. The sailors fought with their fists and
many of them took the stoke bars and shovels from the stokers
and used them to beat back the others.
Many of the coal-passers and stokers who had been driven
back from the boats went to the rail, and whenever a boat was
filled and lowered several of them jumped overboard and
swam toward it trying to climb aboard. Several of the
survivors said that men who swam to the sides of their boats
were pulled in or climbed in.
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