It was a glorious, clear morning
and a quiet sea. Off to the starboard was a white area of ice
plain, from whose even surface rose mammoth forts, castles
and pyramids of solid ice almost as real as though they had
been placed there by the hand of man.
"Our steamer was hove to about two and a half miles from
the edge of this huge iceberg. The Titanic struck about
11.20 P. M. and did not go down until two o'clock. Many
of the passengers were in evening dress when they came
aboard our ship, and most of these were in a most bedraggled
condition. Near me as I write is a girl about eighteen years
old in a fancy dress costume of bright colors, while in another
seat near by is a women in a white dress trimmed with lace
and covered with jaunty blue flowers.
"As the boats came alongside after the first two all of them
contained a very large proportion of women. In fact, one
of the boats had women at the oars, one in particular containing,
as near as I could estimate, about forty-five women and
only about six men. In this boat two women were handling
one of the oars. All of the engineers went down with the
steamer. Four bodies have been brought aboard. One
is that of a fireman, who is said to have been shot by one
of the officers because he refused to obey orders.
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