"True, there were others of greater qualifications and
longer experience than I nearer the tragedy--but they, by
every token of likelihood, have become a part of the tragedy.
The honored--must I say the lamented--Stead, the adroit
Jacques Futrelle, what might they not tell were their hands
able to hold pencil?
"The silence of the Carpathia's engines, the piercing cold,
the clamor of many voices in the companionways, caused me
to dress hurriedly and awaken my wife, at 5.40 A. M. Monday.
Our stewardess, meeting me outside, pointed to a
wailing host in the rear dining room and said. `From the
Titanic. She's at the bottom of the ocean.'
"At the ship's side, a moment later, I saw the last of the
line of boats discharge their loads, and saw women, some
with cheap shawls about their heads, some with the costliest
of fur cloaks, ascending the ship's side. And such joy as the
first sight of our ship may have given them had disappeared
from their faces, and there were tears and signs of faltering
as the women were helped up the ladders or hoisted aboard
in swings. For lack of room to put them, several of the
Titanic's boats, after unloading, were set adrift.
"At our north was a broad ice field, the length of hundreds
of Carpathias.
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