Titanic: A Survivor's Story by Archibald Gracie Read Free Book Online Page B

intact’ when she went down. On this point, too, Beesley is in accord, from his viewpoint in the lifeboat some distance away out of danger, whence, more composedly than others, he could see the last of the ill-fated ship as the men lay on their oars watching until she disappeared. ‘No phenomenon,’ he continues, ‘like that pictured in some American and English papers occurred – that of the ship breaking in two, and the two ends being raised above the surface. When the noise was over, the Titanic was still upright like a column; we could see her now only as the stern and some 150 feet of her stood outlined against the star-specked sky, looming black in the darkness, and in this position she continued for some minutes – I think as much as five minutes – but it may have been less. Then, as sinking back a little at the stern, I thought she slid slowly forwards through the water and dived slantingly down.’
    From my personal viewpoint I also know that the Titanic ’s decks were intact at the time she sank, and when I sank with her, there was over seven-sixteenths of the ship already under water, and there was no indication then of any impending break of the deck or ship. I recently visited the sister ship of the Titanic , viz., the Olympic , at her dock in New York harbor. This was for the purpose of still further familiarizing myself with the corresponding experriences on the Titanic , and which are referred to in this narrative. The only difference in the deck plan of the sister ship which I noted, and which the courteous officers of the Olympic mentioned, is that the latter ship’s Deck A is not glass-enclosed like the Titanic ’s; but one of the principal points of discovery that I made during my investigation concerns this matter of the alleged breaking in two of this magnificent ship. The White Star Line officers pointed out to me what they called the ship’s ‘forward expansion joint,’ and they claimed the Titanic was so constructed that she must have split in two at this point, if she did so at all. I was interested in observing that this ‘expansion joint’ was less than twelve feet forward from that point on the Boat Deck whence I jumped, as described (to the iron railing on the roof of the officers’ quarters). It is indicated by a black streak of leather-covering running transversely across the deck and then up the vertical white wall of the officers’ house. This ‘joint’ extends, however, only through the Boat Deck and Decks A and B, which are superimposed on Deck C. If there was any splitting in two, it seems to me also that this superstructure, weakly joined, would have been the part to split; but it certainly did not. It was only a few seconds before the time of the alleged break that I stepped across this dividing line of the two sections and went down with the after section about twelve feet from this ‘expansion joint.’
    One explanation which I offer of what must be a delusion on the part of the advocates of the ‘break-in-two’ theory is that when the forward funnel fell, as hereafter described, it may have looked as if the ship itself was splitting in two, particularly to the young men who are cited as authority.
    Third : Did either the Captain or the First Officer shoot himself?
    Notwithstanding all the current rumors and newspaper statements answering this question affirmatively, I have been unable to find any passenger or member of the crew cited as authority for the statement that either Captain Smith or First Officer Murdoch did anything of the sort. On the contrary, so far as relates to Captain Smith, there are several witnesses, including Harold S. Bride, the junior Marconi operator, who saw him at the last on the bridge of his ship, and later, when sinking and struggling in the water. Neither can I discover any authentic testimony about First Officer Murdoch’s shooting himself. On the contrary, I find fully sufficient evidence that he did not. He was a brave and