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| To the Lifeboats |
| In the wheel house, Fourth Officer Boxhall stood on the bridge. He had made an inspection below decks and knew the brand new ship was doomed. The bridge telephone rang, and Boxhall answered it immediatly. It was Quartermaster George Rowe of the aft docking bridge. He had just seen a lifeboat in the water. Neither of the men had heard the order to load the boats, and it came as a suprise to both. Boxhall told Rowe to get some distress rockets and bring them to the bridge. Meanwhile, the aft well and poop decks as well as the Third Class general room under the poop deck were becoming more and more crowded with third class passengers and some crew members, many of whom had found the paths to the boat decks blocked off. There was no direct way for steerage passengers to get to the boat deck without hopping fences and crossing through closed gates into the various other classes. While passengers were making their way to the poop, more passengers were meeting on the boat deck. Murdoch was taking care of the even numbered starboard boats, while Chief Officer Wilde had taken charge of the odd numbered port side boats. Working with Murdoch was Fifth Officer Lowe who was preparing boat 5. As Lowe worked, wanting to appear useful, Bruce Ismay came up. "There is no time to wait" he announced, clearly implying that Lowe was working too slowly. "Lower away! Lower away! Lower away!" Lowe looked up at the mad man, he didn't realise it was Ismay. "If you will get the Hell out of that then I shall be able to do something! Do you want me to lower away quickly? You will have me drown the whole lot of them." People were shocked at what Lowe had just said. They knew he was going to get it when they got to New York. Lowe was standing near the boat helping the women in, as was Ismay. When Mrs. Beckworth and her husband Richard arrived, she asked Ismay whether they could board. "Of course madam. Every one of you," he announced. The Beckworths, their daughter Helen and tennis star Karl Behr got in. Eventually, the small boat was half filled, and the order to lower was announced. "Are there anymore women before this boat goes?" Ismay called out several times. When none appeared, the boat was ready for launching. Third Officer Pitman got out to assist with the falls when Murdoch approached. "You go with her," Murdoch told him. The two of them shook hands and Pitman got into the boat. "Goodbye, goodluck," Murdoch said as Pitman turned to get in. Pitman didn't think the ship would sink, but it suddenly hit him that the First Officer knew differently. In the wireless room, Phillips was still working the key sending CQD. For the second time since the collision, Captain Smith stopped by to check their progress. Phillips had gotten onto three ships so far. The Olympic was 500 miles away and couldn't possibly arrive until sometime the next night, Frankfurt was continuously asking for more details, but the Carpathia was steamin full speed to the aid of the sinking liner. When asked what Phillips was sending, Bride suggested sending SOS. "It's the new call, and it might be your only chance to send it". The wireless opperators chuckled about the situation, and Bride reports that even Smith had a laugh. Now the new call crackled out over the dark mass of water. But it would fall of deaf ears, Carpathia was the only ship on her way. Now that the roaring from the funnels had stopped, the Captain sent a messenger down to the First-Class band lead by Wallace Hartly. To prevent panic, he wanted the band members to assemble up on deck and to play lively up-beat tunes to keep the passengers calm. Following the orders, the 8 man band went up and assembled on the boat deck beside the port first class enterence to the forward grand staircase. |
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| Third Class General Room |
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