Lifeboat 15 descends on Lifeboat 13.
Monday, April 15, 1912 - 1:25 a.m.
Lawrence Beesley, Second Class Passenger in No. 13:
"... And all the time we got closer to the sea and the exhaust roared
nearer and nearer - until finally we floated with the ropes still holding
us from above, the exhaust washing us away and the force of the tide
driving us back against the side. The resultant
of these three forces was that we were carried parallel to the ship,
directly under the place where boat 15 would drop from her davits into the sea.
Looking up we saw her already coming down rapidly from B deck; she must
have filled almost immediately after ours. We shouted up, 'Stop lowering
14' (He did not know the correct number of the boat at the time) and the crew
and passengers in the boat above, hearing us shout and seeing
our position immediately below them, shouted the same to the sailors on the boat
deck; but apparently they did not hear, for she dropped down foot
by foot - twenty feet, fifteen, ten - and a stoker and I in the bows reached
up and touched her bottom swinging above our heads, trying to push
away our boat from under her. It seemed now as if nothing could prevent her
dropping on us, but at this moment another stoker sprang with his knife to the
ropes that still held us and I heard him shout, 'One! Two!' as he cut them
through. The next moment we had swung away from underneath 15, and were
clear of her as she dropped into the water in the space we had just before
occupied."
© Paul Quinn 1996 - All contents of these pages.