We stayed a little while longer, and then they said, "Everybody." I do not know who that was, but I think it was some of the officers that said it. I could not say that, but it was somebody that said "everybody." We went up. We went over to the port side of the ship, and there were just one or two boats on the port side that were lost. Anyway, there was one. We were standing there looking at them lowering this boat. We could see them, some of the crew helping take the ladies in their arms and throwing them into the lifeboats. We saw them lower this boat, and there were no more boats on the port side.
So we walked over to the starboard side of the ship, and just as we were standing there, one of the officers came up and he said just as he walked by, "Are there any sailors here?" I did not say anything.
I have been a fishing man for six years, and, of course, this officer walked right by me and asked: "Are there any sailors here?" I would have gone, but my brother­in­law and my cousin said, in the Norwegian language, as we were speaking Norwegian: "Let us stay here together." I do not know, but I think the officer wanted some help to get some of these collapsible boats out. All he said was: "Are there any sailors here?" I did not say anything, but I have been used to the ocean for a long time. I commenced to work on the ocean when I was 10 years old with my dad fishing. I kept that up until I came to this country.
Then we stayed there, and we were just standing still there. We did not talk very much. Just a little ways from us I saw there was an old couple standing there on the deck, and I heard this man say to the lady, "Go into the lifeboat and get saved." He put his hand on her shoulder and I think he said: "Please get into the lifeboat and get saved." She replied: "No; let me stay with you." I could not say who it was, but I saw that he was an old man. I did not pay much attention to him, because I did not know him.
I was standing there, and I asked my brother­in­law if he could swim and he said no. I asked my cousin if he could swim and he said no. So we could see the water coming up, the bow of the ship was going down, and there was a kind of an explosion. We could hear the popping and cracking, and the deck raised up and got so steep that the people could not stand on their feet on the deck. So they fell down and slid on the deck into the water right on the ship. Then we hung onto a rope in one of the davits. We were pretty far back at the top deck.
My brother­in­law said to me, "We had better jump off or the suction will take us down." I said, "No. We won't jump yet. We ain't got much show anyhow so we might as well stay as long as we can." So he stated again, "We must jump off." But I said, "No; not yet." So, then, it was only about 5 feet down to the water when we jumped off. It was not much of a jump. Before that we could see the people were jumping over. There was water coming onto the deck, and they were jumping over, then, out in the water.
My brother­in­law took my hand just as we jumped off, and my cousin jumped at the same time. When we came into the water, I think it was from the suction ­ or anyway we went under, and I swallowed some water. I got a rope tangled around me, and I let loose of my brother­in­law's hand to get away from the rope. I thought then, "I am a goner." That is what I thought when I got tangled up in this rope. But I came on top again, and I was trying to swim, and there was a man ­ lots of them were floating around ­ and he got me on the neck like that [illustrating] and pressed me under, trying to get on top of me. I said to him, "Let go." Of course, he did not pay any attention to that, but I got away from him. Then there was another man, and he hung on to me for a while, but he let go. Then I swam; I could not say, but it must have been about 15 or 20 minutes. It could not have been over that. Then I saw something dark ahead of me. I did not know what it was, but I swam toward that, and it was one of those collapsible boats.
When we jumped off the ship, we had life preservers on. There was no suction from the ship at all. I was lying still, and I thought, "I will try to see if I can float on the life belt without help from swimming," and I floated easily on the life belt.
When I got on this raft or collapsible boat, they did not try to push me off, and they did not do anything for me to get on. All they said when I got on there was, "Don't capsize the boat." So I hung on to the raft for a little while before I got on.
Some of them were trying to get up on their feet. They were sitting down or lying down on the raft. Some of them fell into the water again. Some of them were frozen; and there were two dead, that they threw overboard.
I got on this raft or collapsible boat and raised up, and then I was continually moving my arms and swinging them around to keep warm. There was one lady aboard this raft, and she got saved. I do not know her name. I saw her on board the Carpathia, but I forgot to ask her name. There were also two Swedes, and a first­class passenger ­ I believe that is what he said ­ and he had just his underwear on. I asked him if he was married, and he said he had a wife and a child. There was also a fireman named Thompson on the same raft. He had burned one of his hands. Also there was a young boy, with a name that sounded like Volunteer. He was at St. Vincent's Hospital afterwards. Thompson was there, too.
The next morning we could see some of the lifeboats. One of the boats had a sail up, and he came pretty close, and then we said, "One, two, three"; we said that quite often. We did not talk very much, except that we would say, "One, two, three," and scream together for help.
SENATOR SMITH: Was this collapsible boat that you were in filling with water?
MR. ABELSETH: There was water on the top.
SENATOR SMITH: Were you on the top of the overturned collapsible boat?
MR. ABELSETH: No. The boat was not capsized. We were standing on the deck. In this little boat the canvas was not raised up. We tried to raise the canvas up but we could not get it up. We stood all night in about 12 or 14 inches of water in this thing and our feet were in the water all the time. I could not say exactly how long we were there, but I know it was more than four hours on this raft.
This same boat I was telling about­­
SENATOR SMITH: The sailboat?
MR. ABELSETH: Yes; when the Carpathia came she was picked up. There were several boats there then. It was broad daylight and you could see the Carpathia. Then this boat sailed down to us and took us aboard, and took us in to the Carpathia. I helped row in to the Carpathia.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you see any icebergs on that morning?
MR. ABELSETH: We saw three big ones. They were quite a ways off.
SENATOR SMITH: I want to direct your attention again to the steerage. Do you think the passengers in the steerage and in the bow of the boat had an opportunity to get out and up on the decks, or were they held back.
MR. ABELSETH: Yes, I think they had an opportunity to get up.
SENATOR SMITH: There were no gates or doors locked, or anything that kept them down?
MR. ABELSETH: No, sir; not that I could see.
SENATOR SMITH: You said that a number of them climbed up one of these cranes?
MR. ABELSETH: That was on the top, on the deck; after they got on the deck. That was in order to get up on this boat deck.
SENATOR SMITH: Onto the top deck?
MR. ABELSETH: Onto the top deck; yes. But, down where we were, in the rooms, I do not think there was anybody that held anybody back.
SENATOR SMITH: You were not under any restraint? You were permitted to go aboard the boats the same as other passengers?
MR. ABELSETH: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you think the steerage passengers in your part of the ship all got out?
MR. ABELSETH: I could not say that for sure; but I think the most of them got out.
SENATOR SMITH: Did that part of the ship fill rapidly with water?
MR. ABELSETH: Oh, yes; I think that filled up; yes. There was a friend of mine told me that he went back for something that he wanted, and then there was so much water there that he could not get to his room.
SENATOR SMITH: Were the three relatives of yours from Norway lost?
MR. ABELSETH: Yes; they were lost.
SENATOR SMITH: You never saw them after you parted from them at the time you spoke of?
MR. ABELSETH: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know how many people were there in that lifeboat you were in?
MR. ABELSETH: I could not say for sure; but there must have been 10 or 12. They got saved off this raft. There was one man from New Jersey that I came in company with from London. I do not know what his name was. I tried to keep this man alive, but I could not make it. It was just at the break of day, and he was lying down, and he seemed to be kind of unconscious; he was not really dead, and I took him by the shoulder and raised him up, so that he was sitting up on this deck.
SENATOR SMITH: He was sitting on a seat?
MR. ABELSETH: He was just sitting down right on the deck. I said to him, "We can see a ship now. Brace up." And I took one of his hands and raised it up like that [illustrating], and I took him by the shoulder and shook him, and he said, "Who are you?" He said, "Let me be. Who are you?" I held him up like that for a while, but I got tired and cold, and I took a little piece of a small board, a lot of which were floating around there, and laid it under his head on the edge of the boat to keep his head from the water; but it was not more than about half an hour or so when he died.
SENATOR SMITH: That is all. We are very much obliged to you.
TESTIMONY OF MR. NORMAN CAMPBELL CHAMBERS
[Testimony taken separately before Senator William Alden Smith, chairman of the subcommittee.]
The witness was sworn by the Senator Smith.
SENATOR SMITH: Please state you full name and residence.
MR. CHAMBERS: Norman Campbell Chambers, 111 Broadway, New York.
SENATOR SMITH: What is your business?
MR. CHAMBERS: Mechanical engineer.
SENATOR SMITH: You were on board the Titanic on this ill­fated voyage?
MR. CHAMBERS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: I wish you would tell the committee what you know about the collision, and any circumstances leading up to or subsequent to the impact, which may tend to throw light upon this unfortunate affair.
First, did you, after the impact, observe the condition of the water­tight compartments?
MR. CHAMBERS: Our stateroom was E­8, on the starboard side; that is the lowest berth deck, and as far as I know we were as far forward as any of the first­cabin passengers on that deck.
At the time of the collision I was in bed, and I noticed no very great shock, the loudest noise by far being that of jangling chains whipping along the side of the ship. This passed so quickly that I assumed something had gone wrong with the engines on the starboard side.
SENATOR SMITH: What did you do then?
MR. CHAMBERS: At the request of my wife I prepared to investigate what had happened, leaving her dressing. I threw on sufficient clothes, including my overcoat. I went up, in a leisurely manner, as far as the A deck on the starboard side. There I noted only an unusual coldness of the air. Looking over the side I was unable to see anything in any direction.
I returned below, where I was joined by my wife, and we came up again to investigate, still finding nothing. However, there was then a noticeable list to starboard, with probably a few degrees of pitch; and as the ship had had a list to port nearly all afternoon, I decided to remain up, in spite of a feeling of perfect safety.
Upon return to the stateroom for the purpose completing dressing, I looked at the starboard end of our passageway, where there was the companion leading to the quarters of the mail clerks and farther on to the baggage room and, I believe, the mail­sorting room, and at the top of these stairs I found a couple of mail clerks wet to their knees, who had just come up from below, bringing their registered mail bags. As the door in the bulkhead in the next deck was open, I was able to look directly into the trunk room, which was then filled with water, and within 18 inches or 2 feet of the deck above.
We were standing there joking about our baggage being completely soaked and about the correspondence which was seen floating about on the top of the water. I personally felt no sense of danger, as this water was forward of the bulkhead.
While we were standing there three of the ship's officers ­ I did not notice their rank or department ­ descended the first companion and looked into the baggage room, coming back up immediately, saying that we were not making any more water. This was not an announcement, but merely a remark passed from one to the other. Then my wife and myself returned in the direction of our stateroom, a matter of a few yards only, and as we were going down our own alleyway to the stateroom door our room steward came by and told us that we could go on back to bed again; that there was no danger. In this I agreed with him personally.
However, I finished dressing, my wife being already fully and warmly clothed, and she in the meanwhile having gone out into the passage to note any later developments, came rushing back to me, saying that she had seen another passenger who had informed her that the call had been given for life belts and on the boat deck. I went out, myself, and found my room steward passing down the alleyway and had the order verified.
As I was at the time fully dressed and wore my heavy overcoat, in the pockets of which I had already placed certain necessities, we started up. My wife had presence of mind enough to take a life belt. I opened my steamer trunk and took out a small pocket compass, and, sending my wife on ahead, opened my bag and removed my automatic pistol.
We then proceeded immediately upward, my wife being rather alarmed, as she had been at the time of the collision. But for her I should have remained in bed, reading. We kept on upward, passing, at the various landings, people who did not appear to be particularly frightened, until we arrived on the A deck, going out on the port side, where I shortly found the deck steward, joked with him about opening his little office room and obtained our two steamer rugs. We then proceeded up the port outside companion onto the boat deck. There did not seem to be any particular group of passengers around the boats on the port side, although there were seamen there unlimbering the gear.
