friend James Clinch Smith had made their way to the starboard side. They too began to help with the last boats. While Lightoller and Hemming worked on Collapsible B, Colonel Gracie helped First Officer Murdoch and others get Collapsible A down from the roof of the officers’ quarters.
Colonel Gracie couldn’t help thinking, “What was one boat among so many eager to board her?”
A crew member shouted out, wanting to know if anyone had a knife to cut the lashings. Gracie tossed up his penknife. The men scurried to lean oars against the wall of the officers’ quarters, hoping to break the fall of the boat so that this last hope would not shatter. Finally it tumbled down onto the deck, breaking several oars on the way.
That was the moment when the ship seemed to dive forward and seawater surged toward them. Colonel Gracie and Clinch Smith looked for the nearest high place. They tried to jump onto the roof of the officers’ quarters. It was no good. Their bulky coats and clumsy life preservers got in the way.
As Gracie landed back on deck from his first jump, the water struck him on his right side. Thinking fast, he crouched down, and then, like riding a wave at the beach, he pushed off and leaped again. This time he let the force of the surging water propel him forward and up onto the roof.
He was now a little farther aft, lying on his stomach on top of the first class entrance above the grand stairway, not far from the base of the Titanic ’s gigantic second funnel. Colonel Gracie gasped for breath and looked around for his friend. But Clinch Smith — and many others — had disappeared from sight.
“. . . the wave . . . had completely covered him, as well as all people on both sides of me,” he said.
He had no time to grieve. The ship was now sinking — the deck disappearing fast. “. . . before I could get to my feet I was in a whirlpool of water, swirling round and round, as I still tried to cling to the railing as the ship plunged to the depths below.
“Down, down I went: it seemed a great distance.”
Harold Bride was also caught in the wave.
Minutes before, he’d gone to where Lightoller and others were trying to free the last collapsible boats from the roof of the officers’ quarters. “I went up to them and was just lending a hand when a large wave came awash of the deck.
“The big wave carried the boat off. I had hold of an oarlock, and I went off with it.”
At about 2:15 a.m., just a short distance away from Colonel Archibald Gracie, Jack Thayer could see the water rising up over the deck, the ship going down at a fast rate, the sea coming right up to the bridge. The crowd kept pushing back toward the stern, which was still dry. Shock and terror showed on people’s faces.
Without warning, the ship seemed to start forward and sink at a lower angle. Jack heard a rumbling roar and what seemed to be muffled explosions.
As the bow sank lower, the weight of the water was straining the ship’s steel structure to the breaking point. Jack couldn’t believe the sound: “It was like standing under a steel railway bridge while an express train passes overhead, mingled with the noise of a pressed steel factory and the wholesale breakage of china.”
Jack and Milton decided to jump into the water at the last second and then swim as fast as they could away from the ship to avoid being dragged down by suction or hit with debris.
“We had no time to think now, only to act,” said Jack. “We shook hands, wished each other luck. I said, ‘Go ahead, I’ll be right with you.’”
Milton went first, disappearing over the rail. Jack never saw him again.
Then it was his turn.
Ole Abelseth also saw that time was running out. “. . . 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
Colonel Gracie couldn’t help thinking, “What was one boat among so many eager to board her?”
A crew member shouted out, wanting to know if anyone had a knife to cut the lashings. Gracie tossed up his penknife. The men scurried to lean oars against the wall of the officers’ quarters, hoping to break the fall of the boat so that this last hope would not shatter. Finally it tumbled down onto the deck, breaking several oars on the way.
That was the moment when the ship seemed to dive forward and seawater surged toward them. Colonel Gracie and Clinch Smith looked for the nearest high place. They tried to jump onto the roof of the officers’ quarters. It was no good. Their bulky coats and clumsy life preservers got in the way.
As Gracie landed back on deck from his first jump, the water struck him on his right side. Thinking fast, he crouched down, and then, like riding a wave at the beach, he pushed off and leaped again. This time he let the force of the surging water propel him forward and up onto the roof.
He was now a little farther aft, lying on his stomach on top of the first class entrance above the grand stairway, not far from the base of the Titanic ’s gigantic second funnel. Colonel Gracie gasped for breath and looked around for his friend. But Clinch Smith — and many others — had disappeared from sight.
“. . . the wave . . . had completely covered him, as well as all people on both sides of me,” he said.
He had no time to grieve. The ship was now sinking — the deck disappearing fast. “. . . before I could get to my feet I was in a whirlpool of water, swirling round and round, as I still tried to cling to the railing as the ship plunged to the depths below.
“Down, down I went: it seemed a great distance.”
Harold Bride was also caught in the wave.
Minutes before, he’d gone to where Lightoller and others were trying to free the last collapsible boats from the roof of the officers’ quarters. “I went up to them and was just lending a hand when a large wave came awash of the deck.
“The big wave carried the boat off. I had hold of an oarlock, and I went off with it.”
At about 2:15 a.m., just a short distance away from Colonel Archibald Gracie, Jack Thayer could see the water rising up over the deck, the ship going down at a fast rate, the sea coming right up to the bridge. The crowd kept pushing back toward the stern, which was still dry. Shock and terror showed on people’s faces.
Without warning, the ship seemed to start forward and sink at a lower angle. Jack heard a rumbling roar and what seemed to be muffled explosions.
As the bow sank lower, the weight of the water was straining the ship’s steel structure to the breaking point. Jack couldn’t believe the sound: “It was like standing under a steel railway bridge while an express train passes overhead, mingled with the noise of a pressed steel factory and the wholesale breakage of china.”
Jack and Milton decided to jump into the water at the last second and then swim as fast as they could away from the ship to avoid being dragged down by suction or hit with debris.
“We had no time to think now, only to act,” said Jack. “We shook hands, wished each other luck. I said, ‘Go ahead, I’ll be right with you.’”
Milton went first, disappearing over the rail. Jack never saw him again.
Then it was his turn.
Ole Abelseth also saw that time was running out. “. . . 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
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