The SiNKiNci OF a Modern Liner. 



637 



nearly dead and began to tremble furiously, but thiit 

 was only the river of water pouring aft, and we soon 

 saw the firemen driven up like rats from a burrow. 

 " Stand by the boats ! " 



THE FIGHT FOR LIFE. 



The order was given, and the boatswain's call rose 

 in a long, tremulous screech. The sailors tried to get to 

 their quarters, and I observed that their occasional 

 drills had done them good. But then the drills had been 

 1 arried on while the passengers stood aloof, so that the 

 sailors were used to having their own way. .\t this 

 juncture there was a maddened host of cowardly men 

 and hysterical women to be dealt with. 1 forced my 

 way forward towards one of the starboard boats, and 

 as 1 thru-;t mv way through the crush, an Irishwoman 

 clung to me with one arm, while she held up a shivering 

 baby with the other. The woman was nearly naked, 

 but she never heeded the cold. " Mother of God," she 

 iried, " take my little one and make sure of him." I 

 shook her off and pushed on. A terrified navvy sought 

 10 keep me back, and he scratched at my face like a 

 /at ; but I reached the davits. The men had the boat 

 iwung round, and the carpenter was about to let her 

 un, when a mixed mob of English and foreigners took 

 possession, and in an instant the little craft was packed 

 with a weltering heap of men who had quite lost their 

 senses. I saw the captain leave the bridge with a flying 

 >pring, and I saw also the gleam of the pistol barrels. 

 Then I heard on the starboard side the rapid '" Smasli, 

 smash" of a revolver-shot, and the captain shouted, 

 '■ You hear what they are getting on the other side ! 

 Out of it, or I take you one after the other." The 

 sailors were fighting hard, but the men in the boat 

 fought also with the oars and boathooks ; one seaman 

 had his head split ; another received a wound from 

 a boathook, which took his cheek away in one nasty 

 tlaj). 



WOMEN FIR.ST. 



Still the ruftians did not know how to lower away, 

 and one of them began to lash at the forward fall with 

 an axe. " Come down, you, sir." " \'ou be d— d." 

 Crack ! The man flung up his arms, dropped his axe, 

 and fell headlong into the sea. " \ow down with you," 

 said the captain, livid and half-blind with fury. Hut 

 no. A furious fool succeeded in letting the boat go by 

 the head, and the whole crowd of poltroons were 

 emptied into the swashing sea, where they gasped and 

 struggled till the last two men throttled each other and 

 rolled under. One of the starlxiard boats was suicess- 

 fully launched, and the chief offu er stood, revolver in 

 hand. " Women first hert. Thompson, you will steer 

 her. Take (our men, and no more." The young Knglish 

 lady was lowered down, although she clung liard to 



her father and begged him to let her stay. "No, 

 darling ; good-bye. Be happy ! " he said, and then 

 stood composedly amid the hurly-burly. A pretty 

 actress and two Iristiwomen were ne.xt sent down ; 

 then four children were put in, and then the sailors 

 sprang over the side and prepared to help others. An 

 Irishman shouted, " Now, boys ! " His voice seemed 

 to send an impulse through the crowd, and the roughs 

 tore themselves away from the women and flung them- 

 selves recklessly — some into the boat, some into the 

 water. The officer fired two barrels and missed each 

 time ; a sailor shoved off, and we saw an overladen 

 boat lumber heavily aw^iy astern. 



A SCENE OF HORROR. 



.Ml this scene of horror took place in less than two 

 minutes, and the ship settled more and more every 

 sei'ond. The prize-fighter and his gang were not suc- 

 cessful in their attempt to steal the boat forward. 

 The purser and the steward armed themselves with 

 firemen's rods and beat the fellows down ; then the 

 baker— a quick young lad, who had learned his 

 business as a seaman in addition to his trade — let the 

 boats slip, and four gallant men withstood the ferocious 

 rowdies until eighteen women had been pitched over 

 the side and carelessly lowered. A seaman took the 

 tiller, four stokers, the purser, and the baker jumped 

 in at the last moment, and this second boat went 

 adrift. Meanwhile the captain had reloaded — alas, 

 what a pity he only had two barrels ! — and a third and 

 fourth boat went off with half their proper complement. 

 Another boatload might have escaped, but si.x men 

 sprang from the port side and actually stove the 

 cutter in. 



ONE BOAT LEFT — AND SEVEN HUNDRED SOULS. 



At last, only one light boat remained, and 

 still there were over 700 of us jammed in the narrow- 

 space left by the awful list. The captain had dropped 

 his hands , he could do no more. The third mate took 

 a handspike and went smashing among the men who 

 were wTestling around our last hope. One sailor said, 

 •' We've stood it long enough, Tom. Let's have our 

 turn." .\nd he, with three sturdy Swedes, managed to 

 get at the davits. They were just in time, for the 

 steamer began to sway as they floated, and they were 

 all but swamped by the charge and leap of a crowd 

 who flung themselves into the water. Then I was left 

 with a great multitude, whose agonised clamour 

 stunned me. I felt a mighty, convulsive movement ; 

 then the sea seemed to flash down on me in one mass, 

 as if the wall of water fell from a high crag. Then 1 

 heard a humming noise in my ears, and with a gasp 1 

 was up amid a blackened wriggling sheet of drowning 

 creatures. A boat came past me, and I struck out 

 lustily. I raised myself to the gunwale. " Shall I hit 

 his fingers ? " said a man. " No, let him rome," and 

 then I was laid, sick and di/./.y, on the bottom boards of 

 a crowded boat. You know that we were picked up 

 after a nasty time, and I am at home minus my kit. 



