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00:00I was afraid of the sea but I listened to the people who said take the new
00:16Titanic she cannot come to any harm new inventions have made a safe
00:30he told me that apparently we'd struck something
00:50I didn't become alarmed there was no danger they said
01:04I told her to come at once we were sinking
01:11you can imagine the chaos and the fear and the terror of finding water in your cabin and your
01:19in the bowels of the ship it makes me panic just thinking about it the story of the Titanic is
01:26the human condition spread out pinned on a board for us to examine then came the terrible cry
01:35women and children women and children two men lifted me up and put me in a boat
01:42it's these small decisions these little butterfly effect moments that change the outcome
01:48it really was every man for himself
02:04my heart stood still
02:08if we're gonna die that's to die gripping something
02:25it's a split-second decision what would you do what would I do
02:31it was a terrible sight men swimming and sinking
02:43had been brought up to believe in a hell after death
02:56for now I think I went through a hell that night
03:05and I think I've heard that night
03:07and I think I'm pretty much
03:13I think I've heard that night
03:14and I'm pretty much
03:15so we're gonna die
03:16and I'm pretty much
03:18and I'm pretty much
03:19and I'm pretty much
04:03Mr. Harvey ordered me to fetch some men down.
04:13I got between 15 and 20.
04:22The engineers put the pumps on.
04:28Those who would have gone off duty stairs on.
04:33Right now on the Titanic, there's a red alert emergency.
04:41Down below in the boiler room, all the crew, the firemen that would normally be down there,
04:46have been called back on ship to try to pump out the water that is flooding into the compartment.
04:53Imagine it, there's steam everywhere.
04:57There's the groaning, creaking, splitting sounds of the ship itself.
05:03It's terrifying.
05:04They are like soldiers going into battle.
05:12With five compartments flooded, the Titanic is going to sink.
05:16They have around an hour and a half until it's going to disappear below the waves.
05:20They're never going to get all of the water out of the ship, but can they hold it back just a little bit longer
05:25in order to try and save everybody on board.
05:32What I think is unfortunate in Titanic is that the captain had not established a mechanism
05:54whereby he was getting information about what the actual damage was in various parts of the ship.
06:02This is something that there should have been being worked on much earlier.
06:06As a result, time was lost.
06:10Once you begin to understand that you are really up against it in terms of time,
06:15it goes from, we can't save the ship, but can we get the passengers from the Titanic
06:20to a rescue ship before the Titanic sinks?
06:25The captain knows that the decisions that are made in the coming minutes, hours,
06:30ultimately that will be the decider on how many people will make it off of the ship alive.
06:34Send a call for assistance, ordered the captain.
06:56Which call should I send?
06:58The Regulation International Call for Help.
07:01Just that.
07:03And the captain was gone.
07:07The next moment we sent an urgent distress call.
07:14So in the radio room right now, it's a race against time.
07:20The operators must send out the distress signal.
07:23It's the standard Morse code signal that will tell shipping in the area
07:28that the Titanic is in trouble and needs help.
07:33These two young men, they're in their 20s,
07:37and now are responsible for seeking rescue for the unsinkable ship Titanic.
07:44My boats were along the port side.
08:08My idea was that I'd lower the boats and transfer passengers.
08:15They would be perfectly safe in that smooth sea until another ship picked them up.
08:19All right, gentlemen, you know what to do.
08:21Up to this time, we hadn't had chance for a boat drill,
08:25beyond just lowering some of the boats in Southampton.
08:28The crew of the Titanic had been put through a fine sift
08:33and care taken that there were no misfits.
08:39The tap on the shoulder and indication with the hand
08:41was quite sufficient to set the men about the different jobs.
08:45Clearing away boat covers,
08:47calling tight the falls,
08:49ready for lowering.
08:50We're not going to see hysteria.
08:54We're not even going to see anxiety at this point,
08:56not least because the information is distorted and fragmented.
09:01Nobody is thinking that the ship is going to sink.
09:04Only Captain Smith really knows the extent of what is happening.
09:12The water, having reached F deck,
09:15showed me she'd been badly holed.
09:18Although I knew it was serious,
09:21I'd not have thought that it was likely to prove fatal.
09:24I figured that she'd go so far
09:26until she balanced her buoyancy
09:29and there she would remain.
09:32The captain doesn't share the information he has
09:35with all the officers that the ship is going down.
09:38And precisely why he hasn't shared it remains a mystery.
09:43It may be a strategy he doesn't want them to panic.
09:45Maybe reflects an internal chaos.
09:48He doesn't know who to tell or when.
09:51The reality is,
09:53for the crew in the Titanic at this moment,
09:55they have no idea what level of catastrophe they're in.
09:58They just know they have a job to do.
10:00The understand and呃,
10:06they keep dusting off.
10:08Hey,
10:09go!
10:11Go!
10:12belli
10:15tiong
10:18There are 2208 passengers on board, they won't all fit in the lifeboats, so the lifeboats
10:37will have to do shuttle runs, take passengers to the rescue ship, come back and then take
10:42the next lot of passengers.
10:45It's physically possible for them to save all the passengers, but they have to do it
10:50in an orderly fashion.
10:52And the people who are going to go first are those whose rooms are closest to the boat deck,
10:55and those are the first-class passengers.
10:58In this emergency plan, the wealthy and the powerful have an innate advantage.
11:03They are top of the list.
11:10Suddenly orders came down, everybody to the boats.
11:19All stewards and stewardesses were on duty in their sections to assist and direct people.
11:27I continued through my section, trying to reassure, reminding people to put on warm clothing,
11:36take blankets and valuables.
11:40Violet Jessup is a first-class stewardess.
11:44She's 24 years old.
11:45She's the youngest stewardess on board.
11:48The first-class stewards and stewardesses really are the ones who are responsible for making
11:52this evacuation process happen.
11:55They have to demonstrate extraordinary self-control and put these other people first.
12:06Of course, we reiterated from room to room that it was just precautionary measure.
12:13Everywhere I found extraordinary calmness.
12:19People who'd been asleep were dressing, fumbling, sleepy-eyed with buttons.
12:28They were unemotional, probably thinking, as I did, that it was all too fantastic.
12:43The first-class passengers have invested financially, they've spent a lot on their tickets, they've
12:48invested psychologically in this being safe and luxurious.
12:53And they therefore cannot believe that it can be anything but that.
13:00It's such a leap of imagination to go against everything they've internalised about this
13:06experience and start to believe that something might be going wrong.
13:11A steward knocked at the door.
13:18Sorry to alarm you, madam, but the captain's orders are that all passengers should put on
13:25lifebelts.
13:26He laughed and joked as he helped us.
13:31Wrap up warmly, for you may have a little trip for an hour or so in one of the lifeboats.
13:36Cosmo was so brave to try and keep us in good spirits, making a bad jest as to how unappetising
13:45we both looked in those sickly white life preservers.
13:54Lucy Lady Duff Gordon is one of the most prominent people on board.
14:00After divorcing her previous husband, she managed to build up her business, which is a fashion
14:06design house, into a multi-million pound enterprise.
14:09And this is a time when many women don't even have bank accounts.
14:13So she's obviously extraordinary.
14:16She's very resourceful.
14:18And that will come to be important.
14:20I put on a heavy crepe scarf.
14:24I wore the big squirrel coat.
14:27Bought my little velveteen ring bag.
14:31It all looked so pretty.
14:33Just like a bedroom on land.
14:36It didn't seem possible.
14:37There could be any danger.
14:42A bit of vase of flowers on the washstand slid off and fell to the floor.
14:50I had a young people who were a man.
14:51I had a time to see how the green family went through.
14:53And, I had a baby.
14:54I had an infant who died.
14:55I had an infant in the room.
14:56I had an infant.
14:57It was an infant when I was born.
14:59I had a baby.
15:00I had a baby.
15:01I had a baby.
15:03A baby.
15:04Who is the captain?
15:05What?
15:06What?
15:10A baby.
15:11A baby.
15:12A baby.
15:13I had a baby.
15:14What?
15:15A baby.
15:16What?
15:17Slowly people started, some joking, taking their time about it.
15:30To those few who showed concern, a reassuring answer was there are plenty of boats in the
15:36vicinity.
15:37They'll be with us any moment now.
15:43I heard the crow's nest report a light on the bow.
15:57I went on the bridge right away and found this light.
16:08It was two masthead lights of a steamer just below the horizon.
16:15You could not only see her lights with the naked eye.
16:18You could see the lights of her portals.
16:20The Boxall can see the nearest ship to the Titanic, which is the Californian.
16:27She's very close by, about 14 miles.
16:31The Californian had already communicated with the Titanic earlier that evening that she
16:38was going to spend the night in the ice flow because it was too dangerous to continue.
16:43that the Californian would be able to reach Titanic before she sinks.
16:50Captain Smith, we've spotted a steamer on the horizon.
16:56I told the captain about this ship.
16:58He said, tell them to come at once.
17:01We are sinking.
17:02We are sinking.
17:03He».
17:20After the signal had been sent out, the ether seemed to be dead.
17:41No reply came through.
17:46Californian isn't picking up any signals.
17:49The radio operator has gone to bed, not because he's negligent, but because he's allowed to go to bed.
17:54There's no duty to stay in the radio room all night, and many ships did not ask this of their operators.
18:06But then, suddenly, a chance message comes in from a wireless operator on another ship, the Carpathia.
18:14I was about to retire.
18:20I'd taken my coat off.
18:22I should have been turning in in about ten minutes.
18:26Called the Titanic.
18:27And his only answer was, Struckerberg.
18:37Come at once.
18:41We told her our position and said we were sinking by the head.
18:44I asked him if he intended me to go get the ship turned round immediately, and he said yes, quick.
18:57The operator went to tell his captain.
18:58The Carpathia is a transatlantic steamship.
19:05She's fast, but she's going in the other direction.
19:09Jack Phillips hears that the radio operator is going to tell the captain that Titanic is in trouble.
19:16The captain of the Carpathia will then make the decision about what to do,
19:21and that usually means to turn your vessel towards the ship that is in distress.
19:27That's the rule of the sea.
19:29So here is a chance of rescue.
19:32As long as Carpathia is able to get there in time.
19:37The Carpathia is able to get there in the air.
20:07And the air.
20:08It was overwhelmed by the stewards to be going away in a boat.
20:10It didn't seem possible that all this could actually be happening.
20:19It was the strangest scene.
20:22People bundled up in old clothes, boarding lifeboats in the night.
20:32Few seemed to want to brave the dark sea in an open boat.
20:35And it was only after considerable coaxing that many went at all.
20:42People don't want to get in.
20:45Why would you want to get out of your warm bed
20:47and go in a lifeboat into the freezing water when there's no problem?
20:50You wouldn't.
20:52This is like a really annoying fire drill at school,
20:55and everybody says, no, I'll just stay here until it's finished.
21:01At that point in time, the general public weren't really trusted.
21:04Keeping people in ignorance was considered better.
21:06And we know today that actually people will respond much more sensibly in an emergency
21:11if they do have some information.
21:13That information was completely lacking at this point on Titanic.
21:34Women and children only, women and children only.
21:41We were just walking forward when a sailor tried to drag me away from Cosmo.
21:48The officers called for women and children.
21:51So Captain Smith has ordered that women and children should be evacuated,
21:56and they should be prioritized.
22:00On the port side, the second officer, Officer Lightoller,
22:04interprets it as women and children only.
22:07The consequence of this is that if you are a family turning up on the port side,
22:16you will be separated, and the men will not be allowed on the lifeboats.
22:21Saving the lives of women and children comes from deep in the Edwardian mindset.
22:29Women at the time are seen as having a kind of childish status.
22:34I mean, this is before they've been allowed to vote,
22:36and they are perceived to have a physical and mental weakness
22:42that means that men have to be their protectors.
22:45Please step back, sir. Please step back.
22:50I had no such ideas about my husband.
22:53It would have been too awful to have been alone.
22:58Every time Officer Lightoller prevents a man from getting into a lifeboat,
23:02there is the possibility that his wife won't go,
23:06that they will stay on board the ship,
23:08so he's actually potentially endangering the lives
23:11of the precise people he's been told to prioritize to save.
23:15Get the gun!
23:17Get the gun!
23:37In a great emergency like that, where there were limited facilities,
23:41could you not have put more people into boats?
23:47I did not know it was urgent then.
23:50I had no idea it was urgent.
23:53You did not know it was urgent?
23:57Nothing like it.
23:58Lightoller wants to do a good job, clearly.
24:11Maybe if he'd known the ship was sinking,
24:13he would have allowed men in to fill up the spaces in the lifeboats.
24:17But because the captain is withholding information,
24:21people like Lightoller can't do their job properly,
24:23and this will have disastrous consequences.
24:27What one wants is to have a very good relationship,
24:32a band of brothers, and when you've got that,
24:34you must keep them informed of what's going on,
24:36and what we call nowadays mission command.
24:38In other words,
24:39you let them know what you want to achieve overall,
24:41you tell them all the facts,
24:42and then you let them get on with it.
24:44I think that Captain Smith was overwhelmed
24:46by the enormity of what was happening
24:48and was not really grasping it and taking charge.
24:50Anybody in the next chamber?
24:53It's back away.
24:55I think that Captain Smith was overwhelmed
24:56by the enormity of what was happening
24:58and was not really grasping it and taking charge.
24:59Anybody in the next chamber?
25:00It's back away.
25:02Look!
25:03Go!
25:05Go!
25:07Go!
25:08Go!
25:09Go!
25:11Go!
25:13Go!
25:15Go!
25:16Go!
25:17Go!
25:18Go!
25:19The operator returned and told us the Carpathia was putting about and heading for us.
25:39Our captain had left us at this time.
25:41Phillips told me to run and tell him what the Carpathia had answered.
25:49I went through an awful mass of people to his cabin.
25:54The decks were full.
26:01I came back and heard Phillips giving the Carpathia full of directions.
26:05He told me to put my clothes on.
26:10Until that moment, I forgot I wasn't dressed.
26:15I went to my cabin and dressed and brought an overcoat to Phillips.
26:20It was very cold.
26:23I slipped the overcoat on him while it worked.
26:27Imagine the relief in the radio room.
26:30Carpathia has answered the distress call, is coming their way.
26:37But, although she's going as fast as she can,
26:40she's having to go through the same ice field where Titanic has floundered.
26:49She's four hours away, and Titanic isn't going to stay afloat that long.
26:54The nearest ship to Titanic is the Californian,
27:07but the radio operator's still asleep.
27:10Nobody is aware of any problem on the Titanic.
27:18The crew of the Titanic have to think on their feet.
27:20So they start to use Morse lamps and send a signal using light rather than a sound.
27:27The ship was close enough, I thought, to read our electric Morse signal.
27:33So I signalled her.
27:34I told her to come at once.
27:41We were sinking.
27:43The captain was with me most of the time we were signalling.
27:47I would signal with the Morse and then go back and look at the ship.
27:50I cannot say I saw any reply.
28:07In a crisis, you just have to increase your chances of survival.
28:11Survival is all about probability.
28:13You know, throwing as much muck at the wall as possible and seeing what sticks.
28:16Then we started sending off these distressed rockets,
28:23the quartermaster and I on the bridge.
28:30They go right up into the air and throw stars.
28:46They go out into the air and throw stars.
29:14Right now, the water is rising up through the body of the ship.
29:22The waterproof bulkheads only went up to a certain level.
29:26By this stage, water was tipping over bulkheads
29:29and cascading into the next compartment.
29:32So compartment after compartment was being filled by water.
29:39And as this mass of water breaches the bulkheads,
29:43it starts flowing back on itself, making cascades and waterfalls,
29:47coming down the narrow staircases.
30:06Third-class passengers in the bowels of the ship are at most risk.
30:10They were really left in the dark.
30:13They are wading through water.
30:17They're not aware of what's going on,
30:18the rescue mission going on in the upper decks.
30:21They had to work it out themselves.
30:26My husband had left some money in our cabin
30:29and there were all our clothes
30:32and things that we were taking to America.
30:36Salini is from Hardin, which was in Lebanon.
30:47And she's a newlywed bride.
30:50And her older husband is taking her to live with him in America.
30:54They are caught between going up to the higher decks
30:59and the desire to keep their belongings.
31:02It's easy to underestimate
31:05just how important things are to a migrant,
31:10to someone who's leaving home forever.
31:13Do you want to arrive in New York destitute
31:16with nothing to your name,
31:18nothing to pay for a room?
31:20Of course not.
31:21We returned to try and get our clothes,
31:30money and jewellery.
31:34We started down for them.
31:39But the water on our deck was waist deep.
31:44We never got there.
31:59Depending on where you are in the ship right now,
32:02you're going to start seeing a lot of water.
32:04The third-class passengers in particular.
32:08Water in any quantity is terrifying
32:11because you can't push it away,
32:13you can't fight it.
32:14People are now seeing evidence with their own eyes.
32:18It's not rumour, it's not gossip.
32:20It's not even that they're waiting to be told.
32:22They can see, feel that there is a problem.
32:35By this time, the ship seemed to have tilted forward a little.
32:40And we heard queer noises
32:46as if the ship was being pulled about.
32:59Charlotte Collier is a second-class passenger.
33:01She's travelling with her husband, Harvey and her eight-year-old daughter, Marjorie.
33:05Charlotte has health issues.
33:06She has tuberculosis.
33:08So she's eager to find a new climate for her health,
33:11as well as whatever economic benefit they might get from migrating.
33:15Whilst this whole hour has passed in which the first-class passengers are being evacuated,
33:27they were told to stay in their cabin.
33:30They are sitting there and worrying, and no-one is telling them anything.
33:40Suddenly, we heard people running along the passageway in front of our door.
33:46Their feet reminded me of rats, scurrying.
33:57I could see my face had grown very white.
34:03My husband stammered when he spoke to me.
34:06He said we had better go on deck and see what's wrong.
34:10For anyone that was feeling confused or was just following the rules,
34:23it's very clear something major is now happening.
34:28It's going to be terrifying, especially if you're a parent with a young child.
34:33When we went on board the Titanic, every possession was with us.
34:45Neither of us took any belongings from the cabin.
34:48My husband even left his watch lying on his pillow.
34:55I had a big dolly that I got two Christmases before,
34:59and we were in such a hurry that I left it behind.
35:06I cried for my dolly, but we couldn't go back.
35:18When we reached the deck, there was a great many people.
35:29Some of them were crying.
35:38I was crying for my doll, but nobody could go back and get her.
35:48An officer said,
35:50you should put on life preservers.
35:52So,
35:54mother put one on me,
35:55and then fastened one around herself.
35:57Papa put one on, too.
36:01Sure, now.
36:05My husband stepped over to an officer
36:07and asked him a question.
36:10Excuse me.
36:11Yes, sir.
36:11What's going on?
36:12I heard him shout back,
36:14keep calm.
36:16There's no danger.
36:20Nobody's telling anybody what's going on.
36:23The captain knows,
36:24a few of the officers know,
36:26but it's important to keep this away because of panic.
36:30But now, because of the noise, the tilt,
36:34people are realising that something is wrong.
36:36All the water that had been thrown on the furnaces,
36:54just making the stock all thick, was steam.
36:56Mr. Shepherds was walking across in a hurry to do something.
37:09And he fell down the hole and broke his leg.
37:14He lifted him up and carried him.
37:16There was a knock and noise.
37:32All at once,
37:33I saw a wave of green foam tearing between the boilers.
37:37A rush of water came through.
37:41Oh, everybody!
37:42I never stopped to look.
37:46I just jumped for the escape ladder.
37:59A huge wave of green water
38:02comes flying through into the room
38:04because the coal bunker
38:06has been gradually filling up
38:08and filling up and filling up
38:09with the pressure.
38:10And then it bursts
38:12and suddenly it's all over them.
38:15Another engineer, Jonathan Shepard,
38:17has already slipped and broken his leg
38:20so he can't escape this wall of water.
38:28And he's the first casualty to die on the Titanic.
38:32I went up the escape
38:40and into the main alleyway.
38:42Titanic was sloping down by the head.
39:03Water was coming down the alleyway from forward.
39:06Now that boiler room five is filled with water,
39:15the engineers realise that all their efforts are futile.
39:19There's no point pumping it out anymore.
39:22It's coming in faster than anyone can manage it.
39:25This is a moment of terror and certainty.
39:35Perhaps this is the first moment
39:37where these brave men realise
39:40that the ship is going to go down.
39:42All passengers upstairs, at last.
40:03I...
40:03I return to my room.
40:07I began tidying up.
40:16Folding my nightgown,
40:18putting everything in its place.
40:22There was...
40:23There was no sound.
40:27Titanic might have been in dock
40:29and all the crew gone home.
40:30I saw Stanley at the door watching me
40:44and he...
40:47He almost shouted at me as he seized my arm.
40:51My God, don't you realise this ship will sink?
40:54You have to follow the rest upstairs
40:56as quickly as possible.
41:00Sinking.
41:02Sinking.
41:07The word...
41:09repeated itself
41:11without fully...
41:14fully entering my understanding.
41:19My mind could not accept
41:22that the super-perfect creation
41:26was to do so futile a thing
41:28as sink.
41:29Of course,
41:32Titanic
41:33couldn't be sinking.
41:35Sinking.
41:35Suddenly,
41:38there was a commotion near one of the gangways
41:56and we saw a stoker come up from below.
42:00All the fingers of one hand had been cut off.
42:09Blood was running from the stumps
42:13and was spattered on his face and clothes.
42:17It brought up a picture of smashed engines
42:24and mangled human bodies.
42:28I went over to speak to him.
42:29I asked him if there was any danger.
42:35Danger?
42:37I should say so.
42:41It's hell down below.
42:43This ship will sink like a stone.
42:46This ship will sink like a stone.
42:52At this moment, I got my first grip of fear.
42:58Those in charge herded us towards the nearest boat.
43:13Then, above the clamour came the terrible cry, lower the boat, women and children.
43:30Someone was shouting these last few words over and over again.
43:45Women and children only.
43:47Women and children only.
43:52It might be that Lightoller has this kind of rigid view of the world.
43:56He's come in with a set of rules.
43:58It might be that under this stressful situation,
44:01it's the only way he can function.
44:03He can't cope with more information and more decision-making,
44:06so he just sticks to this one option.
44:23Cosmo pleaded with me.
44:26Well, three or four boats were launched, but I refused.
44:31I only said,
44:33Promise me that whatever you do, you will not let them separate us.
44:38And I clung to him.
44:40He saw that there was no use resisting me.
44:49We'll go round to the starboard side, Cosmo said.
44:51It might be better there.
45:04One of the pivotal facts about the loading of the lifeboats is this.
45:08There are different protocols on each side of the ship.
45:13On the starboard side, Officer Murdoch's approach is more pragmatic.
45:19It's more flexible.
45:23It was better.
45:25For although there were crowds, there was no confusion.
45:29The lifeboats are being quietly filled.
45:37If you emerge on the starboard side,
45:40then Officer Murdoch might well allow the men to join the women
45:46and their children if there are spaces left.
45:48So there's Murdoch allowing men to fill up the spare places.
45:53Why not?
45:55Murdoch doesn't want to split families up.
46:00Murdoch, I think, probably had a sense of wanting to preserve life.
46:04And Light Hollow had a stricter, more patriarchal view, perhaps,
46:12of men should sacrifice themselves for women and children.
46:16But the fact that it was happening on the same ship at the same time
46:19shows just how vague this policy was.
46:24So it matters very much which side of the ship you're on if you're a man.
46:31but was given the time for us to increase your mountain
46:36can.
46:40But the years Chief, you're dead,
46:42it has no need of be than the one for ever.
46:44Here we are.
46:47Way tolius Cavani,
46:49and còn one of the sides were set in the two of theeen.
46:51Now....
46:55But theanda,
46:56I was walking up and down the bridge.
47:06Saw white lights in the sky in the direction of this other steamer.
47:14I thought perhaps the ship was in communication with some other ship.
47:19Or possibly signalling to us to tell us she had big icebergs around her.
47:23It didn't occur to me the ship was in distress.
47:28I just thought there were white rockets, that's all.
47:31It might have been anything.
47:35We called her up repeatedly on the Morse lamp.
47:39Received no answer whatsoever.
47:46Some people say she replied to our rockets and our signals.
47:51But I didn't see any of them.
47:53We'll never know why there was miscommunication between the Californian and Titanic.
48:00There seems to have been some confusion about the colour of these rockets.
48:04Were they distress signals?
48:07It's also possible that Boxall didn't see Californian's Morse lamp reply.
48:12Because there's something strange about the atmospheric conditions that night.
48:16You've got this weird effect of warm air underneath and colder air on top,
48:22which is creating a kind of mirage effect.
48:26Shapes are being distorted in the darkness.
48:28What a chance her captain missed.
48:41He could have laid his ship right alongside the Titanic and taken practically every soul on board.
48:46However, he didn't.
48:52This must be the bitterest blow for those people who could see the ship nearby.
49:07I don't think it was bad faith.
49:09I don't think it was negligence.
49:10I think everything conspired that night to go against Titanic's chances of safety and salvation.
49:17I don't think it was a good thing.
49:47Because the earlier lifeboats went out half full,
50:00there are now only about 900 places left on the lifeboats
50:04and more than 2,000 people on board the ship.
50:09If people don't get onto a lifeboat, they will go down with the Titanic.
50:17Suddenly, we saw some sailors who were launching a little boat.
50:25It was a captain's special boat.
50:31Lucy Duff Gordon knows that she needs to get off the ship.
50:37This is the moment to take one of those spaces.
50:40My husband asked the officer if we might get into it.
50:56We were helped in, followed by two American men who came up at the last minute.
51:03There is something here about being in the right place in the right time,
51:11but also seizing the opportunity and having the confidence to do so.
51:16I think that class probably had a huge impact on people's sense of entitlement to safety, to rescue.
51:29You probably did assume that if you bought a first-class ticket, then that would buy you survival.
51:34They are people who are people who are important in the world.
51:39They see themselves as having more value than people in steerage.
51:45And there they are as a couple sitting safely in a lifeboat.
51:49I shall never forget how black and deep the water looked below us.
52:03Men standing nearby joked with us because we were going out on the ocean.
52:09You'll get your death of cold out there amid the ice.
52:19I found myself clinging to my husband's arm with...
52:49little Marjorie beside me.
52:53I did not want to leave him.
52:58Charlotte knows she'll be separated from her husband.
53:00Not knowing if and when they'd be reunited,
53:02I think she probably was just thinking,
53:04please, no, not this.
53:06I want to survive, but not at this cost.
53:11Dilemmas that you just have to accept in that moment.
53:15Those are...
53:16Yeah, those are heavy.
53:22Officer Lytoler.
53:24You know, the man's been at sea since he was 13.
53:29He doesn't have that understanding of what it means
53:32when a woman is clinging to her husband,
53:34when a child is crying for their father.
53:37He just goes ahead with what he believes to be right.
53:41But it's not objectively right.
53:47From what you have said,
53:48you discriminated entirely in the interest of the women and children
53:51in filling those lifeboats.
53:53Yes.
53:56Why did you do that?
53:57Because of the captain's orders,
53:59or because of the rule of the sea?
54:01The rule of human nature.
54:09The deck seemed to be slipping under my feet.
54:13I hung onto my husband's arm.
54:19And although he was very brave
54:21and not trembling,
54:25I saw his face was white as paper.
54:32Port, all-star board.
54:36That sliding doors moment
54:37will determine who survives and who doesn't.
54:40Keep moving along the deck.
54:41We are coming to the lifeboats.
54:43Women and children only.
54:44That's women and children only.
54:46Women and children.
54:47Women and children.
54:48They struck utter terror into my heart,
54:53and now they'll ring in my ears till I die.
55:09I don't know.
55:39There was a lot of confusion.
55:47People crying, swearing and praying.
55:52There's a really stark disadvantage facing third-class passengers.
55:57Chief officer shoved one of the revolvers into my hands.
56:01Chekhov said you can't put a gun in the room and not use it.
56:05All of the order has been lost.
56:08I called out.
56:09Don't shoot.
56:20A new ghost story for Christmas from the macabre mind of Margatis.
56:25Press red to watch The Room in the Tower on BBC iPlayer.
56:39The Room in the Tower on BBC iPlayer.
56:56You
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