- 7 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
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
03:05I don't think I said
03:15it sounds like silver
03:19it sounds like it's anything like silver
03:23but I think that's a great story as long as we brought it in
03:25it's a great story
03:29it's a great story
03:59Mr. Harvey ordered me to fetch some men down.
04:13I got between 15 and 20.
04:22The engineers put the pumps on.
04:24But also we'd have gone off to UT stairs on.
04:33Right now on the Titanic, there's a red alert emergency.
04:40Down 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 compartments.
04:55Imagine 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,
05:23but can they hold it back just a little bit longer in order to try and save everybody on board?
05:28What I think is unfortunate in Titanic
05:51is that the captain had not established a mechanism whereby he was getting information
05:57about 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,
06:19from the Titanic to 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.
06:49Send a call for assistance.
06:51Send 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.
07:09So 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.
08:09My idea was that I'd lower the boats and transfer passengers.
08:14They 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 a chance for a boat drill,
08:25beyond just lowering some of the boats in Southampton.
08:30The crew of the Titanic had been put through a fine sieve
08:33and caretaken that there were no misfits.
08:39A tap on the shoulder, an indication with the hand,
08:42was quite sufficient to set the men about the different jobs.
08:45Clearing away boat covers, hauling tight the falls,
08:49ready for lowering.
08:52We'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.
09:09The water, having reached F deck, showed me she'd been badly hulled.
09:19Although I knew it was serious,
09:21I'd not have thought that it was likely to prove fatal.
09:23I figured that she'd go so far until she balanced her buoyancy
09:29and there she would remain.
09:31The captain doesn't share the information he has with all the officers,
09:36that 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.
09:45It maybe reflects an internal chaos.
09:48He doesn't know who to tell or when.
09:51The reality is, for 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.
10:00Let's get are they finding their adventure.
10:11Music
10:15Music
10:18Music
10:18Music
10:19Music
10:25Music
10:27Music
10:28Music
10:29there are 2208 passengers on board they won't all fit in the lifeboats so the lifeboats will
10:37have to do shuttle runs take passengers to the rescue ship come back and then take the next lot
10:43of passengers it's physically possible for them to save all the passengers but they have to do it
10:50in an orderly fashion and the people who are going to go first are those whose rooms are
10:54closest to the boat deck and those are the first-class passengers in this emergency plan
10:59the wealthy and the powerful have an innate advantage they are top of the list
11:05suddenly orders came down everybody to the boats
11:14all stewards and stewardesses were on duty in their sections to
11:24assist and direct people I continued through my section trying to reassure reminding people to
11:33put on warm clothing take blankets and valuables
11:37Violet Jessup is a first-class stewardess she's 24 years old she's the youngest stewardess on board
11:46the first-class stewards and stewardesses really are the ones who are responsible for making this
11:53evacuation process happen they have to demonstrate extraordinary self-control and put these other
12:00people first of course we reiterated from room to room that it was just precautionary measure
12:10everywhere I found extraordinary calmness people who'd been asleep were dressing fumbling sleepy eyed with with buttons they were
12:29they were unemotional probably thinking as I did that it was all too fantastic
12:39the first-class passengers have invested financially they've spent a lot on their tickets they've invested
12:49psychologically in this being safe and luxurious and 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 internalized about this experience and start to believe
13:08that something might be going wrong
13:10steward knocked at the door
13:17sorry to alarm you madam but the captain's orders are that all passengers should put on life belts
13:25he laughed and joked as he helped us
13:29thank you wrap 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
13:41making a bad jest
13:43as to how unappetizing we both looked in those
13:46sickly white life preservers
13:49Lucy Lady Duff Gordon is one of the most prominent
13:57people on board
13:58after divorcing her previous husband she managed to build
14:03up her business which is a fashion design house into a multi-million pound enterprise and this is a time
14:10when many women don't even have bank accounts so she's obviously extraordinary she's very
14:16resourceful and that will come to be important
14:20I put on a heavy crepe scarf I wore the big squirrel coat
14:27bought my little velveteen ring bag
14:31it all looks so pretty just like a bedroom on land
14:36it didn't seem possible there could be any danger
14:42a bit of vase of flowers on the washstand slid off and fell to the floor
14:49I
15:12Yes, yes, this way.
15:21Slowly, people started.
15:24Some joking, taking their time about it.
15:29To those few who showed concern,
15:33a reassuring answer was,
15:35there are plenty of boats in the vicinity.
15:37They'll be with us any moment now.
15:42I heard the crow's nest report a light on the bow.
15:57I went on the bridge right away and found this light.
16:07It was two masthead lights of a steamer just below the horizon.
16:12You could not only see her lights with the naked eye,
16:18you could see the lights of her portals.
16:21The Boxall can see the nearest ship to the Titanic,
16:25which is the Californian.
16:27She's very close by, about 14 miles.
16:31The Californian had already communicated with the Titanic
16:35earlier that evening.
16:38That she was going to spend the night in the ice flow
16:40because it was too dangerous to continue.
16:43But the Californian would be able to reach Titanic
16:47before she sinks.
16:53Captain Smith,
16:54we've spotted a steamer on the horizon.
16:56I told the captain about this ship.
16:59He said,
17:00tell them to come at once.
17:02We are sinking.
17:02We are sinking.
17:03We are sinking.
17:04We are sinking.
17:05We are sinking.
17:06We are sinking.
17:07We are sinking.
17:08We are sinking.
17:09We are sinking.
17:10We are sinking.
17:11We are sinking.
17:12We are sinking.
17:13We are sinking.
17:14We are sinking.
17:15We are sinking.
17:16We are sinking.
17:17We are sinking.
17:18We are sinking.
17:19We are sinking.
17:20We are sinking.
17:21We are sinking.
17:22We are sinking.
17:23We are sinking.
17:24We are sinking.
17:25We are sinking.
17:26We are sinking.
17:27We are sinking.
17:28We are sinking.
17:29We are sinking.
17:30We are sinking.
17:31We are sinking.
17:32after the signal had been sent out the ether seemed to be dead no reply came through
17:46california isn't picking up any signals the radio operator has gone to bed
17:51not because he's negligent but because he's allowed to go to bed there's no duty to stay
17:55in the radio room all night and many ships did not ask this of their operators
18:02but then suddenly a chance message comes in from a wireless operator on another ship the carpathia
18:18i was about to retire i'd taken my coat off
18:22i should have been turning in in about 10 minutes called the titanic
18:32and his only answer was struck a berg come at once
18:41we told her our position and said we were sinking by the head
18:49i asked him if he intended me to go get the ship turned around immediately
18:52and he said yes quick the operator went to tell his captain
19:02the carpathia is a transatlantic steamship she'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
19:15the captain of the carpathia will then make the decision about what to do and that usually means
19:22to turn your vessel towards the ship that is in distress that's the rule of the sea so here is a
19:30chance of a chance of rescue as long as carpathia is able to get there in time
19:44so we'd been warned by the stewards to be going away in a boat it it didn't seem possible that all
20:12this could actually be happening
20:19it was the strangest scene people bundled up in old clothes boarding lifeboats in the night
20:32few seemed to wanted to brave the dark sea in an open boat
20:35and it was only after considerable coaxing that many went at all
20:44people don't want to get in why would you want to get out of your warm bed and go in a lifeboat
20:49into the freezing water when there's no problem you wouldn't this is like a really annoying fire drill
20:55at school and 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 keeping people in ignorance was
21:06considered better and we know today that actually people will respond much more sensibly in an
21:11emergency if they do have some information that information was completely lacking at this point on
21:17titanic
21:31so captain smith has ordered that women and children should be evacuated and they should be
21:58prioritized on the port side the second officer officer like toller interprets it as women and children
22:07only the consequence of this is that if you are a family turning up on the port side you will be
22:17separated and the men will not be allowed on the lifeboats
22:21so
22:24saving the lives of women and children comes from deep in the edwardian mindset women at the time
22:31are seen as having a kind of childish status i mean this is before they've been allowed to vote
22:37and they are perceived to have a physical and mental weakness that 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 of the precise people
23:12he's been told to prioritise to save.
23:37In a great emergency like that,
23:39where there were limited facilities,
23:42could you not have put more people into boats?
23:48I did not know it was urgent then.
23:51I had no idea it was urgent.
23:54You did not know it was urgent?
23:58Nothing like it.
23:59You did not know it was urgent.
24:00You did not know it was urgent.
24:02I did not know it was urgent.
24:03I think it was urgent.
24:08Lightoller wants to do a good job, clearly.
24:12Maybe if he'd known the ship was sinking,
24:14he would have allowed men in to fill up the spaces in the lifeboats.
24:18but because the captain is withholding information people like light dollar can't
24:24do their job properly and this will have disastrous consequences
24:27what one wants is to have a very good relationship a band of brothers and when you've got that you
24:37must keep them informed of what's going on and what we call nowadays mission command in other
24:43words you let them know what you want to achieve overall you tell them all the facts and then you
24:48let them get on with it I think the captain Smith is overwhelmed by the enormity of what
24:53was happening and was not really grasping it and taking charge
25:13the operator returned and told us the carpathia was putting about and hidden for us
25:34our captain had left us at this time Phillips told me to run and tell him what the carpathia had
25:43answered I went through an awful mass of people to his cabin the decks were full
25:55I came back and heard Phillips giving the carpathia fuller directions he told me to put my clothes on
26:06until that moment I forgot I wasn't dressed
26:12I went to me cabin and dressed and brought an overcoat to Phillips
26:18it was very cold I slipped the overcoat on him while it worked
26:24imagine the relief in the radio room carpathia has answered the distress call is coming their way
26:34but although she's going as fast as she can she's having to go through the same ice field
26:43where Titanic has floundered
26:46she's four hours away and Titanic isn't going to stay afloat that long
26:54the nearest ship to Titanic is the Californian but the radio operators still asleep nobody is aware
27:12of any problem for the Titanic the crew of the Titanic have to think on their feet so they start
27:22to use more slams and send a signal using light rather than sound that the ship was close enough I
27:30thought to read our electric more signal so I signaled her I told her to come at once we were sinking
27:41the captain was with me most of the time we were signaling I would signal with the morse and then go back and look at the ship
27:50I cannot say I saw any reply
27:58in a crisis you just have to increase your chances survival survival is all about probability you know throwing as much muck at the wall as possible and seeing what sticks
28:16then we started sending off these distress rockets the quartermaster and I on the bridge
28:25they go right up into the air and throw stars
28:33the music
28:39the music
28:53HE CONTINUES
29:16Right now, the water is rising up through the body of the ship.
29:20The waterproof bulkheads only went up to a certain level.
29:25By this stage, water was tipping over bulkheads
29:28and cascading into the next compartment.
29:31So compartment after compartment was being filled by water.
29:39And as this mass of water breaches the bulkheads,
29:42it 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.
30:09They were really left in the dark.
30:13They are wading through water.
30:16They're not aware of what's going on,
30:18the rescue mission going on in the upper decks.
30:20They had to work it out themselves.
30:26My husband had left some money in our cabin,
30:29and there were all our clothes
30:33and things that we were taking to America.
30:42Selene is from Hardin, which was in Lebanon.
30:46And she's a newlywed bride.
30:48And her older husband is taking her to live with him in America.
30:53They are caught between going up to the higher decks
30:58and the desire to keep their belongings.
31:03It's easy to underestimate just how important things are to a migrant,
31:09to someone who's leaving home forever.
31:12Do you want to arrive in New York destitute,
31:15with nothing to your name,
31:17nothing to pay for a room?
31:20Of course not.
31:27We returned to try and get our clothes,
31:30money and jewellery.
31:34We started down for them.
31:36But the water on our deck was waist deep.
31:45We never got there.
31:59Depending on where you are in the ship right now,
32:01you're going to start seeing a lot of water.
32:03The third-class passengers in particular.
32:07Water in any quantity is terrifying
32:10because you can't push it away.
32:12You can't fight it.
32:14People are now seeing evidence with their own eyes.
32:17It's not rumour.
32:18It's not gossip.
32:19It's not even that they're waiting to be told.
32:21They can see, feel that there is a problem.
32:33By this time, the ship seemed to have tilted forward a little.
32:43And we heard queer noises as if the ship was being pulled about.
32:48about.
32:59Charlotte Collier is a second-class passenger.
33:01She's traveling with her husband, Harvey,
33:03and 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
33:14they might get from migrating.
33:18While this whole hour has passed, in which the first-class
33:23passengers are being evacuated, they
33:26were told to stay in their cabin.
33:29They are sitting there and worrying,
33:33and no one is telling them anything.
33:39Suddenly, we heard people running along the passageway
33:42in front of our door.
33:48Their 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.
34:10He said we had better go on deck and see what's wrong.
34:14We just need to get up.
34:16Come on.
34:18For anyone that was feeling confused or was just following
34:21the rules, it's very clear something major is now
34:27happening.
34:28It's going to be terrifying, especially if you're a parent
34:32with a young child.
34:41When 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,
35:00and we were in such a hurry that I left it behind.
35:07I cried for my dolly, but we couldn't go back.
35:09When we reached the deck, there was a great many people.
35:34Some of them were crying.
35:35I was crying for my doll, but nobody could go back
35:42and get her.
35:43It's just a precaution, OK?
35:44That makes sense.
35:48An officer said, you should put on life preservers.
35:52So, mother put one on me, and then fastened one
35:56around herself.
35:58Papa put one on, too.
35:59My husband stepped over to an officer and asked him a question.
36:10Excuse me.
36:10Yes, sir.
36:11What's going on?
36:12I heard him shout back, keep calm.
36:16There's no danger.
36:20Nobody's telling anybody what's going on.
36:23The captain knows.
36:25A few of the officers know.
36:26But it's important to keep this away because of panic.
36:31But 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.
36:59Mr Shepherds was walking across in a hurry to do something.
37:02And he fell down the hole and broke his leg.
37:10He lifted him up and carried him.
37:15There was a knocking noise.
37:29All at once, I saw a wave of green foam
37:34tearing between the boilers.
37:36A rush of water came through.
37:41I never stopped to look.
37:43I just jumped for the escape ladder.
37:45I never stopped to look.
37:46I just jumped for the escape ladder.
37:59A huge wave of green water comes flying through into the room
38:05because the coal bunker has been gradually filling up
38:08and filling up and filling up with the pressure.
38:11And then it bursts, and 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 and into the main alleyway.
38:42The Titanic was sloping down by the head.
39:01Water was coming down the alleyway from forward.
39:05Now that boiler room five is filled with water,
39:14the engineers realise that all their efforts are futile.
39:18There's no point pumping it out any more.
39:21It's coming in faster than anyone can manage it.
39:24This 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.
40:01I returned to my room.
40:14I began tidying up, folding my nightgown,
40:18putting everything in its place.
40:22There was no sound.
40:24Titanic might have been in dock and all the crew gone home.
40:41I saw Stanley at the door, watching me.
40:45And he...
40:47He almost shouted at me as he seized my arm.
40:50My God, don't you realise this ship will sink?
40:54You have to follow the rest upstairs as quickly as possible.
41:02Sinking.
41:07The word...
41:09repeated itself without fully...
41:14fully entering my understanding.
41:16My mind could not accept that the super-perfect creation
41:26was to do so futile a thing as sink.
41:31Of course, Titanic...
41:34couldn't be sinking.
41:35Suddenly, there was a commotion near one of the gangways,
41:55and we saw a stoker come up from below.
41:59All the fingers of one hand had been cut off.
42:09Blood was...
42:11running from the stumps,
42:13and was spattered on his face and clothes.
42:17It...
42:19brought up a picture of...
42:22smashed engines and...
42:25mangled human bodies.
42:27I went over to speak to him.
42:31I asked him if there was any danger.
42:35Danger?
42:37I should say so.
42:40It's hell down below.
42:42This ship will sink like a stone.
42:47At this moment, I...
42:53got my first grip...
42:57of fear.
42:58Those in charge herded us towards the nearest boat.
43:14Those in charge herded us towards the nearest boat.
43:17Then...
43:19above the clamour came the terrible cry...
43:22Lower the boat, women and children.
43:24Someone was shouting these last few words over and over again.
43:26Women and children only.
43:27That's women and children only.
43:28That's women and children only.
43:29Women and children only.
43:30That's women and children only.
43:32Someone was shouting these last few words over and over again.
43:36Women and children only.
43:38Women and children only.
43:39That's women and children only.
43:41Women and children only.
43:43Women and children only.
43:45Women and children only.
43:47Women and children only.
43:48Children and children only.
43:52It might be that Leitholler 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.
44:10Children and children only.
44:18Cosmo pleaded with me.
44:25Well, three or four boats were launched, but I refused.
44:29I only said, promise me that whatever you do,
44:34you will not let them separate us.
44:37And I clung to him.
44:39He saw that there was no use resisting me.
44:43And children only.
44:48We'll go round to the starboard side.
44:50Cosmo said it might be better there.
45:04One of the pivotal facts about the loading of the lifeboats is this.
45:07There are different protocols on each side of the ship.
45:11On the starboard side, Officer Murdoch's approach is more pragmatic.
45:18It's more flexible.
45:23It was better.
45:24For although there were crowds, there was no confusion.
45:31The lifeboats were being quietly filled.
45:34If you emerge on the starboard side, then Officer Murdoch might well allow the men to join the women and their children if there are spaces left.
45:49So there's Murdoch allowing men to fill up the spare places.
45:54Why 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, of men should sacrifice themselves for women and children.
46:16But the fact that it was happening on the same ship at the same time shows just how vague this policy was.
46:21So it matters very much which side of the ship you're on if you're a man.
46:30If you're a man.
47:00I 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.
47:24Didn't occur to me the ship was in distress.
47:26I 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.
47:38And received no answer whatsoever.
47:45Some 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.
47:59There seems to have been some confusion about the colour of these rockets.
48:04Were they distress signals?
48:06It'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.
48:25Shapes are being distorted in the darkness.
48:28What a chance her captain missed.
48:39He could have laid his ship right alongside the Titanic and taken practically every soul on board.
48:46However, he didn't.
48:48This must be the bitterest blow for those people who could see the ship nearby.
49:05I 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.
49:16I think it was a great day for if there will be something we could see on it.
49:17A good day.
49:18Hopefully I don't think it was a god addressing human intervention.
49:19I hope that all the people know that we know their own life is they need to be like a whole country.
49:20We know that we know the world is a great brother.
49:21Not that there are any other people, but we know that we know there is not something we know that we know that we know that we know that the world is not that we know that we know that we know that we are protected.
49:24But we think that we can have the people and we know that we know that we know us, but guys here's lives here, but we can't see an upper number of people.
49:26It will be latitude, but we're not going to be clear.
49:27And we've got that we don't see a lot of people just anymore, but we've got the people that we know.
49:28I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do.
49:58The lifeboats went out half full. There are now only about 900 places left on the lifeboats and 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.
50:16Suddenly we saw some sailors who were launching a little boat. It was a captain's special boat.
50:27Lucy Duff Gordon knows that she needs to get off the ship. This is the moment to take one of those spaces.
50:40My husband asked the officer if we might get into it.
50:48We were helped in, followed by two American men who came up at the last minute.
51:02There is something here about being in the right place in the right time, but also seizing the opportunity and having the confidence to do so.
51:15I think that class probably had a huge impact on people's sense of entitlement to safety, to rescue.
51:26You probably did assume that if you bought a first class ticket, then that would buy you survival.
51:33They are people who are important in the world. They see themselves as having more value than people in steerage.
51:44And there they are as a couple sitting safely in a lifeboat.
51:55I 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.
52:08You'll get your death of cold out there amid the ice.
52:12Men standing by the force is not mowers dead.
52:13THE END
52:43I found myself clinging to my husband's arm with little 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, I think she probably was just thinking,
53:04please, no, not this. I want to survive, but not at this cost.
53:09Dilemmas that you just have to accept in that moment, those are, yeah, those are heavy.
53:22Officer Lytola, you know, the man's been at sea since he was 13.
53:29He doesn't have that understanding of what it means when a woman is clinging to her husband,
53:34when a child is crying for their father.
53:36He just goes ahead with what he believes to be right.
53:42But it's not objectively right.
53:46From what you have said, you 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 or because of the rule of the sea?
54:02The rule of human nature.
54:06The deck seemed to be slipping under my feet.
54:13I hung onto my husband's arm.
54:19And although he was very brave and not trembling,
54:24I saw his face was white as paper.
54:29Port or starboard.
54:36That sliding doors moment will determine who survives and who doesn't.
54:40Keep moving on with the deck.
54:41We are coming to 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 and now they'll ring in my ears till I die.
54:57Women and children only.
55:14I don't know.
55:44A lot of confusion, people crying, swearing and praying.
55:52There's a really stark disadvantage facing third-class passengers.
55:56Chief officer shoved one of the revolvers into my hands.
56:00Chekov said you can't put a gun in the room and not use it.
56:05All of the order has been lost.
56:07I called out, don't shoot!
56:14A new ghost story for Christmas from the macabre mind of Margatis.
56:24Press red to watch The Room in the Tower on BBC iPlayer.
56:44When the
Be the first to comment