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00:00Things I saw made impressions, I can never forget.
00:20I can't describe it. I can't say how it was.
00:25It was just terrible.
00:34A dream of being trapped on the ship with no means of escape.
00:43But I always wake up before the boat sinks.
00:55He told me that apparently we'd struck something.
01:07Iceberg!
01:08Get ahead!
01:08I didn't become alarmed.
01:18There was no danger, they said.
01:24I told her to come at once. We were sinking.
01:26I can imagine the chaos and the fear and the terror of finding water in your cabin and you're in the bowels of the ship.
01:37It makes me panic just thinking about it.
01:40The story of the Titanic is the human condition spread out, pinned on a board for us to examine.
01:47Then came the terrible cry.
01:51Women and children, women and children.
01:54Two men lifted me up and put me in a boat.
01:59It's these small decisions, these little butterfly effect moments that change the outcome.
02:03It really was every man for himself.
02:22My heart stood still.
02:32Hurry up!
02:33It's a split-second decision. What would you do? What would I do?
02:54It was a terrible sight.
02:56Men swinging and sinking.
03:03I'd been brought up to believe in a hell after a death.
03:18For now, I think I went through a hell that night.
03:21I don't know.
03:22It's a big day.
03:34I don't know.
03:35I don't know.
03:40I don't know.
03:41I don't know.
03:43I don't know.
03:48I nipped along to have a look down the emergency staircase to gauge the speed the water was
04:14rising that's cold green water crawling its ghostly way the electric lights shone under
04:28the surface with weird effect so light all up knows now things are getting more serious
04:39he thought this thing could not go down and now he knows it could sink this is a terrible shock for
04:47him Captain Smith is at fault here he has not informed his senior officers of what he has known
04:58for some time it's very hard to know why Captain Smith did not give out the information to his
05:04most trusted command maybe it's important to keep this a way to stop them panicking and to keep control
05:12there are just ten standard lifeboats left on the ship along with four collapsibles
05:32there's 2 000 souls and more on board and only around 700 places there's no rescue ship coming
05:40anytime soon so if you don't get in you're gonna die
05:44lightola is going to continue doing exactly what he's done before but with even more fervor and
06:05rigidity enforcing the plan it's the only thing he can do
06:09charlotte collier is just about holding herself together in her family unit her husband harvey and her
06:21little daughter marjorie
06:23mr low rushed among the passengers and ordered the women into the boats many of them followed him in a
06:37dazed kind of way and others stayed with their men a sailor caught marjorie in his arms tore her away
06:51from me and threw her into the boat I was crying for my doll then two men lifted me up and put me in a boat
07:04she was not even given a chance to tell her father goodbye
07:13you too a man yelled you're a woman take a seat in that boat or it will be too late
07:25i heard my husband say
07:29go lottie for god's sake be brave and go
07:36and saw my husband's back as he walked steadily down the deck and disappeared among the men
07:48if they'd not wrenched marjorie away from me
07:54i wish i had gone with him
08:00the courteous deferential veneer is not there anymore
08:10the officers will pull apart women from their men and make them go into the boats whether they want to or not
08:19but this is new in the course of the night and it's frightening
08:31there's a really stark disadvantage facing third-class passengers from the beginning
08:38they are stuck in the bowels of the ship trying to get to where the lifeboats are
08:43i had been seasick the whole trip
08:49all i wanted was to be left alone so i could lie down
09:03anna huerblom is a teenager from finland she's a swedish speaker
09:10a third of steerage passengers on the titanic were from nordic countries
09:16there were so many people who did not speak english
09:18they spoke spanish arabic swedish
09:20swedish is the second most spoken language
09:23when the boat struck
09:26the 14th of april
09:28which was my birthday
09:30i was 18
09:32i didn't become alarmed
09:37i just couldn't believe that this wonderful ship could possibly be in trouble
09:44there are 14 stewardesses in first class
09:49to help those passengers leave the ship
09:52in third class there's only one
09:55there was no tannoy system or announcement of what was going on
10:03of what to do they had to work it out themselves
10:23a crash woke me up
10:27nearly jolted me from my bed
10:32i put on my trousers and shoes and got up
10:40eugene daily is a 29 year old textile worker from county westmeath in ireland
10:46after years of saving he's immigrating to america along with his cousin maggie
10:51her friend bertha and his beloved irish pipes
10:57the stewards came through and told the passengers that they shouldn't be frightened
11:03there was no danger they said
11:07everything was all right and that i might go back
11:14the third class passengers don't know what's going on because they're not being told
11:22and there's nothing worse than having an idea that something's really wrong but not knowing exactly what it is
11:28above deck the first and second class passengers and the crew they can all see there aren't enough boats left and there are hundreds of them on deck
11:43i stood at the bulkhead with the other stewardesses a ship's officer ordered us into the boat
11:50some lifeboats are only at half capacity
11:56now there's fear everywhere so they're filling them up as quickly as they can
12:03looking along the length of the ship
12:08i noticed the forward part of her was lower now
12:14much lower
12:19my heart stood still
12:33you know in the military this is what we talk about triaging this is a case of thinking how many people can we save at this point
12:40there's only room for 800 people in the lifeboats that remain so that's best case scenario
12:46but in crisis situations you're not getting the best case scenario within the panic the confusion
12:53the boat was full now
13:00as the boat was being lowered the ship's officer called
13:05here miss jessop
13:07look after this baby
13:09someone has dumped it on the deck beside his feet
13:14at this stage violet is handed a baby that has been sort of separated from their family or whoever was caring for them at that point it's hard to fathom that
13:35that panic beginning to spread it's making their circumstances worse it's making everybody's chance of survival worse but it's such a natural reaction
13:46i could hear the commotion overhead increasing
14:07i decided to go up even though i still felt very ill
14:14i was fully clothed and i had a life belt
14:19my railroad ticket to tacoma and a small amount of money were sold in a little bag and hung around my neck so that i couldn't lose it
14:28i went down into the room where maggie daly and bertha mulville hill were
14:35the men and women in third class are separated so for eugene to find maggie and bertha he has to cross from one end of the ship to another
14:45no one is guiding them no one is saying this is the best way to get around the flooding they have to work it out themselves
14:52come with me the ship is sinking
15:05there's hundreds of third-class passengers trying to navigate the warren of corridors hallways staircases
15:12and they're trying to get to a part of the ship the boat deck that they've never been allowed onto before
15:19it's difficult to convey the size of a ship like the titanic it took me 14 days before i could find my way from one part of that ship to another by the shortest route
15:32eugene maggie and bertha must navigate up several decks to the boat deck
15:38it's now a very challenging situation and the feeling of a loss of control on the part of the crew is getting stronger and stronger
15:46it was about this time that the chief officer came over from the starboard side and asked did i know where the firearms were
15:53i told the chief officer yes come along and i'll get them for you
15:59drawing weapons is very unusual
16:05the officers clearly were aware of how panic was setting in and order and discipline amongst people were falling apart
16:16there are guns on board the titanic
16:18like the lifeboats nobody expected to ever have to use them
16:24into the first officers cabin we went the chief madoc the captain and myself
16:35i hauled them out still in all their pristine newness and grease
16:41here you are
16:46i was going out when the chief officer shoved one of the revolvers into my hands with a handful of ammunition
16:56said
16:57here you are
16:59you may need it
17:01the fact of the matter is there are far more passengers than crew
17:05british and american society at this time is hierarchical and it's rules based
17:11people will do what they are told but not when their lives are at stake this is what the officers fear
17:18but you know
17:19Chekhov said you can't put a gun in the room and not use it
17:24third-class passengers naturally gravitated towards the aftwell deck which is the outdoor space they've had use of
17:45but it is still three decks below the boat deck where the lifeboats are
17:51there was a lot of confusion with people running around crying swearing and praying
18:12since i couldn't speak english i hardly knew what was happening
18:19i had to push people apart to find a place to walk
18:26she doesn't speak english there's no one experienced to advise her so she's working this all out with so much against her
18:36there's a sea of passengers already gathered there so eugene and anna are joining this throng of people
18:42i went up on deck people were running around
18:49the titanic being an immigrant ship must conform to american and british immigration laws and one of those laws is around quarantine
18:57maintaining steerage class passengers in areas separate from the first and second-class passengers to stop the spread of disease
19:04before the third-class passengers have even boarded titanic they've had to be subjected to medical examinations
19:11they're hemmed in by locked gates and these same gates that were meant to prevent ill health are now blocking their access to the lifeboats
19:23eugene's cousin maggie tries to go back to her cabin but that corridor is under five foot of water
19:29there's no chance she can make it and she turns back
19:36all this time we knew that the water was coming up and up rapidly
19:42to know that safety is on the other side of that locked gate it must make them despair
19:50the boat was practically full and there were no other women anywhere near it when fifth officer low jumped in and ordered it lowered
20:15a young lad hardly more than a school boy was standing close to the rail
20:24now realizing he was to be left behind he leapt down into the boat and crawled under a seat
20:34but the officer dragged him to his feet and ordered him back onto the ship
20:42we begged for his life
20:49please give him a chance
20:51the officer drew his revolver and thrust it into his face
20:57i gave you ten seconds to get back onto that ship before i blow your brains out
21:07please please
21:12the lad only begged harder
21:14please don't
21:16please don't
21:17my mother said i called out
21:19don't shoot
21:26the officer suddenly changed his tone
21:30he lowered his revolver
21:32he lowered his revolver
21:33and looked the boy squarely in the eyes
21:37for god's sake be a man
21:43we have got women and children
21:45for god's sake
21:46we have women and children
21:48the little lad turned round and
21:51climbed back without a word
21:53he was not saved
22:00allow the boats
22:03to avoid another occurrence of that sort
22:09i fired my revolver
22:11as i was going down each deck
22:13because the boat wouldn't stand a sudden jerk
22:16she was loaded already with people and would not stand anymore
22:20actually drawing the gun shows that the ship's officers realized that things were very very desperate indeed
22:33and of course we did not have enough lifeboats for everybody on board
22:37there are ten lifeboats left on deck now
22:40and one thousand nine hundred and sixty people still to save
22:44titanic now was so low in the water
22:47that iconic areas like the grand staircase and some of the luxury state rooms were flooding
22:53there's no doubt at all that this was unstoppable
22:57it was merely a question of time
22:59phillips told me the wireless was growing weaker
23:14jack phillips has spent the last few hours trying to communicate with other wireless operators
23:24carpathia is sailing at full speed towards titanic but she's still two hours away
23:33on the nearest ship the californian nobody recognized or responded to the distress flares
23:41but phillips still believes that as long as he can get signals out he may be of some use
23:47but now the electricity is starting to fail
23:53then he does get a message from his sister ship olympic
24:04but she seems not to understand at all what is happening to titanic
24:09and thinks titanic must be limping along sailing towards them
24:14the frustration here is now clear because the messages are not getting through
24:20for this young man in his mid-twenties
24:23i think this is the place of utmost distress
24:27right now it's clear on board ship that no rescue vessel is going to reach titanic
24:33before she sinks
24:35the third-class passengers are at most risk at this moment
24:46there's the language difficulties
24:48there's probably a bit of aggression i think that's setting in annoyance frustration
24:53we had quite a number of hot-headed italians and other people who got crazy and made for the stairs
25:04these men tried to rush the stairway pushing and crowding and pulling the women down
25:10at this moment we would expect the adrenaline to kick in
25:17the body wants to survive and it gives us some sort of innate choices
25:21you might fight your way to the front physically
25:23people might freeze where they're just stuck then terror they don't know what to do
25:28we also see people who are turning inward and that would be turning to God as well making the sign of the cross and so on
25:35the first class deck was higher up than the steerage deck and there were some steps leading up to it and a gate at the top of the steps
25:44they tried to keep us down at first on our steerage deck at the back of the ship
25:48they're trying to keep order but by doing so in such a chaotic way they probably contribute to a greater loss of life than they realised
26:00I can't say who they were I think they were sailors they didn't want us going up to the first class place at all
26:17even though there's no direct policy preventing third class passengers from accessing lifeboats it's clear from their testimony after the sinking that there was not a level playing field
26:27the third class were left marginalised and endangered by cruise actions
26:37there was no help of any kind to reach safety
26:42so time is ticking down the waters rising they're sandwiched in between the sea and the locked gate
26:56they're having to make life or death decisions in moments with very little information
27:02I got talking to a young Swedish girl returning to the United States
27:13she knew about an emergency stairway to where the lifeboats were
27:20Anna's interesting because she's come from a different environment she's come from Finland where the social strata isn't quite as defined as it is in England at the time
27:33perhaps she has a little bit more leeway to not rely on following the authority figures orders
27:40we climbed the ladder up to the first class deck and then an officer saw me and dragged me up to the next deck
27:58we passed a window and we looked into a beautiful room
28:04the tables were so beautifully set
28:09the silver and
28:12and all the furniture
28:15the other girls she wanted to
28:18kick the window out and walk in
28:21and help ourselves
28:25I told her that they might make us pay for the broken window
28:28so
28:30we didn't
28:31there's some evidence that growing up in adverse situations
28:38actually gives you a kind of cognitive toolkit to be able to get through those situations
28:43all kinds of skills where you've needed to survive and depend on yourself
28:47and that translates really quite well to an emergency scenario
28:51the third-class passengers have survived so many different challenges already
28:54they must have felt their confidence and trust in the crew and officers had gone
29:08I think these are people who are not taking no for an answer
29:12they couldn't keep them down
29:13the gate was broken
29:23all the storage passengers went up onto the first class deck
29:28they're going to take fate into their own hands
29:31and they will get to those boats
29:32in the same way that I think when officer low fired his gun
29:36he changed the terms
29:37by breaking the gate
29:38they changed the terms
29:40I rushed
29:45to the lifeboats
29:47there seemed hundreds of people around me
29:52half the lifeboats have already gone
29:56they're in the water
29:58there's only four lifeboats at this end of the ship
30:00and the others are hundreds of yards ahead
30:03seeing only four lifeboats available
30:07and nearly 2,000 people trying to get into them
30:10there is such panic in that crowd
30:13everywhere everybody was confused
30:19I saw a lot of people
30:22Catholics
30:24make the sign of the cross
30:26I had to step
30:30on many of these people to
30:34reach the side of the deck
30:37the crying of children
30:40and the screaming of a woman
30:43you know these are terrifying sounds
30:45that we are programmed
30:47to have a sort of visceral reaction to
30:50I remember from living through my trauma
30:53my wounding in Afghanistan
30:55sounds stay with you far more than sights
30:58that is a powerful thing for the senses to take on board
31:01and for ultimately you to then have to live with
31:04I tried to get into a lifeboat
31:08into a lifeboat
31:10and I was pushed back
31:14it seemed as though I would go down with the ship
31:20ideas about self-control and stoicism and self-sacrifice are celebrated as forms of gentlemanliness as well as manliness
31:37these are the values that they've been told to hold to and it means putting yourself second that is the ideal as far as Edwardian society is concerned
31:51Bruce Ismay who is the managing director of the White Star Line
31:54Bruce Ismay who is the managing director of the White Star Line his father had founded the White Star Line and the Titanic is basically his idea this is the crowning achievement of his career the creation of this amazing opulent ship
31:58and now he can see that it is all going to the bottom of the sea
32:28did you think it was in a very serious condition?
32:41as time got on I did
32:44and that the ship was sinking?
32:47I did
32:48I helped for nearly two hours as far as I can judge
32:54at the starboard boats
32:56helping women and children into the boats and blurring them over the side
33:01I think the sense of responsibility for Bruce Ismay must have been huge
33:06we see this in the fact that he spends time patrolling the boat deck putting people into boats instructing crew how to behave
33:16but he knows that there aren't enough lifeboats on board
33:21he knows by this point that there's no rescue ship coming anytime soon
33:26these lives are on his conscience
33:29the ship was listing heavily
33:44in the bow
33:46somebody gave me a push towards the boat
33:53and I got in
33:55that girl and I went together
33:56the lifeboat was so crowded
33:59the lifeboat was so crowded
34:18when I got to the deck a lifeboat was hanging from the davits
34:21number 13 boat
34:23it was pretty well filled when I got there
34:28Fred!
34:31the boatswainer knew me
34:33as I'd sailed with them and other ships before
34:36said to me you get on this boat and pull an oar
34:38get on the boat
34:40I need to hold this boat
34:42Fred is in the lifeboat
34:44and because you know he's one of those strong enough to be able to row it
34:48and at this stage the crew is now starting to really fill the lifeboats
34:53so I took his orders and I got on as she swung from the davits
34:58we had women, men and two little babies
35:03one two months old
35:06and the other ten months old
35:10there is no real order
35:11people are sitting on top of one another
35:13and you know you're sort of being crushed underneath this mass of people
35:17it's suspended by davits off the side of the ship at this point
35:22it's about 18 metres above the water
35:25but every person that gets in
35:28adds that weight, adds that movement, adds that risk
35:31and so there has to be a point at which you say that's enough
35:34about three more people get in after I did
35:38and then the orders were given
35:40let no more on that boat
35:42or the falls will break
35:44that means looking into the whites of people's eyes and saying
35:48there's no more space
35:49the boat was being filled with women
36:05Maggie and Bertha got in
36:15and I got in
36:17the officer called me to go back
36:21but I got in
36:26life was sweet to me and
36:30I wanted to save myself
36:33it's the early hours of the morning
36:36the lifeboats are being filled to the brim now
36:38overfilled
36:40naturally some male passengers want to get in
36:42they want to be with their loved ones
36:43and they just want to save their lives
36:45as any of us would
36:47they told me to get out
36:51but I didn't stir
36:55then they got a hold of me and pulled me out
37:00Eugene's testimony makes me like him
37:03I think he's honest, he's frank
37:05he's not trying to put a spin
37:07on his own behaviour or anyone else's
37:10I get the feeling of a real historical account
37:13in its Watson-All attitude
37:15what's sad about this story
37:17is that most of those officers
37:18knew the people that they were turning away
37:21in the sense that they were from the same class
37:23the same kind
37:25well, if I didn't save myself
37:29at least I saved the two girls
37:32the girls
37:36in the same way
37:38the girls were back
37:40in the same way
37:42it was a very big place
37:44in the same way
37:46and the girls were back
37:48and the girls were back
37:50the girls were back
37:52in the same way
37:54they would be the guards
37:55Captain Smith had severe doubts about whether a fully laden lifeboat could be lowered properly.
38:04He knew there were a lot of people waiting down at the gangway doors to get into boats,
38:09and therefore he thought, how can I manage to get these boats full?
38:13How can I save as many of the people whose lives I am responsible for as is possible?
38:21The captain came and said, Mr. Boxall, you go away in that boat.
38:24Pointing to boat number two.
38:31I tumbled into this lifeboat and started to lower her.
38:34And the captain looked over and told me, go round to the starboard side.
38:40Which was practically on the opposite side to where I was lowered.
38:46So Boxall's lifeboat was only about 45% full.
38:50It was meant to go round to the starboard side of the ship to take on more passengers.
38:57I had great difficulty in getting that boat around there.
39:03There was suction.
39:04I was using the stroke horse, standing up, and there was this lady helping.
39:15She was steering around the ship's stern.
39:18When I passed around the boat to get to the gangway door on the starboard side,
39:23her propellers were out of the water.
39:29But when I did eventually reach there,
39:32I found that there was such a mob standing at the gangway doors.
39:37If they jumped,
39:56they'd swamped the boat.
40:00I daren't go alongside.
40:03She was only a small boat.
40:04Boxall should have made sure that he filled the lifeboat up
40:13and take necessary action to make sure he wasn't swamped.
40:17He was in a position to do that, and he didn't.
40:20Pull!
40:22It's a really tricky one,
40:24because, yes, crew should follow orders.
40:27And the structure of discipline is how you can try and create some form of order
40:31in moments of chaos.
40:32There is a good reason why, you know,
40:36in circumstances, we are not to question orders.
40:39Having said that,
40:41it's all well and good,
40:42one of your superiors giving you an order,
40:44but they're not seeing the circumstances that you are witnessing.
40:51Pull!
40:51I pulled off and laid off
40:54until I pulled away about a quarter of a mile, I suppose.
41:01So the instinct to row away is very normal, very human.
41:29Everybody wants to get away from the scene of an accident or a disaster.
41:35And this ship is huge.
41:37People have never seen anything this big.
41:44Captain Smith is out there with his megaphone,
41:48barking orders...
41:49Bring those boats back!
41:50...for the lifeboats to come back and pick up other passengers.
41:54It's almost instinctive and it's driven into you from the day you join the Royal Navy
42:09or the Merchant Navy that you obey your captain and do as he says.
42:13He is God, in a sense,
42:14and therefore not to do as you're told is a heinous crime.
42:19Quartermaster Hitchens, who is in command of one of the lifeboats,
42:27said, it's our lives now, not theirs.
42:30I find that quite extraordinary.
42:32The bottom line should be, I want to save as many as I can.
42:36It's our lives now, not theirs.
42:39This is the moment of mutiny.
42:41This is when all order has broken down.
42:46We are not going to stand by anymore and drown because you tell us to.
42:51Fair enough.
42:58We had gone perhaps half a mile
43:02when the officer ordered the men to cease rowing.
43:05No other boat was in sight.
43:12We didn't even have a lantern to signal with.
43:18We lay there in the silence and darkness of that calm sea.
43:25No sound reached us
43:32except the music from the band,
43:37which I was aware of for the first time.
43:44Those brave musicians.
43:51They were playing lively tunes.
43:55Ragtime.
44:00I will never forget the terrible beauty of the Titanic at that moment.
44:16I started to count the rows of lights.
44:19One.
44:24Two.
44:26Three.
44:28Four.
44:30Five.
44:35I stopped.
44:38Surely I had miscounted.
44:41I went over them again more carefully
44:48and I'd made no mistake.
44:53There are only five decks now.
44:57As if all could read my mind,
44:59the women in the boat started to weep.
45:03Some silently,
45:05some unrestrainedly.
45:07Just before launching the last lifeboats,
45:18I'd made my final hurried visit to the emergency stairway
45:21to gauge how quickly she was going down.
45:31It was then conclusively evident that
45:34not only was she going,
45:36but she was going very soon.
45:38Even in pants and sweater over pyjamas alone,
45:45I was in a bath of perspiration.
45:48If we were to avoid the disgrace
45:50of going down with lifeboats still hanging to the davits,
45:54there wasn't one moment to lose.
45:56The forward well deck was underwater.
46:11I saw Phillips still sending away.
46:14I suspect many people on the ship by now
46:17are in an altered state,
46:19which we know is what happens
46:21when people are facing death.
46:23Jack Phillips won't leave his post.
46:26It is a clear single focus
46:29on what you believe to be right.
46:31And he believes the right thing to do
46:33is to stay there until it's all over.
46:37Again, Phillips called CQD and SOS
46:39for nearly five minutes and got no reply.
46:41We now realised the awful state of affairs,
46:54the ship listing heavily to port and forward.
46:58I thought it was about time to look about
47:00and see if there was anything that would float.
47:01I remembered that every member of the crew
47:04had a lifebelt.
47:07And then I thought how cold the water was.
47:09I remembered I had some boots and I put those on
47:12and an extra jacket.
47:14We picked up the Olympic and told that we were sinking by the head
47:16and we were about all down.
47:19Phillips is leading from the front.
47:22He's a hero.
47:24It's easier to understand fear and self-interest
47:30than it is to understand sacrifice and heroism.
47:36Especially now in our world,
47:38we think that everything is about greed and me first.
47:42That generation did not.
47:45As Phillips was sending the message,
47:46I strapped the lifebelt to his back.
47:48I'd already put on his overcoat.
47:51I wondered if I could get him into his boots.
47:53Just at that moment, the captain came into the cabin
47:56and said,
47:58Men, you have done your full duty.
48:00You can do no more.
48:02The man in the cabin
48:03now is every man for himself.
48:07I release you.
48:10Every man for himself now.
48:12In the conflicts I trained for,
48:14it's unimaginable that we would ever find ourselves
48:15in a circumstance where it was every man for themselves.
48:18All of the order has been lost.
48:20And actually trying to maintain that order,
48:24whether it's, you know,
48:25pointing a gun at a crowd
48:26or, you know, screaming at the top of your voice,
48:29all you're doing in that circumstance
48:31is wasting energy.
48:46The last of the hard-hulled lifeboats
48:49have been dispatched,
48:50but there is still two collapsible lifeboats
48:53left on the boat deck.
48:55They're a little bit more flimsy,
48:56but they still are a lifeline.
49:01There was some disturbance
49:03loading the last two forward boats.
49:07A large crowd of men were pressing to get into them,
49:11though there were many crew and men lined up with
49:13apparently not a thought
49:15at attempting to board the boats without orders.
49:19I saw Bruce Ismay,
49:25who had been assisting in loading the last boat,
49:30push his way into it.
49:38Really was every man for himself.
49:40Bruce Ismay decides to save himself.
49:48He is about the only man on board
49:51who can't be ordered out of that spot
49:53by any of the remaining crew.
50:01You were one of those,
50:02as the managing director,
50:04responsible for determining
50:05the number of lifeboats.
50:06Yes,
50:08in conjunction with these shipbuilders.
50:11When you got into the boat,
50:12you thought that the Titanic was sinking.
50:15I did.
50:16Did you know that there were
50:17some hundreds of people on that ship?
50:19Yes.
50:20Who must go down with her?
50:23Yes,
50:24I did.
50:27There's a load of lifeboats.
50:29Has it occurred to you
50:31that you,
50:32as the responsible managing director,
50:34deciding the number of boats,
50:35owed your life
50:37to every other person on that ship?
50:40It has not.
50:42I have searched my mind
50:44with the deepest care.
50:46I'm sure I did nothing
50:47that I shouldn't have done.
50:50My conscience is clear.
50:52I took a chance of escape
50:54when it came to me.
50:55I did not seek it.
50:58It is true
50:59I am president of the company,
51:01but I didn't consider myself
51:02any different
51:03from the rest of the passengers.
51:04I took no other man's place.
51:15I took no man's place.
51:19This is palpably untrue,
51:22but I think he must believe it.
51:24I think that Bruce Ismay
51:26comes from a class of society
51:28who believes that they have
51:31everything they have
51:32because of grit
51:34and character.
51:36I mean, it's like being a billionaire
51:37today in a world of hungry people.
51:40The only way you can live with yourself
51:42is to imagine
51:43that you deserve it in some way.
51:46And so I think that Bruce Ismay
51:50believes,
51:52contrary to all rational fact,
51:55that he hasn't taken
51:57someone else's place
51:58even though he really must know
52:00internally that he has.
52:01there was a terrible crowd
52:17standing about.
52:18The officer in charge
52:25pointed a revolver,
52:27waved his hand
52:28and said that if any man
52:29tried to get in,
52:32he'd shoot him on the spot.
52:33If anyone tries to answer,
52:35I will shoot him.
52:36Two men tried to break through
52:38and he shot them both.
52:40I saw him shoot them.
52:52I saw them lying.
52:55One seemed to be dead.
52:57The other was trying
52:58to pull himself up
53:00at the side of the deck,
53:01but he couldn't.
53:05I tried to get to the boat myself,
53:08but was afraid
53:09I would be shot
53:10and stayed back.
53:30When we rode away
53:31from the Titanic,
53:33my face was towards
53:35the sinking steamer.
53:39The things I saw
53:46I'll
53:46never forget.
53:55I saw an officer
53:56shoot himself
54:00through the temple
54:02with a revolver.
54:03The story of the officer
54:14shooting himself
54:15is contested.
54:16Even the name
54:17of the officer
54:19is in dispute.
54:20You're meant to help
54:21others, not shoot them,
54:22and you're certainly
54:23not meant to shoot yourself
54:24when you make a mistake.
54:26I saw the officer
54:30himself lying on the deck.
54:34They told me
54:34he shot himself.
54:38It's not a line
54:39of inquiry
54:39that is pursued.
54:41And I think that is
54:41because in Edwardian society
54:44there is such a taboo
54:46around death by suicide.
54:48it looks like the easy way out,
54:51though it can hardly
54:52have been so.
54:55It suggests
54:56that the people
54:58who did it
54:59have failed that test
55:00of being an Edwardian man,
55:02which is to demonstrate
55:04heroicism
55:05and courage
55:07and stoicism
55:08in the face
55:10of disaster.
55:11Death
55:36stares everyone
55:37in the face.
55:39Some will escape,
55:40some won't.
55:41Jack Phillips,
55:45he's young,
55:47but he's responsible,
55:48he's self-reliant.
55:50He thinks
55:51he's going
55:52to die.
55:53And so
55:54he decides to die
55:55doing his best
55:57for everyone else.
56:02Phillips clung on
56:03for about ten minutes
56:04after the captain
56:05had released him.
56:11I learned to love him
56:14that night.
56:17I suddenly felt for him
56:19a great reverence
56:22to see him
56:22standing there
56:24sticking to his work
56:25while everybody else
56:27was raging about.
56:28I will never forget
56:36the work of Phillips
56:38for those last
56:39awful minutes.
56:46He was a brave man.
56:48people find themselves
56:55facing this life
56:56or death moment
56:57together.
56:58Titanic broke
56:59in two before my eyes.
57:02Striking water
57:03was like
57:04a thousand knives
57:05being driven
57:06into one's body.
57:07to die slowly
57:10within a shot
57:11of people
57:12who might
57:12save your life.
57:13There's a particular
57:14cruelty to that.
57:37is from course
57:38and the fact
57:40who might
57:40survive
57:41and be
57:41the first
57:42sonst
57:42as being
57:44as being
57:45on what
57:45was
57:46about
57:48еру
57:49and
57:50ever
57:51there's another
57:51or
57:52a dude
57:54who may
57:54ask
57:55something
57:56them
57:57or
58:02how
58:04do
58:04keep
58:05in
58:05the
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