run was 549 miles, the best yet scheduled.

But the ship had not yet been speeded to her capacity she was capable of
turning over about seventy-eight revolutions. Had the weather conditions
been propitious, it was intended to press the great racer to the full
limit of her speed on Monday. But for the Titanic Monday never came.
FIRE IN THE COAL BUNKERS

Unknown to the passengers, the Titanic was on fire from the day she
sailed from Southampton. Her officers and crew knew it, for they had
fought the fire for days.

This story, told for the first time by the survivors of the crew, was
only one of the many thrilling tales of the fateful first voyage.

"The Titanic sailed from Southampton on Wednesday, April 10th, at noon,"
said J. Dilley, fireman on the Titanic.

"I was assigned to the Titanic from the Oceanic, where I had served as
a fireman. From the day we sailed the Titanic was on fire, and my sole
duty, together with eleven other men, had been to fight that fire. We
had made no headway against it."

PASSENGERS IN IGNORANCE

"Of course," he went on, "the passengers knew nothing of the fire. Do
you think we'd have let them know about it? No, sir.

"The fire started in bunker No. 6. There were hundreds of tons of coal
stored there. The coal on top of the bunker was wet, as all the coal
should have been, but down at the bottom of the bunker the coal had been
permitted to get dry.

"The dry coal at the bottom of the pile took fire, and smoldered for
days. The wet coal on top kept the flames from coming through, but down
in the bottom of the bunkers the flames were raging.

"Two men from each watch of stokers were tolled off, to fight that fire.
The stokers worked four hours at a time, so twelve of us were fighting
flames from the day we put out of Southampton until we hit the iceberg.

"No, we didn't get that fire out, and among the stokers there was
talk that we'd have to empty the big coal bunkers after we'd put our
passengers off in New York, and then call on the fire-boats there to
help us put out the fire.

"The stokers were alarmed over it, but the officers told us to keep our
mouths shut--they didn't want to alarm the passengers."

USUAL DIVERSION

Until Sunday, April 14th, then, the voyage had apparently been a
delightful but uneventful one. The passengers had passed the time in the
usual diversions of ocean travelers, amusing themselves in the luxurious
saloons, promenading on the boat deck, lo