caption = THE LOCATION OF THE DISASTER}

he made an effort by going full speed ahead on the starboard propeller
and reversing his port propeller, simultaneously throwing his helm
over, to make a rapid turn and clear the berg. The maneuver was not
successful. He succeeded in saving his bows from crashing into the
ice-cliff, but nearly the entire length of the underbody of the great
ship on the starboard side was ripped. The speed of the Titanic,
estimated to be at least twenty-one knots, was so terrific that the
knife-like edge of the iceberg's spur protruding under the sea cut
through her like a can-opener.

The Titanic was in 41.46 north latitude and 50.14 west longitude when
she was struck, very near the spot on the wide Atlantic where the
Carmania encountered a field of ice, studded with great bergs, on her
voyage to New York which ended on April 14th. It was really an ice pack,
due to an unusually severe winter in the north Atlantic. No less than
twenty-five bergs, some of great height, were counted.

The shock was almost imperceptible. The first officer did not apparently
realize that the great ship had received her death wound, and none of
the passengers had the slightest suspicion that anything more than a
usual minor sea accident had happened. Hundreds who had gone to their
berths and were asleep were unawakened by the vibration.

BRIDGE GAME NOT DISTURBED

To illustrate the placidity with which practically all the men regarded
the accident it is related that Pierre Marechal, son of the vice-admiral
of the French navy, Lucien Smith, Paul Chevre, a French sculptor, and A.
F. Ormont, a cotton broker, were in the Cafe Parisien playing bridge.

The four calmly got up from the table and after walking on deck and
looking over the rail returned to their game. One of them had left his
cigar on the card table, and while the three others were gazing out on
the sea he remarked that he couldn't afford to lose his smoke, returned
for his cigar and came out again.

They remained only for a few moments on deck, and then resumed their
game under the impression that the ship had stopped for reasons best
known to the captain and not involving any danger to her. Later, in
describing the scene that took place, M. Marechal, who was among the
survivors, said: "When three-quarters of a mile away we stopped, the
spectacle before our eyes was in its way magnificent. In a very calm
sea, beneath a sky moonless but sown with mil