lions of stars, the
enormous Titanic lay on the water, illuminated from the water line to
the boat deck. The bow was slowly sinking into the black water."

The tendency of the whole ship's company except the men in the engine
department, who were made aware of the danger by the inrushing water,
was to make light of and in some instances even to ridicule the thought
of danger to so substantial a fabric.

THE CAPTAIN ON DECK

When Captain Smith came from the chart room onto the bridge, his first
words were, "Close the emergency doors."

"They're already closed, sir," Mr. Murdock replied.

"Send to the carpenter and tell him to sound the ship," was the next
order. The message was sent to the carpenter, but the carpenter never
came up to report. He was probably the first man on the ship to lose his
life.

The captain then looked at the communicator, which shows in what
direction the ship is listing. He saw that she carried five degrees list
to starboard.

The ship was then rapidly settling forward. All the steam sirens were
blowing. By the captain's orders, given in the next few minutes, the
engines were put to work at pumping out the ship, distress signals
were sent by the Marconi, and rockets were sent up from the bridge by
Quartermaster Rowe. All hands were ordered on deck.

PASSENGERS NOT ALARMED

The blasting shriek of the sirens had not alarmed the great company of
the Titanic, because such steam calls are an incident of travel in seas
where fogs roll. Many had gone to bed, but the hour, 11.40 P. M., was
not too late for the friendly contact of saloons and smoking rooms. It
was Sunday night and the ship's concert had ended, but there were many
hundreds up and moving among the gay lights, and many on deck with their
eyes strained toward the mysterious west, where home lay. And in one
jarring, breath-sweeping moment all of these, asleep or awake, were at
the mercy of chance. Few among the more than 2000 aboard could have had
a thought of danger. The man who had stood up in the smoking room to say
that the Titanic was vulnerable or that in a few minutes two-thirds of
her people would be face to face with death, would have been considered
a fool or a lunatic. No ship ever sailed the seas that gave her
passengers more confidence, more cool security.

Within a few minutes stewards and other members of the crew were sent
round to arouse the people. Some utterly refused to get up. The stewards
had almost to f