full of
Japanese and Asiatics. When it was flush with the deck the falls broke,
the boat capsized, and with all its occupants it was thrown into the
sea. One or two, we afterwards heard, were drowned. The passengers now
went over to the starboard side, as apparently no more boats were being
lowered from the port side, and we did not know whether the raider would
start firing again. The No. 1 starboard boat was being lowered; still
there was no one to give orders. The passengers themselves saw to it
that the women got into this boat first, and helped them in, only the
Second Steward standing by to help. The women had to climb the rail and
gangway which was lashed thereto, and the boat was so full of gear and
tackle that at first it was quite impossible for any one to find a seat
in the boat. It was a difficult task for any woman to get into this
boat, and everybody was in a great hurry, expecting the firing to
recommence, or the ship to sink beneath us, or both; my wife fell in,
and in so doing dropped her jewel-case out of her handbag into the
bottom of the boat, and it was seen no more that day. The husbands
followed their wives into the boat, and several other men among the
first-class passengers also clambered in.

Directly after the order to lower away was given, and before any one
could settle in the boat, the stern falls broke, and for a second the
boat hung from the bow falls vertically, the occupants hanging on to
anything they could--a dreadful moment, especially in view of what we
had seen happen to the No. 1 port boat a few moments before. Then,
immediately afterwards, the bow falls broke, or were cut, the boat
dropped into the water with a loud thud and a great splash, and righted
itself. We were still alongside the ship when another boat was being
swung out and lowered immediately on to our heads. We managed to push
off just in time before the other boat, the falls of which also broke,
reached the water.

Thus, there was no preparation made for accidents--we might have been
living in the times of profoundest peace for all the trouble that had
been taken to see that everything was ready in case of accident. Instead
of which, nothing was ready--not a very creditable state of affairs for
a great steamship company in times such as these, when, thanks to the
Huns' ideas of sea chivalry, _any_ ship may have to be abandoned at a
moment's notice. Some passengers had asked for boat drill when the ship
left Singapo