in wait for their prey.

Not only were the bergs invisible to the keenest eyes, but the sudden
drop in the temperature of the ocean which ordinarily is the warning of
the nearness of a berg was now of no avail; for there were so many of
the bergs and so widely scattered that the temperature of the sea was
uniformly cold. Moreover, the submarine bell, which gives warning to
navigators of the neighborhood of shoal water, does not signify the
approach of icebergs. The newest ocean giant was in deadly peril,
though probably few of her passengers guessed it, so reassuring are the
huge bulk, the skilful construction, the watertight compartments, the
able captain and crew, to the mind of the landsman. Dinner was long
past, and many of the passengers doubtless turned to thoughts of supper
after hours of talk or music or cards; for there were not many
promenading the cold, foggy decks of the onrushing steamship.

The _Titanic_ was about eight hundred miles to the southeastward of
Halifax, three hundred and fifty miles southeast of treacherous Cape
Race, when her great body dashed, glancing, against an enormous berg.
The discipline and good order for which British captains and British
sailors have long been noted prevailed in this crisis; for it is proven
by the fact that the rescued were nearly all women and children.

From that rich, rushing, gay, floating world, with its saloons and
baths and music-rooms and elevators, now suddenly shattered into
darkness, only one utterance came. Phillips, the wireless operator,
seized his key and telegraphed in every direction the call "S O S!"
Gossiping among telegraphers hundreds of miles apart, messages of
business import, all the scores of things that fill the ocean air with
tremulous whisperings of etheric waves, began to give over their
chattering. Again and again Phillips repeated the letters which spell
disaster until the air for a thousand miles around was electrically
silent. Then he sent his message:

"Have struck an iceberg; badly damaged; rush aid; steamship _Titanic_;
41.46 N., 50.14 W."

There was no other ship in sight. Far as the eye could reach no spot of
light broke the gray darkness; yet other ships could hear and read the
cry for help, and, wheeling in their courses, they drove full speed
ahead for the wreck. The _Baltic_, two hundred miles to the eastward,
bound for Europe, turned back to the rescue; the _Olympic_, still
farther away, hastened to the aid of her si