A very limited
number of passengers testified that the portholes in their staterooms
were open, and if their impressions are correct, these portholes,
concerning which they testified, were all, or nearly all, so far above
the water that they could not have influenced the situation.

[Sidenote: Sinking not affected by open ports.]

There was conflicting testimony as to the ports in the dining room on D
deck. The weight of the testimony justifies the conclusion that some of
these ports were open--how many it is impossible to determine. These
ports, however, were from twenty-three to thirty feet above water, and
when the gap made by the explosion and the consequent severe and sudden
list are considered, it is plain that these open ports were not a
contributing cause of the sinking, and had a very trifling influence, if
any, in accelerating the time within which the ship sank.

From the foregoing the situation can be visualized. Two sudden and
extraordinary explosions, the ship badly listed so that the port side
was well up in the air, the passengers scattered about on the decks and
in the staterooms, saloons and companion ways, the ship under headway
and, as it turned out, only eighteen minutes afloat--such was the
situation which confronted the officers, crew, and passengers in the
endeavor to save the lives of those on board.

[Sidenote: Calm heroism of the passengers.]

The conduct of the passengers constitutes an enduring record of calm
heroism with many individual instances of sacrifice and, in general, a
marked consideration for women and children. There was no panic, but
naturally, there was a considerable amount of excitement and rush and
much confusion, and, as the increasing list rendered ineffective the
lowering of the boats on the port side, the passengers, as is readily
understandable, crowded over on the starboard side.

The problem presented to the officers of the ship was one of exceeding
difficulty, occasioned largely because of the serious list and the
impossibility of stopping the ship or reducing her headway.

[Sidenote: Lookouts sighted the torpedo.]

[Sidenote: Boats ordered lowered.]

The precaution of extra lookouts resulted in a prompt report to the
Captain, via the bridge, of the sighting of the torpedo. Second Officer
Heppert, who was on the bridge, immediately closed all watertight doors
worked from the bridge, and the testimony satisfactorily shows that all
watertight doors worked b