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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1962)
4 B SUNDAY. APRIL 15. 1962 MEDFORO MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON rimro Amnmoveirseiirv: The .Titanic 1,500 Lose Lives When 'Unsinkable' Liner Hits Berg By ROBERT J. SERLING United Press International ... 11:40 p.m. April 14, 1912. n that moment in history, iust SO years ago, a sailor named Frederick Fleet was perched in a crow's nest high above a great ocean liner. noinu, him wer 1.324 passengers and 899 crew members, In less than three hours, more than 1,500 of them would be dead. Of this they were blissfully unaware, ineir mammom and magnificent floating hotel had been labeled the world's first unslnkable ship. Fleet peered through the cold, clear night, gasped in horror at what lay ahead, and yanked an alarm cord three times. It mean "object in water dead aneaa. neei picKea up a phone and called the bridge. I'Whnro rloht ahead!" he shouted. "Thank vou." said the bridge in a classic example of British calm during a crisis. The bridge signalled the engine room. Stop and full speed astern. Quartermaster's wheel hard to starboard. Move at 25 Miles Per Hour But 46,000 tons of steel were moving at 25 miles an hour. That much weight combined with that much speed was the equivalent of a point-blank broadside from the 16-inch guns of a battleship. The liner hit the berg a glancing blow. Those aboard hardly felt the shock. Some bridge players in the card room didn't even look up. But far below, the Ice berg had torn the ship's belly like a giant can opener. The first six of 18 supposedly watertight compartments were flooded immediately. The giant vessel dipped gently forward. She was doomed only 37 second after lookout Fleet had flash ed the warning. At 12:15 a.m., the .ship's radio operator began sending distress calls. First the accepted "CDQ" international distress signal, followed by the vessel's own call letters "MGY." Later, the operator tried a brand-new distress call. For the first time in history, the Initals "SOS" flashed their chilling message across an ocean. At 1:13 a.m., the water reached the engine room. Forty-six thousands tons of steel tilted to a 60-dcgree angle. Heavy machinery ripped loose .and smashed through bulkheads and compartments. At 1:53 a.m., the radio went dead At 2:26 a.m., April 15, 1912, the unsinkablc "MGY" slipped beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic. What Initials Stood For Those initials stood for Royal Mail Ship Titanic, the White Star line, Capt. E. J. Smith commanding. That was how the Titanic died a half century ago. Why she died was a question debated for many years. It was never determined how many persons lost their lives when the Titanic sank. Various accounts list the toll as 1635, 1517, 1490 and 1503. Walter Lord, author of the best-seller on the Titanic, "A Night to Remember," accepts the British Board of Trade total 1,503 as probably closest to the truth. Regardless of how many died, there Is no question that theirs were the most needless, Inexcusable deaths In marl time history. The story of the Titanic is one of bravery mingled with stupidity . . . gallantry mixed with unbe lievable carelessness. The Titanic sailed for New York April 10, a $7.5 million symphony of plush luxury carved Into steel. She carried enormous amounts of food and drinks for her 1.324 pas sengers. She had beautifully furnished cabins and state rooms, Turkish baths, swimming pools, deck games, a gym nasium and dining facilities that put the finest hotels lo shame. Firs and Worst Mistaka She also carried just 20 lifeboats of varying sizes, with total capacity of 1,176 persons. There were 2,223 persons aboard. It was a cold-mathematlc equation that added up to unnecessary death for a lot of people. This was the first and worst mistake made by the men who built, commisioncd and sailed the "unslnkable" liner. Mistake No. 2 involved the crew, which was green and unfamiliar with the new ship. The only lifeboat drill con sisted of lowering a couple of boats to show a few sailors how the davits handled. The Titanic already was under way before any crew member received a single instruction con cerning assignments in the event of any emergency. To make a good showing on this, her maiden voyage, the Titanic was pushed almost to her top speed. Fifteen hours before she collided with a killer berg, she received warnings of ice packs along her course. She kept receiving such warnings almost up to the moment of impact. When she . t r. ' "', . ! " I ' " ' ',," ' (10. LIL MONARCH OF SEA Incorporating all the latest ideas in shipbuilding and unmatched for splendor by any other ship afloat, the British luxury liner Titanic is a proud monarch of the seas as she glides through Southampton, England, harbor to begin her ill-fated maiden voyage. (UPI File Photo) J f I -, , x , ; kf , It - 3 - pn ' .-it , . 1 " . W V i" iffy 1 1 - Jfrtf M " . hit. No. 3. ARTIST'S IDEA This Is how German Artist Willy Sloe wer visualized the nightmare of April 15, 1912, as panic striken survivors struggled to get away from the rapidly share In the expense. Since the patrol was started, only two ships have been lost to Iceberg collisions. One sinking oc curred In World War II when the patrol had to be aban doned temporarily. The other was the Hans Hedoft, a Dan ish merchant ship which radioed she had struck a berg off Greenland in 1959 and disappeared with a loss of 95 lives. There was one curious similarity between the sinking of this 2,875-ton vessel and the huge Titanic. In neither ship did the watertight bulkheads extend much above the lower decks. In the case of the Titanic and presumably the smaller Danish ship 47 years later, once the forward compartments gave way, the liner continued to sink by the nose until the water merely overflowed into each succeeding comportment. Higher bulkheads might have saved the Titanic. There was another liner built years later that hud the same structural fault. She was the Andrea Doria. an Italian sinking Titanic. Only 711 people survived. Death toll was 1,517. (UPI File Photo) she still was going almost 25 mph. That was mistake j llnel. whch gank n Juiyi ifl56i a(lPr colliding with the liner Mistake No. 4 can be summoned up briefly: complacency bred by ovcrconfldence. Captain Smith had been at sea for nearly 40 years and was well aware that under the cold, glistening beauty of an Iceberg lurked a demon of immov able strength. But everyone said the Titanic was unsinkable. He treated the berg warnings as he would a routine weather report. 10 Minutes Before Disaster Only 10 minutes before disaster struck, the British liner California radioed she was stuck In an ice field. The Titanic operator told California to shut up because he had pas senger messages to send to an east coast wireless station. At that moment, the Titanic was only four miles from bisecting her angle of death. When the berg and the liner met, all the mistakes lack of sufficient lifeboats, a green crew, too much speed and woeful overconfidence in the ship's strength were suddenly magnifed into catastrophe. If the Titanic had paid any attention to the berg warn ings, she would have been going slower and the collision about as outwardly violent as a caress might not have been fatal. Even if the impact still had been fatal, a slower speed might have resulted in the Titanic's staying afloat longer- giving rescue ships a chance to reach her. As it was, she in iwo nours ana ill minutes. It was bad enough that there were not enoueh lifeboats Yet even the ones the Titanic carried were not fully used. A little more than 700 persons sol into hnais thni rnnlri have taken 1,200. This was partly the fault of passengers ,, wuuuiu i uvi.t-ve uie snip was going down and delayed gcmiiK inio uie mcDoais until it was too late But also at fault was the Inability of the crew to fill and jauncn me Doais properly. There was no shortage of life- jacKeis, Din most of those who used them died from ex posure in the icy water. Among Thou Who Died Among inose wno aied were the Black Gang the stokers who kept the fires going until the sea poured In on them, so the ship's wireless rninht hv th nn,..r i i,. ni for help. Among those who died were 20 engineers from thej mmnanv that holll U 1-: i m. .... 1 .,,, uu, lc manic, iney went Below to see what they could do against the water that was tearing their creation apart. Among those who died were eight musicians who plaved ragtime while the deck slanted omiously under their cheerfully-tapping feet. They still were playing a hymn when the Titanic went down (not "Nearer My God to Thee," as legend has it, but an old Episcopal hymn called "Autumn"). The several Investigations following her sinking resulted In major reforms so obvious and logical that the Titanic's launa appeared even more unlorgiveable. I Stockholm off Nantucket light. Fifty lives were lost. Chances Are Greatly Reduced It would be foolhardy to say that a disaster like the Titanic sinking could not happen in modern times. But the chances have been greatly reduced. Even without an ice patrol, radar gives lis own iceberg warning. And no passenger liner would operate today under the conditions that doomed the Titanic and Its human cargo. All passenger ships now carry enough lifeboats for every passenger and crew member. Crews are drilled in handling lifeboats not less than twice a month. One of the tragedies of the Titanic was the tact that the liner California was only 19 miles away and could have pushed through the ice pack to tile rescue. But the Call- fornlan s radio operator -it had only one- had been on duty for hours without relief and went to sleep just before the Titanic hit the berg. He was still asleep while the Titanic was calling frantically for help from ships too far away to help. Today, all liners have radio operators on duty 24 hours daily. The Californian also was guilty of ignoring the Titanic's rocket signals. The captain of the smaller ship thought they were part of a celebration. Modern maritime rules ban the firing of any rocket at sea for any purpose other than a distress call. These far more rigid rules of the sea, plus the Ice Patrol itself, have reduced the iceberg menace drastically. The pa trol covers an area of 45,000 square miles - about the size of the state of Pennsylvania. When a big berg is spotted, a cutter literally baby-sits with It until it has moved out of the shipping lanes or melted to a non-dangerous size when it reaches warmer water. Before World War II, the patrol used to hold an annual memorial service over the spot where the Titanic went down. First, three volleys from cutter's guns. Then taps over the watery grave of the ship they called unslnkable. The legend of the Titanic gradually dimmed until recent years when Lord s book stirred fresh Interest. Even at the time it happened, the sinking of the Titanic was treated rather prosaically in a few U.S. newspapers. It is recalled that a Texas editor glanced at the first bulle tin and calmly put It on a spike labeled "shipping news." Perhaps the enormity of the disaster was eclipsed by its awful finality. There is no physical evidence left of the Titanic to stir memories, except in the minds of the handful of still-living survivors. There was some talk a few years ago of salvaging the huge ship but the cost would have been tremendous. Line Merges With Cunard The While Star Line itself merged with Cunard in 1934 y Viyw.WHi mimi iiaaMii mm m a I'- f WjJkt (Editor's note When the luxury liner RMS Titanic sank off Newfoundland SO years ago, a quirk of fat gave a place in the last lift boat to a 16-year-old Irish girl en rout to a new home in America. The colleen. Katherin Manning, recalls vividly the proud ship's rendesveus with doom, Sh told a UPI reporter her story of the sinking, her rescue and a reunion with relatives who bad read her obtituary and were await ing the arrival of the undertaker.) By FREDERICK H. TREESH United Press international New York (UPU On a chill April night 50 years ago, a pert Irish colleen waj awaken ed from a sound sleep, went to the deck of a proud, new ocean liner and saw, off in the darkness, what appeared to be a mountain. It was. she thought, the coastline of America and her voyage to a new home was nearly completed. But what 16-year-old Kath- enne Gunagh actually saw was a hulking mass of ice -the iceberg which sent the heralded luxury ship Titantic to its watery grave in the North Atlantic on April 15 1912. Newspapers in New York and her native Ireland erroneously carried obituaries for Katherine. 1LLL5 HER STORY Mrs. Katherine Manning. 66, sits in her home in Queens, N.Y., as she tells reporter her story of having been on the ocean liner Titanic on its ill-fated last voyage so years ago today. (UPI) with the noise of passing cars and trucks. Less than two blocks away, workmen are tearing down the old browstone houses from whose windows curious residents watched as countless carriages rolled up to the pier Gets Place in Boat But because another woman fell, Miss Gilnagh got a place in the last of the Titanic s pathetically few lifeboats, The colleen, now Katherine Manning, 86, and a widow for seven years, remembers vivid ly her harrowing night at sea, In her bright, spacious Long Island City apartment, she told, occasionally misty-eyed, her story of the world's worst non-wartime ship disaster. I was asleep in my cabin, but I hadn't taken off my clothes," she recalled. "I was awakened, but it was so peace ful and quiet I thought we had landed. "I went upstairs. Everyone was talking and there was a lot of commotion on deck.1' Return to Cabins One crewman, Mrs. Man ning remembers, told steerage class passengers to return to their cabins below decks. There was ice on the deck, he said, and the ship's company would remove it promptly if the passengers would go be low. She stayed, but without realizing then the importance of her action. "The ones who went back were lost," she said. A crewman blocked the steps between the steerage class deck and the deck above. He . stepped aside, though, when a booming-voiced Irish man bellowed: "Great God, man, let the girls through!" Katherine and two girl friends reached the second class deck. From there, a man lifted her onto his shoulders from where she climbed to the first class deck, where the Titanic's only lifeboats were moored. Didn't Understand "I must have been dopey," Mrs. Manning recalls with a subdued laugh. "But, honestly, I still didn't understand what was going on." But if she were naive, oth ers were, too. Mrs. Manning recalls pass ing through a lounge where people were playing cards. They asked not to be dis turbed. By now, the lifeboats -what few there were - were being lowered away. Kath erine and the two other girls from County Langford, Ire land, made their way to the rail where the last boat was being loaded. The other girls got on the crowded craft. The woman ahead of Katherine was to be the lasl. Pulled Aboard Ship The woman jumped toward the swaying lifeboat and part ly missed it. apparently break ing her leg in the fall. She was pulled back aboard the Ti tanic and Katherine moved forward. I told a man I wanted to into the boat, which was sway ing wildly. Had to Jump You had to Jump while the boat was swinging into toward tiie ship's hull." Once she was in, the life boat was lowered away. The sea was calm. It was night. A man, I guess he was a crewman - he was wearing raincoat, showed us how to row the boat," Mrs. Manning said. It still didn't dawn on me what was happening. I thought we were going ashore. Mrs. Manning remembers the last minutes of the Titan ic's maiden voyage. i "As we rowed away from the Titanic, we could see row after row of portholes disap pearing below the water line and the ship seemed to be turning over. Some Explosions "As it went down, there were an awful lot of people hollering and there were some explosions. There was a lot of debris in the water, and there were a lot of people floating around. We managed to pull some of them into our boat although it was already overcrowded. It was so full we had to stand. "Until the Titanic finally upended and disappeared, its crew fired distress flares in hopes of attracting a rescue ship. It was like the Fourth of July over here." A seaman in a nearby life boat tied it and hers together and shouted orders to the women in her boat - about which way to row, Mrs. Man nine said. The boats floated aimlessly for nine hours in increasingly turbulent seas. The pitch and roll of the ocean was at its worst just before the rescue ship Carpathia found her boat, she said. Was Most Scared "That's when I was the most scared," she recalled. "They (the Carpathia's crew) dropped rope ladders down. When we got on deck we were so stiff we couldn't walk." Mrs. Manning said the Car pathia's crew and passengers were especially considerate to the Titanic survivors. "I remember one old man gave me some tea and biscuits and plum pudding," she said. Then her round face dark ened slightly. She remember ed that once aboard the Car pathia she was just beginning to realize the magnitude of the Titanic disaster. Burying At Sea "They kept burying people at sea," she said. "They buried so many evtfry day - just dropped them over the side of the ship. They had been pick ed up alive, but wet and cold, and died later of exposure. 'I really didn t know how bad it was, though, until t reached New York. I thought other ships had picked up the other passengers." When she arrived in New York, there were no relatives) at the pier to meet her, Mrs. Manning recalled. They had been told she was dead. She remembers being taken to the apartment in Manhat tan where her sister lived. "I rang the bell. There was long wait, and finally my aunt looked out. She was sa scared. She thought it was the undertaker coming with my body. "Next, I saw my sister. Dressed in Black "She was dressed in black and you couldn't see her eyea because she had cried so much. All she could do was cry more." The only possessions Mrs. Manning salvaged from the sinking Titanic were her prayer book and an identifi cation card, issued by the U.S. Embassy in Dublin. She keeps them as momentoes of her night with destiny. Mindful of the huge dam age settlements that have fol lowed scores of ship and plane accidents in the past half century, Mrs. Manning said somewhat caustically: "I didn't get a penny." Candidates Night Set By CP Grange The Central Point Granga candidates' night will be held at 8 p.m., April 26 at the Central Point Grange hall. . Candidates will be allowed three minutes in which to speak. The Central Point Mother Singers will entertain during a short intermission. The meeting will be followed by. a social hour during which cake and coffee will be served by the women of the Central Point Grange. There is no trace of tragedy on Pier 59 today. No residue Ji.i., " Th.Un. T.. ' cn'" Proa" i me various investigations was the, and, in Uie early fifties, Cunard dropped White Star from creation of an International Ice Patrol. Within days after! the corporate name. the Titanic sank, the United States ordered two Coast Hllnrri Plnr S.Q uihnr tha Tllnnlf u'nilM hL rlni-koH In Vui cutters on North Atlantic patrol for the remainder of the York, has since been rebuilt and is used by United States of grief nor sediment of drama even remotely connected wim me events of April 14, 1912. Except maybe at night, when the deep, haunting sounds of ship horns drift over Pier 59 like a ghostly requiem to the ship that never reached port. But recalls. he said, It was 'oh, go Hamilton Attends Workshop Session ice season, ine louowing year, Great Britain contributed a third patrol ship. And In 1914, representatives of 13 nations agreed to organize and support an International patrol. loday, nearly 50 countries are members. Although Medford Postmaster Moore Hamilton, Medford, recently attended an all-day workshop and indoctrination session on application of President John F. Kennedy's order to official ly recognize employee organi zations in the federal gov ernment. He was one of 85 postmast ers meeting in San Francisco as part of a series of work shops for postmasters from Lines for Incoming cargo ships from Dublin, Glasgow and more than 600 major cities. Liverpool and outgoing vessels to German ports. The pier, located at 18th street and Hudson river In Manhattan, bustles with activity Immediately In front of Pier 89, where a half-century Uie United States and Canada supply the hulk of the planes, ago relatives of the Titanic victims gathered to await news and ihipi doing the patrol work, the other maritime powers I of the ship, a multi-lint ramp expressway now thunder At the work sessions the postmasters were being in structed on the three major categories of federal em ployee recognition. This In cluded Informal recognition for all groups regardless of size, formal recognition with groups having at least 10 per cent representation and exclu sive recognition for those groups having more than 50 per cent representation. The post office management retains its administrative rights, including the right to hire, promote, transfer, sus pend or discharge employees (or cause. Employees also have com plete freedom to decide whether or not they want to affiliate with employee orga nizations. Compulsory union. Ism it not permitted. a lie. ahead "I didn't realize at the time how fortunate I was. I just wanted to be with my pals (the girls from County Lang ford.)." Mrs. Manning said the life boat, as it was being loaded, was flanked by two crewmen carrying guns to prevent men from taking places reserved for women and children. She remembers jumping designed for you! home loans for... building . . . buying ... remodeling or refinancing of "old fashion" mortgages HEAR ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Each Sunday Morning 8:30 on K-DOV JCF has a home loan just for you in '62! 1 M) JCF JACKSON COUNTY FEDERAL; SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSN. Home Office-2 East Main, Medford Ashland Branch-337 East Main, Ashland
