What the papers said

THE EVENING SUN

WALL STREET
NIGHT EDITION NEW YORK
MONDAY APRIL 15th 1912
Price ONE CENT

TITANIC'S PASSENGERS ARE TRANSSHIPPED
RESCUE BY CARPATHIA AND PARISIAN; LINER IS BEING TOWED TO HALIFAX AFTER COLLISION WITH ICEBERG.

THE EVENING SUN

FINAL EDITION NEW YORK
MONDAY 15th APRIL 1912

ALL SAVED FROM TITANIC AFTER COLLISION
RESCUE BY CARPATHIA AND PARISIAN; LINER IS BEING TOWED TO HALIFAX AFTER SMASHING INTO A ICEBERG.

THE EVENING SUN

WALL STREET
NIGHT EDITION NEW YORK
TUESDAY APRIL 16th
Price ONE CENT

HOPE FOR MORE TITANIC SURVIVORS FAINT; CARPATHIA ONLY SHIP ON HAND IN TIME.
CAPTAIN OF ALLAN LINER REPORTS HE ARRIVED TOO LATE TO RESCUE ANY FROM TITANIC...PERHAPS 1,400 LOST.

EVERY ONE ON BOARD WORLD'S GREATEST LINER SAFE AFTER COLLISION WITH ICEBERG IN ATLANTIC OCEAN.
TITANIC'S WIRELESS SIGNAL BRINGS VESSELS TO SCENE.

ALL ON BOARD SAFE.
PASSENGERS TAKEN OFF.

(DAILY MIRROR 16th APRIL 1912.)

The White liner Titanic, the greatest ship the world has ever known, has met with disaster on her maiden voyage.

She left Southampton on Wednesday last and carried about 2,300 passengers and crew on board, with 3,400 sacks of mail.

On Sunday she came into collision with an iceberg, and immediately flashed out wireless messages for help.

Many steamers rushed to her aid, but her fate and that of the thousands on board remained in doubt on both sides of the Atlantic for many hours.

It was at length known that every soul was safe, and that the vessel itself was proceeding to Halifax either under her own steam or towed by the Allan liner Virginian.

All her passengers had by that time been taken aboard two of the liners that hurried to the scene in reply to the wireless message. They are due at Halifax (Nova Scotia) today and will be taken thence by train to New York.

Last night direct news from the Titanic was received by the parents of the wireless operator on board, who announced cheerfully that the boat was practically unsinkable and that she was making slowly for Halifax.

(DAILY MIRROR. APRIL 16th 1912.)

LONDON HEARS LATE OF LOSE OF TITANIC.

Newspapers Went to Press Supposing All on Board the Ship Were Safe.

(NEW YORK TRIBUNE April 16th 1912)

CROWD COMPANY'S OFFICES.

"Some of the London Newspapers went to press this morning under the belief that all aboard the Titanic were safe, and that the vessel was proceeding for Halifax. These in editorials congratulate all concerned that man's inventive genius has reduced the perils of sea voyage to a minimum.

Later dispatches recording the sinking of the Titanic, with loss of life, appear only in the latest editions, and the terrible extent of the disaster will not become known to the British public until much later in the day.

All news on the subject still comes exclusively from New York. No wireless communication appears to have been established with this side.

A dispatch just received from Liverpool says that the White Star officials have received information from the Olympic of the sinking of the Titanic and of the saving of many passengers and crew, and adds that the offices are besieged by friends of the passengers making inquiries.

Writing under the impression that the Titanic was saved, the newspapers call attention to the absence of any dry-dock on the American seaboard large enough to accommodate such a vessel, and also to the coincidence of accidents happening to the sister ships Olympic and Titanic.

Exciting scenes were witnessed at Lloyds underwriting rooms yesterday. Insurance losses in the last six months have been unparalleled in the history of Lloyd's in liners of the biggest class.

It is understood that there was no specie on board the liner, but large insurance's had been written on diamonds and other valuables in her cargo.

Press Association Foreign Special"

"There were sixteen boats in the forlorn procession which entered on the terrible hours of rowing, drifting, and suspense. Women wept for their lost husbands and sons, and sailors sobbed for the ship which had been their pride. Men choked back their tears and sought to comfort the widowed. Perhaps they said, other boats might have put off in the other direction towards the East. They strove, though none too sure of it themselves, to convince the women of the certainty that a rescue ship would soon appear.
Dawn brought no ship, but not long after 5 a.m. the Carpathia, far out of her path and making eighteen knots instead of her wonted fifteen, showed a single red and black stack. In the joy of the moment the heaviest griefs were forgotten. Soon afterwards Captain Rostron and Chief Steward Hughes were welcoming the children and bedraggled arrivals over the Carpathia's side. The silence of the Carpathia's engines, the piercing cold, and clamour of many voices in the companion ways caused me to dress hurriedly and to awaken my wife. It was 5.40 on Monday morning. Our stewardess, meeting me outside, pointed to a wailing host in the back of the dining room and said, 'From the Titanic. She is at the bottom of the ocean.'

At the ship's side a moment later I saw the last of a line of boats discharge their loads. I saw women, some with cheap shawls about their heads, some in the costliest fur cloaks, ascending the ship's side. Such joy as the first sight of our ship may have given them had disappeared from their faces. There were tears and signs of faltering as the women were helped up the ladders or hoisted aboard in swings for lack of room in which to put them. The Titanic's boats after unloading were set adrift. To our north the broad ice field, the length of hundreds of Carpathia's, stretched around us, and on either side rose sharp glistening peaks. One black berg seen about 10 a.m. was said to be that which sunk the Titanic.

Few of the men of the Carpathia's passenger list slept in bed on any of the nights that followed. They lay on chairs, on the deck, on the dining tables, or floors.

Press Association Reporter Foreign Special." (City Heritage Collections)

"An Ocean Graveyard;
Floating Corpses; Mother and her Baby
From our own correspondent.
New York, Wednesday.

More than 100 of the Titanic's victims were seen floating on the water by the steamship Bremen, which arrived today from Bremen, when, on April 20, the German liner passed over the spot where the Titanic went down. Mrs. Johanna Stunke, a first cabin passenger on the Bremen, gave a vivid story of the scene from the liner's rail.
"It was between four and five o'clock on Saturday," she said, "when our ship sighted off the bow to the starboard an iceberg. We had been told by some of the officers that the Bremen was going to pass within a few miles of the position given by the Titanic when she sank, so when the cry went up that ice was sighted we all rushed to the starboard rail. It was a beautiful afternoon, and the sun glistening on the big iceberg was a wonderful picture, but as we drew nearer and could make out small dots floating around in the sea a feeling of awe and sadness crept over every one, and the ship proceeded in absolute silence. We passed within a hundred feet of the southern most drift of the wreckage, and looking down over the rail we distinctly saw a number of bodies so clearly that we could make out what they were wearing, and whether they were men or women. Carpathia arrives with survivors in New York. Deathless Story of the Titanic"

15 April 1912

"Mrs May across the way lost her husband and oldest son (Fireman and Firemen's Mess Man). The son was married a year ago and his wife had a baby six weeks ago. Mrs Allen around the corner lost her husband, George (Scullion). And the young girl there in black, the one on this side, is Mrs Barnes. She lost her brother (Fireman). The woman going into the shop is Mrs Gosling. She lost a son (Trimmer). And Mrs Preston of Princes Street, a widow, she lost her son too (Trimmer). "

Wife of Olympic crew member. (Daily Mirror 18th April 1912)

"The General Manager of the White Star Company received 'The War Cry' representative very considerately, and expressed his thanks to The Army for its offer of assistance, and his appreciation of the efforts which were being made locally in conjunction with the relief fund inaugurated by the Mayor (Councillor H. Bovryer, R.N.R.), who it is interesting here to note, holds a chief pilot's certificate, and whose brother was the local pilot to the ill-fated liner.

Captain Huggins and Lieutenant Craig, the Southampton Slum Officers, whom 'The War Cry' correspondent interviewed, have been visiting hundreds of homes of late in the very district where the death-roll is highest. They had just come from Northam, the district referred to, and were full of most pathetic stories.

Double Tragedy

Adjutant Gwyn, of the Divisional Headquarters, visited a home where a double tragedy had occurred, the father had gone down with the doomed liner, and the mother and her newly-born infant had died, leaving behind her six little children. At every rum, where possible, our Officers are succouring the grief-stricken. 'It was heart-breaking', says Adjutant Otter, 'to see how quickly the handkerchief came out the moment Mrs Otter spoke a word to any of the women who were waiting for news. I felt quite helpless in face of such sorrow.'
The work of ministering to the sufferers is women's work. This is true, whether it be Adjutants Clark, Groome, and Marsh, and Lieutenant Mills, the Officers of Battenberg Home for Women and Girls, who supply hundreds of quarts of soup or milk to the needy, or the Slum Officers, who deliver many gallons of milk to nursing mothers and children, and take gifts of tea, bread, sugar, rice, and other provender to the homes where the grim spectre of want has long been seen, and where the shadow of death has now fallen.
The law of 'women and children first' cuts both ways, and this is specially true in Southampton at this time of trial, for it is upon the heads of the defenceless women and innocent children that the blow has fallen first and fallen with crushing weight.

At Army's Home

At The Amy's Home for Working-men, Captain Haynes, the Officer in charge, says that a number of the Titanic's crew were in residence there, and some of them were present at the services which are held in connexion with the Home. The district where the Home is situated is right in the heart of the area where a large percentage of the crew lived. In Bond Street, York Street, Millbank Street, Princes Street, Clarence Street, and many another, numbers of bread-winners are missing.

Everything is being done by our comrades to help to minimize suffering on the part of the women and children. Brigadier Glover, the Divisional Commander, has requested the Officers at Southampton, Freemantle, St. Denys, Woolston, and other Corps, whose districts are affected, to pay special attention to Titanic cases, and to report all cases of distress to him. Many affecting stories were related to 'The War Cry' representative; perhaps one of the most moving was that of a woman whose husband and son it was thought had both been drawn down to death by the sinking liner. The weeping woman showed the Slum Officer two little texts, the gift of her husband just as he departed. They only cost a few pence, but pence were very valuable just then. 'He gave them to me just as he took his farewell', she sobbed. The words on the card were: 'Seek ye the Lord' and 'God is good'. While the woman was speaking the assurance official came in to see about the policies of her husband and son. It was then that she realized the terrible significance of her double bereavement. It is at such moments as these that our Officers are seen at their best, and one can well understand how that grief-stricken mother made articulate what many a broken hearted wife has felt during these distressing days when she cried, 'O Captain, I'm so glad to have you with me in this time of trouble.' (We are glad to say that news has since been received that the husband is among those saved. - Ed.)

(War Cry)"