Alfred Pugh's Letter to Walter Lord

At the time she struck the Ice-Berg, I and some more of us were playing cards in our room. Naturally everybody said "What's that." I said she had dropped a propeller, as that [was] what it felt like to me. We continued playing for quite a while until the order came to muster at the boats. On arriving on the Crew Deck, I saw a steward with a large lump of ice in his hands, also a lot of 3rd class passengers who were all making their way to the Boat Deck.

On arriving at the Boat Deck, I met the 6th Officer, "Mr. Moody." Knowing each other, he called [me] to help him to get the passengers in the lifeboats. We filled up No. 18 boat, then did the same to No. 16 boat. We met the 5th Officer there (Mr. Webb). 1 After filling the boat, Mr. Moody remarked that he would go and see if he could be of help elsewhere. Telling me to stand by, Mr. Webb then detailed the crew to man the boat and asked me if I could manage the oars (being large and me very small). I said yes, as I had already done so at boat drill before leaving Southampton. "Right," he said, "Jump in," and he followed, taking charge.

We cleared the ship all right, and up to then there was no panic. I had not heard the band playing, but in the distance I could hear people singing, "For Those in Peril on the Sea." After a while, Mr. Webb got all the lifeboats to keep together as he said there was a better chance to be seen.

We transferred our 58 passengers to the other boats, and then started to search for any survivors after the ship had disappeared. Before she sank, we could see her well down at the fore port and her stern well out of the water. Some lights were still showing and continued to do so till she took the final plunge.

It was at day break when we saw the Carpathia and eventually we were taken on Board. It was some days before I could realise what had happened, especially as I found that my Brother had gone down with the ship.

Curator's note: This transcription is an excerpt from the full letter that is preserved in the archive of the collections of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. This transcription has been lightly edited for readability. Line breaks, punctuation, grammar, and capitalization have been adjusted to conform to modern conventions. These changes have been made solely to enhance clarity, and the original intent, tone, and content of the letter have been carefully preserved.