George Rowe's Letter to Walter Lord

I was on watch on the Poop [Deck] in the First Watch (8 P.M. till mid-night) on the night of April 14, 1912. The night was pitch black, very calm and starry around about 11 P.M. I noticed that the weather was becoming colder and what we call "Whiskers round the Light" were noticeable – that is very minute splinters of ice, like myriads of coloured lights.

I had to call the Middle Watch at 11:45 (midnight till 4 A.M.), but about 11.40 P.M., I was struck by a curious movement of the ship. It was similar to going alongside a dock wall rather heavy. I looked forward and saw what I thought was a Windjammer (sailing-ship), but as we passed by it, I saw it was an iceberg. Now as our own boat's davits were 80 feet from waterline, I estimated the height of the berg about 100 feet. The engines were going astern by this time, so l pulled in the long-line, and by my last reading at 10 P.M., I made out we had been doing about 21 knots. I did not think the collision was serious.

In a short time, the ship was hove to, where shortly after, I saw a boat being lowered on the starboard side, and I went up on to the after bridge and phoned the fore bridge if they knew about it. I could not recognize the voice, but he asked me who I was. I told him, "The after quartermaster." He asked me if I knew where the distress rockets were stowed. I told him I did. He then told me to bring as many as I could on to the fore bridge.

I went below one deck to a locker and got a tin box with, I think, 12 rockets in it (they were fairly heavy). I carried them along the boat deck where there was a bit of confusion clearing away and turning out boats. As I passed over the salon, I heard the band playing but I could not distinguish the tune.

On searching the bridge, Capt. Smith asked me if I had the rockets. I told him "Yes," and he said, "Fire one, and fire one every five or six minutes." After I fired about 3, Capt. Smith asked me if I could Morse. I replied "I could a little." He said, "Call that ship up, and when she answers, tell her that 'we are the Titanic sinking please have all your boats ready.'"

I kept calling her up but never got a reply, though we could see his white light quite plain. After a while, I said to Capt. Smith, "There is a light on the starboard quarter." He looked through his glasses and told me he thought it must be a planet, then he lent me his glasses to see for myself, then said, "The Carpathia is not far away."

During this time, they were timing out the Std Englehart raft under the direction of Chief Off. Wilde, and when it was full, he was shouting out to know who was in charge. Then Capt. Smith turned to me and told me to go and take charge. That was the last I heard Capt. Smith say.

We had great difficulty in lowering, as the ship was well down by the head, and she took a list to port. It was then that I saw Mr. Ismay and another gentleman (I think he was a Mr. Carter) in the boat. The chief officer shouted to me and told me, "When you get clean, go to the others and tell them to come back." That was the last I saw of Mr. Wilde.

When we were clean of the ship, I said, "What's the best thing to do, Mr. Ismay?" He replied, "You're in charge." We could see nothing, only this white light, so I told them to pull away. Mr. Ismay on one oar, Mr. Carter on another, and the 4 of the crew, one each and one I steered with 7 oars. We had been pulling for about 10 minutes when we heard a noise like an immense heap of gravel being tipped from a height, then she disappeared. We pulled on, but seemed to make no headway.

Gradually dawn came, and soon we could make out some boats and more ice. It must have been between 7 and 8 A.M. when we saw a ship, which was the Carpathia. There were several boats between us and the ship. We were picked up about 9 A.M.

I saw no more of Mr. Ismay or Mr. Carter after they got out of the boat, or did either of them speak. I did ask one of the ship's officers how Mr. Ismay was. He said he was indisposed and would not leave his cabin.

After all our boats were emptied, all the lifeboats were hoisted on board the Carpathia with the exception of the two Englehart rafts (but they were cleaned of everything). They were cast adrift, yet 4 weeks later to the day, Oceanic, sailing nearly over the same course, sighted an object. A boat was lowered, and it was found to be one of our Engelhart rafts with 3 bodies (1 passenger and 2 firemen) in it.

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.