Faith in Titanic Killed Scores, Survivor Tells Ministers Here

Albert Francis Caldwell

Second-class passenger

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A. F. Caldwell Describes Terrible Sea Tragedy Taking 1,500 Lives

More lives would have been snatched from Davy Jones' locker if passengers on the Titanic had not had supreme confidence the then queen of the seas was nonsinkable, members of the Richmond Ministerial Union yesterday were told by A. F. Caldwell, Richmond insurance man and a survivor of the disaster which sent 1,500 persons to a watery grave 23 years ago.

He was one of 700 passengers getting into lifeboats, after the Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean in April, 1912, and rescued by the Carpathia, of the Cunard Lines. Son of a Presbyterian minister, Mr. Caldwell was returning to the United States, by way of Europe, from Bankok, Siam, where he had been a teacher in the Presbyterian mission.

An attentive audience was thrilled by Mr. Caldwell's recital of the greatest sea tragedy of all time.

"The Titanic struck an iceberg at midnight on a Sunday," he said. "Religious services had been held earlier in the night, the chaplain taking as his topic 'Perils of the Sea.' On an upper deck men were bambling around the card table. Little did the men and women attending the church service on the ship realize they were to meet Him within a few hours. At that exact hour my mother and father were on their knees, praying for the safe return of their son, then on the high seas.

"I was in my cabin when the ship crashed against the iceberg. I put on a dressing gown and went on deck. A member of the crew casually remarked 'We hit an iceberg.' I looked down to the water, saw the ship was drifting, and I went back to my cabin and fell asleep.

"There was a crunching, trembling feeling as the ship hit the iceberg, but no jarring. Then silence ensued.

"A few minutes after going to sleep I was awakened by sailors pounding on doors and shouting 'Everybody out with life belts.'

"On a main deck were some 2,000 passengers. There was no sign of a panic, for every one felt the Titanic with its water-tight compartments was nonsinkable. We were surprised 15 minutes later to see the lifeboats being lowered. Why were the boats being lowered, if the ship was not in danger?

"One of the saddest things about the Titanic's sinking was that so many more lives could have been saved. The lifeboats had a total capacity of 1,200 passengers, but 2,200 persons, passengers, and crew, were on board. Only 700 lives were saved. Women and children had to be pushed into the lifeboats.

"I went below and was talking with a group of stokers, who had come up from the hold of the ship. They let it out, talking with one another, that the bulkheads were broken and that the ship was sinking.

"When Life Boat No. 13, only half-filled, was lowered near our group, these sailors jumped in and invited me to join them. Gentlemen, I accepted the invitation. Boat No. 15 was suspended over Boat 13 for several minutes, until some one found a knife to cut the ropes of our boat. We rowed away and from a distance watched the mighty ship in its death struggle.

"The memory of the anguished cries of those in the water will ever remain with me, the cries of those 1,500 souls in the ocean. They did not drown upon jumping into the ocean for each wore a lifebelt. They all died from exposure in the cold temperature. The cries became fainter and fainter as the minutes rolled on.

"The ship tilted gradually, until it reached a roll of about 40 degrees, when it seemed to stay there. Then the lights flickered, all was silent and with a gentle swish the ship disappeared.

"Our lifeboat was about three-quarters of a mile away when the Titanic sank. Then occurred what I thought was a remarkable thing. The water was calm, when I thought it would be rough. We found out later that icebergs, forming an almost complete circle, had blocked the waves.

"In the early morning hours, we could see the outlines of a ship on the horizon. It was the Carpathia. The sun later came out and the icebergs looked so beautiful, glistening in the sun. Yet those icebergs had taken a toll of 1,500 lives because the Titanic was 'nonsinkable.'"

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