All Jumped for Boats

Gunnar Isidor Tenglin

Third-class passenger

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Safely seated in a lifeboat into which he jumped as it was being lowered into the sea. Gunner Tenglin, of Iowa, saw the last moments of the Titanic and told of them and of the scenes of horror which preceded the sinking of the vessel, in a perfectly nonchalant manner when The Star talked to him after he had been taken into one of the Salvation Army rescue homes near the Cunard Dock. In the first moment all class distinction was forgotten, and third-class and steerage passengers were soon mingling with those on the upper deck, jostling them this way and that, all eager to get to the life boats. Tenglin spent years at sea before immigrating to America, and so was in a position to judge the speed at which the ship was going. He put it at about 23 knots an hour. "When I got up on deck," he said. "I found the first officer was in charge, and was told that the Captain had left the bridge about an hour before we struck. I had an excellent view of the iceberg which we ran into after we got away from the vessel, as it was a bright clear night, with all the stars showing."

Could See Icebergs Five Miles Away.

"I would say the berg was as high as the steamer we were rescued on, but I could not tell very well how wide it was. How we ever ran into it is beyond me, as it must have been visible for miles. From our lifeboat we could see icebergs all around, and some of the bigger ones must have been five miles off. If we could see them that far off, I can't understand why the lookouts on the Titanic did not report the one we struck in time to prevent the collision.

Some Went Back to Bed.

"When we struck, a huge slice was taken off the boat on one side. How far it extended back no one knows, as immediately she began to settle. There was great consternation for ten minutes or so but our fears were soon allayed as the officers assured us there was no danger. Hundreds who were [preparing?] for the end felt safe then and some even went back to bed, it was fully an hour after we struck before any attempt was made to lower the lifeboats. All the time we kept going, and for the first half hour there didn't seem to be any great slackening in speed.

Everyone For Himself.

"Had the officers realized that the boat was doomed there would have been ample time to get the lifeboats away, but when the order was given after that hour's delay there was such a commotion and so terrible a struggle to get into them that it was almost a case of everyone looking after himself. I recall that it wasn't very long before the first lifeboat was gotten away that I asked one of the officers if there was danger, and he said: "No; go back to bed.'

Boat Ropes Stuck.

"After they did start to get the boats away the panic was added to by the fact that as everything was new, no end of difficulties were met with. For example, the one I got into was lowered till I was about ten feet from the water, when the ropes stuck, and we had to wait till the Titanic had settled that much before we could free ourselves and row away. I had returned to the third-class cabin after I went on deck following the crash, and in spite of the assurances of the officers I found that most of the foreigners had already concluded their end had come, and made no efforts to save themselves.

Mother Locked Children In to Die.

"I saw one Swedish woman who was outside with her five little children go back into her cabin, and I heard the click of the key in the door. One English woman went over to the piano, while the Italians simply fell on their knees to pray without making an effort to save themselves.

Officer Blew His Brains Out.

"The only shooting I saw was when one of the officers blew his brains out. I think it was the First Officer, though I am not sure.

"We were about 400 yards off when we saw the steamer was going fast. I heard, I think it was, two explosions, and then she seemed to turn on her side and went down head foremost. We didn't notice the vortex to any great extent.

"The lights were burning all the time and we could see them disappearing row after row. At the end there was an awful scream that could have been heard for miles.

Only Few Women in Boat.

"In our boat were only a few women, why there weren't more of them I don't know. I got into it by jumping from the deck as it was being lowered away. After the boat disappeared we noticed our surroundings and found ourselves in a sea of ice. At that time we could see only another boat and the people in it were singing a hymn.

We rowed until about six o'clock in the morning when the Carpathia picked us up. It remained clear all night, but we saw but very little wreckage."

Two Boats Overturned – 100 Lost.

Tenglin said that as many were allowed to crowd into the boats as could. Two of them were overturned and their human freight, about a hundred souls in all, were drowned.

"I saw the two boats swaying as they were being lowered as all the seats were filled and many were standing up. As soon as they struck the water the rocking proved too much and they went over.

"As far as I could see, no special precautions were taken to get the women and children away. It was a case of the first at the boats got into them. Perhaps the reason for this is that nearly everyone thought there were more than enough boats to take care of all. This soon proved to be wrong and soon it was a case of fight your way. I saw any number of women thrust aside by men, who didn't wait even as long as I did."

We would like to thank Wolfric Rogers for contributing this article to the Archive. If you would like to contribute a primary source to Titanic Archive, please contact us.