Encyclopedia Titanica

ISMAY IN COMMAND SAYS MRS. APPLETON

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

   Join Us and Hide Ads

Declares Steamship Head Did Everything possible to Get Women in Boats.

COLONEL ASTOR A HERO, TOO.

Bayside Woman Pulled Oar in Lifeboat Until Picked Up by the Carpathia.

Mrs. E.D. Appleton of Bay Side, who, with her two sisters, Mrs. R.C. Cornell, wife of Magistrate Cornell, and Mrs. J.M. Brown of Boston, was among the survivors of the Titanic, returned here last night and was able to relate to an Eagle reporter her experience on the ill fated ship.

“Mr Ismay did everything possible to get the children and women off of the Titanic,” said Mrs. Appleton. “When our boat pulled away I heard the band playing distinctly and among the men standing on the deck was Mr. Ismay. I heard him order the men to stay back and instruct the men in command of the boats to take all women and children off first.

“I cannot understand how he got aboard the Carpathia himself, for I was under the impression that I had seen him still on deck after the last boat had left the ship.

“The boat Mrs. Cornell and I were in was filled mostly with women: there were only three men – one sailor, an immigrant and an officer. The immigrant seemed to know nothing about a boat, so I took an oar and helped to row around for about four hours until we were picked up by the Carpathia.

“Before we got in a boat, when we got to the deck I saw Mr. and Mrs. Astor calmly walking up and down the promenade deck. In a few minutes Colonel Astor commenced giving orders to the crew to properly put the women and children in the lifeboats. He tried to get his wife to get in one at once, but she refused to do so without her husband. I finally heard the Colonel say to her: ‘There is no danger, don’t worry. It will be all right. You go in the lifeboat. I will follow.’” Madeline went, but the Colonel never followed.

“Nobody seemed to realise that the Titanic would sink and there was no panic up to the time I left and I must have gone in the fourth boat. I heard no shooting. Captain Smith and his officers and crew deserve a lot of credit for the order and discipline that prevailed.

“The lights did not go out until the water had almost covered the ship.”

“A peculiar coincidence happened when we got on board the Carpathia. When I asked what ship it was and was informed that it was the Carpathia, I remembered that my uncle, Charles Marshall, and his wife, were to sail for Italy on that boat, and immediately instituted a search for him. He was overjoyed to see me safe, and we threw ourselves in each other’s arms.

Contributors

Gordon Steadwood

Contribute

  Get in touch

Comment and discuss

Open Thread Leave a Reply

Citation

Encyclopedia Titanica (2013) ISMAY IN COMMAND SAYS MRS. APPLETON (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Friday 19th April 1912, ref: #19631, published 9 November 2013, generated 14th October 2024 03:44:30 AM); URL : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/ismay-in-command-says-mrs-appleton.html