E. Z. Taylor, of London, Gives Graphic Story of Shipwreck and Rescue
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E. Z. Taylor, of Philadelphia and London, and stockholder in the American Mono-
Service Co., told his story of the disaster and rescue in a calm and connected
manner on his arrival [in ?] New York Thursday night. He was saved with his
wife. Mr. Taylor is a man of huge size, weighing perhaps two hundred and fifty
pounds. When asked how he came to be saved, Mr. Taylor answered that when he
left the Titanic no one thought that the vessel [would/could?] sink. He added
that he would have preferred to have taken chances on board, but was compelled
to enter the lifeboat.
“There was no excitement on board when the Titanic struck the iceberg,” he sand
[sic]. “There was no crash and hardly enough of a jar to wake you up. I was
in my berth and I knew [that?] something had happened. I dressed and went up-
stairs. A friend who was in the stateroom next to mine was awakened, but went
back to his berth and fell asleep again.”
HE SAID “NO DISORDER”
“When I got up-stairs there was no [riot?] or disorder. The band was playing
and they were still serving drinks in the smoking room. There was certainly no
panic anywhere and no signs of excitement. It was twenty-five minutes to
twelve when the jar came. I looked at my watch and noted the time.
“All discrepancies in time may have been caused by the fact that many of the
passengers may have neglected [to reset?] their watches after leaving the other
side. The ship’s clock made the proper changes, and the actual moment of the
collision was probably recorded by sun time.
“The night was clear and fine. It was not light, of course, but it was easy
enough to see. The iceberg was there [off?] to the port side of the ship. The
sea was as smooth as a millpond and [that?] was the reason that the ship’s
officers did not see it. If there had been any waves, then the lookout
[could/would?] have seen the water dashing against the water-line of the berg.
[But?] in the calm water it was impossible to see it easily.
MEN BEHAVED WELL
“There was not the slightest disorder on the part of the crew or the men
passengers. Soon they started putting the women and children in the lifeboats
and on the rafts. They slung the children overboard in bags. I got away in
one of the last boats. When [illegible; probably “I”, but could be “we”] left
no one had any thought that the Titanic was going under, and, as a matter of
fact, it seemed to be the better chance to stay with her and not to get into
the lifeboats.
“The boat I was in got away on the port side of the Titanic, between her and
the iceberg. The berg was about [illegible two-digit number] feet high, or
perhaps more. It overtopped the ship’s decks. There was not any mark on the
ice where the ship struck, so far as could be seen.
“On the port side of the ship I saw no signs of damage to the hull. Her bow
was unharmed. It was not crumpled in at all, and all along the port side I
could not see that there were any indications of broken plates or holes in her
hull. Certainly no one could see then that the Titanic was gong to sink.
IN THE LIFEBOATS
“I was in one of the lifeboats and not in one of the collapsible canvas boats
which were launched. There were some rafts launched, too. There were thirty-
six in our boat, and we were pretty heavily loaded. After an hour we got up
with another one of the lifeboats and took three out of our boat and put them
into the other, which only had twenty-eight in it. Most of those in our boat
were women. The sea was smooth and remained so until we were picked up by the
Carpathia, when it got a bit choppy.
“We were about a mile away when the Titanic went down --- at least that was
what the officer who was in charge of our boat said, but it didn’t seem that
far. We could see her plainly. She went down very slowly and there was no
explosion at all. There was a horrible noise, but I couldn’t quite make out
what it was. She went down bow first, and at the last moment broke or buckled.
“As I say, the scenes on leaving the ship were not very exciting, because no
one expected her to sink. I didn’t hear any shots or anything of that sort.
We were in the boat about four hours before the Carpathia sighted us.”
Mr. Taylor was perhaps better dressed than any of the other survivors. He
explained this by saying that when he left his berth to [get?] up he dressed to
go on deck, and had got into the lifeboat as he was.
[Note: This story appeared in the left hand column of a right-hand page and, particularly at the top of the story, some of what is at the margin was lost when the bound volume was microfilmed. In most cases, it was not difficult to figure out what letters or words are missing, but in some instances, where the ?'s appear, it's not at all clear. MAB]
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