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CONFLICTING NEWS REPORTS ON THE FATE OF THE SINKING TITANIC

LINER TITANIC KEPT AFLOAT BY WATER-TIGHT COMPARTMENTS BEING TOWED INTO HALIFAX, N.S.

The Washington Times

April 15, 1912

Steamer Virginian Taking Disabled Ship to Port of Refuge. Passengers Trans-shipped to Other Vessels to Await Arrival of the Baltic, Which is to Convey Them to New York. Disaster Unparalleled in History of Navigation.

MONTREAL, April 15. - A message to the Montreal Star from its correspondent at St. Johns, New Brunswick, at 1:15 says that the Titanic is being towed toward port by the Allan liner Virginian.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, April 15. - Held afloat only by her water-tight compartments the great White Star liner Titanic is slowly crawling toward this harbor. Her passengers have been taken off to other vessels, only to have to face a second ordeal, as they are to be again transferred to the Baltic, of the White Star line, this afternoon. The Baltic will take them to their journey's end in New York, where they are due next Thursday.

The disaster to the Titanic was unparalleled in the history of navigation. The largest, most luxurious and best appointed vessel ever laid down, she seemed proof against any disaster, and it is to the very fact that she was a new steamer that the passengers on board, noted financiers and society leaders, owe their lives.

Hardly another craft afloat could have withstood the terrific shock when the Titanic, driving along at better than half speed, although in the midst of icefields, crashed bow on into a great submerged mountain of ice which tore away her steel plates.

7 LINER TITANIC WRECKED BY ICEBERG; PASSENGERS TRANSFERRED TO OTHER VESSELS IN MID OCEAN

The Day Book

April 15, 1912

Biggest Steamer Ever Afloat Crumpled Up Like Toy in Nighttime — Wireless Saves 2,000 Passengers and Crew.

Halifax, N. S.April 15.-Kept afloat only by her watertight compartments, the great White Star liner Titanic slowly is crawling toward this harbor.

Her 1,470 passengers were taken off and put aboard other steamers in mid ocean. They may thank a calm sea and the wireless that they are alive today.

The disaster to the Titanic is unequalled in the history of navigation: The largest, most luxurious and best appointed vessel that ever floated, she seemed proof against any disaster.

Hardly another ship afloat could have withstood the terrific shock when the Titanic, driving through the night at more than half speed ahead, crashed bow on into a great submerged iceberg.

Just how the accident happened, whether there was a panic among the passengers, is not yet known here. Only the wireless appeals for help came from the stricken ship.

Captain E. S. Smith, admiral of the White Star fleet of liners and in command of the Titanic, realized acutely the danger to his passengers.

The first message was received at the Cape Race wireless station at 10:25 p. m. last night. It was demand for immediate help.

From Cape Race the news was spread far and wide by wireless and by telegraph. Vessel was reached and given the position of the Titanic, and urged to make all speed to her aid.

The Allan liner Virginian was the first. She turned her prow toward the wounded giant of the seas, and set out under forced draught. Then the Carpathia, of the Cunard line, and the Baltic, sister ship of the wrecked vessel, and the Allan liner Parisian, were reached, and all proceeded toward the Titanic.

Then came a time of cruel waiting. From the moment the first message reached Cape Race station until 12:27 a. m.there came flash after flash from the Titanic.

And each message was the same - "Hurry! Hurry! We are sinking and the passengers may be lost."

Nothing could be done from the shore. The Titanic lay 450 miles south of Cape Race, and 1,150 miles due east of New York. The only hope for her passengers seemed to be from vessels in her immediate vicinity.

At 12:27 a. m. a message was relayed to the shore:

"All women and children among passengers have been put in lifeboats; which are being held ready for lowering at moment's notice."

Three times the message was repeated, and then the wireless fell silent, and every attempt made by the stations on shore to get into communication with the sinking liner failed.

Then communication with the Virginian ceased, and those on shore could only wait helplessly.

It is known now that the reason the wireless failed was the atmospheric condition in the ice field in which the Titanic was lying helpless, but at the time it was feared that the great liner and her passengers and crew had sunk to the bottom of the sea.

At 8:30 this morning, a brief wireless saying that the Titanic was still afloat and proceeding under her own steam was picked up.

The White Star office in New York issued an official statement that it would be impossible for the Titanic to sink, no matter how badly she might have been injured.

Shortly after 9 o'clock, a message was received that the Carpathia, the Parisian and the Virginian were "standing by" the stricken ship, and that the Baltic was coming up fast.

Shortly afterwards came another message saying that the transfer of the passengers had been begun.

The first boat loads were rowed to the Carpathia. The life boats of the Titanic represent the last word in safety. They are wide, and non-sinkable. Each can hold 50 passengers. Only 35 were taken at a time today, however.

The work of transferring passengers at sea always is full of danger. It was less so today than usual. The wind had died down to nothing at all. The sea was comparatively quiet.

Many of the passengers carried their most valuable belongings with them. There was no attempt to move hand baggage. Nearly all the first class passengers of the great liner were financiers or society leaders. A conservative estimate of the value of jewelry and bonds carried among them is $5,000,000.

There was a great deal of conflict between the wireless messages received this afternoon.

One dispatch [sic] to Montreal declared the Titanic had sunk.

The conflict of messages was due to interference with messages and because all wireless messages had to be relayed.

Just what is to be done with the passengers transferred from the Titanic has not been decided. They may be transferred at sea again, and put aboard the Baltic, and brought to New York. They may stay on the steamers they now are on, and, these, ships may be ordered to Halifax, where special trains are already being got ready for the shipwrecked men and women.

New York, April 15. - The Titanic is the greatest of modern leviathans, being even bigger than the monster Olympic.

She also is the most luxuriously fitted and furnished vessel ever sent to sea.

She is 888 andfrac12; feet long, with a 92 foot beam. Her registered tonnage is 43,000 tons, and her displacement 66,000 tons. 5,000 passengers could be accommodated aboard her, 600 in the cabins.

She carried a crew of 800 men. Her captain, E. S. Smith, is the veteran of the White Star service.

This was the Titanic's maiden voyage. It was not begun well. When she was drawing out from Southampton docks, the suction she created in the harbor dislodged the American liner New York from her berth, breaking the two heavy hawsers like pack threads.

The New York swung toward the Titanic, and narrowly missed plunging into her. This was regarded as a bad omen by the captain and crew of the Olympic.

The passengers on the Titanic included some of the best known names in America. Mr. and John Jacob Astor, Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Bruce Ismay, Clarence Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Isadore Straus, Countess Rothes, Archie Butt, Mrs. L. Appleton, Mr. and Mrs. Washington Dodge, and Benjamin Guggenheim were among them. Nearly every cabin passenger was a multi-millionaire.