48th and Parkside Ave

 There are certain stories of extraordinary circumstance which take on a movie-like quality in our imaginations when we consider them; emotionless, temperatureless, void of any fear, scent, or genuine atmosphere….so forget the story, and take a moment to actually go there. Smell the fresh air, feel the cold metal railing, the irritation of being stirred from bed…

The following is a personal account of a 17 year old boy…

"Father was in bed, and my mother and I were about to get into bed as well. There was no great shock. I was on my feet at the time and I do not think it was enough to throw anyone down. I put on an overcoat and rushed up on deck. I saw nothing there. I then went forward to the bow to see if I could see any signs of ice. The only ice I saw was on the well deck. I could not see very far ahead, having just come out of a brightly lighted room."

"I then went down to our room and my father and mother came on deck with me. We could not see anything there. Father thought he saw small pieces of ice floating around, but I could not see any myself. We walked around to the port side, and the ship had then a fair list in that direction. We stayed there looking over the side for about five minutes. The list seemed very slowly to be increasing."

"We then ran down to our rooms, all of us dressing quickly, putting on all our clothes. We all put on life-preservers, and over these we put on our winter coats. Then we hurried up on deck and walked around, looking out at different places. Father and mother went ahead and I followed. They went down to the second deck and a crowd got in front of me and I was not able to catch them. I lost sight of them. As soon as I could get through the crowd I tried to find them, but without success. That is the last time I saw my father. I then went to the starboard side, thinking that my father and mother must have gotten off in a boat. All of this time I was with a fellow named Milton Long, of New York, whom I had just met that evening."

"On the starboard side the boats were getting away quickly. Some boats were already off in the distance. We thought of getting into one of the boats, the last boat to go on the forward part of the starboard side, but there seemed to be such a crowd around I thought it unwise to make any attempt to get into it. He and I stood by the davits of one of the boats that had left. I did not notice anybody that I knew except Mr. Lindley, whom I had also just met that evening. I lost sight of him in a few minutes. Long and I then stood by the rail just a little aft of the captain’s bridge."

"The list to the port had been growing greater all the time. About this time the people began jumping from the stern. I thought of jumping myself, but was afraid of being stunned on hitting the water. Three times I made up my mind to jump out and slide down the davit ropes and try to make the boats that were lying off from the ship, but each time Long got hold of me and told me to wait a while. He then sat down and I stood up waiting to see what would happen. Even then we thought she might possibly stay afloat."

"I got a fix on a rope between the davits and a star and noticed that we were gradually sinking. We left the davits and went back and stood by the rail about even with the second funnel. Long and myself said good-bye to each other and jumped up on the rail. He put his legs over and held on a minute and asked me if I was coming. I told him I would be with him in a minute. He did not jump clear, but slid down the side of the ship. I never saw him again."

"About five seconds after he jumped I jumped out, feet first. I was clear of the ship; went down, and as I came up I was pushed away from the ship by some force. I came up facing it, and one of the funnels seemed to be lifted off and fell towards me about 15 yards away, with a mass of sparks and steam coming out of it. I saw the ship in a sort of a red glare, and it seemed to me that she broke in two just in front of the third funnel."

"This time I was sucked down, and as I came up I was pushed out again and twisted around by a large wave, coming up in the midst of a great deal of small wreckage. As I pushed my hand from my head it touched the cork fender of an overturned life-boat. I looked up and saw some men on the top and asked them to give me a hand. One of them, who was a stoker, helped me up. In a short time the bottom was covered with about twenty-five or thirty men. When I got on this I was facing the ship."

"The stern then seemed to rise straight in the air and stopped. It seemed to hold there for a time and then with a hissing sound it shot right down out of sight with people jumping from the stern. The stern either pivoted around towards our boat, or we were sucked towards it, and as we only had one oar we could not keep away. There did not seem to be very much suction and most of us managed to stay on the bottom of our boat."

"We were then right in the midst of fairly large wreckage, with people swimming all around us. The sea was very calm and we kept the boat pretty steady, but every now and then a wave would wash over it. It took about an hour and a half for the boats to draw near. Two boats came up. The first took half and the other took the balance, including myself. We had great difficulty about this time in balancing the boat, as the men would lean too far, but we were all taken aboard the already crowded boat, and in about a half or three-quarters of an hour later we were picked up by the Carpathia."

Jack Thayer – Titanic Passenger