April 14, 1912
That horrible night
On board the Titanic
705 people were saved and 1502 perished
……
The last photo of the Titanic before it sank in 1912.
Charles Lightoller, 38, was Titanic’s second mate, the last survivor to be hauled from the icy waters to the lifeboat, the highest position.
He wrote a 17-page memoir recounting the details of the shipwreck disaster.
01
Faced with the disaster of the sinking, the captain ordered women and children into the lifeboats first. Many passengers appeared calm, while some refused to be separated from their families.
I shouted, “Women and children, come here! But I couldn’t find many women or children who were willing to leave their loved ones behind and step into the lifeboats alone.
As long as I live, I will never forget that night,” recalls Reiterer.
After the first lifeboat was launched, I said to a woman on deck named Straw: Can you come with me to that lifeboat?
I didn’t expect her to shake her head: No, I think it’s better to stay on the boat.
Her husband asked: Why don’t you want to get into the lifeboat?
The woman actually smiled and replied: No, I’d rather stay with you.
After that, I never saw this couple again ……
02
The world’s richest man at the Time – Astor IV after sending his wife, who was five months pregnant, on board lifeboat No. 4, stood on the deck with his dog, lit a cigar smoke, and gave a final shout to the dinghy rowing into the distance: I love you!
A mate had ordered him aboard, which he angrily refused: I like the original saying (protect the weak)! Then, giving up the only seat to an Irish woman in the third class.
Pictures
A few days later, in the morning light of the North Atlantic dawn, the salvage crew found him, head smashed by a chimney.
His assets could have built a dozen Titanic ships, yet Astor refused all justification for being able to escape.
Fighting to defend his character was the only choice of a great man.
03
Guggenheim, the famous banking magnate, put on the most magnificent evening dress: I have to die decent, like a gentleman.
The note he left for his wife read: This ship will not have any woman left on deck because I took the lifeboat’s place.
I will not die like a brute, I will die like a real man.
Pictures
Strauss is the second richest man in the world and the founder of Macy’s department store in the United States.
No matter what methods he used, his wife Rosalie always refused to go on board lifeboat eight, she said: How many years, where you go I go, I will accompany you to wherever you want to go.
The number eight boat lifeguard proposed to Mr. Strauss, who was 67 years old: I guarantee that no one will object to an old gentleman like you getting into a small boat.
Strauss replied firmly: I would never get into a lifeboat before another man.
Then taking the arm of 63-year-old Rosalie, the elderly couple hobbled to a wicker chair on deck and sat down, waiting for the final moments.
Photos
A monument to the Strausses stands in the Bronx in New York City, inscribed with the words: A love that no more and no more waters can drown.
More than 60,000 people attended the “Strauss Memorial Gala” at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan that year.
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04
A French businessman named Nahuatlé put his two children into a lifeboat and entrusted some women to take care of them, but refused to go on board himself.
After the two sons were rescued, newspapers around the world published pictures of the two children until their mother recognized them from the pictures, but the children lost their father forever.
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The newlywed Lydia Paz, who was on her honeymoon with her husband in the United States, held on to her husband for dear Life and refused to escape alone.
Since then, she has never remarried, in memory of her late husband.
Photos
At a gathering of survivors in Lausanne, Switzerland, Mrs. Smith remembered an unnamed mother fondly.
“At that time my two children were carried on the lifeboat, due to overload I could not sit on it, a lady who was already on the lifeboat got up and left her seat, pushed me into the lifeboat shouted to me: go up, the child can not be without a mother!”
This great woman did not leave a name, and later erected a monument for her nameless mother.
05
Among those who died were the billionaire Ashtead, veteran newspaper man Steed, artillery major Barth, and famous engineer Roble.
They gave up their places in the lifeboats to the penniless peasant women.
Pictures
More than 50 senior officers on board the Titanic, all of whom died in battle at their posts, except for Second Officer Lighter, who survived to command the lifeboats.
At 2 a.m., telegraph operator No. 1 John Phillip received the captain’s order to abandon ship and escape, but he still sat in the transmitter’s room, maintaining the posture of constantly shooting and sending “sos” until the last moment.
As the stern of the ship began to sink, I heard people shouting to each other at that last moment, the last moment of life and death, “I love you! I love you!
It, in explaining to each one of us the greatness of love! And most of all: I want you to know how much I love you!
Pictures
There are also rare exceptions: Masafumi Hosono, a deputy counsellor at The Japanese Railway Institute, dressed as a man and climbed aboard lifeboat No. 10 full of women and children to escape.
When he returned to Japan, he was immediately dismissed from his post, and he was publicly censured by all Japanese newspapers by name, and he died after 10 years of repentance and shame.
06
At the Titanic memorial rally in 1912, the White Star Line told the press that there was no so-called “rule of the sea” that required men to make such a sacrifice, and that what they did could only be described as a kind of care for the weak by the strong, and that it was their personal choice.
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The author of “Never Sink”, Denny Alan Butler, exclaims: This is because they were born to be taught that responsibility is more important than anything else!
In the face of disaster, they have the responsibility of guarding the weak, they have the responsibility of the strong, they are persistent and fearless for others in exchange for the hope of survival, with their own lives for others to build a bridge to the other side.
The years have passed in a hurry, and a hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye!
Looking back, we find that the “Titanic” indeed “never sank”, because the 1502 victims used the light of their humanity to light the way for the living people, and their spirit will also be in the river of the years to chop the waves to accompany us all the way forward!
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