* E V E R Y M A N F O R H I M S E L F *
2:05 am - All lifeboats were gone except for two collapsible Lifeboats stowed on top of the officer's quarters. The rockets had silenced, with Quartermaster Rowe a few yards off in command of Collapsible Lifeboat C. Still, the Titanic's lights shown brightly and the band continued to play lively ragtime music. On top of the officer's quarters on the Starboard side First officer Murdoch had gathered a group of men to help attempt to get Collapsible Lifeboat A to the boat deck below.
Men try to clear Boat B from the roof of the officer's quarters
On the Port side of the boat deck, Second officer Lightoller had also gathered a group of men to help release Collapsible Lifeboat B from the officer's quarters. Both groups of men tried using oars to slide the boats to the deck, but the attempts were futile in both cases. Lifeboat B landed upside down and Lifeboat A landed hard on the deck.
As men clambered to get Boat A attached to the falls, Captain Smith proceeded to the Wireless office on the Starboard side. Here, he entered the small room and found the two wireless officers still hard at work trying to get a hold of any vessel that could still help the quickly sinking Titanic. The Olympic was over 500 miles away, the Frankfurt kept asking for more details, and the Carpathia was coming as fast as they could but were still a long distance away. Captain Smith now released the two men from their duties and told them to abandon their cabins. Bride watched as Phillips continued to work even after Captain Smith had left.
Left: John Phillips Right: Harold Bride
"Then came the Captain's voice: 'Men you have done your full duty. You can do no more. Abandon your cabin. Now it's every man for himself. You look out for yourselves. I release you. That's the way of it at this kind of time. Every man for himself.' I looked out. The boat deck was awash[sic]. Phillips clung on sending and sending. He clung on about ten minutes, or maybe fifteen minutes, after the Captain had released him.[sic]"
The Mysteries of the last 20 minutes of the Titanic's sinking are numerous. One of the biggest mysteries lies in the orchestra's last song. Some survivors claimed that they heard different songs, but the mostly highly believable of them is the song "Autumn" and the British hymn "Nearer My God to Thee." Colonel Archibald Gracie happened to be standing near by and disagreed with the theory of the song being "Nearer My God to Thee".
"If, as has been reported, 'Nearer My God to Thee' was one of the selections, I assuredly should have noticed it and regarded it as a tactless warning of immediate death to us all and one likely to create panic that our special efforts were directed towards avoiding, and which we accomplished to the fullest extent."
But Wallace Hartly, the orchestra's leader, was quoted as saying that if he were to be needed to play on a sinking ship with no hope of survival, he would probably play "Nearer My God to Thee" as his last song. Due to it being his favorite song and already chosen to be played at his funeral. If this is so, he most likely played the British Version of the song [as there is also an American version heard in the 1997 film "Titanic"] and would provide for why Colonel Gracie did not hear it. Gracie was American and would have been more familiar with that version of the song.
The orchestra plays their last song
The men continued to work on clearing the two last remaining lifeboats. Sometime during these last few moments a man supposedly shot himself. As to who the man was is a mystery as well. Many survivors told of this supposed suicide, but no bodies were found with gun wounds and no names have surfaced with definite proof. As Lightoller toiled away at the Starboard side of the forward boat deck, he noticed Captain Smith walk onto the bridge. This was the last time Lightoller ever saw the man.
"I merely recognized a glimpse. I have a slight recollection of having seen him whilst I was walking. It is my recollection that I saw him crossing the bridge. I think that was the last..."
In the First class smoking room on A-deck, shipbuilder Thomas Andrews was last seen staring blankly at a painting of Plymouth Harbor. Earlier in the evening the room had been alive with the talk of men with dreams of prosperity. Now only a few groups of card players was left. Andrews would not respond to anyone's attempts to get him to save himself, and simply had his life belt strewn over a chair. Three years of his life and love was sinking beneath his feet and he apparently went into a state of semi-shock.
At around 2:15 am the forward section of the boat deck went under. The men attempting to launch collapsible lifeboat A now dealt with a problem. The boat had been hooked to the davits of lifeboat number 1 and it was now floating away from the ship still attached. There were quite a few people in the boat and panic grew again. Saloon Steward Edward Brown and another man jumped into the boat and cut the falls. As the boat floated away, a wave crashed into it and knocked many of it's occupants out, and swamped the boat. Second officer Lightoller looked over to the Starboard side and there he saw First officer Murdoch struggling with the falls to boat A. It was also the last time he would ever see the man.
Boat A is swamped by a giant wave
As the bridge dipped under, Second officer Lightoller was sucked against a ventilator and plunged beneath the surface with it. He struggled for some time before being pushed out away from it by an up-blast of air. He swam away but was sucked under again. After getting away for a second time, he surfaced and found a rope leading to Collapsible Lifeboat B. Before he could make it to the boat, however, the forward expansion joint on the boat deck collapsed and the guy-wires to the forward funnel snapped. The funnel fell, crushing many in the water and missing Lightoller by mere inches.
Harold Bride and John Phillips had stayed in the wireless room a short time longer after being released by Captain Smith. Bride had stepped into the bunk-room which was adjacent to the wireless room and connected by a curtain. When he came back, he noticed a sailor had come into the office and was carefully lifting the life jacket off the back of Phillips. Phillips, so engrossed in his work even to t he last, did not notice this man until Bride hollered. Bride grabbed the man from the back, and Phillips punched him until he fell to the ground unconscious. The two men left their cabin and ran in opposite directions. Bride headed for the men struggling with Collapsible B, while Phillips headed astern. Now, as boat B washed off the deck of Titanic, Bride went with it and found himself underneath the boat while men attempted to clamber onto the keel of the boat above him.
"The big wave carried the boat off. I had hold of an oarlock, and I went off with it. The next I knew I was in the boat. But that is not all. I was in the boat and the boat was upside down and I was under it."
Colonel Gracie had been standing near the men at boat B with his friend First Class passenger Clinch Smith. The two of them decided it would be a better idea to head for the stern, but a mass of people blocked their way. Gracie was then hit by the wave washing up the deck and found himself set atop the officer's quarters. He never saw Clinch Smith again. This was not the end of his ordeal though. He then was caught in a whirlpool, carried down under the water, and had to swim away to get to lifeboat B, his salvation.
Boat B is washed away from the Titanic by the forward funnel
"I pulled myself over on the roof on my stomach, but before I could get to my feet I was in a whirlpool of water, swirling round and round, as I still tried to cling to the railing as the ship plunged to the depths below. When under water I retained, as it appears, a sense of general direction, and, as soon as I could do so, swam away from the starboard side of the ship, as I knew my life depended upon it."