United States Senate Inquiry

Day 11

Testimony of Charles E. Stengel

Senator SMITH.
What is your full name?

Mr. STENGEL.
C. E. Henry Stengel.

Senator SMITH.
Where do you reside?

Mr. STENGEL.
Newark, N. J.

Senator SMITH.
What is your business?

Mr. STENGEL.
Leather manufacturer.

Senator SMITH.
Were you a passenger on board the Titanic on the ill-fated voyage from Southampton to the place of the accident?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir.

Senator SMITH.
While you were on that voyage did you familiarize yourself with the speed of the Titanic?

Mr. STENGEL.
I did, the last day; particularly the last day, I did.

Senator SMITH.
Particularly the day of the accident?

Mr. STENGEL.
The day of the accident; that is, from Saturday noon to Sunday noon.

Senator SMITH.
Will you kindly tell the committee how you familiarized yourself with the speed, and what the speed was when you last informed yourself about it?

Mr. STENGEL.
As is usual in these voyages, there were pools made to bet on the speed that the boat would make, and at 12 o'clock, after the whistle blew, the people who had bet went to the smoking room, and came out and reported she had made 546 knots. I figured then that at 24 hours to a day we made 22 3/4 knots; but I was told I was mistaken; that I should have figured 25 hours.

Senator SMITH.
Twenty-five hours for the day?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, on account of the elapsed time, I believe, which made it almost 22 knots an hour. At the same time a report came - this was the report that came from the engine room - that the engines were turning three revolutions faster than at any time on the voyage.

Senator SMITH.
What time was that on Sunday?

Mr. STENGEL.
I should say about between 1 and 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon.

Senator SMITH.
Did you have occasion to consult with anyone as to, or did you familiarize yourself with, the speed of the ship after that time?

Mr. STENGEL.
Not after that time, any more than I called my wife's attention to the fact that the engines were running very fast. That was when I retired, about 10 o'clock. I could hear the engines running when I retired, and I noticed that the engines were running fast. I said I noticed that they were running faster than at any other time during the trip.

Senator SMITH.
How could you tell that?

Mr. STENGEL.
Just through being familiar with engines in the manufacturing business. We have bought a great many engines in 28 or 29 years, and we generally take the speed of the engine. We want to buy an engine that will run a certain speed to do a certain amount of work. It was just natural instinct that was all.

Senator SMITH.
Where were you when the accident happened?

Mr. STENGEL.
I had retired. My wife called me. I was moaning in my sleep. My wife called me, and says, "Wake up; you are dreaming;" and I was dreaming, and as I woke up I heard a slight crash. I paid no attention to it until I heard the engines stop. When the engines stopped I said, "There is something serious; there is something wrong. We had better go up on deck." I just put on what clothes I could grab, and my wife put on her kimono, and we went up to the top deck and walked around there. There were not many people around there. That was where the lifeboats were. We came down to the next deck, and the captain came up. I supposed he had come up from investigating the damage. He had a very serious and a very grave face. I then said to my wife, "This is a very serious matter, I believe." I think Mr. Widener and his wife - I think it was Mr. Widener - followed the captain up the stairs, and they returned, and I presume they went to their staterooms. Shortly after that the orders were given to have the passengers all put on life preservers. I went back to my stateroom and put a life preserver on my wife, and then she tied mine on. We went back up to the top deck. Then I heard the orders given to put all the women and children in the boats and have them go off about 200 yards from the vessel.

Senator SMITH.
Who gave that order?

Mr. STENGEL.
It seemed to me an officer. Of course I was a little bit agitated, and I heard them and I did not look particularly to see who it was. While they were loading the lifeboats, the officers or men who had charge of loading the lifeboats said, "There is no danger; this is simply a matter of precaution." After my wife was put in a lifeboat she wanted me to come with them, and they said, "No; nothing but ladies and children." After the five boats, I think it was, or the boats as far as I could see on the starboard side, were loaded, I turned toward the bow. I do not know what led me there, but there was a small boat that they called an emergency boat, in which there were three people, Sir Duff Gordon and his wife and Miss Francatelli. I asked the officer - I could not see them, it was so dark, and I presume I was agitated somewhat - I asked him if I could not get into that boat. There was no one else around, not a person I could see except the people working at the boats, and he said, "Jump in." The railing was rather high - it was an emergency boat and was always swung over toward the water - I jumped onto the railing and rolled into it. The officer then said, "That is the funniest sight I have seen tonight," and he laughed quite heartily. That rather gave me some encouragement. I thought perhaps it was not so dangerous as I imagined. After getting down part of the way there was a painter on the boat, and we were beginning to tip, and somebody hollered to stop lowering. Somebody cut that line and we went on down.

Senator SMITH.
Describe this rail if you can. Was it a guard?

Mr. STENGEL.
I do not know what they call it; a fence, like, on the side. The other lifeboats were all loaded from the floor. You could step right from the floor into the lifeboats.

Senator SMITH.
That was on the upper deck?

Mr. STENGEL.
That was on the boat deck; yes, sir; toward the bow.

Senator SMITH.
And this rail was at the outside of the boat deck?

Mr. STENGEL.
It was just at the edge of the deck, just to keep people from falling over.

Senator SMITH.
How high was it?

Mr. STENGEL.
I should judge it was about three feet and a half, or so.

Senator SMITH.
Was there any opening in it?

Mr. STENGEL.
No, sir.

Senator SMITH.
Persons entering that boat were obliged to go over that rail?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir.

Senator SMITH.
Did your wife go over that rail?

Mr. STENGEL.
No, sir; my wife was loaded three or four boats previous to that. We were up there quite early; that is, we were up there almost the first on the deck.

Senator SMITH.
When you got down to the water, what happened?

Mr. STENGEL.
Just as I jumped into the boat some one else, a man named A. L. Solomon [Saloman], appeared. I do not know where he appeared from, but he asked to get in and jumped in the boat with us. There were five passengers and, I understand, three stokers and two seamen; that is, five of the crew.

Senator SMITH.
How many women?

Mr. STENGEL.
There were two ladies - Sir Duff Gordon's wife and Miss Francatelli - in that boat. There was no one else in sight at that time.

Senator SMITH.
And there were no other occupants of that boat?

Mr. STENGEL.
Not of the passengers. At that time, when they were getting ready to lower, then I jumped in, and Mr. Solomon did also.

Senator SMITH.
You had five passengers. Does that include you and Mr. Solomon?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir.

Senator SMITH.
You had three stokers?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir.

Senator SMITH.
Three seamen and two women?

Mr. STENGEL.
No; three stokers and two seamen.

Senator SMITH.
Two seamen and two women?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir.

Senator SMITH.
That is, 12 people all told?

Mr. STENGEL.
No; 10 all together.

Senator SMITH.
Your five passengers included the two women?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir; the five passengers included the two women.

Senator SMITH.
Did any others of the passengers or crew board that boat?

Mr. STENGEL.
Besides the 10 that I say were on it?

Senator SMITH.
Yes.

Mr. STENGEL.
No, sir.

Senator SMITH.
Who was in charge of that boat?

Mr. STENGEL.
I do not know. As I said, there were two seamen, one at the bow and one at the rudder at the stern, and the other three were rowing, with myself, as I was rowing with one of the stokers.

Senator SMITH.
Do you know who gave directions?

Mr. STENGEL.
I think between Sir Duff Gordon and myself we decided which way to go. We followed a light that was to the bow of the boat, which looked like in the winter, in the dead of winter, when the windows are frosted with a light coming through them. It was in a haze. Most of the boats rowed toward that light, and after the green lights began to burn I suggested it was better to turn around and go toward the green lights, because I presumed there was an officer of the ship in that boat, and he evidently knew his business.

Senator SMITH.
That was evidently from another lifeboat?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir; it was from another lifeboat.

Senator SMITH.
Did you go toward it?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir; we did.

Senator SMITH.
Did you reach its side?

Mr. STENGEL.
We did not reach its side. It was toward morning that we turned, and by that time another man and myself thought we saw rockets - one rocket; that is, a rocket explode - and I said, "I think I saw a rocket," and another one said, "I think I saw a rocket," and one of the stokers, I think it was, said, "I see two lights. I believe that is a vessel." Then, after that, when another green light was burned, there was a flash light from a boat, and I said, "Now, I am pretty positive that is a boat, because that is an answer to the green signal," and one of the stokers said, "The green light is the company's color," I understood him to say. That is what he said. Whether he was right or not, I do not know. When we saw that flashlight, it was like powder was set off. I said, "Now, let us give it to her and let us steer in between the green light - where we saw the green light - and that boat," and that being a very light boat we left the other boats quite a way behind. I felt somewhat enthused to see the boat, and I began to jolly them along to pull. I said, "Keep pulling." We kept pulling, and I thought we were the first boat aboard; but I found that the boat that had the green lights burning was ahead of us. We were the second boat aboard.

Senator SMITH.
What was the number of this emergency boat?

Mr. STENGEL.
I do not know, sir; I did not look at that.

Senator SMITH.
How far out from the side of the upper deck did that boat hang when you got into it?

Mr. STENGEL.
It was right up against the side. If it had not been I would have gone down into the water, because I rolled. I did not step into it; I just simply rolled.

Senator SMITH.
There was no difficulty in entering it when you got over this rail?

Mr. STENGEL.
No. There was a partition of canvas or something or other like that to keep it from scraping the sides.

Senator SMITH.
Did you see icebergs the next morning?

Mr. STENGEL.
I guess you could. They were all around. You could see them. As soon as we landed down into the water, as soon as we were afloat, you could see icebergs all around, because we thought they were sailing vessels at first, and began pulling this way, and then turning around and going the other way. They were in sight all along the horizon.

Senator SMITH.
Were you menaced in any way, after you got into the water in this emergency boat, by ice?

Mr. STENGEL.
No, sir.

Senator SMITH.
How far away was it from you, apparently?

Mr. STENGEL.
It was quite a ways, but you could see the outline in the dusk.

Senator SMITH.
Describe these icebergs. How large were they?

Mr. STENGEL.
There was one of them, particularly, that I noticed, a very large one, which looked something like the Rock of Gibraltar; it was high at one point, and another point came up at the other end, about the same shape as the rock of Gibraltar.

Senator SMITH.
How did it compare with size of the Titanic?

Mr. STENGEL.
I was a good ways off. It was not quite as large as the Titanic but it was an enormous, large iceberg.

Senator SMITH.
Can you approximate its height from the water?

Mr. STENGEL.
Of course I might. At such a distance I should judge it was 250 feet high at the highest point.

Senator SMITH.
Where was the field ice - back of these icebergs or to the east of them?

Mr. STENGEL.
The field ice I did not see much of until we got aboard the Carpathia. Then there was a floe there that I should think was about 5 miles long, and I should say it would take 20 minutes by the Carpathia to get by that field ice. It was ice all covered with snow.

Senator SMITH.
How high above the water?

Mr. STENGEL.
Not very high above the water.

Senator SMITH.
Five or ten feet, or something like that?

Mr. STENGEL.
I should judge not over 2 feet; 2 or 3 feet.

Senator SMITH.
Do you think of anything more you care to say in addition to what you have already said that might throw any light on the subject of this inquiry?

Mr. STENGEL.
No. There is only one thing that I would like to say and that is that evidently, when they struck the iceberg, the ice came on the deck, and there was one of the passengers had a handful of ice when we were up there, and showed it. Another passenger said that the ice came into his porthole. His porthole was open.

Senator SMITH.
How long after the impact was it before the engines were stopped?

Mr. STENGEL.
A very few minutes.

Senator SMITH.
Give the number of minutes, if you can. You are accustomed to machinery and matters of this kind.

Mr. STENGEL.
I should say two or three minutes, and then they started again just slightly; just started to move again. I do not know why; whether they were backing off, or not. I do not know. I hardly thought they were backing off, because there was not much vibration of the ship.

Senator SMITH.
Did you hear or see anyone arousing passengers from their rooms after the impact?

Mr. STENGEL.
I heard the order given to the stewards to arouse the passengers, and afterwards I heard somebody remark, " Did you ever see such actions," or some remark like that - "Did you ever see such actions as the stewards are showing." It seems they were not arousing the people.

Senator BURTON.
They were not, do you say?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir. There was a remark made like that, "Did you ever see such actions of the stewards," or some remark like that, indicating they were not doing their duty.

Senator SMITH.
What is your judgment about it?

Mr. STENGEL.
My judgment about the officers is that when they were loading I think they were cool. I think so far as the loading of the boats after the accident was concerned, sir, they showed very good judgment. I think they were very cool. They calmed the passengers by making them believe it was not a serious accident. In fact, most of them, after they got on board the Carpathia, said they expected to go back the next day and get aboard the Titanic again. I heard that explained afterwards by an officer of the ship, when he said, "Suppose we had reported the damage that was done to that vessel; there would not be one of you aboard. The stewards would have come up" - not the stewards, but the stokers - "would have come up and taken every boat, and no one would have had a chance of getting aboard of those boats."

Senator SMITH.
Did you see any man attempt to enter these lifeboats who was forbidden to do so?

Mr. STENGEL.
I saw two, a certain physician in New York and his brother, jump into the same boat my wife was in. Then the officer or the man that was loading the boat, said "I will stop that. I will go down and get my gun." He left the deck momentarily and came right back again. Afterwards I heard about five shots; that is while we were afloat. Four of them I can account for in this way, that when the green lights were lit on the boat they were lashed to my wife's boat - the man shot off a revolver four times, thinking it was a vessel. The man in charge said, "You had better save all your revolver shots, you had better save all your matches, and save everything. It may be the means of saving your life." After that I heard another shot that seemed to be aboard the Titanic. It was explained to me afterwards that that was the time that one of the men shot off his revolver - that is, the mate or whoever had charge of the boat shot off his revolver - to show the men that his revolver was loaded and he would do what he said; that any man who would step into the lifeboat he would shoot.

Senator SMITH.
But you saw no attempt by a man to enter a lifeboat, except in the manner you have described?

Mr. STENGEL.
No, sir; I saw no attempt of anyone to get into the lifeboats except those two gentlemen that jumped in the boat after the boat was lowered; that is, started to lower.

Senator SMITH.
With reference to communication with shore or ship wireless stations after you got aboard the Carpathia, is there anything you can say about that; whether there was any notice published or any directions given as to the manner in which the wireless stations aboard the Carpathia should be operated?

Mr. STENGEL.
Yes, sir; there was on the bulletin board one telegram which said that they would like to have information of the Titanic, and "Ask the captain to send it via the Navy," or they gave the name of the land station - to telegraph it that way; to get permission from the captain to send it that way.

There was another quite large bulletin posted by the captain which said there had been rumors aboard brought to him that the press was using the wires, and the captain made it very emphatic, and said, "I wish to state emphatically that there have not been but 20 words sent to the press," and that the wires were at the service of the survivors of the Titanic.

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