The exact number of souls
on board I have forgotten. It might have been nearly three hundred,
certainly not more. The night was moonlit, but hazy, the weather fine
with a heavy swell running from the westward, which means that she must
have been rolling a great deal, and in that respect the conditions for
her were worse than in the case of the _Titanic_. Some time either just
before or just after midnight, to the best of my recollection, she was
run into amidships and at right angles by a large steamer which after the
blow backed out, and, herself apparently damaged, remained motionless at
some distance.
My recollection is that the _Douro_ remained afloat after the collision
for fifteen minutes or thereabouts. It might have been twenty, but
certainly something under the half-hour. In that time the boats were
lowered, all the passengers put into them, and the lot shoved off. There
was no time to do anything more. All the crew of the _Douro_ went down
with her, literally without a murmur. When she went she plunged bodily
down like a stone. The only members of the ship's company who survived
were the third officer, who was from the first ordered to take charge of
the boats, and the seamen told off to man them, two in each.
Pages:
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325