Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/107

 heard the bell ring to stop her. A minute afterwards I heard the bell ring for full speed astern, but at first thought it was merely stopping because the bearings were heated, which is often the case. However, to satisfy myself I leisurely got up and walking out found the purser and a passenger quietly smoking their pipes, and I concluded that all was right.

"However, I walked over to the foot of the stairs on the starboard side leading to the hurricane deckwhen like an avalanche there tumbled down the stairs from the quarter-deck about twenty passengers and stewards. I was knocked down and 'a ship on top of us' was shouted out. I rose and with a number of others made along the starboard side of the ait of the quarter-deck. Again I was knocked down, and on looking up I saw a horrible black mass above my head. I rose again and scrambled out of the way. The confusion and consternation about me were awful for a few minutes, and when the horrible unusually large red light drifted away there was some relief. All men, women, and children, to the number of 150, crowded to the after part of the deck and we expected our vessel to go down. My wife called for her little children, and you may imagine my horror when I pictured their being crushed to death, as I knew they were in bed apparently about the spot where the ship ran into us. I tried to descend the companion ladder into the saloon and found the refreshment bar shattered and a gaping hole in the side of the ship. The iceman, a native, was lying with an immense block of iron on his leg. On entering the saloon I found our nurse with the youngest baby in her arms all safe, and in the cabin I found our three little boys, Jack, Reggie, and Bertie, sound asleep, not even awakened by the awful crash a little above them, It was a great relief to hurry back on deck and tell my little wife that our children were safe.

"Passengers hurriedly compared notes and many