They did not know the day or the hour :: our three Heroic Catholic Priests did not know that on Sunday the
14th April, 1912 they had celebrated their last Holy Masses.
 |
"Every Mass as if it is your first....
Every Mass as if it is your last.." |
WARNINGS
At 9.00 a.m. the CARONIA, headed in the opposite direction, informed
TITANIC of "bergs, growlers and field ice"ahead. And at 20 minutes to
12.00 the NOORDAM advises "much ice"in the same position. At 18 Minutes
to 2.00 pm the BALTIC signals icebergs and field ice 250 miles ahead.
Three minutes later the German AMERIKA reports passing 2 large
icebergs.At 7.30pm the CALIFORNIAN reports 3 large icebergs sighted -
this message is NOT posted in TITANIC or passed to Captain Smith.At 9.30
pm MESABA reports heavy pack ice and large icebergs encountered.
ON WATCH
At 10.00pm the Watches are relieved. First Officer Mr. Murdoch relieves
Second Officer Mr, Lightoller on the Bridge. And Frederick Fleet and
Reginald Lee take up their duty as Forward Lookouts instructed to watch
for small ice and growlers.They will be witnesses to History.
1 Hour and 39 minutes later they see the Iceberg. Three times they ring
the Bridge warning bell and telephone "Iceberg , right ahead!
REACTION
"The response is electrifying for the crew : First Officer Murdoch
orders down the voice pipe to the Engineroom "All engines Stop"as the
bells of the Engineroom Telegraph are repeating the message, this is
quickly followed by "Full Astern", but the great piston engines and the
centre shaft turbine cannot just switch on and off. It takes time for
the great pistons to stop turning the crankshafts, before the engines
can be reversed, and the turbine driving the centre propeller cannot be
reversed - turbines being what they are.
At the same time Mr . Murdoch
has roared at the Helmsman : "Hard a'Starboard!"because he wants the
ship to turn to Port away from the Iceberg now seen on the Starboard
side of the bow. Now this may sound very odd, but in TITANIC'S day ( but
not for long afterwards) this had always been the case since the days
of sail. For in those sailing days the rudder worked in just that way as
it had when earlier ships were steered by long oar- like rudders- to go
to Port you leant on or pushed it right and vice versa.. Sailors being
great Traditionalists did not change the traditional orders even when
the steering mechanisms changed.
37 Seconds after the warning to the Bridge, the 60feet tall Iceberg
struck TITANIC abaft the Starboard bow and, it was later discovered,
slit her open below the water line across several water tight
compartments. Ice sprays across the deck. The great ship gives a slight
tremble but continues ahead. Not for long. Captain Smith has been
stirred from his sea cabin and orders all engines stopped. He orders an
immediate assessment of the damage, if any. Mr.Andrews the Designer is
on hand to judge the results - to everyone's surprise he announces that
the ship cannot be saved. This is surprising because at this stage her
situation does not seem alarming at all. She is a little down by the
bows, but surely the pumps... He is polite but brutal in describing the
rate at which she is taking water and how the watertight compartment are
transverse only(there are none running fore and aft) and they do not
rise vertically through all decks, allowing water , once it fills one
compartment to flow over to fill the next and so on steadily pushing
TITANIC under the surface. In essence she had been designed to deal with
a head on collision but the slitting of her side had not been
envisioned at all.
At 12.05 am on Monday Morning the Captain orders the Lifeboats
uncovered.The White Star Line had reduced the number of Lifeboats
Mr.Andrews had provided for, to avoid cluttering the deck. As result ,
there were not nearly enough Lifeboats for all on board. At 12.10 am
Monday TITANIC sends out her first distress call by Morse Code : "CQD
MGY SOS". CQD Was the old international distress signal. MGY was
TITANIC 's identifying code and SOS was the recently introduced
international distress signal.
At 12.25pm "Women and Children "were ordered into the Lifeboats. Whilst
some deluded themselves into thinking this was a drill, for the majority
the terrible reality took hold.
BLESS ME FATHER..
Now our Heroic Catholic Priests could see what was happening they each
gathered to them their separate language groups and anyone who cared to
join them. They led them in prayer , a group one of the priests lead in
saying the Rosary was surrounded for a time by jeering anti-Catholic
passengers. They heard Confessions and as the numbers grew and the
situation became more desperate as the great vessel sank by the bows and
her stern commenced to rise, they gave general absolutions to all
penitents.They are each recorded in the numerous testimonies of
witnesses at Inquiries in England and in the United States as continuing
their ministry to the last and each refusing to accept a place in the
Lifeboats when it was pressed upon them. Each of the bodies of the three
Priests was never recovered, or if one or more was, it was
unidentifiable.There are hundreds of victims of the great ship's loss in
Heaven to-day, the 99th Anniversary of that terrible and truly tragic
event, because of the Holy and Heroic sacrifice of the three '" other
Christs ."
At 2.20 am the icy sea closed over the last of the stern of the sunken TITANIC.
Fathers Byles , Peruschitz and Montvila Pray for us to the Lord Our God to deliver His peopleall from harm.
