Edward John Buley
27 years old, Able Body Seaman
United States Senate Inquiry, Day 7
About an hour after the ship disappeared,
Officer Lowe rounded up several of the dinghies adrift at sea.
Ours carried thirty-five women, children, and men.
Lowe ordered us to tether our vessels together.
In the middle of the North Atlantic,
a cluster of small boats would be easier to spot by a rescue ship.
The officer distributed all of his passengers into the other four skiffs,
making room in Lifeboat No. 14 for more survivors.
I volunteered to go back with him to where the ship sank.
There were a great many bodies floating among the wreckage.
Turning several over we hoped they were still alive.
We pulled four living from the icy water, but two of them died.
Shock or exposure, I suppose.
The rest of the people we checked in the water were dead.
It was the strangest thing.
It appeared as though none of them had drowned at all.
They were all wearing their lifebelts.
Shoulders out of the water.
Heads laid back.
Haunting stares.
As if they were frozen somewhere in time—
27 years old, Able Body Seaman
United States Senate Inquiry, Day 7
About an hour after the ship disappeared,
Officer Lowe rounded up several of the dinghies adrift at sea.
Ours carried thirty-five women, children, and men.
Lowe ordered us to tether our vessels together.
In the middle of the North Atlantic,
a cluster of small boats would be easier to spot by a rescue ship.
The officer distributed all of his passengers into the other four skiffs,
making room in Lifeboat No. 14 for more survivors.
I volunteered to go back with him to where the ship sank.
There were a great many bodies floating among the wreckage.
Turning several over we hoped they were still alive.
We pulled four living from the icy water, but two of them died.
Shock or exposure, I suppose.
The rest of the people we checked in the water were dead.
It was the strangest thing.
It appeared as though none of them had drowned at all.
They were all wearing their lifebelts.
Shoulders out of the water.
Heads laid back.
Haunting stares.
As if they were frozen somewhere in time—
