n they cut loose down there for joy. They were carried
away by ecstasy which welled out of their hearts, a joyous storm that
ran through our entire boat and up to me.

And over there?

Landlubber, steel thy heart!

A terrible drama was being enacted on the hard-hit sinking ship. It
listed and sank towards us.

From the tower I could observe all the decks. From all the hatches human
beings forced their way out, fighting despairingly. Russian firemen,
officers, sailors, soldiers, hostlers, the kitchen crew, all were
running and calling for the boats. Panic stricken, they thronged about
one another down the stairways, fighting for the lifeboats, and among
all were the rearing, snorting and kicking horses. The boats on the
starboard deck could not be put into service, as they could not be swung
clear because of the list of the careening steamer. All, therefore,
thronged to the boats on the port side, which, in the haste and anguish,
were lowered, some half empty; others overcrowded. Those who were left
aboard were wringing their hands in despair. They ran from bow to stern
and back again from stern to bow in their terror, and then finally
threw themselves into the sea in order to attempt to swim to the boats.

Then another explosion resounded, after which a hissing white wave of
steam streamed out of all the ports. The hot steam set the horses crazy,
and they were beside themselves with terror--I could see a splendid,
dapple-gray horse with a long tail make a great leap over the ship's
side and land in a lifeboat, already overcrowded--but after that I could
not endure the terrible spectacle any longer. Pulling down the
periscope, we submerged into the deep.

When, after some time, I came again to the surface there was nothing
more to be seen of the great, proud steamer. Among the wreckage and
corpses of the horses three boats were floating and occasionally fished
out a man still swimming in the sea. Now I came up on the surface in
order to assist the victims of the wrecked ship. When our boat's mighty,
whale-like hull suddenly arose out of the water, right in their midst, a
panic seized them again and quickly they grasped their oars in order to
try to flee. Not until I waved from the tower to them with my
handkerchief and cap did they rest on their oars and come over to us.
The state in which some of them were was exceedingly pitiful. Several
wore only white cotton trousers and had handkerchiefs wrapped around
their