Faces of the Titanic: Daniel Buckley was saved after a woman hid him in a lifeboat

Woman threw her cloak of the 21-year-old as other men were turned away from the boats

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Daniel Buckley survived the Titanic

Photo by Mercier Press

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When we got into the Carpathia we were treated very good. We got all kinds of
refreshments.

Did you feel a shock from the collision when the ship struck?

Yes, I did.

And did that wake you up?

It did. I did not feel any shock in the steamer; only just heard a noise. I heard a kind of a grating noise.

Did you get right out of bed?

Yes, I did.

When you got out, you got into the water? There was water in your compartment in the steerage?

Yes; water was there slightly. There was not very much.

How much?

The floor was only just getting wet. It was only coming in under the door very slightly.

You had two or three boys with you?

Yes; three boys that came from the same place in Ireland.

What became of those other three boys?

I cannot say. I did not see them any more after leaving the room where I parted from them.

They were lost?

Yes, they were lost.

Was there any effort made on the part of the officers or crew to hold the steerage passengers in the steerage?

I do not think so.

Were you permitted to go up to the top deck without any interference?

Yes, sir. They tried to keep us down at first on our steerage deck. They did not want us to go up to the First-Class place at all.

Who tried to do that?

I cannot say who they were. I think they were sailors.

What happened then? Did the steerage passengers try to get out?

Yes, they did. There was one steerage passenger there, and he was getting up the steps, and just as he was going in a little gate a fellow came along and chucked him down; threw him down into the steerage place. This fellow got excited, and he ran after him, and he could not find him. He got up over the little gate. He could not find him.

What gate do you mean?

A little gate just at the top of the stairs going up into the First-Class deck.

There was a gate between the steerage and the First-Class deck?

Yes. The First-Class deck was higher up than the steerage deck, and there were some steps leading up to it, 9 or 10 steps, and a gate just at the top of the steps.

Was the gate locked?

It was not locked at the time we made the attempt to get up there, but the sailor, or
whoever he was, locked it. So that this fellow who went up after him broke the lock on it, and he went after the fellow that threw him down. He said if he could get hold of him he would throw him into the ocean.

Did these passengers in the steerage have any opportunity at all of getting out?

Yes, they had.

What opportunity did they have?

I think they had as much chance as the First- and Second-Class passengers.

After this gate was broken?

Yes, because they were all mixed. All the steerage passengers went up on the First-Class deck at this time, when the gate was broken. They all got up there. They could not keep them down.

How much water was there in the steerage when you got out of the steerage?

There was only just a little bit. Just like you would throw a bucket of water on the floor; just very little, like that.

But it was coming in, was it?

Yes, it was only just commencing to come in. Then I went down the second time, to get one of the life preservers, there was a terrible lot of water there, in a very short time.

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