[We are privileged to quote from a letter received from Capt. C. H. Lightoller, of London, England. An account of this writer's experience in the sinking of the "Titanic," while a Lieutenant in the British Navy, may be read in The Christian Science Journal for October, 1912, page 414.—Ed.]

My old ship has gone down, sunk by collision in the North Sea. This happened on a pretty dirty night and we were cut nearly in two—in fact within an hour of the collision the fore part broke off and floated away. I got everybody away into ships standing by, and with my first lieutenant and a gunner stuck by the remaining two thirds till that also sank five hours later. During that five hours— which I may say was more like five days—one had time to think, but sitting in a chair writing about it is not exactly the same as slowly sinking out in the open sea, with mighty little material help at hand. In fact it just seemed as if every material help would be deliberately withdrawn. My companion destroyer had to leave, our trawler fouled her propeller and drifted away helplessly, and of the remaining trawler, when we sank, all that was visible in the distance was her stern light. One boat was destroyed by the collision, and the remaining boat I had had to send away as the crew were played out. A Carley float (life raft) we had been towing astern had broken adrift and gone. My whaler that had been towing astern of the trawler which was supposed to be standing by us, had also broken adrift and gone. Early in the proceedings a man came to me with a life belt, but just somehow I did not want it.

One or two points stand out very clearly, points I made particular note of. One, I had no inclination to work,—mentally I mean of course,—in fact a distinct disinclination. The feeling, if I can express it, was one of saying to myself, "If I have done my work honestly, earnestly, and wholeheartedly in the past and up to the present, then I can and will stand pat and know it is done." That feeling came repeatedly,—in fact was dominant,—a kind of chin-up-in-the-air knowledge that I had worked conscientiously in the past and had the right to expect to see it through now. The feeling was quite clear, and to me quite understandable, though perhaps I express it badly; however, it was a big point to me.

Finally the ship, or what remained, sank and the three of us were deposited in the sea. Both lieutenant and gunner had patent life-saving coats on that you blow up. I had on a heavy rough overcoat, clothes, boots, etcetera, and my need was immediate and immediately met; for from all quarters came life buoys simply crowding toward me, and furthermore a cork fender, which is a large kind of grass bag stuffed with cork and capable of floating a number of men, used for putting between ships to prevent bumping. I was so crowded that my gunner swimming up cheerily hailed me and asked if I had a raft. I might here mention that he has been studying Science and Health for the past nine months. After about half an hour's swim we were picked up at quarter past two in the morning.

Now, another point, I was not cold in the water. After the three of us joined up and shared the life buoys, the first lieutenant complained bitterly of the cold—the gunner also complained. I was not cold and purposely mentioned it whilst swimming. This is a point with me because it was some twelve months after the "Titanic" foundering that I clearly realized I was not cold in the water on that occasion either—not after the first immersion, and not until picked up by the boats next morning when every one suggested how cold I must be, and of course was. The same thing happened on this occasion after I was hauled out, but not to the same extent and I quickly overcame the suggestion.

The gunner was on watch at the time of the accident, yet the finding of the court martial into the loss of the _______ exonerated me as commanding officer and him as officer of the watch, adding a rider warmly complimenting us both. This to the officer of watch is the greatest demonstration of all. Throughout I encouraged him to await results, and finally pointed out the results, and his last words to me were that he was going direct to the Christian Science reading rooms to obtain another copy of Science and Health. He knows just as well as I know that we both have to thank our understanding of Christian Science.