An account from Titanic survivor Eino William Lindqvist

From  Monessen, Pennsylvania

Contemporary illustration launched by White Star Line advertising the Third Class facilities on board the new largest steamers in the World: Olympic and Titanic. This postcard depict the Third Class smoke room aboard the both ships. White Star Line, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“Thrilling Story of Battle for Life Graphically Told, The Account Related From the Lips of Survivors Discloses New Phases of Catastrophe”

The Valley Independent, Monessen, Pennsylvania

April 23, 1912

“For the past few days papers all over the country have been full of personal accounts gleaned from the lips of the survivors of the Titanic themselves, and it will no doubt be of great interest to our readers to glance over the following account of the thrilling rescue of five who reside here. 

“Eino Lindquist, aged about 25 years, had the most thrilling story to relate and his account is as follows: ‘I was a passenger in the third cabin and had been in bed about 2 hours when my roommate and I were awakened by people running to and fro on the deck. We hurriedly dressed ourselves and put on our heaviest clothes and our overcoats, the night being very damp and cold. Going out on the deck we saw the sailors lowering the lifeboats away, filled with women, with men at each end and in the middle to guide and row. My friend, Jussila, was called upon to help row one of the boats and I was left alone on the deck. Not realizing the extreme danger I was in at the time, I wandered around for about half an hour and came upon Mr. Hakerinen who had just aided in putting his bride of three months into one of the boats. Together we watched until the last boat put off and saw many of the men who had been left on board make a vain effort to find a place on it but they were clubbed by sailors in charge and some fell to a watery grave before the ship took its final plunge. 

"'It was not long after the last boat had left that we began to realize the situation and then we began to look around for some avenue of escape when suddenly with a deafening sound the boilers blew up, the ship gave one final heave and sank slowly. Many of the men were crying pitifully and the wild chant of their wails could be heard above the lashings of the sea and grinding crunch of the already splintering hull. The band was not playing when the ship sank or else I did not hear it but I did hear the pianos in the first and second cabins. Being on the third deck our section reached the level of the sea before that of the first and second cabins and the waves washed Mr. Hakkarainen and I into the ocean and the last words he said were, “Good Bye.” Being a fairly good swimmer I exerted myself to the utmost and was able to reach the last lifeboat which was about 200 yards from where the ship went down and was taken on board. 

“‘We were picked up by the Carpathia about 4 hours later and our journey the rest of the way was harrowing in the extreme. Only 20 of our entire party had been saved, the remaining 45 having remained on board the doomed ship. We were not treated any too well on board the Carpathia although this was probably due in a great measure to the circumstances.’ Mr. Lindquist closed by stating that ‘I never wish to undergo the same experience again.’ 

“The remaining survivors who reached here yesterday morning have equally as tragic stories to relate. The women were eyewitnesses to the final plunge of the great ocean greyhound and while the water was slowly but surely stretching out over the lower decks and drawing it into the sea prow first, all sounds ceased, men who seemed only as large as little ants were kneeling with uplifted faces, some leaped into the sea, others rushed wildly about and with a final lurch the largest ship ever afloat sank. Nothing remained to relieve the intense blackness of the night but see stars twinkling overhead. The dull glow of the iceberg shone where the ship had been and its mocking shadow, smiling in its awful triumph, over the queen of the ocean was ghastly and faces were averted while the boats once more started away to be picked up later by the Carpathia. 

"Every member of the party are exceedingly nervous after their experiences and when describing the affair can only relate the circumstances brokenly so awful was the impression left. The survivors here are Mrs. Ellen Hakkarainen, Mrs. Mathew Hirvonen and daughter Hilda, Eric Jussila and Eino Lindquist. Mr. Harrarainen is among the 1, 600 odd victims who have been given up. He is only one of the party bound for this place who is still missing."

Further reading: 

Biography of Eino William Lindqvist https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/eino-william-lindqvist.html

Find a grave site with pictures of Eino William Lindqvist and his grave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88589665/eino_william-lindqvist