No. 1 boat was now being lowered on the port side; it was full of Japanese and Asiatics.  When it was flush with the deck the falls broke, the boat capsized, and with all its occupants it was thrown into the sea.  One or two, we afterwards heard, were drowned.  The passengers now went over to the starboard side, as apparently no more boats were being lowered from the port side, and we did not know whether the raider would start firing again.  The No. 1 starboard boat was being lowered; still there was no one to give orders.  The passengers themselves saw to it that the women got into this boat first, and helped them in, only the Second Steward standing by to help.  The women had to climb the rail and gangway which was lashed thereto, and the boat was so full of gear and tackle that at first it was quite impossible for any one to find a seat in the boat.  It was a difficult task for any woman to get into this boat, and everybody was in a great hurry, expecting the firing to recommence, or the ship to sink beneath us, or both; my wife fell in, and in so doing dropped her jewel-case out of her handbag into the bottom of the boat, and it was seen no more that day.  The husbands followed their wives into the boat, and several other men among the first-class passengers also clambered in.

Directly after the order to lower away was given, and before any one could settle in the boat, the stern falls broke, and for a second the boat hung from the bow falls vertically, the occupants hanging on to anything they could—­a dreadful moment, especially in view of what we had seen happen to the No. 1 port boat a few moments before.  Then, immediately afterwards, the bow falls broke, or were cut, the boat dropped into the water with a loud thud and a great splash, and righted itself.  We were still alongside the ship when another boat was being swung out and lowered immediately on to our heads.  We managed to push off just in time before the other boat, the falls of which also broke, reached the water.

Thus, there was no preparation made for accidents—­we might have been living in the times of profoundest peace for all the trouble that had been taken to see that everything was ready in case of accident.  Instead of which, nothing was ready—­not a very creditable state of affairs for a great steamship company in times such as these, when, thanks to the Huns’ ideas of sea chivalry, any ship may have to be abandoned at a moment’s notice.  Some passengers had asked for boat drill when the ship left Singapore, but were told there was no need for it, or for any similar preparations till after Cape Town, which, alas, never was reached.  Accordingly passengers had no places given to them in the boats; the boats were not ready, and confusion, instead of order, prevailed.  It was nothing short of a miracle that more people were not drowned.