Capt. Charles “Iceberg Charlie” Bartlett
At 8.35 a.m. Bartlett gave the order to abandon ship. Britannic’s last usable lifeboats were lowered. Bartlett then sounded the ship’s whistle a final time. Britannic continued sinking. Soon, the bridge was submerged and Bartlett simply stepped into the sea.
Britannic keeled over and sank at 9.07 a.m, leaving behind 35 lifeboats and hundreds of people frantically swimming in the water.
At 10.00 a.m. the Scourge arrived and began to pick up survivors. She was soon joined by Heroic and other rescue vessels.
The final toll: 1,036 people were saved; 30 died.
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