Luke Hoyt's Eye-Witness Account of the Rescue of the Titanic's Passengers.

This is a letter from a passenger on the ocean liner "Carpathia". It is about the Carpathia picking up Titanic's survivor's the morning after the sinking.

Letter from Passenger Luke Hoyt
Mid-Ocean, April 24,1912
Dear Bird:
In the Providence of God it has come to Emma and myself to be of assistance to our fellow men and women in the greatest "Tragedy of the Seas" and Bird it was a tragedy.
The horror of it all was appalling. Monday morning April 15 about four o'clock Emma awoke me and said the boat had stopped and that there was considerable moving about. I put my head out the cabin door and was told by a steward that "the White Star Steamer Titanic is in distress". Dressing and going down on deck we learned that, about midnight our ship received a wireless and immediately changed her course steaming 58 miles to the position of the Titanic arriving about four o'clock and it was the stopping of the ship that awoke Emma. Nothing was to be seen however and it was supposed the Titanic had gone down with all on board, but soon appeared out of the "Dark of the Dawn" first one boat and the other 18 in all, loaded with men, women & children & babies, most of them scantily clothed, some of the ladies in evening dress, and the night bitterly cold, the boats were attracted by the rockets we were sending up, and were received without any "fuss or frather" or confusion, owing to the marvelous discipline always prevailing on a Cunarder, in fact there was so little noise that I had to awake Mr. Weidman and his cabin mate and their room was not fifteen feet from where the rescued were coming aboard. Upon arrival of seventh or eighth boat I surrendered our cabin and we bunked with Mr.& Mrs. Reynolds during the voyage to New York, and it was soon filled with four men who were in very bad shape.
By about nine o'clock all boats in sight having been cared for and the Lyland Liner Californian steaming up we left her cruising in the vicinity and started for New York with our load of sorrow and woe and misery. We were over 1100 miles out and they were long, long days, we passed our time being mostly occupied with the poor unfortunates.
There is an incident of what we were up against. I remarked to Mr. Weidman "that Englishman in my room is in bad shape. I'm going to get a doctor for him"; immediately a young women lying on a lounge raised her head and said, "I wonder if it is my husband", no madam he is a single man was my reply. Just think Bird of the hope and despair of that one moment, and there were about 150 made widows on board and the fatherless & motherless and mothers without sons to the end of the chapter. All talk about the shrieks of women ringing through our ship, which you have probably read in the papers, is the worst rot, if you had seen the fortitude with which they bore their sufferings and woe you would be prouder than ever of your sex.
Most of the statements in the New York papers are of like untruth, caused by our Captain refusing to let the reporters aboard at the lightship. On fifth boat was a sailor from the Titanic, who I saw shake hands with one of our sailors and pointing to an iceberg said "that is the one that did it". It was immense, estimated by a Civil Engineer as 180 ft in height. You have no doubt seen Pictures in the magazines of rescue parties in the polar seas. Well that is the best description of the scene I can give you. In the background was in immense ice floe with berg after berg, which had not broken loose, and other bergs floating around, our ship standing off the floe and the boats approaching from the direction of the floe. I think this a perfect picture of the scene. The ice floe was immense. We steamed 52 miles to get away and around it and it extended in the other direction beyond the horizon, in fact in the New York papers some Captain reported it as 100 miles in length. We gave away many things until I was down to the underclothing I have on. The sea was calm all the way to New York. All that died of the rescued were buried at sea 4 in number.
As you know from the papers we left New York again Apr. l9th and thus far have had clear weather. We should be at Gibraltar Apr 29. We have no definite plans beyond that, as we have not decided how long we will remain in Spain. Emma has been remarkably well except the effect of the strain we have been under. It took almost everyone two or three days to get over that.
The crew was called together Monday and thanked by the Captain for their good work. They certainly were entitled to it and appreciated his thanks as one of them said to me afterwards "he is proud of us ain't he". He sure had reason to be. Later a picture of the officers was taken on the forward deck.
We have music by the orchestra every evening at nine and at dinner and lunch. One night instead of music. Senor Jose Mardoner First Baritone Boston Opera Co, gave us several numbers. I don't know of anything more to interest you. Address c/o American Express Co 546 Haymarket London England. Emma joins with me in love to you all.
Yours
Luke Hoyt

The Loch Ness Monster

Well, Loch Ness, the source of many a mystery and legend. It has been shrouded in mystery since the 6th century, when in A.D. 565, St. Columba, the Scottish patron saint who was a missionary to the pagan Picts in Scotland, saved a Pict warrior from the jaws of the creature of the loch.

It happened thus:

"Upon arriving in the province of the Picts, Saint Columba had to cross the River Ness. Reaching its bank, he saw a poor fellow being buried by other inhabitants, who reported that, while swimming not long before, the victim had been seized and most savagely bitten by a water beast. When Saint Columba heard this, he ordered that one of his companions should swim out and bring to him the boat that stood on the opposite bank. Hearing this order of the holy and memorable man, Lugne mocu-Min obeyed without delay, and putting off his clothes, excepting his tunic, plunged into the water. But the monster, whose appetite had earlier been not so much sated as whetted for prey, lurked in the depths. Feeling the water above disturbed by Lugne's swimming, it suddenly swam up to the surface, and with gaping mouth and with great roaring rushed towards the man swimming in the middle of the Ness. While all that were there, barbarians and even the brothers, were struck down with extreme terror, Saint Columba raised his holy hand and drew the saving sign of the cross in the empty air; and then, invoking the name of God, he commanded the savage beast, and said: 'You will go no farther. Do not touch the man; turn back speedily.' Hearing this command, the beast, as if pulled back with ropes, fled terrified into Loch Ness in swift retreat. The pagan barbarians, impelled by the magnitude of this miracle, magnified the God of the Christians."

-From Saint Adamnan's biography of Saint Columba, Abbot of Iona, A.D. 565

The Story of the St. Crispian's Day Speech

First and foremost, this comes from a historical drama called "Henry V" by William Shakespeare, which was written in 1599. In history, King Henry V was an English king who was the nephew of the great King Edward the "Black Prince", who conquered the northern part of France in the mid-14th century. King Henry decided to follow in his uncle's footsteps by declaring war upon France for the reason of rights to the crown of France. He invaded France, leaving a beaten and muddy path wherever his army trod. The whole while they were in France, it was nothing but a bloody, muddy and rainy mess. He cost the lives of 30,000 Englishmen when he sieged the French city of Harfleur. He was eventually succesfull in the defeat of the city however. He decided to make north for the port of Calais to disembark for England and so end the miserable campaign. The French king however, was not going to let him leave so easily. He sent the Constable of France, with a 50,000 soldier army to keep King Henry from crossing the river needed to eventually reach Calais. Finally in A.D. 1415, the English came to a town called "Agincourt". This was where the English and French armies were to meet in battle. King Henry's army was about 5,000 in number while the French vastly outnumbered them 5 to 1. Many French nobles and knights were in the French army, wanting to partake in the slaughter of the English army. King Henry positioned his Welsh and English longbowmen on the top of a large hill. The longbowmen had already proved their worth at the battles of Poitiers and Crecy (1356). They had cut down many a French knight. King Henry also ordered for sharp wooden stakes to be carved and placed in front of the longbowmen. He then positioned his infantry in front of the longbowmen.

The French were down from the hill and had vast amounts of cavalry at their disposal. They positioned the cavalry at the front of the army and the infantry in the back. The French knights then charged, as the French always get in hurry to do, and attacked. King Henry ordered his longbowmen to fire at the French knights, cutting them down like animals. The height advantage combined with the heavy rain resulting in profuse mud, worked out to the great advantage for the English. The French then combined their forces and attacked the English with both cavalry and infantry, the infantry of King Henry then charged. They battled for a long time, lasting many hours. The English eventually came out the victor. How amazing that they should, because of the large manpower difference. The French retreated in shame, many of their nobles dead. The total count of dead was: France, 10,000, 8,000 of which were nobles and knights. 500 of those 8,000 were ones who were dubbed knights the day before the battle. England only lost 24 men, with only five nobles dead. This was an amazing victory. The speech given by King Henry V before the battle is below. He gave it to his soldiers whilst they waited for the French to arrive on the battlefield. They were quite demoralized and terrified by the size of the French army. It is completely fictional, but it greatly embodied the spirit of the medieval kings and lords. Read it and be inspired.

St. Crispian's Day Speech by William Shakespeare

WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day!

KING. What's he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin; If we are mark'd to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear; Such outward things dwell not in my desires. But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England. God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour As one man more methinks would share from me For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is call'd the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.' Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words- Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester- Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

This is the Claddagh ring, the beloved symbol of Ireland. 

The Claddagh Ring

There was a man long ago, in Claddagh, Ireland, who dearly loved a woman. She loved him also. He had a job as a farmer and she was a young lass in her teens. They loved eachother so much that they would sit together at dusk and watch the sun dip below the horizon. They were known around the village as the "couple meant to be". The townspeople thought that these two were truly joined together as a couple meant to be together by God.

One day, a great a tragedy devastated Claddagh. The small town was attacked by greedy pirates. The pirates kidnapped this man and took him prisoner. They sold him into slavery and he remained in bondage for many years. As he would toil and sweat all those years, he would think of his only reason for living, which was to once more see his love again. He would not give up and whimper away when he thought of her curly, vibrant red hair and shamrock green eyes. He would dream about her and think about her everyday.

This man greatly improved his position in the slave owner's household and as a reward, the slave owner granted him his freedom. The man was overjoyed at this and immedietly set sail on the first ship he could find to Ireland. He landed in Ireland, and then trecked over the island to his old home, Claddagh. When he reached it, the townspeople he had known were all but gone and died off, but his love still remained. The minute he saw her, his heart leapt for joy and happiness. He thanked the Lord that he had blessed him with this. He soon found out that she had rejected all suitors, the church's biddings to get married, and pressure from the townspeople to get married to men in the village. She had faith that her true love would not leave her and stayed faithful. She had rejected all for him.

In honor of her faithfulness and his love for her, the man fashioned a ring, which he called the "Claddagh" ring in honor of the town in which he lived. It stands for Loyalty, Love, and Faith. It has been a cherished symbol of Ireland ever since and is traditionally given from a groom to his bride in an Irish wedding.

If you love somebody you will wait for them no matter what. "What God has brought together let no man tear asunder."

The Love of Lancelot and Guinevere 2

Well as you might have noticed, the love of Lancelot and Guinevere was forbidden. Guinevere was the queen and King Arthur's wife. The two kept their affair secret and was not known to anybody but themselves. They got bolder and bolder everyday. Well, one day, while the King was away out of Camelot on business, Lancelot entered Queen Guinevere's bedchamber. As they were loving on eachother, some knights from the Round Table knocked on the door of the chamber to retrieve the queen for her daily routine. They became worried for the Queen since she was not answering her door so they broke down the door. They then discovered the lovers and Lancelot was shocked. He took up his sword and fought his way out of the chamber killing many good knights on the way. He rode off into the forest.

King Arthur then came back into Camelot, returned from business. He was then told the bad news. He had no choice but to follow the law of Camelot, which required that a woman found to be guilty of adultery was to be burned at the stake. King Arthur could not put himself above the law, so he was forced to carry out the execution. As they lit the first pieces of wood below the large burning stake, Lancelot burst through the crowd on his horse, lept off of it, cut the binds around Guinevere's hands and grabbed her and put her on his horse and they ran off. Arthur was greatly distressed about this. He had found that Lancelot had brought Guinevere to his castle, Joyous Gard, in France. So Arthur, laid siege to Joyous Gard and destroyed it. He took Lancelot and Guinevere prisoner. He was at this time greatly stressed because of the choices he had to make about what to do with the couple. He finally came up with the conclusion. He had Lancelot banished from the Kingdom of England and forced Guinevere to join a convent and become a nun for the rest of her life. From this point on, Camelot began to crumble.......

Lancelot Saves Guinevere from the Flames 

This is Lancelot and Guinevere, the doomed couple .

The Love of Lancelot and Guinevere

In the days of the Round Table, there was a great knight in King Arthur's court. His name was Lancelot du 'Lac. He was the fairest and bravest knight excepting King Arthur in all of the court. His long ebony hair resembled a raven's black wing. His arms, pieces of iron. He met King Arthur's wife, Guinevere at a great feast and immedietly was mesmorized by her. I am going to put a selection from the book Lancelot by Chretien de Troyes, which was written in the 13th century, in this entry.

(Lancelot upon seeing Guinevere)

"The knight at the window recognized that it
was the Queen. As long as she
remained in his sight, he continued to gaze
at her most attentively, and with delight.
But when he could see her no longer, he
wanted to fling himself out of the window
and shatter his body on the ground below.
He was already halfway out of the window
when my lord Sir Gawain spotted him and
pulled him back in."

Lancelot - Chretien de Troyes

Being Happy

It is such a joy to be happy. Without happiness, it would be such a dull world. Happiness comes from God, as all good things do. The Bible says that "happiness doeth like a good medicine." Scientists have proven that when you laugh, your brain releases a disease fighting enzyme to fight every disease in your body. Such is the power of laughter. If you are unhappy, you are gloomy and sad. Sadness is not good for you, it can make you sick and angry. There are many sad people in this world who are very cynical with nothing good to say about anything. These people are merely mislead and have not found how to be happy. They need to, so that their lives will benefit from it. You are not benefiting yourself at all if you are sad. There is no point to being sad, you will just get down. Happiness will make you feel better and more alert. So be happy in all that you do. Happiness is a gift of God.

My Friend's Wedding

I played my violin at my friend's wedding today! It was a great wedding, a very meaningful, God-related service. I hope all of you grow up to be good husbands and wives, always looking to God for the answers to life's problems. I want to leave you with a message today, and that message is that when you choose to marry, marry someone you know that you will love ALWAYS under ANY conditions. You must understand that God has brought you together for a cause and purpose, to fulfill his plan. He has a plan for each and every one of your lives, and that plan may lie with a partner sent by Him to help you fulfill the plan. No matter what flys your way as you are joined together in union, you must never fail to get back up on your feet and walk again. Do not crumble. The Bible says, "What God has brought together, let NO man tear asunder". That is the truth. You are messing with His will when you start to tinker with a person's relationship. Do not tinker with it, because the Lord will punish you breaking His will. You must know that God has joined them together for a purpose, a NO ONE will destroy their purpose as long as it be God's will. Do not try to bend the will of God. That is one mistake you truly to not want to delve into. There are many consequences for doing such actions. "The wages of sin is death". This might seem a little scary, but it is true, and the Bible does not lie.

A Tribute to the Knights Templar

The Templars, the heros of the medieval world. They, the warrior monks, protected Christian pilgrims on their way to the shrines and churches set up by warrior Crusaders in the Holy Land. These men were formed in the 11th century during the First Crusade. They were formed from a group of poor men in France who wanted to fight for the cause of Christ. They traveled to the Holy Land, where they were granted power and weapons from the newly crowned Crusader king of Jerusalem, Baldwin. They were charged to defend the Christian pilgrims, who were greatly plagued by the Muslim Turks. Their headquarters were in Jerusalem near the remnants of the old Temple, which was destroyed by the ancient Romans in olden days. They adopted a red cross on a white field as their banner. The white stood for the purity of Jesus Christ and the red, for the blood which was shed on the cross. They also adopted a Latin motto as their creed. Non nobis, Domine, non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam-"Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Thy Name give the glory." They were charged with the mission of protecting Solomon's Temple or what was left of it. They were given the name, Knights of the Temple, or for short and their most common name is "Knights Templar".

Well, the Knights Templar grew in power and wealth and eventually were powerful enough to even challenge the decisions of the kings and popes! But Philip, King of France, did not like this at all, neither did Pope Clement of Rome. They wanted the Templar treasure for themselves. Seeing their likeness in thinking, the Philip and Clement made a secret alliance, dedicated to the fall of the Knights Templar. They organized a plan, a plan to bring the Templars to their knees. It all came to a head on Friday, the 13th of October, A.D. 1307. The king of France sent out men to arrest all of the Templars. Alot of good men died that day. Many were taken prisoner and burned at the stake as convicted "heretics". Others died defending their homes and families from the tyranny of King Philip. There were some, though, who sensed the festering danger and fled France. Some went to Scotland, where they fought with Robert the Bruce and William Wallace in their fight for freedom from England, alot, however, gathered in the early hours of the morning in the seaport of Rochelle in France. They had hidden a lot of their precious treasures that they had obtained in the Holy Land, fighting the Crusades. They took this treasure and placed it aboard the Templar fleet, their sea-going war machine. They then boarded the ships themselves and sailed away into the sea, never to be seen again. We might never know. But many people have speculated and have reason to believe that the Templars sailed to America and set up a colony and were eventually vanquished by the Native Indians. Many people also believe that they buried their mass of precious religious treasure on Oak Island, an island in Eastern coastal Canada. There have been many attempts to try to recover treasure on Oak Island, but all have failed. But the fact that keeps many people perplexed is that every ten feet of dirt down, there is a series of wooden boards stack against eachother, therefore proving that there was something that a certain group of people did there. Every time a treasure team gets to what they think is close to the treasure, water from the sea floods in a drowns everybody. Interesting huh? Well, others have a, what may seem, logical approach to the Templars. Some people think that the Templars somehow kept their order alive and evolved into what is now the "Freemasons." There are many secrets the Freemasons keep and many people believe that that is one of them. Others choose to speculate that the Templars are a completely confidential order known to the only to the chosen. Who knows? Are the Templars still among us? Do they walk with us along the streets? Do they teach in our schools? Do they babysit our children? We may never know.

My Dad's Birthday

Today is my dad's birthday! I am glad for him! He turns 49 today! The Lord has certainly blessed him througout his life. He always tells me about when he was born and my grandma having him and my grandfather so happy that he was born. They are nice stories. I wonder what I will think about when I turn 49. I have a LONG way to go. 35 years to be exact. I have a life ahead of me. I pray to God to guide me along the way. I want to remember myself typing this blog entry when I turn 49 and then remember all of the years in between. I hope they are blessed, good, years.

Have You Ever Wondered?

Have you ever wondered about certain things? Stupid question right? Well, not really. Do you believe in angels? Have you ever wondered about that? I have, and I earnestly believe in angels. Angels are God's messengers sent to protect and keep strong the followers of God. They are the optimism when you are cynical, the strength when you are weak. You know that feeling that everything is going to be "ok" when you are sad? Well that is God's message sent through an angel. Angels are among us. They are everywhere. You also don't know who the angels might be. "God works in mysterious ways". Indeed he does. The person walking down the street in the nice business suit, with a leather briefcase and all that stuff, that might be an angle. Or it might be the homeless beggar sitting on the side of the street. The Bible says, "be aware, for you may be entertaining angels." Indeed. When you give money to the homeless, the person to whom you give it to, may be an angel. Kindness would certainly make an angel happy. So be kind and charitable.

You are what you think in your head you are.

I want to leave you with a very important message today. Even though you might not think it, you are what you think in your head you are. I want to tell you a story. It might seem disturbing, but it is 100% true.

Well, A long time ago, there was this man who thought about EVERYTHING in a negative sense. If his fellow employees at work thought it was a nice day outside, then he would find SOMETHING negative to say about it. He would say something like "Ok, its just a little too breezy for me though." He would just find SOMETHING negative to say about anything. Well, he worked at this rail station where they would work on the different train cars. Some of these train cars were refrigerated train cars that hold meat and stuff like that to keep it fresh until its arrival at its destination. Well, one day, the boss gave all the men and women employees the rest of the day off because it was someone's birthday. Well everybody was happy and grateful that he did that and they left to go to the party. Well this man didn't want to, he figured that he hated him and that he wouldn't like it if he came anyway. So the man stayed at the workplace, doing his normal working routine. He went to go inspect a refrigerator car and when he went inside of it, the door shut behind him. He immedietly panicked and started screaming and banging on the door. He shouted and yelled in terror for somebody to come get him but he knew that that would be of no avail, because everybody left and went to the party. So he crawled over in a corner and huddled down, terrified. He thought in his head "I am gonna freeze to death in here!" He thought that over and over and over in his head. Well, the next morning, his coworkers opened the door to the refrigerator car and found him in the corner, right where he had crawled, dead. He was frozen to death. The catch of the story is, though he froze to death, it was 68 degrees F. inside of the car. He thought in his mind negative things and the negative thinking controlled his mind. So he thought he was going to freeze to death and he did. Such is the danger of negative thinking! Think positive things!

On Friends and loved ones.

Friends. Friends are the people who help us when we are down. Friends pick us up when we are weary. Friends are people who come when no one else does. Friends are the very core of our being, the people whom we can trust and confide all of our biggest secrets in. Without Friends, we would be empty, emotionless, shells with nothing to comfort us. We would crumble at the faintest resistance and fade away. I am here to tell you that I will not fade away and crumble, because I am strong. God has blessed me with many friends and that has greatly benefited me and always will. Kelsey is one of my best friend and I thank God for bringing her into my life. God has blessed me greatly with this. I thank God for all of this and I hope you do also. As I close, remember that Christ did not send these wonderful people into your life for no reason, he sent them into your life for a purpose, and He will fulfill your purpose. God Bless.