ALS signed “C. E. Henry Stengel,” one page, 8.25 x 11, Stengel & Rothschild Tanners & Manufacturers letterhead, May 3, 1912. Letter to Charles Gorsuch in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania. In part: “My experience on the ‘Titanic’ was such as no one can realize the experience is often written about in books but very rarely experienced by people. Until I was allowed to get into a boat the suspense was fearful as my wife was in the second boat lowered and they only allowed women in the boats and with all were loaded that were around. It was only by luck I walked to the emergency boat which was away from the regular life saving boats. After being afloat for about an hour I saw the boilers explode and the ship go down. At that moment about 1600 people jumped into the ocean and began to cry for help this cry which was like a wail I will never forget. After floating for about 5 hours we were picked up by the ‘Carpathia’ and of course was relieved when I found my wife.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope addressed in his own hand.
Stengel, a leather manufacturer from Newark, boarded the Titanic as a first class passenger with his wife Anna May. According to his account of the accident, the impact of the iceberg awakened him but he had initially assumed the noise was a dropped propellor. After seeing his wife board the fifth lifeboat, filled entirely with women, Stengel found himself forced to roll onto the first emergency lifeboat because the bulwark was so high. Both Stengel and his wife survived the disaster, and they were reunited aboard the Carpathia after being rescued.
