Voices from the Titanic (55 page)

Second Officer
Charles Herbert Lightoller
was asked to explain why so many of the early lifeboats were allowed to leave only half-full.

‘Who determined the number of people who should go into the lifeboats?' – ‘I did.'

‘How did you reach a conclusion as to the number that should be permitted to go in?' – ‘My own judgement about the strength of the tackle.'

‘How many did you put in each boat?' – ‘In the first boat I put about twenty or twenty-five.'

‘How many men?' – ‘No men.'

‘How many seamen?' – ‘Two.'

‘It was not much more than half loaded, was it?' – ‘Its floating capacity; no.'

‘How did it happen you did not put more people into that boat?' – ‘Because I did not consider it safe.'

‘In a great emergency like that, where there were limited facilities, could you not have afforded to try to put more people into that boat?' – ‘I did not know it was urgent then. I had no idea it was urgent.'

‘Supposing you had known it was urgent, what would you have done?' – ‘I would have acted to the best of my judgement then.'

‘Tell me what you would have thought wise.' – ‘I would have taken more risks. I should not have considered it wise to put more in, but I might have taken risks.'

‘As a matter of fact are not these lifeboats so constructed as to accommodate forty people?' – ‘Sixty-five in the water.'

‘Sixty-five in the water, and about forty as they are being put into the water?' – ‘No, sir. It all depends on your gears. If it were an old ship, you would barely dare to put twenty-five in.'

‘But this was a new one?' – ‘And therefore I took chances with her afterwards.'

‘You put twenty-five in?' – ‘In the first.'

‘Were the people ready to go?' – ‘Perfectly quiet and ready.'

‘Any jostling or pushing or crowding?' – ‘None whatever.'

‘The men all refrained from asserting their strength and crowding back the women and children?' – ‘They could not have stood quieter if they had been in church.'

(US Inquiry, 19 April 1912)

Twenty-one-year-old
Harold Thomas Cottam
, the sole wireless operator on the
Carpathia
, told Senator Smith that it was only by pure chance that he came to hear the
Titanic
's distress call as he was just about to retire to bed for the night. After two successive late nights and having been on duty since 7 a.m., Cottam had planned to go to bed early and would have shut down his station half an hour earlier had he not been waiting for confirmation of receipt of a transmission he had sent to the liner
Parisian
. He had been passing the time listening to the land station at Cape Cod.

‘How did you happen to catch this communication from the
Titanic
?' – ‘I was looking out for the
Parisian
, to confirm a previous communication. I was about to retire.'

‘Had you disrobed?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘Had you taken off your shoes?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘Had you taken off any of your clothing?' – ‘I had my coat off.'

‘When you took your coat off, did you have any instruments attached to your head?' – ‘Yes, sir. Telephones.'

‘How did you happen to leave that on?' – ‘I was waiting for the
Parisian
.'

‘How long would you have waited; just long enough to undress?' – ‘I would have waited a couple of minutes. I had just called the
Parisian
and was waiting for a reply, if there was one.'

‘What did you hear at that time?' – ‘I heard nothing, sir. I went back on to Cape Cod which was sending messages for the
Titanic
. I was taking the messages down with the hope of retransmitting them the following morning. Then I called the
Titanic
and asked him if he was aware that Cape Cod was sending a batch of messages for him.'

‘And did they reply?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘What did they say?' – ‘ ‘Come at once. It is a distress message; C.Q.D.' '

‘What did you do?' – ‘I confirmed it by asking him if I was to report it to the captain. The reply said “Yes”.'

‘How much time elapsed between the time when you received that distress call and the time you communicated it to the captain?' – ‘A matter of a couple of minutes.'

‘Did you send any messages after that to the
Titanic
?' – ‘Yes, sir. I sent our position.'

‘Did you get any reply to that?' – ‘Yes, sir; immediately. It simply said, “Received”.'

‘When did you next hear from the
Titanic
?' – ‘About four minutes afterwards. We both confirmed our positions. I then heard the
Frankfurt
calling the
Titanic
. Then I heard the
Olympic
calling the
Titanic
. For about half a minute everything was quiet. I asked the
Titanic
if he was aware that the
Olympic
was calling him. He said he was not – he told me he could not read him because of the rush of air and escape of steam. I told the
Titanic
to call the
Baltic
, but the communication was apparently unsatisfactory.'

‘When did you hear anything again?' – ‘I heard the
Baltic
calling Cape Race.'

‘You were in regular communication with the
Titanic
until the last communication was heard?' – ‘Yes; until the last communication was heard.'

‘What was the last one?' – ‘ “Come quick; our engine room is filling up to the boilers.” '

‘Did you make any reply to it?' – ‘I acknowledged the message and reported it to the captain.'

‘So that in response to this last call the only reply they got was “received”?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘But the position of your boat was not stated?' – ‘No, sir. I also called him with a message, but I got no acknowledgement.'

‘Tell us what that message was.' – ‘The captain told me to tell the
Titanic
that all our boats were ready and we were coming as hard as we could come, with a double watch on in the engine room, and to be prepared, when we got there, with lifeboats. I got no acknowledgement of that message.'

‘Whether it was received or not, you don't know?' – ‘No, sir.'

(US Inquiry, 19 April 1912)

Alfred Crawford
, a bedroom steward in first class who hailed from Southampton, retold the story of Isidor and Ida Straus who refused to be separated, and died together on the
Titanic
. But first they oversaw the safe departure of Mrs Straus's maid, Ellen Bird, who tearfully accepted her mistress's fur stole as a farewell gift.

‘Did you know Mr and Mrs Straus?' – ‘I stood at the boat where they refused to get in.'

‘Did Mrs Straus get into the boat?' – ‘She attempted to get into the boat first and she got back again. Her maid got into the boat.'

‘What do you mean by “she attempted” to get in?' – ‘She went to get over from the deck to the boat, but then went back to her husband.'

‘Did she step on the boat?' – ‘She stepped on to the boat, on to the gunwales, sir; then she went back.'

‘What followed?' – ‘She said, “We have been living together for many years, and where you go I go.” '

‘To whom did she speak?' – ‘To her husband.'

‘Was he beside her?' – ‘Yes, he was standing a way back when she went from the boat.'

‘You say there was a maid there also?' – ‘A maid got in the boat and was saved.'

‘Did the maid precede Mrs Straus into the boat?' – ‘Mrs Straus told the maid to get into the boat and she would follow her. Then she altered her mind and went back to her husband.'

(US Inquiry, 19 April 1912)

Sitting in a wheelchair, his left foot bandaged, the
Titanic
's assistant wireless operator,
Harold Bride
, recounted how the senior operator, Jack Phillips, had effectively told his counterpart on the nearby German ship, the
Frankfurt
, to keep out of the way as the
Titanic
went to her watery grave.

‘I understand that the first response to the C.Q.D. call of distress was from the
Frankfurt
?' – ‘Yes, sir. He told us to stand by. That means to wait.'

‘Did anyone say in your hearing that they thought the
Frankfurt
was in closer proximity to the
Titanic
than any other ship?' – ‘Yes, sir. Mr Phillips told me so.'

‘Did Mr Phillips tell you that he was trying to establish such communication with the
Frankfurt
as would bring that ship to your relief?' – ‘Well, Mr Phillips was under the impression that when the
Frankfurt
had heard the C.Q.D. and got our position, he would immediately make it known to his commander and take further steps. Apparently he did not.'

‘Did you have any other communication with the
Frankfurt
after that ship responded to the distress call?' – ‘Yes. He called us up at a considerably long period afterwards and asked us what was the matter.'

‘How long after?' – ‘I should say it would be considerably over twenty minutes afterwards.'

‘To that message what did you say?' – ‘I think Mr Phillips responded rather hurriedly.'

‘What did he say? I would like to know.' – ‘He told him he was a fool.'

‘Did Mr Phillips then tell him what was the matter?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘Did he have any further communication with the
Frankfurt
?' – ‘No, sir. He told him to stand by, to keep out of it.'

‘Keep out of what?' – ‘Not to interfere with his instrument, because we were in communication with the
Carpathia
, and we knew that the
Carpathia
was the best thing doing.'

(US Inquiry, 20 April 1912)

Cumulative evidence was adduced yesterday before the Senate Committee investigating the loss of the
Titanic
to show that the White Star Line was in full possession of the facts concerning the disaster to the
Titanic
long before the news was made public.

Through the testimony of the Marconi operators on both the
Titanic
and the
Carpathia
it developed the White Star liner
Baltic
was in communication with both the
Titanic
and the
Carpathia
on the fateful Sunday night and Monday morning when the
Titanic
struck the iceberg that sent her to destruction.

The
Baltic
was notified by wireless first that the
Titanic
was sinking fast and that those aboard were getting ready to leave the ship. That was between one and two o'clock in the morning – less than an hour before the
Titanic
vanished under the waves.

A few hours later the
Baltic
received word from the
Carpathia
that the
Titanic
had sunk and that the
Carpathia
had picked up survivors from lifeboats, but that it was certain there had been a considerable loss of life. In a word, the
Carpathia
's wireless operator told the whole tragic story to the
Baltic
so far as it was then known. The time of that message was about 10.40 Monday morning, which would be about half-past nine New York time. The
Baltic
, which had gone out of her course to come to the assistance of the
Titanic
, then proceeded on her easterly way. Practically the same news was communicated at the same time to the
Olympic
, sister ship of the
Titanic
.

There can be no doubt that the commander of the
Baltic
took all possible steps to notify the owners of his line, the White Star, of the information he had received both from the
Titanic
herself and from the
Carpathia
.

Yet at the offices of the White Star Line it was insisted upon all day Monday till seven o'clock in the evening that no word had been received there concerning the
Titanic
's troubles. The Press associations, the Wall Street offices and scores of other mediums of news were filled all day with reports that the
Titanic
was in a bad way or that she had sunk. At the very time that this information, springing from nobody knew where, was ringing in the streets of the city the White Star Line, with the very best sources of original information, was not only denying to the newspaper men that it had any information whatsoever concerning the
Titanic
, but it was sending out telegrams to a few anxious inquirers whose prominence and position made it impossible to ignore their requests for information concerning their relatives on board the
Titanic
. These telegrams were of the most encouraging nature, and one of them sent to Congressman Hughes at Huntington, West Virginia, Monday afternoon was read in evidence yesterday at the Senate Committee's hearing. That telegram said: ‘
Titanic
proceeding to Halifax. All on board safe. White Star Line.'

(
New York World
, 21 April 1912)