Voices from the Titanic (58 page)

‘Did you see the light of a boat, or anything of that kind?' – ‘I saw the light – that was the light we were pulling for when we left the ship.'

‘What do you conclude that light was?' – ‘A sailing ship.'

‘What sort of light was it?' – ‘A white light, a stern light.'

‘Did you get any nearer to it?' – ‘We did not seem to get nearer to it. We kept on pulling for it, because it was the only stationary light. Towards daylight the wind sprung up, and she sort of hauled off from us.'

‘What was the bearing of this light with regard to the
Titanic
– forward or aft?' – ‘Right forward, sir.'

‘Dead ahead?' – ‘Not dead ahead, but just a little on the port bow.'

‘When did you first see her?' – ‘When I was on the bridge firing rockets. I saw it myself, and I worked the Morse lamp at the port side of the ship to draw her attention.'

(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)

Able Seaman
Edward Buley
described leaving in boat No. 10 and the harrowing search for survivors.

‘How many people were in that boat?' – ‘60 to 70.'

‘Were any ladies on the deck when you left?' – ‘No. Ours was the last boat up there, and they went around and called to see if there were any, and they threw them in the boat at the finish because they didn't like the idea of coming in.'

‘Pushed them in, you mean?' – ‘Threw them in. One young lady slipped, and they caught her by the foot on the deck below, and she came up then and jumped in. We got away from the ship, and about an hour afterwards Officer Lowe came alongside, and he had his boat filled up. He distributed them among the other boats, and he said to all the seamen in the boat to jump in his boat until he went back among the wreckage to see if there were any people that had lived.'

‘Who had charge of the boat you were in?' – ‘I was in charge.'

‘But when you left that?' – ‘I left that, and I believe he put some more stewards in the boat to look after the women. All the boats were tied together.'

‘You were then with Lowe in his boat and went back to where the
Titanic
sank?' – ‘Yes, sir, and we picked up the remaining live bodies.'

‘How many did you get?' – ‘There were not very many there. We got four of them. All the others were dead.'

‘Were there many dead?' – ‘Yes, there were a good few dead. Of course you could not discern them exactly on account of the wreckage, but we turned over several of them to see if they were alive. It looked as though some were drowned. They looked as though they were frozen. The lifebelts they had on were out of the water and their heads laid back, with their faces on the water.'

‘They were head and shoulders out of the water?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘With the head thrown back?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘And the face out of the water?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘They were not, apparently, drowned?' – ‘It looked as though they were frozen altogether.'

(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)

George Crowe
, a steward from Southampton, stated that his colleagues initially thought the collision to be little more than a joke. His testimony did little to improve Anglo-Italian relations.

‘Was there any shooting that occurred at the time the boat was lowered?' – ‘Yes, sir. There were various men passengers, probably Italians or some foreign nationality other than English or American, who attempted to rush the boats. The officers threatened to shoot any man who put his foot into the boat. He fired the revolver, but either downward or upward, not shooting at any of the passengers at all and not injuring anybody. He fired perfectly clear, upward or downward.'

‘Did that stop the rush?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘There was no disorder after that?' – ‘No disorder.'

(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)

Yorkshireman
George Hogg
was a
Titanic
lookout on the 12 to 2 watch. He rued the lack of glasses.

‘Could anything have been done to save more lives than were saved?' – ‘No, sir. The only thing I can suggest is in regard to the glasses. If we had had the glasses, we might have seen the berg before.'

‘In an ordinary way, can you not see better with your plain eyes than you can with artificial glasses?' – ‘But the idea of the glasses is that if you happen to see something on the horizon you can pick your ship out – if it is a ship, for instance.'

‘As soon as you see anything, you signal the officer on the bridge, do you not?' – ‘Yes, sir. You would strike the bell. But you would make sure if you had the glasses that it was a vessel and not a piece of cloud on the horizon. On a very nice night, with the stars shining, something you might think it was a ship when it was a star on the horizon. If you had glasses, you could soon find out whether it was a ship or not.'

‘As soon as you discover anything unusual, however, you call the attention of the officer on the bridge to it, do you not?' – ‘Quite so.'

‘And he has glasses, of course?' – ‘Yes, sir. He has glasses.'

(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)

Lookout
George Symons
, twenty-four, from Weymouth, Dorset, was placed in charge of emergency lifeboat No. 1. He was interrogated by Senator Perkins regarding the empty spaces in his boat.

‘How many passengers did you have on her?' – ‘From fourteen to twenty. First they put in seven of the crew. There were seven men ordered in – two seamen and five firemen. They were ordered in by Mr Murdoch.'

‘How many did the boat carry?' – ‘I could not say for certain. It was one of the small accident boats.'

‘After she got into the water, would she take any more?' – ‘She would have taken more.'

‘You did not return to the ship again?' – ‘Yes, we came back after the ship was gone, and we saw nothing.'

‘Did you rescue anyone that was in the water?' – ‘No, sir. We saw nothing when we came back.'

‘Did you hear any cries of people in the water?' – ‘Oh, yes, sir. I heard the cries.'

‘Did you say your boat could take more? Did you make any effort to get them?' – ‘Yes, we came back. But when we came back we did not see anybody or hear anybody.'

‘Then what did you do after that?' – ‘We rowed around and picked up with another boat.'

‘Did you pass a painter from one boat to another?' – ‘No, sir. We went close to her. They did not want any assistance, as the women were pulling. I asked if they wanted my assistance, and they would not take it. They said they could pull through.'

‘Your boat could have accommodated more. How many more?' – ‘I should say that she could have accommodated, easily, ten more.'

‘And you made no effort to fill her, and you were in charge of her?' – ‘Yes, sir, I was. I was ordered away by Mr Murdoch, the First Officer. He ordered the boat to be lowered.'

‘But you did not pull back to the ship again?' – ‘Not until she went down.'

(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)

The Senatorial inquiry into the
Titanic
disaster was resumed this morning, when Mr Marconi was placed on the witness stand.

In his evidence Mr Marconi said that the wireless station at Cape Race was capable of communicating with ships having wireless installations similar to that on the
Titanic
and
Olympic
up to a distance of 1200 to 1500 miles.

He was closely questioned regarding the alleged instructions to the
Carpathia
's operator to hold up news of the disaster. Mr Marconi admitted that a wireless message was sent to Mr Cottam, the operator on the
Carpathia
, which read: ‘Hold news story disaster for four figures.'

This telegram, however, was not sent until the
Carpathia
was off Sandy Hook, and it referred not to a general story of the disaster by wireless but to a personal interview. Mr Marconi denied having authorized his wireless operators to sell exclusive stories to newspapers. He said he understood that Mr Bride, the surviving operator of the
Titanic
, was paid £300 by the
New York Times
for his narrative.

‘There is an ironclad rule of the company's regulations,' said Mr Marconi, ‘prohibiting operators from acting as reporters. Under British law it is a penal offence for operators to send out information on their own initiative.

‘This is probably the reason why no reports of the disaster were forthcoming from the
Carpathia
on her way to New York.

‘What I meant when I told the operator to take something for the story was that the newspaper reporters would be so interested in what he had to say that, without holding back any general information, they would be willing to pay him for his personal experiences.'

Mr Marconi thought that the operator on the
Carpathia
should have sent an earlier description of the disaster.

(
Daily Graphic
, 26 April 1912)

Ernest Gill
, assistant engineer on the
Californian
, fuelled speculation that his ship had seen the
Titanic
's distress flares and was near enough to have been the mystery ship sighted by various people on the doomed liner.

Contrary to Ernest Gill's assertions,
Stanley Lord
, Captain of the
Californian
, insisted that his ship was some twenty miles away from the
Titanic
and therefore out of visual range. But Lord did admit to seeing another vessel – which he claimed was not the
Titanic
– which had flashed signals. However, he said, they were definitely not distress signals.