Voices from the Titanic (60 page)

‘At the time you got this message from the
Titanic
, how far distant did you figure your vessel?' – ‘About 49 miles.'

‘What speed did you make towards the
Titanic
?' – ‘A trifle more than 11 knots. About three in the morning we ran into the first ice. I immediately doubled the lookouts. At 4.25 (ship's time) we had to stop. At the time I figured we were about 14 miles distant from where the
Titanic
had signalled. Another delay was occasioned by a small schooner, whose green light stopped us for a moment.'

‘Was the schooner between you and the
Titanic
?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘How much nearer the
Titanic
was the schooner than you were?' – ‘The schooner could not have been more than 1½ miles from me. I heard the schooner's foghorn, and put the
Mount Temple
's engines full speed astern to avoid her. After we had stopped a few minutes to avoid her, we proceeded slowly on our course towards the
Titanic
. The schooner was coming from the direction of the
Titanic
, and was moving not more than two knots an hour when we saw her. At three in the morning she would be about 12 miles from the
Titanic
.'

Senator Smith asked the captain if he thought the light on this schooner might have been the light which Mr Boxhall and others on the liner saw when the
Titanic
was firing distress rockets and flashing Morse signals? – ‘It might have been the light of a tramp steamer which was on our port bow and passed to starboard of us.'

‘How large a ship was it?' – ‘About 4,000 tons, sir. I did not get her name, but she was a foreigner. She showed no sign. We tried to raise her by wireless, but I don't believe she had any. At 5.30 in the morning the
Mount Temple
ran into ice so heavy that we were forced to turn. The last we saw of the strange steamer was about nine o'clock on Monday, when we were both trying to avoid the icepack.'

‘You have no means of determining that vessel's name or that of its commander?' – ‘We had no communication whatever. So far as I recalled she had a black funnel, with some device or band near the top.'

‘Did you get any nearer the
Titanic
's position?' – ‘We went slowly after 3.25 and reached very close to that position at 4.30 on Monday morning.'

‘Was any other vessel there?' – ‘None but a tramp ship that had cut ahead of me earlier, sir. The icepack,' continued witness, ‘consisted of field icebergs.' He counted between forty and fifty bergs, the largest of them being between 100 and 200 feet high.

Senator Smith then took up the question of the use of glasses by lookout men, asking whether they were useful for the detection of danger ahead.

Witness: ‘I am not sure whether they would be of extraordinary value.'

Senator Smith: ‘Well, do you believe in the use of searchlights during a fog and at night? Would they not lessen the danger?' – ‘No, sir. The use of a searchlight in a fog would be of no avail. It would be like throwing it against a blank wall. If the light were equipped with a powerful projector it might be some use at night.'

Captain Moore also told of his arrival on the scene of the
Titanic
's sinking about 4.30 in the morning, two hours after the liner had gone down. He saw no wreckage and no bodies. He saw nothing but ice and a tramp steamer. The ice was so thick he was compelled to hoist men to the mastheads to seek a line out of the field.

Asked whether he had heard that certain of his passengers said they had seen rockets fired from the
Titanic
that night, Captain Moore replied that all his passengers were asleep. He had seen statements in the newspapers to that effect, but there were no passengers on the deck of the
Mount Temple
when she started for the
Titanic
. ‘I got all the officers on deck,' he continued; ‘got out all the lifeboats – twenty of them – and all the lifebelts. We were ready for any emergency, and I reckoned we could accommodate 1,000 people in the lifeboats. We have only one wireless operator. He had picked up the telephones just before going to bed to see what was on, and it was then he caught the signals from the
Titanic
. He also picked up other messages. One of them said that the
Titanic
had got the
Carpathia
, and had given her her position, which was then 41.46 N, 50.18 W, which was about ten miles eastward of her first position. The second message picked up by the
Mount Temple
was from the
Titanic
to the
Carpathia
. It read: “We struck iceberg. Come at once our assistance.” He picked up many other messages. One was from the
Carpathia
asking the
Titanic
if she wanted any special boat to stand by. The
Titanic
answered she wanted all she could get.

‘He also got a message from the
Frankfurt
to the
Titanic
on Sunday giving her position.
Titanic
asking, “Are you coming to our assistance?” The
Frankfurt
asked: “What is the matter?” The
Titanic
, according to messages received by the
Mount Temple
, answered: “We struck iceberg: sinking. Tell captain to come.”

‘My wireless operator, J. Burrant, informed me,' continued Mr Moore, ‘that from the sound of the signals he judged the
Frankfurt
to be the nearest to the
Titanic
. The last message from the
Baltic
the operator told me was at 1.30 on Monday morning. A few minutes after that the operator told me that the
Olympic
,
Baltic
and
Frankfurt
were all trying to get the
Titanic
. He said that he had not spoken with her since 1.30 a.m. That was about an hour after I had been given the first “C.Q.D.” from the
Titanic
.'

‘Did you send any messages from the
Mount Temple
?' – ‘No, we kept out. We did not want to interfere with the interchange of messages that was going on all the time between the
Titanic
and other vessels, but steamed ahead, and made ready for rescue, if we could reach the scene in time.'

After the
Titanic
had advised the
Frankfurt
of her condition the
Titanic
sent out a second appeal to the
Frankfurt
, saying, ‘Come quick.' The messages grew weaker and weaker, until the
Titanic
's operator was undoubtedly using auxiliary or storage batteries. By that time the vessel's dynamos had been rendered useless by the water. The
Titanic
was still calling ‘C.Q.D.' and at 1.20 she got the
Olympic
and said, ‘Get your boats ready. Going down fast by the head.' The
Frankfurt
replied at 1.35, ‘Starting for you.' Six minutes later the
Titanic
flashed, ‘C.Q.D. Boilers flooded.' Then came the question, ‘Are there any boats around you already?' To that there was no answer. Other ships then began calling, but could get no answer. Later the Russian steamer
Birma
got the
Olympic
, and reported, ‘All quiet now.' The
Titanic
had not spoken since the
Carpathia
at 1.20 sent the message, ‘Are you still there? We are firing rockets.'

Senator Smith: ‘Did you see those rockets?' – ‘I saw no rockets at all that night. I thought of sending up rockets myself, but I did not do so, because I feared it might divert other ships hurrying to the
Titanic
.'

The
Titanic
, undoubtedly, had not fixed her position properly. She must have been eight miles further east than the spot reported. My observations, taken on Monday, indicated that the
Titanic
's actual position was probably 50½ W.

Senator Smith: ‘Does that indicate to you that the
Titanic
drifted?' – ‘No. I think she stopped, but that her position was wrong.'

‘The fact that you found no evidence of the wreck when you got to the
Titanic
's position tends to confirm the idea that the ship was eight miles to the east of the position she gave?' – ‘Yes, sir. Later I sighted the
Carpathia
on the other side of the field of ice, where she had picked up the
Titanic
's boats. I heard from the
Carpathia
at 6.30 that she had picked up the
Titanic
's boats, and that the
Titanic
had sunk. By that I had given up hope of sighting the
Titanic
. I had been steaming about the sea all night. After I got the news I stayed in the neighbourhood, and then steamed on my course.'

‘Were there other vessels in sight at the point where the
Titanic
was supposed to have gone down?' – ‘I saw a tramp steamer, and at eight o'clock on Monday morning I sighted the
Birma
. I also sighted the
Californian
, but there was ice between us.'

Mr Moore told the Committee he did not see how it was possible there could have been no suction when the
Titanic
went down. He thought the reason why so few bodies had been found was probably due to suction, which would have held the drowning between the decks as the boat sank. He thought the bodies were still in the ship.

Witness then read further extracts from the report of his wireless operator, Mr Burrant.

Mr Moore said he did not see or hear of the
Amerika
on Sunday night or Monday.

‘What would you do if you met ice at night?' asked Senator Smith abruptly. – ‘I would stop and drift. My instructions from the company are not to attempt to pass through any ice, no matter how thin it looks.'

‘Do you think it was wise or discreet to run a ship at 21 knots through the night?' – ‘It is frequently done. A field of ice is seldom met with at this time of the year.'

‘Suppose you had been advised of ice ahead, would you consider it wise to drive a ship at that speed through the night?' – ‘It would be very unwise.'

Andrew Cunningham, state room steward on board the
Titanic
, was called to the witness stand.

Senator Smith: ‘Where were you on Sunday evening before the accident?' – ‘I was summoned on duty just before the collision. At 12.30 an order was given to arouse all the passengers who were in the state rooms.'

‘Not until 12.30? Why, that was 50 minutes after the accident?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘Were you notified of the gravity of the situation?' – ‘No, sir. I saw the water in the Post Office and formed my own conclusion.'

‘Was there any emergency alarm call for passengers on the
Titanic
?' – ‘I do not think so.'

‘How were the passengers alarmed then?' – ‘In time of distress each state room steward calls his passengers.'

‘Then at such time the passengers are dependent upon the vigilance of the steward?' – ‘Yes. At 12.20 all my passengers had gone on deck except Mr Cummings [sic], who was in his state room getting his overcoat. After that Mr W. T. Stead asked me to show him how to put on his lifebelt. I put the lifebelt on him. It was the last I put on.'

‘Did you ever see Mr Stead again?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘What did you do then?' – ‘I put on a lifebelt myself after the passengers had been taken care of. After all the boats had gone my mate and I jumped to the sea and swam clear of the
Titanic
. We rested on each other while we were swimming, and after we saw the ship go down we struck out for the boats. Finally I was picked up by lifeboat No. 4. She was crowded. There were nine men and many women aboard, and there was no room to row.'

Henry Samuel Etches, Southampton, another steward, was then called. He had charge of the state room occupied by Mr Andrews, representative of Messrs Harland & Wolff.

Senator Smith: ‘Did you see Mr Andrews frequently?' – ‘Every morning at seven, when I took him his tea and fruit, and every evening when he dressed for dinner.'

‘Did you know him before?' – ‘Yes, I knew him on the
Olympic
. He built that, too. He was busy all the time of the voyage. His room was full of charts. He was looking out for improvements, and went about the boat with his workmen all day long.'

‘When did you last see Mr Andrews?' – ‘At 12.30 on Sunday night, when he asked me if I had called all the passengers. Then he told me to go with him and see that all the passengers had opened their doors, and that all of them had lifebelts. Then we walked up to the purser, who was standing, surrounded by a crowd of excited women, the purser telling them to go back to their state rooms and not be frightened. “That is just what I have been trying to get them to do,” said Mr Andrews. After that he went down below, and I never saw him again. I saw a man run up on deck with a piece of ice in his hand. He threw it on the deck, and exclaimed to other passengers: “Will you believe it now?” I was also steward to Mr Benjamin Guggenheim. I went to his room, and started to put a lifebelt on him. “This will hurt,” said Mr Guggenheim to me. I said to him, “Put on some clothes,” and said I would be back in a minute. I went to another room.'