Voices from the Titanic (62 page)

On the conclusion of Mr Cottam's examination Senator Smith announced that the examination of the officers and crew of the
Titanic
was practically concluded. He directed the sergeant-at-arms to arrange for all of them to leave for home.

Mr Lightoller, the Second Officer, will be recalled for a short time today at the opening of the hearing. He will be followed by Mr Ismay whose examination will then be concluded. Then all the
Titanic
official witnesses will be released. The men will proceed to New York, where the White Star Company will send them home to England on the first available boat.

All the
Titanic
's crew expressed their delight when they heard that they might leave for home.

(
Ulster Echo
, 30 April 1912)

Recalled for further interrogation,
J. Bruce Ismay
admitted receiving a telegram relating to the presence of ice from Captain Smith but rejected press comments from American passenger Emily Ryerson that he had told her the ship would increase speed to get through the ice field.

‘Mr Ismay, I believe some passengers state that Captain Smith gave you a telegram reporting ice?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘On Sunday afternoon?' – ‘Sunday afternoon, I think it was.'

‘What became of that telegram?' – ‘I handed it back to Captain Smith, I should think about ten minutes past seven on Sunday evening. I was sitting in the smoking room when Captain Smith happened to come in the room for some reason, and on his way back he happened to see me sitting there and came up and said: “By the way, sir, have you got that telegram which I gave you this afternoon?” I said, “Yes.” I put my hand in my pocket and said: “Here it is.” He said: “I want to put it up in the officers' chart room.” That is the only conversation I had with Captain Smith in regard to the telegram. When he handed it to me, he made no remark at all.'

‘Can you tell what time he handed it to you and what its contents were?' – ‘It is very difficult to place the time. I do not know whether it was in the afternoon or immediately before lunch. I did not pay any particular attention to the Marconi message – it was sent from the
Baltic
– which gave the position of some ice. It also gave the position of some steamer which was short of coal and wanted to be towed into New York, and I think it ended up by wishing success to the
Titanic
.'

‘Would you not regard it as an exercise of proper precaution and care to lessen the speed of a ship crossing the Atlantic when she had been warned of the presence of ice ahead?' – ‘I am afraid that question I can not give any opinion on. We employ the very best men we possibly can to take command of these ships, and it is a matter entirely of their discretion.'

‘Did you have any conversation with a passenger on the
Titanic
about slackening or increasing speed when you heard of the ice?' – ‘No, sir, not that I have any recollection of. I presume you refer to what Mrs Ryerson said. I testified in New York, the day after we arrived, that it was our intention on Monday or Tuesday, assuming the weather conditions to suit, and everything was working satisfactorily down below, to probably run the ship for about four to six hours full speed to see what she could do.'

‘You did not have any conversation on that Sunday about increasing the speed, did you?' – ‘Not in regard to increasing the speed going through the ice.'

(US Inquiry, 30 April 1912)

Irishman
Daniel Buckley
, twenty-one, was a steerage passenger on board the
Titanic
. He recounted how a female passenger – thought to be Madeleine Astor – wrapped him in a shawl so that he could avoid detection in boat No. 4.

‘Was there any effort on the part of the officers or crew to hold the steerage passengers in the steerage?' – ‘I do not think so. They tried to keep us down at first on our steerage deck. They did not want us to go up to the first-class place at all.'

‘Who tried to do that?' – ‘I think they were sailors. There was one steerage passenger and he was getting up the steps, and just as he was going in a little gate, a fellow came along and chucked him down – threw him down into the steerage place. This fellow got excited and he ran after him, but he could not find him.'

‘What gate do you mean?' – ‘A little gate just at the top of the stairs going up into the first-class deck. The first-class deck was higher up than the steerage deck, and there were some steps leading up to it, nine or ten.'

‘Was the gate locked?' – ‘It was not locked at the time we made the attempt to get up there, but the sailor, or whoever he was, locked it.'

‘Did these passengers in the steerage have any opportunity at all of getting out?' – ‘Yes, they had. I think they had as much chance as the first and second class passengers.'

(US Inquiry, 3 May 1912)

A severe arraignment of the late Capt. Smith of the
Titanic
for what were termed his overconfidence, his indifference to danger and his utter disregard of repeated warnings from other vessels concerning icebergs in his path; a bitter condemnation of Capt. Lord of the
Californian
, who slept while the
Titanic
sank only a few miles away from where the
Californian
lay to all night; an urgent call upon ‘the honest judgement of England' for a ‘painstaking chastisement' of the British Board of Trade because of its lax regulations and its hasty inspection of the
Titanic
; praise for Capt. Arthur H. Rostron of the
Carpathia
, whose foresight and courage saved the 700 souls that were adrift in unmanned and unequipped lifeboats, and an urgent call upon Congress and the Legislatures of all other nations to pass new and stringent laws that would make such another horror impossible – these are the outstanding features of the report submitted to the Senate today by Senator William Alden Smith.

The principal conclusions of the Senate Committee are these:

That the supposedly watertight compartments of the
Titanic
were not watertight because of the non-watertight condition of the decks where the transverse bulkheads ended.

That the
Californian
, controlled by the same company as the
Titanic
, was nearer the sinking steamer than the 19 miles reported by her captain, and that her officers and crew ‘saw the distress signals of the
Titanic
and failed to respond to them in accordance with the dictates of humanity, international usage and the requirements of law.' The committee concludes that the
Californian
might have saved all the lost passengers and crew of the ship that went down.

That the full capacity of the
Titanic
's lifeboats was not utilized, because, while only 706 persons were saved, the ship's boats could have carried 1,176.

That no general alarm was sounded, no whistle blown and no systematic warning given to the endangered passengers, and it was fifteen or twenty minutes after the collision before Capt. Smith ordered the
Titanic
's wireless operator to send out a distress message.

That the
Titanic
's crew was only meagrely acquainted with its positions and duties in an accident and that only one drill was held before the maiden trip and none after the vessel left Southampton though many of the crew joined the ship but a few hours before she sailed.

That the warnings received on every side by the
Titanic
that ice was in her path, warnings which her captain forwarded to the Hydrographic Bureau in Washington, were disregarded so far as the navigation of the vessel was concerned, and that her speed was not relaxed but increased and her lookout watch not doubled.

That the wireless operator of the
Carpathia
was not ‘duly vigilant' in handling messages concerning the
Titanic
disaster, either official or from passengers, and that the practice of allowing wireless operators to send newspaper accounts of their experience in the line of duty should be stopped.

That all ships carrying 100 passengers or more should be equipped with double searchlights; that all ships should carry lifeboats sufficient to hold every soul aboard; that wireless telegraphy should be regulated by law so as to prevent amateur interference and also compel ships to maintain a day and night watch of operators.

Senator Smith's speech began with an explanation of the course of his committee in taking prompt steps to gather at first hand the evidence of the rescued sailors of the
Titanic
before they should sail for England.

‘Questions of diverse citizenship,' he said, ‘gave way to the universal desire for the simple truth. It was of paramount importance that we should act quickly to avoid jurisdictional confusion and organized opposition at home and abroad.

‘Though without any pretension to experience or special knowledge in nautical affairs,' continued the Senator, ‘nevertheless, I am of the opinion that very few important facts escaped our scrutiny.'

Continuing, the Michigan Senator said in part:

‘In the construction of the
Titanic
no limit of cost circumscribed their endeavour, and when this vessel took its place at the head of the line every modern improvement in shipbuilding was supposed to have been realized; so confident were they that both owner and builder were eager to go upon the trial trip; no sufficient tests were made of boilers or bulkheads or gearing or equipment, and no life-saving or signal devices were reviewed; officers and crew were strangers to one another and passengers to both; neither was familiar with the vessel or its implements or tools; no drill or station practice or helpful discipline disturbed the tranquillity of that voyage, and when the crisis came a state of absolute unpreparedness stupefied both passengers and crew and, in their despair, the ship went down, carrying as needless a sacrifice of noble women and brave men as ever clustered about the Judgement Boat in any single moment of passing time.

‘We shall leave to the honest judgement of England its painstaking chastisement of the British Board of Trade, to whose laxity of regulation and hasty inspection the world is largely indebted for this awful fatality. Of contributing causes there were very many. In the face of warning signals, speed was increased and messages of danger seemed to stimulate her to action rather than to persuade her to fear.'

Of Capt. Smith, Senator Smith said that ‘his indifference to the danger was one of the direct and contributing causes of this unnecessary tragedy, while his own willingness to die was the expiating evidence of his fitness to live.'

The Senator pointed to the reckless disregard even of the falling, chilling temperature that was a matter of comment among all the passengers as they got into the icefield. The blow which the
Titanic
struck the iceberg was severe, yet many of the passengers and crew ‘did not even know of the collision until tardily advised of the danger by anxious friends, and even then official statements were clothed in such confident assurances of safety as to arouse no fear.

‘The awful force of the impact was well known to the master and builder, who, from the first, must have known the ship was doomed and never uttered an encouraging sign to one another, while to the inquiry of President Ismay as to whether it was serious, the captain only replied, “I think it is.” ‘ There is evidence tending to show that even the watertight compartments were not successfully closed either above or below. No general alarm was given, no ship's officers formally assembled, no orderly routine was attempted or organized system of safety begun. Haphazard, they rushed by one another, on staircase and in hallway, while men of self-control gathered here and there about the decks, helplessly staring at one another or giving encouragement to those less courageous than themselves.

‘And yet,' exclaimed the Senator, ‘it is said by some well-meaning persons that the best of discipline prevailed. If this is discipline, what would have been disorder?'

The ‘recklessness and indifference' of many of the crew, the haste of some of the junior officers to ensure their own safety while passengers were still trying to get into the boats, the woeful ignorance of the stewards and others manning the boats of even the rudiments of seafaring knowledge, were all touched upon by Senator Smith.