Voices from the Titanic (65 page)

The Attorney-General: ‘Did you say anything about the rockets then?' – ‘No.'

‘On the ship you had seen the night before?' – ‘No.'

‘Or the possibility of it being the
Titanic
?' – ‘No.'

‘Were you quite comfortable in your mind with reference to the matter?' – ‘I thought we ought to have seen her signals at 19 miles.'

‘Does it not strike you now that the ship was the
Titanic
?' – ‘No, I am positive it was not.'

‘Why are you positive?' – ‘Because it is an utter impossibility for anyone to mistake a ship like the
Titanic
at sea?'

Mr Scanlon: ‘When did you go to sleep?' – ‘I told the Second Officer I was going to be down at 12.50 a.m.'

‘When did your wireless operator go off duty?' – ‘So far as I was concerned, he went off at 11 o'clock on Sunday night, after he had sent the last message.'

‘Would it not have been quite a simple thing for you at that time when you were in doubt as to the name of the ship and the reason of her sending up rockets to have wakened your Marconi operator and asked him to speak this ship?' – ‘I would have if it had worried me a great deal, but it did not.'

Mr Scanlon: ‘Suppose the
Titanic
was seven or eight miles from you between 11.30 and 12 o'clock, would those on the bridge have been able to see your lights?' – ‘Easily.'

‘When did you first hear of the wireless message from the
Titanic
that you were to shut up and keep off as they were busy?' – ‘Some time on the morning of the fifteenth.'

‘Did you regard it as an insulting message?' – ‘Oh, no.'

Mr Edwards: ‘Your message to the
Titanic
was one of courtesy?' – ‘A message of advice.'

Answering Sir Robert Finlay, witness said the
Mount Temple
must have been very close to the spot where the
Titanic
was reported to have foundered. After he heard of the wreck he steamed to the spot at full speed and estimated the rate at 13 knots. They were an hour on the journey.

The Attorney-General: ‘Mr Stone is your Second Officer. Did he tell you there had been rockets sent up?' – ‘He did. That was the message the boy was supposed to have said to me, which I heard the next day.'

‘I must put it to you, did not the boy deliver the message to you, and did you not inquire whether they were all white ones?' – ‘I do not know. I was asleep.'

‘This is a very important matter. It is just as well to tell me exactly what happened.' – ‘I have inquired very closely of the boy. He said I opened my eyes when he gave the message, and I said, “What time is it?” and that I asked whether there were any colours in the light.'

The Attorney-General: ‘You see what that means. That means that the boy did go to the chart-room to you, that he did tell you about the rockets from the ship, and that you asked whether they were white rockets, and told him he was to report if anything further occurred?' – ‘So he said.'

‘Have you any reason to doubt that it is true?' – ‘No, I was asleep.'

‘Do you mean to say that you said this in your sleep to him?' – ‘I very likely was half-awake. I have no recollection of this apprentice speaking to me at all.'

The President: ‘Is there any reference in your log as to your steamer having seen this rocket or this mysterious ship which was not the
Titanic
?' – ‘No.'

‘Why was all reference to these rockets kept out of the log?' – ‘If we had realized they were distress rockets we should have entered them in the log.'

Further questioned, witness said that even if they had received the distress message he did not think they could have reached the scene of the disaster before the
Carpathia
.

James Gibson, aged 20, an apprentice on board the
Californian
said that he went on duty at 12 o'clock. At five minutes to one, after he had been off the bridge for twenty minutes, Mr Stone told him that the ship had fired five rockets.

The Solicitor-General: ‘What else did Mr Stone say?' – ‘That he had reported it to the captain.'

‘What else?' – ‘And that the captain had instructed him to call her on the Morse light.'

‘What had been the result?' –'She had not answered him, but fired more rockets.'

‘Did you see her fire these further rockets?' – ‘I saw three.'

‘What colour rockets were they?' – ‘White.'

‘When you had your glasses on her, could you make out what ship it was?' – ‘No, only the lights.'

‘What did you notice between one o'clock and 1.20, looking at her through your glasses?' – ‘The Second Officer remarked to me, “Look at her now. She looks very queer out of the water. The lights look queer.” '

‘Did he say what he meant?' – ‘I looked at her through the glasses, and the lights did not seem to be natural.'

‘What did you see through the glasses?' – ‘She seemed as if she had a heavy list to starboard.'

‘Did you think yourself when you looked at her through the glasses that something was wrong?' – ‘We had been talking about it together.'

The President: ‘What were you saying?' – ‘The Second Officer remarked to me that the ship was not going to send up the rockets at sea for nothing.'

The President: ‘As I understand it, you and the Second Officer came to the conclusion that it was a ship in distress?' – ‘Not exactly.'

‘What then?' – ‘That everything was not all right.'

Answering the Solicitor-General, witness said he thought the vessel he saw was a tramp.

Subsequently, he said, he was ordered by the Second Officer to report to the captain.

‘Did you give him the report you were ordered to give?' – ‘Yes.'

‘What did the captain say?' – ‘He asked me whether they were all whites.'

‘What did you tell him?' – ‘I told him they were all white.'

The President: ‘Was he awake?' – ‘Yes.'

‘Was there anything else?' – ‘Yes. I saw three more rockets.'

‘When was that?' – ‘About twenty minutes to four.'

‘What do you mean when you say that later on when you looked at her you thought she had got a list, or that her lighting looked queer?' – ‘The side lights seemed to be higher out of the water.'

‘What colour are distress signals?' – ‘White.'

‘Did you not think it curious that so many rockets should be sent up so near?' – ‘Yes.'

‘Did the Second Officer say this vessel must be in distress?' – ‘No; he said there must be something wrong.'

‘You thought she was in distress?' – ‘Yes.'

‘Did you see stars with the rockets?' – ‘Yes, white stars.'

‘Do you know the regulation distress signal is a rocket throwing white stars?' – ‘Yes.'

The President: ‘Did you know it then?' – ‘Yes.'

The next witness was Herbert Stone, Second Officer on the
Californian
, who said he saw the rockets.

The President asked him several times what he thought the rockets meant, and the witness answered that he did not know.

The President remarked: ‘Do be frank. You don't make a good impression.'

Mr Aspinall: ‘Did you think they were distress signals?' – ‘No, not at the time.'

‘Did it occur to you at some later time?' – ‘After I had heard about the
Titanic
going down.'

‘What did you think then?' – ‘That they might possibly have been distress signals.'

The President: ‘From the
Titanic
?' – ‘Not necessarily.'

At two o'clock the witness said to Gibson, ‘Go down to the master, and be sure you wake him up and tell him that we have seen eight of these white lights like white rockets in the direction of this other steamer; that this steamer was disappearing in the south-west; that we had called her up repeatedly on the Morse lamp, and had received no information whatever.' The gradual disappearance of the lights was perfectly natural in a steamer steaming away.

Mr Aspinall: ‘Did they not have the appearance of being the lights of a ship which had suddenly foundered?' – ‘Not by any means.'

The President: ‘Do you mean to tell us that neither you or Gibson expressed the opinion that there was something wrong about that ship?' – ‘No, sir, not wrong with the ship, but merely with the changing of her lights.'

‘Do you want me to believe that, notwithstanding these rockets, neither you nor Gibson thought there was anything wrong about that ship?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

In answer to Mr Scanlon, the witness said he obtained his certificate as mate last December twelve months. In the examination he sat for to obtain his certificate he had to answer a question as to distress signals.

‘For that question you read something about distress signals?' – ‘I learnt it.'

The President: ‘And the very thing was happening that you knew indicated distress?' – ‘Had the steamer stood on its bearings …'

‘No, no. Do not answer me like that. Is it not a fact that the very thing was happening which you had been taught indicated distress?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

Mr Scanlon: ‘You knew, did you not, that these rockets sent up were signals of distress?' – ‘No.'

The President: ‘Do think what you are talking about. You have just told me that what you saw from that steamer were just what you had been taught to expect as signals of distress. Is that true?' – ‘It is true that similar lights are distress signals.'

‘And you saw those lights?' – ‘When the steamer was steaming away.'

Mr Harbenson: ‘Did you notice this ship had a list?' – ‘I did not.'

In answer to Mr Dunlop, the witness said that he judged the ship to be a smallish steamer.

‘Could she be the
Titanic
?' – ‘Not by any means.'

The President: ‘Have you heard of any other steamer in the vicinity at that hour?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘You knew the
Titanic
was there?' – ‘Yes.'

(
Daily Graphic
, 15 May 1912)

The first witness at the
Titanic
inquiry yesterday was Charles Victor Groves, the Third Officer of the
Californian
, who was on duty from 8 o'clock until 12 on the Sunday night.

He said he saw a steamer with two white masthead lights. (The
Titanic
had two white masthead lights.) She had ‘a lot of lights,' and was a large passenger steamer. About 11.30 he reported what he had seen to the captain, and told him the vessel was a passenger steamer.

As ordered by the captain, Groves tried to call the steamer up with the Morse lamp. Afterwards he saw a light and sent the message, ‘What?' That meant, ‘What vessel are you?' The light on the steamer still flickered, and Groves concluded definitely that the steamer was not answering.

Captain Lord went on to the bridge and said: ‘That does not look like a passenger steamer.' Groves said: ‘It is. When she stopped, her lights seemed to go out, and I suppose they put them out for the night.' The lights went out at 11.40.

In the course of their conversation about the steamer the captain said: ‘The only passenger steamer near is the
Titanic
.'

The court discussed the question of the apparent going out of the lights that Mr Groves noticed. Lord Mersey pointed out that the
Titanic
's engines were stopped at 11.40, whereupon he was informed that the order from the bridge to stop the main engines would not result in the stopping of the engine that lighted the ship. It was pointed out that the
Titanic
was stated to have made a turning movement when the iceberg was sighted, and Groves said that the lights might have been shut out by such a movement.

Groves said that when he went off duty he told Stone, the Second Officer, that he had seen a passenger steamer that stopped about 11.40. Between 12.15 and 12.30 Groves went to the Marconi room, woke up the operator, and said, ‘What ship have you got, Sparks?' (Sparks is a ship nickname for the Marconi operator.) Sparks replied, ‘Only the
Titanic
.' Groves then put the wireless instrument to his ear. He could read a message if it was sent slowly. He heard nothing.

‘How long did you listen?' – ‘I do not suppose it would be more than fifteen to twenty seconds. I did it almost mechanically.' (The Marconi operator, who gave evidence later, explained that the ‘detector' stopped when he left off working. That being so, any signals that the
Titanic
might have made afterwards would not be recorded.)

Groves then went to his bunk. Next morning the Chief Officer called him and said the
Titanic
had sunk. Groves then went to Stone, the Second Officer (who on Tuesday gave evidence that he saw several white rockets go up.)

Groves said to Stone: ‘Is this right about the
Titanic
?' Stone replied: ‘Yes, it is right. Hurry up and get dressed; we shall be wanted in the boats. I saw rockets in my watch.'

Lord Mersey: ‘That conveys to me the notion that when he said he saw rockets in his watch he was referring to rockets which he believed came from the
Titanic
. Did he give you that impression?' – ‘It is rather difficult to say what impression I got. I was rather excited.'

Lord Mersey: ‘Knowing what you do now, do you think the steamer that you now know was throwing up rockets, that you thought was a passenger steamer, was the
Titanic
?' – ‘Most decidedly I do, sir.'

Groves said that in the morning he saw a steamer whose name he did not know. It was smaller than the ship whose lights he saw the night before.