by Tim Maltin
The Attorney-General: Did you say anything in America about having received the five pounds?
Witness: No, sir; and I was not asked.
The Attorney-General: You were asked these very questions in America which we have been putting to you to-day about going back?
Witness: Yes, sir.
The Attorney-General: Why did you not say that you heard the cries, but in the exercise of your discretion as “master of the situation” you did not go back?
Witness: They took us in three at a time in America and they hurried us through the questions.
The Attorney-General: They asked you: “Did you make any effort to get there,” and you said: “Yes; we went back and could not see anything.” But you said nothing about your discretion. Why did you not tell them that part of the story? You realized that if you had gone back you might have rescued a good many people?
Witness: Yes.
The Attorney-General: The sea was calm, the night was calm and there could not have been a more favorable night for rescuing people?
Witness: Yes.
The testimony at the American Inquiry above referred to, because of which this witness was called to account, follows:
G. Symons, L. O. (Am. Inq., p. 573):
I was in command of boat No. 1.
Senator Perkins: How many passengers did you have on her?
Mr. Symons: From fourteen to twenty.
Senator Perkins: Were they passengers or crew?
Mr. Symons: There were seven men ordered in; two seamen and five firemen. They were ordered in by Mr. Murdoch.
Senator Perkins: How many did you have all told?
Mr. Symons: I would not say for certain; it was fourteen or twenty. Then we were ordered away.
Senator Perkins: You did not return to the ship again?
Mr. Symons: Yes; we came back after the ship was gone and saw nothing.
Senator Perkins: Did you rescue anyone that was in the water?
Mr. Symons: No, sir; we saw nothing when we came back.
Witness then testified that there was no confusion or excitement among the passengers. It was just the same as if it was an everyday affair. He never saw any rush whatever to get into either of the two boats. He heard the cries of the people in the water.
Senator Perkins: Did you say your boat could take more? Did you make any effort to get them?
Mr. Symons: Yes. We came back, but when we came back we did not see anybody or hear anybody.
He says that his boat could have accommodated easily ten more. He was in charge of her and was ordered away by Officer Murdoch. Did not pull back to the ship again until she went down.
Senator Perkins: And so you made no attempt to save any other people after you were ordered to pull away from the ship by someone?
Mr. Symons: I pulled off and came back after the ship had gone down.
Senator Perkins: And then there were no people there?
Mr. Symons: No, sir; I never saw any.
C. E. H. Stengel, first-class passenger (Am. Inq., p. 971):
There was a small boat they called an Emergency boat in which were three people, Sir Duff Gordon, his wife and Miss Francatelli. I asked to get into the boat. There was no one else around that I could see except the people working at the boats. The officer said: “Jump in.” The railing was rather high. I jumped onto it and rolled into the boat. The officer said: “That’s the funniest thing I have seen to-night,” and laughed heartily. After getting down part of the way the boat began to tip and somebody “hollered” to stop lowering. A man named A. L. Soloman also asked to get in with us. There were five passengers, three stokers and two seamen in the boat.
Senator Smith: Do you know who gave instructions?
Mr. Stengel: I think between Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and myself we decided which way to go. We followed a light that was to the bow of the ship. . . . Most of the boats rowed toward that light, and after the green lights began to burn I suggested that it was better to turn around and go towards them. They were from another lifeboat. When I got into the boat it was right up against the side of the ship. If it had not been, I would have gone right out into the water because I rolled. I did not step in it; I just simply rolled. There was one of the icebergs particularly that I noticed—a very large one which looked something like the Rock of Gibraltar.
The Duff Gordon Episode
Charles Hendricksen, leading fireman (Br. Inq.):
When the ship sank we picked up nobody. The passengers would not listen to our going back. Of the twelve in the boat, seven were of the crew. Symons, who was in charge, said nothing and we all kept our mouths shut. None of the crew objected to going back. It was a woman who objected, Lady Duff Gordon, who said we would be swamped. People screaming for help could be heard by everyone in our boat. I suggested going back. Heard no one else do so. Mr. Duff Gordon upheld his wife.
After we got on the Carpathia Gordon sent for them all and said he would make them a present. He was surprised to receive five pounds from him the day after docking in New York.
Hendricksen recalled.
Witness cross-examined by Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon’s counsel.
What did you say about Sir Cosmo’s alleged statement preventing you from going back?
Witness: It was up to us to go back.
Did anyone in the boat say anything to you about going back?
Witness: Lady Duff Gordon said something to the effect that if we went back the boat would be swamped.
Who was it that first said anything about Sir Cosmo making a presentation to the crew?
Witness: Fireman Collins came down and said so when we were on board the Carpathia.
Before we left the Carpathia all the people rescued were photographed together. We members of the crew wrote our names on Lady Duff Gordon’s lifebelt. From the time we first left off rowing until the time the vessel sank, Lady Duff Gordon was violently seasick and lying on the oars.
A. E. Horswell, A. B. (Br. Inq.):
Witness said it would have been quite a safe and proper thing to have gone back and that it was an inhuman thing not to do so, but he had to obey the orders of the coxswain. Two days after boarding the Carpathia some gentlemen sent for him and he received a present.
J. Taylor, fireman (Br. Inq.):
Witness testifies that No. 1 boat stood by about 100 yards to avoid suction and was 200 yards off when the Titanic sank. He heard a suggestion made about going back and a lady passenger talked of the boat’s being swamped if they did so. Two gentlemen in the boat said it would be dangerous.
Did your boat ever get within reach of drowning people?
Witness: No.
How many more could the boat have taken in?
Witness: Twenty-five or thirty in addition to those already in it.
Did any of the crew object to going back?
Witness: No.
Did you ever hear of a boat’s crew consisting of six sailors and one fireman?
Witness: No.
Lord Mersey: What was it that Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon said to you in the boat?
Witness: He said he would write to our homes and to our wives and let them know that we were safe.
Witness said he received five pounds when he was on board the Carpathia.
R. W. Pusey, fireman (Br. Inq.):
After the ship went down we heard cries for a quarter of an hour, or twenty minutes. Did not go back in the direction the Titanic had sunk. I heard one of the men say: “We have lost our kit,” and then someone said: “Never mind, we will give you enough to get a new kit.” I was surprised that no one suggested going back. I was surprised that I did not do so, but we were all half dazed. It does occur to me now that we might have gone back and rescued some of the strugglers. I heard Lady Duff Gordon say to Miss Francat
elli: “You have lost your beautiful nightdress,” and I said: “Never mind, you have saved your lives; but we have lost our kit”; and then Sir Cosmo offered to provide us with new ones.
Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon (Br. Inq.):
No. 7 was the first boat I went to. It was just being filled. There were only women and the boat was lowered away. No. 3 was partially filled with women, and as there were no more, they filled it up with men. My wife would not go without me. Some men on No. 3 tried to force her away, but she would not go. I heard an officer say: “Man No. 1 boat.” I said to him: “May we get in that boat?” He said: “With pleasure; I wish you would.” He handed the ladies in and then put two Americans in, and after that he said to two or three firemen that they had better get in. When the boat was lowered I thought the Titanic was in a very grave condition. At the time I thought that certainly all the women had gotten off. No notice at all was taken in our boat of these cries. No thought entered my mind about its being possible to go back and try to save some of these people. I made a promise of a present to the men in the boat.
There was a man sitting next to me and about half an hour after the Titanic sank a man said to me: “I suppose you have lost everything?” I said: “Yes.” He said: “I suppose you can get more.” I said: “Yes.” He said: “Well, we have lost all our kit, for we shall not get anything out of the Company, and our pay ceases from to-night.” I said: “Very well, I will give you five pounds each towards your kit.”
Were the cries from the Titanic clear enough to hear the words, “My God, My God”?
No. You have taken that from the story in the American papers.
Mr. Stengel in his evidence in New York said, “Between Mr. Duff Gordon and myself we decided the direction of the boat.”
That’s not so; I did not speak to the coxswain in any way.
Lady Duff Gordon (Br. Inq.):
After the three boats had been gotten away my husband and I were left standing on the deck. Then my husband went up and said, might we not get into this boat, and the officer said very politely: “If you will do so I should be very pleased.” Then somebody hitched me up at the back, lifted me up and pitched me into the boat. My husband and Miss Francatelli were also pitched into the boat; and then two Americans were also pitched in on top of us. Before the Titanic sank I heard terrible cries.
Q. Is it true in an article signed by what purports to be your signature that you heard the last cry which was that of a man shouting, “My God, My God”?
A. Absolutely untrue.
Address by Mr. A. Clement Edwards, M. P., Counsel for Dock Workers’ Union (Br. Inq.):
Referring to the Duff Gordon incident he said that the evidence showed that in one of the boats there were only seven seamen and five passengers. If we admitted that, this boat had accommodation for twenty-eight more passengers.
The primary responsibility for this must necessarily be placed on the member of the crew who was in charge of the boat—Symons, no conduct of anyone else in the boat, however reprehensible, relieving that man from such responsibility.
Here was a boat only a short distance from the ship, so near that the cries of those struggling in the water could be heard. Symons had been told to stand by the ship, and that imposed upon him a specific duty. It was shown in Hendricksen’s evidence that there was to the fullest knowledge of those in the boat a large number of people in the water, and that someone suggested that they should return and try to rescue them. Then it was proved that one of the ladies, who was shown to be Lady Duff Gordon, had said that the boat might be swamped if they went back, and Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon had admitted that this also represented his mental attitude at the time. He (Mr. Edwards) was going to say, and to say quite fearlessly, that a state of mind which could, while within the hearing of the screams of drowning people, think of so material a matter as the giving of money to replace kits was a state of mind which must have contemplated the fact that there was a possibility of rescuing some of these people, and the danger which might arise if this were attempted.
He was not going to say that there was a blunt, crude bargain, or a deal done with these men: “If you will not go back I will give you five pounds”; but he was going to suggest as a right and true inference that the money was mentioned at that time under these circumstances to give such a sense of ascendancy or supremacy to Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon in the boat that the view to which he gave expression that they should not go back would weigh more with the men than if he had given it as a piece of good advice. There were twenty-eight places on that boat and no one on board had a right to save his own life by avoiding any possible risk involved in filling the vacant places. To say the least of it, it was most reprehensible that there should have been any offer of money calculated to influence the minds of the men or to seduce them from their duty.
From the address of the Attorney-General, Sir Rufus Isaacs, K. C., M. P. (Br. Inq.):
In regard to boat No. 1, I have to make some comment. This was the Emergency boat on the starboard side, which figured somewhat prominently in the inquiry on account of the evidence which was given in the first instance by Hendricksen, and which led to the calling of Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon. Any comment I have to make in regard to that boat is, I wish to say, not directed to Sir Cosmo or his wife. For my part, I would find it impossible to make any harsh or severe comment on the conduct of any woman who, in circumstances such as these, found herself on the water in a small boat on a dark night, and was afraid to go back because she thought there was a danger of being swamped. At any rate, I will make no comment about that, and the only reason I am directing attention to No. 1 boat is that it is quite plain that it was lowered with twelve persons in it instead of forty. I am unable to say why it was that that boat was so lowered with only five passengers and seven of the crew on board, but that circumstance, I contend, shows the importance of boat drill.
As far as he knew from the evidence, no order was given as to the lowering of this boat. He regretted to say that he was quite unable to offer any explanation of it, but he could not see why the boat was lowered under the circumstances. The point of this part of the inquiry was twofold—(1) the importance of a boat drill; (2) that you should have the men ready.
No doubt if there had been proper organization there would have been a greater possibility of saving more passengers. What struck one was that no one seemed to have known what his duty was or how many persons were to be placed in the boat before it was lowered. In all cases no boat had its complement of what could be carried on this particular night. The vessel was on her first passage, and if all her crew had been engaged on the next voyage no doubt things would have been better, but there was no satisfactory organization with regard to calling passengers and getting them on deck. Had these boats had their full complement it would have been another matter, but the worst of them was this boat No. 1, because the man, Symons, in charge did not exercise his duty. No doubt he was told to stand by, but he went quite a distance away. His evidence was unsatisfactory, and gave no proper account why he did not return. He only said that he “exercised his discretion,” and that he was “master of the situation.” There was, however, no explanation why he went away and why he did not go back except that he would be swamped. That was no explanation. I can see no justification for his not going back. From the evidence, there were no people on the starboard deck at the time. They must have been mistaken in making that statement, because, as they knew, four more boats were subsequently lowered with a number of women and children. The capacity of this boat was forty. No other boat went away with so small a proportion as compared with its capacity, and there was no other boat which went away with a larger number of the crew. I confess it is a thing which I do not understand why that boat was lowered when she was. Speaking generally, the only boats that took their full quantity were four. One had to see what explanation could be given of that. In this particular case it happened that the officers were af
raid the boats would buckle. Then they said that no more women were available, and, thirdly, it was contemplated to go back. It struck one as very regrettable that the officers should have doubts in their minds on these points with regard to the capacity of the boats.
BOAT NO. 911
No disorder when this boat was loaded and lowered.
Passengers: Mesdames Aubert and maid (Mlle. Segesser), Futrelle, Lines; Miss Lines, and second and third-class.
Men: Two or three.
Said good-bye to wife and sank with ship: Mr. Futrelle.
Crew: Seamen: Haines (in charge), Wynne, Q. M., McGough, Peters; Stewards Ward, Widgery and others.
Total: 56.
Incidents
A. Haines, boatswain’s mate (Am. Inq., 755):
Officer Murdoch and witness filled boat 9 with ladies. None of the men passengers tried to get into the boats. Officer Murdoch told them to stand back. There was one woman who refused to get in because she was afraid. When there were no more women forthcoming the boat was full, when two or three men jumped into the bow. There were two sailors, three or four stewards, three or four firemen and two or three men passengers. No. 9 was lowered from the Boat Deck with sixty-three people in the boat and lowered all right. Officer Murdoch put the witness in charge and ordered him to row off and keep clear of the ship. When we saw it going down by the head he pulled further away for the safety of the people in the boat: about 100 yards away at first. Cries were heard after the ship went down. He consulted with the sailors about going back and concluded with so many in the boat it was unsafe to do so. There was no compass in the boat, but he had a little pocket lamp. On Monday morning he saw from thirty to fifty icebergs and a big field of ice miles long and large bergs and “growlers,” the largest from eighty to one hundred feet high.
W. Wynne, Q. M. (Br. Inq.):
Officer Murdoch ordered witness into boat No. 9. He assisted the ladies and took an oar. He says there were fifty-six all told in the boat, forty-two of whom were women. He saw the light of a steamer—a red light first, and then a white one—about seven or eight miles away. After an interval both lights disappeared. Ten or fifteen minutes afterwards he saw a white light again in the same direction. There was no lamp or compass in the boat.