Voices from the Titanic

by Geoff Tibballs

  ‘Who told you to do that?’ – ‘The chief third-class steward told me to get my people about, as quietly as possible.’

  ‘Why did he tell you to get them up?’ – ‘I cannot answer why he did; I take it, on account of the collision. He must have had word that there had been an accident.’

  ‘And, knowing from him that there must have been an accident, and that he considered the accident was of such a character that these people should be roused, you went round among them, and tried to assure them that the vessel was not hurt?’ – ‘In the first place.’

  ‘Why did you do that?’ – ‘Because it was my instructions to.’

  ‘I put it to you that as a result of these assurances given to the people, they refused to leave their berths?’ – ‘I do not think so.’

  ‘It is a considerable distance, is it not, from the aft part of the ship to the boat deck?’ – ‘Yes.’

  ‘You have told us that you saw a number of stewards placed at various portions to direct the third-class passengers how they were to go?’ – ‘Yes. I passed about five or six on the starboard side.’

  ‘Who else besides you were bringing the people from their berths?’ – ‘Almost eight. A portion of the third-class stewards were room stewards, of whom I am the only survivor.’

  ‘You told us about a rush of men from the front part of the ship coming aft?’ – ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why do you think they were coming aft?’ – ‘Because the forward section had already taken water.’

  ‘And that was the only way they could escape?’ – ‘Not necessarily, no. They could escape from the fore part of the ship.’

  ‘Up the companion ladder would have been the nearest way for them, would it not?’ – ‘Yes.’

  ‘But they did not do that; they chose the other way. That is rather curious, is it not?’ – ‘No.’

  ‘That is to say, they go the whole length of the ship and come up from the well deck at the back rather than go up the companion ladder leading from the fore deck to the boat deck?’ – ‘Perhaps the people did not stop to think where they were going to.’

  ‘If there had been anybody to show them, they would not have had occasion to think?’ – ‘That may be so.’

  ‘According to you, all the women and children from the aft part of the boat who were taken up and who wanted to escape could have done so?’ – ‘I do not doubt that for a moment.’

  ‘Can you explain, that being so, how it was that 55 per cent of the women of the third-class were drowned?’ – ‘I cannot account for it. No, sir.’

  (British Inquiry, 16 May 1912)

  Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon defended his conduct on the night of the sinking.

  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 got off.

  There was a man sitting next to me and about half an hour after the Titanic sank he said to me: ‘I suppose you have lost everything?’ 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 tonight.’ I said: ‘Very well, I will give you five pounds each towards your kit.’

  (British Inquiry, 17 May 1912)

  SIR COSMO DUFF GORDON’S DENIALS

  Sir Cosmo said he was asleep at the time of the collision.

  ‘What were your wife and Miss Francatelli [her secretary] doing when the boats were being manned?’ – ‘Standing on the deck. They refused to go. My wife refused to leave me.’

  ‘Did anyone attempt to place your wife into one of the lifeboats?’ – ‘Yes. Some men got hold of her and tried to pull her away, but she would not go. Later my wife said to me, “Ought we not to do something?” I said, “No. We have got to wait for orders.” ’

  ‘Then did you hear any orders given with reference to No. 1 boat?’ – ‘Yes. One of the officers said, “Man the emergency boat,” and then he told a number of the crew to get in. I then spoke to him and said, “May we get in that boat?” And he said, “Yes, I wish you would,” or “Very glad if you would,” or some expression like that. There were no other passengers at all. I think he then told two or three other firemen that they might just as well get in.’

  ‘When the boat was lowered did you think the Titanic was in danger?’ – ‘I thought it was in a very grave condition.’

  ‘When the Titanic went down did you hear a cry?’ – ‘I heard a wail, one confused sound.’

  ‘They were the cries of persons drowning. There is no doubt about that?’ – ‘Yes, I think so.’

  ‘Did it occur to you that there was room in the boat and that if you could get to the people you could save some?’ – ‘It is difficult to say what occurred. I was minding my wife, and the conditions were abnormal. It might well have occurred to one that they could have been saved by a boat.’

  ‘And that there was room in your boat?’ – ‘I think it was possible.’

  ‘Did you hear a suggestion that the boat should go back to where the cries came from?’ – ‘No, I did not.’

  ‘Did not you think about whether or not your boat would be able to save people in the water?’ – ‘I do not know. It might have been possible, but it would be very difficult to get back the distance we were away in that darkness.’

  ‘Did you hear one of the ladies say anything about the danger of being swamped?’ – ‘No, I did not.’

  ‘No thought entered your mind at the time that you ought to go back and try to save some of those people?’ – ‘No, I suppose not.’

  (Daily Graphic, 18 May 1912)

  Lady Duff Gordon disowned the contents of various newspaper articles attributed to her, and, when questioned by the Attorney General, gave her version of events in the emergency lifeboat.

  After three boats had gone down, my husband, Miss Francatelli and myself were left standing on the deck. There were no other people on the deck at all visible and I had quite made up my mind that I was going to be drowned. Then suddenly we saw this little boat in front of us, and we saw some sailors, and an officer apparently giving them orders.

  I said to my husband: ‘Ought we not to be doing something?’

  He said: ‘Oh, we must wait for orders.’

  We stood there for quite some time while these men were fixing up things, and then my husband went forward and said: ‘Might we get into this boat?’ And the officer said in a very polite way indeed: ‘Oh certainly, do. I will be very pleased.’

  Then somebody hitched me up from the deck and pitched me into the boat, and then I think Miss Francatelli was pitched in. It was not a case of getting in at all. We could not have got in – it was quite high. After we had been in a little while, the boat was started to be lowered and one American gentleman got pitched in, and one American gentleman was pitched in while the boat was being lowered down.

  ‘Had you heard any orders given?’ – ‘As far as I can remember it was to row quickly away from the boat for about 200 yards.’

  ‘And come back if called upon?’ – ‘No. I did not hear that.’

  ‘Before she sank, did you hear the men saying anything in the boat?’ – ‘No.’

  ‘Did you hear anything said about suction?’ – ‘Well, perhaps I may have heard it, but I was terribly sick, and I could not swear to it.’

  ‘I am asking you about something which I understood you have said quite recently, something which I only know from your statement to your solicitor.
Did you hear a voice say, “Let us get away”?’ – ‘Yes, I think so.’

  ‘Did you hear it said, “It is such an enormous boat; none of us know what the suction may be if she is a goner”? ‘ – ‘Yes, I heard them speaking of the enormous boat. It was the word “suction” I was not sure of.’

  ‘Did you hear a proposal made that you should go back to where the Titanic was sunk?’ – ‘No.’

  ‘Did you hear anybody shout out in the boat that you ought to go back?’ – ‘No.’

  ‘With the object of saving people who were in the Titanic?’ – ‘No.’

  ‘You knew there were people in the Titanic, did you not?’ – ‘No. I did not think so. I did not think I was thinking anything about it.’

  ‘Did you say that it would be dangerous to go back, that you might get swamped?’ – ‘No.’

  (British Inquiry, 20 May 1912)

  MR LIGHTOLLER IN THE BOX

  Conversation With Captain

  Nothing Said About Reducing Speed

  Mr Charles Herbert Lightoller, the Titanic’s Second Officer, who was on the bridge from 6 o’clock until 10 on the night of the disaster, began his evidence at the inquiry yesterday.

  Mr Lightoller, who is the senior surviving officer, dived from the ship as it was sinking. He was twice sucked under the water, and saved himself by clinging to an upturned collapsible boat.

  He told the Court that the night was clear, and an extra lookout was not required. Throughout her voyage the ship had been making her normal speed of 21½ knots.

  The Solicitor General: ‘At 21 knots the ship travelled 700 yards a minute?’ – ‘Yes.’

  ‘Was it your view you could see a ‘growler’ at a safe distance?’ – ‘Yes, I could see a ‘growler’ at a mile and a half or probably two miles.’

  Lord Mersey: ‘Is this leading to a suggestion that the lookout men were to blame?’ Mr Lightoller: ‘Not at all.’

  The officer then explained to the Court that with a slight swell (or a slight breeze) there was a phosphorescent line round an iceberg. That night there was no swell to be seen. It was the first time in 24 years’ experience that he had seen an absolutely flat sea.

  Mr Lightoller said it was not his experience that the temperature fell as large bodies of ice were approached. It might even go up, he said. He then described, as far as he could remember, a conversation he had with Captain Smith on the bridge about 9 o’clock.

  ‘I said something about its being rather a pity a breeze did not get up, as we were going through the ice region. He would know what I meant. I was referring to the breeze making the waves break on the side of the berg.’

  Mr Lightoller continued: ‘We then discussed the indications of ice. I remember saying there would probably be in any case a certain amount of reflected light from the berg. He said: “Oh, yes, there will be a certain amount of reflected light.” He said probably even if the blue side of the berg was turned towards us the white outline would give us sufficient warning. He said: “We shall be able to see it at a good distance.” ’

  Lord Mersey: ‘Then you had both made up your minds at this time that you were about to encounter icebergs?’ – ‘Not necessarily. We discussed it as a natural precaution.’

  Mr Lightoller said that Captain Smith was with him on the bridge until nearly 9.30. There was no discussion at all as to reduction of speed. As he left the bridge Captain Smith said: ‘If it becomes at all doubtful call me at once. I’ll be just inside.’ That, the officer said, had reference to the risk of ice. Mr Lightoller said he sent a message to the crow’s nest shortly after the captain had left him telling the men to keep a sharp lookout for ice, especially ‘growlers’.

  Asked what his view was as to the usefulness of glasses at night in detecting ice, he said that it was rather difficult to say. He should naturally think that glasses would be helpful. He himself had never seen ice through his glasses first. As a rule he preferred to rely on the naked eye.

  (Daily Sketch, 21 May 1912)

  WIRELESS MYSTERY

  Did Captain Smith Receive All The Warnings?

  A mystery of wireless warnings about ice occupied the attention of the Titanic Court of Inquiry yesterday. The question raised was whether the Titanic received all the warnings, and, if so, what was done with them.

  To assist the Court the positions of ice reported in these messages have been marked on a chart, and an oblong enclosing them has been described on it. It was within the oblong that the ship sank.

  The Court’s attention was chiefly directed to two messages, sent from the Amerika and the Mesaba respectively. Both were sent on the Sunday, and the Solicitor General has stated that the Mesaba’s message was sent about two hours before the collision.

  Second Officer Lightoller, who was on the bridge from 6 o’clock till 10 on the Sunday night, and Fourth Officer Boxhall said they knew nothing of these two messages. Lightoller said that had such a message as that from the Mesaba been received by the officers he had no doubt that the Mesaba would have been communicated with immediately.

  Mr Turnbull, deputy manager of the Marconi Company, gave evidence to show that the message from the Amerika was sent to Cape Race through the Titanic.

  This message, which reported the position of two large icebergs, was addressed to the Hydrographic Office at Washington. Mr Turnbull said that, though in the ordinary course a message passed on was regarded as private, it was the practice that messages important to navigation should be communicated to the captain.

  The message from the Mesaba reported pack ice and a great number of bergs in latitude 42 to 41.25, longitude 49 to 50.30. (According to Fourth Officer Boxhall, who worked out the position, the Titanic struck the iceberg at lat. 41.46 long. 50.14.) At the bottom of the message, said Mr Turnbull, there was an entry to the effect that a reply was received from the Titanic operator. It was not the answer of the captain.

  At this point Lord Mersey said: ‘I am very anxious to know exactly what knowledge can be traced to Captain Smith. That is my anxiety.’ Later he remarked: ‘This message seems to me to justify the allegation made by the Solicitor General that the Titanic must have known of the presence of ice in the oblong.’

  Sir Robert Finlay (for the White Star Line): ‘It comes to this, of course, that the operator of the Titanic who received this message would know of it. I think it must have been Phillips. He has gone, of course, and it does not carry it a step further towards showing that the captain or any of the officers knew of it.’

  Lord Mersey: ‘It would be a very extraordinary thing if a man in the Marconi room did not communicate a telegram of this kind to the captain.’

  Harold Bride, the junior operator on the Titanic, said that the only message he took about ice was one from the Californian. It was received on the Sunday afternoon, and it stated that the Californian had passed three large icebergs.

  Bride said he overheard the message as it was being sent to the Baltic. Before that the Californian had called him up with the same message, but he could not take it then because he was busy making up accounts. Bride delivered the message to an officer on the bridge.

  Bride described how Phillips sent out the distress calls after the collision, and said that the last time he went to the wireless room a man who was dressed like a stoker was trying to take off Phillips’s lifebelt. ‘We stopped him,’ said Bride.

  Mr Lewis (for the Seafarers’ Union): ‘You are supposed to have hit him?’ – ‘Well, I held him and Phillips hit him.’

  Mr Lewis: ‘That is rather different from what I read. Are you positive of this?’ – ‘Yes.’

  ‘You are not likely to see him again,’ Bride added.

  (Daily Sketch, 24 May 1912)

  TITANIC’S BOATS

  Startling Evidence at the Inquiry

  How Board of Trade Was Warned

  Some startling evidence was sprung upon the Titanic Commission yesterday by the Right Hon. A. M. Carlisle, who until 1910 was chairman of managing directors and general mana
ger of works for Harland and Wolff, the builders.

  He said that plans were worked out and submitted to the White Star Company providing for four boats under each set of davits on the Titanic and Olympic.

  Mr Carlisle said he considered there were not enough boats on the Titanic. Before she sailed he told the Merchant Shipping Act Committee (appointed by the Board of Trade), of which he was a member, that she was inefficiently boated. She should have had at least forty-eight lifeboats on board instead of sixteen.

  Mr Carlisle said he took the plans with him to the committee meeting at the Board of Trade offices.

  Lord Mersey said that the Court would procure the minutes of the committee’s meetings.

  Mr Carlisle was closely questioned as to two interviews that took place between representatives of the White Star Line.

  Asked who was present when plans showing facilities for increased boat accommodation were submitted, Mr Carlisle named Mr Bruce Ismay and Mr Sanderson, the manager of the White Star Line. He could not say whether Mr Sanderson realized what the plan was, as he did not speak.

  Mr Carlisle continued, ‘I came especially from Belfast in October 1909, with those plans, and also the decorations, and Mr Ismay and Mr Sanderson, Lord Pirrie, and myself spent about four hours together.

  ‘I showed them the plans,’ Mr Carlisle went on, ‘and said it would put them to no expense or trouble in case the Board of Trade came on them to do anything at the last minute.’

  Mr Carlisle replied that the builders had a very free hand, but he did not think they could possibly have supplied any more boats for the ship without getting the sanction of the White Star Line.

  ‘Did you try?’ – ‘You must remember I retired before the ship was launched.’

  In reply to further questions Mr Carlisle said he was a party to the Board of Trade’s Advisory Committee’s report last year, the recommendations in which required a less boating capacity than there was on the Titanic. He was asked to join the committee two days before it finished its report, and when it had come to certain conclusions he did not consider them satisfactory, and told the committee so. But he signed the report.