Page 105 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 1 - 5

1674. Then how many oars would she row with 12 men according to your reckoning? - Twelve oars. 1675. And a coxswain beside? - Yes. 1676. (The Commissioner.) Do I understand, in your opinion, a lifeboat to accommodate 40 people ought to have in it 12 men with each an oar? - Yes, my Lord. 1677. (Mr. Rowlatt.) Did you have one man to each oar or two men to an oar? - One man to an oar in a lifeboat. 1678. Do they have sails? - Yes. 1679. And when you say 12 men - ? - That includes the four to sail the boat. 1680. Would they be enough in bad weather? - That is the crew. 1681. When you say 12 - ? - I am talking of rough weather. 1682. A crew to face everything? - Yes. 1683. Did you find it difficult to row these lifeboats with only two oars? - Well, we just kept her going that is all. 1684. And the collapsible, how many men do you think would be wanted for the collapsible? - About five hands. 1685. Four to row and one to steer? - Yes. 1686. Is the collapsible intended to have a rudder? - Yes. 1687. Did you never see a rudder belonging to a collapsible? - I never saw one there. 1688. Had she the proper number of oars? - Yes. 1689. And rowlocks or crutches? - Yes. 1690. Did you never see the rudder? - No. 1691. What happened to the collapsible ultimately? - I do not know. 1692. Was she cut adrift, or was she taken on board the “Carpathia”? - None of the collapsible boats were taken on board of her. They were cast adrift. 1693. Therefore you never had an opportunity of seeing? - No. 1694. Can you form any judgment as to whether she had a plug or not? - If there had not been a false bottom I might have been able to find it out, but they carry a false bottom about 2 feet from the keel. 1695. As far as you were able to see you could not see whether there was a plug or not? - To speak the truth, I do not think there was a plug in the boat. 1696. Would she have floated as well as she did without a plug? Would not the water have spurted up from the hole? - We could not see that because there was a false bottom - that was what I was frightened of. 1697. You mean a false bottom, not watertight? - Yes. 1698. Not one hole coming through the two bottoms? - The boat is like that, and the false bottom is laid like a bit of a platform. (describing.) 1699. You did not know what was going on under the platform? - No. 1700. I see; that is what it was. Would not you have expected the water to have come over the platform more than it did if there had been no plug at all in the boat? - I should have done, yes. 1701. What is your conclusion about whether there was a plug or not? - The passengers wanted to get out of the boat, and I got them out of it. 1702. Was there a lamp in the boat? - No. 1703. And no provisions nor water? - Not in this boat. 1704. (The Commissioner.) A compass? - No. 1705. (Mr. Rowlatt.) Was there going to be any other boat drill as far as you heard? - No, I do not think there was, they would have mustered that Sunday. It is a regular thing in these boats to muster on Sunday for boat drill and fire stations. 1706. You had had a Sunday? - Yes, this was a Sunday.