Page 153 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 1 - 5

certificate for so that I can prove it. There is a doctor’s examination when you fall in. 2698. Were you asked about your eyesight? - Not specially. 2699. Were you asked in any way about it? - I cannot say that I was. 2700. (Mr. Lewis.) Can you tell us what form the examination took then. Were you examined separately; were all the men examined separately? What sort of examination did the doctor make? - I suppose he pleased himself. A medical man generally does, does not he? 2701. What sort of examination did he make of you? What did he say to you? - You might ask me something easier because I cannot remember what the man said. 2702. You say you were examined by the doctor - this is very important. I want you to answer the question. What form did the examination take; how long did it take? - We were falling in on the lounge deck and the doctor came and examined us all. I do not know that he particularly asked me anything. 2703. Just a casual examination? - It was a casual kind of examination. 2704. He did not ask you anything at all about your eyes? - No. 2705. No special examination. Has there been any examination by anyone since, by a ship’s doctor or anyone else, with respect to your eyes? - No. 2706. (The Commissioner.) Is your eyesight good? - I think so, my Lord. 2707. Do you believe that it is good? - I do. Examined by MR. COTTER. 2708. You said that the berg, when you first saw it, was half a mile away? - I did not. I said I could not say whether it was half a mile or a little more or a little less. It was impossible to say. 2709. (The Commissioner.) I thought you said it was about half a mile away? - About half a mile. The Attorney-General: He did say that he really could not say, but that that was it as it appeared to him. 2710. (Mr. Cotter.) If you had had a pair of night binoculars that night, and you were using them, I suggest to you that you would have seen that berg earlier? - Quite feasible. 2711. And then there would have been a chance of telling the officer on the bridge that it was ahead before you did. 2712. (The Commissioner.) Can you tell me the difference between day binoculars and night binoculars? - No, my Lord, except that they are made in the trade for night use and day use. Examined by SIR ROBERT FINLAY. 2713. Just a few questions. The practice varies a good deal, does not it, about supplying binoculars to the look-out men? - Well, Sir, I do not know. They are supposed to be. It may be that some companies would supply them and some companies would not supply them. 2714. You know, I daresay, there is some difference of opinion as to whether it is desirable that the men who have to look out all round should have glasses? - Yes. 2715. That is, I believe, because it leads them to fix their attention on the spot to which they are directing the glasses? - Yes. 2716. There is a difference of opinion about that. Now about this light that you saw after you were in the boat. You saw it before the “Titanic” went down, as I understand you? - Yes. 2717. Were there more lights than one? - It seemed like a masthead light, or, as I said, it might be one of our own boats with a small light. 2718. How far off did you think it was? - It might have been a matter of six miles; it might have been five miles.