Page 163 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 1 - 5

2993. For what purpose? - To pick up anybody who was there. 2994. Was there anybody there? - I never saw anybody. 2995. Did you see any corpses? - No. 2996. You saw nothing? - I saw some by daylight. 2997. Did you hear any cries? - Yes. 2998. Did not the cries guide you so as to enable you to go to them? - Certainly. 2999. Did you go in that direction? - I pulled in the direction the cries came from. 3000. Did not you find anybody there? - No. 3001. Did you see nobody? - Nobody whatever. 3002. Are you sure? - Yes. 3003. When you pulled in that direction, did the passengers on board your boat approve of your doing so? - Yes. 3004. And you went and searched and found nobody? - Yes. 3005. You are sure of that? - Yes. 3006. Because you had a good deal of room in your boat? - Well, it did not look much room to my idea. 3007. According to your numbers your boat had 42? - Yes. 3008. And you and Clinch? - Yes, 40; and Clinch and me is 42. The Commissioner: And it is constructed to carry 65. 3009. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) Yes. (To the Witness.) You say you did go and look and found nobody? - Yes. 3010. I am directing your attention to the point of time after the “Titanic” went down and you pulled in the direction of the cries; was that before you had got them in from the collapsible boat? - Yes. 3011. It was? - Yes. 3012. So that at that time there was a great deal of spare room in your boat. You think not you say? - No. 3013. We know what the capacity of the boat is. How long did you remain looking, do you suggest, for the people? - About a quarter of an hour. 3014. And you saw nothing? - Nothing at all. 3015. Did you see wreckage? - Only about a couple of hundred deck chairs. 3016. But you saw no bodies? - No bodies whatever. 3017. During that quarter of an hour, while you were looking, how long did the cries continue? - All the time that we were looking we heard the cries. 3018. And yet you found nothing? - We found nothing at all. 3019. These cries were going on for the whole of the time you were searching? - Yes. 3020. What was the nearest do you think that you got to any of these cries? - I reckoned about 100 yards. 3021. And then did they cease? - Yes. 3022. Can you account for that? - I can account for not going to the position where I ought to have been. 3023. Well, will you tell us? - There were not enough sailors in my boat, only me and my mate, and we could not get there. 3024. (The Commissioner.) Get where? - To where the halloes were coming from - the cries. 3025. I thought you could not find that? 3026. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) What is the name of the other man who was in the boat with you? - Clinch. 3027. Do you know whether he is in this country? - He is not; he is coming home. 3028. He is coming home? - Yes.