Page 191 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 1 - 5

it. (The Witness withdrew.) THOMAS PATRICK DILLON, Sworn. Examined by Mr. RAYMOND ASQUITH. 3708. You were a trimmer on the “Titanic,” were you not? - Yes. 3709. I suppose your duties as a trimmer would be in the engine room? - Yes. 3710. Were you on duty in the engine room on the night of the accident? - Yes. 3711. Is there more than one engine room? - I do not know. 3712. I see on the plan immediately after the last boiler there is a compartment marked “Reciprocating engine.” Is that where you were? - That is where I understand I was - in the engine room. I have never been down below before; it was my first trip down below. 3713. Would you be in a coal bunker, or where? - In the engine room where the main engines are. 3714. What were you doing there? What were your duties there? - I belonged to the upper section, but the upper section of boilers was not lit up, and they sent us to the engine room to assist in cleaning the gear. 3715. Did you feel the shock when the ship struck? - Slightly. 3716. And shortly before that had the telegraph rung? - Yes. 3717. Can you say at all how long before she struck that was? - Two seconds. 3718. What was the order given by the telegraph? - I could not tell you. 3719. You just heard it ring. Then a few seconds after that you felt a slight shock? - Yes. 3720. Was anything done to the engines? Did they stop or did they go on? - They stopped. 3721. Was that immediately after you felt the shock or some little time after? - About a minute and a half. 3722. Did they continue stopped or did they go on again after that? - They went slow astern. 3723. How long were they stopped for before they began to go slow astern? - About half a minute. 3724. For how long did they go slow astern? - About two minutes. 3725. Two or three did you say? - Two minutes. 3726. And then did they stop again? - Yes. 3727. And did they go on again after that? - They went ahead again. 3728. For how long? - For about two minutes. 3729. Then did they stop the boat after that? - Yes. 3730. Who else was in the engine room? Were there a number of engineers there? - Yes. 3731. Can you remember who they were? - I did not know their names. 3732. What did they do when the ship struck? - They rushed to their stations, the pumps and valves, I understand. 3733. They set the pumps in motion? - I could not tell you. 3734. Was anything done about the watertight compartments? - Yes. 3735. Were they closed? - In the meantime. 3736. How soon after the ship struck was that done? - Three minutes. 3737. Did you receive any orders from the engineer? - Yes. 3738. What order? - The next order we got was to get out of the engine room and into the stokehold and open the doors. 3739. Open what doors? - The watertight doors or watertight compartments.