Page 25 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 1 - 5

Lordship 49° 9’ W., longitude to 50° 20’ W., I ought to have added “on the outward southern track.” That was the message. That is the track to which I called your attention. The Commissioner: I want to see if I have got the “Baltic’s” figures right - 49° 9’ N., 50° 20’ W.? The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: I notice that the ice was between those points? The Attorney-General: Yes on the outward southern track. Now if your Lordship would look just below the blue cross marked there, you will see the outward southern track is that line which you see immediately underneath. The Commissioner: What are the figures again for the “Baltic”? The Attorney-General: The only figures I have given you are longitude - The Commissioner: For the “Baltic” I want them. The Attorney-General: 49º 9’ W to 50º 20’ W longitude on the outward southern track. The Commissioner: Where was the “Titanic” at the time that she received the “Caronia’s” message, and where was she at the time that she received the “Baltic’s” message? The Attorney-General: All we can give your Lordship with reference to that is the distance that she must have travelled and for that you must have the times. The Commissioner: Yes, you can form an idea, by the speed she was making, where she would be at the time that she received these two messages; and I want that. The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: Mr. Attorney, am I right in supposing that she ran right into the locality where the ice was after the warning that the ice was there? The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: That is what it comes to. The Attorney-General: Yes, that is the point, and if you work it out with the chart, as we have been doing, it follows that she did that; because taking the point at which she struck the iceberg, and the indication to her by the “Baltic,” you will observe that will work out the position which I have just told your Lordship, immediately below the spot of the collision, actually on the southern track. The Commissioner: Mr. Laing, do you agree about this? Mr. Laing: No, my Lord, I cannot agree without seeing my figures of the exact spot. We are not quite certain of the exact spot, at the moment, of the collision. The Commissioner: It is not a question of the exact spot. According to the indication made for me by my colleagues upon this chart, if, that is to say, the figures given to me by the Attorney- General are right, it looks as if she, having had warning, made for the ice. Mr. Laing: Well, my Lord, we are not quite satisfied about the exact place of collision; we think there may be a substantial difference. The Commissioner: Very well, if you say so, I will wait. Mr. Laing: Yes, we think there may be, but at present we are not certain about it. The Commissioner: Very well. The Attorney-General: I quite appreciate what my learned friend says. I am sure my learned friend will agree with the way in which I put the blue cross. If the figures we have given are correct the spot indicated in the chart is correct, and if the figures we have given of the “Baltic” just now are correct what your Lordship said is also correct. My Lord, I cannot think that there can be any question between us as to the spot at which she struck the iceberg, because her own wireless messages to the “Baltic” asking for assistance were from 41° 46’ N., and 50° 14’ W., which is practically the spot. Her message was “Sinking; want immediate assistance.” Of course, that is out of its order in the story, but I only wanted to tell your Lordship that to show there cannot be any question between us as to the spot at which we say she struck?