Page 31 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 1 - 5

percentage of 12; 179 women were carried, 98 were saved, giving a percentage of 55; 76 children carried, 23 saved, percentage, 30. Taking the passengers, therefore, without the crew, there were 1,308 carried, 493 saved giving a percentage of 38. Now, my Lord, dealing with those in the same way, subdividing them: Of the 787 men carried, 126 were saved, giving a percentage of 16 percent. Of the 416 women carried, 315 were saved, percentage 76; of the 105 children carried, 52 were saved, giving a percentage of 49. Now, my Lord, the only other figures are as to the crew, which are short. Eight hundred and ninety-eight were carried, 210 were saved, giving a percentage of 23. Of the 875 men carried 189 were saved, giving a percentage of 22. Of the 23 women carried, 21 were saved, with a proportion of 91 percent. My Lord, the striking figures and figures which will no doubt engage the Court’s attention during this Inquiry, are that 63 percent of the first-class passengers were saved, 42 percent of the second-class, and only 25 percent of the third-class. The Commissioner: And 23 percent of the crew. The Attorney-General: And 23 percent of the crew. My Lord, one striking figure to which I would direct your Lordship’s attention also is this: that taking the figures I have given you of the first-class passengers, dealing with the women, and knowing as we do that some wives refused to go without their husbands, you will see that all except five were saved. If you assume that those five refused to leave their husbands the consequence is, that one must take it, that all the women in the first-class either were saved or had the opportunity of being saved and refused to avail themselves of it. One fact, my Lord, which does stand out in these series of figures which I have given to your Lordship is that of this very large number of men carried, of the passengers, only 126 were saved, giving the lowest percentage of any of the different classes to which I have referred. I mean taking the men of the first, second, and third-classes. Now, my Lord, it may be necessary, and I daresay it will be later, during the course of the case, to analyse those figures even a little more closely; but I do not suppose that there will be any dispute with regard to them, and I thought it was important that your Lordship should have them at the outset. Now my Lord, that really ends the story so far as I propose to trouble your Lordship and the Court with it in opening. The salient points which occurs to me at the moment (I am dealing with it only upon such material as we have at the moment), to which no doubt your Lordship’s consideration will be directed - are first the speed of the vessel after the warning; secondly, that the number of boats was not sufficient for the number of persons carried; and thirdly, the construction of the watertight doors, and the effect of their action, will be another matter which will engage your attention during the course of the case. My Lord, dealing with the speed and the warning, there are the points which I have already sufficiently indicated, not only of the wireless telegrams, but of the temperature and also of the look-out. With regard to the boats, your Lordship will also hear what the rules and regulations are. I think I am right in saying this, that the “Titanic” carried sufficient boats to comply with the rules and regulations of the Board of Trade under the Merchant Shipping Acts, and no complaint is to be made against the “Titanic” that she in any way did not comply with those conditions. Whether they are sufficient, in view particularly of the experience which we have now had, and to what extent, and in what direction those rules and regulations should be amended is a matter which, as I indicated to your Lordship yesterday, will be for your Lordship’s serious consideration. The Commissioner: Have you, Mr. Attorney, obtained any figures as to the proportion of lifeboats carried by other lines? The Attorney-General: We propose to do that, my Lord. The Commissioner: By other lines I mean, of course, the German or French, or other lines. Do they carry a proportion of lifeboat accommodation in excess of that which was carried by the