Page 68 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 1 - 5

708. I want you to say, if you can, how the people were chosen that got into the boat? - Women and children first. 709. Were there a lot of people standing about the boat or not? - There was. Some ladies would not come in the boat. 709a. (The Commissioner.) Did you say some lady or some ladies? - Some ladies. I heard one say it. 710. Some ladies refused to come in? - Yes. 710a. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) How many refused? - Well, I heard them saying - two or three of them saying, “No, I will not go; I will not go away in the boat.” 711. Did they give any reason for refusing? - They did not give any reason, Sir. 712. However, you did put a good number of ladies into the boat? - Yes, all that would come. 713. Did you put any men in as well? - No, Sir. 714. Any passengers, I mean - any male passengers? - No, I never put any in. 714a. (The Commissioner.) Did any get in? - Yes, I suppose some of them. 714b. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) Do you know how many, if any, got in? - I could not tell you the amount of male passengers there were in the boat. 714c. (The Commissioner.) The question is how many men got into the boat - men passengers? - I could not tell you the number. 715. Well, did some get in? - Yes. 716. Can you give us about how many? - I could not tell you the number that got there. 717. Was it 20? - I do not know. I never saw 20 get in. I stood like I could not see everything, helping the ladies and children in. 718. Then I suppose you took an oar after the boat went into the water, did you not? - Yes. 719. Well, you would see then how many men there were in the boat and how many women? - No. I was keeping the boat off the ship’s side with an oar. 720. How long were you in that boat before you were picked up? - It was 10 minutes to 10 when I was picked up by the “Carpathia.” 721. The next morning? - Yes. 722. Very well then, you were in the boat a very long time. Cannot you remember how many men there were in it and how many women passengers? - No, I could not say how many men there were in there. The boat was full, 70 - about 60 or 70 I should think all told. 722a. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) Before the boat was lowered, while people were still getting in, were there a lot of men passengers as well as women passengers on the deck? - Yes, there were a lot on the deck all round there. 723. Did they try to get in or was it orderly? - Quite orderly. Everyone obeyed orders. Everything was quite calm. 724. Could you tell whether the people that you saw standing round that boat were third-class passengers or first-class passengers? - No, Sir. 725. You did not know which they were? - No. 726. Who was in charge of that boat after it had been lowered? - The leading stoker and a sailor in the sheet ends of it. They were both in charge. I could not tell you which took charge of her. 727. Do you know their names? - Only Barrett. I think he took the tiller. He was giving orders. Barrett, the leading stoker. 728. How many of the crew were in this boat? - I could not say how many of the crew altogether that was in this boat. 729. There was you, and a sailor, and Barrett, the stoker? - Yes. 730. Did you have any difficulty in lowering and launching the boat? - Yes, we had a difficulty, because we were under the engine room discharge.