Page 189 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 10 -13

14727. Would that be a night on which a glass would have been of service? - I have never seen icebergs through glasses so I really cannot say. 14728. If there had been glasses there it would have been extremely probable, one man would be using his eyes and the other his glasses? - Most improbable. The Commissioner: Do you really suggest that in a look-out like the crow’s-nest there is always one man with glasses and another man without glasses. 14729. (Mr. Lewis.) I suggest it is possible that one man would be using glasses and the other not. Do not you think it would have been advisable when approaching an ice-field, seeing you knew glasses had not been supplied to the look-out men, to have seen that they were supplied with a pair? - No. 14730. I understood you to say that you could yourself have seen the iceberg in time for the disaster to have been averted if you had been on the bridge? - I am afraid you have totally misunderstood me. I do not pretend to have been able to see it any further than my brother officer, Mr. Murdoch. 14731. I understood you in reply to a question that you thought you could have seen it in time to have averted the accident? - I am afraid you have understood wrongly then. 14732. Can you tell me whether there were any orders with regard to firemen, whether they were stationed at all, those off watch? - No. I had no orders with regard to firemen. 14733. They seem not to have been used very much, and I want to know if you knew they had been stationed on any part of the deck; you could not say that? - No. 14734. Can you tell me whether sliding chocks for the collapsible boats would have been of any material assistance to you? - I could not. 14735. I understand that there is a patent chock which will enable collapsible boats to be put out. You have never seen them, perhaps? - No. 14736. With regard to speed, did I understand you aright this time, that you said you had never known speed reduced? - No, you are not correct. 14737. I understood the question was put, and you said you never understood speed was reduced? - No, that is wrong; you had misunderstood me totally. 14738. May I take it speed is frequently reduced crossing the Atlantic? - Under certain conditions. 14739. Is it not the fact the boats are nearly always in to time? - No. 14740. Have you been late frequently? - Yes, I have known a first class mail, a 21-knot boat, 36 hours late. 14741. You have known that on the White Star? - Yes, and been on her. Examined by Mr. HOLMES. 14742. You told us that all the officers had been on the “Titanic” on the trial trip except Mr. Wilde? - Yes. 14743. You know he had had considerable experience on the “Olympic,” the sister ship? - I believe so. 14744. Were the boats on the “Titanic” in the forward and the after compartments carried in the same way? - Practically the same, with the exception of that small bulwark there. 14745. Are not they carried inboard? - I see what you mean. At sea they are carried with their keel on the rail of the ship. Those boats were inboard on their chocks. That is right. 14746. You have told us of the conversation with the Captain, in which he gave you instructions to call him if you were at all doubtful? - Yes. 14747. Had you, in fact, any kind of doubt during the rest of your watch? - None whatever. 14748. Was there any reason whatever why you should have any such doubt? - None.