Page 20 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 10 -13

11406. And battened down? - Yes, it was battened down. 11407. Did you see water over that hatchway? - No, it was not over. 11408. Where did you see it? - All round the coamings. 11409. They would be on the deck? - Yes. 11410. Raised on G deck? - Yes. 11411. Do you mean you saw the water round the coamings there? - Yes. 11412. Did you see any water on the tarpaulin? - I never took that much notice of the water on the tarpaulin. The only thing I noticed was the water coming round the coamings of the hatch. 11413. And I think you said from the starboard side particularly? - Yes, it looked as if it was coming from the starboard side in that corner, the foremost end. The Commissioner: I took down from you that the water was nearly up to the coamings on deck G; that is inaccurate. The Attorney-General: I am not sure that it is, with great respect. The Commissioner: Nearly up to the coamings. He says it was running round the coamings. 11414. (The Attorney-General.) Yes, I think I know what he means. (To the Witness.). The coamings are above the deck, and the hatchways rest upon them in that way? - Yes. 11415. Explain in your own way. Will you explain to my Lord what you mean by saying that it was nearly up to the coamings? - Take that box, for instance; there is the hatch in the centre, and all round the hatch you would come to the bulkheads, which I suppose you would call watertight bulkheads, and all around there was a foot, or it may be a little more or less, space between, allowing for the battens to go over the hatches; that is where the water was, right round the hatch. The Commissioner: What he means, I think, is this, that the water he saw was nearly to the top of the coamings. The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: He means he saw it outside nearly to the top. 11416. (The Attorney-General - To the Witness.) After that you say as you looked at it you got an order to go on to the boat deck? - Yes. 11417. When you got on to the boat deck, what order did you get then? - The order I got on the boat deck from Mr. Murdoch, and also the boatswain was, they gave an order to uncover the boats and get the falls out. I assisted generally in the boats on the starboard fore end, 3, 5, and 7. 11418. Before you go on telling us what happened then, can you give us any idea what time it was when you noticed this water reaching nearly to the coamings of the hatch? - I should think, roughly estimating it, it would be about five minutes to twelve, because, as I was on my way to the deck, so they struck eight bells in the crow’s-nest. 11419. When you got up there you told us you assisted to get 3, 5, and 7 ready on the starboard side? - Yes. 11420. Was No. 1 ready? - No. 1 was already swung out. 11421. That is the emergency boat? - Yes. 11422. It is always carried swung out, is it not? - Oh, yes. 11423. By the time you got to the boat deck had the seamen nearly all arrived on the boat deck? - Yes, I think they were pretty well all there. 11424. Had they gone to the boats on the starboard side? - They went to their respective stations, I believe, port and starboard side. 11425. Who was in charge of the starboard side? - Mr. Murdoch. 11426. Was there any difficulty, speaking generally, so far as you could see, in getting out these boats on the starboard side? - None whatever; they never worked better or more comfortably. I have never seen them work better in any ship I have been in. 11427. I did not catch that. I think you said you had never seen them work better on any other