Page 221 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 10 -13

dozen, I should say, as near as I could tell. 15396. What sort of rockets were they? - The socket distress signal. 15397. Can you describe what the effect of those rockets is in the sky; what do they do? - You see a luminous tail behind them and then they explode in the air and burst into stars. 15398. Did you send them up at intervals one at a time? - One at a time, yes. 15399. At about what kind of intervals? - Well, probably five minutes; I did not take any times. 15400. Did you watch the lights of this steamer while you were sending the rockets up? - Yes. 15401. Did they seem to be stationary? - I was paying most of my attention to this steamer then, and she was approaching us; and then I saw her sidelights. I saw her green light and the red. She was end-on to us. Later I saw her red light. This is all with the aid of a pair of glasses up to now. Afterwards I saw the ship’s red light with my naked eye, and the two masthead lights. The only description of the ship that I could give is that she was, or I judged her to be, a four- masted steamer. 15402. Why did you judge that? - By the position of her masthead lights; they were close together. 15403. Did the ship make any sort of answer, as far as you could see, to your rockets? - I did not see it. Some people say she did, and others say she did not. There were a lot of men on the bridge. I had a Quartermaster with me, and the Captain was standing by, at different times, watching this steamer. 15404. Do you mean you heard someone say she was answering your signals? - Yes, I did, and then she got close enough, and I Morsed to her - used our Morse lamp. 15405. You began Morsing to her? - Yes. 15406. When people said to you that your signals were being answered, did they say how they were being answered? - I think I heard somebody say that she showed a light. 15407. Do you mean that she would be using a Morse lamp? - Quite probably. 15408. Then you thought she was near enough to Morse her from the “Titanic”? - Yes, I do think so; I think so yet. 15409. (The Commissioner.) What distance did you suppose her to be away? - I judged her to be between 5 and 6 miles when I Morsed to her, and then she turned round - she was turning very, very slowly - until at last I only saw her stern light, and that was just before I went away in the boat. 15410. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) Did she make any sort of answer to your Morse signals? - I did not see any answer whatever. 15411. Did anyone else, so far as you know, see an answer? - Some people say they saw lights, but I did not. 15412. Did they think they saw them Morsing in answer to your Morse signals; did anyone say that? - They did not say she Morsed, but they said she showed a light. Then I got the Quartermaster who was with me to call her up with our lamps, so that I could use the glasses to see if I could see signs of any answer; but I could not see any. 15413. You could not see any with the glasses? - No; and Captain Smith also looked, and he could not see any answer. 15414. He also looked at her through the glasses? - Yes. 15415. After a time you saw what you took to be the stern light of a ship? - It was the stern light of the ship. 15416. Did you infer from that that the ship was turned round, and was going in the opposite direction? - Yes. 15417. When you first saw her, I understand you to say she was approaching you? - She was approaching us, yes. 15418. For about how long did you signal before it seemed to you that she turned round? - I