Page 34 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 10 -13

Listen to this. Is this right? “(Q.) What boat did you go from the ship in? - (A.) No. 1. (Q.) Who was in command of her? - (A.) I was. (Q.) How many passengers did you have on her? - (A.)From 14 to 20”? - Yes; that is what I thought I had there at the time, in the dark. 11730. (The Commissioner.) But you were not in the dark when you were sitting in this Court giving evidence? - No, Sir, not at that time. 11731. Then why did you say that you had from 14 to 20 passengers when you had only five? - I think, if I am speaking right, Senator Bourne asked how many was in the boat all told. 11732. (The Attorney-General.) I think, my Lord, if you read on that is all right. If you read on a little you will see he asked the question quite correctly, and evidently you misunderstood it? - That is right, Sir. 11733. He is asked: “How many passengers did you have on her?” I suppose he meant passengers in the boat. “ (A.) From 14 to 20. (Q.) Were they passengers or crew? - (A.) They were passengers. At first they put in seven of the crew. There was seven men ordered in, two seamen and five firemen. They were ordered in by Mr. Murdoch. (Q.) How many did this boat carry? - (A.) I could not say for certain. It was one of the small accident boats. (Q.) After she got into the water would she take any more? - (A.) She would have taken more. (Q.) How many did you have, all told? - (A.) I would not say for certain. It was 14 or 20. Then we were ordered away. (Q.) You did not return to the ship again? - (A.) Yes, we came back after the ship was gone and we saw nothing.” It still leaves it rather in doubt, I think, that is all there is about the numbers. (To the Witness.) Do you mean to say that the 14 or 20 that you said was meant to include everybody in the boat? - Yes, everybody. The Attorney-General: But you knew you were only twelve, all told? The Commissioner: It does not strike me that that is what it means. The question is put: “How many passengers did you have on her?” and the answer is: “From 14 to 20. (Q.) Were they passengers or crew? - (A.) They were passengers. At first they put in seven of the crew. There were seven men ordered in, two seamen and five firemen. They were ordered in by Mr. Murdoch. (Q.) How many did this boat carry? - (A.) I could not say for certain. It was one of the small accident boats. (Q.) After she got into the water would she take any more? - (A.) She would have taken more. (Q.) How many did you have all told?” Of course that may mean crew and passengers, but it does not read as if it did. The Attorney-General: Certainly; the earlier questions do not. 11734. The Commissioner: “(A.) I would not say for certain. It was 14 or 20. Then we were ordered away.” But anyway you must have known perfectly well when you gave this evidence that the number in that boat of yours was 12 and no more. Why did you say 14 or 20? - How do you mean, Sir, at that time? 11735. Yes. In America before the Court there. You must then have known quite well how many there were in your boat? - Yes, Sir, speaking in that way. 11736. Why did you tell them in America that there were 14 to 20 people in the boat when you knew as a fact that there were only 12? - I think myself, Sir, that the mistake I made then was through the way they muddle us about there. The Commissioner: There does not seem much muddling about that. 11737. (The Attorney-General.) You were asked a very plain question: “How many passengers did you have in her? - (A.) From 14 to 20. (Q.) Were they passengers or crew? and your answer is, “They were passengers.” - There must have been a mistake there, because I distinctly told Senator Bourne, or whatever his name was, the people that were in the boat. 11738. We have got exactly what you said; it was taken down in shorthand. “At first they put in seven of the crew.” Did you know the names of the other passengers? - No. 11739. Did you know the names of any of the passengers? - No, Sir, none whatever. 11740. When you were in America? - In America, yes, because I knew the gentleman then Sir