Page 37 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 10 -13
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11778. It would have been quite a simple matter to have kept No. 1 boat on the davits slung ready for taking on passengers until a search was made throughout the ship for passengers? - Well, yes, we could have done that. 11779. I beg your pardon? - Yes, that could have been done. 11780. Can you explain to my Lord how it is that this order was given for your boat to go away with only five passengers? - I cannot say, Sir. 11781. Was there any person directing operations on the boat deck besides Mr. Murdoch? - Mr. Murdoch and the boatswain. 11782. Who is the boatswain? - Nichols. 11783. Has he been saved? - No, Sir. 11784. Did you see Mr. Ismay? - No, Sir. 11785. On the deck at that time? - No, Sir. 11786. Did you know him? - Yes; I knew him by being on the “Oceanic” with him. 11787. Is it your evidence that there were no passengers, either male or female, on the deck? - I saw none. 11788. Did you see any person at all, passengers or crew? - The crew was there working at the surf boat, the collapsible boat as the gentleman said. 11789. Were not there people crowding aft of the boat - passengers? - What do you mean, “crowding aft.”? 11790. Were not there a number of people aft of the emergency boat? - That I could not see from there. Those three boats there were gone. 11791. Knowing that you had not got accommodation for all the passengers you must have known and realised that there were plenty of passengers left behind in the ship, the “Titanic”? - Yes. 11792. Did the crew you had got into No. 1 prove sufficient to enable you to row this No. 1 boat? - Yes. 11793. The sea was calm? - Yes. 11794. And the night was calm? - Yes. 11795. The conditions could not have been more favourable for rescuing people? - No. 11796. (The Commissioner.) What seaboard had you in this boat? - That I could not give a satisfactory answer to. The Commissioner: But you ought to have known that before making up your mind that there was a danger from swamping? 11797. (Mr. Scanlan.) Is it your evidence that you rowed away in obedience to the order from the officer to a distance of 150 to 200 yards? - No, it was a quarter of a mile. That is the distance I rowed. 11798. The evidence of Hendrickson is that you rowed away to a distance of 150 to 200 yards. Do you contradict that? - Yes; we rowed away to roughly about a quarter of a mile. 11799. If it is stated by Lady Duff-Gordon that you watched the boat go down from a distance of 200 yards, are you going to contradict that? - It was more than that, Sir. 11800. What was the order you had got from Mr. Murdoch? - To row away from the ship and to stand by to be called back. 11801. If you had gone away a quarter of a mile you could not have heard any call to come back? - No, Sir. When we rowed away at first we were not a quarter of a mile away. That was when the ship went down. 11802. Before the ship went down, when you were standing by to obey any order you might get from Mr. Murdoch, or the Captain, what distance was it? - Then we were about 200 yards. 11803. I put it to you that you remained stationary at a distance of 200 yards and watched the “Titanic” go down? - No, Sir, we were going further away all the time she was going down.
