Page 18 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 14 - 18

communication by these time rushes? - Yes. 16252. And then having found that out you can send any message you desire to send? - Yes, provided, of course, that the range does not increase; there is a certain amount of time in which you can exchange messages. 16253. If it does not increase, but the two ships remain in range, then you can send a message? - Yes. 16254. If time rushes have been exchanged with a ship, say with the “Titanic,” does that show that communication is established? - Yes. 16255. I understand following on the exchange of time rushes messages may be sent from one to the other? - Yes. The Commissioner: Sir Robert, this appears to me to be a very important telegram, the “Mesaba,” because it seems to me to justify the allegations made by the Solicitor-General yesterday that the “Titanic” must have known the presence of the ice in what was called the parallelogram. Is not that so? The Solicitor-General: Yes, I call it the oblong. Sir Robert Finlay: It goes to this, of course, that the operator on board the “Titanic” who received this message would know of that? The Commissioner: Yes. The Solicitor-General: One or other of them. Sir Robert Finlay: I think it must have been Phillips, and Phillips is unfortunately lost. The Solicitor-General: Yes. The Commissioner: Phillips is not here. Sir Robert Finlay: No, he was lost, but of course it does not carry it a step further towards showing that the Captain or any of the officers knew. The Commissioner: It would be a very extraordinary thing, although of course it is possible, if the man in the Marconi room did not communicate a telegram of this kind to the Captain. Sir Robert Finlay: Your Lordship will recollect the answer that man in the Marconi room sent to the Marconi operator on board the “Californian” at that very time. When the message was sent by the “Californian” about ice, he sent back a message saying that he was busy with Cape Race and did not want to be bothered, in effect. The Solicitor-General: I do not think quite so. The message he sent back was that he had already heard about the ice. Sir Robert Finlay: No, no; that is another message altogether. The Solicitor-General: Let us see. Sir Robert Finlay: I am going to show that to you presently. The Attorney-General: There is nothing like doing it at once. Sir Robert Finlay: I will read the passage. Your Lordship will find it on page 202, the second column. The Solicitor-General: The question I am referring to is question 8972 - “What did the ‘Titanic’ say to you when you offered your ice report? - (A.) He said “It is all right, I heard you sending it to the ‘Antillian,’ and I have got it.” I think I am quite accurate. Sir Robert Finlay: That is one answer. The Solicitor-General: That is the important answer. Sir Robert Finlay: That is another part altogether. What I am referring to is in the second column of page 202, Question 8986. If your Lordship will allow me, I will read a few questions and answers to make it clear: “(The Commissioner.) What time was this - about what time? - (A.) Five minutes to eleven. (The Solicitor-General.) Ship’s time? - (A.) Yes (Q.) What did the Captain say when you said that? - (A.) He said, ‘You had better advise the ‘Titanic’ we are stopped, and surrounded by ice.’ (Q.) Did you call up the ‘Titanic’? - (A.) Yes. (Q.) Can you