Page 181 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 14 - 18

not thinking about it. Sir Robert Finlay: Then I put in the letter of instructions. 19066. (The Commissioner.) I want to ask a question before the witness goes. (To the Witness.) Have you made any Enquiry as to whether any other liner was following this track in the direction of America during this day? - I have not. 19067. Has anyone made any such Enquiry? - I do not know. The Commissioner: Has such Enquiry been made, do you know, Sir Robert? Sir Robert Finlay: I am told, my Lord, there were others following it up. The Commissioner: Following the same track? Sir Robert Finlay: I am told so, my Lord. The Commissioner: I should very much like to know what those steamers were and whether they received similar warnings to that received from the “Baltic,” and at what speed they were travelling? Sir Robert Finlay: We will endeavour to get all that information for your Lordship. 19068. (The Commissioner - To the Witness.) Have you a note of any Enquiry as to whether, upon the receipt of warning as to ice, the German liners or the French liners slow down? - I have no knowledge what they do, my Lord. 19069. Can any information of that kind be obtained as to the practice of these large liners when they receive notice of the existence of ice? - We could ask for the information, my Lord. 19070. Do you think you could get it? - I am afraid not, my Lord. Sir Robert Finlay: I might suggest, my Lord, that the Board of Trade would probably be able to insist upon the information from British ships as to following this line, according to our information, and what warnings they got, and so on, and I have no doubt if the Board of Trade were to apply they would get the information from the foreign lines which your Lordship has mentioned. I think the Board of Trade can do more than we can. The Commissioner: I would just say that if Mr. Ismay or his Company were to ask for the information, it might not be readily granted, but I think if the Board of Trade asked for it, it would be supplied. The Attorney-General: I said some time ago that your Lordship should have it when you asked the question some days ago. 19071. (The Commissioner.) Very well. (To the Witness.) Now can you tell me, from the information you have got, in your opinion, how many of the watertight compartments were injured, that is to say, broken into, by the collision? - I think there was water in the first four compartments, from the evidence I have read. 19072. Not the first six? - I am not including the forepeak. 19073. Then if you included the forepeak, it would make five? - Yes. The Commissioner: Mr. Asquith, will you just point out on the plan where the actual injury to the ship was - how far aft it occurred? Mr. Raymond Asquith: The five compartments. The Commissioner: Yes, counting the forepeak as one. Mr. Raymond Asquith: To there, counting the forepeak as one - that is to say, to No. 6. Sir Robert Finlay: But there was some water in No. 6. The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: I thought, Mr. Attorney, that the evidence was that there was water coming in in No. 6. The Attorney-General: Certainly, my Lord, that is quite right, and I may also say that we have evidence that water was coming into No. 5. Your Lordship will remember that when they came along after fetching the suction pipe from the aftermost funnel they came along, and then when they got to the aftermost door of No. 5, separating No. 4 from No. 5, that they stopped there