Page 186 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 14 - 18

shortest and simplest way of dealing with Mr. Sanderson would be to refer him to the subject matter of some of these questions in order that your Lordship may be sure you have got the information from him as far as he is able give it. There has been a print of them, my Lord (handing up the same). The Attorney-General: I think it would be very convenient, as we are approaching the time at which these will involve your Lordship’s consideration, that we should have them not printed as they are here, but on a double page, so that you will not have to turn back, and then your Lordship will be supplied with them. 19084. (The Solicitor-General - To the Witness.) Have you got a copy? - I had a copy; I have not one before me at the present moment. 19085. You had better have one (Handing the same to the Witness). The first question had to do with the total number of persons on board, passengers, and so on. The figures which the Attorney-General opened were figures which had been supplied by the White Star Line to the Board of Trade, and I may take it, may I not, that they are correct? - They are correct. 19086. And the convenient thing, I think, will be to have printed on the Shorthand Note in a tabular form those figures. I will hand it up, if I may, for your Lordship to see the form in which the figures are, and if your Lordship agrees I will have them printed on the Shorthand Notes. The Commissioner: Very well. The Solicitor-General: They show the division of the passengers according to class and according to sex, and according as to whether they are children or adults, and they give the number saved out of the totals, and the percentages, and then they give the number of the crew. The Commissioner: Have you several of these? The Solicitor-General: At the moment, I have not, but I will see they are put upon the Notes. The Attorney-General: I have just asked that that should be done, and given in in larger type. 19087. (The Solicitor-General - To the Witness.) We may take it that those figures are correct? - They were carefully compiled. 19088. (The Solicitor-General.) That will give your Lordship the material, I think, for the first question. Then the next one, Mr. Sanderson, has to do with whether the “Titanic” complied with the requirements of the Merchant Shipping Act when she left Southampton. She is given, I think, a passenger certificate? - She was. 19089. When we call the Board of Trade witness we will go into it more in detail, but there is a copy of it (handing in the same). It is a certificate which shows that she is certified for 905 First class Passengers, 564 Second Class, 1,134 Third Class, and a crew of 944, making a total of 3,547? - I believe that is correct. 19090. I will just hand that in to my Lord, and I will call attention to one thing in passing, about it. That certificate shows that the total passengers and crew for which the certificate was issued, was 3,547? - Yes. 19091. Whereas your first table shows the total passengers and crew that were carried was 2,206? - Yes. The Commissioner: What is the difference? 19092. (The Solicitor-General.) The difference is 1,300, the exact difference is 1,341. And in addition to that passenger certificate, Mr. Sanderson, was the ship duly certified by the Board of Trade officials before she left for this particular voyage? - That is true. 19093. We will ask the Board of Trade witnesses in detail about that, but it is so no doubt. I do not think there is anything that this gentleman would wish to say about No. 3. We have had some evidence, and Mr. Wilding will give the details. The Commissioner: Look at No. 2. The Attorney-General opened what the requirements of the Board of Trade were, and stated what the requirements of the American Rules with regard to either emigration or immigration were also. Now I want to know what that means - what are