Page 192 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 14 - 18

accordance with the Table” (that is the 16 boats) “do not furnish sufficient accommodation for all persons on board” (that is this case your Lordship sees) “then additional wood, metal, collapsible, or other boats” (in this case it is collapsible) “of approved description (whether placed under davits or otherwise) or approved life-rafts shall be carried.” That is where the four collapsible boats come in, your Lordship sees. Then the important rule is the rule which is in the next paragraph, not (e) I mean, but the next printed paragraph: “Subject to the provisions contained in paragraph (f) of these rules” - that is to say subject to the rule that they need not carry more boats than are sufficient for everybody on board - subject to that - “such additional boats or rafts shall be of at least such carrying capacity that they and the boats required to be placed under davits by the Table provide together in the aggregate in vessels of 5,000 tons gross and upwards, three-fourths, and in vessels of less than 5,000 tons gross, one-half, more than the minimum cubic contents required by column 3 of that Table.” My Lord, that is all that it is necessary to observe. Now if I may apply that: since the 16 boats are not sufficient to carry everybody on board, there has to be an addition to the cubic capacity in accordance with this paragraph; that addition must be to the extent of three-fourths addition on the cubic contents which the Table requires. The Table requires, on page 16, 5,500 cubic feet; three-fourths of 5,500 cubic feet gives you 4,125, and if you add the 4,125 to the 5,500 that gives you 9,625, which is the number of cubic feet which the rules require for the “Titanic.” The Commissioner: Will you give me the last figure again? The Solicitor-General: 5,500 is the figure from the rule in the Appendix. The Commissioner: Therefore, that means 9,725. The Solicitor-General: I think it is 9,625, my Lord. The Commissioner: I beg your pardon. You are right - 9,625. 19127. (The Solicitor-General.) So that if one applied the Board of Trade Rule 9,625 would be the number of cubic feet capacity which would have to be provided. (To the Witness.) I believe you agree with my calculation, that what you had on board the “Titanic” was 11,325? - Yes, that is right. The Solicitor-General: Now there is one other thing about it, and I will ask your Lordship just to look at the rule at the bottom of page 16, the page that just faces the table. It is headed, your Lordship sees, “Watertight Compartments,” at the bottom. “When ships of any class are divided into efficient watertight compartments to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade, they shall only be required to carry additional boats, rafts, and buoyant apparatus of one-half of the capacity required by these rules, but the exemption shall not extend to lifejackets or similar approved articles of equal buoyancy suitable to be worn on the person.” The Commissioner: Is that “one-half” in substitution of the “three-fourths”? The Solicitor-General: Yes. The Commissioner: Then what does that make it? 19128. (The Solicitor-General.) It would mean that instead of adding to the 5,500, 4,125, you would only add 2,062. It is half the 4,125; and the result of that would be a figure of 7,563. (To the Witness.) Now, as a matter of fact, did your Company make any application to the Board of Trade for the reduction which that rule - “Watertight Compartments” - appears to contemplate? - No, we did not. The Solicitor-General: Of course, your Lordship sees it turns upon whether the Board of Trade is satisfied, and that is not a matter which I can ask this gentleman about. The Commissioner: At any rate, it did not become necessary to have recourse to this rule? The Solicitor-General: No, my Lord, no recourse was had to it at all. The Commissioner: Therefore, as I understand, more than the extreme requirements of the Board of Trade in the matter of lifeboats was complied with? 19129. (The Solicitor-General.) Yes, that is quite right, my Lord. There is just this question I