Page 88 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 14 - 18

17534. And whom did you relieve at 6? Was it also Fleet and Lee? - I relieved Lee and Fleet at 6. 17535. Did you get any warning about ice? The Commissioner: Do you mean at 12 o’clock? The Attorney-General: No. The Witness: At 6? 17536. Yes, that is what I mean? - All that was handed over to me was, “Nothing doing; keep a look-out for small ice.” 17537. You did hear it at 6 o’clock “Keep a look-out for small ice”? - Yes, but I believe it is the usual password in the nests in these ships. 17538. I do not understand what you mean by that? - I do not believe they got it from the bridge at the time. 17539. Never mind where they got it from. You got it from them? - Yes. 17540. Who gave it to you? - Fleet and Lee - I think Lee gave it to me. 17541. You say you believe it is a usual password. Had you ever had it given you before, a password of that kind? - Sometimes. 17542. But I mean on this voyage? - Yes. I believe I did: I would not be quite sure. It seems a password there from what I can see of it. 17543. (The Commissioner.) I do not understand what you mean by a “password.” What do you mean? - A joke, Sir. I should think. 17544. (The Attorney-General.) A joke to the look-out men to keep a look-out for ice? - This is what is passed on to one another. 17545. Have you any recollection of their doing that to you on that night at 6 o’clock in the evening? - At 6 o’clock in the evening: “Nothing doing; keep a look-out for small ice.” 17546. (The Commissioner.) I am not sure that I understand you when you say you regarded that as a joke. What do you mean? - Well, as I say, it seems a password. 17547. Do you mean by “a password” a mere matter of form? - That is what they always seemed to say to me, Sir. 17548. What? - “Keep a look-out for ice” as we relieved each other. 17549. But I suppose they do not say that to you on board ship when you are going through the tropics? - No, there were no tropics there at that time. 17550. It is not a message that you get on all voyages at all times? - I never heard it before. 17551. (The Attorney-General.) How often had you heard it, if at all, before 6 o’clock that evening? - I heard it several times before that. 17552. How often had you heard it before. You say several times. Do you mean half-a-dozen times? - I have no idea how many times it was. 17553. But several times? - Several times. 17554. Several days before? - We were only out about three days. 17555. I know. - A couple of days before. 17556. Do you mean that every time you went and relieved them they gave you that password, as you call it? - Yes. 17557. Daytime or nighttime? - Any time they would pass it along to one another. 17558. (The Attorney-General.) This is quite new, my Lord, but I will pass on. (To the Witness.) At 12 o’clock, when you went there, did you get any message about ice then when you relieved them that night after the collision? - We got a message we had hit one. 17559. When you went to relieve them at 12 o’clock, was anything said to you then? - Nothing was passed on to me at all then. The Commissioner: I do not see what the importance of this is. 17560. (The Attorney-General.) Not of that, but I thought he might say something else. I quite