Page 109 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

21577. Who are they? - Captain Thornton, Captain Roberts and Captain Lawrence. 21578. There were four of you. Have all four of you ever been together to consider what you can do to induce the men to come to a proper drill? - Well, I cannot say we have all four been together, my Lord. 21579. How many of you have been together? - Three. 21580. Which three? - Captain Thornton, Captain Roberts, and myself. 21581. How long did you sit together considering this question? - Several times. 21582. I did not ask you the number of times, but how long? - Well, I suppose about an hour. 21583. Do you know. Do you mean an hour each time, or do you mean an hour altogether? - An hour each time. 21584. Then you know, if you have been considering it for several hours together, considering how you can induce the firemen to turn up for a proper drill, I should think that you have formed some opinions about it? - It was not only that, my Lord, that we were considering; that is only one point. 21585. I only want to know about that at present. I do not want it mixed up with something else. How long have you considered this question? Have you considered it at all? - We have. 21586. Then what conclusion, or what opinions, have you formed. You say you have come to no conclusion? - Well, we have come to no conclusion. 21587. Well, have you formed any opinions? - No, my Lord. 21588. Then your deliberations do not seem to have been of much value up to the present point? - No, my Lord, they have not. 21589. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) It is a matter of importance? - I think it is necessary, yes. 21590. (The Commissioner.) Can you now, in the Witness-box, suggest to me any means by which you can make men turn up to go through drill if they do not want to do so? - I am afraid I cannot, my Lord, not just now. The Commissioner: Nor can I. 21590a. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) There is another matter in connection with the lifeboats. The capacity of these lifeboats, we have been told - the lifeboats under davits - were to carry 65 persons, the D boats 40 and the collapsible boats 47 each? - Yes. 21591. Have you considered whether it would be desirable to have printed in large letters any notices on each boat that would indicate to the officer in the event of a disaster that the boat was capable of carrying either 65, or 40, or 47 persons, as the case might be? - We have that on most of our boats. We have it cut in the bow of the boats in nearly all our ships. 21592. (The Commissioner.) Was it done on the boats in the “Titanic”? This is the first I have heard of it? - I do not think it was. 21593. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) Is this your evidence with regard to the matter; that in the boats on other ships in your fleet it is done? - It is done. 21594. But it was not done in the “Titanic”? - I am not quite certain; I would not like to say. 21595. (The Commissioner.) Now, let me ask you this: Has it been done in the other boats since this disaster? - No, my Lord, it has always been the custom. 21596. I cannot understand it at all. Why should you depart from the custom in the case of the “Titanic”? - I am not quite certain, my Lord, whether it was on the “Titanic.” 21597. What do you mean by not quite certain; do you mean by that, that you did not see it with your eyes? - I did not. 21598. Did you ever look? - No, I did not. 21599. Did anyone ever look? - I cannot say. Sir Robert Finlay: On the “Olympic” there were such. Mr. Butler Aspinall: I am just asking the Board of Trade Solicitor to hand to me one of the depositions made in New York by the Surveyor who examined the boats, in which he does speak