Page 116 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

21664. (Mr. Scanlan.) You stated to my Lord that one inducement you held out to the men was that they should come the day before sailing and take part in the boat drill? - Yes. 21665. And for that day you offered them half a day’s pay? - Yes. 21666. This is, of course, the fact, that their pay for the voyage does not begin until the following day? - Until the day of joining. 21667. There may be something even from the point of view of a fireman to be said of what is reasonable recompense for putting in a reasonable day’s work. 21668. (The Commissioner.) Did they offer to come if they got more money? - No, my Lord. 21669. (Mr. Scanlan.) You made then an offer of half a day’s pay, and Mr. Sanderson informed us that this offer of even half a day’s pay has been withdrawn? - It has been withdrawn. The Commissioner: Will you ask how long does a boat drill occupy? 21670. (Mr. Scanlan - To the Witness.) How long does a boat drill occupy? - It depends on the officer in charge really. 21671. (The Commissioner.) But can the officer in charge take a week over it? - No, my Lord. 21672. How long; do try to answer the question. How long does it take? - It can be done in half an hour and it can take two hours. 21673. Is two hours the maximum? - Yes. The Commissioner: Now I know. 21674. (Mr. Scanlan.) May I take it that it would be for the convenience of the Master and officers of the ship to have this boat drill the day before sailing? - Yes. 21675. That is a day, so far as the men are concerned, for which without special arrangement they are not in receipt of any pay? - Unless they are on the ship at the time, on the ship’s books. That is working by the ship. 21676. But the firemen are not, in practice? - Not all of them. 21677. (The Commissioner.) If you were to put the men on the list the day before she sails, then I suppose you would be entitled to their services on that day? - Yes, my Lord, we would, but I am afraid as long as they are in port they would not come. 21678. If they are not on the list and you merely invite them to come and go through the boat drill they are entitled to say, “No, we will not”? - Yes, my Lord. Mr. Scanlan: The inducement held out to them of coming the day before has been withdrawn. I want to know whether it is your proposition now that the men who are going to be employed for the voyage should come on the day before they are entitled to pay, for nothing, and practise on the boats. The Commissioner: Oh, no, no one suggests that. 21679. (Mr. Scanlan.) Very well, my Lord. (To the Witness.) Can you explain how it came, after the disaster to the “Titanic,” that practically very few (I am within your Lordship’s recollection on this point) of the crew, the deckhands and officers went to the boats to which they were stationed? - Officers generally have a series of boats. They are stationed on one boat, but they have a series of boats to manoeuvre themselves. 21680. Practically all the ordinary seamen and firemen, so far as my recollection goes, who went to any boat, went to one boat to which they were not stationed? - They went where the officers ordered them. 21681. Would not one of the results of having regular boat musters be that in an emergency the men who had been trained in ordinary circumstances to go to their proper boats would do so? - They would go in their proper boats. 21682. I must ask one or two questions on this point, my Lord. You were asked in regard to the number of deckhands carried on the “Titanic.” The only Regulation of the Board of Trade for manning graduates the number of deckhands by the cubic capacity of the lifeboats? - Yes. 21683. If you followed this Regulation and provided lifeboats to carry every passenger and