Page 186 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

members who were appointed by the Board of Trade as additional members, but not as representatives of the Board of Trade. 22448. They are not officials of the Board of Trade? - No. 22449. They are four shipowners and shipbuilders and so on, who were nominated by the Board of Trade to sit on the Committee? - Yes, the President thought there should be a few more, and he put those on. 22450. The reason I make that correction is because somebody, I think it was Mr. Carlisle, did say that there were a number of officials of the Board of Trade upon the Committee. That is wrong. The only one is Mr. Matthew, who is the Secretary. There are four persons appointed by the Board of Trade, but they are not officials. The Commissioner: Mr. Matthew is not on the Committee. The Attorney-General: No. The Commissioner: He is appointed in the ordinary way; Secretary to the Committee. The Attorney-General: Except for that this is an Advisory Committee independent of the Board of Trade. There are only four nominated by the Board of Trade. This is the Report: - “In accordance with the decision of the Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee at their meeting on Friday, the 28th April, we have given careful consideration to the letter of the 4th April from the Board of Trade, in which the Committee were asked to advise: - “(1) As to the manner in which the Table in the appendix to the Life-Saving Appliances Rules should be extended so as to provide for vessels of tonnage up to 50,000 tons gross and upwards; and “(2) As to whether Rule 12 should, or should not, be revised so as to exempt altogether from the requirements of additional boats and for rafts those vessels which are divided into efficient watertight compartments to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade. “In considering these questions, we have had specially in mind the fact that the number of passengers carried does not necessarily increase in proportion to the increase in the tonnage of the vessel. This is particularly true in the case of vessels exceeding 10,000 tons, a type of vessel which is practically only built to provide special accommodation for large numbers of first and second class passengers. “Similarly there is no fixed relation between the tonnage of vessels and the deck space available for the carrying of lifeboats under davits. Increase in the length of a vessel is only one of the factors and often not the most material factor contributing to the increase in its tonnage, and it should also be remembered, in estimating the space available for the launching of lifeboats, that it is impossible to place davits forward of the bridge and very undesirable to have them on the quarters of the vessel. “We are strongly of opinion that every encouragement should be given to secure the provision of vessels which by their construction have been rendered as unsinkable as possible and which are provided with efficient means for communicating with the shore or with other vessels in case of disaster. “In view of these considerations, we have agreed upon the following recommendations:- “1. That it is questionable whether it is practicable to increase the number of davits; “2. That any increase in the number of lifeboats to be carried can probably be best effected by providing for the launching of further boats from the existing davits; “3. That the Table should be extended in the manner indicated below, viz.:-