Page 188 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

their Principal Officers in Great Britain, giving the dimensions and cubic capacities of the various kinds of boats on five typical ships in each of eight ports. “We recommend that the Board should be advised to alter the Life-Saving Appliances Rules so as to provide that, in [the] future, the depth of lifeboats supplied to a British merchant vessel shall not exceed 44 percent of their breadth. (Signed) Norman Hill, A.M. Carlisle, S. Cross, Wm. Theodore Doxford, Geo. N. Hampson, Robert A. Ogilvie, T. Royden, T. Rome, Thomas Spencer, J. Havelock Wilson.” The Commissioner: Someone has written in pencil opposite to those names, “E. Booth, Cunard.” The Attorney-General: I do not know what that is. The Commissioner: Mr. Booth is Chairman of the Cunard Company. The Attorney-General: This means nothing; it was a note. The Commissioner: It perhaps means that Mr. Booth is not amongst them. The Attorney-General: I do not know what it is. The Commissioner: Did Mr. Carlisle say to me that Mr. Booth was on that Committee? The Attorney-General: Oh, no. If he did I did not hear him. The Commissioner: It was in answer to me. I do not know that it matters much. Is there anybody in that list that does represent the Cunard Line? The Attorney-General: I do not think so. The Commissioner: Mr. Carlisle at that time did not represent Harland and Wolff. The Attorney-General: I understand Mr. Royden represented the Cunard Company. There is nothing on the papers to show it. That is to say, he is a director of the Cunard. He was nominated by the Board of Trade. What your Lordship is referring to I see is at page 552, in the evidence of Mr. Carlisle. I will read you all that there is that applies to it. The Commissioner: I do not think it matters. Do not stop to do it. Does it matter? The Attorney-General: Not the slightest, except that your Lordship seemed to suggest there was somebody who was not included in it. I see how the mistake arose. He thought it was the Chairman, and then your Lordship said: “Do you mean Mr. Booth?” and he said he did, whereas it was a director, who was Mr. Royden. The Commissioner: He meant Mr. Royden. The Attorney-General: Yes, that is the explanation. I notice in comparing this with the scale, there is a different gradation adopted by the Committee. It is a much steeper one than the one suggested by the Board of Trade in their letter of the 4th April. The Commissioner: May I look at that paper again which has “E. Booth” pencilled on it? (The same was handed to the Commissioner.) The Attorney-General: If you compare that scale with the scale in the print at the foot of the letter of the 4th April, 1911, you will see that, although its limits are the same the gradation is much steeper in the Advisory Committee’s recommendation. The Commissioner: Now, you have got to the 4th July, 1911. The Attorney-General: Yes.