Page 94 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

21372. (The Commissioner.) Am I to understand you advised them to install 64? - I merely put my ideas before them. 21373. Did you say “There ought to be 64”? - No, I did not. 21374. Did you think there ought to be 64? - I thought there ought to be a very much larger number. 21375. Did you think there ought to be 64? - I thought there ought to be three on each set of davits. 21376. How many would that make altogether? - Forty-eight boats. 21377. You thought there ought to be 48? - Yes. 21378. Whereas, in point of fact, how many were there? - Sixteen. 21379. You thought there ought to be three times the number. Did you say so? - I believe I did, but I could not swear. 21380. But it is a very important matter, is it not? - You see I never put my ideas on paper unless I thought they were what should be carried out. 21381. You do not answer my question. You were there apparently discussing this matter. Did you say, as the chairman of the managing directors of Harland and Wolff’s, “I think there ought to be three times as many boats on that deck as we are at present contemplating putting there”? - No, I would not say that I did. 21382. Did you think it? - I thought there ought to have been. 21383. Why did you not say so? - Because I have always been accustomed to put the plans before the owners and let them judge. Unless they asked questions I did not give them an answer. 21384. Do you mean to tell me that on this important matter, having formed the opinion, and the matter being discussed and you being the chairman of the managing directors of the builders, you did not say that? - Certainly not. Examined by Mr. CLEMENT EDWARDS. 21385. You recalled an occasion when you produced that plan at a meeting at which Lord Pirrie was present, and Mr. Sanderson, and Mr. Ismay? - Yes. 21386. You said that on that occasion the interview lasted some four hours? - Three or four hours. The Commissioner: But only five or ten minutes were devoted to the boats. 21387. (Mr. Clement Edwards.) I am just coming to that precisely, my Lord. (To the Witness.) And with regard to lifeboat accommodation, there was some five or ten minutes’ discussion? - Yes, of the davit question. The Commissioner: Do speak up. I did not hear the answer. Put your question again. The Witness: Will you excuse me speaking a minute. There were two occasions. The first occasion I only put the plan. I forget what number the Attorney-General marked it. 21388. (The Attorney-General.) The small one is C 1. The Witness: C 1 was the first one submitted, and that was at an earlier date than the large one. 21389. (The Commissioner.) I have not heard of this before. There were two conversations were there? - Yes, I have mentioned that before. 21390. I daresay you have; it has escaped me? - October and January. Mr. Edwards: October, 1909, and January, 1910. 21391. (The Commissioner.) But were the same people present at both conversation? - I believe so. 21392. But you do not remember? - I believe they were. The Commissioner: Now, Mr. Edwards, will you ask him about each conversation, because I have not yet realised that there were two?