Page 150 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 23 - 26

Examined by Mr. COTTER. 24504. In regard to boats, you stated you agree they ought to carry motor-boats? - I did not say they ought to carry motor-boats; I said they might under certain circumstances be an advantage. 24505. Do you think the present system of lowering boats, especially from ships of the dimensions of the “Titanic,” is a good system to go on with - I mean from blocks and tackles and davits? - I do not think it is the best system that can be devised. 24506. If I were to suggest to you that they use a crane for that purpose now, a long-armed crane with a single fall, would it not be more expeditious for lowering boats and just as safe? - It all depends what you are going to put on the end of the fall. Are you going to do it by man power or steam power or electric power? Mr. Cotter: Well, if I may be allowed to suggest it, I should certainly, with your permission, my Lord, suggest it should be oil engines independently absolutely of the machinery of the ship at all, attached to the crane. The Commissioner: How long would it take to get an oil engine to work? Mr. Cotter: I do not think it would take long, my Lord. The Commissioner: I do not know I should think in the circumstances of the “Titanic,” it would have been rather a disheartening job to have begun to light oil engines and work them. I should think men’s hands were probably readier and quicker. Mr. Cotter: We have had evidence that the boats took forty minutes to get ready and swing out. The Commissioner: Yes, some of them, but not all. Mr. Cotter: They were the first boats. It has been suggested, my Lord, that there should be more boats - The Commissioner: Ask him a question, please. 24507. (Mr. Cotter - To the Witness.) If there were more boats on the deck, and those cranes were got into operation, would it not be a quicker method than the present method of lowering the falls through blocks and tackles, and then pulling them up again? - It would be quicker if the oil engine is always there to do this work. 24508. Now it has been stated here that there was a fear of the boats buckling. Can you suggest any way to strengthen those boats so that there would be no fear of buckling? 24509. (The Commissioner.) They did not buckle, you know, and it was an ill-founded fear, it was only in the minds of people who did not know. The Witness: I understand the boats had been tested with the full weight on board, and they did not buckle. 24510. (Mr. Cotter.) I suggest to you it would be a good thing to let the Captain and officers know that the boats have been tested to carry a certain weight or carry a certain number of passengers, so that there should be no fear? - Oh, yes, it would be a good thing. Examined by Mr. LAING. 24511. I only want to ask one question. On the freeboard, as fixed, of the “Titanic,” did the height of these engine room bulkheads fully comply with your Rules? - Fully. 24512. And with Lloyd’s Rules? - I cannot quite speak as to Lloyd’s Rules; I do not quite know how they interpret their own Rules. So far as I know they would comply with Lloyd’s Rules. 24513. So far as you know from your examination of the plans and what you know about this vessel, was she properly constructed and an efficient ship when she left? - Perfectly efficient. 24514. (The Commissioner.) I am asked to ask you this question. Are you satisfied that an engineer and shipwright surveyor is competent to survey nautical equipment and the hulls of passenger vessels? - As regards nautical equipment, my Lord, I am not a nautical man, and with