Page 155 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 23 - 26

24539. (The Commissioner.) In cabin you include first and second class? - Yes. Mr. Butler Aspinall: The figures appear here, but I have added them up, and I can give my Lord a summary of them without going into the details. First and second cabin passengers, 606, third class emigrant, 710, making a total of 1,316; crew, 892, making a total, inclusive of all on board, 2,208. I think I have done it rightly. 24540. (The Commissioner - To the Witness.) Now you have it in your head, or you ought to have it in your head. Is it right? - The crew should be 891. There was one fireman deserted at Queenstown and went away on another ship. 24541. It was a very lucky thing for him? - Yes, my Lord. 24542. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) Then it works out at a total of 2,207? - Yes, 2,207. The Commissioner: Do you want to ask this gentleman any question? Mr. Scanlan: No, my Lord. Mr. Edwards: No, my Lord. 24543. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) There is one matter I might be allowed to ask him (To the Witness.) Does this figure of 891 for the crew include the eight bandsmen or not? - Yes. The Commissioner: What is the significance of that? Mr. Butler Aspinall: I do not know. The Commissioner: Is that why you asked it? (The Witness withdrew.) JOSEPH MASSEY HARVEY, Sworn. Examined by Mr. BUTLER ASPINALL. Mr. Butler Aspinall: This is the principal Examiner of Masters and Mates, but he gives information which will be of value to your Lordship on other matters. The Commissioner: Very well. 24544. (Mr. Butler Aspinall - To the Witness.) Captain Joseph Massey Harvey, do you hold an Extra Master’s Certificate? - Yes. 24545. Are you Principal Examiner of Masters and Mates in the Board of Trade? - Yes. 24546. Are you also the editor of “Notices to Mariners” and “Notices to Fishermen”? - Yes. 24547. Have you held that position for some time? - Nine years. 24548. For the purpose of compiling the “Notices to Mariners” is it your business to keep yourself informed of all the matters that are essential for mariners to know with regard to derelicts, ice, and matters of that sort? - Yes. 24549. Reference was made in the “United States Pilot,” I think as long ago as a fortnight, to ice which is to be met on what, according to the language of the book, is the direct route? - Yes. Mr. Laing: What page? Mr. Butler Aspinall: Page 34. The matter that my Lord was calling one of the Witnesses’ attention to was this. There is a statement on page 34, your Lordship may remember it. The Commissioner: If you will read it, I daresay I shall. 24550. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) The heading of the paragraph is “Ice.” It commences thus: “This subject has been repeatedly dealt with and referred to in considering the general conditions of coastal navigation on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States; but quite another aspect of the case presents itself in treating of the ocean passages of the large Transatlantic mail and passenger steamers. To these vessels, one of the chief dangers in crossing the Atlantic lies in the probability of encountering masses of ice both in the form of bergs and of extensive fields of solid compact ice released at the breaking up of winter in the Arctic regions, and drifted down by the Labrador