Page 197 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 23 - 26

just small pieces. I would not call them big bergs, not like the southern bergs. 25038. Are they called growlers? - I have never heard that term applied to them, but I believe it is a well-known term. I have read of such, but we never call them growlers, we call them floe bergs when they were not the height of an actual big berg carved off from the land, but a berg that had capsized, having worn out underneath. 25039. (The Attorney-General.) You have spoken of the distance at which you would see bergs. You told us, I think I am right in saying, 10 or 12 miles in the daytime on a clear day, and 5 miles on a clear night? - Yes. 25040. How far would you see one of these dark bergs on a clear night, assuming it to be 60 to 80 feet high? - It might be only three miles, depending on the night and depending almost entirely on the condition of the sea at the time. With a dead calm sea there is no sign at all to give you any indication that there is anything there. If you first see the breaking sea at all, then you look for the rest and you generally see it. That is on the waterline. I do not say very high, because from a height it is not so easily seen; it blends with the ocean if you are looking down at an angle like that. If you are on the sea level it may loom up. 25041. That would rather suggest that your view would be that you could detect bergs of that kind better at the stem than you could at the crow’s-nest? - Better, the nearer you are to the waterline. When we navigated in thick or hazy weather there was always one man on the look- out and one man as near the deck line as possible. 25042. That is thick or hazy weather? - Yes, that is thick or hazy weather, or even clear just the same. 25043. What I want you to tell my Lord is, do you think it is of advantage in clear weather to have a man stationed right ahead at the stem as well as in the crow’s-nest? - Undoubtedly, if you are in the danger zone; in the ice zone. 25044. And supposing you were passing through a zone where you had ice reported to you, would you take precautions as to the look-out? Supposing you only had men in the crow’s-nest, would you take any other precautions? - I would take the ordinary precaution of slowing down, whether I was in a ship equipped for ice or any other, compatible with keeping steerage way for the size of the ship. 25045. You would slow down? - I would slow down, yes. And supposing you were going 21 to 22 knots, I suppose that would be the better reason for slowing down? - You have no right to go at that speed in an ice zone. 25046. (The Commissioner.) And you think that all these liners are wrong in going at this speed in regions where ice has been reported? - Where it has been reported I think the possibility of accident is greatly enhanced by the speed the ship goes. 25047. We have been told that none of these liners slow down even though they know that they are going through an ice region - that is to say a region where there are icebergs? - I have been in a ship which was specially built for ice, but I took the precaution to slow down because you can only tell the condition of any ice you see; there may be projecting spurs and you may suddenly come across them. 25048. What was the speed of the boat you were in? - She was only six knots at full speed. She was 40 years old. 25049. Do you mean to say that you slowed down a vessel of six knots? - Yes, I always did. 25050. Then what did you get to? - We got very near the South Pole, my Lord. 25051. What speed did you get down to? - We slowed down to about four knots. At her best she did six knots. 25052. At her best she did six knots; that was not the ship that you got near to the South Pole in? - Yes, that is the ship; she was very old; she was very small. 25053. (The Attorney-General.) I still want you to give me your attention with regard to the