Page 21 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 23 - 26

The Commissioner: That is it. The Attorney-General: According to German law. The Commissioner: I think I put it accurately: If she had had lifeboats in accordance with the German requirements it would have so happened that she would have had sufficient lifeboats on board to accommodate all the people on board, and a good many more. But still it does not do away with the point that even, according to German requirements, the German steamers do not carry sufficient lifeboats to accommodate all that may be carried on the steamer. The Attorney-General: Not only not sufficient lifeboats but not necessarily sufficient boat accommodation. The Commissioner: When I say “lifeboats” I mean collapsibles and rafts as well. The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: And that newspaper which I handed down to you shows that, and oddly enough - I do not know why it should be - a shortage of accommodation in different boats. I think it is the Norddeutscher Lloyd or the Hamburg Amerika - I do not know which. The percentage of the shortage of boats varies in different boats. The Attorney-General: It would depend on the tonnage, would it not? The Commissioner: Yes. In one boat there is a short accommodation to the extent of, I think, 709; in another boat the shortage accommodation is much less. Mr. Maurice Hill: Is your Lordship talking of the “President” boats? The Attorney-General: No. The Commissioner: I am not sure that it is not the “President” boats. The Attorney-General: I do not think so. Neither of the “President” boats is in this. The Commissioner: I thought it was. The Attorney-General: No, they are quite different. The Commissioner: I am not sure that it is not sufficient for me to be able to note the fact that if the “Titanic” had been sailing under German law she would have carried much more boat accommodation than, in fact, she did. The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: That is what I wanted, because there was a suggestion that it would be inconvenient to put additional boats upon the boat deck, and there was a suggestion, too, that it might tend to make the ship tender. The Attorney-General: Your Lordship will note - it is not necessary to discuss it; I think I understand how the misapprehension arose - the calculations of percentages which, I was questioning yesterday with regard to the two “President” boats as compared with the “Titanic” must be wrong. It is based upon some misapprehension. It seems to me they lead to quite different conclusions. The Commissioner: That is a matter of argument. There seems to be no dispute between you that if this boat had been sailing under the German flag she would have carried a great deal more boat accommodation than she did. The Attorney-General: The figures I have given, your Lordship, are agreed figures. They are based upon Mr. Wilding’s calculations. Mr. Maurice Hill: That is right, my Lord. If you take a ship of the size of the “Titanic,” according to the German law, it will work out in the figures which the Attorney-General has given. I cannot tell your Lordship what the percentage of boat accommodation to people who could be carried on board would be in such a case without knowing how many people under the German law could be carried on board a ship of that size. Therefore, I cannot give you that percentage. The figures which I gave you of percentages were based upon the figures on page 538 of the Note of the two “President” boats, the two Hamburg Amerika boats, and those percentages are accurate. And according to Mr. Wilding’s evidence they are based upon figures