Page 140 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 27 - 31

statement? The Attorney-General: Yes, I can. It will require a little looking into. The Commissioner: I am told it is in Lowe's evidence. The Attorney-General: Yes, I think Lowe gave it. It is very difficult to make out the times of the boats. Mr. Edwards: I think you will find it on page 367. He gives the order in which those boats went off. The Attorney-General: Yes, but he does not give the time; it is a little later that he gives the time. Mr. Edwards: Question 15818. The Attorney-General: That is the order; my Lord wants the time. The Commissioner: At Question 15793 he is asked about the time he did something, and he said "I have not the remotest idea of the time right throughout." The Attorney-General: My impression is he says nothing about the time. He gives the order of the boats 7, 5, 3 and 1; that is the order in which the boats were lowered, but there is nothing about time. You have really to work it out from the evidence of other persons as to what time those boats were lowered. That is the only way you can get at it, and it is a complicated business, and, of course, it must be unreliable. The Commissioner: Yes, it is unreliable, anyway. The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: But now let us assume for the moment that it can be shown that this boat was lowered at 1.15. The Attorney-General: It was about that. The Commissioner: Let us assume that; I do not know that it can be established, but let us begin with 1.15 as the time that the boat was lowered. Now, the ship went down an hour afterwards, 2.20 or thereabouts, and therefore they were in the boat for an hour. Is there any evidence to show what they were doing during that hour? Mr. Edwards: There is some evidence that they were pulling and then resting on their oars. That is Hendrickson's evidence. The Commissioner: Were they obeying the directions which had been given when the boat was lowered, that they were to stand by the ship? Mr. Edwards: That will depend, I think, entirely upon whether they were pulling away, and not coming back, or whether they were moving backwards and forwards. The Commissioner: My notion is they were just moving on their oars, not going any distance away, but keeping about the ship, because at 2.20 they were near enough to the ship to hear the cries of the people in the water. They did hear them. The Attorney-General: That is right, my Lord; that is Hendrickson's evidence, certainly. I think it is everybody's, really. The Commissioner: My recollection is that they heard the cries of the people in the water, and, therefore, wherever they had been in the meantime, at the time the "Titanic" went down they were near the ship. Mr. Edwards: Yes. The Commissioner: That is right? Mr. Edwards: Yes. The Commissioner: Now, here are some questions to Symons, which you will find at page 267 at Question 11500: "And did you see the 'Titanic' go down? - (A.) Yes, I watched her. (Q.) Now, just tell us about that? - (A.) After I left the ship I gave the order to pull away. We were pulling very hard; we were pulling very steady; a moderate pull. After I gave that order we pulled away, I should say, about 200 yards, and I told them to lay on their oars, and just a little while after