Page 226 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 27 - 31

about perhaps three quarters of a mile away, not more. (Q.) Well, three-quarters of a mile - would it be less than three-quarters of a mile? - (A.) It might be; I do not know. (Q.) I am putting one hundred feet to you. - (A.) I think it ought to be seen long before 100 feet. (Q.) What would you say would be the shortest distance that this berg would be seen by the men in the crow’s-nest on a clear night? - (A.) The shortest distance from the ship? (Q.) Yes, on a perfectly clear night, and under these conditions of a flat sea and possibly black ice? - (A.) I would not like to express an opinion because I have never actually seen a berg so close to a ship. I have never seen any ice quite exactly like that which was described. I have seen it in the winter time in the ice, but then we were always absolutely stationary. (Q.) My difficulty is this, and I am afraid you cannot help me, but I cannot understand how the men in the crow’s-nest and the men on the bridge - there were two I think, one, at all events, on the bridge - failed to see this iceberg until it was practically in contact with the ship? - (A.) I think that iceberg was such a very little thing. It was such a small thing and the conditions were so bad, that a man on watch, even two hours on watch, might have his eyes strained, and the officer on watch might have his eyes strained and might just miss that particular berg. In running round the horizon his eyes might hop over this particular thing. (Q.) But there were three pairs of eyes, there was a man on the bridge and two men in the crow’s-nest? - (A.) I think that is a possibility. (Q.) Is it a probability? - (A.) I think it is a probability. I think they might not see such a thing.” The Commissioner: I do not understand that. I doubt if the witness means what I suppose him to mean by those words. Is it a probable thing that three men, all looking ahead using their eyes, should overlook anything of that kind. That presupposes that they can see it, but that they do not see it. Sir Robert Finlay: I think what the witness means is, when would they see it. I do not think he means that they would overlook it when it might be seen. I think he is dealing with the question when would they see it - when ought they to have seen it? I so understand it. The Commissioner: It is very little use criticising the actual expressions used. One must gather the meaning. Sir Robert Finlay: Yes, the general scope. Then the answer to Question 25132 is important. “I think that iceberg was such a very little thing, such a small thing and the conditions were so bad, that a man on watch, even two hours on watch, might have his eyes strained, and the officer on watch might have his eyes strained and might just miss that particular berg. In running round the horizon his eyes might hop over this particular thing. (Q.) But there were three pairs of eyes.” Then he is asked about the probability and possibility. “I think they might not see such a thing. (Q.) Then do you really mean to say that on a fine night with a flat sea the probable thing is that every ship will come in contact with an iceberg that happens to be on its course? - (A.) No, my Lord, I think it is an abnormal case entirely. (Q.) I am putting an abnormal case - an extraordinarily flat sea and black ice; do you think if there happened to be an iceberg in the course of that ship she must run up against it although there are three men on the watch? - (A.) The next time somebody may see it a little earlier; it is possible to see it a little earlier, but I do not like to express an opinion. (The Commissioner.) You said the probability was the ship would run up against the iceberg. (The Attorney-General.) Your Lordship will remember she is going 700 yards a minute, and it would not take long. (The Commissioner.) I know that. (To the Witness.) Then you know nothing about the turning circle of this ship? - (A.) I do not. (Q.) So that you cannot tell how she could avoid it. Well, now I want to know this - do these bergs extend sometimes under the water any considerable distance from the part that is visible? - (A.) It depends; if the berg is capsized it may extend perhaps 200 yards or more, depending on the size of the berg. Some bergs that are five miles long, which are rarely seen in the Atlantic, may extend 200 or 300 yards, what we call a spur, but not more than that. (Q.) So that the bottom of a ship might strike an iceberg before it reached what you may call the locality of the part that is