Page 160 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 32 - 36

found none. I have always found that a little difficult to understand, because there were a very large number of third class passengers still on that vessel, and one does not realise why it was that no one came up on deck. To some extent you must bear in mind also that some of the emigrants were foreigners, but even then with regard to that the evidence is that interpreters were sent along to explain to them what it was that they were required to do. So that viewing the evidence in all its aspects, and bearing in mind what has been said by my learned friend Mr. Harbinson, I think what it resolves itself into eventually is that the third class passengers were more loth to leave their cabins and to get into the boats than the first class passengers seem to have been, or even the second class passengers; and further that they were not so favourably situated, and their cabins were not so favourably placed as either first or second class, but as far as I am able to gather anything from the evidence there is no other explanation of why it is that so many were lost. Your Lordship will remember the proportion is very striking. The Commissioner: There were 560 third class, I think, in the vessel. The Attorney-General: Yes, about. And, my Lord, the evidence with regard to it, both as to the access to the boat deck and as to what was done is all collected, but I am not sure whether your Lordship has got it. Some attention was directed to it undoubtedly by my learned friend Sir Robert Finlay, and in some detail, but whether your Lordship has all the information upon that which is available I am not quite certain. The Commissioner: I do not think you need stop to examine it in any closer detail. The Attorney-General: If you please, my Lord; then I will pass from it. It will save a good deal of time. Now, my Lord, I propose to deal with what happened with reference to the boats. I am not now upon the accommodation provided - that I propose to deal with when I come to the important part of the case that affects the Board of Trade. My Lord, the boats are dealt with in the boat list, of which your Lordship has the analysis before you, and if I may say so, it is done with such care and so well that I do not think I could usefully spend any time in attempting to amplify it. Your Lordship really has the substance of it there, and it is as well put as it can be. The Commissioner: Mr. Attorney, which is the question to which you are directing my attention now? What is the number of it? Is it a specific question? The Attorney-General: Yes, there is a specific question, of course, as to the capacity of the boating accommodation. I think really it comes into Questions 16, 17 and 19, and 20 is quite specific upon the point. The Commissioner: Read me Question 20, please. The Attorney-General: “What was the number of (a.) passengers, (b.) crew taken away in each boat on leaving the vessel? How was this number made up, having regard to, first, sex; second, class; third, rating? How many were children and how many adults? Did each boat carry it's full load, and, if not, why not?” But there are several questions that deal with the boats. The Commissioner: Am I expected to take each boat separately and set out the circumstances relating to it? There is a question, I think, that asks me to do it. The Attorney-General: You are asked this: How many passengers and crew left in each boat? That is all, I think. The Commissioner: I can do it in a way, but not precisely, I am afraid. The Attorney-General: I do not think anybody with the greatest care, even if we had much more evidence than we have, could be quite precise about it, but I do not think it is intended that you should do more than to give an indication according to the evidence of how many you think were carried in each boat. The Commissioner: According to the evidence a great many more people were carried away in these boats than they were capable of carrying. The Attorney-General: I quite agree, and that is particularly striking when you examine the proportions. I think as far as I have been able to analyse it, according to the evidence, we know