Page 72 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 32 - 36

Mr. Dunlop: That is given in the evidence of the officer on page 158. The Commissioner: Read it. Mr. Dunlop: It is Question 6782. “(The Attorney-General.) What variation? - (A.) The variation that day at noon was 24 3/4. She was about 24 when we were stopped.” The Commissioner: Where is the deviation? Mr. Dunlop: The deviation would be about 2 E., making an error of 22 W.” The Commissioner: Is there no book in which the deviation would be recorded? Mr. Dunlop: Yes, I think there would be. The Commissioner: Where is it? Mr. Dunlop: I have not got it. I believe it is kept on board the ship. I can get it, no doubt. This point was not challenged. The Commissioner: I daresay it was not. It is only that I want the gentlemen who advise me to follow what you are saying. Mr. Dunlop: The Master has translated his compass course into the true course, enabling me to lay it down upon that chart. North 61 degrees West by compass corresponds to South 89 degrees true. No doubt he had the information before him which enabled him to translate it. And that is the course which you would expect it to be. It is about the course the “Titanic” herself was on - a course of about true West. That was the course in fact made good. Whatever the course steered was is made clear by the observation taken at 7.30 that evening. According to the evidence of the Chief Officer, at Question 8798, he took, at 7.30 in the evening, an observation of the Pole Star, which gave him his latitude. That latitude is shown on the chart before your Lordship, and it was as a result of the observation which he then got that he corrected in his logbook the 6.30 position, which he had already communicated to the “Antillian” and to the “Titanic.” At 6.30, if your Lordship will be good enough to look at the log, it is recorded that they passed two large icebergs in latitude 40.5 North and longitude 49.9 West. I have to give the deviation on a South- South-East heading because it is to that heading that the question of the Attorney-General is directed. The deviation would probably be entirely different upon a westerly course. I am on the question of the course now. The Attorney-General: It is for the purpose of distance. Mr. Dunlop: I must get both. The Commissioner: You have not at present satisfied the gentlemen who are with me that the course that you have marked on this plan is the course that you were making. The Attorney-General: May I see that plan? I have not had a look at it yet - because we have some evidence from the Captain himself who drew this course. (The plan was handed to the Attorney-General.) The Commissioner: You will see what it leads to. There is a straight red line, and if you take the straight red line along to your left you will see it is just over the spot where the “Titanic” is supposed to have sunk, and it is said that is a distance of 20 miles. Mr. Dunlop: At least 20 miles. The Commissioner: But then, you know, the Admiral, who sits on my right, tells me that the information to be obtained from the log does not enable anyone to lay down that track. Mr. Dunlop: That is quite obvious. The Commissioner: And the deviation does not give the course. Mr. Dunlop: The reason for that is that the course which was mentioned in the log is the course by compass, and until your Lordship has the deviation book you cannot obtain the magnetic course. The Commissioner: I am told that there ought not to be a log of this kind without the error of deviation being put down. Mr. Dunlop: There is no column in it, that I can see, for entering the deviation, I think. There is