Page 87 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 32 - 36

presume that it can be obtained from the agents in New York. No vessel having a funnel like that described by the Bureau cleared foreign from this port within a period of two weeks prior to 15th April.” Mr. Dunlop: That does not seem to carry the matter much further. What we are dealing with here is a vessel which has given us her position on the 14th of April. The Commissioner: At some time. Mr. Dunlop: Yes, at some time. I cannot put it higher than that, and do not wish to - at some time on the 14th April, and the funnel bears a remarkable resemblance to the funnel of one of the steamers which the witnesses described, black with a red top. The Attorney-General: It is the 15th of April, is it not? Mr. Dunlop: The report is the 14th. She reports that on that date. The Commissioner: Will you refer me to the evidence as to the colour of the funnel. Mr. Dunlop: Yes. It is Question 7400. The Commissioner: Read it to me. Mr. Dunlop: “Was there another vessel near the ‘Mount Temple’? - (A.) There was a two- masted steamer, pink funnel, black top, steering North down to the North-West.” The Commissioner: Will you tell me when that was? Mr. Dunlop: That was on the morning of the 15th. The Commissioner: What time? Mr. Dunlop: Between 6.30 and 7.30. The Commissioner: Could that possibly be this vessel? Mr. Dunlop: Yes, my Lord, it could. It depends entirely at what time this vessel was in the position which I have marked on your Lordship’s chart. We do not know what that time was. The Commissioner: That was on the 14th. Mr. Dunlop: If that was on the night of the 14th, then the position at which this vessel was seen - The Commissioner: Supposing it was on the night of the 14th. Mr. Dunlop: If it was the night of the 14th she would be in the position - The Commissioner: She then began to steer a South-Westerly course. Mr. Dunlop: Yes, to try to get out of the ice, apparently. The Commissioner: How many knots does she make? Mr. Dunlop: I do not know. The Commissioner: You could not tell where she had got to by 6 o’clock in the morning? Mr. Dunlop: No, it depends upon what speed she was going, and we do not know that; and that depends upon what ice she was encountering which she describes in the report. She apparently steamed 25 miles through ice, through an ice-field which he describes as heavy field ice containing some 30 bergs. I cannot put this higher than that with the information contained in Lloyd’s Index it is possible that was the vessel which those on board the “Californian” saw. Then, my Lord, there is the steamship “Paula.” She is the petroleum steamer. The Commissioner: Is she also in this same newspaper? Mr. Dunlop: On page 11 of the 9th of May number. The Commissioner: Have you given us the best one? Mr. Dunlop: Yes, the “Trautenfels” is the best, because she steams to the S.W. The Commissioner: The “Trautenfels” is the best you have got, you say? Mr. Dunlop: Yes; the “Paula” is very good. The Commissioner: Are they all very good? Mr. Dunlop: These are the two best, my Lord, because these are the only two which gave us their position on the 14th April. The Attorney-General: Have you a description of the “Paula”?