Page 136 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

8497. And it was not until the next morning that you heard anything had happened? - Not until next morning. 8498. When did you go on watch? - At 8 o’clock. 8499. The captain states that he was on the bridge at 11 o’clock and was there till 11.30? - I say he was not. 8500. You say he was not? - Most emphatically. 8501. Most emphatically? - Most emphatically. 8502. There must be a mistake somewhere? - Well, it naturally follows, does it not? Re-examined by the SOLICITOR-GENERAL. 8503. You were the officer of the watch, as I understand, from 8 p.m. till midnight. Would you then be keeping the scrap log? - I was keeping the scrap log. 8504. Your ship was under way from 8 o’clock until about 20 past 10 of that watch, was she not? - Yes. 8505. And then about 20 past 10 she stopped, and she was stopped for the rest of the watch? - Yes. 8506. Who would make a dead reckoning and find out where she was at 10.20? - Well, the captain; he would work it. I never work it. 8507. Is the scrap log here? - No, it is not kept. 8508. (The Commissioner.) Is it destroyed from time to time? - It is destroyed from time to time. There is one log always kept, of course, but the scrap log is destroyed from time to time. 8509. (The Solicitor-General.) I want to know a little about this. Before the scrap log is destroyed in what sort of a book is it kept? - It is copied from the scrap log into the printed log. 8510. Into this fair copy - this book which I have here? - Yes. 8511. Is the scrap log kept in a book? - Yes. 8512. It is not kept on loose sheets of paper? - No, in a book. The Commissioner: Just follow that up. 8513. (The Solicitor-General.) I am going to, my Lord, if I may. (To the Witness.) And this book in which you kept the scrap log, for how many days, or weeks, or months is the book good for? - It varies. 8514. Is it as big a book as this - as your official log? - Oh, no; it is a thinner book. 8515. How much thinner? How many weeks will it take? - It is my duty to rule that book up myself. It all depends. If we want a piece of paper on the bridge we occasionally tear a piece out of it; and whenever we take occasional observations we work them on the back. 8516. I want you to give me an idea how big a book is the book in which the scrap log is kept? - I do not think it would take more than 25 days. 8517. (The Commissioner.) How long had you been out? - We left London on the 5th April in the early morning - Good Friday. 8518. Did you leave with a new scrap logbook? - We always have several of them on the ship; it is a cargo book we have. 8519. There is only one in use? - Yes. 8520. How long had this logbook been in use? - I think I must have started it when we left London. 8521. (The Solicitor-General.) That would be April 5th? - Yes. 8522. And you reached Boston, when? - On April 19th, I think it was. 8523. And you just made the return journey from Boston here? - No, Boston to Liverpool. 8524. That is what I mean. You think you started your scrap log on April 5th, and you went across the Atlantic to Boston; that did not use up your scrap logbook, did it? - No, certainly not.