Page 149 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

8839. (Mr. Dunlop - To the Witness.) What do you think? - I do not know, Sir. The Commissioner: That is a very safe answer. 8840. (Mr. Dunlop.) Have you formed any opinion? I suppose you have been thinking about this a good deal and discussing it with the officers, and may I say with others in New York? - Yes. 8841. Have you ever considered whether the vessel which was reported to have been sending up rockets was, or could have been, the “Titanic”? - I do not think it could have been, Sir. 8842. (The Commissioner.) What? - I do not think it was, Sir. 8843. You think it may have been? - I think if it had been the “Titanic” there would have been no doubt about it. 8844. Do you think it may have been the “Titanic”? - No, Sir. 8845. (Mr. Dunlop.) You were proceeding to Boston? - Yes. 8846. The “Titanic” is said to have been going to New York? - Yes. 8847. (The Commissioner.) Have you ever found out what it was, if it was not the “Titanic”? - No, my Lord. 8848. Has anybody found out what it was? - No, my Lord. 8849. (Mr. Dunlop.) Have you ever found out what that steamer was which you yourself saw on the Monday morning? - No. The Commissioner: That is the steamer which Stone, I think, said was not the steamer that he had seen the night before. 8850. (Mr. Dunlop - To the Witness.) But it was a steamer that you saw on the Monday morning? - Yes. 8851. What kind of a steamer was she? - A four-masted steamer with one funnel. 8852. Have you been able to ascertain what her name was? - No. 8853. Does it surprise you that you have not been able to find out the name of the steamer that was firing rockets at midnight? - Well, we never knew what ship that was that we saw to the southward. The Commissioner: Do not you think that if there had been a steamer firing rockets at that time we should have heard something about her by this time? Mr. Dunlop: Your Lordship may yet. The Commissioner: I know; but we have not so far, and you see it is a month since this happened. 8854. (Mr. Dunlop - To the Witness.) If you were proceeding to Boston and the “Titanic” to New York, if you proceeded on your ordinary course and she proceeded on her ordinary course, what difference of latitude would there ordinarily be between the tracks of the two steamers? - At that point I believe it would be about thirty or forty miles. 8855. If you were both doing what you intended to do? - Yes. 8856. Now I want to ask you about the reports which the Second Officer made to you when you came on duty at four o’clock. I do not think we have got this clearly. You told my friend the Solicitor-General that the Second Officer reported that about 1 o’clock the steamer he was referring to had fired some rockets? - Yes. 8857. You remember saying that do you? - Yes. 8858. When the Second Officer told you that, what did you say? - I asked him what she did then. 8859. Did you ask him whether they were distress signals, for example? - Yes, I asked if he thought they were distress signals. 8860. And what did he reply to you? - He said, No, he did not think they were; they did not make any report. 8861. (The Commissioner.) Who said that? - Mr. Stone, my Lord.