Page 155 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

8976. Which we know she did, about 10.25 - your ship’s time? - Yes. 8977. Did you go on deck when you found the ship had stopped? - Yes. 8978. I think you found the Captain and the Chief Engineer discussing the matter? - Yes. 8979. And then did the Captain make a communication to you and ask you to do something? - Well, Sir, he was talking about the ice then; he was talking to the Chief Officer. I asked him if anything was the matter, and if he wanted me. A little after that he came along to my cabin to talk to me. 8980. What did he want to know? - He asked me what ships I had got. 8981. That means, what ships you were in touch with? - In communication with. 8982. What did you say? - I said, “I think the ‘Titanic’ is near us. I have got her.” 8983. Did you say “I think the ‘Titanic’ is near us” or “is nearest”? - Near us. 8984. (The Commissioner.) “Nearer” is it you are saying? - She was “near us.” 8985. (The Solicitor-General.) As far as you know, was there any ship with Marconi apparatus that was nearer you at this time than the “Titanic”? - Not as far as I know. I had not the “Titanic’s” position. 8986. (The Commissioner.) What time was this - about what time? - Five minutes to eleven. 8987. (The Solicitor-General.) Ship’s time? - Yes. 8988. What did the Captain say when you said that? - He said, “You had better advise the ‘Titanic’ we are stopped and surrounded by ice.” 8989. Did you call up the “Titanic”? - Yes. 8990. Can you give me the time? - It was 9.5 p.m.. 8991. New York time? - Yes, 11 o’clock ship’s time. 8992. What did you say? - I said, “We are stopped and surrounded by ice.” 8993. Did you get an answer from the “Titanic”? - They said, “Keep out.” 8994. Just explain to us, will you, what that means? - Well, Sir, he was working to Cape Race at the time. Cape Race was sending messages to him, and when I started to send he could not hear what Cape Race was sending. 8995. Does that mean that you would send louder than Cape Race to him? - Yes; and he did not want me to interfere. 8996. That would interrupt his conversation with Cape Race? - Yes. 8997. So that he asked you to “keep out”? - Yes. 8998-9. In ordinary Marconi practice is that a common thing to be asked? - Yes. And you do not take it as an insult or anything like that. The Commissioner: What did you say? 9000. (The Solicitor-General.) “You do not take it as an insult or anything like that.” (To the Witness.) Do I understand rightly then that a Marconi operator, like other people, can only clearly hear one thing at a time? - Yes. 9001. Have you any means of knowing - do you judge that he had heard your message about ice? When you say you sent this message and he said “keep out,” did he say that after he had got your message? - The very minute I stopped sending. 9002. (The Commissioner.) You cannot tell, I suppose, whether he heard what you said? - He must have heard it, my Lord, but I do not know whether he took it down. 9003. Would he hear what you said, or would he merely hear that you were speaking? You see, as I understand, he was getting messages from two points - from Cape Race and from you. He could not hear both, I suppose, at the same time? - No, my Lord. 9004. And he may not have heard what you said, though he may have known that you were trying to speak to him. I do not know, you know; I am only asking? - Well, my Lord, my signal would be much stronger than Cape Race’s. 9005. You think that he would have heard you, and you would, as it were, obliterate Cape