Page 163 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

could you? - You cannot tell exactly; it is impossible. 9193. Did you say further, when referring to the message that you received from the “Titanic”: “I thought he was very much south of me, because we were bound for Boston and we were north of the track; we were following the track of the ‘Parisian’”? Do you remember saying that? - Yes, the captain told me to expect the “Titanic” to be away to the southward of us. 9194. When you said that the “Titanic” was near to you, within your radius, do you think she was? - I could not tell. 9195. You could not tell within 100 miles or 200 miles? - No, you cannot tell. 9196. All you thought you could tell was that the “Titanic” appeared to be the nearest vessel to you that had wireless telegraphy with which you could correspond? - Yes, that was my view. Re-examined by the SOLICITOR-GENERAL. 9197. If you get within communication of a ship which has wireless telegraphy, unless you know whether its installation is a strong one or a weak one, have you any means of seeing whether she is very near or whether she is further off? - Well, you could tell by the strength. If she is a very long way off and you have tuned accurately to her, and you find her signals are very weak, you can say she is a good distance off. 9198. Does not it depend on the strength of her own discharge as well as upon the strength of the signals that you receive? - Yes. 9199. So that you need to know whether she has a strong installation or not? - But you can always tell by the sound of the spark. A strong installation has a singing spark; a coil set has a bad spark. 9200. I think I heard you say, “I heard the ‘Titanic’ long before I got her”? - Yes. 9201. You could tell that she was sending out messages though you were not able to respond to them, is that it? - The reason I did not try and get her before that was he was working, he was busy with different ships, and all the rest of it. You have to wait before you start. The bigger ship, the faster ship, is the controlling ship; therefore he would be senior to myself. 9202. That is the rule, is it? - Yes. 9203. And as you had heard the “Titanic” for some time, could you tell us from what you heard whether she was getting nearer to you as time went on? - Yes. 9203a. Was she? - Yes. 9204. You say you continued to hear her until you turned in at half-past 11? - Yes. 9205. When you turned in, from what you could hear of her, was she nearer to you than she had been before? - Yes, her signals were stronger, getting much better. 9206. Very much stronger? - Yes. 9207. I think this is what Mr. Cotter referred to when he spoke of a communication chart. (Holding up a chart.) Yes, that has only the longitude W. marked on it. You could not tell exactly where a ship is. (The chart was handed to the Commissioner.) 9208. It is not a navigation chart, or a geographical chart? - No, it is for our own convenience. 9209. It is a diagram? - Yes, you could not call it a map. 9210. Suppose a ship leaves Europe on a particular day and is due in America on a subsequent day, and you draw a straight line across, you can tell more or less when she will cross the different meridians? - That is it, exactly. 9211. And of course the steeper the line is the quicker the ship? - Yes. 9212. If it is a flat line it is a very slow ship, that takes a long time to get across; if it is a very steep line it is a quick ship? - Yes. The Solicitor-General: Your Lordship sees that on the chart? The Commissioner: Yes.