Page 184 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

9632. (Mr. Scanlan - To the Witness.) Can you recognise Mr. Cavell here as one of the boat’s crew who were in No. 15 with you? - Yes. 9633. He was? - Yes. 9634. Are you still satisfied on your recollection of what happened on that night that you took in on A deck 60 men, male passengers? - 60? That I would not swear to. 9635. How many male passengers did you take in? - That I could not say. 9636. I thought you were very emphatic on the last occasion that all told in your boat, No. 15, you had 68 persons? - That was the count in the morning - 65 to 68. 9637. And that you had taken in four women and three children? - Yes, when I was there. 9638. Now if you had seven of a crew, that would leave 61 persons in the boat, and of these seven were women and children - four women and three children. At all events, you had 55 additional passengers? - Yes. 9639. Is it still your opinion that those 55 were all male passengers? The Commissioner: To make your arithmetic correct it would be 54. The Solicitor-General: Yes, that is right. 9639a. (Mr. Scanlan.) Yes, my Lord, 54. I thank your Lordship. (To the Witness.) Were these all male passengers? - No, I made a mistake there. The Commissioner: I cannot hear what he says. 9640. (Mr. Scanlan.) He says, “I made a mistake there.” (To the Witness.) Will you explain to my Lord what mistake you did make? - I just counted the women I helped into the boat and the children. The others I did not see. The Commissioner: What am I to understand now, because up to this time there has been a flat contradiction, as I understand, between this witness and that other man? Mr. Scanlan: That is so, my Lord. 9641. (The Commissioner - To the Witness.) Now, then, am I to understand that you think the other man was right? - Yes. 9642. (Mr. Scanlan.) Do you mean that when you said the other day that all the others except the seven taken into that boat were men, that is all wrong? - Yes, I made a mistake. 9643. Were they all women? - Principally, I should say. 9644. Are you able to tell my Lord now how many men and how many women respectively you took in at A deck? - I could not say. The Commissioner: Well, Mr. Scanlan, you are only making confusion worse confounded. Mr. Scanlan: I think, at all events, it is important to have this discrepancy cleared up. The Commissioner: Quite; I quite agree with you. 9645. (Mr. Scanlan.) I do not wish to leave it entirely here. (To the Witness.) Did you count yourself in the morning the total number of persons you had in the boat? - No. The Solicitor-General: I am sorry to interrupt, but I think it would be as well if that man Cavell went out of Court now. The Commissioner: Where is Mr. Cavell? He had better retire. The Solicitor-General: I think he had better go out. (Cavell left the Court.) 9646. (Mr. Scanlan.) Here is what you said when you last gave evidence, in answer to the Attorney-General. I want you to listen to it. You were asked: “Can you give us any idea of how many of the 68 who went into this boat No. 15 were women and how many were men?” Your answer is: “Four or five women and three children.” Then the next question is: “And all the rest men?” and you replied to that, “Yes”? - Yes, that is all the women and children I saw in. 9647. When you stated that all the rest were men, you understood what you were being asked?