Page 222 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

10628. Were there any women about after it had been launched? - I saw four or five women when we were trying to get the boat away. 10629. When you were launching? - When the first collapsible boat went there were no more women there to get in the boat and it was practically full then. 10630. How long from the launching of that collapsible boat with Mr. Bruce Ismay in it, was it that you saw the women? - I suppose it took us about 10 or 12 minutes to get the other boat down. 10631. That is when you were getting the boat off the house? - Yes, off the officers’ house, and those women were waiting to get into the boat if we could have got it away. 10632. They came along after the first collapsible boat had gone? - Yes. 10633. How many men did it take to get that collapsible boat off the house? - I could not tell you the number; there were seven or eight on the top deck and two or three down below receiving it. 10634. Where did you get the planks from to put against the house to get the collapsible boat down? - Where they came from I cannot say, but they were there ready. 10635. Were they planks or masts or oars out of some of the other boats? - That I did not take much notice of, whether they were masts or what. I think they were the planks that held the awnings on the other boats. 10636. You mean the fore-and-aft? - Yes. 10637. You had two fore-and-afters and put them there? - Yes. 10638. Was anybody hurt? - No. 10639. Had you any difficulty in sliding that boat off the house? - We put the bow of it on the planks and let it slide down. Mr. Cotter: With your permission, my Lord, could we have the model canted over? The Commissioner: Certainly. 10640. (Mr. Cotter - To the Witness.) Will you show us how far she had a list? Say when to stop. (The model was moved.) - That will do. 10641. She had a list to port? - Yes. 10642. And the bow down that way? - Yes. 10643. It was a cant on that way and a list to port? - Yes. 10644. When you started to bring the Englehardt boat off the house? - Yes. 10645. Did you land it down to the deck next to the house or near the davit? - Right alongside to the house, the length of the planks; we put them half-way between the house and the davits. 10646. You would have to pull your falls over from the davits, loose your falls and drag them over and fix them on the boat? - Yes, we did that when we found we could not push it up the incline. We had to slacken the falls. 10647. Suppose you had got them on the davits, with the list she had on, could you have launched her? - We should have launched it. We should have got it out, swung the davits out first and then put the people in. It would have been a little difficult, but I think we could have managed it. 10648. With a ship with a list like that? - Yes. 10649. With a 70 feet drop? - Yes, because the weight in the boat would slide it along the side of the ship. 10650. The water was well up then, was it not? You might have been able to? - She had her nose pretty low down then. 10651. You could not get the forward end or afterend of the falls cut away? - I cut the afterend myself; I do not know about the forward. I shouted for them to be cut away and that the boat would float then, but I do not know whether they were cut or not. I know the afterend was cut. 10652. Was there anybody in there? - There was a lot scrambled into it then; when the sea