Page 235 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

because you had closed the watertight doors? - It would come up the stairway. But the watertight doors are not near the Post Office. 10986. I know they are not? - The watertight doors are further aft. 10987. I quite follow? - There is nothing to stop the water from coming up to F deck. [There was no question 10988.] 10989. What I want to see is why it did not come along F deck? - Because the bulkheads were there. 10990. Because of the bulkheads, and because the watertight doors in the bulkheads were shut? - Yes, but there are no bulkheads forward by the post office. 10991. No, but there is a bulkhead between the place where the post office is and where your quarters are? - Yes, there are two bulkheads. The Solicitor-General: I think your Lordship’s suggestion is the one the witness means to make. The Commissioner: What is that? The Solicitor-General: That the water did rise in that stairway till it got to E deck, and that it then passed aft and fell into F deck. The Witness: Yes. The Commissioner: That is what he means? 10992. (The Solicitor-General.) Yes. (To the Witness.) You saw this water coming down from E to F. Were you there long enough to be able to tell us whether it was increasing in flow, or whether it was coming the same as it started? - No, I did not wait to see. 10993. You were only there a minute or two, I suppose? - Yes. 10994. Did you find any people in the quarters you had gone to search, or had they all left? - They had all left. 10995. They had all turned out? -Yes. 10996. And did you return then to E deck? - Yes, to the working alleyway. 10997. And did you go up this stairway, down which this water was coming? - No, I went further aft than that. 10998. You went further aft and then went up another stairway? - Yes. I came up the stairs out of my room; water was coming down there, but that was different from F deck, and then went through the emergency door on to E deck, the working alleyway. You will find “Emergency Door” right at the top of the stairs. 10999. We do. Was that emergency door open or closed? - Open. 11000. So that you did, if I follow you rightly, mount the stairs down which this water was coming? - Oh, yes. 11001. Then, when you got to E deck, the top of these stairs, you could tell whether the water was coming along E deck or not? - Yes. 11002. Was it? - It was coming from forward. 11003. From forward, along E deck? - Yes. 11004. Was it coming along that working alleyway? - No. 11005. Then where was it coming? - From the starboard side. The working alleyway was quite dry. 11006. (The Commissioner.) Was there a list by this time? - No, I did not notice any. 11007. (The Solicitor-General.) I want to trace that water. You saw it coming from forward, aft? - Yes. 11007a. The passage way which runs across? - Yes. 11008. Along, not the working alleyway, but the other alleyway, that is, on the starboard side? - Yes. 11009. And then, in order to fall down those stairs, it would have to turn a corner, would it