Page 65 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

6684. Full complement? - 55. 6685. And how many boats do you carry? - 6. 6686. How many of those boats are lifeboats? - 4. 6687. (The Commissioner.) What are the other 2? - One is a gig and the other a pinnace; they are not lifeboats. 6688. (The Attorney-General.) And how many will your lifeboats carry? - The 6 boats carry 218 altogether. 6689. You have no difficulty in carrying more boats than are required for crew and passengers? - We have boat accommodation for double the crew and passengers it will carry. 6690. Do you remember on Sunday, April 14th, sending a wireless message to the “Antillian”? - 6.30 on the 14th. 6691. Is that ship’s time? - Yes, ship’s time for longitude 47° 25.’ 6692. Did you give him the position of some icebergs? - I gave him the position of the ship at 6.30, and I told him the icebergs were 5 miles south of me. The Commissioner: What was the name of the boat? 6693. (The Attorney-General.) It was a message sent to the “Antillian.” Your Lordship will see in a moment what happened. (To the Witness.) Giving the position of three large icebergs, was it? - Yes. 6694. Would you tell me the position that you gave him? - Forty-two deg. five min and 49 deg. 9 min. 6695. Forty-two deg 5 min N and 49 deg 9 min W? - Yes. 6696. The three icebergs were reported five miles to the southward of you? - Yes. The Commissioner: Forty-two deg 5 min and 49 deg 9 min. was the position of his ship? 6697. (The Attorney-General.) Yes, my Lord. On the chart it is a little to the right of the spot marked as that at which the “Titanic” sank - five miles to the southward the icebergs were. (To the Witness.) Did your wireless operator tell you whether any other vessel had picked up that message? - Witness: He did. 6698. Did he tell you anything about the “Titanic”? - He told me he had offered it to the “Titanic” and he said, “All right, he had it.” 6699. He said, “All right, he had it”? - Yes. The Commissioner: What does that mean? 6700. (The Attorney-General.) That meant he had already received the information - The Witness: He had picked it up whilst we were sending it to the “Antillian.” 6701. Later on did you have to stop on account of ice? - I had to stop and reverse engines. 6702. Would you tell us what time that was? - 10. 21 p.m. 6703. That also was ship’s time? - Yes, ship’s time for that same longitude. 6704. Where were you then? - Forty-two deg five min N, and 50 deg 7 min. W. The Attorney-General: We shall have to do this with several vessels later on, my Lord; it will be very useful if we agree, at any rate, upon the spot as we proceed, so that we see we get the same spot as your Lordship’s assessors have marked for you. We make it the spot is just under the fringe marked as “the field of ice between March and July,” and the spot is just under the “J,” where she stopped. The Commissioner: I can hand this plan down. You will see where the blue or the red mark is, and I have written “Californian” above the round spot in pencil. It is not quite under “July”; it is a little to the east of “July.” Do you see it? The Attorney-General: Yes, my Lord, I do. The Solicitor-General: Probably that is the first position. The Attorney-General: I agree that is the first position, but what we are speaking of is the spot where she stopped and reversed engines because of ice. I think it is just under the fringe below