Page 92 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 6 - 9

The Commissioner: I do not think any harm has been done. The Attorney-General: I am only intervening so that it may not be done later. 7357. (Mr. Dunlop.) I have brought you to 1.15, the time that you got the second report? - Yes. 7358. You told us what that report was - that the steamer had commenced to alter her bearing to the south-west? - Yes. 7359. What did that report lead you to infer? - That she was steaming away from it. 7360. And if she was steaming to the south-west would the masthead lights in the ordinary course of things disappear? - Yes. 7361. And would she open then her stern light? - She would open her stern light. 7362. How far is the stern light supposed to be visible? - According to the law it is supposed to be visible at two miles. 7363. One mile is the law? - Is it one mile? 7364. But sometimes they show much further? - Much further. 7365. But they do not show so far as the masthead lights? - No. 7366. Might it be that the masthead lights disappeared, showing a stern light, which was not in fact visible at that distance? - Very likely, yes. 7367. At what time was it, do you think, that you fell asleep after 1.15? - I think it was somewhere after half-past one. I could hear the officer Morsing. I could hear the tick of the Morse machine over my head. 7368. Did you sleep soundly? - I must have done. 7369. If the Apprentice came to your room subsequently, are you conscious of anything that he said to you or what you said to him? - All I recollect saying is, “What is it?” 7370. Did you remain asleep until 4.30? - Until 4.30. 7371. Then did you go on the bridge? - I went on the bridge. 7372. And I think you afterwards heard of the sinking of the “Titanic”? - Yes. The Commissioner: We have had all this, you know. 7373. (Mr. Dunlop.) I am coming now, my Lord, to the questions I wanted to put. (To the Witness.) You were surprised about the “Titanic.” Did you question your Second Officer as to why you had not been called? - I did. 7374. What was his explanation to you? - He said that he had sent down and called me; he had sent Gibson down, and Gibson had told him I was awake and I had said, “All right, let me know if anything is wanted.” I was surprised at him not getting me out, considering rockets had been fired. He said if they had been distress rockets he would most certainly have come down and called me himself, but he was not a little bit worried about it at all. 7375. If they had been distress rockets he would have called you? - He would have come down and insisted upon my getting up. 7376. And was it his view that they were not distress rockets? - That was apparently his view. 7377. The position which the “Virginian” reported to you was, I think, 19 1/2 miles South, 16 West, of your position? - Yes. 7378. How many miles had you, in fact, to steam to get to the place where the wreckage was found? - I should think 30 miles at the least. 7379. Were you able to proceed to the position indicated by the “Virginian” on a direct course? - No. 7380. What prevented you from doing that? - The ice. 7381. Can you indicate what the condition of the ice was between where you were lying and the place where the wreckage was found? - Ice-field - dense ice-field. 7382. Can you tell us what the extent of the ice-field was? - The width of it? 7383. Yes, the width of it from your position to the position of the wreck? - It was running north and south after the style of a T, and the T was dividing the position where the “Titanic”