Voices from the Titanic (56 page)

Mr William E. Carter, a well-known Philadelphian, gives the following story of his departure and that of Mr Ismay from the
Titanic
. After seeing his wife and children into the boats on the port side of the vessel he went to the starboard side and there found Mr Ismay with several officers filling boats with women. As the last boat was being filled they looked around for more women. The women in the boat were mostly steerage passengers.

Joseph Boxhall
was the
Titanic
's Fourth Officer. He stated that he fired distress rockets and flashed Morse signals to an unidentified steamer whose lights he had seen on the horizon.

‘I was around the bridge most of the time, sending off distress signals and endeavouring to signal to a ship that was ahead of us.'

‘How far ahead of you?' – ‘It is hard to say. I saw her masthead lights and I saw her side light.'

‘In what direction?' – ‘Almost ahead of us.'

‘On the same course, apparently?' – ‘No.'

‘On the same general course?' – ‘By the way she was heading she seemed to be meeting us.'

‘Do you know anything about what boat that was?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘You say you fired these rockets and otherwise attempted to signal her?' – ‘Yes, sir. She got close enough, as I thought, to read our electric Morse signal, and I signalled to her. I told her to come at once, we were sinking. I told the captain about this ship. He was with me most of the time when we were signalling.'

‘Did he also see it?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘Did you get any reply?' – ‘I cannot say I saw any reply. Some people say she replied to our rockets and signals, but I did not see them.'

‘In referring to “some people”, whom do you mean?' – ‘People who were around the bridge, stewards and people waiting in the boats.'

‘From what you saw of that vessel, how far would you think she was from the
Titanic
?' – ‘Approximately five miles.'

‘What lights did you see?' – ‘The two masthead lights and the red light.'

‘Were the two masthead lights the first lights that you could see?' – ‘Yes.'

‘And what other lights?' – ‘As she got closer, I saw her side lights, and eventually her red light.'

‘So you were quite sure she was coming in your direction?' – ‘Quite sure.'

‘How long was this before the boat sank?' – ‘It is hard to tell. I saw them from our ship before I left the ship. I saw the steamer's stern light before I went into my boat, which indicated that the ship had turned around. I saw a white light and I could not see any of the masthead lights that I had seen previously. I do not know when she turned because I was leaving the bridge to go and fire off some more distress rockets. I did not see her after we pulled around to the starboard side of the
Titanic
. '

(US Inquiry, 22 April 1912)

The United States Senate Committee, which is inquiring into the loss of the
Titanic
, resumed its sittings today (Monday).

Mr Franklin, Vice-President of the International Mercantile Marine (the Morgan combine which includes the White Star Line), was the first witness called.

He admitted that the report circulated on Monday to the effect that the
Titanic
was safe might have originated in the White Star Office, but certainly no responsible officer ever made such a statement.

He said that he knew at noon on Monday that the
Carpathia
had picked up twenty boatloads of survivors from the
Titanic
.

This was not made public because he believed that it was unauthentic, although it came by a relayed wireless message via Cape Race.

Mr Franklin produced copies of wireless messages from Mr Ismay, asking for the liner
Cedric
to be held back to enable him and the crew of the
Titanic
to sail immediately for England without landing at New York. A message also asked for clothing to be provided for Mr Ismay. Mr Franklin replied, refusing to hold the
Cedric
back.

Further questioned, Mr Franklin denied sending to Congressman Hughes on Monday a message stating that the
Titanic
was still afloat and was being towed to Halifax. He had been unable to ascertain that any such message had been sent from the White Star offices.

The Chairman: ‘When did you first learn that the
Titanic
had gone down?' – ‘At twenty minutes past six in the evening. It was relayed from the
Carpathia
by the
Virginian
. We first heard at 2.20 from newspaper men of persistent reports that the
Titanic
had gone down, and we got into telephonic communication with Montreal, but we were unable to get confirmation. The message from the
Virginian
informed us that the
Carpathia
was alongside, and was doing everything that was possible.'

‘What did you do after the receipt of that message?' – ‘It took us some time to pull ourselves together. There were two directors, Mr Steele and Mr J. P. Morgan, Jun., with me. Then we read the message to the newspaper men, but we had only got as far as the foundering when they all rushed away.

‘Messages were received signed “Yamsi” (Ismay backwards) insisting that the crew of the
Titanic
should be returned as quickly as possible.'

The Chairman: ‘Has any effort been made by your company to spirit any member of the crew out of the country?' – ‘Not to my knowledge. As far as Mr Ismay and myself are concerned, it is our desire that every man needed shall appear in order to give the committee every opportunity to ascertain the facts.'

(
Daily Sketch
, 23 April 1912)

Herbert Pitman
was the Third Officer on the
Titanic
. He was in charge of lifeboat No. 5, the second boat to leave, with some forty passengers on board.

‘Did you hear any cries of distress?' – ‘Oh, yes. Crying, shouting, moaning.'

‘From the ship or from the water?' – ‘From the water after the ship disappeared.'

‘But you were not in close proximity to those who were uttering the cries?' – ‘I may have been four or five hundred yards away.'

‘Did you attempt to get near them?' – ‘As soon as she disappeared, I said: “Now, men, we will pull towards the wreck.” Everyone in my boat said it was a mad idea, because we had far better save what few we had in my boat than go back to the scene of the wreck and be swamped by the crowds that were there.'

‘Do you not know your boat would have accommodated twenty or twenty-five more people?' – ‘My boat would have held more.'

‘You say your passengers discouraged you from returning or going in the direction of these cries?' – ‘They did. I told my men to get their oars out, and pull towards the wreck. I said, “We may be able to pick up a few more.” They commenced pulling towards the ship, but the passengers in my boat said it was a mad idea on my part to pull back to the ship, because if I did, we should be swamped with the crowd that was in the water, and it would add another forty to the list of drowned. So I decided not to pull back.'

‘You turned this No. 5 boat around to go in the direction from which these cries came?' – ‘I did.'

‘And were dissuaded from your purpose?' – ‘Certainly.'

‘Then did you turn the boat towards the sea again?' – ‘No. Just simply took our oars in and lay quiet. We just lay there doing nothing although we may have drifted a little bit.'

‘How many of these cries were there? Was it a chorus?' – ‘I would rather you did not speak about that.'

‘I realize that it is not a pleasant theme, and yet I would like to know whether these cries were general and in chorus, or desultory and occasional?' – ‘There was a continual moan for about an hour.'

‘And you lay in the vicinity of that scene for about an hour?' – ‘Yes, we were in the vicinity of the wreck the whole time.'

‘And drifted or lay on your oars during that time?' – ‘We drifted towards daylight as a little breeze sprang up.'

‘Did those cries of distress die away?' – ‘Yes, they died away gradually.'

‘Is that all you care to say?' – ‘I would rather you would have left that out altogether.'

‘I know you would. But I must know what efforts you made to save the lives of passengers and crew under your charge. If that is all the effort you made, say so.' – ‘That is all, sir. That is all the effort I made.'

(US Inquiry, 23 April 1912)

First-class passenger
Major Arthur Peuchen
, a chemical manufacturer from Toronto and keen yachtsman, was ordered into lifeboat No. 6 as an oarsman since there were only two other men in the boat at the time. He testified that the women in the boat wanted to turn back for survivors but that the officer in charge, the
Titanic
's helmsman Robert Hichens, insisted on rowing towards a light he had spotted in the distance.

‘The quartermaster who was in charge of our boat told us to row as hard as we could to get away from the suction, and just as we got a short distance away a stowaway made an appearance. He was an Italian, I think, who had a broken wrist or arm and was of no use to us to row. He got an oar out, but he could not do much, so we got him to take the oar in.'

‘Where did he make his appearance from, Major?' – ‘Underneath. I think he was stowed away underneath the bow of the boat. As we pulled away from the
Titanic
, there was an officer's call of some kind. We stopped rowing.'

‘A whistle?' – ‘A sort of whistle. Anyway the quartermaster told us to stop rowing so he could hear it, and this was a call to come back to the boat. So we all thought we ought to go back to the boat. But the quartermaster said: “No, we are not going back to the boat. It is our lives now, not theirs.” And he insisted upon our rowing farther away.'

‘Who made the rebellion against it?' – ‘Some of the married women that were leaving their husbands. I did not say anything. I knew I was powerless. He was at the rudder. He was a very talkative man. He had been swearing a good deal, and was very disagreeable. I had already had one row with him. I asked him to come and help with the rowing, and to let one of the women steer the boat, but he refused. He told me he was in command of the boat, and that I was to row. He remained at the tiller, and if we had wanted to go back while he was in possession of the tiller, I do not think we could have. Then he imagined he saw a light. I have done a good deal of yachting in my life, and I could not see these lights. All I saw was a reflection. He thought it was a boat of some kind so we kept on rowing towards this imaginary light. Then we started to hear the
Titanic
breaking up. There were dreadful calls and cries.'

‘While these cries of distress were going on, did anyone in the boat urge the quartermaster to return?' – ‘Yes, some of the women did but I said to the women: “It is no use you arguing with that man.” Later, he said it was no use going back there, there was only a lot of stiffs there, which was very unkind, and the women resented it very much.'

(US Inquiry, 23 April 1912)

Mr Pitman was succeeded in the witness-box by Frederick Fleet, twenty-five years of age, sailor and lookout man on the
Titanic
. His watch was at ten o'clock. He had Sailor Lee in the crow's nest. The men whom Fleet relieved told him to keep a sharp lookout for small ice.

‘Did you keep a sharp lookout?' – ‘Yes.'

‘Did you see any ice?' – ‘Yes. At seven bells I reported a black mass ahead.'

‘How long before the collision did you report ice ahead?' – ‘I have no idea.'

‘What did you do when you saw the iceberg?' – ‘I sounded three bells, and then telephoned to the bridge. I got prompt response to my ring, and the report was not delayed.'

‘Was it five minutes or an hour before the collision that you saw the iceberg?' – ‘I don't know.'

‘Tell the Committee whether you apprehended danger when you sounded the signals?' – ‘I thought the berg was pretty close, but it didn't seem so large when I first saw it.'

‘How large was it then?' – ‘About the size of two large tables, but it got larger as we went along, and when we struck it was about 50 or 60ft high above the water.'

‘After you gave the telephone signal, was the ship stopped?' – ‘No, she didn't stop until after she struck the iceberg, but she started to go to port after I telephoned.'

‘Where did the iceberg strike the ship?' – ‘On the starboard bow about 20ft from the stern.'

‘Did it alarm you?' – ‘No, I thought it was a narrow shave.'

‘Did you have any glasses?' – ‘No.'

‘Isn't it customary for lookouts to use glasses in their work?' – ‘Yes, but they did not give us any on the
Titanic
. We asked for them at Southampton, but they said there were none for us.'

‘Whom did you ask?' – ‘Mr Lightoller.'

‘You expected glasses?' – ‘We had them from Belfast to Southampton, but had none from Southampton.'

‘What became of the glasses you had from Belfast to Southampton?' – ‘I don't know.'