Voices from the Titanic (57 page)

‘If you had had glasses could you have seen the iceberg sooner?' – ‘We could have seen it a bit sooner.'

‘How much sooner?' – ‘Enough to get out of the way.'

‘Were you and Lee disappointed that you had no glasses?' –

‘Yes.'

‘Did the officers on the bridge have glasses?' – ‘Yes.'

(
Daily Graphic
, 24 April 1912)

The
Titanic
's helmsman,
Robert Hichens
, gave a more detailed account of the collision than he had delivered previously to the press, and also refuted allegations about his conduct in boat No. 6.

‘Who gave the first order?' – ‘Mr Murdoch, the First Officer, the officer in charge. The Sixth Officer repeated the order. But, during the time, she was crushing the ice, or we could hear the grinding noise along the ship's bottom. I heard the telegraph ring. The skipper came rushing out of his room – Captain Smith – and asked: “What is that?” Mr Murdoch said: “An iceberg,” Captain Smith said: “Close the emergency doors.” Mr Murdoch replied: “The doors are already closed.” The captain then sent for the carpenter to sound the ship. He also came back to the wheelhouse and looked at the commutator in front of the compass, which is a little instrument like a clock to tell you how the ship is listing. The ship had a list of five degrees to the starboard.'

‘How long after the impact?' – ‘About five minutes. I stayed at the wheel until twenty-three minutes past 12. I was relieved by Quartermaster Perkis. One of the officers said: “That will do with the wheel; get the boats out.” I got in No. 6 boat, put in charge of her by Mr Lightoller. We lowered away from the ship and were told to, “Pull towards that light,” which we started to do. Everybody seemed in a bad condition in the boat. Everybody was quite upset, and I told them somebody would have to pull – there was no use stopping there alongside of the ship, and the ship gradually going by the head. We were in a dangerous place, so I told them to man the oars, ladies and all: “All of you do your best.” We got away about a mile, I suppose, from the ship, going after this light, which we expected to be a codbanker – a schooner that comes out on the Banks.'

‘A fisherman's boat?' – ‘Yes, sir, but we did not get any nearer the light. There were several other boats around us at this time and one boat that had no light came close up to us. He had four to six men in his boat and I borrowed one fireman from him to put in my boat, to enable me to pull. We did not seem to get any nearer the light, so we conversed together, and we tied our boats side by side. We stopped there until we saw the
Carpathia
heave in sight about daybreak. The wind had sprung up a bit then, and it got very choppy. I relieved one of the young ladies with the oar, and told her to take the tiller. She immediately let the boat come athwart, and the ladies in the boat got very nervous. So I took the tiller back again, and told them to manage the best way they could. The lady I refer to, Mrs Meyer, she was rather vexed with me in the boat and I spoke rather straight to her, and she accused me of wrapping myself up in the blankets in the boat, using bad language, and drinking all the whisky, which I deny, sir. I was standing to attention, exposed, steering the boat all night, which is a very cold billet. I would rather be pulling the boat than be steering. But I saw no one there to steer, so I thought, being in charge of the boat, it was the best way to steer myself, especially when I saw the ladies get very nervous with the nasty tumble on. We got down to the
Carpathia
and I saw every lady and everybody out of the boat, and I saw them carefully hoisted on board the
Carpathia
. I was the last man to leave the boat.'

(US Inquiry, 24 April 1912)

The captain of the
Californian
did not sight any other ship which might have been the steamer said to have passed so close and refused aid. This is believed to bear certain significance inasmuch as if the vessel which was seen from the
Titanic
while she was sinking was moving it should have at some time during the night passed near enough to the
Californian
to have been sighted by her, and no such ship was seen, according to Capt. Lord.

(
New York World
, 25 April 1912)

‘Get to hell out of this' was the peremptory advice given to Mr Bruce Ismay by Mr G. Lowe, the Fifth Officer of the
Titanic
, when the chairman of the White Star Line was repeatedly urging him to lower away the lifeboats before the liner sank.

In stating this in evidence yesterday before the Senatorial Commission at Washington, Mr Lowe admitted that at the time he did not know to whom he was talking, but Mr Ismay walked away and assisted at another boat.

Mr Lowe, questioned as to the speed of the
Titanic
, declared that she could have travelled at 24 or 25 knots had she been required to do so. He was submitted to half an hour's detailed examination regarding the rules in force on the liner, and stated that there was no boat drill after the liner left Southampton.

Mr Lowe indignantly denied that he had been drinking on the night of the disaster. He was not a drinker. After the collision occurred he got out a revolver.

‘Why?' – ‘You never know when you will need it.'

He took charge of the launching of lifeboat No. 5, said Mr Lowe. Mr Ismay, whom he did not know at the time, was present, and seemed over-anxious and excited. Mr Ismay kept repeatedly urging him to ‘lower away'. He resented Mr Ismay's interference, and in the heat of the moment exclaimed: ‘If you will get the hell out of this I shall be able to do so.'

Mr Ismay made no reply, but walked away and assisted at boat No. 3. He believed there were fifty people in the first boat lowered, including ten men. Five men were necessary to man it.

After the
Titanic
sank he transferred some of the passengers from his boat to another, and then returned to where the wreckage was floating. He picked up four persons alive. One of them was Mr Hoyt, of New York, who was bleeding from the nose and mouth and afterwards died. Mr Lowe said he saw no females in the wreckage.

At daybreak he took on board, from an overturned collapsible boat, twenty men and one woman. The woman was Mrs Henry B. Harris, of New York, one of whose arms was broken. Three people found clinging to the boat were dead.

‘It would have been suicide,' said Mr Lowe, ‘for us to go back into the zone where the 1500 people, whose cries we heard, were drowning. I did my best, and went as near the scene as I dared. I am not ashamed of what I did.'

The Second Officer, Mr Lightoller, said that Mr Ismay, when on board the
Carpathia
, had expressed his regret at having been saved, and added that he should have remained on board and gone down with the
Titanic
.

The Second Officer told the committee that Mr Ismay's words were: ‘I ought to have gone down with the ship. Women went down. I should.'

(
Daily Sketch
, 25 April 1912)

Quartermaster
Alfred Olliver
, twenty-seven, was just entering the bridge when the collision occurred.

‘Did you see that iceberg?' – ‘Yes, I did. It was about the height of the boat deck; if anything, just a little higher. The top did not touch the side of the boat, but it was almost alongside of the boat.'

‘What kind of a sound was there?' – ‘The sound was like she touched something; a long grinding sound, like.'

‘What was the length of the iceberg beside the boat?' – ‘That I could not say, because I only saw the top. It was impossible to see the length of the iceberg from where I was standing.'

‘What was the shape at the top?' – ‘The shape was pointed. It was not white, as I expected to see an iceberg. It was a kind of a dark blue.'

‘Did you notice the course of the berg as it passed you?' – ‘No, sir. It went towards the after part of the ship, but I did not see it afterwards because I did not have time to know where it was going.'

‘Do you know whether the wheel was hard aport then?' – ‘What I know about the helm is, hard aport.'

‘Do you mean hard aport or hard astarboard?' – ‘I know the orders I heard when I was on the bridge after we had struck the iceberg. I heard hard aport, and there was Hichens, the man at the wheel, and the Sixth Officer, Mr Moody. The officer was seeing it was carried out right.'

‘You do not know whether the helm was put hard astarboard first, or not?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘But you know it was put hard aport after you got there?' – ‘After I got there; yes, sir.'

‘Where was the iceberg, do you think, when the helm was shifted?' – ‘The iceberg was away up stern.'

‘That is when the order “hard aport” was given?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘Who gave the order?' – ‘The First Officer.'

‘And that order was immediately executed, was it?' – ‘Immediately executed, and the Sixth Officer saw that it was carried out.'

(US Inquiry, 25 April 1912)

As the crew member in charge of collapsible boat ‘C', quartermaster
George Rowe
witnessed J. Bruce Ismay's controversial escape.

‘Tell us the circumstances under which Mr Ismay and that other gentleman (Carter) got into the boat.' – ‘When Chief Officer Wilde asked if there was any more women and children, there was no reply. So Mr Ismay came aboard the boat.'

‘Was it light enough so that you could see anyone nearby?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘I understand there were firemen and stokers in that neighbourhood?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘But no women and children?' – ‘No women or children, sir.'

‘Did you see Mr Ismay and Mr Carter get in the boat?' – ‘I saw the gentlemen get in; yes, sir.'

‘Did you hear anyone ask them to get in?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘How were you occupied at the time they got in?' – ‘I was occupied in attending the after fall, sir.'

‘Were you watching Chief Officer Wilde?' – ‘Yes, sir.'

‘Did you see him speak to them?' – ‘No, sir.'

‘If he had spoken to them, would you have known it?' – ‘I think so, because they got in the afterpart of the boat.'