To COMMANDER,Baltic.Thanks for your message and good wishes. Had fine weather since leaving.SMITH.
To COMMANDER,Baltic.
Thanks for your message and good wishes. Had fine weather since leaving.
SMITH.
At 1.26 p.m. steamshipTitanic:
To CAPTAIN,Caronia.Thanks for message and information. Have had variable weather throughout.SMITH.
To CAPTAIN,Caronia.
Thanks for message and information. Have had variable weather throughout.
SMITH.
10. (a) If at the times referred to in the last preceding question or later theTitanicwas warned of or had reason to suppose she would encounter ice, at what time might she have reasonably expected to encounter it? (b) Was a good and proper lookout for ice kept on board? (c) Were any, and, if so, what, directions given to vary the speed—if so, were they carried out?
Answer. (a) At, or even before, 9.30 p.m. ship's time, on the night of the disaster. (b) No. The men in the crow's nest were warned at 9.30 p.m. to keep a sharp lookout for ice; the officer of the watch was then aware that he had reached the reported ice region, and so also was the officer who relieved him at 10 p.m. Without implying that those actually on duty were not keeping a good lookout, in view of the night being moonless, there being no wind and perhaps very little swell, and especially in view of the high speed at which the vessel was running, it is not considered that the lookout was sufficient. An extra lookout should, under the circumstances, have been placed at the stemhead, and a sharp lookout should have been kept from both sides of the bridge by an officer. (c) No directions were given to reduce speed.
11. (a) Were binoculars provided for and used by the lookout men? (b) Is the use of them necessary or usual in such circumstances? (c) Had theTitanicthe means of throwing searchlights around her? (d) If so, did she make use of them to discover ice? (e) Should searchlights have been provided and used?
Answer. (a) No. (b) No. (c) No. (d) No. (e) No; but searchlights may at times be of service. The evidence before the court does not allow of a more precise answer.
12. (a) What other precautions were taken by theTitanicin anticipation of meeting ice? (b) Were they such as are usually adopted by vessels being navigated in waters where ice may be expected to be encountered?
Answer. (a) Special orders were given to the men in the crow's nest to keep a sharp lookout for ice, particularly small ice and growlers. The fore-scuttle hatch was closed to keep everything dark before the bridge. (b) Yes; though there is evidence to show that some masters would have placed a lookout at the stemhead of the ship.
13. (a) Was ice seen and reported by anybody on board theTitanicbefore the casualty occurred? (b) If so, what measures were taken by the officer on watch to avoid it? (c) Were they proper measures and were they promptly taken?
Answer. (a) Yes; immediately before the collision. (b) The helm was put hard astarboard and the engines were stopped and put full speed astern. (c) Yes.
14. (a) What was the speed of theTitanicshortly before and at the moment of the casualty? (b) Was such speed excessive under the circumstances?
Answer. (a) About 22 knots. (b) Yes.
15. (a) What was the nature of the casualty which happened to theTitanicat or about 11.45 p.m. on April 14 last? (b) In what latitude and longitude did the casualty occur?
Answer. (a) A collision with an iceberg which pierced the starboard side of the vessel in several places below the water line between the forepeak tank and No. 4 boiler room. (b) In latitude 41° 46´ N., longitude 50° 14´ W.
16. (a) What steps were taken immediately on the happening of the casualty? (b) How long after the casualty was its seriousness realized by those in charge of the vessel (c) What steps were then taken? (d) What endeavors were made to save the lives of those on board, and to prevent the vessel from sinking?
Answer. (a) The 12 water-tight doors in the engine and boiler rooms were closed from the bridge, some of the boiler fires were drawn, and the bilge pumps abaft No. 6 boiler room were started. (b) About 15 to 20 minutes. (c) and (d) The boats were ordered to be cleared away. The passengers were roused and orders given to get them on deck, and life belts were served out. Some of the water-tight doors, other than those in the boiler and engine rooms, were closed. Marconigrams were sent out asking for help. Distress signals (rockets) were fired, and attempts were made to call up by Morse a ship whose lights were seen. Eighteen of the boats were swung out and lowered, and the remaining two floated off the ship and were subsequently utilized as rafts.
17. Was proper discipline maintained on board after the casualty occurred?
Answer. Yes.
18. (a) What messages for assistance were sent by theTitanicafter the casualty, and at what times respectively? (b) What messages were received by her in response, and at what times respectively? (c) By what vessels were the messages that were sent by theTitanicreceived, and from what vessels did she receive answers? (d) What vessels other than theTitanicsent or received messages at or shortly after the casualty in connection with such casualty? (e) What were the vessels that sent or received such messages? (f) Were any vessels prevented from going to the assistance of theTitanicor her boats owing to messages received from theTitanicor owing to any erroneous messages being sent or received? (g) In regard to such erroneous messages, from what vessels were they sent and by what vessels were they received, and at what times respectively?
(a) (b) (c) (d) and (e) are answered together. (f) Several vessels did not go, owing to their distance. (g) There were no erroneous messages.
19. (a) Was the apparatus for lowering the boats on theTitanicat the time of the casualty in good working order? (b) Were the boats swung out, filled, lowered, or otherwise put into the water and got away under proper superintendence? (c) Were the boats sent away in seaworthy condition and properly manned, equipped, and provisioned? (d) Did the boats, whether those under davits or otherwise, prove to be efficient and serviceable for the purpose of saving life?
Answer. (a) Yes. (b) Yes. (c) The 14 lifeboats, 2 emergency boats, and C and D collapsible boats were sent away in a seaworthy condition, but some of them were possibly undermanned. The evidence on this point was unsatisfactory. The total number of crew taken on board theCarpathiaexceeded the number which would be required for manning the boats. The collapsible boats A and B appear to have floated off the ship at the time she foundered. The necessary equipment and provisions for the boats were carried in the ship, but some of the boats, nevertheless, left without having their full equipment in them. (d) Yes.
20. (a) What was the number of (a) passengers, (b) crew taken away in each boat on leaving the vessel? (b) How was this number made up, having regard to (1) sex, (2) class, and (3) rating? (c) How many were children and how many adults? (d) Did each boat carry its full load and, if not, why not?
Answer. (a) (b) (c) It is impossible exactly to say how many persons were carried in each boat or what was their sex, class, and rating, as the totals given in evidence do not correspond with the numbers taken on board theCarpathia. The boats eventually contained in all 712 persons, made up as shown in the answer to question 21. (d) No. At least 8 boats did not carry their full loads for the following reasons: (1) Many people did not realize the danger or care to leave the shipat first. (2) Some boats were ordered to be lowered with an idea of their coming around to the gangway doors to complete loading. (3) The officers were not certain of the strength and capacity of the boats in all cases (and see p. 39).
21. (a) How many persons on board theTitanicat the time of the casualty were ultimately rescued and by what means? (b) How many lost their lives prior to the arrival of the steamshipCarpathiain New York? (c) What was the number of passengers, distinguishing between men and women and adults and children of the first, second, and third classes, respectively, who were saved? (d) What was the number of the crew, discriminating their ratings and sex, that were saved? (e) What is the proportion which each of these numbers bears to the corresponding total number on board immediately before the casualty? (f) What reason is there for the disproportion, if any?
Answer. (a) Seven hundred and twelve, rescued byCarpathiafrom the boats. (b) One. (c) (d) and (e) are answered together.
The following is a list of the saved:
(f) The disproportion between the numbers of the passengers saved in the first, second, and third classes is due to various causes, among which the difference in the position of their quarters and the fact that many of the third-class passengers were foreigners, are perhaps the most important. Of the Irish emigrants in the third class a large proportion was saved. The disproportion was certainly not due to any discrimination by the officers or crew in assisting the passengers to the boats. The disproportion between the numbers of the passengers andcrew saved is due to the fact that the crew, for the most part, all attended to their duties to the last, and until all the boats were gone.
22. What happened to the vessel from the happening of the casualty until she foundered?
Answer. A detailed description has already been given (see pp. 32-34).
23. Where and at what time did theTitanicfounder?
Answer. Two twenty a. m. (ship's time) April 15. Latitude 41° 46´ N., longitude 50° 14´ W.
24. (a) What was the cause of the loss of theTitanicand of the loss of life which thereby ensued or occurred? (b) What vessels had the opportunity of rendering assistance to theTitanicand, if any, how was it that assistance did not reach theTitanicbefore the steamshipCarpathiaarrived? (c) Was the construction of the vessel and its arrangements such as to make it difficult for any class of passenger or any portion of the crew to take full advantage of any of the existing provisions for safety?
Answer. (a) Collision with an iceberg and the subsequent foundering of the ship. (b) TheCalifornian. She could have reached theTitanicif she had made the attempt when she saw the first rocket. She made no attempt. (c) No.
25. When theTitanicleft Queenstown on or about April 11 last was she properly constructed and adequately equipped as a passenger steamer and emigrant ship for the Atlantic service?
Answer. Yes.
26. The court is invited to report upon the rules and regulations made under the merchant shipping acts, 1894-1906, and the administration of those acts and of such rules and regulations, so far as the consideration thereof is material to this casualty, and to make any recommendations or suggestions that it may think fit, having regard to the circumstances of the casualty, with a view to promoting the safety of vessels and persons at sea.
Answer. An account of the board of trade's administration has already been given and certain recommendations are subsequently made.
The following recommendations are made. They refer to foreign-going passenger and emigrant steamships:
WATER-TIGHT SUBDIVISION.
1. That the newly appointed bulkhead committee should inquire and report, among other matters, on the desirability and practicability of providing ships with (a) a double skin carried up above the water line, or, as an alternative, with (b) a longitudinal, vertical, water-tight bulkhead on each side of the ship, extending as far forward and aft as convenient, or (c) with a combination of (a) and (b). Any one of the three (a), (b), and (c) to be in addition to water-tight transverse bulkheads.
2. That the committee should also inquire and report as to the desirability and practicability of fitting ships with (a) a deck or decks at a convenient distance or distances above the water line which shall be water-tight throughout a part or the whole of the ship's length; and should in this connection report upon (b) the means by which thenecessary openings in such deck or decks should be made water-tight, whether by water-tight doors or water-tight trunks or by any other and what means.
3. That the committee should consider and report generally on the practicability of increasing the protection given by subdivision, the object being to secure that the ship shall remain afloat with the greatest practicable proportion of her length in free communication with the sea.
4. That when the committee has reported upon the matters before mentioned, the board of trade should take the report into their consideration and to the extent to which they approve of it should seek statutory powers to enforce it in all newly built ships, but with a discretion to relax the requirements in special cases where it may seem right to them to do so.
5. That the board of trade should be empowered by the legislature to require the production of the designs and specifications of all ships in their early stages of construction and to direct such amendments of the same as may be thought necessary and practicable for the safety of life at sea in ships. (This should apply to all passenger-carrying ships.)
LIFEBOATS AND RAFTS.
6. That the provision of lifeboat and raft accommodation on board such ships should be based on the number of persons intended to be carried in the ship and not upon tonnage.
7. That the question of such accommodation should be treated independently of the question of the subdivision of the ship into water-tight compartments. (This involves the abolition of rule 12 of the Life Saving Appliances Rules of 1902.)
8. That the accommodation should be sufficient for all persons on board with, however, the qualification that in special cases where, in the opinion of the board of trade, such provision is impracticable, the requirements may be modified as the board may think right. (In order to give effect to this recommendation changes may be necessary in the sizes and types of boats to be carried and in the method of stowing and floating them. It may also be necessary to set apart one or more of the boat decks exclusively for carrying boats and drilling the crew, and to consider the distribution of decks in relation to the passengers' quarters. These, however, are matters of detail to be settled with reference to the particular circumstance affecting the ship.)
9. That all boats should be fitted with a protective continuous fender, to lessen the risk of damage when being lowered in a seaway.
10. That the board of trade should be empowered to direct that one or more of the boats be fitted with some form of mechanical propulsion.
11. That there should be a board of trade regulation requiring all boat equipment (under secs. 5 and 6, p. 15, of the rules, dated February, 1902, made by the board of trade under sec. 427, merchant shipping act, 1894) to be in the boats as soon as the ship leaves harbor. The sections quoted above should be amended so as to provide also that all boats and rafts should carry lamps and pyrotechnic lights for purposes of signaling. All boats should be provided with compasses and provisions, and should be very distinctly marked insuch a way as to indicate plainly the number of adult persons each boat can carry when being lowered.
12. That the board of trade inspection of boats and life-saving appliances should be of a more searching character than hitherto.
MANNING THE BOATS AND BOAT DRILLS.
13. That in cases where the deck hands are not sufficient to man the boats enough other members of the crew should be men trained in boat work to make up the deficiency. These men should be required to pass a test in boat work.
14. That in view of the necessity of having on board men trained in boat work, steps should be taken to encourage the training of boys for the merchant service.
15. That the operation of section 115 and section 134 (a) of the merchant shipping act, 1894, should be examined, with a view to amending the same so as to secure greater continuity of service than hitherto.
16. That the men who are to man the boats should have more frequent drills than hitherto. That in all ships a boat drill, a fire drill, and a water-tight door drill should be held as soon as possible after leaving the original port of departure and at convenient intervals of not less than once a week during the voyage. Such drills to be recorded in the official log.
17. That the board of trade should be satisfied in each case before the ship leaves port that a scheme has been devised and communicated to each officer of the ship for securing an efficient working of the boats.
GENERAL.
18. That every man taking a lookout in such ships should undergo a sight test at reasonable intervals.
19. That in all such ships a police system should be organized so as to secure obedience to orders, and proper control and guidance of all on board in times of emergency.
20. That in all such ships there should be an installation of wireless telegraphy, and that such installation should be worked with a sufficient number of trained operators to secure a continuous service by night and day. In this connection regard should be had to the resolutions of the International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy recently held under the presidency of Sir H. Babington Smith. That where practicable a silent chamber for "receiving" messages should form part of the installation.
21. That instruction should be given in all steamship companies' regulations that when ice is reported in or near the track the ship should proceed in the dark hours at a moderate speed or alter her course so as to go well clear of the danger zone.
22. That the attention of masters of vessels should be drawn by the board of trade to the effect that under the maritime conventions act, 1911, it is a misdemeanor not to go to the relief of a vessel in distress when possible to do so.
23. That the same protection as to the safety of life in the event of casualty which is afforded to emigrant ships by means of supervision and inspection should be extended to all foreign-going passenger ships.
24. That (unless already done) steps should be taken to call an international conference to consider and as far as possible to agree upon a common line of conduct in respect of (a) the subdivision of ships; (b) the provision and working of life-saving appliances; (c) the installation of wireless telegraphy and the method of working the same; (d) the reduction of speed or the alteration of course in the vicinity of ice; and (e) the use of searchlights.
MERSEY,Wreck Commissioner.
We concur.
ARTHURGOUGH-CALTHORPE,A. W. CLARKE,F. C. A. LYON,J. H. BILES,EDWARDC. CHASTON,Assessors.
ARTHURGOUGH-CALTHORPE,A. W. CLARKE,F. C. A. LYON,J. H. BILES,EDWARDC. CHASTON,
Assessors.
JULY30, 1912.
FOOTNOTES:[1]There was another water-tight door at the after end of the water-tight passage through the bunker immediately aft of D bulkhead. This door and the one on the D bulkhead formed a double protection to the forward boiler room.[2]The water-tight doors for these bulkheads were not on them, but were at the end of a water-tight passage (about 9 feet long), leading from the bulkhead through the bunker into the compartment.[3]Floated off when the ship sank and was utilized as a raft.[4]It may be mentioned that Mr. Archer stated in the witness box that since the disaster to the Titanic he had modified his views and thought that rule 12 should be discontinued.[5]See rule of June 14, 1911.[6]See rule of June 14, 1911.
FOOTNOTES:
[1]There was another water-tight door at the after end of the water-tight passage through the bunker immediately aft of D bulkhead. This door and the one on the D bulkhead formed a double protection to the forward boiler room.
[1]There was another water-tight door at the after end of the water-tight passage through the bunker immediately aft of D bulkhead. This door and the one on the D bulkhead formed a double protection to the forward boiler room.
[2]The water-tight doors for these bulkheads were not on them, but were at the end of a water-tight passage (about 9 feet long), leading from the bulkhead through the bunker into the compartment.
[2]The water-tight doors for these bulkheads were not on them, but were at the end of a water-tight passage (about 9 feet long), leading from the bulkhead through the bunker into the compartment.
[3]Floated off when the ship sank and was utilized as a raft.
[3]Floated off when the ship sank and was utilized as a raft.
[4]It may be mentioned that Mr. Archer stated in the witness box that since the disaster to the Titanic he had modified his views and thought that rule 12 should be discontinued.
[4]It may be mentioned that Mr. Archer stated in the witness box that since the disaster to the Titanic he had modified his views and thought that rule 12 should be discontinued.
[5]See rule of June 14, 1911.
[5]See rule of June 14, 1911.
[6]See rule of June 14, 1911.
[6]See rule of June 14, 1911.