“I don’t know how fast we went, but the speed of the Carpathia at that time was greater by far than the way we had been traveling on our way across the ocean. You can imagine the excitement aboard the Carpathia. Everyone was dressed and on deck before we got to the Titanic, or rather what was left of her.
“I guess it was about 3.30 o’clock when we got near the boats of the Titanic. The Carpathia had all her boats hanging on the davits and Captain Rostrom was ready. I heard women scream as the Carpathia approached the Titanic’s boats. I shrieked with them because every one was saying, ‘Oh, oh, it’s awful, awful.’ I saw the first boat of the Titanic taken from the water.
“I saw the icebergs all around the boats. I wonder now how they kept afloat. Before the Carpathia had slackened speed much a lifeboat from our ship was in the water and the men were pushing toward the other boats.
“They tied a rope to the Titanic’s boats and then moved backto the Carpathia and the first boatload of survivors were taken from the water only a few minutes after we saw it.
“There were about fifty women and children in it; some had fainted and lay motionless. Others were screaming and were hysterical. There were no men in the boat and none of the survivors were dressed properly.
“They had on night robes, furs, evening gowns, anything they could find. Some were almost frozen. A little girl, they called her Emily, was shrieking, ‘Oh, mama, mama, I’m sick. Oh, mama, mama!’
“Her mother could not comfort her, because she collapsed as soon as she was lifted to the deck of the Carpathia. All the women on our boat got their heavy clothing and threw it around the survivors. Captain Rostrom told us to take them to our staterooms, and we did all we could to make them comfortable.
“I did not go on deck again until an hour or more had passed; by that time the crew of the Carpathia had taken nearly all the boats from the water. I saw three loads of passengers taken from the boats and the mate of the Carpathia said there were about 800 saved. Captain Rostrom had tears in his eyes while he was directing the work of rescue.
“We were here, there, everywhere it seemed all at once. We got a few men aboard, but they were not taken from the lifeboats. It was women and children first.
“Our ship was a hospital ship on April 15. All the women on our boat offered to give up their staterooms and the captain ordered many of the survivors placed in our berths.
“The doctors had more than they could do to care for the sick. Women fainted one after the other. Mrs. Astor was unconscious at times. She called for her husband time and again, and so we dared not tell her that Colonel Astor was not aboard.”
A steward from the Carpathia told the following tale of the rescue of the Titanic’s passengers and crew to a group of his mates:
“It was between quarter after and half after 1 o’clock, ship’s time, Monday morning,” he said, “when all the stewards were mustered and Chief Steward Highes told us that a wireless had just come in that the Titanic had hit an iceberg and probably would need help. He urged us to turn right in and get ready for a ship’s load of people. The Carpathia turned in the direction the wireless had called from.
“We got hot coffee ready and laid out blankets and made sandwiches and everything like that. It seemed as if every passenger on the boat knew about the trouble and turned out. Captain Rostrom had shut off the hot water all over the ship and turned every ounce of heat into steam, and the old boat was as excited as any of us.
“After we got things ready we went out on deck. It was a glorious morning—no swell in the sea, but bitter cold. The ship’s lights were on full blaze and we were there in the middle of a sea of ice—the finest sight I ever saw.
“Just as it was about half day and dark we came upon a boat. There were eighteen men in it and it was in charge of an officer. There were no women in the boat, and it was not more than one-third filled. All of the men were able to come up the Jacob’s ladder on the Carpathia, which we threw over the port side. Every one of them was given some brandy or hot black coffee. After they were all on board we pulled up their boat.
“It was bright morning by now and all around the Carpathia, here and there, about a quarter mile apart, were more boats. These were fuller than the first and there were women in all of them. The women were hoisted up in bo’suns chairs, and the men who could do so climbed the Jacob’s ladder. Some of the men, however, had to be hauled up, especially the firemen. There was a whole batch of firemen saved. They were nearly naked. They had jumped overboard and swam after the boats, it turned out, and they were almost frozen stiff.
“The women were dressed, and the funny thing about it is only five of them had to be taken to the hospital. Both the men’s hospitals were filled—twenty-four beds in all. We got twelve boatloads,I think, inside of a little more than an hour. Then, between quarter after and half after 8 o’clock, we got the last two boats—crowded to the guards and almost all women.
“After we got the last boatload aboard the Californian came alongside and the captains arranged that we should make straight for New York and the Californian would look around for more boats. We circled round and round, though, and we saw all kinds of wreckage. There was not a person on a stick of it and we did not get sight of another soul.
“While we were pulling in the boatloads of women we saved were quiet enough and not making any trouble at all. But when it seemed sure we would not find any more persons alive then bedlam came.
“I hope I never go through it again. The way those women took on for the folks they had lost was awful and we could not do anything to quiet them until they cried themselves out.
“There were five Chinamen in the boats and not a soul knew where they came from. No one saw them get into the boats; but there they were—wherever they came from.
“The fellows from the crew of the Titanic told us that lots more of them could have got away, only no one would believe that their ship could sink.”
Senators Hear Startling Stories—Probing Committee Took Prompt Action—Special Investigation to Forestall Spiriting Away of Witnesses—Prominent Persons on Stand—Carpathia’s Captain and Head of White Star Line Chief Witnesses—Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy Also Testifies.
Senators Hear Startling Stories—Probing Committee Took Prompt Action—Special Investigation to Forestall Spiriting Away of Witnesses—Prominent Persons on Stand—Carpathia’s Captain and Head of White Star Line Chief Witnesses—Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy Also Testifies.
Managing Director of the White Star Line, J. Bruce Ismay; Captain Rostrom, of the Carpathia; Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless; the second officer of the Titanic and others testified before the Senate committee which was investigating the disaster that caused the loss of more than 1600 lives when the Titanic hit an iceberg.
Mr. Ismay was visibly nervous when he took the stand to testify in the Waldorf-Astoria, where the hearings were being held.
Several times he avoided direct answers by saying: “I know nothing about it.” Little if any light was thrown on the sea tragedy by his testimony.
That the Titanic’s rate of speed was approximately 26½ land miles was brought out from his lips.
He was not sure in just what boat he left the Titanic, nor was he sure how long he remained on the liner after she struck.
He added, however, that before he entered a lifeboat he had been told that there were no more women on the deck, and he denied that there had been any censorship of messages from the Carpathia.
The seriousness of the inquiry by the Senate investigating committee in the Titanic disaster was disclosed when Senator Smith, of Michigan, the chairman, at first flatly refused to letany of the officers or the 200 odd members of the crew of the sunken steamship get beyond the jurisdiction of the United States Government. The men were all to have sailed on the steamer Lapland.
Later it was settled that the greater part of the crew would be permitted to sail on this steamer, but that the twelve men and four officers among the survivors now under subpena, together with Mr. Ismay, would not be allowed to depart.
Captain Rostrom told a simple, apparently straightforward story, thrilling from its very simplicity and the sailorman quality of the narrative.
He answered questions direct and gave the first authoritative tale of the hearing of the appeal for help, the rush to aid the sinking liner and the sighting of the ship’s boats and picking them up, the preparations made, while the Carpathia was being urged along under every ounce of steam its boilers could make, to provide for the reception of the survivors on board.
Captain Rostrom denied emphatically there was any intention on his part to disregard the inquiry made by the President of the United States or that any censorship was exercised over wireless messages by any person other than himself.
Charles W. Lightholder, second officer of the Titanic and senior surviving officer of the ship, told of what preceded the sinking of the Titanic, what happened while women were taken away in boats as brave men stood by, and what happened when the Titanic took her last dip. It was a story of heroism, told quietly and calmly.
Lightholder said that tests of the water had been made for ice. It was part of the routine. Water was taken from the side of the ship in canvas buckets and the temperature learned by putting a thermometer in it.
As the second officer of the ship, Lightholder said he had been in charge of it on Sunday when the Titanic struck, from 6o’clock in the evening until 10, or inside of two hours before the collision.
He would not admit that the tests were being made solely for the purpose of searching for information as to icebergs.
It was part of the routine of the ship. The tests were made for routing purposes and other purposes. The water was not much above freezing.
The witness said that he did not know what the tests of the water that day showed. No reports had been made to him. He did not think it necessary that night, when he was on the bridge in charge, to make tests for the purpose of finding out if the Titanic was in the vicinity of icebergs.
“Did you know that the Amerika had reported to the Titanic the location of icebergs in that neighborhood?” asked Senator Smith.
“I heard of the message, but I didn’t know that it was the Amerika.”
“Did you get from Captain Smith that night any information about the icebergs?”
“Not that night,” said Lightholder. “I think it was in the afternoon, about 1 o’clock. I was on the bridge, having relieved First Officer Murdock, who had gone to lunch.”
Captain Smith, he said, told him of the wireless message from the Amerika about the icebergs. Lightholder said he couldn’t recall just what position the ship was in then, but he could work it out on the chart.
When Chief Officer Murdock returned to the bridge, Lightholder said, he told him exactly the information Captain Smith had communicated to him.
“What did Murdock say?” asked Senator Smith. “All right,” replied Lightholder.
“So the chief officer of the ship was fully advised by you that you were in proximity to icebergs?” he was asked. “Yes, sir.”
“How fast was the boat going at that time?” “Between 21½ and 22 knots.”
“Was that her maximum speed?” “So far as we knew,” said Lightholder, “she could go faster than that if pushed. We understood that that was not her maximum speed.”
“During your voyage, did you know you were in the vicinity of ice?” Senator Smith asked. “I knew some had been reported.”
He said the ship was not in proximity to icebergs Saturday or Sunday, although he knew the ship would be near ice on Sunday night. The witness said he knew nothing of the Amerika and the Titanic talking by wireless about icebergs.
Senator Smith asked if he sought to send any wireless messages from the Titanic after she struck. He said not.
Turning to the subject of lifeboats, Mr. Ismay said he heard the captain give the order to lower the boats. “I then left the bridge.” Three boats, he said, he saw lowered and filled. In his own boat were four members of the crew and forty-five passengers.
“Was there any jostling or attempt by men to get into the boats?” asked Senator Smith. “I saw none.”
“How were the women selected?” “We picked the women and children as they stood nearest the rail.”
Representative Hughes handed Senator Smith a note, and then the chairman told Mr. Ismay that it was reported that the second lifeboat left without its full complement of oarsmen, and from 11.30 until 7.30 women were forced to row the boat. “I know nothing about it.”
Representative Hughes’ daughter was in this boat and was assigned to watch the cork in the boat and, if it came out, to use her finger as a stopper.
Then Senator Smith asked the circumstances under which he left the boat. “The boat was being filled,” began Mr. Ismay. “The officers called out to know if there were any more womento go. There were none. No passengers were on the deck. So as the boat was being lowered I got into it.”
“The ship was sinking?” asked Senator Smith. “The boat was sinking,” almost whispered Mr. Ismay.
“Was there any attempt to lower the boats of the Carpathia to take on passengers after you went aboard her?” asked Senator Smith. “There were no passengers there to take on,” said Mr. Ismay.
He said he saw no liferafts in the sea.
“How many lifeboats were there on the Titanic?” “Twenty altogether, I think,” said Mr. Ismay, “sixteen collapsible and four wooden boats.” Whether the boats were taken on board the Carpathia or not he did not know.
“It has been suggested,” Senator Smith continued, “that two of the lifeboats sank as soon as lowered. Do you know anything about that?” “I do not. I never heard of it, and I think all the lifeboats were accounted for.”
“When you last saw her were there indications that the Titanic had broken in two?” “No, there was no such indication.”
“How long after you left her was it that you looked back for the last time?” “It may have been ten minutes or a half hour. I am not sure. Impossible for me to tell.”
“Was there confusion apparent on the Titanic when you looked back?” “I didn’t see any. All I saw was the green light the last time I looked.”
“After you left Captain Smith on the bridge did you see him again?” “I did not.”
“Did you have any message from him?” “None.”
“How many wireless operators were there on the Titanic?” “I presume there were two. One is always on watch.”
“Did they survive?” “I have been told one did, but I do not know whether it is true or not.”
Mr. Ismay was asked what he had on when he got into thelifeboat. “A pair of slippers, a pair of pajamas, a suit of clothes and an overcoat.”
Captain Rostrom, of the Carpathia, followed Mr. Ismay. He told Mr. Smith that he had been captain of the Carpathia since last January, but that he had been a seaman twenty-seven years.
The captain told in detail of the arrangements made to prepare the lifeboats and the ship for the receipt of the survivors.
Arriving at the zone of the accident, Captain Rostrom testified, he saw an iceberg straight ahead of him and, stopping at 4 A. M., ten minutes later he picked up the first lifeboat. The officer sang out he had only one seaman on board and was having difficulty in manning his boat.
“By the time I got the boat aboard day was breaking,” said the captain. “In a radius of four miles I saw all the other lifeboats. On all sides of us were icebergs; some twenty, some were 150 to 200 feet high, and numerous small icebergs or ‘growlers.’ Wreckage was strewn about us. At 8.30 all the Titanic’s survivors were aboard.”
Then, with tears filling his eyes, Captain Rostrom said he called the purser. “I told him,” said Captain Rostrom, “I wanted to hold a service of prayer—thanksgiving for the living and a funeral service for the dead.
“I went to Mr. Ismay. He told me to take full charge. An Episcopal clergyman was found among the passengers, and he conducted the services.”
As the prayers were being said, Captain Rostrom testified, he was on the bridge searching for survivors. He told of talking with the California, which had arrived. As he searched the sea, one body with a life preserver on floated by.
The man was dead, probably a member of the crew, the captain said. The body was not picked up, the officer explaining, “because the survivors of the Titanic were in no condition then to see a body brought aboard.”
“But I must say,” declared Captain Rostrom with positiveness, “every one of the survivors behaved magnificently. They sat in the boats until the order came for them to mount the ladder in turn, and then came up.”
Asked about the lifeboats, Captain Rostrom said he found one among the wreckage in the sea. Several of the lifeboats brought in on the Carpathia to New York, he said, were lowered last night and hauled away by tenders, he knew not where.
Captain Rostrom said that the Carpathia had twenty lifeboats of her own, in accordance with the British regulations.
“Wouldn’t that indicate that the regulations are out of date, your ship being much smaller than the Titanic, which also carried twenty lifeboats?” Senator Smith asked. “No. The Titanic was supposed to be a lifeboat herself.”
Captain Rostrom then explained that it was for the good of the shipwrecked people that he brought his ship to New York instead of going to Halifax.
At Representative Hughes’ suggestion, Captain Rostrom was asked further about the lifeboat with one officer and one seaman in it. This was the boat from which the Representative’s daughter was rescued. At least two women were rowing in this boat. In another lifeboat he saw women at the oars, but how many he could not tell.
In discussing the strength of the Carpathia’s wireless, Captain Rostrom said the Carpathia was only 58 miles from the Titanic when the call for help came. “Our wireless operator was not on duty,” said Captain Rostrom, “but as he was undressing he had his apparatus to his ear. Ten minutes later he would have been in bed and we never would have heard.”
Mr. Marconi took the stand as soon as the hearing was resumed for the afternoon. He said he was the chairman of the British Marconi Company. Under instructions of the company, he said operators must take their orders from the captain of the ship on which they are employed.
“Do the regulations prescribe whether one or two operators should be aboard the ocean vessels?” “Yes, on ships like the Titanic and Olympic two are carried,” said Mr. Marconi. “The Carpathia, a smaller boat, carries one. The Carpathia’s wireless apparatus is a short-distance equipment. The maximum efficiency of the Carpathia’s wireless, I should say, was 200 miles. The wireless equipment on the Titanic was available 500 miles during the daytime and 1000 miles at night.”
“Do you consider that the Titanic was equipped with the latest improved wireless apparatus?” “Yes, I should say that it had the very best.”
Charles Herbert Lightholder, second officer of the Titanic, followed Mr. Marconi on the stand. Mr. Lightholder said he understood the maximum speed of the Titanic, as shown by its trial tests, to have been 22½ to 23 knots. Senator Smith asked if the rule requiring life-saving apparatus to be in each room for each passenger was complied with.
“Everything was complete,” said Lightholder. Sixteen lifeboats, of which four were collapsible, were on the Titanic, he added. During the tests, he said, Captain Clark, of the British Board of Trade, was aboard the Titanic to inspect its life-saving equipment.
“How thorough are these captains of the Board of Trade in inspecting ships?” asked Senator Smith. “Captain Clark is so thorough that we called him a nuisance.”
Lightholder said he was in the sea with a lifebelt on one hour and a half.
“What time did you leave the ship?” “I didn’t leave it.”
“Did it leave you?” “Yes, sir.”
“Where were you when the Titanic sank?” “In the officers’ quarters.”
“Were all the lifeboats gone then?” “All but one. I was about fifteen feet from it. It was hanging in the tackle, and they were trying to get it over the bulwarks the last time I saw it.The first officer, Mr. Murdock, who lost his life, was managing the tackle.”
The last boat, a flat collapsible, to put off was the one on top the officers’ quarters, Lightholder said. Men jumped upon it on deck and waited for the water to float it off. Once at sea, it upset. The forward funnel fell into the water, just missing the raft, and overturning it. The funnel probably killed persons in the water.
“This was the boat I eventually got on,” declared Lightholder. “No one was on it when I reached it. Later about thirty men clambered out of the water on to it. All had on life preservers.”
“Did any passengers get on?” asked Senator Smith. “J. B. Thayer, the second Marconi operator and Colonel Gracie I recall,” said the witness. “All the rest were firemen taken out of the water. Two of these died that night and slipped off into the water. I think the senior Marconi operator did that.”
“Did you see any attempt to get women to go who would not?” “Yes.”
“Why would they not go?” “I hadn’t time to learn.”
“Did any ask for their family to go?” “Yes, one or two.”
“Did any families go?” “No.”
In the first boat to put off, Lightholder said, he put twenty to twenty-five. Two seamen were placed in it. The officer said he could spare no more and that the fact that women rowed did not show the boat was not fully equipped.
At that time he did not believe the danger was great. Two seamen placed in the boat he said were selected by him, but he could not recall who they were.
“The third boat?” “By the time I came to the third boat—all these on the portside—I began to realize that the situation was serious and I began to take chances.”
“How long did all the work of loading and lowering a lifeboat take?” “It was difficult to say, but I think about fifteen or twenty minutes.”
“How many passengers did the third boat contain?” “I filled it up as full as I dared, sir, then lowered it; about thirty-five, I think. The women and children couldn’t have stood quieter if they’d been in church.”
In loading the fourth lifeboat Lightholder said he was running short of seamen. “I put two seamen in and one jumped out. That was the first boat I had to put a man passenger in. He was standing nearby and said he would go if I needed him.
“I said, ‘Are you a sailor?’ and he replied that he was a yachtsman. Then I told him that if he was sailor enough to get out over the bulwarks to the lifeboat to go ahead. He did and proved himself afterward to be a very brave man.”
“Who was he—did you know him?” “I didn’t know him then, but afterward I looked him up. He was Major Peuchen, of Toronto.”
“Had you ever seen him before?” “Never.”
Of the fifth boat Lightholder had no particular recollection. “The last boat I put out, my sixth boat,” he said, “we had difficulty finding women. I called for women and none were on deck. The men began to get in—and then women appeared. As rapidly as they did the men passengers got out of the boats again.
“The boat’s deck was only ten feet from the water when I lowered the sixth boat. When we lowered the first the distance to the water was 70 feet.” All told, Lightholder testified, 210 members of the crew were saved.
Lightholder declared he stood on top the officers’ quarters and as the ship dived he faced forward and dived also. “I was sucked against a blower and held there,” testified the officer.
“Head above water?” “No, sir. A terrific gust came up the blower—the boilers must have exploded—and I was blown clear.”
“How far were you blown?” “Barely clear. I was sucked down again; this time on the ‘fidley’ grating.”
“Did anyone else have a similar experience?” “Yes, Colonel Gracie.”
“How did you get loose?” “I don’t know, maybe another explosion. All I know is we came up by a boat.”
“Were there any watertight compartments on that ship?” the Senator asked. “Certainly, forty or fifty.”
Thomas Cottam, 21 years old, of Liverpool, the Marconi operator on the Carpathia, was the first witness at the evening session.
He denied himself some glory by saying he had no stated hours for labor on the Carpathia. Previous witnesses had testified he was not “on duty” when he received the Titanic’s signal for help.
He was decidedly uncertain whether he was required to work at night, finally saying it depended on whether he had commercial or ship’s business to get off.
“What were you doing last Sunday evening about 10 o’clock?” asked Senator Smith. “Receiving news from Cape Cod,” said Cottam. He said he had also been “sending a lot of messages for the Titanic.”
“Had you closed your station for the night?” “No.”
“What do you do when you close your station?” “Switch the storage battery out,” said Cottam.
“Does that prevent receiving or sending messages?” the Senator continued. “No.”
“Does it lessen the likelihood of your getting a signal of any kind?” “No, not in the least,” Cottam replied.
“You say the Carpathia wireless instruments would send a message about 250 miles with accuracy?” “Yes, sir.”
“Was there any thunder or lightning Sunday night?” “No, it was clear.”
“Well, how did you happen to catch the Titanic message ofdistress?” “I was looking out for a confirmation by the steamer Parisian of a previous message from the Parisian—a message that came some time in the afternoon.”
“Did you hear the captain of the Carpathia testify here today?” “No.”
“He said you were about to retire and caught this Titanic distress message rather providentially?” “Yes, sir.”
“How far had you got along in your arrangement to retire? Had you taken off your clothes?” “Yes, my coat.”
“Did you have any instruments then?” “Yes, the telephones were on my head. I was waiting for the Parisian’s answer. I had just called it.”
“How long would you have waited?” “Several minutes.”
“Would you have retired pretty soon, you think?” “Yes.”
“Well, when you got the distress message from the Titanic Sunday night, how did you get it?” “I called the Titanic myself, sir.”
“Who told you to call the Titanic?” “No one, sir. I did it of my own free will. I asked the Titanic operator if he was aware that Cape Cod had been sending messages for the Titanic.”
“What was the answer?” “‘Come at once’ was the message, sir,” said Cottam.
“Was that all of it?” “No, the operator said, I think, ‘come at once—this is a distress message. C. Q. D.’”Cottam testified.
When word of the Titanic’s distress was received, Operator Cottam said he immediately sent them the position of the Carpathia and added that they would hurry to the rescue.
“Get any reply to that?” asked Senator Smith. “Yes, sir; immediately. They acknowledged receipt of it.”
The witness said the next communication with the Titanic was four minutes later, when he confirmed the position of both vessels. At this juncture the Frankfurt, of the North German Lloyd Line, broke in on the communication, having heard theTitanic’s call for help. Later the steamship Olympic also replied.
“What did you do then?” asked Senator Smith. “I called the attention of the Titanic to the Olympic’s efforts to raise it,” answered the witness. “The Titanic replied it could not hear because of the rush of air and the noise made by the escaping steam.”
Immediately after telling the Titanic of the Olympic’s attempt to get in communication with her, the former, the witness said, sought the Olympic’s aid, reporting that it was “head down” and giving its position. The Baltic broke in at this time, but its efforts to reach the Titanic were without avail.
“I was in communication with the Titanic at regular intervals until the final message,” said Cottam. “This was ‘come quick; our engine room is filling up to the boilers.’”
“What was your condition?” asked Senator Smith. “I was desperately tired. I was worked out,” answered Cottam, who was then excused.
The committee adjourned at 10.20 o’clock to meet at 10 o’clock the next morning.
Surviving Operator’s Experiences—Tells Senator How He Escaped—Tale of Suffering and Death—Managing Director’s Flight Balked—Long Hours and Low Wages for Wireless Men—Refused Help from Frankfurt—Called Its Operator a Fool—Laxity of Wireless—Denies Sending “Saved” Message—Gave Warning of Ice.
Surviving Operator’s Experiences—Tells Senator How He Escaped—Tale of Suffering and Death—Managing Director’s Flight Balked—Long Hours and Low Wages for Wireless Men—Refused Help from Frankfurt—Called Its Operator a Fool—Laxity of Wireless—Denies Sending “Saved” Message—Gave Warning of Ice.
With J. Bruce Ismay, managing director, and P. A. S. Franklin, general manager of the White Star Line, Harold Thomas Cottam, wireless operator on the Carpathia; Harold Bride, surviving operator of the Titanic, the five surviving officers from the ill-fated ship and thirty of her seamen in the custody of the sergeant-at-arms of the United States Senate, Senator Smith, of Michigan, and Francis G. Newlands, of Nevada, brought their investigation of the greatest sea horror of modern times to a close so far as New York was concerned.
When the men of the Titanic, British seamen, had been heard under oath by the committee they were allowed to return to their homes, where they were subject to the call of their own government.
“We must hear the Englishmen first,” said Chairman Smith, a few minutes before he and Senator Newlands left shortly after midnight for Washington, “because they need to get back home as soon as possible. We will be able to get the Americans whenever we want them.”
It had been suggested to Chairman Smith that the British Government might offer objections to the keeping of British seamen in this country under the circumstances.
“I am proceeding,” said Mr. Smith, “just as if there was notthe slightest possibility of such a protest. Should one come we will deal with it at that time.”
The committee had in mind the drafting of important legislation as the result of its hearing. Regulation of the use of the air by wireless operators so as to prevent interference in times of wreck at sea is one law that seemed almost sure to be enacted. Another was legislation requiring not only American, but all foreign vessels using American ports to be equipped with enough lifeboats to take off every passenger and every member of the ship’s crew if need be. Patrol of the steamship lanes for icebergs was another.
It seemed likewise not at all unlikely that the committee would recommend and Congress enact a law requiring ships, at least those under American registry, to carry two operators so that one may be on duty while the other sleeps. The President seemed likely to be asked by a joint resolution of Congress to open negotiations with foreign powers to establish a new and much more southerly steamship lane across the Atlantic by international agreement.
It developed that the Senate Committee intended to make one of the most important features of its probing work and examination in the false messages that were given out by the White Star Line office in New York on Monday when it was said that the Titanic had struck an iceberg, but that she was in tow of the Virginian, which was taking her to Halifax and that all on board were safe.
Incident to the sudden close of the hearing was the story of Harold S. Bride, the second and only surviving wireless operator of the Titanic. His tale was one of suffering and of death.
He told of the final plunge of the vessel to its ocean burial. Its captain’s end also was revealed. He leaped from the bridge when the waters were closing over his ship.
In connection with the transfer of the hearing to Washington it was intimated that the power of the Senate on federal territory would be undisputed in getting at the real facts and no question of State rights could arise to interfere.
Throughout the hearing, also, officials of the White Star Line had portrayed the dangers of sailors’ boarding houses in New York as a reason why those detained by the committee should be allowed to sail on the Lapland, which left today.
Throughout the hearing Wireless Operator Bride, crippled as a result of his experiences and seated in an invalid’s chair, told his story of the last moments of the Titanic.
His narrative, drawn from him piecemeal by Senator Smith, of Michigan, chairman of the committee, held enthralled the committee and the audience.
When his ordeal was ended he was almost on the verge of collapse.
Another phase of the laxity of the wireless, so far as man is concerned, was developed by the chairman. He drew from the witness an acknowledgment that on Sunday evening Bride was sitting, the telephonic apparatus strapped to his ears, adjusting his accounts, while the steamship Californian, seeking to warn the Titanic that icebergs were invading the lanes of ocean travel, called incessantly.
Bride said he heard the call but did not answer because he was “busy.”
It was not until a half hour later that the Californian, striving to reach the steamship Baltic, reached also the Titanic, whereupon the warning that three huge icebergs had been sighted, was noted by Bride and verbally communicated to the liner’s captain.
“At this time, however, neither of us worried a bit. When we heard the confusion on deck I went out to investigate and when I returned I found Mr. Phillips sending out a “C. Q. D.” call, giving our position.
“We raised the Frankfurt first and then the Carpathia and the Baltic. As I have said, we did not try for the Frankfurt forany length of time, but concentrated our messages on the Carpathia, which had answered that she was rushing to our aid.”
“From time to time either Mr. Phillips or I would go on deck to observe the situation. The last time I went on deck I found the passengers running around in confusion and there was almost a panic.
“They were seeking lifebelts. All of the large lifeboats were gone, but there was one liferaft remaining. It had been lashed on the top of the quarters on the boat deck. A number of men were striving to launch it.
“I went back to the wireless cabin then. Mr. Phillips was striving to send out a final ‘C. Q. D.’ call. The power was so low that we could not tell exactly whether it was being carried or not, for we were in a closed cabin and we could not hear the crackle of the wireless at the mast.
Phillips kept on sending, however, while I buckled on his lifebelt and put on my own. Then we both cared for a woman who had fainted and who had been brought into our cabin.
“Then, about ten minutes before the ship sank, Captain Smith gave word for every one to look to his own safety. I sprang to aid the men struggling to launch the liferaft and we had succeeded in getting it to the edge of the boat when a giant wave carried it away.
“I went with it and found myself underneath. Struggling through an eternity, I finally emerged and was swimming one hundred and fifty feet from the Titanic when she went down. I felt no suction as the vessel plunged.
“I did not see Mr. Ismay at all. Captain Smith stuck to the bridge and, turning, I saw him jump just as the vessel glided into the depths. He had not donned a life belt, so far as I could see, and went down with the ship.”
The witness showed so plainly the mental and physical strain under which he was laboring that both Senators Newlandsand Reed urged Senator Smith to excuse him. After a few more interrogations Senator Smith did so.
“I regret extremely having had to subject you to such an ordeal,” he said, addressing Bride, “because of your condition. I would have avoided it, if possible, but the committee thanks you most heartily for the forbearance you have shown and the frankness of your testimony.”
Senator Smith then called what he evidently expected to be one of the most important witnesses, Harold S. Bride, the sole surviving wireless operator of the Titanic.
Crippled as a result of his experiences, he was wheeled in an invalid’s chair to the table where the committee sat.
“Contrary to the usual procedure,” said Senator Smith, rising in his place, “I must place you under oath. Raise your right hand.”
The witness, hand uplifted, listened while the Senator repeated the oath. Then he bowed in assent. Bride said he was a native of London, was 22 years old and had learned his profession in a British school of telegraphy.
“What practical experience have you had?” asked Senator Smith.
“I have crossed to the States three times and to Brazil twice,” said Bride.
Bride remembered receiving and sending messages relative to the speed of the Titanic on its trial tests. After leaving Southampton on the Titanic’s fatal trip he could not remember receiving or sending any messages for Ismay. Senator Smith asked particularly about messages on Sunday.
“I don’t remember, sir,” said Bride. “There was so much business Sunday.”
He was asked if Captain Smith received or sent any messages Sunday.
“No, sir,” was the reply.
“How do you know he did not?”
“Because I see the messages Mr. Phillips takes when they are made up.”
“Were those for Sunday made up?”
“No, they never were.”
After testifying he made no permanent record of the iceberg warnings, Bride insisted he gave the memorandum of the warning to the officer on the watch. The name of the officer he could not tell.
“I know the officers by sight but not by name,” he said. He did not inform Captain Smith.
Bride said he was in bed when the impact came. He was not alarmed at the collision and remained in bed about ten minutes. He saw Phillips in the operating room.
“He told me he thought the boat had been injured in some way and he expected it would have to go back to the builders,” said Bride.
The witness said that according to arrangement he relieved Phillips. “Immediately the captain came in and said we had better send out a call for assistance,” testified Bride. “Phillips asked if he wanted to send a distress call. The captain said he did. I could read what Phillips sent—C. Q. D.”
“How soon did he get a reply?”
“As far as I know, immediately. I could not hear what he received, however.”
The witness told of having intercepted a message from the Californian intended for the Baltic, which told of the presence of three huge icebergs in the vicinity of the former vessel.
“I gave the message to the captain personally,” he said.
Bride did not take down the message and could not give its precise form. “The Californian was seeking out the Baltic, and I merely noted that it was an ice report and told the captain,” he said.
Under a fire of questions Bride acknowledged that a half hour previously, or at 4.30 Sunday afternoon, he was working onhis accounts in the wireless room when he heard the Californian trying to raise the Titanic. He did not respond, he said, because, he was “busy.”
“You had the telephone apparatus at your ear?” inquired Senator Smith, in surprise.
“Yes, sir.”
“And you did not respond to the call?”
“No, sir.”
“Then a half hour later on, about five hours before the disaster, you took the message when it was intended for another vessel, the Baltic?”
“Yes, sir.”
In an effort to determine whether the signal “C. Q. D.” might not have been misunderstood by passing ships Senator Smith called upon Mr. Marconi.
“The C. Q.,” said Mr. Marconi, “is an international signal which meant that all stations should cease sending except the one using the call. The ‘D’ was added to indicate danger. The call, however, now has been superseded by the universal call, ‘S. O. S’.”
Senator Smith then resumed the direct examination of Bride, who has said the North German Lloyd was the first to answer the Titanic’s distress signal.
“Have you heard it said that the Frankfurt was the ship nearest to the Titanic?” the senator asked.
“Yes, sir; Mr. Phillips told me that.”
“How did he know?”
“By the strength of the signals,” said the witness, who added that the Carpathia answered shortly after.
The witness said that twenty minutes later the Frankfurt operator interrupted to ask “what was the matter?”
“What did you reply?” the senator inquired.
“Mr. Phillips said he was a fool and told him to keep out.”
There was no further effort to get the Frankfurt’s position.
Time after time Senator Smith asked in varying forms why the Titanic did not explain in detail its condition to the Frankfurt.
“Any operator receiving C. Q. D. and the position of the ship, if he is on the job,” said Bride, “would tell the captain at once.”
“Ask him if it would have taken longer to have sent ‘You are a fool, keep out,’ than ‘we are sinking?’”suggested Senator Reed.
“Was your object in dismissing the somewhat tardy inquiry of the Frankfurt due to your desire to hang on to a certainty, the Carpathia?” inquired Senator Smith.
The witness said it was. “But under the circumstances could you not with propriety send a detailed message to the Frankfurt?” Senator Smith insisted.
“I did not think we could under the circumstances.”
“Would you still make the same reply if you were told that the Frankfurt was twenty miles nearer to you than the Carpathia?”
Bride replied that the Carpathia was then on its way with its lifeboats ready.
Mr. Marconi testified to the distress signals and said the Frankfurt was equipped with Marconi wireless. He said the receipts of the signals C. Q. D. by the Frankfurt’s operator should have been all sufficient to send the Frankfurt to the immediate rescue.
Under questioning by Senator Smith Bride said that undoubtedly the Frankfurt received all of the urgent appeals for help sent subsequently to the Carpathia.
“Why did you not send the messages to the Frankfurt as well as to the Carpathia?” asked Senator Smith.
“He would not have understood.”
The witness said that before leaving the cabin ten minutes before the ship went down Phillips sent out a final C. Q. D.There was no response, Bride saying the spark was then so weak that it probably did not carry.
When Bride and Phillips stepped out on the beatdeck he said they found persons rushing around in confusion. They were seeking life belts.
“There were no big lifeboats aboard at that time,” said Bride. “There was a life raft over the officers quarters, which later was lost over the side.”
The witness then told of his experience in following with a small boat beneath which he nearly was drowned before he could extricate himself. With a number of other survivors he clambored on the overturned boat.
“One of these was Phillips,” said the witness. “He died on the way to the Carpathia and was buried later at sea.”
When Bride gained the bottom of the boat he found between 35 and 40 men already there.
“I was the last man invited aboard,” said Bride.
“Did any others seek to get on?”
“Yes, sir, dozens. We couldn’t take them.”
The witness said he did not see J. Bruce Ismay, and that the last he saw of Captain Smith he was in the act of jumping from the bridge just as the ship went down. He said he was swimming within 150 feet of the ship when it went down and that he felt no suction.
Long before the hearing was resumed in the afternoon crowds besieged the Waldorf-Astoria rooms, but few who had not been sought by the committee were admitted.
C. P. Neil, commissioner of labor of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and Representatives Levy and Livingston, of New York, were among the visitors.
Senators Smith and Newlands conferred after luncheon for more than an hour, and it was nearly 4 o’clock when they reached the committee room.
“Is Mr. Bride, the operator of the Titanic, here?” SenatorSmith asked of Mr. Marconi and Mr. Sammis, of the Marconi Company.
They told him that Mr. Bride had been sent to a physician, but could be brought back later. The senator said he wanted to ask the operator several additional questions, but could postpone them.
The second officer of the Titanic, C. H. Lightoller, was called by Senator Smith, but was not present, and the third officer of the Titanic, Herbert John Pittman, took the stand.
“Do you know of your own knowledge whether the Titanic’s ship’s log was preserved or taken from the Titanic?” asked Senator Smith.
“I do not.”
After the hearing adjourned Senator Smith made a statement to the press in which he explained the intentions of the committee. He said:
“The object of the committee in coming to New York coincidental with the arrival of the Carpathia was prompted by the desire to avail itself of first-hand information from the active participants in this sad affair. Our course has been guided solely by this purpose—to obtain accurate information without delay.”