#complimentary post

[rivet-ing-titanic]

American Inquiry Day 7 - Senator Fletcher

Witnesses:

John Hardy, Chief Second Class Steward, RMS Titanic;

William Ward, Saloon Steward, RMS Titanic;

James Widgery, Bath Steward, RMS Titanic;

Edward J. Buley, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

“I came in the last collapsible boat that left the ship and, greatly to my surprise, when I got on the Carpathia I saw Officer Lightoller coming in the following afternoon. When he stepped from this collapsible boat, I was sure he had gone down in the ship and I was greatly surprised when I saw him on the Carpathia.” – Hardy

” There was nobody on board, because we could not get our collapsible boat lowered from one end of it. The forward part of the collapsible boat was lowered, but there was nobody there to lower the afterend, which you will find in Mr. Bright's evidence. Mr. Lightoller stepped from the collapsible boat aboard the ship again and did it himself.” –Hardy

“Of course I had great respect and great regard for Chief Officer Murdoch, and I was walking along the deck forward with him, and he said, ‘I believe she is gone, Hardy’; and that is the only time I thought she might sink; when he said that.” – Hardy (this is 30 minutes before his boat was lowered)

“That is impossible to think, that is impossible to suggest, that men drink while at sea; because in the first place, if it was possible for a man to want it he could not afford to buy it; and there is no hope for him to get it, because he would not be served, anyway.” – Hardy

Stewards take their orders through the pursers. (I didn’t know that)

“Everybody was moving around and in a most orderly manner. There did not seem to be any excitement. In fact, there was a lot of ladies and gentlemen there that were just treating it as a kind of a joke.” – Ward

“ One old lady made a great fuss about it and absolutely refused to get into the boat. She went back to the companionway and forced her way in and would not get into the boat.” – Ward

“The purser called out, ‘Are there any more women?’ Just then some one said, ‘Yes.’ This woman came along, rather an oldish lady, and she was frightened, and she gave me her hand. I took one hand, and gave it to the boatswain's mate, and he caught hold of the other hand, and she pulled her hand away, and went back to the door and would not get in. One of them went after her, but she had gone down the stairs.” – Widgery (referring to the same woman that Ward was talking about)

“There was No. 10 boat, and there was no one there, and the chief officer asked what I was ... and he said, ‘Jump in and see if you can find another seaman to give you a hand.’ I found Evans, and we both got in the boat, and Chief Officer Murdoch and Baker also was there. I think we were the last lifeboat to be lowered. We got away from the ship.” – Buley

Buley estimated there were 60-70 people in his boat (4 crew, the rest women and children). “Ours was the last boat up there, and they went around and called to see if there were any, and they threw them in the boat at the finish, because they didn't like the idea of coming in… threw them in. One young lady slipped, and they caught her by the foot on the deck below, and she came up then and jumped in” - Buley

“Yes, sir; there were a good few dead, sir. Of course you could not discern them exactly on account of the wreckage; but we turned over several of them to see if they were alive. It looked as though none of them were drowned. They looked as though they were frozen. The life belts they had on were that much (indicating) out of the water, and their heads were laid back, with their faces on the water, several of them. Their hands were coming up like that (indicating).” – Buley

“Settled down [the bow]; yes, sir. She went down as far as the afterfunnel, and then there was a little roar, as though the engines had rushed forward, and she snapped in two, and the bow part went down and the afterpart came up and staid up five minutes before it went down.” – Buley

“The people in the boat were very frightened that there would be some suction. If there had been any suction we should have been lost. We were close to her. We couldn't get away fast enough. There was nobody to pull away.” – Buley

I believe Buley’s testimony to be very interesting.

BACK to DAY 7 Main Post

[rivet-ing-titanic]

American Inquiry Day 7 - Senator Smith

Witnesses:

Albert Haines, Boatswain’s Mate, RMS Titanic;

Samuel S. Hemming, Lamp Trimmer, RMS Titanic;

Frank O. Evans, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

” No, sir. I called the sailors aft, and I passed the remark to them: "There is people in the water." I said, ‘Do you think it advisable?’ I said, ‘We can't do nothing with this crowd we have in the boat,’ because we had no room to row, let alone do anything else, sir; and it was no good of our going back. by the time we got back there, we could not have done anything. We could not move in the boat, let alone row. I thought it unsafe to go back there, sir, having so many in the boat… I was in charge of the boat, sir, and if I had thought it possible I would have gone back. I took charge of the boat” – Haines

“We went back in our bunks a few minutes. Then the joiner [possibly J. Hutchinson] came in and he said: ‘If I were you, I would turn out, you fellows. She is making water, one-two-three, and the racket court is getting filled up.’ Just as he went, the boatswain came, and he says, ‘Turn out, you fellows… you haven't half an hour to live…That is from Mr. Andrews…Keep it to yourselves, and let no one know.’” – Hemming

“I went to the bridge and looked over and saw the water climbing upon the bridge. I went and looked over the starboard side, and everything was black. I went over to the port side and saw a boat off the port quarter, and I went along the port side and got up the after boat davits and slid down the fall and swam to the boat and got it.” –Hemming

“After the ship had gone we pulled back and picked up seven… Stewards, firemen, seamen, and one or two men, passengers; I could not say exactly which they were” – Hemming (boat 4)

” We picked up [from the water] four persons alive… One died on the way back, sir. There were plenty of dead bodies about us… you couldn't hardly count them, sir. I was afraid to look over the sides because it might break my nerves down.” – Evans (having gotten into No. 14)

Smith was being unkind about Evans not wanting to look at the dead bodies too long.

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[rivet-ing-titanic]

American Inquiry Day 7 - Senator Bourne

Witnesses:

George F. Crowe, Saloon Steward, RMS Titanic;

C.E. Andrews, Assistant Steward, RMS Titanic;

John Collins, Assistant cook, First Class Galley, RMS Titanic;

Frederick Clench, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Ernest Archer, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Walter T. Brice, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

“That was his [Lowe’s] boat; yes, sir. After getting the women and children in, we lowered down within 4 or 5 feet of the water and found the block and tackle had gotten twisted in some way, causing us to have to cut the ropes to allow the boat to get into the water.” - Crowe

“Returning back to the wreckage, we heard various cries, and endeavored to get among them, and we were successful in doing so and in picking one body up that was floating around in the water; when we got him into the boat - after great difficulty, he being such a heavy man - he expired shortly afterwards. [William Hoyt] Going farther into the wreckage we came across a steward or one of the crew [Harold Phillimore], and we got him into the boat, and he was very cold and his hands were kind of stiff, but we got him in and he recovered by the time we got back to the Carpathia. . .  also a Japanese or Chinese young fellow [Fang Lang] that we picked up on top of some of the wreckage - it might have been a sideboard or table - that was floating around. We stopped until daybreak, and we saw in the distance a raft or Berthon boat submerged, in the distance, with a crowd of men on it. We went over ... found probably 20, or there might have been 25, men and 1 woman; also 3 or 4 dead bodies, which we left. Returning again under canvas sail - we stepped our mast at night - we took in tow a collapsible boat containing fully 60 people - women, children, and men.” –Crowe

“There were various men passengers, probably Italians or some foreign nationality other than English or American, who attempted to rush the boats. The officers threatened to shoot any man who put his foot into the boat. He fired the revolver, but either downward or upward, not shooting at any of the passengers at all and not injuring anybody. He fired perfectly clear, upward or downward.” – Crowe

“ So me and another steward and the two children and the woman came around on that side, the starboard side… we saw the collapsible boat taken off of the saloon deck, and then the sailors and the firemen that were forward seen the ship's bow in the water… they shouted out for all they were worth we were to go aft, and word came there was a boat getting launched, so we were told to go aft, and we were just turning around and making for the stern end when the wave washed us off the deck - washed us clear of it - and the child was washed out of my arms; and the wreckage and the people that was around me, they kept me down for at least two or three minutes under the water.” –Collins

Collins clarified to Senator Bourne that there was no sea (it was calm) at the time the wave swept him off. He explained that the wave had been caused by the suction that took place when the bow went down in the water, washing the deck clear of “hundreds on the starboard side”.

“We were all telling him not to get on. He said, ‘That is all right, boys, keep cool,’ he said; ‘God bless you,’ and he bid us good-by and he swam along for about two minutes and we seen him, but did not see him moving off; we saw his head, but we did not see him moving his hands… There were others that tried to get on, but we would not let them on. A big foreigner came up… to the stern and he hung on to me all the time. [this man was saved]” – Collins

“It was spoken by one of the lady passengers to go back and see if there was anyone in the water we could pick up, but I never heard any more of it after that.” – Archer

BACK to DAY 7 Main Post

[rivet-ing-titanic]

American Inquiry Day 7 - Senator Perkins

Witnesses:

George Symons, Lookout, RMS Titanic;

George A. Hogg, Lookout, RMS Titanic;

Walter J. Perkis, Quartermaster, RMS Titanic;

Symons, Hogg, Perkis – then questioned as a group.

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

George Symons was on watch from 8-10 PM on Sunday evening. He assisted in lowering boats 3 and 5 and then was ordered into emergency boat 1, and was in command of it, with what he estimates to be about 15-20 passengers, and seven men ordered in by Mr. Murdoch. His boat went back after the ship was gone and though they heard the cries, when they made it back they saw and heard nothing.

Lookout George Hogg was one of two on watch in the crow’s nest from 12am to 2am. When they got on their watch the boat stopped and this was when they saw people running about with lifebelts on. He called the bridge to ask if they were to remain in the nest, and got no answer. He then went straight to the boat deck to assist with the lifeboats. He was ordered in by Murdoch to boat 7, with about 42 other people he believed. As he pushed away he had a lady take the tiller while he took an oar. He would later meet up with another boat about a quarter of a mile from the ship and took some passengers from them, 4 ladies, a baby and one gentleman to assist with rowing.

“As soon as she went down, I went to try to assist them in picking up anybody if I could.I met another boat on my way, and they said to pull away. They said: ‘We have done all in our power and we can not do any more.’ I can not remember the number of the boat or who the man was who spoke to me. I laid off, then, until I saw the lights of the Carpathia.” –Hogg

“No, sir; there was nobody. The boat was lowered. I lowered No. 4 into the water, and left that boat, and walked aft; and I came back, and a man that was in the boat, one of the seamen that was in the boat at the time, sung out to me, ‘We need another hand down here.’ So I slid down the life line there from the davit into the boat.” – Perkis

Quartermaster Perkis testified that they were able to pick up eight men (6 passengers and 2 crewmen) that were swimming with life preservers on. (Two would die later on.) “We stopped picking up[after the eight men]. The last man we picked up, we heard a cry, and we did not hear any more cries after we had picked up the last man.”

“That is all I have to say, except this: I think all the women ought to have a gold medal on their breasts. God bless them. I will always raise my hat to a woman, after what I saw.” – Hogg

Final question that Senator Perkins asked of the three men was whether they were temperate men, to which they replied they were and that alcohol was never allowed served on board to the crew.

BACK to DAY 7 Main Post

[rivet-ing-titanic]

American Inquiry Day 7 - Senator Newlands

Witnesses:

Edward Wheelton, Saloon Steward, RMS Titanic;

William H. Taylor, Fireman, RMS Titanic;

George Moore, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Thomas Jones, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

Wheelton, when roused, ran to the boat stations, nearby boat number 5 when he was ordered to go to the storeroom. On B deck he passed Thomas Andrews (chief builder and representative of Harland &Wolff) going door to door making sure no people were in them. Once back up on the boat deck, Wheelton assisted in lowering boats 7 and 9 before being ordered into boat 11. Wheelton estimated that there were about 58 people total in the boat, which had been loaded from A deck not the boat deck, they had been ushered down there from the boat deck, by a steward.

“Not one. The only trouble we had was with one lady who would not get into the boat. We attempted twice to get her in, and the last time I said to my friend helping me, ‘Pull her in’; and we pulled her in.” – Wheelton (this is the first testimony that had been heard where a passenger refused to enter a lifeboat)

“I would like to say something about the bravery exhibited by the first officer, Mr. Murdoch. He was perfectly cool and very calm.” –Wheelton

Fireman Taylor was very brief in his initial telling of what happened for him that night. He heard the alarm for accidents ring outside his quarters, he went to his assigned lifeboat, no. 15 (crew boarded from the boat deck and passengers boarded from A deck) and went away in it (they too feared the suction) with about 40-45 people he estimates, the vast majority being third class women and children. Another fireman was in command of this boat and Taylor believed there was an additional 6 crew members. When they hit the water they too rowed towards the light that they thought to be the light of a ship.

Able Seaman Moore was another member of the crew who likened the impact as “there was suddenly a noise like a cable running out, like a ship dropping anchor. There was not any shock at all.”

Moore assisted in lowering boats 5 and 7, and when number 3 was swung out, he was ordered into the boat to assist the women and children by First Officer Murdoch. After there were no more women and children, Moore testified that five or six firemen jumped in the boat. In total boat 3 had 32 people. They too pulled towards the white light, which Moore believed to be a fisherman.

“It seemed pretty full, but I dare say we could have jammed more in. The passengers were not anxious to get in the boats; they were not anxious to get in the first lot of boats.” – Moore

” I saw the forward part of her go down, and it appeared to me as if she broke in half, and then the after part went. I can remember two explosions.” –Moore

On going back to the ship: “All the people in the boat wanted to get clear of the ship. They did not want to go near her. They kept urging me to keep away; to pull away from her. In fact, they wanted to get farther away.” – Moore

A number of the crew were asked by Senator Newlands why almost 1/3 of the survivors were members of the crew. Moore could account “I can only account for the seamen being saved, two in each boat. That would number just about the number of seamen who were saved … I think 39 were saved.”

Newlands (and other senators) also asked why there was no drill held on Sunday (as was customary) and many replied that they did not know (which, not being officers, they would not). They were also questioned as to the difference it would have made had the crew been sailing together longer say 6 months, whether that would have made a difference. Both Moore and Able Seaman Jones felt they had quite the accomplished crew, and they could work together as well as any.

Jones had also been a lookout on previous ships, and when asked about the utility of glasses in the crow’s nest, he said “not much of a help to pick anything up; but to make it out afterwards, they were.” He also stated that they were not of any use at all at night.

“I got the collapsible boat on the port side ready. I got my own boat, No. 8, ready. An officer sent me for a lamp…I went back again, and this No. 8 boat was there, all swung out, and there were about 35 ladies in it. I jumped in the boat. The captain asked me was the plug in the boat, and I answered, ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘All right,’ he said, ‘Any more ladies?’ There was one lady came there and left her husband, She wanted her husband to go with her, but he backed away, and the captain shouted again - in fact, twice again - ‘Any more ladies?’ There were no more there, and he lowered away... Yes [the lady got in] , her and a little girl. I don't know who she was. I don't know her name. He told me to row for the light, and land the passengers and return to the ship. I pulled for the light, and I found that I could not get near the light, and I stood by for a little while. I wanted to return to the ship, but the ladies were frightened, and I had to carry out the captain's orders and pull for that light; so I did so. I pulled for about two hours, and then it started to get daybreak, and we lost the light; and then all of a sudden we saw the Carpathia coming, and we turned right back and made for the Carpathia. That is all I know, sir.” – Jones

Jones on the Countess of Rothes: “One lady. She had a lot to say, and I put her to steering my boat.”

It has been a trend that all crew believed she would not sink, that they were being sent out on the boats for a couple of hours and they would then return. Some of the firemen were even joking about it. Most still did not believe it until they were in the boats away from her and saw that she was going down by the bow.

 BACK to DAY 7 Main Post

[rivet-ing-titanic]

American Inquiry Day 7- Senator Burton

Witnesses:

George T. Rowe, Quartermaster, RMS Titanic;

Alfred Olliver, Quartermaster, RMS Titanic;

Frank Osman, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

On the night of the sinking, Rowe felt a “jar” when the boat struck the berg. At that time he felt that she had not turned at the helm. He did not feel any scraping along the side. He immediately went to the bridge to stand by the phone, ultimately he assisted in firing off distress rockets and attempting to send morse signal to the light he saw in the distance from the bridge. He would continue at this until Chief Officer Wilde, needing a sailor for the boat being lowered, Captain Smith told Rowe to fire no more rockets and get into the boat. They ended up having a total of 39 persons and four “chinamen or Filipinos” they discovered later.

Rowe’s boat was the one Bruce Ismay eventually got in, and therefore he was questioned about the circumstances of Ismay’s boarding at the time. According to Rowe, Ismay and another gentleman were not told to get in, they just did so when no more women were to be found. Rowe confirmed that they pulled for the light in the distance but could not seem to get closer, Rowe claimed he saw a stern light of a smaller possible sailing boat. They were about ¾ miles from Titanic, when Rowe ‘her stern disappear at the finish’.

Olliver was stand-by quartermaster on the bridge starting at 10 pm. He was “running messages and doing various other duties” and just re-entering the bridge from an errand when the collision occurred. He had heard the three bells from the lookout, a grinding sound and saw the iceberg from the bridge. While at the bridge, Olliver testifies he heard the order given “hard aport” by First Officer Murdoch and it was immediately carried out. (What Olliver did not hear was the initial call for “hard astarboard” which was given after warning from the crow’s nest. The maneuver that was being done is called ‘porting about’.( Source.) He continued to run messages (orders) about the ship to the carpenter, chief engineer, the boatswain, among others, regarding what was to be done.

Olliver was in boat 5 on the starboard side, the same boat to which he was stationed, which went out third on that side and under the charge of Third Officer Pitman. There were six crew members including Olliver and Pitman, and Olliver estimates about 40 passengers, as he had extreme difficulty getting near the hole to put the plug in to avoid being swamped. Olliver confirmed Pitman’s testimony that he had given the order to return to the ship but that the passengers “very nearly all objected” so Pitman withdrew the order.

“She was well down at the head at first, when we got away from her at first, and to my idea she broke forward, and the afterpart righted itself and made another plunge and went right down. I fancied I saw her black form. It was dark, and I fancied” – Olliver

Osman went away in boat 2, which was one of the emergency boats, and the sixteenth boat to be launched. Fourth Officer Boxhall was in charge of this boat, Murdoch oversaw the loading. Osman estimates 25-30 including all crew. Because they had found (Boxhall testified that he had in fact taken them with him) rockets in their boat, they were able to shoot them off and be the first boat to be met by the Carpathia. Osman saw the light as well thinking it to be a sailing vessel, with her white masthead light.

Osman claimed to see the iceberg when morning came. According to him it was about 100 ft out of the water, round but pointy at the top, the coloring was dark, “like dirty ice” and he felt it was the one because “we could see it was the biggest berg there, and the other ones would not have done so much damage, I think.”

“We pulled astern that way again, and after we got astern we lay on our oars and saw the ship go down. After she got to a certain angle she exploded, broke in halves, and it seemed to me as if all the engines and everything that was in the after part slid out into the forward part, and the after part came up right again, and as soon as it came up right down it went again.” – Osman

Osman felt had there been life rafts aboard they would have plenty of time to launch those and save many more souls on board.

BACK to DAY 7 Main Post

[tzufcallsmeshomps]

Jedi!Akane is such a cool idea...

(I have no idea if I even remember what jedi apprentice clothes look like)

Inspired by mafia-and-coloring-books‘s post! (see right below this one on my blog)