May 3rd, 1912 - American Inquiry Day 13
Day 13: Today’s testimony was also taken separately before Senator Smith, as would be the remaining days of testimony. It is not stated thus far if this is due to the Committee of Commerce bill or not, but it would be a fair assumption.
Binns, Marconi operator when the Republic sank, is interviewed on this day. I find it very interesting how much focus is given to the selling their story situation. While not necessarily the best course of action, the great importance of it is somewhat lost on me.
Witnesses:
Daniel Buckley, Third Class Passenger, RMS Titanic;
Melville E. Stone, General Manager, Associated Press;
George A. Harder, First Class Passenger, RMS Titanic;
John R. Binns, Staff, New York Reporter (Marconi operator during Republic disaster);
Olaus Abelseth, Third Class Passenger, RMS Titanic;
Norman C. Chambers, First Class Passenger, RMS Titanic;
Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summarized Testimony:
Buckley woke up to a “terrible” noise. He was in steerage and when he jumped from his bunk, he immediately felt his feet getting wet. He told the other men he shared the room with and they ran up on deck, after realizing he didn’t have a lifebelt, yet unable to go back down to get his due to rising water, he was able to get one from a first class gentleman. Buckley assisted in getting 5 boats away before he, and a group of men got into the sixth (no. 13). However they were ordered out immediately as a group of women steerage passengers were shuffled forward. Buckley, in the boat, was crying and a woman threw her shawl over him and told him to sit still and no one would notice if he remained, and she was right.
“One of the firemen that was working on the Titanic told me, when I got on board the Carpathia and he was speaking to me, that he did not think it was any iceberg; that it was only that they wanted to make a record, and they ran too much steam and the boilers bursted[sic]. That is what he said.” – Buckley
Buckley testifies that a sailor locked the gate between them and first class after a brief altercation with a man from steerage, but that once the lock was broken, “they had as much chance as the first and second class passengers… But at the start they tried to keep them down on their own deck.” He still insists that even though they briefly were kept down, they still had as good a chance as any to get out.
Also interviewed today was Stone, the General Manager of the Associated Press. He testifies that they got information from Mr. Franklin (VP of White Star Line) multiple times about all being rescued, and headed to Halifax and even at one point that Titanic was being towed to Halifax. The amount of misinformation and misrepresentation of information that the AP was receiving is quite astonishing, albeit understandable. You can read this testimony by Stone here.
Mr. Harder was the one who reported that he saw members of the crew struggling with closing a watertight door on E deck, and that they finally endeavored to go around and close it from the other side. He also testified that many people who went out to see what was going on initially, were not concerned what so ever about her foundering. Harder and his wife ultimately went back for their coats and lifebelts when they felt Titanic listing to one side.
“Yes, sir, it was the regular size lifeboat. They say those boats hold 60 people, but we had only the number of people I have mentioned; and, believe me, we did not have room to spare.” – Harder
John Binns, of whom this inquiry had talked about a great deal, took the stand before Senator Smith. Smith endeavored to get the circumstances of how this Marconi operator sold his story to the press, as they had been comparing the actions of Cottam and Bride to this man. You can read his testimony here. He also gives his own opinions on the Titanic disaster, which I found to be interesting.
“I was standing there, and I asked my brother-in-law if he could swim and he said no. I asked my cousin if he could swim and he said no. So we could see the water coming up, the bow of the ship was going down, and there was a kind of an explosion. We could hear the popping and cracking, and the deck raised up and got so steep that the people could not stand on their feet on the deck. So they fell down and slid on the deck into the water right on the ship. Then we hung onto a rope in one of the davits. We were pretty far back at the top deck.” – Abelseth
“I got a rope tangled around me, and I let loose of my brother-in-law's hand to get away from the rope. I thought then, ‘I am a goner.’ That is what I thought when I got tangled up in this rope. But I came on top again, and I was trying to swim, and there was a man - lots of them were floating around - and he got me on the neck like that (illustrating) and pressed me under, trying to get on top of me. I said to him, ‘Let go.’ Of course, he did not pay any attention to that, but I got away from him. Then there was another man, and he hung on to me for a while, but he let go. Then I swam; I could not say, but it must have been about 15 or 20 minutes. It could not have been over that. Then I saw something dark ahead of me. I did not know what it was, but I swam toward that, and it was one of those collapsible boats.” – Abelseth (boat A)
Abelseth, also being a steerage passenger like Buckley, was asked about the gates being locked or closed. He mentioned that for a time they were closed, but they would be opened for women, and then later for everyone. His testimony, found here is worth reading.
“The next morning we could see some of the lifeboats. One of the boats had a sail up, and he came pretty close, and then we said, ‘One, two, three’; we said that quite often. We did not talk very much, except that we would say, ‘One, two, three,’ and scream together for help.” – Abelseth (in collapsible A)
“But down where we were, in the rooms, I do not think there was anybody that held anybody back.” – Abelseth too felt they were not held back in any way.
“We were standing there joking about our baggage being completely soaked and about the correspondence which was seen floating about on the top of the water. I personally felt no sense of danger, as this water was forward of the bulkhead.” – Chambers
“As we were going down our own alleyway to the stateroom door our steward came by and told us that we could go back to bed again; that there was no danger. In this I agreed with him, personally… However, I finished dressing, my wife being already fully and warmly clothed, and she in the meanwhile having gone out into the passage to note any later developments, came rushing back to me, saying that she had seen another passenger who informed her that the call had been given out for lifebelts and on the boat deck. I went out, myself, and found my room steward passing down the alleyway, and had the order verified.” – Chambers
Chambers said over and over that his instinct was to go back to bed or that nothing was wrong, and alludes to just happenstances that he remained awake, dressed and ready. His testimony can be read here.
“In connection with my statement that a large percentage of the steward part of the crew were new, I may say that my own room steward complained to me on the second day out that he did not know where anything was on the ship, and that no one would tell him.” – Chambers.
SEE American Inquiry Day 12 post here.