Voices from the Titanic

by Geoff Tibballs

  Senator Smith: ‘Did you get any part of that?’ – ‘Absolutely not; and no other official of the company received anything.’ He acknowledged that a mistake had been made in the manner in which the stories had been ‘placed’, saying: ‘I think it would have been better to have placed them with the Associated Press. They would then have had general circulation.’

  Continuing, he said Bride and Cottam should not be blamed for not sending news from the ship. ‘If there is any blame, it should fall upon the captain of the Carpathia. The captain of a ship is censor of all wireless messages sent from it. The operators are there to send and receive. They send nothing that the captain does not pass on.’

  Mr Sammis said further that the American operators on board the ship receive $45 a month, and English operators £4.

  Senator Smith: ‘Do you not believe that it would have been more creditable to yourself and your company if you rewarded such heroism as was shown by Bride rather than seal their lips and arrange a pittance for them from private means?’ – ‘We were all doing the best we could.’

  ‘I dislike to press these questions, but I want to bring out all the facts, in order to end the practice, which is vicious, and which shall be stopped.’ Witness said he was in complete accord with Mr Marconi, who frowned upon the custom, but the abolition of the practice would have to be effected with great care, in order to save the feelings of the operators.

  WIRELESS OPERATIONS

  The Frankfurt’s Messages

  Mr Bride, the surviving operator of the Titanic, was then recalled. He gave evidence at New York the day after the Carpathia arrived there. He was first asked how much he received for the story of his experiences on the wreck from a New York newspaper. He said that he got $1,000.

  Senator Smith: ‘When did you last see Captain Smith?’ – ‘When he went overboard from the bridge. About three minutes before I left the ship myself.’

  ‘Did he have on a life preserver?’ – ‘I don’t know. He had none on when we were working in the cabin just before the ship sank.’

  ‘You mentioned that your mate, Operator Phillips, and yourself put on life preservers about ten minutes before the boat sank?’ – ‘Yes, about that.’

  ‘Had everyone else gone when you jumped into the water?’ – ‘There were several people on deck. I don’t know who; some sailors. When the collapsible fell into the water it fell over me. I swam out and grabbed it. We then got away about 150 feet from the side of the Titanic just before she sank.’

  ‘Did you not say before that you saw the captain after you got into the water?’ – ‘No. The captain left from the bridge before Phillips and I did. After the captain told us that we could go we stayed on the boat for a time. Phillips sent another C.Q.D. after that. I don’t think he got an answer. If he did he did not tell me.’

  ‘Did you see Phillips after?’ – ‘I saw him walking down the deck aft as I was helping to get on the collapsible boat.’

  ‘Then you never saw him again?’ – ‘No. He died later, before he got to the Carpathia, in a lifeboat.’

  ‘At what hour did the Californian try to get you?’ – ‘About five o’clock.’

  ‘You did not answer for about half an hour because you were busy with your accounts?’ – ‘It was about twenty minutes, I think. I picked up the Californian’s ice warning while it was being sent to the Baltic.’

  ‘Can you recollect the message?’ – ‘It was to the effect that the Californian had just passed three large icebergs, and it gave the ship’s latitude and longitude. I took the message to the bridge, and gave it to the officer in charge. I don’t remember who the officer was, but it was not the captain. No other warnings of ice, so far as I know, were received that day or night.’

  Senator Smith: ‘What about the Frankfurt’s answer to the Titanic’s C.Q.D.?’ – ‘Phillips told me to write in the log replies as he wrote them. The reply from the Frankfurt was first. It was “O.K. Will stand by.” That was to our C.Q.D. and position.’

  ‘Did the Frankfurt call you later?’ – ‘Yes, she asked what was the matter. The Frankfurt was not heard from again. The next response came from the Carpathia. I never got the Frankfurt’s position, and have not heard since how near to the Titanic she was. The messages were delayed. The Carpathia was the first to announce her position, and the first to say that she was on her way to assist us. Phillips also thought that the Frankfurt was much nearer, because her signals were much stronger.’

  Senator Smith: ‘If you had given your position to the Frankfurt there might be a different story today?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’ The witness said that Phillips was on at duty at the time when the Californian wireless operator said his warnings were refused by the Titanic, which was then working with Cape Race.

  ‘Was Phillips working with Cape Race at the time of the collision?’ – ‘He got through to it about ten minutes before.’

  Senator Smith called the attention of witness to Captain Rostron’s evidence to the effect that the Carpathia did not get the Titanic’s C.Q.D. until 12.35 on Monday morning, which, he said, showed a discrepancy of 51 minutes between the time the message was sent to the Titanic and received by the Carpathia.

  Witness replied that this discrepancy might be due to difference in clocks. He was not sure of the exact time at which the message was sent.

  Mr Boxhall, the Fourth Officer, who has been unwell since he last appeared before the Committee on Monday last, explained that the operator’s clock had been set forward fully half an hour at midnight.

  Bride, continuing his evidence, said that only ten minutes elapsed after the collision before Captain Smith appeared in the wireless room, and ordered the call for aid to be sent.

  THE MYSTERY SHIP

  Mr Boxhall, Fourth Officer of the Titanic, was next examined.

  Senator Fletcher asked him if the portholes were closed before or after the collision with the iceberg. Witness replied that he did not know. He heard no orders for portholes to be closed.

  He was asked as to the positions of various steamers the Titanic heard from on Sunday and as to the position of the icebergs of which the Titanic was warned by the Amerika. Witness replied, ‘I put down no positions which were south of our track.’

  Asked again about the steamer’s light seen from the deck of the Titanic on the night of the disaster Mr Boxhall said: ‘I am quite positive that they were steamer’s lights. She was coming towards us and was about five miles away. I saw those lights after the order to man the lifeboats was given and when I got into my boat after firing rockets she had turned. I could see her stern light.’

  The witness explained to the Committee that all ships’ rockets were not distress signals. He pointed out that there was a system of rockets for signalling when passing a ship at night, and that those might have been the rockets which passengers on the Californian said they had seen on a ship in the distance on Sunday night.

  ‘Are you sure that the ship you saw from the deck of the Titanic was a steamer?’ – ‘Yes; it was a steamer on account of the arrangement of the lights.’ Mr Boxhall saw the lights on the phantom ship near the Titanic disappear to the west some time after he left the Titanic in the lifeboat.

  Senator Smith: ‘I have evidence to support the belief that the Californian was only 14 miles from the Titanic. Do you think that you could have seen the lights of the Californian?’ – ‘I don’t know. Five miles is the greatest range that the British Board of Trade requires a ship’s lights to show, but we know that they can be seen further on clear nights such as that was. I should think, however, that we could not see the Californian’s lights that night.’

  ‘If the Californian had fired rocket signals do you think you would have seen them 14 miles away?’ – ‘I think not.’

  Senator Smith asked the witness many questions regarding the Titanic’s watertight compartments.

  ‘They were watertight so far as they extended,’ said Mr Boxhall.

  ‘Were the compartments watertight at the ceiling
?’ – ‘No, sir.’

  ‘Would it have made any difference?’ – ‘Not in this particular case, as the Titanic’s compartments were damaged in the collision. Moreover, the compartments need not be watertight at the ceiling, because the water never rises to the space above the surface of the sea.’

  CARPATHIA’S WIRELESS MAN

  Offers of Money

  Mr Cottam, wireless operator on board the Carpathia, was then called. He said that he had received $750 from a New York newspaper for his story of the disaster. He had received no message instructing him to suppress any message containing an account of the disaster.

  ‘Did you transmit any messages from Mr Ismay to his Liverpool, London, or New York office while you were on the Carpathia?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘How did you get a message to Liverpool?’ – ‘Via an American land station.’

  Pressed as to whether he had sent any messages to Liverpool via London direct, the witness said that he remembered despatching one via the Olympic on Monday. His recollection as to the contents of the message was hazy, because the rush of work was so great he had little fixed idea as to any individual message.

  ‘At what time on Monday did Mr Ismay send a message to Mr Franklin about the Titanic?’ – ‘I don’t believe that any was sent on Monday, because I was in touch with no land station on Monday. Some messages were, however, sent through the Olympic on Monday. I remember a message from Mr Marconi several days after the accident asking why no news of the disaster had been sent.’

  ‘Did you answer it?’ – ‘No, I had too much official business to do. There was no order from the captain to send news. The captain told me to handle nothing but official and passenger traffic.’

  Senator Newlands asked Mr Cottam when he and Mr Bride first received news that they would be paid handsomely for their exclusive stories.

  Mr Cottam: ‘When we were docking. I was preparing to go on shore when Bride took the message.’

  ‘Would it have made any difference if you had received the message earlier?’ – ‘Not a bit. We were extremely busy. Besides, we were acting on the captain’s orders.’ Witness added that the weather during the Carpathia’s voyage to New York after she had rescued the Titanic survivors was most unfavourable for the transmission of wireless messages. It was raining incessantly, and that diffused the current.

  On the conclusion of Mr Cottam’s examination Senator Smith announced that the examination of the officers and crew of the Titanic was practically concluded. He directed the sergeant-at-arms to arrange for all of them to leave for home.

  Mr Lightoller, the Second Officer, will be recalled for a short time today at the opening of the hearing. He will be followed by Mr Ismay whose examination will then be concluded. Then all the Titanic official witnesses will be released. The men will proceed to New York, where the White Star Company will send them home to England on the first available boat.

  All the Titanic’s crew expressed their delight when they heard that they might leave for home.

  (Ulster Echo, 30 April 1912)

  Recalled for further interrogation, J. Bruce Ismay admitted receiving a telegram relating to the presence of ice from Captain Smith but rejected press comments from American passenger Emily Ryerson that he had told her the ship would increase speed to get through the ice field.

  ‘Mr Ismay, I believe some passengers state that Captain Smith gave you a telegram reporting ice?’ – ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘On Sunday afternoon?’ – ‘Sunday afternoon, I think it was.’

  ‘What became of that telegram?’ – ‘I handed it back to Captain Smith, I should think about ten minutes past seven on Sunday evening. I was sitting in the smoking room when Captain Smith happened to come in the room for some reason, and on his way back he happened to see me sitting there and came up and said: “By the way, sir, have you got that telegram which I gave you this afternoon?” I said, “Yes.” I put my hand in my pocket and said: “Here it is.” He said: “I want to put it up in the officers’ chart room.” That is the only conversation I had with Captain Smith in regard to the telegram. When he handed it to me, he made no remark at all.’

  ‘Can you tell what time he handed it to you and what its contents were?’ – ‘It is very difficult to place the time. I do not know whether it was in the afternoon or immediately before lunch. I did not pay any particular attention to the Marconi message – it was sent from the Baltic – which gave the position of some ice. It also gave the position of some steamer which was short of coal and wanted to be towed into New York, and I think it ended up by wishing success to the Titanic.’

  ‘Would you not regard it as an exercise of proper precaution and care to lessen the speed of a ship crossing the Atlantic when she had been warned of the presence of ice ahead?’ – ‘I am afraid that question I can not give any opinion on. We employ the very best men we possibly can to take command of these ships, and it is a matter entirely of their discretion.’

  ‘Did you have any conversation with a passenger on the Titanic about slackening or increasing speed when you heard of the ice?’ – ‘No, sir, not that I have any recollection of. I presume you refer to what Mrs Ryerson said. I testified in New York, the day after we arrived, that it was our intention on Monday or Tuesday, assuming the weather conditions to suit, and everything was working satisfactorily down below, to probably run the ship for about four to six hours full speed to see what she could do.’

  ‘You did not have any conversation on that Sunday about increasing the speed, did you?’ – ‘Not in regard to increasing the speed going through the ice.’

  (US Inquiry, 30 April 1912)

  Irishman Daniel Buckley, twenty-one, was a steerage passenger on board the Titanic. He recounted how a female passenger – thought to be Madeleine Astor – wrapped him in a shawl so that he could avoid detection in boat No. 4.

  I was sleeping in my room when I heard a terrible noise. I jumped out on the floor, and the first thing I knew my feet were getting wet. Water was coming in slightly. I told the other fellows to get up, that there was something wrong. They just laughed at me. Two sailors came along and shouted: ‘All up on deck unless you want to get drowned!’

  When I heard this I went for the deck as quick as I could. When I got up on the deck I saw that everyone else had life preservers. I went back again to my room to get one of the preservers but as I was going down the last flight of stairs the water was up four steps and dashing up. I did not go any farther. I got back on the deck again and as I was looking around to see if I could get any of those lifebelts, I met a first-class passenger, and he had two. He gave me one, and fixed it on me.

  When the lifeboat was prepared, there was a big crowd of men standing on the deck. They all jumped in, so I said I would take my chance with them. There were no ladies there at the same time. I went into the boat. Then two officers came along with a lot of steerage passengers – ladies and gentlemen – and said all of the men should come out and let the ladies in. But six men were left in the boat. I think they were firemen and sailors. At first they fought and would not get out, but the officers drew their revolvers and fired shots over our heads. Then the men got out. I was crying. There was a woman in the boat, and she had thrown her shawl over me, and she told me to stay in there. I believe she was Mrs Astor. Then they did not see me, and the boat was lowered down into the water.

  ‘Was there any effort on the part of the officers or crew to hold the steerage passengers in the steerage?’ – ‘I do not think so. They tried to keep us down at first on our steerage deck. They did not want us to go up to the first-class place at all.’

  ‘Who tried to do that?’ – ‘I think they were sailors. There was one steerage passenger and he was getting up the steps, and just as he was going in a little gate, a fellow came along and chucked him down – threw him down into the steerage place. This fellow got excited and he ran after him, but he could not find him.’

  ‘What gate do you mean?’ – ‘A little gate just at the
top of the stairs going up into the first-class deck. The first-class deck was higher up than the steerage deck, and there were some steps leading up to it, nine or ten.’

  ‘Was the gate locked?’ – ‘It was not locked at the time we made the attempt to get up there, but the sailor, or whoever he was, locked it.’

  ‘Did these passengers in the steerage have any opportunity at all of getting out?’ – ‘Yes, they had. I think they had as much chance as the first and second class passengers.’

  (US Inquiry, 3 May 1912)

  LOSS OF 1,519 ON TITANIC NEEDLESS, REPORT DECLARES

  A severe arraignment of the late Capt. Smith of the Titanic for what were termed his overconfidence, his indifference to danger and his utter disregard of repeated warnings from other vessels concerning icebergs in his path; a bitter condemnation of Capt. Lord of the Californian, who slept while the Titanic sank only a few miles away from where the Californian lay to all night; an urgent call upon ‘the honest judgement of England’ for a ‘painstaking chastisement’ of the British Board of Trade because of its lax regulations and its hasty inspection of the Titanic; praise for Capt. Arthur H. Rostron of the Carpathia, whose foresight and courage saved the 700 souls that were adrift in unmanned and unequipped lifeboats, and an urgent call upon Congress and the Legislatures of all other nations to pass new and stringent laws that would make such another horror impossible – these are the outstanding features of the report submitted to the Senate today by Senator William Alden Smith.

  The principal conclusions of the Senate Committee are these:

  That the supposedly watertight compartments of the Titanic were not watertight because of the non-watertight condition of the decks where the transverse bulkheads ended.