Senator SMITH.
Was your lifeboat lowered from the port from the starboard side?
Mr. HICHENS.
The port, sir.
Senator SMITH.
You did not carry out that order?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes; I did sir.
Senator SMITH.
What did you do?
Mr. HICHENS.
I pulled for that light - this imaginary light. We were pulling for it all the time.
Senator SMITH.
You pulled for this imaginary light?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
And never returned to the side of the Titanic?
Mr. HICHENS.
We could not return, sir.
Senator SMITH.
I think I understand you.
I want you to tell the committee, if you can, why you put the ship to starboard, which I believe you said you did, just before the collision with the iceberg?
Mr. HICHENS.
I do not quite understand you, sir.
Senator SMITH.
You said that when you were first apprised of the iceberg, you did what?
Mr. HICHENS.
Put the helm to starboard, sir. That is the order I received from the sixth officer.
Senator SMITH.
What was the effect of that?
Mr. HICHENS.
The ship minding the helm as I put her to starboard.
Senator SMITH.
But suppose you had gone bows on against that object?
Mr. HICHENS.
I don't know nothing about that. I am in the wheelhouse, and, of course, I couldn't see nothing.
Senator SMITH.
You could not see where you were going?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir; I might as well be packed in ice. The only thing I could see was my compass.
Senator SMITH.
The officer gave you the necessary order?
Mr. HICHENS.
Gave me the order, "Hard a'starboard."
Senator SMITH.
Hard a'starboard?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
You carried it out immediately?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir; immediately, with the sixth officer behind my back, with the junior officer behind my back, to see whether I carried it out - one of the junior officers.
Senator SMITH.
Is that the only order you received before the collision, or impact?
Mr. HICHENS.
That is all, sir. Then the first officer told the other quartermaster standing by to take the time, and told one of the junior officers to make a note of that in the logbook. That was at 20 minutes of 12; sir.
Senator SMITH.
You said it was pretty cold that night?
Mr. HICHENS.
Very intense cold, sir.
Senator SMITH.
What did that indicate to you - that you were in the vicinity of the Great Banks of Newfoundland?
Mr. HICHENS.
I do not know, sir. In the morning, when it turned daybreak, we could see icebergs everywhere; also afield of ice about 20 to 30 miles long, which it took the Carpathia 2 miles to get clear from when it picked the boats up. The icebergs was up on every point of the compass, almost.
Senator SMITH.
It was very cold?
Mr. HICHENS.
Very cold, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Freezing, I believe you said.
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Did you yourself take the temperature of the air or water that night?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Where and when?
Mr. HICHENS.
About 10 minutes before I went to the wheel, sir.
Senator SMITH.
How did you take the temperature of the air?
Mr. HICHENS.
We have a bucket, sir, attached to a piece of line about 20 fathoms long, which we put over the lee side of the ship, and draw just sufficient water to put the instrument in to cover the mercury to make its temperature rise.
Senator SMITH.
Is that a dipper or pail?
Mr. HICHENS.
A small bucket, leaded at the bottom.
Senator SMITH.
What is attached to it, a rope or chain?
Mr. HICHENS.
A piece of line about as thick as your black lead pencil.
Senator SMITH.
Did you take that line and lower this bucket yourself?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir; when it was my duty to do so I did it.
Senator SMITH.
You did it that night just before going to the wheel?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
The bucket reached the water, did it?
Mr. HICHENS.
Certainly, sir.
Senator SMITH.
You took the temperature?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes.
Senator SMITH.
What was it?
Mr. HICHENS.
I could not tell at the present me, sir. We have to enter it up in the log book.
Senator SMITH.
Did you enter it?
Mr. HICHENS.
I did, sir.
Senator SMITH.
But you can not remember what it was?
Mr. HICHENS.
I can not remember; no, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Whether it was zero?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir; I know it was not zero.
Senator SMITH.
You can not give us any idea about it?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
You took the temperature of the air?
Mr. HICHENS.
We had to do this duty every two hours. The quartermaster was standing by. After that we don't take no notice of it. We write it down in the log book for the junior officer, and it is copied off in the quartermaster's log book.
Senator SMITH.
And it constitutes part of the log book?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir; just as we take the barometer and the thermometer, and then the air, or the temperature of the water, and the like.
Senator SMITH.
And you took the temperature of both the water and air, but you do not remember how cold the water was, or what the temperature of the water was?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Do you remember what the temperature of the air was?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir - oh, yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
When did, you take the temperature of the water and air - when had you done so before that time?
Mr. HICHENS.
The last watch on deck, when it was not my wheel. If I had the station on the bridge-
Senator SMITH.
When was it? What time was it?
Mr. HICHENS.
In the morning; the same watch in the morning; the 8 to 10 watch, Sunday morning.
Senator SMITH.
What did you find the temperature of the water and air at that time? Do you recall that?
Mr. HICHENS.
I do not know, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Do you recall whether you found it colder at night than you did in the morning?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir; I know the thermometer was down at 31 at 8 o'clock on Sunday evening - 31 1/2. That is the only thing I do remember.
Senator SMITH.
And both the water and the air were colder when you made the last test -
Mr. HICHENS. (interrupting)
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH. (continuing)
Than when you made the previous test?
Mr. HICHENS.
Certainly so, sir.
Senator SMITH.
What did that indicate to you?
Mr. HICHENS.
It had nothing to do with me. I does not concern me, whatever.
Senator SMITH.
What did you think? Did you think you were in the vicinity of ice when you found that water so cold?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir; I didn't, think nothing about it.
Senator SMITH.
Had you heard you were in the vicinity of ice?
Mr. HICHENS.
I heard by the second officer when he repeated it. He sent me with his compliments to the ship's carpenter to look out for the ship's water, that it was freezing, at 8 o'clock. Then I knew. I didn't know before, but I heard the second officer distinctly tell Mr. Moody, the sixth officer to repeat through the telephone, to keep a sharp lookout for small ice until daylight, and to pass the word along for the other lookout men.
Senator SMITH.
You heard no officer say anything about icebergs, or an ice field, or growlers, or whatever they call these things, except what you have described, when he said it was freezing?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes.
Senator SMITH.
Had you ever been over that course before?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Had you ever been among icebergs before?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Where?
Mr. HICHENS.
Up about Norway and Sweden, and Petersburg, and up the Danube.
Senator SMITH.
So they were not unfamiliar sights to you?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Did you have any way of your own by which you knew whether you were in the vicinity of icebergs?
Mr. HICHENS.
It began to get very, very cold; exceedingly cold; so cold we could hardly suffer the cold. I thought there was ice about, somewhere.
Senator SMITH.
That indicated to you that you were in the vicinity of ice?
Mr. HICHENS.
It did not concern me. It had nothing to do with me at all. The officers had to do with it. I am only a junior officer.
Senator SMITH.
I did not ask you that. I just asked you what you thought, and not what you did. You had had experience among these icebergs, and when you found it cold and getting colder all the time, in the north Atlantic, you reached the conclusion that you were coming to ice, did you?
Mr. HICHENS.
I thought so, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Did you say anything about it to anyone?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Was the bucket with which you dipped this water to make the tests the bucket that was supposed with the Titanic, or was it something you improvised, that you found yourself, with which to do the work?
Mr. HICHENS.
It was a small paint tin, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Was it new or was it old?
Mr. HICHENS.
It was an old one, sir.
Senator SMITH.
An old one?
Mr. HICHENS.
One the quartermaster got for the occasion, because we had nothing else, sir.
Senator SMITH.
How was it fastened to the rope?
Mr. HICHENS.
Bent on, like any other ordinary thing; bent on the handle just like a bent pin.
Senator SMITH.
How much water would that bucket hold?
Mr. HICHENS.
It would hold about a quart, sir; if it was full up.
Senator SMITH.
How much would the ordinary bucket hold that you would find on a ship of that character?
Mr. HICHENS.
They don't get no buckets at all. That is not the proper thing. The proper thing they use is a long piece of leather, leaded, the shape of that paper that is folded up on the table there (indicating).
Senator SMITH.
But that you did not have?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Did you hear any reports made to the captain or officers as to water entering the ship?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Are you the man who was taken off the Lapland?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
And transferred back to New York?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir; by the pilot boat.
Senator SMITH.
And you were taken from what boat, this morning, in New York?
Mr. HICHENS.
The Celtic. I have been staying with the Celtic waiting for inquiry, since last Saturday.
Senator SMITH.
When would the Celtic have sailed?
Mr. HICHENS.
She was supposed to have sailed tomorrow, sir. I have been there the last four days, awaiting the inquiry, sir.
Senator BOURNE.
You say you were taken off the Celtic?
Mr. HICHENS.
I was not taken off; I walked off. There was a man there -
Senator SMITH.
You were taken off the Lapland?
Mr. HICHENS.
Off the Lapland. I had no orders as to the inquiry when I went down to the Lapland. I was like all the remainder, sir. I am eager to go home and see my wife and children after a disaster of this description; but when I had orders I waited; I was taken ashore, and I came ashore with the pilot boat. I had a letter directing me to the Celtic, to wait there until I had orders to go, which I have done, sir.
Senator SMITH.
You are going back home on the Celtic as soon as the committee gets through with you?
Mr. HICHENS.
I should very much like to, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Are you going to ship as a sailor and work your own passage back, or would the company pay it?
Mr. HICHENS.
I can not very well do that yet. The company will have to do that, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Do you recall the testimony you gave as to the ship's position or course?
Mr. HICHENS.
The course was north 70 west, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Is that by the steering compass?
Mr. HICHENS.
That is by the compass the quartermaster was steering by in the wheelhouse, sir.
Senator SMITH.
By the true course?
Mr. HICHENS.
The course in the standard compass and steering compass vary two or three degrees, I think, sir; but the course we get and the course the officers get is different. We repeat our course to the officers, at sea, every quarter hour, and every so often that we are always on our course. The captain comes around three or four times, every five minutes say.
Senator SMITH.
You left the wheelhouse that Sunday night at -
Mr. HICHENS. (interposing)
Twenty-three minute past 12.
Senator SMITH.
Were you relieved at the wheelhouse?
Mr. HICHENS.
I was relieved at the wheel by Quartermaster Perkis. He took the wheel from me.
Senator SMITH.
Did he survive?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, all the quartermasters survived, sir, having charge of boats.
Senator SMITH.
Your watch had not expired?
Mr. HICHENS.
My watch had expired; yes.
Senator SMITH.
When he relieved you?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir. It was my watch to go below then.
Senator BOURNE.
Did you have daily drills with the lifeboats?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator BOURNE.
Fire drills and lifeboat drills every day; is that customary?
Mr. HICHENS.
I did not see them. The only thing I saw was the emergency boat. There is one emergency boat on each side of the bridge, just abaft the bridge, which is kept, in case of accident always swung out.
Senator BOURNE.
There was a daily drill for the emergency boat?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, at 6 o'clock in the evening, usually.
Senator SMITH.
You know, do you not, that the second officer and other officers say that there were no daily drills; that the only drill took place at Southampton, when two lifeboats were lowered?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes; as regards drilling, that is true, sir; but what I am talking about is the emergency boat. They mustered the men every night at 6 o'clock, in case of emergency, in case they should want the emergency boat on account of a man falling overboard or anything else.
Senator SMITH.
Do they muster these men every night at 6 o'clock?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Where?
Mr. HICHENS.
On the bridge; they muster them there with an officer.
Senator SMITH.
And what do they do - lower the boat?
Mr. HICHENS.
No; I have never seen them do that. I have been in the wheelhouse at the time-
Senator SMITH.
You did not see them?
Mr. HICHENS.
No; but I have heard the report, and I have seen the officer as I was going to the wheelhouse; and one evening I might be on the dogwatch, from 6 b 8 o'clock -
Senator SMITH.
But you do not know what they did - whether they lowered the boat to the water?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
And that is the drill you referred to?
Mr. HICHENS.
No; I am not referring to any drill; I am only referring to the mustering of the men at 6 o'clock.
Senator SMITH.
How many men are mustered?
Mr. HICHENS.
About 8, I think; 6 seamen and the quartermaster and an officer.
Senator SMITH.
Every night at 6 o'clock?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
But they go to those two boats, one on the port and one on the starboard side?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
And what they do when they get there you do not know of your own knowledge?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir; the boat is always kept in readiness to be gotten out at a moment's notice an case of accident.
Senator SMITH.
Do you say you have made arrangements to go back on the Cedric?
Mr. HICHENS.
No, sir; I have not made any arrangements at all. I am awaiting orders, like all the other men.
Senator BOURNE.
You would like to go?
Mr. HICHENS.
If I possibly could; yes sir.
Senator SMITH.
It seems to be the judgment of my associates that you should be permitted to go. Is there anything further you would like to say?
Mr. HICHENS.
I would like to make a little statement as regarding Mrs. Mayer's [Meyer] statement in the newspapers about my drinking the whisky sir, and about the blankets. I was very cold, sir, and I was standing up in the boat. I had no hat on. A lady had a flask of whisky or brandy, or something of that description, given her by some gentleman on the ship before she left, and she pulled it out and gave me about a tablespoonful and I drank it. Another lady, who was lying in the bottom of the boat, in a rather weak condition gave me a half wet and half dry blanket to try keep myself a little warm, as I was half frozen. I think it was very unkind of her, sir, to make any statement criticizing me. When we got to the ship I handled everyone as carefully as I could, and I was the last one to leave the boat, and I do not think I deserve anything like that to be put in the papers. That is what upset me and got on my nerves.
Senator SMITH.
Now, Mr. Witness, you have made a special request to be permitted to go. I would like to know from you, if you do go on the boat tomorrow back to England, whether you will return here if the committee desires to have you?
Mr. HICHENS.
I will, sir; yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
And we may communicate with the White Star Line officers and you will hold yourself in readiness to return?
Mr. HICHENS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
That is all; and at their suggestion - they seem to be muted about it - you can be excused.
Senator BOURNE.
That is, you can go back to England.
Mr. KIRLIN.
Do you include, Mr. Chairman, the other seamen who are similarly situated, and who have been examined? They are most anxious to get home.
Senator SMITH.
Who are they?
Mr. KIRLIN.
They are Mr. Fleet; the man who was in the other boat, and a steward.
Senator SMITH.
I did not examine the steward. I only asked him a question or two in New York. Is that Mr. Crawford?
Mr. KIRLIN.
Could any of the officers be allowed to go?
Senator SMITH.
No, not so far as I am concerned. I would not consent to have them go now; and I do not want to release Mr. Fleet now. I have not finished with Mr. Crawford.
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