(Testimony taken separately before Senator William Alden Smith, chairman of the subcommittee.)
(The witness was sworn by Senator Smith.)
Senator SMITH.
What is your business?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Vice president and general manager and secretary-treasurer of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America.
Senator SMITH.
What is your age?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Sixty-three.
Senator SMITH.
How long have you been engaged in the business of wireless telegraphy?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Since about 1900.
Senator SMITH.
In your capacity of general manager, what are your duties?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
General supervision of the work of the company, attending to the finances of the company, putting the company on a business basis - on a paying basis - and generally attending to everything that comes into the office. I do not know exactly how to explain it.
Senator SMITH.
Do you have to do with installations of wireless apparatus on ships or at shore stations?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Do you have to do with the selection of operators?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Are you familiar with the method employed in both of these matters?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Where were you on Sunday night, the 14th of April, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday following?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
In various places in New York.
Senator SMITH.
Were you at the office of the Marconi Co.?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Not on Sunday. I was on the other days.
Senator SMITH.
Did you have anything to do with the sending or receipt of messages concerning the loss of the Titanic?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Did you attempt to put yourself in communication with the operator of the Carpathia?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I did, to the best of my ability.
Senator SMITH.
Just tell what you did in that regard.
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I sent a memorandum - what we call a memorandum - to the operator of the Carpathia on Monday night through our office - or, rather, instructed our office to send it - asking the operator of the Carpathia to send at least 500 words of good news to your office.
Senator SMITH.
Did you do anything else in connection with this matter?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
On Tuesday I called up the traffic managers of the Western Union and Postal Telegraph Cos. and asked them to hold their lines as clear as possible, so that communication might readily be made, as I expected a large rush of business - private messages and also messages for the press - and they agreed to do so.
I further sent memoranda to the stations at Cape Race, Sable Island, and Halifax, asking them to furnish us any information that they could.
Senator SMITH.
Did you have anything else to do with the receipt or sending of messages by wireless telegraphy or cable connected with that?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
No, sir. You mean the actual sending?
Senator SMITH.
Or instructions pertaining thereto?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I did not send any other message that I remember.
Senator SMITH.
Have you knowledge regarding any being sent?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Yes.
Senator SMITH.
Did you in any manner undertake to influence the course of Cottam, the operator on the Carpathia, or of Bride, the surviving operator of the Titanic, regarding the sending or receipt of information concerning this catastrophe?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
In no way did I do so until the vessel had passed quarantine, when, having heard from the New York Times that it would be willing to give the operator or operators, whose names I did not know at that time, a sum of money for their story, I said if Mr. Marconi, whom I was to meet shortly at a social function, consented, I would consent thereto. At about a quarter to 8 Mr. Marconi, at my house, said that while he did not altogether care for the business, he saw no objection to the operator giving his story to the New York Times newspaper. But little conversation passed, as the matter was at a dinner party, and all the persons were waiting. I immediately, however, rang up the office and told them that Mr. Marconi did not object and that I did not object either.
Senator SMITH.
With whom did you speak over the telephone?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I can not remember. It was either Mr. Sammis or some person acting for him.
Senator SMITH.
What else did you do about the matter?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Nothing further.
Senator SMITH.
Did you make any attempt to see the operators on their arrival?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
When did you first receive information through your own office of the sinking of the Titanic?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I think that information was received about 6 p. m. on Monday afternoon. It may have been earlier, but I can not state definitely.
Senator SMITH.
Do you consider it proper to encourage wireless operators in the manner referred to?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I think it more advisable that the operators should give their story to one paper than to have it scattered piecemeal, and written up by various reporters for various newspapers.
Senator SMITH.
Might not this custom or habit lead to a general understanding among operators, and tend to influence them in their course following calamities of this character?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
No, sir; I do not think so.
Senator SMITH.
If it were understood that they should have the right to exclusively sell the information in their possession, would it not weaken the confidence of the public in the accuracy and completeness of published information?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Admitted that operators are proper people to give out information, it might do so; but operators are not capable of giving out any proper information. That has been established by us in the last 10 or 12 years. There is hardly an operator crossing the ocean who can give out any news in a decent way or publication, and, in addition, the operators are not permitted to send from the ships anything of their own volition touching the working or operation of the ship, or any accident or matter in relation to the ship.
Senator SMITH.
Would not the fact that that is so give additional valuation to their own observation and experience in cases of great horror, like the Titanic disaster, which, if made their own exclusive property, would operate to public disadvantage?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Not in my opinion
Senator SMITH.
Do you admit that the wages of wireless operators are very low?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I think they get a fair wage, considering that they are kept at virtually no expense whatever. Several of our operators are married men, living comfortably on their pay.
Senator SMITH.
If they get just compensation, why should rewards of this character, which may be of doubtful propriety, be held out to them as one of the inducements for their service?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Absolutely no such rewards are held out, nor has this ever been offered to any operator as an inducement for him to come into the service.
Senator SMITH.
Did not Binns, in the Republic disaster, receive considerable remuneration for his personal observations and experience?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I do not know what Binns received. I think he received a very small amount indeed at that time. I believe he afterwards received an immense amount of money from various sources, such as lectures, theatrical entertainments, magazines, etc.
Senator SMITH.
Do you know what Bride, the Titanic operator, received?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Mr. Van Anden [Carr Van Anda], managing editor of the New York Times, told me he was giving $1,000, to be equally divided between the two boys; that a London paper had since given, unsolicited, $250 for Bride; and it is said - although I have no personal knowledge on the subject - that Bride also received another $250. I believe that he admitted on the stand that he received $1,000, and that Cottam has admitted on the stand that he received $1,250.
Senator SMITH.
Mr. Marconi, in his testimony, admitted that this practice might be of doubtful wisdom, and that it was his purpose to discourage it in the future. What have you to say about it?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Anything that Mr. Marconi requests the American company to do will be done without demur or hesitation.
Senator SMITH.
Did you have anything to do with arranging for this exclusive story through the New York Times?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
No sir; nothing further than what I have said.
Senator SMITH.
Mr. Bottomley, is this true, as reported in the London Daily Telegraph:
The Marconi Co. will give no information to any ship not fitted with the Marconi wireless system, nor will it consider its calls?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
It is absolutely untrue as far as the American company is concerned.
Senator SMITH.
A passenger on the Russian ship Birma, fitted with another wireless system, reported, on reaching London, that the ship's offers to help care for the survivors on board the Carpathia were met by repeated signals to "Shut up." Were those answers in consonance with the general orders of the Marconi Co.?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Most certainly not. The absolute order is that everything must be communicated with, ships or anywhere, in any time of danger or distress. That is one of the first provisions of our general orders.
Senator SMITH.
That passenger gave the London Daily Telegraph a statement; attested by the officers and wireless operators of the Birma, that on the day of the disaster and on days following the ship was refused any information whatever with regard to the wreck survivors. Was that refusal in obedience to orders or instructions given by the Marconi Co.?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
Most certainly not.
Senator SMITH.
Do you think that there is any justification for such suppression of information of world-wide importance at such a time?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
There would be none.
Senator SMITH.
Is it not true that if the operator on the Carpathia had acquainted the operator on the Birma with some details concerning the disaster the world would not have been kept in suspense for many days?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
I can not answer that question. I know nothing about the Birma, or where she was.
Senator SMITH.
Was there anything to prevent the operator on the Carpathia from giving the Birma a few details?
Mr. BOTTOMLEY.
As I have said before, the operator can only send such news as is authorized by the captain of a ship.