(Testimony taken separately before Senator Bourne on behalf of the subcommittee.)
(The witness was sworn by Senator Bourne.)
9878. Kindly state your age, residence, and occupation.
- Able-bodied seaman; I live at No. 10, the Flats, Chantry Road, Southampton.
9879. How long have you followed the sea?
- About 19 years now, sir.
9880. How long have you been rated as an able-bodied seaman?
- Well, I think I have been about 16 years as able seaman.
9881. Have you been altogether on steam lines, or have you been on sailing vessels?
- No, sir; I have all the time been on steam boats - different lines, you know.
9882. How long have you been on the White Star?
- Well, I done six voyages with the Olympic. This would make the seventh one.
9883. Have you sailed on other lines besides the White Star?
- I have been on the Elder-Dempster Line.
9884. You were on the Titanic on her maiden voyage, were you?
- Yes, sir.
9885. What day did you join the ship?
- On a Wednesday, sir.
9886. Was that the day of the sailing?
- The day of the sailing, sir.
9887. Will you kindly explain in your own way what occurred just prior and subsequent to the catastrophe?
- I was asleep in my bunk when the accident occurred, and I was awakened by the crunching and jarring, as if it was hitting up against something.
9888. Were you sound asleep?
- I was sound asleep.
9889. Are you a heavy sleeper?
- No, sir; it did not take much to wake me. I am a light sleeper. If anybody touches me, I will jump quick. Of course I put on my trousers and I went on deck on the starboard side of the well deck and I saw a lot of ice.
9890. On the deck itself?
- On the deck itself.
9891. What deck was that?
- The well deck, sir. With that, I went in the alleyway again under the forecastle head to come down and put on my shoes. Some one said to me, "Did you hear the rush of water?" I said, "No." They said, "Look down under the hatchway." I looked down under the hatchway and I saw the tarpaulin belly out as if there was a lot of wind under it, and I heard the rush of water coming through.
9892. You heard that?
- Yes.
9893. How soon after you struck? How many minutes, would you think?
- I should say about 10 minutes, sir.
9894. After you were awake?
- After I was awake, yes. I went down below and put my guernsey on, my round hat on, and after that I sat down on a stool having a smoke?
9895. Down in the forecastle?
- Down in the forecastle.
9896. Although you had seen this water coming in?
- I seen the water coming in, and I thought it was all right.
9897. You thought she would not sink, Mr. Clench?
- I thought she would not sink then, sir. Then after I lighted the pipe, I heard the boatswain's pipe call all hands out on deck. We went up to where he stood under the forecastle, and he ordered all hands to the boat deck. We proceeded up on the boat deck, and when we got up there he told us to go to the starboard side and uncover the boats. I went down to No. 11 boat, unlacing the cover, and just as I started to unlace, along come an officer.
9898. Were you assigned to No. 11?
- No; No. 4 was my boat. We were sent there to uncover the boat, and an officer came along and drafted me on the other side, the port side. I went to No. 16 on the port side - the after boat, and started getting out the boat falls to let them down; I got out the two falls and coiled them down on the deck. When I was putting the plug in the boat in readiness to be lowered they were swinging the boat out.
9899. Were you in the boat at the time it was swinging out?
- I was in the boat at the time she was swinging out.
9900. Fixing the plug?
- Fixing the plug.
9901. You were the only man in the boat at that time?
- I was the only man in the boat at that time. I jumped out of that boat and got her all ready for lowering, and helped get the other falls out of the other boats. No. 14 boat we went to next.
9902. No. 14 being next to No. 16. The even numbers were on one side and the odd numbers on the other?
- Yes, sir; the even numbers on the port side and the odd numbers on the starboard. I got the three boats out, and we lowered them down level with the boat deck. Then I assisted Mr. Lightoller -
9903. The second officer?
- The second officer. Him and me stood on the gunwale of the boat helping load the women and children in. The chief officer was passing them along to us, and we filled the three boats like that.
9904. You filled No. 16 first?
- No; filled 12 first. After we got them already lowered down to the deck, then we went to No. 14 to lower --
9905. How many did you put in No. 12? Have you any idea?
- I could not tell you exactly, but I should say from 40 to 50 people.
9906. And what is the capacity, ordinarily, as you figure; 65?
- I think the number is about 65, but, of course, I suppose they were thinking of lowering them down and the falls would not be safe enough; but at any rate, we had to go to No. 14 and do the same there. Me and Mr. Lightoller and the chief officer passed them in as we stood on the gunwale; in all three of the boats, that was. After we finished No. 16 boat, I goes out and looks at the falls again to see that they are all ready for going down clear. When I got back to No. 12 again, the chief officer happened to come along, and he said, "How many men have you in this boat?" There was one man in the boat, one sailor, and I said, "Only one, sir." He looked up, and me being the only sailor there, he said, "Jump into that boat," he said, "and make the complement" - that was two seamen.
9907. That was in No. 14?
- That was in No. 12, sir. That was the boat I went away in. I goes into the boat, and then, of course, we had to wait for orders to lower away. We started lowering away and get down to the water. I goes and gets the tumbler and drops clear into the water, and drops clear of the blocks.
9908. The tumbler being the loosener from the fall?
- Yes, sir; pulls the hook back so we dropped clear of the falls. Then we had orders to pull away from the ship.
9909. Who gave you the orders?
- They were shouted from the deck.
9910. By what officer? Do you know?
- I could not say what officer, now. He was too high up, and it was so dark I could not see.
9911. Who was in charge of the boat you went in to make up the complement?
- A seaman.
9912. He was in charge?
- He was in charge?
9913. Was it only a petty officer?
- No, sir; an able seaman. We had instructions when we went down that we were to keep our eye on No. 14 boat, where Mr. Lowe, the fifth officer, was, and keep all together as much as we could, so that we would not get drifted away from one another.
9914. So as to give relief immediately, if needed?
- Yes, sir. We got the boat out, I suppose, a quarter of a mile away from the ship; then we laid on our oars and stood by, and all stopped together.
9915. How many passengers were in No. 14, would you say, Mr. Clench?
- I think about 50, sir.
9916. And only two seamen?
- Two seamen; that is all, sir.
9917. Who did the rowing?
- Both seamen had to row out as far as they could, sir.
9918. Did any passengers row?
- I could not say about No. 14 boat, sir; we had gone ahead of them.
9919. The boat that you were in - what number was that?
- No. 12, sir.
9920. How many passengers were in it?
- Between 14 and 15, in ours.
9921. And only two seamen in it?
- Two seamen.
9922. No other members of the crew?
- No members of the crew. There was only one male passenger in our boat, and that was a Frenchman who jumped in, and we could not find him, sir.
9923. Where was he?
- Under the thwart, mixed with the women. In fact, of course, we could not look for him just as we dropped into the water.
9924. He got into the boat before you lowered her?
- Before we lowered her.
9925. Without your knowledge?
- Without our knowing it.
9926. How do you think he was able to do that?
- I could not say, that, sir. We were, of course, attending to the falls and looking out to see that they went down clear.
9927. All the rest of your passengers were women and children?
- Women and children.
9928. You rowed away from the ship about a quarter of a mile?
- About a quarter of a mile.
9929. Then you rested on your oars?
- Then we rested on our oars.
9930. According to orders?
- According to orders.
9931. What happened then? How long did you rest and what did you do after you resumed rowing?
- We was rowing up there, and up come the officer, after the ship was gone down, come up with us with his boat, and transferred some of his people he had in his boat into two boats of ours; I could not say the number of the other boats, but he transferred his people into ours so that he would have a clear boat to go around to look for the people who were floating in the water.
9932. Could you, from your boat, see anybody floating or swimming around in the water?
- Never seen anyone, sir.
9933. Did you see the ship sink?
- Yes, sir.
9934. About a quarter of a mile away?
- About a quarter of a mile away.
9935. Did she sink bow down?
- Bow down; yes, sir.
9936. Did she break in two?
- That I could not say.
9937. Did you hear any explosion?
- I heard two explosions, sir.
9938. Immediately preceding the sinking of the ship?
- Yes. Well, before the ship had sunk there was one explosion.
9939. How long before the ship sank?
- I should say a matter of 10 minutes before she went under.
9940. There was?
- Yes, sir.
9941. What did you think that was, one of the boilers bursting?
- I figured that the water got up around one of the boilers, sir.
9942. Then in about 10 minutes there was another explosion?
- There was another explosion, but I could not say how long from one to the other.
9943. After the second explosion, you having only heard two -
- Only two, I heard.
9944 (continuing.) Then did the ship disappear?
- The lights went out after the second explosion. Then she gradually sank down into the water very slowly.
9945. How long a time would you say it was after the second explosion before she sank out of sight?
- I should say a matter of about 20 minutes.
9946. In the sinking of the ship did she apparently go bow down and did the stern go away up in the air?
- Yes, sir; the stern was well up in the air when the bow was underneath.
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