(Testimony taken separately before Senator Burton on behalf of the subcommittee.)
(The Witness was sworn by Senator Burton.)
8190. What is your name?
- Alfred Olliver.
8191. How old are you?
- Twenty-eight next 6th of June.
8192. How long have you been a sailor?
- I have been a sailor ever since I was 16.
8193. Navy or merchant marine?
- Both.
8194. How long in the Navy?
- Seven years.
8195. You were first on duty in the Navy?
- I was in the Navy first, and then I came into the merchant marine afterwards.
8196. What was your position on the boat?
- Quartermaster.
8197. Where were you when the collision occurred?
- I was stand-by quartermaster on the bridge. I had been relieved from the wheel at 10 o'clock, and I was stand-by after 10 o'clock. I was running messages and doing various other duties. I was not right on the bridge; I was just entering the bridge. I had just performed an errand and was entering the bridge when the collision occurred.
8198. Just state what happened?
- When I was doing this bit of duty I heard three bells rung up in the crow's nest, which I knew that it was something ahead; so I looked, but I did not see anything. I happened to be looking at the lights in the standing compass at the time. That was my duty, to look at the lights in the standing compass, and I was trimming them so that they would burn properly. When I heard the report, I looked, but could not see anything, and I left that and came was just entering on the bridge just as the shock came. I knew we had touched something.
8199. Just describe what that shock was.
- I found out we had struck an iceberg.
8200. Did you see that iceberg?
- Yes; I did, sir.
8201. Describe it.
- The iceberg was about the height of the boat deck; if anything, just a little higher. It was almost alongside of the boat, sir. The top did not touch the side of the boat, but it was almost alongside of the boat.
8202. What kind of a sound was there?
- The sound was like she touched something; a long grinding sound, like.
8203. How long did that sound last?
- It did not last many seconds.
8204. How far aft did the grinding sound go?
- The grinding sound was before I saw the iceberg. The grinding sound was not when I saw the iceberg.
8205. Where was the iceberg when you saw it, abeam or abaft?
- Just abaft the bridge when I saw it.
8206. What was the length of it along beside the boat?
- That I could not say, the length of the iceberg, because I only saw the top. It was impossible to see the length of the iceberg from where I was standing.
8207. What was the shape at the top?
- The shape was pointed.
8208. You could not tell how wide it was?
- I only saw the tip top of the iceberg.
8209. Did you notice the course of the berg as it passed you?
- No, sir; I did not notice the course of the berg as it passed us. It went aft the after part of the ship. I did not see it afterwards, because I did not have time to know where it was going.
8210. Do you know whether the wheel was hard aport then?
- What I know about the wheel - I was stand-by to run messages, but what I knew about the helm is, hard aport.
8211. Do you mean hard aport or hard astarboard?
- I know the orders I heard when I was on the bridge was after we had struck the iceberg. I heard hard aport, and there was the man at the wheel and the officer. The officer was seeing it was carried out right.
8212. What officer was it?
- Mr. Moody, the sixth officer, was stationed in the wheelhouse.
8213. Who was the man at the wheel?
- Hichens, quartermaster.
8214. You do not know whether the helm was put hard astarboard first, or not?
- No, sir; I do not know that.
8215. But you know it was put hard aport after you got there?
- After I got there; yes, sir.
8216. Where was the iceberg, do you think, when the helm was shifted?
- The iceberg was away up stern.
8217. That is when the order "hard aport" was given?
- That is when the order "hard aport" was given; yes, sir.
8218. Who gave the order?
- The first officer.
8219. And that order was immediately executed, was it?
- Immediately executed, and the sixth officer saw that it was carried out.
8220. How long did this sound continue; can you tell that?
- I can not say exactly, but I should say it was not many seconds.
8221. Could you tell how far aft the sound continued?
- I could not say how far aft, sir, because I do not know where it started and where it finished. I do not know.
8222. You could not tell about that?
- No, sir.
8223. Was it 100 feet? Did it rub against the boat behind where you were?
- Not behind where I was. It did not, to my knowledge, rub behind where I was; it was before.
8224. You can not tell, then, for how many feet it rubbed against the boat?
- No, sir.
8225. But you think it got away from the boat before the place where you were?
- Yes, sir.
8226. Did you see the iceberg?
- I tell you, sir. I saw the tip top of it.
8227. What color was it?
- It was not white, as I expected to see an iceberg. It was a kind of a dark-blue. It was not white.
8228. Did you see a light?
- On any other ship but the Titanic?
8229. Yes.
- I saw lights in the boats, being displayed by the boats.
8230. I mean of another boat?
- I saw what I thought was a light; but then I could not say whether is was a proper light or whether it was a star.
8231. Did you see this before the ship struck?
- No, sir; after we were in the boats.
8232. You did not see it when you were on board the Titanic?
- No; I did not.
8233. In what boat did you go down to the water?
- No. 5 boat. That was on the starboard side.
8234. In the order in which they were lowered, which was yours?
- It was the third on that side.
8235. Who had charge of that boat?
- Mr. Pitman, sir.
8236. How many of the crew were there with him?
- There was the officer, Mr. Pitman, myself, sailor, and two firemen and two stewards.
8237. Six in all?
- Six in all.
8238. How many passengers were there in the boat?
- When we lowered the boat there was, I should say - I do not know the exact number, but I should say - about 40 before we lowered the boat.
8239. Did you have any trouble in lowering the boat?
- There were so many people that when I got in the boat I went to put the plug in, and there were so many people around me I could not get near the plug to put the plug in. As he was lowering the boat I implored the passengers to move so that I could put the plug in, so that as soon as they put the boat in the water I let the tripper go and water came into the boat; but I then forced my way to the plug and put it in. If it was not for that the boat would have been swamped.
8240. What position did you have in the boat after you got into the water?
- I was rowing, sir, after I let go the tripper.
8241. Was there any rush when you got into the boat?
- No, sir; there was not. I helped to put the passengers in myself.
8242. Were most of the passengers up on the top deck at that time?
- At the time, sir, there were some in the other boats.
8243. Was it crowded around there?
- No; not so overcrowded.
8244. Were there firemen and stokers up there?
- Yes, sir; some, I think.
8245. Did you notice any passengers on the lower decks as you went by?
- No, sir; I was busy looking after the safety of the boat.
8246. Would you have seen them if they were there?
- No, sir; not for what I was doing, because I did not look toward the ship.
8247. Were your passengers all women and children?
- There were also a few men.
8248. How many do you think, about?
- I should say there were about six or eight men.
8249. What was the order in which your boat was unloaded on the Carpathia? Was it the first, second, or third - what was it?
- It was the fourth or fifth, I think.
8250. Did you get along comfortably in the water?
- Yes, sir. It was cold, but we got along comfortably in the water, sir.
8251. Did you hear Pitman give an order to go back to the ship?
- Yes, sir.
8252. What happened?
- The women passengers implored him not to go, because they reckoned it was not safe.
8253. How far were you away from the ship then?
- I should say about 300 yards.
8254. Did Pitman then countermand the order?
- Yes, sir; he did not go.
8255. Did only a few of the passengers on board object to his going back, or did they all object?
- They very nearly all objected.
8256. Did any ask him to go back?
- No, sir; not as I know of.
8257. Would it have been safe to go back?
- To my idea, sir, no.
8258. Why not?
- I reckon it would have been endangering the lives of the people we had in the boat already.
8259. In what way; by being sucked down, or by persons trying to climb on?
- Both, sir.
8260. Which would have been the more serious of the two?
- The suction, as I thought, sir.
8261. After the ship was sunk, there could have been no suction, could there?
- There could have been none, no; but this was before.
8262. After she had sunk?
- We had orders to pull back toward the ship before she sank.
8263. Did you have any orders to pull back after she sank?
- No, sir; we did not; we were farther away.
8264. Were there cries and moaning from the place where the boat had sunk?
- Yes. It lasted about 10 minutes.
8265. Did it not last longer than that?
- No; not to my idea.
8266. Then, you were only about 300 yards away?
- When the cries were heard we were farther, but when the ship sank we were about 300 yards away.
8267. About how far away were you then?
- I should say about 500 yards away then.
8268. So far as danger of capsizing is concerned, after the boat had sunk you could have gone back, could you not?
- Yes, sir; we could have gone back.
8269. Were you afraid that the boat would be capsized by persons trying to climb in?
- No, sir; I was not afraid.
8270. Who was afraid?
- The passengers; the women, especially.
8271. Did they voice their fear?
- Yes, sir.
8272. Did you see the boat sink?
- I can not say that I saw it right plain; but to my imagination I did, because the lights went out before she went down.
8273. How did she sink?
- She was well down at the head at first, when we got away from her at first, and to my idea she broke forward, and the afterpart righted itself and made another plunge and went right down. I fancied I saw her black form. It was dark, and I fancied I saw her black form going that way.
8274. Did she careen over, tip over sideways, or did she go ahead?
- She went ahead, like that (indicating).
8275. Did you hear explosions?
- I heard several little explosions, but it was not such explosions as I expected to hear.
8276. Were these before or after she sank?
- Before she sank and while she was sinking.
8277. What did you think those explosions were?
- Myself, I thought they were like bulkheads giving in.
8278. Do you know whether the watertight doors were closed or not?
- The first officer closed the watertight doors, sir.
8279. When?
- On the bridge, just after she struck; and reported to the captain that they were closed. I heard that myself.
8280. How did you know they were closed?
- Because Mr. Murdoch reported, and as I entered the bridge I saw him about the lever.
8281. Did he have any way of telling whether they were closed or not?
- There is a lever on the bridge to close the watertight doors, and he turned the lever over and closed them.
8282. Was there an instrument there to show the doors as they closed? Did you ever see one of those instruments?
- No; I never saw one.
8283. With little lights that burn up as each door closes, and then go out?
- No, sir.
8284. There was no instrument like that on the Titanic?
- I did not see that.
8285. Would you have seen it if it had been there?
- No doubt I would, sir.
8286. Was there any steam coming out of anywhere except the exhaust pipe?
- I did not see any.
8287. Did you hear anybody say that they saw steam coming out?
- No, sir.
8288. Were there any alarms or signals given to arouse the passengers on the ship?
- I was not down below, sir; I could not say.
8289. Could you have heard them from where you were on the bridge?
- No, sir.
8290. Were the engines reversed; was she backed?
- Not whilst I was on the bridge; but whilst on the bridge she went ahead, after she struck; she went half speed ahead.
8291. The engines went half speed ahead, or the ship?
- Half speed ahead, after she hit the ice.
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