8674. You go through a strict drill?
- Yes.
8675. How often?
- Every Saturday afternoon.
8676. Did you have any drill on Saturday afternoon on the Titanic?
- No.
8677. Do you know why?
- No.
8678. Is it always the case that they have drill on Saturday afternoon on other ships?
- On a majority of other ships, sir.
8679. Do the firemen take part in that drill?
- Oh, yes.
8680. Does every man in a ship's crew have a place?
- Yes, sir.
8681. In reference to what?
- With reference to manning a boat, I suppose to take charge of the boat and pull the boat away, if necessary.
8682. There were about 800 of this crew, were there not?
- I suppose so, sir.
8683. And there were about 20 boats?
- Twenty boats.
8684. Do you think that every man in that crew was assigned to a particular boat?
- Every man was ordered to a boat.
8685. Was ordered to a boat; but did each man in that crew, throughout the whole 800, know where his place in a boat was?
- Yes; because there is a boat list that goes up.
8686. What was the nature of that order that night with reference to the boats?
- All the orders we had was to get our lifebelts on and go up on the boat deck.
8687. And then were you expected, each of you, to go to a boat?
- We were supposed to go to the boat that our name was down for on the ship.
8688. Were there very many of the crew there when you went up?
- We were all going up, what there was of us.
8689. Would both dining room stewards and bedroom stewards be assigned to these boats?
- Yes, sir.
8690. And all the enginemen?
- Yes, sir.
8691. And the carpenters?
- Yes, sir.
8692. Every man had his place?
- Every man had the number of his boat that he was to go to.
8693. On the port side they put in, on an average, in each boat only about two men of the crew, and sometimes less. How do you account for the fact that there were so few?
- I could not tell you, sir. I never went on that side of the ship.
8694. On the other side were there a larger number of the ship's crew?
- Yes, there were stewards, and all.
8695. And they were waiting there to be assigned to their places, were they? They were waiting, expecting to be put into the boats?
- Yes, sir.
8696. But no man could get into a boat before he was ordered in?
- No, sir.
8697. Who selected the men to go in the boats?
- The officer, sir.
8698. You say you found water up to No. 1 hatch?
- Yes, sir.
8699. What is No. 1 hatch?
- It is in the bow end of the ship, sir.
8700. How far down?
- Right down to the bottom, sir.
8701. Is there a compartment there?
- Yes.
8702. A very large one?
- Yes, sir.
8703. Is that the term applied to the first compartment?
- That is the first hold in the ship. That is the first cargo space in the ship.
8704. Does that hatch cover more than one compartment? You know what a compartment is, do you not?
- Yes, sir.
8705. Do you remember whether in that hatch there was only one compartment or whether two or three?
- I could not tell you that, sir, because I never saw down there.
8706. How did you know there was water in No. 1 hatch?
- Because we saw it come bursting up through the hatches.
8707. You were there all the time, were you?
- I was in my bunk asleep at the time, and then when we got called up again the water was still coming up through the hatches.
8708. What is a hatch?
- A grate that covers over the hold to save anybody; to keep anybody from getting down.
8709. Were you in the water?
- No, sir.
8710. Did it reach you?
- Yes, afterwards. It went into our room afterwards.
8711. How long was it in getting in there?
- About three-quarters of an hour, sir.
8712. How far was your room from the bottom of the ship?
- I could not exactly tell you the distance.
8713. What deck was your room on?
- On the third deck.
8714. From below?
- From the top, counting from the top.
8715. Where did that stand with reference to decks A, B, and C?
- I could not tell you, sir.
8716. It was below them, was it?
- Our deck was lower than those decks, because you came off of those decks down to the well deck.
8717. Did you have a hammock or a bed, or what did you have?
- I had a bunk.
8718. What deck was that on?
- On the third deck down.
8719. How far did you say that was from the bottom of the ship?
- Twenty or thirty feet, I should say, sir.
8720. Did your boat make any effort to go back and save the lives of the people struggling in the water?
- No, sir.
8721. Why not?
- Because a majority of them said "Pull on," because of the suction.
8722. You heard the cries of the people who were in the water?
- Yes.
8723. How long did they last?
- Ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, sir.
8724. Do you not think that people floating in that water, with lifebelts on, would survive longer than a quarter of an hour?
- They may have survived longer, sir. I am only just judging the time.
8725. Was the water very cold?
- Yes, it was cold.
8726. Your boat did not pick up anybody from the water?
- No, sir.
8727. Did you see any other boat pick up anybody?
- No, sir.
8728. Did you see any firemen or any of the crew jump from the ship itself into the water?
- No, sir.
8729. Do you know whether any did so jump, prior to your leaving the ship?
- No, sir.
8730. What was the feeling among the crew as to whether the ship would sink or not?
- A majority of them did not realize that she would sink.
8731. Was that ship regarded by the crew as an unsinkable ship?
- So they thought.
8732. That was the feeling among the seamen?
- Yes, sir; that is so.
8733. Regarding these great iron ships, with watertight compartments, that is the general feeling among the seamen, is it?
- Yes, sir.
8734. They feel safe on them?
- Yes.
8735. Even although there are not enough boats to accommodate all the crew and passengers?
- Yes, sir.
8736. Did you ever hear that matter discussed among them?
- No, sir.
8737. Then how do you know that that is the feeling?
- Because they were all skylarking and joking about it.
8738. After the accident were they joking about it?
- Yes, sir.
8739. If they had realized that there was serious danger, there would have been a terrible scene there, would there not?
- Yes, sir: everybody would have been rushing for their lives.
8740. When you got on to the boat did you feel that it was safer in the boat, or remaining on the ship?
- I thought it was safer for us in the boat.
8741. Why did you think so?
- Because I saw her then going down by the nose.
8742. Going down by the bow?
- Yes, sir.
8743. You realize then that she was sinking?
- After we got clear of her we could see her going down by the bow.
8744. But you did not realize that at the time you got into the lifeboat?
- No, sir; I only thought we were getting in in case there was an emergency.
8745. Did you row all the time that night, until dawn?
- Yes, sir.
8746. Did you row for any particular place?
- No; no particular place.
8747. Why did you keep rowing then?
- We kept on pulling along to keep up with the other boats, all the small boats being together.
8748. Was there any particular boat leading?
- No, sir.
8749. Did you see any other boat save any lives of people who were in the water?
- No, sir.
8750. How far could you see on the water that night; how far off could you see another boat?
- About 50 yards.
8751. Could you see the boat itself, or could you just simply determine it by its lights?
- We could see the boats.
8752. Did you talk with any of the lookout men?
- No, sir.
8753. What was the feeling amongst the crew as to how that accident occurred?
- I could not tell you.
8754. In which direction was that light?
- I could not tell you the directions.
8755. But all the boats were rowing for it?
- Yes, sir.
8756. You were sure there was a light there?
- We discerned a light. We saw a light in the distance.
8757. Was that the case with all the boats?
- Yes, sir.
8758. They could not all have been deceived by it, could they?
- I should not think so.
8759. Were they crying out to each other at all, as to where the light was?
- No. They only asked one another where they were at the time, that is all. They would just pass the remark whether they were all there.
8760. Were there any women in your boat who had lost their husbands?
- I could not tell you.
8761. Was there much distress among the women in your boat?
- They were very cool.
8762. Were the women in your boat first class passengers, second class, or third class?
- They were third class. I do not know whether there were any second class.
8763. There were no third class passengers?
- No.
(Witness Excused.)
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