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Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry

Day 2

JOHN MURPHY

 

Quartermaster, Empress of Ireland,

 

Sworn.

 

By Mr. Meredith:

 

2164. What is your name?
- John Murphy.

2165. Were you one of the quartermasters on the Empress of Ireland?
- Yes, sir.

2166. There were how many other quartermasters?
- Three more besides me.

2167. How long have you been quartermaster on the Empress of Ireland?
- Four years and five months.

216S. On the Empress of Ireland there are regular quartermasters, you sign on as such, do you not?
- Yes.

2169. When did you take your trick at the wheel?
- Twelve o’clock.

2170. Who was the quartermaster on duty?
- Sharples.

2171. When Sharples took his trick and you followed on - or was it the other way, you went on first?
- I went on twelve o’clock, and kept on till two.

2172. And Sharples followed you and has been lost?
- Yes, sir.

2173. When you got through your trick at the wheel did you remain on the bridge?
- Yes, sir, except five minutes when I was off streaming the log.

2174. On the instruction of one of the officers?
- Yes, Mr. Jones’ directions.

2175. Who was on the bridge from Father Point up to the time of the sinking of the ship?
- The Captain, Mr. Jones, Mr. Moore, me, Sharples, and the bridge boy.

2176. Do you remember any signals being given by your ship some time after your ship left Father Point?
- Yes, sir.

2177. Will you state to the Court what signals those were?
- Three short blasts.

2178. Did you hear any responding signal from the other boat?
- I heard one blast from some ship, but it was rather indistinct to me, it seemed to be a great distance off like.

2179. I forgot to ask you how long have you been quartermaster? You mentioned the time you have been quartermaster on the Empress of Ireland, how long have you been quartermaster altogether?
- About twenty years altogether.

2180. And about how long in the C.P.R.?
- About ten years.

2181. And before that?
- In various ships out of Liverpool.

2182. Always as quartermaster?
- Sometimes I didn’t go as quartermaster, because I could not always get it.

2183. But most of the time?
- Yes, sir.

2184. You said you caught a faint one-blast signal after your vessel had given three short blasts?
- I heard her the second time.

2185. You heard her again?
- Yes, a single blast.

2186. Before you heard it the second time what had your vessel done? Had she given another three blasts?
- Yes, another three blasts after that.

2187. How after the other vessel had answered with one blast was it a short or a long one the other boat gave you?
- It was a prolonged blast.

2188. After that did your vessel give the other vessel any other signal by her whistle?
- Yes, sir, she gave two long blasts.

2189. Do you remember whether that was answered or not?
- No, I never heard nothing, no answer.

2190. Now could you tell us whether after the three short blasts from your vessel your vessel went ahead or did she reverse, go back?
- She went back.

2191. She was backing. Her engines were backing rather?
- Yes, sir.

2192. Do you happen to know of your own personal, knowledge, from observation, how long it takes to bring the Empress of Ireland from full speed ahead to dead stop in the water?
- Yes, sir, I have seen her fetched up in two minutes.

2193. Where have you seen that happen?
- In Liverpool, picking up the pilot at the Bar ship.

2191. Can you tell this court whether as a matter of fact the Empress of Ireland was in fact stopped in the water before she was hit?
- Yes, sir. I looked over the side myself, on the port side of the bridge. The ship was stopped.

2195. How long then would the Empress of Ireland have been reversing her engines to bring her to a dead stop?
- Oh, she was not very long, about a couple of minutes.

2196. Well, then you say that after three signals were given twice, two long blasts were given?
- Yes, sir.

2197. I know it is very difficult to speak of time but can you give this court any idea what time elapsed from the end of the reversing when the ship was stopped to the time of the impact, up to the time the vessel ran into us?
- It was a matter of about two minutes. I don’t suppose it would be hardly two minutes, that is about as near as I can get it.

2198. It may be more or less?
- I did not look at my watch or the clock because I was busy on the bridge.

2199. What did you do as a matter of fact? Did you remain on the bridge or go away?
- I remained on the bridge the whole time.

2200. But what finally happened to you, where did you go?
- After, the ship struck us the Captain gave me orders to blow the siren, which I had to go the port side of the bridge to do. There is only one wire, it works automatically, so I had to go to the port side to blow it.

2201. What kind of a blast did you give?
- I gave it a very long blast. Some of the men were up to the boats before the blast was finished.

2202. After you had finished blowing the siren - who told you to do that?
- It was the Captain’s orders.

2203. What did you do after that?
- Waited on the bridge for orders.

2204. Did you got any?
- Yes, Captain told me to go and get my boat ready.

2205. Which was your boat?
- No. 12 on the chart.

2206. On the port side?
- Yes.

2207. How did you find that boat?
- It was impossible to launch.

2208. It was impossible, you could not do anything on account of the list?
- No. There were three or four men there and they could not do anything. I went to No. 13 to give a hand there.

2209. On the opposite side?
- On the starboard, yes.

2210. What happened to her?
- They got her out, but I did not get in her.

2211. What did you do?
- I waited to lend a hand as I thought they might want help with the other boats.

2212. And then?
- I stopped too long, until the boats were in the water, and then jumped overboard myself.

 

By Lord Mersey:

 

2213. Did you jump into the boats?
- No, sir, into the sea.

2214. By the time you got into the sea was the ship showing a very big list?
- Her lee rail was on the water. I could walk into the sea from her decks.

 

By Mr. Meredith:

 

2215. Now, were you picked up by any other boat?
- No, I picked myself up. I grabbed an upturned boat, No. 15 I think it was, capsized, and then I got hold of the bow of No. 13 I think it was.

2216. Then you were picked up?
- No. I picked myself up. I got on to the boat myself.

2217. Were there passengers in that boat?
- Yes.

2218. Was it an Empress boat?
- Yes.

2219. And where did you go?
- We filled the boat with passenger -

2220. You picked up as many as you could?
- Yes, and went to the Storstad.

2221. Did you remain on the Storstad, or come back?
- We put the passengers on the Storstad and made a second trip, and got about 30 people.

2222. What did you do then?
- We did not go back to the Storstad the third time, but went to the Eureka. We let the boat drift because we did not require her any more.

2223. Why not?
- Because there were no more living. There were a lot of dead people on the water.

2224. You were satisfied there were no more people living?
- Yes, I am certain. We cruised about. There was an empty lifeboat there and I told the Captain because I did not know if there were any people in it.

2225. You have seen service for a good many years, was there any disorder on that ship that you could see?
- No, I was all over the ship from bridge to her stern. I never saw any disorder. I saw the men doing all they could to get the boats away.

Lord Mersey:
If I may stop this for a moment I can tell you what we have. We have first of all a chart which has been marked by Captain Kendall, which I will hand down so that you both can see it. It purports to show what he supposes must have been the course of the Storstad, and it purports to show the course of the Empress to the point of collision. Now, if you look at that you will see that he has marked the position when the first blast, the second, third and fourth blasts were heard, and he has marked the position of the Storstad at the time when he supposes she ported her helm and turned to starboard. And he has shown the effect of that movement, bringing the two ships together. I don’t know whether my explanation is sufficient to enable you to read the chart which he has drawn but I think it is.

Mr. Aspinall:
Yes, my Lord.

Lord Mersey:
Now, here is the chart marked by Toftenes. It is the original chart on which he marked the position of the point of collision. It is the same chart, and he has now marked upon it the course followed by the Storstad. And it shows the course right up to the point of collision. When I asked him to mark upon it the course which he supposed the Empress took he says, quite frankly, to me I cannot do it, and I am not going to press him to do something which he begins by saying he cannot do. And therefore we have only got from him one course set out, and in the course as laid down by Captain Kendall, though there are two, there is but one course about which he says that he is sure, namely, the course of his own ship, and one other course which he can only describe as approximate, because he does not, of course, know it, it is the course of the ship he was not on. Now, let the chart that is marked by Captain Kendall in blue be marked as being in evidence. The other is already in.

The chart of First Officer Toftenes was marked Chart B, and that of Captain Kendall, Chart C.

 

Cross-examination by Mr. Haight:

 

2226. When you gave up the wheel at two o’clock, Murphy, where was the Empress?
- At Father Point, just about disembarking the pilot.

2227. How long after you gave up the wheel was it before the Empress started ahead again on her course?
- Yes, before she started ahead again on her course.

2228. But how long after you gave up the wheel was it before she started ahead full speed on her course?
- I was aft when she started ahead.

2229. But how long after?
- Five minutes after I was streaming the log.

2230. After you had put the log out you went back on the bridge?
- Directly on the bridge, sir.

2231. And did the Empress start ahead when you got to the bridge?
- Yes, sir, certainly, she was going ahead before I left aft, because the log was out.

. 2232. You heard several signals of one whistle blown by the Storstad before the collision?
- Two, sir. Twice.

2233. Did you hear any signal of one whistle blown by your ship in answer to their one?
- No, sir, I did not.

2234. I understood you to say that after the Empress blew her signal of three whistles you backed?
- Yes, our ship did.

2235. How long after you blew three was it that you backed?
- Just directly the whistles had blown.

2236. And how long did you think your engines were kept going full speed astern?
- She blew three more.

2237. But how many minutes, can you tell, was it that they backed before they blew the second signal of three whistles?
- A couple of minutes, sir, I can’t exactly say.

2238. Then you heard the Empress blow two long blasts?
- Yes, two long blasts.

2239. How long was it between your second signal of three whistles, and that signal of two whistles?
- About a minute and a half I should think. About two minutes, I cannot say for certain.

2240. It was some little time?
- Yes, a little time that is all.

2241. Were you where you could see your telegraph?
- Yes, I was on the port side of the bridge.

2242. During the minute and a half or so after the second signal of three and before the first signal of two was your telegraph standing full speed astern? Do you think you were reversing up to the time the two whistles were blown?
- Yes, I can tell by the vibration of the propeller, I can tell when the ship is going astern, I don’t want to look at the telegraph at all.

2243. Did you see the telegraph when the order was given for the ship to go astern?
- That is not my place. I don’t take any notice of things like that.

2244. But you did see the telegraph up to the time that the two whistles were blown?
- I did not see it. I heard it going, but I didn’t look.

2245. You heard the vibration?
- Yes, of the propeller.

2246. After they blew the signal of two whistles which was the third signal of the series, did you feel the vibration stop, or did it keep going astern?
- No, she was stopped. The way was off the ship going astern, and I looked over the port side and she had stopped.

2247. So that she was reversing from the time the first signal of three was blown until she was dead stopped, until they blew the two long blasts, and as soon as she was dead stopped they stopped the engines and then blew two?
- Blew two blasts, yes.

2248. Now the engines moved again as I understand it, until the Storstad was seen coming out of the fog?
- Well, I can’t answer that question, sir, I was waiting for the captain’s orders.

2249. What was that?
- Captain told me to go and blow the siren which I did.

2250. That was after the collision?
- Yes, sir.

2251. So far as you know you felt no vibration of the engines until you saw the Storstad out on your starboard side?
- That is correct.

2252. Do you think that the Empress will stop when reversed full speed in a couple of minutes and you say it has been tested. Will you please state what test was made?
- I have seen the ship pull up so often for the pilot that he can pull her up in two minutes or two and a half at the outside.

2253. You never put your watch on it?
- No, but I have the clock on the wheelhouse all the same.

2254. You have simply noted it when the vessel was stopped to take the pilot up?
- Yes.

2255. Does the Empress usually run full speed up to the pilot boat and then reverse full speed?
- Oh, no, she does not, she slows down.

2250. That is what I thought. She approaches the pilot boat slow?
- Yes, I was at the wheel then.

225T. And you don’t reverse your engine full steam astern then?
- Oh, yes, if they want to pick her up quick, certainly.

225S. But your observation has been when they are taking the pilot?
- Yes, many occasions like that.

2259. Now, as I understand you, from the time your vessel was dead in the water, after you blew the signal of two whistles, it was about two minutes up to the time of the collision?
- Yes, sir.

2200. Was your patent log out when the collision occurred?
- Yes, sir.

2201. You say that you went to the Eureka after you made one trip in the boat, and turned your boat loose then?
- The second, after we made one trip to the Storstad with a boat full of people.

2202. Were you in command of that boat?
- No, sir, I was pulling an oar.

2263. Who was in command of that boat?
- Mr. Radley, the boatswain's mate.

2204. You first got into No. 13?
- No, I did not, she was capsized.

2265. What was the boat that picked you up?
- No. 15 was capsized. No, I think it was thirteen that was broke in two halves.

2266. What boat was it that picked you up?
- There was no boat that picked me up. I got into a boat myself.

2267. What boat did you get into?
- No. 13.

226S. That boat was not broken?
- Yes, that is the boat that was broken.

2269. Did you make two trips in her?
- Yes, in that boat.

2270. The first trip you went to the Storstad, and the second to the Eureka?
- Yes. That is quite right.

2271. And I understand you to say that after you had picked up the second boat load you thought there were no more living people in the water?
- There was none.

2272. But there were dead bodies?
- Dead bodies floating about with life-belts on and one thing or another.

2273. By whose orders was it that the boat was turned loose?
- I was standing in the boat to make it fast and somebody shouted what was I standing there for and so I got on board the Eureka, and let her drift. The rest of them had gone aboard. Some of them were dead when we got them on deck.

2274. Did you see any lights on the Storstad before the fog came on?
- I saw her masthead lights when she was sixty feet off, that is the only time I saw it.

2275. You did not see any lights on her before the fog came on?
- No, I was on the port side of the bridge.

2276. And did you see any coloured light on the Storstad?
- No, she was too low down to see the coloured light underneath our ship. Our ship is very high, and she was low down, and I could only see her masthead light.

2277. You were standing on which side of the wheel, on the starboard side of the wheel?
- Well, yes, on the starboard side of the bridge. I came through the wheel house to have a look.

2278. How near were you to the rail?
- About fourteen feet.

2279. And the Storstad was so low that all you could see was her masthead light. Could you see her deck?
- No, sir.

2250. Could you see her bridge?
- No, I was too far in on our bridge.

 

By Mr. Gibsone:

 

2251. While you were on the boat Storstad, did it come to your knowledge, or is it a fact that any members of the crew refused to go back to the rescue of passengers or people in the water?
- Not in our boats, sir.

2252. Do you know if it happened in any other boats?
- I can only answer for our boat. We were bunched up in that boat together all the time.

2233. None refused to go back so far as your boat was concerned?
- Not as I know of.

2284. Did they all go back?
- I don’t know.

2285. I am speaking about the crew, the members of your boat, did they all go back to the scene of the disaster?
- Why, certainly. We never left the boat at all till we got to the tug boat.

2286. Do you think the crew in the other boats acted in the same way?
- I don’t think so, and I don’t believe so.

2287. You don’t think so?
- That they left their boats.

2288. Do you believe that they went back?
- Yes, I saw them in the lifeboats myself.

2289. You saw them circulating about?
- Yes, sir, certainly.

 

(The witness withdrew.)