JOHN MCEWEN,
able seaman, Empress of Ireland,
Sworn.
By Mr. Aspinall:
3344. McEwen, were you serving as an A.B. on board the Empress of Ireland?
- Yes, sir.
3345. Was it your watch from twelve to four?
- Yes, sir.
3346. What were you doing at the time of the collision?
- I was off, bad with two fingers, sir.
3347. What is that?
- I was off, bad with two fingers.
By Lord Mersey:
3348. You mean you had hurt two fingers?
- Yes, sir, I had them squashed.
By Mr. Aspinall:
3349. Do you remember the collision happening?
- I was just on deck at the time, sir, walking up and down, that was all.
3350. Well now, as soon as the collision happened, what did you do?
- Well, I went back to my room, sir, and got on my clothes and shouted to some other men that were in their bunks.
3351. You called some of them?
- Yes, sir, I called some of the men that were in their bunks.
3352. And after that what did you do?
- I went straight up to my boat.
3353. Which was your boat?
- No. 9.
3354. No. 9 was your own boat?
- Yes.
3355. And were you able to get her out?
- Yes, sir.
3356. And did she float?
- Yes, sir.
3357. Did she save life?
- Yes, sir.
3358. Did you get into her?
- Yes, sir.
3359. Were any passengers put into her before she was put into the water?
- Yes, sir, one man, a passenger, swung out in her.
3360. And then you lowered her into the water?
- Yes, sir.
3361. And having got her into the water, did she proceed to save life?
- Yes, sir.
3362. How many people did she save?
- I couldn’t say how many, but we filled up our boat down to the gunwales.
3363. And what did you do with that boat after she was filled up?
- We took her to the Storstad.
3364. And then did you get rid of the passengers?
- Yes, sir.
3365. You put them on board the Storstad?
- Yes, sir.
3366. And what did you do then?
- We went back and picked up more.
3367. And how many more did you pick up about on this occasion . . . did you fill your boat?
- Pretty near.
3368. And what did you do with them?
- We went and put them on board another steamer, a steam tug.
3369. And then did you make a third trip?
- Yes, sir, but we picked up no survivors; only some dead bodies.
3370. And where did you take the dead bodies?
- To another steam tug.
3371. And then?
- Then we were told by the second officer to go aboard the tug boat, sir.
By Mr. Gibsone:
3372. Did any of the crew of the Empress, who were manning the Empress' boats and had brought passengers to the Storstad, refuse to go back in the Empress' boats to rescue more passengers or members of the crew in the water?
- No, sir, none that I know of . . . none in my boat.
3373. Yours, I think you said, was No. 9 boat?
- Yes, sir, No. 9.
3374. And all the crew that originally started off, manning No. 9 boat, went back again?
- Yes, sir.
3375. And worked there rescuing people?
- Yes, sir.
By Lord Mersey:
3376. Now just tell me, McEwen, did you hear of any of the Empress' men refusing to do what they ought to do?
- No, sir, I never did.
3377. You heard of none of them refusing to save lives?
- No, sir, I never heard of one.
3378. Did they do their best?
- Yes, sir.
By Mr. Newcombe:
3379. Was your ship going ahead at the time of the collision?
- No, sir, she was stopped as far as I could see.