Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry

FOURTH DAY

 

HUGH GEOFFREY STAUNTON,

superintendent of life-saving appliances, C.P.R.,

 

Sworn.

 

Examined by Mr. Aspinall:

 

3733. Do you hold a master’s certificate?
- I do.

3734. Are you in the employment of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company?
- I am, sir.

3735. What position do you hold?
- I am superintendent of life-saving appliances, also marine superintendent.

3736. What is your duty in regard to the life-saving appliances?
- To examine all the boats, test the men in rowing, examine the doors, fire hose, life-buoys, life-belts and all life-saving appliances.

3737. When did you last perform these duties?
- On the 23rd of May, the day after the Empress of Ireland came in.

3738. She was then where?
- She was then in Quebec.

3739. And did you inspect her thoroughly?
- I did.

3740. For the purpose of seeing that all those matters were in good order and condition?
- I did.

3741. Were they all in good order and condition?
- Everything was in good condition.

 

By Mr. Newcombe:

 

3742. The life-saving appliances for passengers, that is the life-belts - where are they kept to be accessible to the passengers?
- Well, they are kept in racks in the first and second class and in some cases they are on the wardrobes. In the third-class they are kept in the racks overhead.

3743. In each cabin there are sufficient for all passengers who are taken into it?
- Yes, there were 2,100 life-belts on the ship.

3744. Were they in the 3rd Cabin?
- In the third cabin, in the cabin, sir.

3745. In the cabin?
- Yes.

3746. Can you confirm the numbers which are stated here in the passenger certificate issued at Liverpool?
- Yes.

3747. Life-jackets for adults; how many?
- 2,100 life-jackets altogether; 250 for children.

3748. It is stated here: life-jackets for adults, 1,950; life-jackets for children, 150?
- Is that the date of leaving Liverpool on this voyage?

3749. That was the passenger certificate. This is the emigrant survey: number of life-belts, 2,212, plus 150 for children?
- I have 2,100.

3750. Does that include the children?
- That includes the children.

3751. Do you know of any boat drills before the vessel left the dock?
- I had boat drill and had three boats in the water. I left two boats in the water; their seamen were practising pulling while the ship was alongside at Quebec.

3752. What day was that?
- I had the boat drill on the same day, on the 23rd of May, the day after she came in. I went to Montreal that evening.

3753. Have you anything to do with the bulkheads?
- I saw all the watertight doors shut.

3754. Was there any experiment of sounding a call unexpectedly to have these doors closed?
- Whether the Captain told them they were going to be closed or not, I don’t know. I came down to the ship about half past eleven.

3755. What happened?
- Swung out all the boats; lowered three in the water. I couldn’t put out any more because they were cargo lighterers and they were coaling. After that I closed the doors; I do not think the men knew that they were going to close them.

3756. Do you know how long it took to close the doors?
- It took about 30 seconds in the engine room and from 3½ to 4 minutes on deck.

3757. Were these operations carried out simultaneously, the closing of all the doors?
- I went round myself.

3758. Did you take the time on each door?
- No, that was the whole lot, when every one was closed.

3759. That is, in three or four minutes they were all dosed?
- They were all closed.

3760. From the time the order was first given -
- To close the watertight doors, 3½ to 4 minutes.

3761. Everything was closed?
- Yes.

By Lord Mersey:

3762. Can you tell me where were the life-belts for the crew and Captain?
- In their own quarters.

3763. Where their bunks were?
- Yes, sir.

3764. I am asked to ask you this: Was a test of life-buoys and jackets made?
- I went into all the cabins, took them out of their racks and tried the strings and looked at the canvas around the cork. They were all in very good condition, a lot of them new.

3765. I have heard the suggestion that some of the bodies were found with life-belts around them, but that the heads of the bodies were in the water. I should think that these life-belts would be so constructed as to keep the head above the water?
- They are, my Lord, so long as they are put on anyways right at all, and it is very hard not to put them on right.

3766. Did you see the life-belts?
- Yes, my Lord.

3767. Well I think if you can you might produce one of them in Court so that my colleagues can see the belts and the position in which they are in the cabins or bunks of the persons who may have to use them.
- Very good, my Lord.

By Chief Justice McLeod:

3768. Are any instructions given to the passengers as to how to use the life-belts?
- I could not say, my Lord; I don’t go to sea in the ship.

3769. Are the life-belts so constructed that passengers shall know how to use them?
- There are illustrations on the ship showing how to put them on.

By Lord Mersey:

3770. Do you think that in the steerage many people read those instructions?
- I think in the steerage they can’t help seeing them.

3771. Seeing them and reading them are different things.
- I think they would, my Lord, out of curiosity.

3772. I do not know; I don’t believe they ever read those things. When were the collapsible boats inspected?
- They were inspected and were rigged, two of them, sir.

3773. When?
- On the same day, on the 23rd of May. The gear was all inspected.

3774. Then were they opened up?
- Yes, they were opened up then.

3775. Two out of how many?
- There were twenty altogether.

Witness discharged.

 

 

(Witness discharged.)