JACOB SINGDAHLSEN,
third engineer, Storstad,
Sworn.
(Through interpreter.)
By Mr. Haight:
4745. How long have you been on the Storstad?
- Twelve and a half months.
4746. You are the third engineer?
- Yes, sir.
4747. Were you on watch at the time of the collision?
- Yes, sir.
4748. What was your regular watch?
- Twelve to four.
4749. At twelve o’clock you went on watch; how were your engines running?
- Running all right.
4750. Were they running ahead?
- Yes.
4751. What speed?
- Full speed.
4752. About how many revolutions were you making?
- About 64.
4753. Were they counted or are you just estimating? Do you count the revolutions while on watch?
- Yes.
4754. What revolutions do you make when you are making your best speed?
- About 67, with a loaded ship.
4755. After you went on watch your engines were at speed for some time - several hours - were they not?
- Till three o’clock.
4756. When was it, after you went on watch at 12 that, you received the first order on the telegraph?
- Three o’clock.
4757. What was the order?
- Slow.
4758. Did you obey that order?
- Yes, sir.
4759. Who answered the order on the telegraph?
- The greaser.
4760. Did you log that bell?
- Yes, I logged that bell.
4761. Where is your slate or scrap log kept in the engine room - how far from the throttle?
- Just on the other side.
4762. How many feet away - would it take three or four steps to get there?
- Six or seven.
4763. After you had obeyed the slow order and logged it what was the next order you got?
- Stop.
4764. When did you get the stop order?
- Two minutes after three.
4765. That is at 3.02?
- Yes.
4766. Who answered that order on the telegraph?
- I did.
4767. The oiler was not there that moment?
- No.
4768. How near is your telegraph to your throttle?
- I could just turn around.
4769. Did you stop your engines?
- Yes.
4770. Did you log that bell?
- Yes, I logged that bell.
4771-. About how long after you got the order to stop was it before you received your next order on the telegraph?
- I think some minutes.
4772. What was the next order that you received, do you remember?
- I think it was slow.
4773. Slow which way?
- Slow ahead.
4774. Did you answer the order on the telegraph or was the greaser there then?
- No, the greaser was there then.
4775. Did you execute the order, whatever it was?
- Yes.
4776. Did you log that order?
- No.
4777. You had logged the first two orders; how did it happen that you did not log that third order?
- I got some more orders just after.
4778. Did you at the time log any of the bells that you received, except slow at 3 and stop at 3.02?
- No, I logged them after.
4779. Now, did you after the collision write up your scrap log? When was it that you wrote it up; how long after the collision?
- It was about after 4.
4780. Had you gone off watch then?
- No, I had it when the second engineer came down.
By Lord Mersey:
4781. Did you write the log?
- Yes.
4782. What was the second engineer doing?
- Taking over the watch.
4783. And you then wrote up the log?
- Yes.
Lord Mersey:
(To Mr. Haight). - You are talking now about the engineer’s log?
Mr. Haight:
The engineer’s scrap log, my Lord.
Lord Mersey:
I only want to prevent confusion; this is not the log we have been hitherto talking about; it is the engineer’s scrap.
Mr. Haight:
Precisely. (To witness). - The log that you wrote us after the second engineer relieved you was the engine room scrap log?
- Yes.
4784. Please look at the paper which I show you. Is that the sheet on which you made your scrap entries? (Scrap log handed to witness).
- Yes.
4785. Is the upper part or the lower part in your handwriting?
- It is the upper part.
4786. When you wrote down the bells after 3.02, how long was that after the collision?
- It was when the second engineer came down.
4787. But had the collision happened then; did you feel the jar of the collision?
- Yes, sir.
4788. Was that while you were still on duty?
- Yes, sir.
4789. How many bells do you think you received after the collision before the second engineer relieved you, roughly speaking? Of course, you cannot tell exactly, but were there many or few, two or three or what?
- There were many.
4790. When you wrote down the entries in this scrap after you were relieved, you did as well as you could to get the time and the bells?
- Yes, sir.
Mr. Aspinall:
My Lord, I have here a translation of the log and I think it would be useful if your Lordships had it before you.
Lord Mersey:
Does Mr. Haight agree with this translation?
Mr. Haight:
If it is like the other one, I would much rather submit both and let your Lordships compare them.
Lord Mersey:
Why submit both? I cannot read the Norwegian log.
Mr. Aspinall:
We can compare them; their deck log was rather imperfectly translated.
Lord Mersey:
Who is responsible for the translation?
Mr. Haight:
I do not think anybody is responsible for it, my Lord; Mr. Newcombe had it made.
Lord Mersey:
Then, Mr. Newcombe, you are responsible.
Mr. Newcombe:
I do not want to take any more responsibility than I ought to shoulder. This log was turned over to the Department of the Interior, who make all out translations for us at Ottawa, and they produced a translation. I understand that my learned friend had it translated and that my learned friends for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company also had it translated, and no two of these translations agree. I believe, however, that a combined translation has been produced which may be accepted.
Lord Mersey:
A kind of blend?
Mr. Newcombe:
Yes.
Mr. Aspinall:
My Lord, they do agree.
Lord Mersey:
Very well, but if they do agree, I would rather have only one. Can you not agree upon the one?
Mr. Aspinall:
Up to 3.20, to which Mr. Haight or Mr. Newcombe, I do not know which, has taken the log, we are agreeing. Theirs stops at 3.20 and mine goes a little further.
Lord Mersey:
It doesn’t in the least matter what the entries were after 3.20.
Mr. Haight:
Not to me, my Lord.
Mr. Aspinall:
I am not sure that it may not.
Lord Mersey:
The translation of the engineer’s scrap log; whose is that?
Mr. Haight:
In blue?
Lord Mersey:
In blue, yes.
Mr. Haight:
That is ours, my Lord. I should explain that we tried to make a copy of our engine log, but we turned it over to the government. As I did not compare them myself, I am not sure that it is accurate, but it is easy to compare them now.
Lord Mersey:
This in black is the government’s translation is it?
Mr. Haight:
Mr. Aspinall is responsible for that.
Lord Mersey:
Whose translation is this?
Mr. Aspinall:
This gentleman made that (pointing to Mr. Lincoln).
Lord Mersey:
(To Mr. Lincoln): Is this your translation?
Mr. Lincoln:
-Yes, your Lordship.
Lord Mersey:
What is it a translation of?
Mr. Lincoln:
It is a translation of the official engine-room log book.
Lord Mersey:
Then it is a translation of the same log?
Mr. Haight:
No, my Lord, he has translated the official log and we have been talking about the scrap. We have translated both the official log and the scrap.
Chief Justice McLeod:
You had better keep the scrap logs for the time being. All you have examined the witness upon is the scrap log?
Mr. Haight:
The scrap log; he made entries there but he did not make any others.
Lord Mersey:
Who wrote the log itself?
Mr. Haight:
The chief engineer, my Lord.
Lord Mersey:
Not this man?
Mr. Haight:
No, my Lord.
Lord Mersey:
Then the chief engineer, who did not make the scrap log, subsequently wrote the engineer’s log?
Mr. Haight:
Yes, my Lord, the chief always makes the official log entries, using the scrap entries made by his assistant.
Lord Mersey:
Before these scraps were put into this log, were they on slates?
Mr. Haight:
No, my Lord; that which you have before you is the sheet of original entry.
Lord Mersey:
That hangs up in the engine room?
Mr. Haight:
It is a pad which lies on a desk in the engine-room.
Lord Mersey:
Are they pasted together to make the scrap log?
Mr. Haight:
No, my Lord, in this particular ship, instead of using a slate and rubbing out the entries after each watch and losing them entirely, they had a “Little Nell” writing tablet upon which they wrote, afterwards fastening the sheets together.
Lord Mersey:
I only want to know how many logs there are. First of all, there are the scraps of paper upon which the man in the engine room records the movements.
Mr. Haight:
Yes, my Lord.
Lord Mersey:
Then is the scrap log made up only of these pieces of paper?
Mr. Haight:
These are the scrap entries from which the official entries are made.
Lord Mersey:
Then there are only two, the scrap log made up of those bits of paper, and the regular engineer’s log?
Mr. Haight:
The official log.
Lord Mersey:
This document, which I have called the Storstad’s translation of scrap engineer’s log, purports to be a translation of the slips of paper?
Mr. Haight:
Yes, My Lord.
By Mr. Aspinall:
4791. You have told us that the vessel made 64 revolutions at full speed?
- Yes, sir.
4792. What does she make at half, what number of revolutions?
- 45.
4793. What at slow.
- 34.
4794. And I suppose you can go dead slow, can you not - slower still?
- Yes, we used to go between 35 or 40, and that is slow.
4795. Did you feel the shock of the collision?
- Yes, sir.
4796. There are in your scrap log various times; what was the time of the collision?
- It was about a minute after the going full speed aft.
4797. I will read to you what is in the scrap log; “Slow speed at 3; stop at 3.02; full speed astern at 3.05.” Do you hear me?
- Yes, sir.
4798. And the collision came immediately after the full speed astern. That is right, is it not?
- Yes, I didn’t look at my watch when he came.
4799. You didn’t look at your watch, but you know when your engines went full speed astern and the collision was immediately after. That is right, is it?
- Yes.
4800. That is what we were told by your officers, you know. Therefore, the collision was between 3.05 and 3.06?
- I cannot say.
4801. It was immediately after going full speed astern at 3.05. Did you go full speed astern for about five minutes?
- I can’t remember how long it was.
4802. That same morning when the things were fresh in your mind, you wrote up your scrap log; that is right is it not?
- Yes.
4803. Now let me read to you what I find in the scrap log after 3.05. Full speed astern, 3.05; collision immediately after. After the 3.05 the next order is stop at 3.10, 5 minutes later. If this is right it means that you were reversing for five minutes.
- I got some orders there; I didn’t look at my watch.
Lord Mersey:
Give him his scrap log and let him look at it.
(Scrap log handed to witness).
The Witness:
I wrote that down to the best of my memory.
By Lord Mersey:
4804. Is that your writing?
- Yes.
By Mr. Aspinall:
4805. When you wrote up that scrap log, these things were fresh in your memory?
- I wrote that down to the best of my knowledge, the best I could remember.
4806. And do you think now that this is an accurate scrap log?
- I don’t think it is correct because I didn’t look at the watch.
4807. But why don’t you think it is correct; what is the good of it?
By Lord Mersey:
4808. Do you want us to believe your scrap log or do you want us not to believe your scrap log, which?
- It was the best I could remember.
4809. Do you think I shall be right if I believe it? I want to get at the truth of the thing. Do you think I shall be safe if I rely upon what you wrote down at 4 o’clock in the morning after the collision?
- There was some orders that came in between that I didn’t write down.
4810. That is not what I am asking. I want to know whether you think I am safe in reading this scrap log and in assuming that it is right?
- I got more orders and it is not sure.
4811. Am I right in assuming that what you put down in your log is correct?
- I wrote down to the best of my knowledge what I could remember.
4812. That means that he thinks that what is here, as far as it goes, is right.
- (The interpreter). Yes, sir.
4813. No; but ask him. You speak English very well, and I think that you can understand what I am saying to you. Now listen; brighten up. Do you understand what I am saying now?
- Yes, my Lord.
4814. At 4 o’clock after this accident - listen; look at me - at 4 o’clock after this accident you sat down and wrote the movements of your engines to the best of your recollection, did you?
- Yes.
4815. That is the paper that you wrote (indicating scrap log)?
- Yes.
4816. May I take it that as far as you know that is a correct statement of what happened?
- The best that I remembered then.
4817. The best that you remembered then; is that what you said?
- Yes.
4818. Would you remember better later a long time than you would immediately afterwards?
-
Lord Mersey:
What is this man’s name?
Mr. Aspinall:
His name is Singdahlsen.
By Lord Mersey:
4819. Is that your name?
- Yes, sir.
4820. Is there anything in your scrap log that you are frightened of?
-
4821. You are giving me an unfortunate impression at the present time. I am beginning to think that there is something you wrote down at that time that you do not like, but may be wrong. Do you understand what I mean?
- I do not think I put them down.
4822. Are you frightened of the fact that you did not put down what you wanted put down?
- I do not think I put them down.
Mr. Haight:
What he means is that as far as he did put them down they are accurate, but there are other facts which he did not put down and which ought to have been put down. That is what he wants to say - whether it is true is another matter.
By Mr. Aspinall:
4823. Later on did you give these notes, this scrap log, to the chief engineer to write up his log?
- Yes.
4824. When did you give them to the chief engineer?
- The chief engineer took the scrap log from the engine room.
4825. Did you tell the chief engineer; I am not quite certain that I put everything into my scrap log?
- I told the chief that.
4826. Are you sure?
- The chief asked me if this was what happened.
4827. What was your answer?
- The best I could remember, I told him.
4828. You told us to-day that before the collision you logged the three o’clock order and the 3.02 o’clock order; is that right?
- Yes, sir.
4829. But you said you remembered, although you have not logged it, that you had an order slow ahead before you went full speed astern. The orders: between 3.02 and 3.05 were all to go slow ahead; is that right?
- Yes.
4830. Can you tell me for how long you went slow ahead?
- I cannot say for sure.
4831. Can you tell me in this way; how many revolutions do you think your engines made at slow ahead? If you cannot, say no.
- As usual.
4832. I do not think you remember - about?
- About 35 revolutions.
4833. These are the revolutions per minute?
- Yes, per minute.
4834. I was trying to get at the time during which you were going slow ahead; I do not think you remember, do you?
- No.
By Mr. Haight:
4835. After you entered your second bell at 3.02 did you look at the clock when you received rany of the other orders which you entered in the scrap log?
- No.
By Mr. Newcombe:
4836. Immediately the collision happened did your chief engineer come to the engine room?
- A little while after.
4837. A minute, or seconds?
- I cannot say exact on a minute.
4838. What was going on - what were they doing when the chief came in?
- The engine was stopped.
4839. Give the names of the greasers and firemen on watch there in the engine room?
- Sverre Bredesen, Andreas Johannsen and Johann I do not remember his other name.
4840. Is that all?
- Harry Olsen; there were three firemen and one oiler.
Lord Mersey:
This, the original scrap book, must be marked.
(Scrap log put in and marked Exhibit No. 13).
Lord Mersey:
I want to know where the original engineer’s log is.
Mr. Haight:
The government has it.
Mr. Newcombe:
I put that in.
(Engineer’s log put in and marked Exhibit No. 14).
Lord Mersey:
directed the interpreter, Mr. Jensen, to read from the chief engineer's log book, Exhibit Nor 14, and to translate.
Mr. Haight:
There is a translation.
Mr. Jensen:
Read from chief engineer’s log in Norwegian and translated ' full speed till 3 o’clock’; ‘slow speed at 3.’
Lord Mersey:
(referring to translation before him). That is not in this. What is the meaning of. that, Mr. Haight? The translation I have from the engineer’s scrap log says ‘slow speed at three’ but when it is written up in the engineer’s log, it is, according to this gentleman, ‘full speed till 3 o’clock’.
Mr. Haight:
These are identically the same only differently expressed.
Lord Mersey:
Is a slow order the same as a full speed order?
Mr. Haight:
Full speed till three is just the same as slow at three.
Lord Mersey:
But in your translation the only words are 'slow speed at three’.
Mr. Haight:
It is taken from the scrap log.
Lord Mersey:
Let me see that scrap log. (To interpreter): Translate to me these words (indicating).
Mr. Jensen:
‘Full speed three o’clock’.
Mr. Haight:
The scrap log is ‘full speed till three o’clock’.
Mr. Haight:
If you will ask the interpreter to interpret the top entry - the entry at the top - in the third engineer’s handwriting, you will see that it is ‘slow speed 3.'
Mr. Jensen:
‘Slow speed at 3 o’clock’.
Lord Mersey:
Where is ‘slow speed at 3 o’clock’? Is that it?
Mr. Haight:
-Yes sir, there.
Lord Mersey:
Is it there and what is this here (indicating)?
Mr. Haight:
This is 12 to 4.
Lord Mersey:
What is that (indicating)?
Mr. Haight:
That was written in by my assistant. The bottom of the page was written by the chief later.
Mr. Griffin:
The last half is written in by the chief engineer.
Lord Mersey:
This scrap log appears in two different persons’ handwriting.
Mr. Haight:
Yes, my assistant has stated that the upper half is in his handwriting.
Lord Mersey:
The latter half is in the -
Mr. Haight:
Chief engineer’s. I was going to go on with that when I had the chief engineer on the stand.
Lord Mersey:
Never mind about the chief engineer getting on the stand at present; let us understand it now. Interpreter, is that the same as the other?
Mr. Jensen:
Yes: “Slow speed at 3 o’clock”; “full speed till 3 o’clock.”
Lord Mersey:
Is slow speed the same as full speed?
Mr. Jensen:
No.
Lord Mersey:
Then, why do you say both are the same?
Mr. Jensen:
Full speed till 3 o’clock - from three o’clock, slow speed.
Lord Mersey:
That is another matter. It is slow speed till three o’clock.
Mr. Jensen:
No. full speed till three o’clock.
Lord Mersey:
Is it “at” three o’clock?
Mr. Jensen:
Yes.
Lord Mersey:
Where is your “at”?
Mr. Jensen:
There is no “at” in it.
Lord Mersey:
Why do you put it in?
Mr. Jensen:
Because it says ‘slow speed three o’clock’?
Lord Mersey:
It says “slow speed three o’clock”?
Mr. Jensen:
Slow speed three o’clock.
Lord Mersey:
Do you understand that to mean that there was full speed till three o’clock?
Mr. Jensen:
Yes.
Lord Mersey:
And that after three o’clock it is slow?
Mr. Jensen:
Yes.
Lord Mersey:
And at 3.02 it is “stop.”
Mr. Jensen:
At 3.02 it was stop.
Lord Mersey:
Possibly that is the meaning of it, Mr. Haight.
Mr. Haight:
Yes, my Lord. I think the ‘at’ is really an effort to overtranslate.
(Witness retired.)