Miss TOWNSHEND,
passenger, Empress of Ireland,
Sworn.
Examined by Mr. Haight:
7203. You were one of the passengers on the Empress at the time of the collision?
- Yes.
7204. Were you awakened before the collision actually occurred?
- I was awake before the collision some time; I could not tell you exactly how long. I was awakened by some whistles; what whistles they were I do not know.
7205. According to your best recollection, what was the first whistle that you heard from the Empress?
- The first whistles I heard from the Empress were three short twice and then two long.
7206. Mr. Holden has been good enough to hand me a copy of the statement which I understand was taken by him and reported by a stenographer; may I just read to you from that? You were asked what woke you up, and the answer reads: "The fog horn.” According to the record at page 94 you are reported to have stated this: “I could understand the signals very clearly. We were whistling, going full speed ahead; then the other boat whistled.”
- There was some boat, but I did not know what it was; it seemed to be going ahead of us all the time, and then the whistles vanished absolutely. I could hear nothing more until the whistles came of the Empress just before the collision.
7207. Later in your statement you say:
I know the signals.
Q. He (Captain Kendall) tells me there were no fog signals before going astern?
- They must have been fog signals. There were whistles. That is what wakened me. The whistles going, anyway. That is what woke me up.
- That is quite true.
7208. Just a moment please. Later, according to the statement:
Q. Captain Kendall tells me there was really no whistle signals at all after leaving Father Point, before the first three short blasts?
- Well, what woke me up?'
- It is quite true some whistles woke me; as I say, it was some length of time before the collision and it may have been the whistles when we were leaving Father Point; I do not know.
7209. But when you made your statement to Mr. Holden, your best recollection then was that you had been awake some moments before the collision, 10 or 12 or perhaps more, and that you had been awakened by the regular running whistle of the Empress blowing one blast; that is correct, is it not?
- I could not say what blast was blowing, but I was awakened at the end of a whistle; I couldn’t say what it was; it was some time.
7210. But when you spoke to Mr. Holden first, your opinion then was that you had heard the Empress blow two or three regular whistle blasts, indicating that she was going ahead through the fog?
- We were going through the fog, I know that, because I got down and looked and there was a very heavy fog hanging around. What the whistles were I could not tell you; they may have been we are going through the fog, but I understand the other whistles - these I only heard the end of.
7211. How long was it after you were awakened by some whistles that you heard the three short blasts blown by the Empress?
- That I could not tell you; I could not tell you any times whatever. I know it was some time.
7212. The whistles which woke you were not the signals of three blasts?
- Oh no, certainly not.
7213. And the whistles which woke you were blown by the Empress?
- Yes, certainly.
7214. As I understand your statement, you got up and looked out of the porthole and saw that there was fog?
- I got up and looked out and I could only just discern the edge of the deck. Our cabin was on the second promenade deck and I could only just see the edge of the deck; the fog was very dense.
7215. Then you went back to your berth for a few moments before the jar came?
- I was back in my berth some time before the jar came.
7216. Did you, after you had got tup and looked out, hear the signals of three short blasts blown twice?
- Blown twice.
7217. That was after you had got out of your berth?
- It was after I had been back in my berth again some time.
Cross-examined by Mr. Aspinall:
7218. What you are certain of, if I understand your evidence aright, is this: You twice heard three short blasts?
- I am quite certain.
7219. And these blasts were from the Empress?
- From the Empress.
7220. And in between these two short blasts you heard two long blasts?
- No, after that.
7221. After that, rather; I beg your pardon. Now, how did you manage to save yourself?
- By the time I got out of the cabin she was listing most frightfully. I got up on to the promenade deck and when I got there there was regular confusion. The third class passengers were making for the boat deck, and if you didn’t want to be crushed considerably you had to go up on the boat deck, so I went up on the boat deck, with my aunt, Mrs. Price. I stepped out on the port side right up holding on to the rail. When she had listed so much it was impossible to stand, I walked with my aunt down the port side right over the port holes down on to the steel side of her, and I was standing on the side of her when she went down.
7222. What happened to you after you got in the water?
- I got in the water and went down considerably. I came up again alongside three men; they all had life preservers on but I had none. I put my hand on their shoulders and was treading water but they promptly pushed me off again, and I went down again. I came up alongside a man named Mr. Burt, who had on a life belt and he had in his hand a suit case he had picked up in the water. I asked him if he would give me the suitcase, and he said: most certainly. I kept myself afloat on that until I had recovered my breath sufficiently to speak properly. Then I said: I want you to help me off with this coat; so he pulled one arm and I got out of the other and I left my coat in the water. Unfortunately I could not get my shoes off and they were a terrible tie. I swam, I should think, within about 30 or 40 or 50 yards of the coal boat; I was then picked up by one of the Norwegian life boats. I was some short time in the life boat and I went on the coal boat and then to the Lady Evelyn.
7223. Fortunately you are a very good swimmer?
- Luckily I am; I have learned to swim, yes.
7224. You were telling Mr. Haight about these earlier signals, and you were answering his questions; I just want to read you this. Do you remember telling him this: ‘There was another boat that sounded quite a different fog horn to the fog horn on the collier. I know, because there were two; she seemed to be going the same way as we were. She stopped for a while and she seemed to go on, or we let her go on ahead of us, because I could still hear her for two or three minutes.’ Did you have that sort of impression at the time?
- Yes; I quite remember hearing another boat, and it seemed to be ahead of us all the time.
7225. At any rate, that was your impression?
- That was my impression.
7226. With regard to the whistles, what you are certain of is this: three short blasts, two long?
- Three short blasts and then two long following the three short blasts.
7227. About that you have no doubt?
- No doubt whatever.
Witness discharged.