DEPOSITION OF ALFRED SHIERS
Q. For what purpose did you pull back?
- There were some people in the water.
Q. Was it on purpose to get them?
- Yes, to get there to see if you could pick any of them up.
Q. Did you persist in trying to get to them?
- No. The officer told us to lay on our oars.
Q. Then did you row away?
- No, we stopped where we were.
Q. At that time when you were asked to row back before the commotion of which you spoke occurred, did you know whether you could have taken any of the people on board.
- We were going to try to.
Q. Had you a place for them.
- I suppose there was room. The officer gave the order.
Q. Did you remain in this boat near the scene of the wreck until the “Titanic” actually sank?
- Yes.
Q. And disappeared from view?
- Yes.
Q. About what o’clock was this?
- 20 past two as near as I could make it out when she sank.
Q. After that did you row away?
- No, we stopped there.
Q. All the time?
- Yes.
Q. Were you picked up by the “Carpathia”?
- Yes.
Q. In that position?
- We had to row to the “Carpathia” in the morning in daylight.
Q. How far had you to row to the “Carpathia”?
- About half a mile, I should think.
Q. Did you remain in this one position in the vicinity of the ship until daylight broke?
- Yes.
Q. As soon as daylight broke did you observe any icebergs?
- Yes.
Q. Was this while you were in the vicinity of the ship near where the Titanic sank?
- Yes.
Q. How many icebergs did you observe?
- I could not count them.
Q. Did you observe in the morning when daylight broke the iceberg you had seen immediately after the collision?
- Yes.
Q. Did you note its size?
- Its height was about 60 or 70 feet I should think.
Q. Did you not anything about the colour of this or any of the other icebergs in the morning?
- They all seemed about the same to me.
Q. Just tell us what colour they were?
- A whitey blue.
Q. Was that the colour of all the icebergs you noticed in the morning?
- Yes. It was not blue and it was not white.
Q. Had you seen icebergs before in the course of your travels on the seas?
- No.
Q. You had never seen an iceberg before?
- No, I had never seen one before.
Q. How did you know that one of those was the iceberg that you had seen the night before?
- By the shape of it. It was the biggest one there was about there.
Q. What distance were you from it at that time in the morning?
- 300 yards.
Q. Were there any other icebergs about you?
- Yes.
Q. How many?
- I cannot tell you. There was a field of them.
Q. Would there be half a dozen?
- More than that.
Q. Where they near one another or separated from another by any distance?
- They were all separated by the field. Some of them where about 3 feet or so out of the water and extended along a distance.
Q. Where all those icebergs which you say in the morning of the same colour and general appearance?
- Yes.
Q. And is that the appearance you observed—whitey blue?
- Yes.
Q. Does that describe it as well as you can tell the Commissioner?
- Yes, as well as I can tell you the colour.
Q. Immediately after the collision you have told us there was no wind and that the sea was smooth. Was there any change of the condition of the water in the morning while you were in the lifeboat No. 5?
- Yes; it started blowing in the morning; a breeze came up in the morning.
Q. Was there any haze in the morning?
- No.
Q. No haze whatever?
- No.
Q. How did you identify in the morning the iceberg which the “Titanic” had hit the night before?
- By the shape of it.
Q. Was it discussed amongst the crew.
Mr. Duke:
I object.
- Yes.
Mr. Scanlan:
Had you any difficulty in determining which was the iceberg you had struck before?
- No, not by the shape. It was the biggest one there was there, and it was the shape.
CROSS-EXAMINED BY Mr. DUKE
Q. What was the length of it?
- Of what?
Q. Of the iceberg you identified?
- I could not say the length of it.
Q. Can you tell me within 10 yards?
- It was too big: I was not close enough to tell you the length.
Q. Tell me what was the height of it.
- About 60 feet I should say.
Q. What shape was it?
- It was a bluff, and came up to a point like the Rock of Gibraltar.
Q. Is that a common shape for icebergs.
- I had not seen them before.
Q. You do not know whether it is a common shape for icebergs.
- No.
Q. Is it your idea that that iceberg had remained stationary all night.
- We were drifting about all the night.
Q. You did not row at all?
- No.
Q. How did you keep your course?
- We had no course to keep.
Q. Mr. Pitman was in the boat?
- Yes.
Q. Were there any other boats in your company?
- Yes.
Q. What were they?
- There was one which had Mr. Hogg in it.
Q. Were not the men in those boats rowing?
- No, they were tied alongside of us.
Q. That was the boat which was tied alongside of you?
- Yes.
Q. Is that the only boat that was thereabout?
- That was the only one I saw.
Q. The whole of the boats where in the same vicinity when the “Carpathia” came in sight?
- Those were the only two that laid there all night.
Q. How far off were the other boats?
- I do not know.
Q. Did not you see anything of them?
- Only of the two boats that were laid alongside.
Q. With regard to the manning of your boat, you were in it?
- Yes.
Q. Mr. Pitman was in charge?
- Yes.
Q. Was there a quartermaster?
- Yes.
Q. And a steward?
- I do not know about a steward: I never saw one.
Q. Do you know one way or the other?
- I only know the men that were pulling oars when we pulled back to the ship, back to the “Carpathia.”
Q. Just let me read to you what you said before, when the thing was more recent. You were asked before Lord Mersey who was in No. 5 boat, and you said that you were, and then you were asked who else, and you said one other fireman, a steward and a quartermaster: so you see at that time you said that, and that was probably right, was it not?
- There were three men pulling the oars, and the officer, I never noticed the steward.
Q. This was what you said about it shortly after, on the 9th May within a very few weeks afterwards. You were asked who was there beside you, and your answer was, one other fireman, a steward and a quartermaster: you have no doubt you said that, have you, as it is in the shorthand note?
- There was a kicking business about the steward: he would not pull an oar in the boat.
Q. But he was there?
- Yes, he was there.
Q. Those were the members of the crew who were there?
- Yes.
Q. You seem to have a good deal of experience in boat work aboard these liners?
- Yes.
Q. For how many years?
- Since 1901.
Q. That is something more than 12 years
- Yes.
Q. During all that time you had been accustomed to boats?
- Yes.
Q. With regard to boat drill, where does it usually take place?
- In Southampton and every week when you are at see in the Union Castle Company.
Q. Is there any other Company that you know of that had a drill every week at sea?
- Yes.
Q. Which is that?
- The Royal Mail Company.
Q. Any other?
- No.
Q. Are those all long voyages?
- Yes.
Q. How many times have you crossed the Atlantic?
- Three times.
Q. Have you ever had boat drill at sea while you were crossing the Atlantic?
- No.
Q. Not in any Line?
- No - I do not know what the Atlantic means; it means right round in every direction.
Q. You know what I mean by crossing the Atlantic, I mean going to North America. On a voyage between any English port or any United States port or Canadian port have you ever had a boat drill on the voyage?
- No.
Q. How long does it take before you can connect a boiler for service with the engines after you have fired her up?
- That all depends, six hours or seven hours or eight hours: it all depends how they fire the boiler.
Q. It might be as much as twelve hours?
- Yes.
Q. Were you a fireman in any of the stokeholds where the boilers were which you say were connected up?
- I was in the next stokehold to it.
Q. I do not think you follow my question. Were you fireman in the stokehold where any boiler was served which you say I was connected up.
- No, I was not in that stokehold.
Q. You do not know when those boilers were fired up?
- No.
Q. Now, I want to ask you about the iceberg. The first you saw of the iceberg she was astern of the ship: is that so?
- Off her starboard quarter.
Q. I thought you said she was astern.
- No, off her starboard quarter.
Q. How far was she from you do you think?
- About two ships’ length from where I stood.
Q. You said something about a haze: was it your impression that the iceberg produced a haze round itself, in its own immediate neighbourhood; that is to say that it condensed the moisture in the atmosphere about it. Was that your impression?
- It looked to be in a haze to me.
Q. Was the idea that you got that the iceberg there was causing a haze in the air?
- No, it looked hazy to me where I was.
Q. It looked hazy about the iceberg I understand you to say?
- Where the iceberg was?
Q. That is what I mean: It looked hazy. Do you think your eyes had got accustomed to the light at that time?
- Yes.
Q. How long had you been on deck.
- About 4 minutes.
Q. You had been reading in your berth had not you?
- Yes.
Q. It does have a little effect coming out of the light into the night does it not?
- Yes, a bit.
Q. In other directions that than in the neighbourhood of the iceberg it was a fine clear night, was it not?
- I never took any notice of it.
Q. Do you think you did not?
- Some time afterwards.
Q. You made a statement did you not at Southampton?
- Yes.
Q. And did you say this: “I was not on duty when the vessel struck the iceberg, I was in my bunk, I did not get up at once, I went on talking as to what had happened”; did you say that?
- No; I went up on the deck.
Q. But while you were lying in your bunk?
- We went back to our bunks to talk about it.
Q. "I first went to the forecastle head and on the fore well deck”, was that right?
- Under the forecastle head.
Q. “On the fore well deck and I saw some ice there”?
- Yes.
Q. “I looked over the side and saw the iceberg which was off the starboard quarter”?
- Yes.
Q. “The ship had almost stopped and the iceberg was just discernible”: is that right?
- Yes.
Q. “It was a clear starry night”?
- Overhead.
Q. That was right?
- Yes.
Q. “After I had had a look at the iceberg I went back to the forecastle:” Is that right?
- Yes.
Q. Did you look over the side and see whether the ship had any way?
- She just had way: she was just moving.
Q. Did you have a look over the side to see?
- Yes, I had a look over the side.
Q. And you could see the surface of the sea?
- Yep.
Q. Could you see the glitter of it?
- I saw the phosphorous that was coming up in the water.
Q. And you could see that the ship had very little way?
- Well, she just seemed to me to be moving.
Q. You thought you could discern there were some slight [illegible] or motion?
- Yes.
Q. What were they?
- There were bubbles as the ship was going along.
Q. You thought that you could see bubbles on the surface?
- Yes.
Q. Did you know there was a boat drill at Southampton?
- There was no boat drill.
Q. Do you know one way or the other whether there was a boat drill at Southampton?
- We had no boat drill.
Q. I am not asking you whether you took part; what I am asking you is whether there was a boat drill or whether you knew there was a boat drill in the harbour at Southampton.
- I do knot know.
RE-EXAMINED BY Mr. SCANLAN
Q. You were asked by Mr. Duke how many times you had been across the Atlantic: he mean the North Atlantic route: that is the route you were traveling on the “Titanic” on this occasion, and you said only three times?
- Yes.
Q. On all those three occasions were you in the employment of the White Star Company?
- Yes.
Q. In the White Star Company you never had boat drill?
- No.
Mr. Duke:
At sea?
- At sea.
Mr. Scanlan:
You never had boat drill at sea?
- No.
Q. In ever other company you were employed in had you boat drill?
- Yes.
Q. It was put to you by Mr. Duke that you were not in the stokehold where the additional boilers were fired?
- No, I was in the next stokehold.
Q. Do those two stokeholds communicate?
- You can look through or walkthrough.
Q. Are you and the people in the other stokehold firing to the same furnaces?
- Yes, the other end of the boilers; not in No. 3 stokehold.
Q. When you speak of the other boilers having been lighted up do you know of your own knowledge that they were?
- Yes.
ALFRED STIERS.
31st October 1913
I hereby certify that the foregoing Testimony was taken before this day being taken down and reduced into writing by Charles Allen Nersee of 22 Chancery Lane London W.C. Shorthand Writer who was duly sworn for that purpose and the said Alfred Shiers who gave the same after being duly sworn for that purpose has signed the same after hearing it read over to him.
Examination taken reduced to writing and by the witness subscribed and sworn to this 31st day of October 1913 Before me.
(Sgd) GEORGE G. PHILLIMORE.
Barrister at Law,
[illegible] Court Buildings,
Temple, London, E.C.
Commissioner,
Octr 31st 1913