DEPOSITION OF CAPTAIN CHARLES JOHNSTON, Contd.
Q. Assuming that during the month of April a steamship of approximately 46,328 tons gross, having a registered length of approximately 852.5 feet, carrying passengers and freight, is proceeding in a generally westerly direction in the Atlantic Ocean in approximately Latitude 41 degrees 46 minutes North and approximately longitude 50 degrees 14 minutes west in a calm sea at night; that the weather is clear and fine with no clouds and the stars shining but there is no moon shining; that the ship has received wireless messages from other ships to the effect that icebergs and large quantities of floating ice are in the vicinity of the course through which the ship will pass during the night. Under the above circumstances, what, in your opinion, should a reasonably prudent navigator do with respect to the speed of the vessel?
- He should stop her.
Q. Under the above circumstances, would it, in your opinion, be reasonably safe for such vessel to proceed at a speed of twenty knots per hour or upwards?
- No, sir.
Q. Assuming that you could see an iceberg at no greater distance than one-half a mile on a given night, what is your opinion as to whether a steamship of approximately 46,000 tons gross and 850 feet long, could continue to proceed at the rate of 22 knots an hour, when within a distance of one-half a mile of a large iceberg which is ahead, and in or near the track, without risk of colliding with it, assuming that the lookout was a proper one?
- I do not believe that she could without considerable risk.
Q. If a steam vessel of any kind were proceeding at the speed of 22 knots an hour on a dark night, with a large iceberg in or near her path, and the conditions were such that an iceberg was not visible from any part of the vessel at a greater distance than one-half mile, can you state, from your experience whether or not there would be some risk of collision with such iceberg, if such speed were maintained, assuming that, leaving the speed out of account, the navigation was efficient in all respects?
- I should consider that there was danger to any lower than a temperature of 50 degrees, and he will be practically sure of avoiding all icebergs.
Q. Did you see an iceberg, in your service on the ice patrol last year, below the 41st parallel?
- Yes, sir.
Mr. Wells:
That is objected to, asking about last year. I think has no bearing upon this particular question.
BY MR. KINNICUTT:
Q. Do you know whether icebergs in other years have come down as far as that?
Mr. Wells:
I would like to have the witness answer of his own knowledge.
- Of my own knowledge I will say that I do know that icebergs have been seen farther south than 41 degrees.
Q. If the southern limit of the ice is known to be about the 41st parallel, can you estimate approximately the distance that would be added to the course of the vessel in order to take her clear of the ice region, assuming that she ere traveling on what is commonly known as the west-bound track or ocean lane, as it was in the early part of 1912, prior to April 15?
- It would be, on an estimate, about 25 miles. I could not say accurately without doing some figuring.
Q. If she had a day's notice that there was ice down as far as the 41st parallel, about the 50th meridian, what would be your answer?
- Ten miles more; that is to say, not ten miles more than the 25, but ten miles more than her voyage mileage.
Mr. Kinnicutt:
That is all.
CROSS-EXAMINATION.
BY MR. WELLS:
Q. Captain, with regard to the last question, as to ice being reported in 41 North latitude and the captain of a vessel having half a day's notice, your answer was that he would go 25 miles farther in order to avoid the ice?
- Yes, that is my estimate, and it is approximate.
Q. Do you mean by that that if the master of the vessel continued on his Great circle course beyond what is called the Corner, he would run 25 miles beyond the Corner?
- No
Q. That was not the meaning of your answer?
- No.
Q. Will you just make a little clearer what you meant by the 25 miles?
- Yes. Ordinarily on the westbound track he heads for what is known as the Corner, which was at that time at 42 north and 47 west. In order to clear the ice, if it was below that, he would have to make the corner farther south, say at about 40 degrees and 30 minutes instead of 42 degrees north on the 47th meridian, and aiming for that point, and then further laying his course to his destination, I should imagine roughly that without calculating it, that it would be about 25 miles longer than his original course would have been.
Q. If the ice were some distance west of the longitude of the Corner, and he continued on the great circle course to the Corner and beyond that is still running down on the great circle beyond the Corner, instead of changing at the Corner and the rhumb line, he could still avoid the ice by so doing, bearing in mind that the ice was to the westward of the Corner, might he not?
- Yes.
Q. He might quite possibly and practicably get his southing by continuing his great circle course?
- Yes.
Q. Down beyond the corner, and if he did so, he would accomplish the same thing as you have just described in answer to Mr. Kinnicutt's questions?
- Yes, it comes to the same end.
Q. From your description of your service on the ice patrol and on the ice observation duty, I gather that you were placed in a position where you had peculiarly favorable opportunities for observing ice, and that you were especially engaged in making those observations?
- That was a part of my instructions.
Q. Would you not say, Captain, in view of that important duty that you were on, that your opportunities for observation of ice conditions were probably better and more varied than, I think, as you said, 99 percent of the commanders of vessels that cross the Atlantic ?
- I think so.
Q. And it would be true, I suppose, too, as I infer from your description of the duty and your observations, to say that you yourself gained a great deal of experience and a great deal of knowledge that you had not had before you were engaged in those observations and on that patrol duty?
- Quite so.
Q. I gather from what you have said that bergs generally, and the ice that you met in those waters off the Banks of Newfoundland, were practically all white?
- All white.
Q. Barring the streaks of dirt, or the blue veins in the bergs that you have described?
- Yes, all white but those marks.
Q. And I think that accords generally with the popular idea of icebergs?
- So far as I know it does.
Q. Indeed, I think it is true that you never saw a black iceberg, or one that appeared black in the daytime?
- No, never.
Q. And when you got within a certain distance of them at night, they always appeared white?
- Yes.
Q. At night, as the berg becomes more distant, its mass grows darker and darker?
- Yes.
Q. And is perhaps darker than the horizon of the sky beyond?
- Yes; it gives that appearance.
Q. Provided the sky is clear?
- Yes.
Q. I think you said that on a perfectly clear night, without the moon shining, starlight, you could see on an average a berg half a mile away?
- That is right.
Q. I suppose that average represents the mean between a considerably greater distance and a considerably less distance?
- Yes, that is right.
Q. But on a night that is clear, starlight, the conditions ordinarily would be favorable, would they not?
- You might say ordinarily, yes.
Q. If the night were such that the lights of a vessel five or six miles away could be seen by people in the water in a boat, would you consider that a good night for seeing?
- If I could see the red and green lights at that distance, particularly the red light, I should consider that a good night for seeing.
Q. And on a night of that kind, when you could see the lights of a vessel so far away as that, five or six miles, or possibly more, possibly the white light of a vessel I will say seven or tight miles away, the conditions would be even more favorable?
- Yes, more favorable still.
Q. And on such a night as that how far would you say you could see an iceberg?
- From actual observation, the brightest night I have seen up there, when I was taking observations, it was, as nearly as we could measure it, one mile.
Q. That was with the naked eye?
- That was with the naked eye.
Q. And I think you are already on record as making that particular statement, and that with glasses on such a night you could see it --
- Slightly farther.
Q. Two miles, I believe you said?
- I do not believe you could see it that far. I will give it a mile and a half, possibly.
Q. On such a nigh as that, where there was as much visibility, where the seeing was as favorable as that, would you consider it necessary to stop your ship?
- Not for an isolated berg, but for a large number of bergs I should.
Q. By a large number of bergs you mean if there were such, perhaps, as you saw when you were making that observation cruise in July?
- That is an extraordinarily large number. I should say a large number would be, say, a berg on the average of one in five miles.
Q. You would consider that it would be necessary to stop your vessel?
- Not necessary, but prudent.
Q. You could continue?
- Oh, yes, you could continue, I should say, at a speed of five knots, and it would be fairly safe under those conditions.
Q. Of course, Captain, I suppose you will concede that vessels handle more readily when they have a little more speed than when they have merely steerageway?
- They will answer more quickly, yes.
Q. And if the night were such that a berg or ice ahead were visible a mile and a half, or even a mile, you would be able to maneuver a vessel, ordinarily, clear of that ice, would you not?
- I should think so.
Q. In answering questions concerning the maneuvering power of a vessel, you have made certain statements concerning the movement of the bow and the movement of the stern?
- Yes.
Q. Those would be more or less modified, I presume, if you take into consideration that a vessel has twin screws?
- Oh, yes.
Q. It would entirely reverse the situation, would it not, possibly?
- You mean about the swinging of the stern and pivoting on the bow?
Q. Yes.
- I do not think so.
Q. You stated that the vessel pivoted on her bow. When you made that statement, did you have in mind a single screw vessel?
- Particularly a single screw vessel, because that is the one I am most familiar with.
Q. Of course, you recognize that if a twin screw vessel is at rest, and one of her propellers only is started, the bow swings in the opposite direction from the side on which the propeller is working?
- With the helm amidships, yes.
Q. And if the helm were put over on the side on which the propeller is working, that effect would be enhanced?
- Yes.
Q. Now, to go back to the single screw vessel for a moment, just for the sake of illustration. When you said she pivoted on her bow, I would like to have it clear whether you meant actually that the vessel pivoted around her stem, or whether you meant some point in the fore and aft line of the vessel, forward of amidships?
- Well forward of amidships.
Q. And for different vessels I suppose you will agree that that point may vary?
- Oh, yes, unquestionably.
Q. That it is not a fixed point, that it varies with the individual vessel?
- Yes.
Q. It may be farther forward or it may be farther aft?
- Yes.
Q. Suppose in an extreme case a vessel might almost pivot about a vertical axis through her amidships section? That would be possible?
- I would not say it could not be, but I do not know of any ship that I should think would do that.
Q. At all events, the point I was trying to make here was that you did not intend to have the record show that the vessel turned upon her stem head?
- Not exactly the stem, no. When we say pivot on the bow, we mean that her stern swings from the line in which she was originally running; her stern swings, and also her bow swings.
Q. Of course, as the helm is put over, the vessel begins to take up a course which becomes a curve?
- Yes.
Q. The vessel being somewhat tangential to this curve, but not entirely so?
- Not entirely so, but somewhat.
Q. The fore and aft line of the vessel perhaps tending inside of the arc of the curve?
- Tending inside of the arc of the curve.
Q. That would bring about what you have described as the stern swinging out?
- Yes.