THE TITANIC'S BOATS NOT ALL FILLED
The New York Tribune, Sunday, June 27, 1915:
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Witness at White Star Line Hearing Says Crew Stopped Male Passengers from Entering Last One.
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More testimony on the sinking of the Titanic was heard yesterday, when the hearing on the action of the White Star Line to have its liabilities limited was resumed before Judge Mayer in the United States District Court annex, Woolworth Building. Richard Robinson, president of the Lake Submarine Company, testified that in his opinion the transverse bulkheads of the Titanic should have been higher to reasonably answer safety.
Because of the excitement on the part of the crew of the Titanic, William J. Mellors said, many of the passengers were prevented from entering the lifeboats. Mr. Mellors, who lives in England, was a second class passenger on the vessel, which sank in April, 1912. He testified that but half of the fourteen or fifteen life boats he saw lowered were filled.
According to Mr. Mellors, Mrs. Rose Abbott, another passenger, was not permitted by the crew to enter an unfilled boat and saved herself by clinging with him to a collapsible boat. The witness said he saw officers of the Titanic threaten male passengers with revolvers to prevent them from entering the last lifeboat as it was lowered.
The hearing was adjourned until next Wednesday morning.