The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-25

to enter except witness, survivor and rep- resentative of the press
 Senator William Alden Smith, the chair man. announced after meeting with his colleagues that the British witnesses would be called as rapidly as possible in the period of time before the committee before any more passengers were ex- amined
 Fleet Is First Witness
 Frederick Fleet was the first witness. The chairman asked;
 "As the outlook, were your eyes ex- amined?''
 "Yes, frequently. answered Fleet.
 Gan you discriminate colors?"
 Yes"
 Did you see light?"
 No; saw no light until I got in the lifeboat; then l saw some sort of bright light on the forward bow I do not know what it was. Mr. Lightoller saw it be- fore we got soff the Titanic and told us to pull toward 1t. I finally disappeared. We never made out what 1t was"
 When you have binoculars what share of time do you have the glasses to your eyes while on the lookout?' asked MT. smith.
 If we imagine we see anything on the horizon, we then use the glasses to make sure"
 Witness said he had helped in the load ing of the lifeboats and that he was ex- perieneed in this work He said he saw no collapsible lifeboats loaded other than No G. the boat in which he pulle away He had about 40 passengers. He saw no women left on the decks and none re- sponded to calls.
 Fleet said that there were a number of men on the decks but that none sought to be taken aboard Witness told of a c tfttfa l., The man. an Italian, was of no assistance because of an injured arm. His boatswain exchanged the man for another.
 Heard Faint Cries
 Did you hear any cries for help?" asked the chairman.
 Yes, but they were very faint"
 Did you go back to help?'
 No; some of the passengers wanted to but the quartermaster who was in com mand, ordered us to keep on rowing"
 How far were you from the Titanic when she went down?"
 "A mile"
 "As to your experience in trying to es- innate how far the Titanic was from the iceberg when you sighted if, l should say you did not have any judgment of distance" Senator Smith commented.
 No, not much estimation."
 Fleet was then discharged
 MT. Smith then formally announced he wanted to explain the purposes of the committees work.
 Tt is to get all the data on the calami- ty,' he said. The surviving officers and men of this ship are not shipbuilders and if we can get from them what they know, it is all that we can expect Now word as to the plan. It is the intention of the committee to inquire of all sub jects of Great Britain who may be in this country and who may know any thing of the disaster. and to all others with knowledge to hold them until we have learned all we can. This course once pursued rigidly the investigation will result in useful information being acquired for the future.
 Difficulties of Hearing
 Now word about the difficulties at- tendant To the credit of most of the officers and members of the crew we have experienced little difficulty in se curing such witnesses as we thought nec- essary but from the beginning until now there has been a voluntary and grat,li- tious attempt upon all to aid us But others have impressed us with a different spirit and have attempted to shape the procedure.
 NIicItI1ItStutdilDIS nave been made. have heard. I have not read the news papers, because I did not wish to be pfejudiced The representatives of the press have all co-operated in every pos sible way to tighten the burdens of the committee. The committee will not toi- crate any further attempt on the part of anyone to shape it's course. We shall proceed in our own way and the jude- ments of our efforts will be withheld un- ti1 avery na rtfrIp of fufurf1,.lffot, hoe bao., reduced to writing" As Senator smith concluded he spoke with emphasis. He punctuated his re- marks by pounding the table with his first. He did not give any detailed ex- planation of what actuated him in making the statement.
 Harold G. Lowe, fifth officer of the Titanic. told of his carry experiences from the time lie ran away 10 sea at II years of age and shipped as an appren- tice. He Knocked around the world on tramp ships, then took up steamers Of the regular lines and l5 months ago joined the White Star line Until he shipped on the Titanic, be said, he never before had been in the north Atlantic ocean. Witness said that before the Titanic sailed there was one crew drill. His memory of the drill appeared hazy and in attenuation he said he was com plete stranger on the ship.
 No Fire Drill Lowe said he could not remember if there was a fire drill after the ship sailed He explained that most of the Titanics officers were strangers to each other. Lowe said he had seen only one iceberg ------~--------------
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