The evening world., 1912-05-07
NO BOAT DRILLS
ON THE TITANIC,
SAYS ST0KER
Lord Mersey Rules Out Ques-
ton Of fireman. Com
mand as Irrelevant.

LONDON. May 7.-The apathy Of the
British public, which has been one Of
the features thus Tar Of the Board Of
Trade inquiry into the Titanic dis
aster. was again demonstrated by the
thin attendance when the Commission
ers, under the Presidency Of Lord
Mersey. resumed their investigation to-
day.
Several members OF Parliament and
attorneys applied to Lord Merscy to be
permitted to represent the engineers
union and certain Of the passengers Of
the Titanic. Lord Merssy acQuisscsd
others on the ground that the presence
Of too many counsei threatened to In.
volvc tho inquiry in insxtricable con-
fusion.
The first witness called to-day was
George Beauchamp. . fireman OK the
Titanic, who testified: II did not know
which was my o station. I heard
that . list had been put up that morn
ing but I did not see II. None had been
put up before"
Lord Merssy asked: when did you
look for 1T"
Ecauchamp replied: 1T may have
been On the second day out" Con
,lnu,ny his narrative. he said: Il did
not know where to 60, 20 I went up
10 the boat deck and to lifeooat No. IL
on the starboard side. where I helped
pat IN the women and children. Thors
was an officer there. and when the lilo.
boat was full he gave the order. There
are enough In that boat. Lowe away
heard two o. three ladies say
~ VII not go.w Seine Of b men
thsu got In. I o0uld not
say how many, bat thsss were BE-
tween eaxty and seventy In al N
the boat.
peauchamp said there was no light
eompass, provisions or water IN the
Noat. Everyone looked for them.
h testified that he hsd no ooeS
arm on the Titanic nor had As seen
any, Ie had been ten ysess ~ sse
ana an most Of the liAsre On wnaoh
h haa been snSaSsA there wa .
wseSly boat dS1ll. On ~ uAsS
Iev York boat arm VA hsld On
Sundays.
BeAucnamp made the stato"'e., %
.toLsr took charge on boat No. u.
Trhonas n nenioer OF parliament
for North Sligo, counsel Tor the sea.
tnsn's and Firemen's Cnion' askeo
R.auchamp 'Have you ever before
known Of q stoker being placed IN
charge OF a liners lifeboat!'
Lord Mersey announced thot the aucs'
tion was not relevant.
Nj. jScanian protested: "But wanteo
to show that under ordinary el,cuIn.
stances a stoker would not be IN charge
Of q boat"
.'These were not ordinary ciroum-
~.ta nces." Lord Mersey
They had to do the best they could
Ouar,ermaster Robert Hinchens. on
duty on the bridge Of the Titanic at .
o'clock, aid he heard Second omcef
Lightoller telephone an order to the men
n the crows nest to Keep sharp LOOKOUT
for Ice and GROWERS. ~
Questioned by Sir Rufus Isaacs, Hich.
ems testified that the logbook showed
the speed of the Titanic to have ben 10
knots In two hours and that there was
no change up to The line the Titanic
struck the iceberg at ll.4o.
Hichens testified that ne had never
been definitely assigned to any boat on
the Titanic. but had understood the W
q~uartermasters on DUTY were to take
charge Of the two emergency boats. He
continued:
II wa not told OF for either tha I
Am aware Of. Neither did I see any
iists Of the mems stations for the
tosts, The usual thing 10 to have q
lat Of fire stations and boat stations
NUT up where every one can see II.
Every other vessel I was ever on had
muster and boat drill. ! v saw
any on the Titanic"
While Hichens was attempting to get
of q c~oliapAble boat an officer ordered
him into q lifeboat. This carried two
men a. crew and forty-ive passengers.
all of whom were women except Major
Peuchen and Q boy. He said the boat
should have been manned with not less
than hve seamen IN calm weather.