The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-04-24
Lookout on Wrecked Vessel
Says He Asked for Glasses
and Was Told There
Were None
COULD HAVE SEEN
ICE IN TIME TO
HAVE MISSED 1T.
Ismay, Nervous Under lnves-
tigation, Asks to be Per-
mitted to Return to
His Home in Liver
pool, England
BY JAMES !. MONTAGUE.


WASHINGTON. April ga pair
OF binoculars. costing at tie most fifty Ne
dollars. would have saved the lives o. Il
1885 men, women and children who Il
persisted when the Titanic went down..
They told me there would not b0 N
any glasses" testified Lookout Fleet.
who sighted the iceberg from tho
crows-nest of the doomed vessel when
he was asked aheHt. them before the
special Senate committee today. II
we'd had them we could have seen
the berg quite bit sooner--timA
enough TO have cleared it,
j. Bruce Ismay, who sat within Two
feet OF the witness when this testi-
mony was given. scowled savagcly ~
him. but Fleet pIacidly continued his
story. He said that he had always nad
glasses on the Oceanic-poor ones.
but of SUFFICIENT power to. be Of help
in seeing ahead. Glasses had been
furnished the lookout till the ship left
Southampton. Then when they asked
for Them they were told that there
were none. and would be none for the
voyage.
iamay Uncomfortable.
Fleets story. together with the
dreadful narratives of Major Arthur
Peuchen. a passenger. and Third ON
Ger Ptttman gave Mr.. 1smay rather an
uncomfortable day. But he sat stolid
and unmcved throughout them all, and
even when Beuchen and the oficer told
of the awful chorus of cries and means
that went UP when the Titanic sank
and continued growing fainter and Sill
more faint for more than an hour
| while the other lifeboats lay sttll or
pulled away. the chief owner OF the
| Titanic remained to all appearances
unaffected.
Warts to Go Homo.
When tho hour OF adjournment ar.
rived, however. Isn,ay sought ont
Chairman Smith and asked permission
| to 70 to his Liverpool home.
my wife Is ill., he said. ''eithcr
| must 20 home or she Will come TO me-.
| pledge my word~as gentleman that
| will return whenever you want me.
The Committee took up Ismay's ap-
| peal, but came to no decision tonight
! Ii he Is called to the stand tomor.
row hs viii probably be permitted 70
! return II he IL not he will have 70
| await his turn. even II he Is forced
| To listen to such appalling stories
| as those which were told the commits
I tee today.
Needed Glasses.
Fleet, the lookout. IL dull and uM-
! DTOpO08cHSlHR
very dullness undoubtedly assisted
the truth about the company's parst-
| mony to come out. He told Of sight
Ing the iceberg so far away that u
seemed no larger than table. Big
ger and bigger 1t grew as the. ship
rushed upon It till AT last when. de-
spite the swing to port that followcd
hts warning to the bridge the STAR
board bow crashed into 1t. II stood
full nifty feet out Of the water, higM
enough to send a shower of Ice doWps
on the deck. The glasses that 49,
denied him he said would have on-S
abled him to sea it quite q bit
earlier As 1t was he had barely
time to sound his warning. Harry had
the words Thank YOU" come back
from the bridge to the crows-nAA&
r than tile Ice; WAS tambiing ab0af6s
and the submerged frozen reef VS.
tearing great gaping hole In the
vessels bilge.
Pittman who preceded Fleet on thu
stand and Major Peuchen. who fol-
lowed him. both told In different ways
the story OF the terrible crier Of Dis
tress that came across the wator
when the Titanic finally disappeared
Pittman was calm and mattef-ok-s
4 fact. 49, One Of the iifebUatso fell 10 Mn
charge, q boat loaded with WOMAN
He rot her salty wy from etoin shrdt0
He got her safely away from DANCER
Of the ships suction. then lay on ht9s
oars a. she went down.
Il First there were iaud screams ana
cries for help that gradually becaM1s
unintelligible. dying away into Coz
tinuous chorus Of low moana. For MMs
. hour these continued, while the No.
J men In Pittman's boat sat froSen 49,
, horror. There was room In the -
: for more--sixten more at least. 6o1HM
! OF those who were struggling IN e4M
Icy sea might have been taken aboA19s
but Pittman made no EFFORT 20 90s
: back for them. VI
) When at length after more t19
an hour the last faint moaning h4
died altogether away the men y
: boat again bent to theoaEs, ana A
boat moved out blindly Ovsr tn M
ter till dawn and the light Of the
pathis were sighted almost togoe
Refused n Go Back. u!
Major Peuchen told the oeu4e MeM =!
; OF the cries. the dreadful errSeas
moans." he called them.
while before q call had coma 1@
the ship hut Hitchina. tina qQeg
master. refused TO - back sk
1T II our lie now. not thsa1
some Of the women plaaAe
I him. '.Our husbands are ~ NJ
and Ne cannot leave. tnes
70 hack" they he9E00. Nj 8SsS
'sIhere's nothing theses ~
| gtlfkA !" aid fltchlno e&me
} refused to hiring ~ hooA
! This QuastexAAas1ezsg
! odd va utterly ~ vi I'll
: ton. rAfueed ~ 1Al4s aq
! pesforsm -