The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-20

danger was great. Two seamen placed in the boat, he said. were selected by him but he could not recall who they were.
 How many passengers did the second ts.lye?"
 About 9o' said Lightholder, 1.-two men as far as I remember sir
 "The third boat?n
 By the time 1 came to the thifd boat 1 all these on the port side-I began to l realize the situation was serious and l began to take chances"
 How long did all the work of loading and lowering q life boat?"
 T think about 15 20 minutes"
 "How many passengers did the third boat contain?' q filled her up as full as l dared. sir, then lowered her. about 30 1 think. The women and children could not have stood qnieter if they had been in church."
 Ran Short of Seamen
 In loading the fourth life boat Light helder said he was running short Of sea- men.
 "l put two seamen in and one jumped out. That was the first boat 1 had to put man passenger in. He was stand ihg nearby and said he would go if ] needed him.
 
 piled that he was yachtsman. Then l told him that if he was sailor enough to get over the bulwark to the lifeboat to go ahead. He did and proved him self afterward to be very brave man" Who was he-dld you know him?" "I did not know him then, but after wards 1 looked him up.. He was Major Peuchen of Toronto" said Lightholder. Of the fifth boat Lightholder had no particular recollection The last boat l put out my sixth boat he said. i've had difficulty finding women. I called for women and none were on deck. The men began 10 get in and-then women appeared. As rapidly as they did tho men passengers got out of the boats again.
 Ship Sank Rapidly
 "1he boats deck was only 10 feet from the water when lowered the sixth boat. When we lowered the first the distance to the water was TO feet"
 All told. Iightholder testified, 210 mem bers of the crew were saved.
 If the same course was pursued on the starboard side as you pursued on the port, in filling boats, how do you account Tor so many members of the crew be- ing saved?' asked Chairman Smith. T have inquired specially and found that of every six persons picked up, five were tltnef HfeInen or eteWardS. Some life boats, the witness said. went back after the Titanic sank and picked up men from the sea.
 Lightholder declared he stood on top the officers quarters and as the ship dived he faced forward and dived also. T was sucked against blower and held there" testified the officer.
 Head above water?"
 No, sir. A terrible gust came up the !. Inx bak 1,. and I was blown clear"
 How far were you blown?" Barely clear. I was sucked down [ gain; this time on the fidley' grat- ing"
 Blown Loose From Grating
 Did any one else have q similar ex- Iperienee2' "Yes, Colonel Gracie."
 How did you get loose?'
 q don't know; maybe another ex- plosion All I know Is I came up by a boat"
 Were there any watertight compart- ments on that ship?" the senator asked. ''Certainly. 40 or 50."
 DO you know whether any of tho crew or passengers took to these wa- tertight compartments as last resort?" Ut is quite impossible for me to say, sir.o
 .Is it at all likely?'
 "I think very unlikely"
 As for yourself, you preferred to ta ke to the open scar
 Undoubtedly"
 Are the watertight compartments intended as a refuge for passengers?" s'No, sir-never intended for that pur- pose-they were designed to prevent the ship from sinking"
 What other officers besides your self survived?"
 ''The third. fourth and fifth officers. sir,
 At this point the hearing was halted to be resumed at s:30 tonight.
 Cottam Next Witness Thomas Cottam. aged 2l. of Liverpool, the Marconi operator on the Carpathia was the next witness at the session. He denied himself some glory by say.