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

" ou mean that it carries 65?" asked the chairman. Do you wish us to un- dersta.nd that a life boat under British regulations could not be loaded with 65.5 persons?"
 The life boat would buckle from both ends with more." said Lowe "The fve-tenths i sthrown in. The i've tenths is added at the water line"
 MT. Boxhall has told us that tho lifeboat contained only 23 when low ered,' said MT Smith as a suggestion. Was that full capacity?" he asked.
 Well, he was not in charge of my raft" replied Lowe.
 If Officer Lightoller said the boats on the port were not loaded with more than 35 persons because of safety, those boats were not loaded to the full ca racity of 65,5 were they?" asked MT. Smith.
 That is a matter of personal judg- ment; some men might think differently about what would be safe,'' Lowe re- piled.
 Witness Lowe said he saw life boat No. lowered and pull away with the 8 pas sengers. He said that Third Officer Pitt man would have endangered those in the boat had he attempted to rescue others from the water Of the ability of the men to row Lowe said that sailors and boatmen are distinct; that sailors may be at sea for years and never be in yawl.
 Witness declared he was in no position to order who should enter the boat. al- though he said he ordered lsmay away because the latter interfered with his work. After Ismay disappeared Lowe said: 'I did something.
 Discipline Excellent
 He protested because the skilled oars ant -at1f 1,a1n fn pln lnaF q ura V the rubbish around the gangway to make way for the loading. He said the dis eipline was excellent. Only one boat, q oollapsible affair, overturned, he said. Lowe said the remaining 19 were scien- tifically handled.
 Tt takes from eight to 10 men to make a lifeboat ready" Lowe said q did not know how many men were at the other boats. You must remember there was a crowd down at the gangway doors.''
 Senator Smith asked the number of the crew and the witness said so far as he knew there were a03.
 And with these men aboard, MT. Smith said, you did not have enough to man 20 lifeboats properly?'
 The witness demurred to the sugges- tion. The chairman showed his disap- proval by going to the extent of criticis- ing the officers refusal to make direct replies
 You mean present at the boats?" asked Lowe.
 NO; not that vouchsafed the chair man.
 MT. Smith sought to discover whether any men, women or children had been refused admittance to the boats, or were put away from the yawls, or were put out of the boat after they had gotten in. The officer said no one was refused and declared the only confusion was by the passengers interfering with the low ering gear. Everything was quiet and orderly aboard, he said.
 with quiet and order who selected the people to get in these boats?'
 No Time for Selection
 There was no such thing as selec- tion. First we took women and chill. dren, and then others as they came. There was procession at both ends of the boat in little knots, they were, lit- tie crowds
 AS you passed the women into the boat what did you say?n q simply shouted women and chill dren first: men stand back" Was there any discrimination as to class?"
 None whatever" How about stewardesses?" Tt made no difference who, women and children. That was all." Lowe said that First Officer Murdock gave the order for the lowering of llifeboats Nos. and 3, Murdock was in charge.
 Was MT. Ismay there?Y Yes. he was, he was right along side of me. l did not know 1t was Mir Ismay then. hut I Know now. It was the same man who l had ordered not to interfere in lowering No 5. But he took hold and was helping afterwards. could see his face in the glare of | the rockets and he aided in lowering boat No. G." | Senator Smith sought vainly to learn | the number of women in lifeboat No. | 3. The witness said he thought the men and women were about equally divided, but he knew none of their names. He finally ventured the belief that the boat contained about 40 per sons
 | Why were there not more?' asked
 We couldn't find any one who wanted to go. They seemed not to care to get into the boats"
 Passengers Not Restrained
 The witness said that everyone was | free to wander wherever they pleased | and there was no effort made by the
 
 | direct the passengers. \ Did you see any women there?' | asked Senator Smith. | "Certainly l saw women, but l didn't have time to go and drag them away. | They didn't respond to our calls" | Lowe said after he had lowered three boats on the starboard side. he walked across the deck and met the sixth of 1 fcer MT. Moody
 We knelled II, 15 and 16 on that side" said Love- and filled them with women and children. | There was one man passenger in Han Italian--and he sneaked in. He was sort of dressed like a woman He I had a shawl over his head and l did not | find him out until it was too late. l went in that boat myself. There were IS persons in it, when we left the davits"
 Lowe told of tying i've of the life boats together, transferring the pas sengers from his boat and then called for volunteers to row back to the wreck.
 We rowed back and around the wreck said the witness, and picked ~x1t fv,