The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-05-02
any other Of his fellow on


there were cries and meanings. but not
before she sank.
Q. Immediately follOwingG
A. Yes.
Q.How close?
Many Left to Die.
A. Four or five hundred yards. L
don't like to talk about that said the
witness. / would prefer not to say
anything about that.
"But 1 think you ought to- per-
sisted Senator Smith. 1--WE want to
''WeIl. after the ship went down
said. Now we will return and see II
we can pick anyone up, but the pas
sengers protested-they said it was a
mad idea and would simply mean that
forty more would be drowned. He
ordered his men to turn to the Titanic
and they obeyed, but the passengers
dissuaded me. They said 1t was mad
Q. Did any of the women appeal to
you to return 10 the ship or so in the
direction of the cries?
A Not one.
o. Who protested?
A / don't know who they were.
Q. You really turned to go back to
the ship and were dissuaded by the
passengers?
A. Yes. sir.
o. How many cries were theref
Were they spasmodic or general?
A. 1t was continual moan for an
hour; means of a thousand drowning
men, hung over the waters where the
Titanic took her final plunge as the
passengers and crew, sustained by life
belts hoated in the water and called
for aid. There was continual moan.
ne said. paling under his sea-bronzeo
face at the mention of the dirge or
the drowning.
/ And you remained in that vicinity
for an hour, laying on your oars?'
Smith asked.
I'VE did" he replied.
/ Again and again Senator Smith
pressed him for details as to why his
I boat ignored the calls for help.
/ Senator Smith then questioned
Pittman as TO the four reports he
heard when the Titanic sank.
Q. DO you know whether failure
of the water tight doors 10 work had
anything TO do with the boats filling
SO promptly?
a No. The doors worked all right.
] saw them tested i'm Belfast. The
doors, Pittman said, were closed by q
lever from the bridge next to the
wheel house.
should Have Met Iceberg.
Q. What if the collision had oc-
/ CURED head-on?
A. The boat would be afioat today.
g. Then 1t was an ?, error 1d TO st Sxe
been avoided? The ship was built for
the purpose Of meeting her hardest
A. l don't think that IL two or three
steamers had run into her at the bow
she would have sunk. 1t would have
fected the Titanic like that iceberg
did, irrespective of size. or tonnage
Senator Smith obtained an admission
from Pittman that at least boats I'VE
and seven, from the portside OF the
boat deck did mot carry their t fSst cS o
transferred two men, a woman and q
child from his boat-number five. TO
number seven, before the Titanic sunk.
He also said that although hfe-
boats were supposed TO carry about
sity people he would hate to lower a
lifeboat, swinging only from the ends.
with that number OF passengers on IT.
He said that sometime before the
stationary on the horizon TO the west.
but did not row toward 1T
at 2:20 A. Nj. ships time, or 5:47 London
time"
Witness added that he did not hear
anything on the Titanic OF the Frank
Senator Perkins drew from the wit
5 ness the fact that there were 1000 per
sons aboard the Titanic and only life
boats enough to accommodate 1890.
In answer to a question by Senator
saw a white light about or I:S0
o'clock but that IL may have been a
light on one OF the other lifeboats-
| The light was about three miles dis
.tant.
Witness added. in answer to question
by Senator Newlands. that the Titanic
was the fastest boat he was ever on.
Senator Fletcher asked the position
j of officers on the Titanic at the time OF
question of lifeboats and eQuipm
Photographs were introduced TO Illus
: trate the answers OF the witness.
e Had No SearchIights.
He said that the Titanic was not
equipped with searchlights. and IL II
had been il was possible the icebergs
e could probably have been seen. He
e heard nothing of the fire in the hold
until he reached New York. He said
4 that If a lookout had been kept for
icebergs such an order would have
been entered in the commanders or
der book. He admitted that he did
q not see the order book until Sunday
I night. He saw it the night before. but
= the ship was not then in the ice re.
h gion.
L Pittman was excused and Frederick
= Fleet, of southampton. the lookout or
n the Titanic, was called to the stand.
t Fleet, twenty-five years old. adnit
: ted that when he and the other look
h out, Lee, relieved Simmons and Jew
n ell, he had been cautioned to kee5
e a sharp lookout for small ice.
Q. What did you do?
n A. / did keep a sharp lookout
o reported a small black berg at sever
bells. When ! saw the mass deat
d ahead I struck three bells from tn,
e nest; that was to caution them. Thel
I turned to the telephone and caiIet
t the bridge. Somebody asked me Wha
saw and I told him an iceberg va
1 dead ahead. He said: Thank you
& Q. How long after you gave tn
O alarm before the ship struck tin
II berg?
{" A. I can't tell.
|: @. How large was the berg!
d A. Well, when i first saw Il
looked amout as large as those tw
:. tables put together, indicating tn
a committees tables.
Q. How large was it when 20
q? struck?
d A. About fifty or sixty feet abov
a the water.
Witness said that all six of the look
out men were saved. None Of thos
men. ne said, had reported any ice o
Sunday. They used only their eyel
not glasses. Fleet testified that o
>. the Oceanic he had a pair of glasses
y but very poor ones.
e Q. Did you ask for glasses?
u A. Yes. we asked for them In South
y ampton and they told us there weI
e none intended for us. we were tOl
d so by Mr. Lightoller. We had glasse
going from Belfast to Southampton