MR. BOXHALL: I was not very sure of seeing it. It seemed to me to be just a small black mass not rising very high out of the water, just a little on the starboard quarter. SENATOR SMITH: How far out of the water should you judge? MR. BOXHALL: I could not judge the size of it, but it seemed to me to very, very low in the water. SENATOR SMITH: Did it extend up to B deck? MR. BOXHALL: Oh, no; the ship was past it then. It looked to me to be very, very low lying. SENATOR FLETCHER: Give us an idea; do not leave it there. SENATOR SMITH: How far do you think it was above the water? MR. BOXHALL: That is hard to say. In my own opinion I do not think the thing extended above the ship's rail. SENATOR SMITH: Above the ship's rail? MR. BOXHALL: No. SENATOR SMITH: And how far was this rail above the water's edge? MR. BOXHALL: Probably about 30 feet? SENATOR SMITH: About 30 feet? MR. BOXHALL: No; hardly 30 feet. SENATOR SMITH: The distance to the water's edge to the boat deck was how far? MR. BOXHALL: I could get that measurement from the plan. SENATOR SMITH: About 70 feet, was it not? MR. BOXHALL: From the boat deck it was about 70 feet to the water's edge. The boat deck is one deck above A. This rail I mean is on the C deck. SENATOR SMITH: You say this looked like a black object? MR. BOXHALL: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: Were the stars shining that night? MR. BOXHALL: The stars were shining. SENATOR SMITH: And the moon? MR. BOXHALL: No moon. SENATOR SMITH: No moon? MR. BOXHALL: No. SENATOR SMITH: Was it clear? MR. BOXHALL: Clear. SENATOR SMITH: And yet you wish to be understood as saying that, standing in the bow of the ship as far forward as you could get, and looking over directly at this obstacle, you were unable to determine exactly what it was? MR. BOXHALL: I was not standing in the bow of the ship, sir; I was standing on the bridge? SENATOR SMITH: On the bridge? MR. BOXHALL: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: But you could see this object, could you? MR. BOXHALL: I am not sure of seeing it; that is what I say, I would not swear to seeing it. But I fancied seeing this long­lying growler. SENATOR SMITH: And that it looked dark? MR. BOXHALL: It looked to me as if it was very, very low. SENATOR SMITH: And dark? MR. BOXHALL: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: Did the captain seem to know what you had struck? MR. BOXHALL: No. SENATOR SMITH: Did Mr. Murdock? MR. BOXHALL: Mr. Murdock saw it when we struck it. SENATOR SMITH: Did he say what it was? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: What did he say it was? MR. BOXHALL: He said it was an iceberg. SENATOR SMITH: After these signals were turned in, what was done? MR. BOXHALL: I don't know what was done, because I left the bridge then. SENATOR SMITH: Where did you go? MR. BOXHALL: I went right down below, in the lowest steerage, as far as I could possibly get without going into the cargo portion of the ship, and inspected all the decks as I came up, in the vicinity of where I thought she had struck? SENATOR SMITH: What did you find? MR. BOXHALL: I found no damage. I found no indications to show that the ship had damaged herself? SENATOR SMITH: On the inside? MR. BOXHALL: On the inside? SENATOR SMITH: Did you say you went to the steerage? MR. BOXHALL: I went down to the steerage. SENATOR SMITH: But found no evidence of injury there? MR. BOXHALL: No, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Then where did you go? MR. BOXHALL: Then I went on the bridge and reported to the captain that I could not see any damage. SENATOR SMITH: One moment. Did you look farther, beyond the steerage? MR. BOXHALL: I looked in all the decks. I worked my way up to the top deck. SENATOR SMITH: Looking at all of them in the forward part? MR. BOXHALL: In the forward part of the ship; that is, abreast of No. 2 and 3 hatches. SENATOR SMITH: Then what did you do? MR. BOXHALL: I came right up to the bridge and reported that I could find no damage. SENATOR SMITH: What did the captain say? MR. BOXHALL: He said, "Go down and find the carpenter and get him to sound the ship." SENATOR SMITH: Did you do so? MR. BOXHALL: I was proceeding down, but I met the carpenter. SENATOR SMITH: What did you say to him? MR. BOXHALL: I said, "The captain wants you to sound the ship." He said, "The ship is making water," and he went on to the bridge to the captain, and I thought I would go down forward again and investigate; and the I met a mail clerk, a man named Smith, and he asked where the captain was. I said, "He is on the bridge." He said, "The mail hold is full" or "filling rapidly." I said, "Well, you go and report it to the captain and I will go down and see," and I proceeded right down into the mail room. SENATOR SMITH: What did you find there? MR. BOXHALL: I went down as far as the sorting room deck and found mail clerks down there working. SENATOR SMITH: Doing what? MR. BOXHALL: Taking letters out of the racks, they seemed to me to be doing. SENATOR SMITH: Taking letters out of the racks and putting them into pouches? MR. BOXHALL: I could not see what they were putting them in. SENATOR SMITH: You could not see what disposition they were making of them? MR. BOXHALL: I looked through an open door and saw these men working at the racks, and directly beneath me was the mail hold, and the water seemed to be then within 2 feet of the deck we were standing on. SENATOR SMITH: What did you do in that situation? MR. BOXHALL: (continuing). And bags of mail floating about. I went right on the bridge again and reported to the captain what I had seen. SENATOR SMITH: What did he say? MR. BOXHALL: He said all right, and then the order came out for the boats. SENATOR SMITH: You mean the order was given to man or lower the lifeboats? MR. BOXHALL: To clear the lifeboats. SENATOR SMITH: Do you know anything about what the carpenter did after you left him? MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; I never saw him any more. SENATOR SMITH: Do you know anything about the wireless? MR. BOXHALL: No, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Or what the captain or any other officer did regarding it? MR. BOXHALL: No, sir. SENATOR SMITH: When the order was given to clear the lifeboats, what did you do? MR. BOXHALL: I went around the decks and was clearing the lifeboats; helping take the covers off. SENATOR SMITH: Covers off? MR. BOXHALL: Covers off of the boats and clearing them generally. SENATOR SMITH: Were they all covered? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir; except the sea boats; and assisting generally around the decks. Then I went into the chart room and worked out the ship's position. I was clearing boats for a little while and then went in and worked the position out. SENATOR SMITH: Did you report her position? MR. BOXHALL: I submitted her position to the captain. SENATOR SMITH: What did he say? MR. BOXHALL: He said, "Take it to the Marconi room." SENATOR SMITH: Did you do so? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Did you find the operator in charge? MR. BOXHALL: I found the two operators there. SENATOR SMITH: Who? MR. BOXHALL: Phillips and Bride. SENATOR SMITH: What did you do with your information? MR. BOXHALL: There was too much noise of the steam escaping, so I wrote the position down for them and left it. SENATOR SMITH: You simply wrote the position down. MR. BOXHALL: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: And handed it to the operator? MR. BOXHALL: Left it on the table there. He saw it. He made a call, and he was listening, and I did not interrupt him. SENATOR SMITH: Did you remain to see what disposition was made of it? MR. BOXHALL: No. SENATOR SMITH: Did you keep a copy of that, or do you know exactly what that showed? MR. BOXHALL: That position? SENATOR SMITH: Yes. MR. BOXHALL: Yes; I have the position. SENATOR SMITH: Have you a memorandum of it? MR. BOXHALL: No; I have it in my head. SENATOR SMITH: Give it to the reporter. MR. BOXHALL: Forty­one, forty­six; fifty, fourteen. SENATOR SMITH: Give that again. MR. BOXHALL: Forty­one, forty­six, north; fifty, fourteen west. SENATOR SMITH: Was that the last time the ship's position was taken? MR. BOXHALL: That is the position I worked out. SENATOR SMITH: Was that the last time it was taken so far as you know? MR. BOXHALL: Yes; that was the position at the time she struck. SENATOR SMITH: Was that where she sank, do you know? MR. BOXHALL: I do not know. She would just drift a little way farther on, probably half a mile or so. SENATOR SMITH: What did you do after you left the operator's room? MR. BOXHALL: Went around the decks assisting to clear the decks and send distress signals off. SENATOR SMITH: What do you mean by clearing the decks? MR. BOXHALL: Clearing the boats, I should say. SENATOR SMITH: At that time were passengers on these decks? MR. BOXHALL: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: Men and women? MR. BOXHALL: Men and women, yes, coming up. SENATOR SMITH: What were they doing? MR. BOXHALL: I was too busy to take notice, as a matter of fact. SENATOR SMITH: Did they have life preservers on, or life belts? MR. BOXHALL: Yes; I think all of them had life preservers that I saw. SENATOR SMITH: Would you be willing to say that, so far as your observation went­­ MR. BOXHALL: They all had them, I should say, as far as my observation went. SENATOR SMITH: Men and women? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Children? MR. BOXHALL: I was around the bridge most of the time. SENATOR SMITH: I want to get your best information about it. MR. BOXHALL: I was around the bridge most of the time, sending off distress signals and endeavoring to signal to a ship that was ahead of us. SENATOR SMITH: Taking the signals from the captain? MR. BOXHALL: No, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Carrying them yourself to the operator? MR. BOXHALL: No; distress signals ­ rockets. SENATOR SMITH: On the ship? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Did you return again to the wireless room? MR. BOXHALL: No. SENATOR SMITH: You say these passengers were gathered about on all decks? MR. BOXHALL: I did not leave the boat deck after that. SENATOR SMITH: You remained on the boat deck? MR. BOXHALL: On the upper deck. SENATOR SMITH: Where these lifeboats were? MR. BOXHALL: Where these lifeboats were. SENATOR SMITH: And did you take part in clearing? MR. BOXHALL: Generally assisting. SENATOR SMITH: Assisting in lowering these lifeboats? MR. BOXHALL: Not in lower them, sir. SENATOR SMITH: In manning them? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir; in manning them; but my attention until the time I left the ship was mostly taken up with firing off distress rockets and trying to signal a steamer that was almost ahead of us. SENATOR SMITH: How far ahead of you? MR. BOXHALL: It is hard to say. I saw his masthead lights and I saw his side light. SENATOR SMITH: In what direction? MR. BOXHALL: Almost ahead of us. SENATOR SMITH: On the same course, apparently? MR. BOXHALL: No; oh., no. SENATOR SMITH: On the same general course? MR. BOXHALL: By the way she was heading she seemed to be meeting us. SENATOR SMITH: Coming toward you? MR. BOXHALL: Coming toward us. SENATOR SMITH: Do you know anything about what boat that was? MR. BOXHALL: No, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Have you had any information since about it? MR. BOXHALL: None whatever. SENATOR SMITH: You say you fired these rockets and otherwise attempted to signal her? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. She got close enough, as I thought, to read our electric Morse signal, and I signaled to her; I told her to come at once, we were sinking; and the captain was standing­­­ SENATOR SMITH: This was the signal? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Go ahead. MR. BOXHALL: I told the captain about this ship, and he was with me most of the time when we were signaling. SENATOR SMITH: Did he also see it? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Did he tell you to do anything else to arrest its attention? MR. BOXHALL: I went over and started the Morse signal. He said, "Tell him to come at once, we are sinking." SENATOR SMITH: You were sinking already, you say? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: "Come at once, we are sinking?" MR. BOXHALL: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: What would be that signal? MR. BOXHALL: It was sent in the Morse key, the Morse code. SENATOR SMITH: And you did that? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: And did you get any reply? MR. BOXHALL: I can not say I saw any reply. Some people say she replied to our rockets and our signals, but I did not see them. SENATOR SMITH: Was any attempt made to get in wireless communication after you saw this boat ­ what you took to be a boat? MR. BOXHALL: I do not know what was transpiring in the wireless room. SENATOR SMITH: These signals you utilized were Morse signals? MR. BOXHALL: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: Are they recognized as standard for the sea? MR. BOXHALL: Oh, yes. SENATOR SMITH: Are they a part of the British regulations? MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Did you see any signals from this ship at all? MR. BOXHALL: No; I can not say that I saw any signals, except her ordinary steaming light. Some people say they saw signals, but I could not. SENATOR SMITH: In referring to "some people," whom do you mean? MR. BOXHALL: People who were around the bridge. SENATOR SMITH: Passengers? MR. BOXHALL: No; I should not say passengers. SENATOR SMITH: Officers? MR. BOXHALL: I think it was stewards. SENATOR SMITH: Stewards; the crew? MR. BOXHALL: And people waiting in the boats, or something. SENATOR SMITH: They saw some of these signals? MR. BOXHALL: Some men said they saw her signals. SENATOR SMITH: From what you saw of that vessel, how far would you think she was from the Titanic? MR. BOXHALL: I should say approximately the ship would be about 5 miles. SENATOR SMITH: What lights did you see? MR. BOXHALL: The two masthead lights and the red light. SENATOR SMITH: Were the two masthead lights the first lights that you could see? MR. BOXHALL: The first lights. SENATOR SMITH: And what other lights? MR. BOXHALL: And then, as she got closer, she showed her side light, her red light. SENATOR SMITH: So you were quite sure she was coming in your direction? MR. BOXHALL: Quite sure. SENATOR SMITH: How long was this before the boat sank? MR. BOXHALL: It is hard to tell. I had no idea of the time then; I do not know what time it was then. SENATOR SMITH: Can you recall about how long it was after the collision? MR. BOXHALL: No. SENATOR SMITH: Was this information communicated to the wireless operators? MR. BOXHALL: What communication, sir? SENATOR SMITH: Was this information communicated to the wireless operators? MR. BOXHALL: Not to my knowledge. SENATOR SMITH: Did you know that they had sent out a distress signal? MR. BOXHALL: Oh, yes.