SENATOR SMITH: Did you see any man, woman, or child refused permission to get into a lifeboat?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you see any man, woman, or child ejected from a lifeboat?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you see any man or woman attempt to reach a lifeboat while you were on deck or when your lifeboat was in the water?
MR. BOXHALL: Do you mean to rush it, or get in quietly?
SENATOR SMITH: To struggle to get in?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; I did not.
SENATOR SMITH: To try to get in or attempt to get in?
MR. BOXHALL: I saw several get in, but all I saw try to get in got in.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you see any get in from the water?
MR. BOXHALL: No.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you see anyone in the water attempt to get in?
MR. BOXHALL: I did not see anyone in the water. It was dark, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: So you could not see anyone?
MR. BOXHALL: I could not see anybody in the water. I was looking around for them, keeping my eyes open, but I did not see anyone.
SENATOR SMITH: If you had seen someone in the water, what would you have done?
MR. BOXHALL: Taken them in the boat at once.
SENATOR SMITH: No matter whether its capacity was apparently taxed or not?
MR. BOXHALL: I should have taken them in the boat.
SENATOR SMITH: You would not have left them?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: If you had seen any struggling man or woman in the water­­
MR. BOXHALL: I should have taken them in as far as safety would allow; but I did not see anyone in the water.
SENATOR SMITH: On that particular morning the water was calm?
MR. BOXHALL: Perfectly calm.
SENATOR SMITH: And unruffled, was it?
MR. BOXHALL: Perfectly calm.
SENATOR SMITH: So that each boat could have accommodated its full capacity?
MR. BOXHALL: Oh, yes.
SENATOR SMITH: Safely?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: How many people were in your boat?
MR. BOXHALL: I estimate about 25, as nearly as I can tell.
SENATOR SMITH: Was that its full capacity?
MR. BOXHALL: I reckoned between 25 and 30 that the boat had in her. I did not find out exactly how many she had. I think 30 would be about all she could carry.
SENATOR SMITH: You did not count them?
MR. BOXHALL: I tried to count them.
SENATOR SMITH: But you did not succeed?
MR. BOXHALL: There were some people in the boat that did not speak English, who did not answer.
SENATOR SMITH: But you could count them?
MR. BOXHALL: I could not count them.
SENATOR SMITH: You could not see them or could not make them answer?
MR. BOXHALL: I could not make them answer.
SENATOR SMITH: You tried to count them by having each­­
MR. BOXHALL: Sing out his number.
SENATOR SMITH: Sing out his number?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: And you could not see with your eyes sufficiently plainly to count them?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; I could not. Then I found out that I had more people in the boat than I thought I had, perhaps.
SENATOR SMITH: How many did you have?
MR. BOXHALL: I did not count them, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: But you found you had more than you thought you had? How did you find that out?
MR. BOXHALL: By the time it took me to discharge that boat in smooth water. They were crawling out from under thwarts and everywhere. That is the way I found it out.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You were not in a lifeboat?
MR. BOXHALL: In a small lifeboat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Not a collapsible boat?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; not a collapsible boat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: A sea boat?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You divide them into three classes of boats: First, the lifeboats that hold 65 people; second, the sea boats that hold 25 or 30?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes.
SENATOR FLETCHER: And the collapsible boats?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You were not in a lifeboat?
MR. BOXHALL: I was in a sea boat.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Just let me ask you one question. You say you could not see any of those icebergs until dawn, but you heard the lapping of the water?
MR. BOXHALL: Will you repeat that question?
SENATOR NEWLANDS: I understand you to say that you could not see any of those icebergs until dawn, but you heard the lapping of the water against the icebergs?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes; that is what I said.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: That was a clear night, was it?
MR. BOXHALL: Perfectly clear; starlight. You could almost see the stars set.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How do you account for the fact that you could not see the icebergs if the night was so clear?
MR. BOXHALL: I do not know. I do not know what it was about it. I could not understand. Of course, sound travels quite a long way on the water, and being so close to the water, and it being such a calm night, you would probably hear the water lapping on those bergs for quite a long, long ways.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: In your experience on the water, had you come across many icebergs prior to this time?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes; I have come across a good few, I suppose.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: It is always difficult to see them at night?
MR. BOXHALL: No, not always; not always. On such a night as that, even if there had been no moon, you can very, very often see an iceberg by the water on the sides of it; that is, if there is a little breeze. But when the water is in one of those oily calms­­
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Will you speak a little louder?
MR. BOXHALL: It was like an oily calm when the Titanic struck, and for a long, long time after we were in the boats, and you could not see anything at all then.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: You judge of the presence of icebergs, then, by the appearance of the water around the icebergs and by the sight of bergs themselves; is that it?
MR. BOXHALL: On such a night as that, yes.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: And when the sea is smooth it is difficult, then, to discern this appearance?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes. I think if there had been a little ripple on the water we should have stood a very good chance of seeing that iceberg in time to miss it ­ in time to clear it.
SENATOR SMITH: We will adjourn now until 10 o'clock to­morrow morning, and I desire to ask you to be present promptly in the morning, Mr. Boxhall, and we will try and hasten our examination as fast as possible.
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
At 6:20 p.m. the subcommittee adjourned until to­morrow, Tuesday, April 23, 1912, at 10 o'clock a.m.
