SENATOR SMITH: Was the bucket with which you dipped this water to make the tests the bucket that was supposed to be with the Titanic or was it something you improvised, that you found yourself, with which to do the work?
MR. HICHENS: It was a small paint tin, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Was it new or was it old?
MR. HICHENS: It was an old one, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: An old one?
MR. HICHENS: One the quartermaster got for the occasion, because we had nothing else, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: How was it fastened to the rope?
MR. HICHENS: Bent on, like any other ordinary thing; bent on the handle just like a bent pin.
SENATOR SMITH: How much water would that bucket hold?
MR. HICHENS: About a quart, sir; if it was full up.
SENATOR SMITH: How much would the ordinary bucket hold that you would find on a ship of that character?
MR. HICHENS: They don't get no buckets at all. That is not the proper thing. The proper thing they use is a long piece of leather, leaded, the shape of that paper that is folded up on the table there [indicating].
SENATOR SMITH: But that you did not have?
MR. HICHENS: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you hear any reports made to the captain or officers as to water entering the ship?
MR. HICHENS: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Are you the man who was taken off the Lapland?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And transferred back to New York?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir; by the pilot boat.
SENATOR SMITH: And you were taken from what boat, this morning in New York?
MR. HICHENS: The Celtic. I have been staying with the Celtic, waiting for inquiry, since last Saturday.
SENATOR SMITH: When would the Celtic have sailed?
MR. HICHENS: She was supposed to have sailed to­morrow, sir. I have been there the last four days, awaiting the inquiry, sir.
SENATOR BOURNE: You say you were taken off the Celtic?
MR. HICHENS: I was not taken off; I walked off. There was a man there­­­
SENATOR SMITH: You were taken off the Lapland?
MR. HICHENS: Off the Lapland. I had no orders as to the inquiry when I went down to the Lapland. I was like all the remainder, sir. I am eager to go home and see my wife and children after a disaster of this description; but when I had orders I was wanted, I was taken ashore, and I came ashore with the pilot boat. I had a letter directing me to the Celtic, to wait there until I had orders to go, which I have done, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You are going back home on the Celtic as soon as the committee gets through with you?
MR. HICHENS: I should very much like to, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Are you going to ship as a sailor and work your own passage back, or would the company pay for it?
MR. HICHENS: I could not very well do that yet. The company will have to do that, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you recall the testimony you gave as to the ship's position or course?
MR. HICHENS: The course was north 71-degrees west, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Is that by the steering compass?
MR. HICHENS: That is by the compass the quartermaster was steering by in the wheelhouse, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: By the true course?
MR. HICHENS: The course in the standard compass and steering compass vary two or three degrees, I think, sir; but the course we get and the course the officers get is different. We repeat our course to the officers, at sea, every quarter hour, and every so often that we are always on course. The captain comes around three or four times, every five minutes, say.
SENATOR SMITH: You left the wheelhouse that Sunday night at­­
MR. HICHENS: (interposing). Twenty­three minutes past 12.
SENATOR SMITH: Were you relieved at the wheelhouse?
MR. HICHENS: I was relieved by Quartermaster Perkiss. He took the wheel from me.
SENATOR SMITH: Did he survive?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, all the quartermasters survived, sir, having charge of boats.
SENATOR SMITH: Your watch had not expired?
MR. HICHENS: My watch had expired; yes.
SENATOR SMITH: When he relieved you?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir. It was my watch to go below then.
SENATOR BOURNE: Did you have daily drills with the lifeboats?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR BOURNE: Fire drills and lifeboat drills every day; is that customary?
MR. HICHENS: I did not see them. The only thing I saw was the emergency boat. There is one emergency boat on each side of the bridge, just abaft the bridge, which is kept, in case of accident, always swung out.
SENATOR BOURNE: There was a daily drill for the emergency boat?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, at 6 o'clock in the evening, usually.
SENATOR SMITH: You know, do you not, that the second officer and the other officers say that there were no daily drills; that the only drill took place at Southampton, when two lifeboats were lowered?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, as regards drilling, that is true, sir; but what I am talking about is the emergency boat. They mustered the men every night at 6 o'clock, in case of emergency, in case they should want the emergency boat on account of a man falling overboard or anything else.
SENATOR SMITH: Do they muster these men every night at 6 o'clock?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Where?
MR. HICHENS: On the bridge; they must them there with an officer.
SENATOR SMITH: And what do they do ­ lower the boat?
MR. HICHENS: No; I have never seen them do that. I have been in the wheelhouse at the time­­
SENATOR SMITH: You did not see them?
MR. HICHENS: No; but I have heard the report, and I have seen the officer as I was going to the wheelhouse; and one evening I might be on the dogwatch, from 6 to 8 o'clock­­­
SENATOR SMITH: But you do not know what they did ­ whether they lowered the boat to the water?
MR. HICHENS: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And that is the drill you referred to?
MR. HICHENS: No; I am not referring to any drill; I am only referring to the mustering of the men at 6 o'clock.
SENATOR SMITH: How many men were mustered?
MR. HICHENS: About 8, I think; 6 seamen and the quartermaster and an officer.
SENATOR SMITH: Every night at 6 o'clock?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: But they go to these two boats, one on the port and one on the starboard side?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And what they do when they get there you do not know of your own knowledge?
MR. HICHENS: No, sir; the boat is always kept in readiness to be gotten out at a moment's notice in case of accident.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you say you have made arrangements to go back on the Cedric?
MR. HICHENS: No, sir; I have not made any arrangements at all. I am awaiting orders, like all the other men.
SENATOR BOURNE: You would like to go?
MR. HICHENS: If I possibly could; yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: It seems to be the judgment of my associates that you should be permitted to go. Is there anything further you would like to say?
MR. HICHENS: I would like to make a little statement as regarding Mrs. Mayer's statement in the newspapers about my drinking the whiskey, sir, and about the blankets. I was very cold, sir, and I was standing up in the boat. I had no hat on. A lady had a flask of whisky or brandy or something of that description, given her by some gentleman on the ship before she left, and she pulled it out and gave me about a tablespoonful, and I drank it. Another lady, who was lying in the bottom of the boat, in a rather weak condition, gave me a half wet and half dry blanket to try to keep myself a little warm, as I was half frozen. I think it was very unkind of her, sir, to make any statement criticizing me. When we got to the ship I handled everyone as carefully as I could, and I was the last one to leave the boat, and I do not think I deserve anything like that to be put in the papers. That is what upset me and got on my nerves.
SENATOR SMITH: Now, Mr. Witness, you have made a special request to be permitted to go. I would like to know from you, if you do go on the boat to­morrow back to England, whether you will return here if the committee desires to have you?
MR. HICHENS: I will, sir; yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And we may communicate with the White Star Line officers and you will hold yourself in readiness to return?
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: That is all; and at their suggestion ­ they seem to be united about it ­ you can be excused.
SENATOR BOURNE: That is, you can go back to England.
MR. KERLIN: Do you include, Mr. Chairman, the other seamen who are similarly situated, and who have been examined? They are most anxious to get home.
SENATOR SMITH: Who are they?
MR. KERLIN: They are Mr. Fleet; the man who was in the other boat, and a steward.
SENATOR SMITH: I did not examine the steward. I only asked him a question or two in New York. Is that Mr. Crawford?
MR. KERLIN: Could any of the officers be allowed to go?
SENATOR SMITH: No, not so far as I am concerned. I would not consent to have them go now; and I do not want to release Mr. Fleet now. I have not finished with Mr. Crawford.
The hearing will stand adjourned until 10 o'clock to­morrow morning. Thereupon, at 6 o'clock and 20 minutes p.m., the subcommittee adjourned until to­morrow, Thursday, April 25, 1912, at 10 o'clock a.m.
ADDITIONAL STATEMENT OF MR. ROBERT HICHENS
After leaving the witness stand, at his request, and while still under oath, Mr. Robert Hichens, wheelman on board the Titanic, who appeared before the committee Wednesday, April 24, made the following statement to Senator Smith:
MR. HICHENS: At 9:45 o'clock p.m., Sunday, the ship was traveling at that rate and going full speed when the log was taken at 10 o'clock.
SENATOR SMITH: You mean by full speed, 22 1/2 miles per hour.
MR. HICHENS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know whether she was running as fast as she could run?
