MR. MOORE: I went on the starboard side of the boat deck and helped clear the boats; swung three of the boats out; helped to lower No. 5 and No. 7. When we swung No. 3 out, I was told to jump in the boat and pass the ladies in. I was told that by the first officer. After we got so many ladies in, and there were no more about, we took in men passengers. We had 32 in the boat, all told, and then we lowered away.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How many of those 32 were men and how many women?
MR. MOORE: I could not say how many were women.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Can you tell how many men there were?
MR. MOORE: No, sir; I could not say exactly.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How many seamen were in the boat?
MR. MOORE: Two seamen were in the boat.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Do you recall whether there were five or six men passengers besides?
MR. MOORE: Yes; there were a few men passengers; and there were some firemen in the boat.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How many firemen?
MR. MOORE: I should say there were five or six firemen.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How did they get in the boat?
MR. MOORE: After all the ladies and children that were about there got in, I suppose anyone jumped in, then.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: What officer was there?
MR. MOORE: The first officer, Mr. Murdock.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did he tell these men to go in?
MR. MOORE: No, sir; he never told them. He got all the women and children in, and the men started to jump in; and when we thought we had a boat full there, we lowered away.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: You think there were five or six firemen in the boat, do you?
MR. MOORE: Yes; I am sure of that.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Were there any stewards?
MR. MOORE: No; not one steward.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Were there any engineers?
MR. MOORE: No; no engineers.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Any stewardesses?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: What officer did you have in the boat?
MR. MOORE: No officer at all, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Who took charge of the boat?
MR. MOORE: I took charge of the boat.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: You had the tiller?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Why did you not take more than 32 in that boat?
MR. MOORE: That is not up to me, sir; that was for the officer on top.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you not think at the time that it ought to have been more heavily loaded?
MR. MOORE: It seemed pretty full, but I dare say we could have jammed more in. The passengers were not anxious to get in the boats; they were not anxious to get in the first lot of boats.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: What was your feeling at the time?
MR. MOORE: I thought, myself, that there was nothing serious the matter until we got away from the ship and she started settling down.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: You would have been as well pleased to have stayed on the ship as to get on the lifeboat?
MR. MOORE: I would at that time, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How soon after getting in the water did you see that the ship was sinking?
MR. MOORE: After we pulled a distance away, sir, you could see her head gradually going down.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Where were the most of the passengers on the ship at the time you left the ship and when you could see the passengers?
MR. MOORE: When we started lowering the boats all I saw was first­class ladies and gentlemen all lined up with the life belts on and coming out of the saloon. I could not say what was on the after part of the ship at all. There was a lot of space between the boats.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Where were the steerage passengers, do you think?
MR. MOORE: I could not answer that. I should say that they were making for the boat deck as well.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: There was nothing to prevent them from coming up to any part of the ship was there?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did they show any disorder?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Was it your view that the ship was an unsinkable ship?
MR. MOORE: That was the talk.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Was that the general idea of the crew on the ship?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: You knew that there were not enough boats to accommodate the entire crew and the passenger list?
MR. MOORE: I knew there were only 20 boats, and I knew they would not carry all the people.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How many did you estimate a boat ought to carry?
MR. MOORE: Fifty or sixty in a boat.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: And 50 in a boat would make 1,000, and 60 in a boat would make 1,200?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: So all the crew knew that's the boats were not sufficient to carry all the passengers and crew off?
MR. MOORE: I suppose they did, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: But they regarded the ship as unsinkable?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Who was the officer in charge on the starboard side, where you loaded these boats?
MR. MOORE: Mr. Murdock was one. He was the only one I recognized.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you know Mr. Ismay?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: He was not pointed out to you?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Do you know any of the passengers on the ship by name?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did all the women who went on your boat go there willingly, or were some of them forced on?
MR. MOORE: They were not forced on at all. They all went of their own will.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did any of the ladies on your boat come back to the ship after being put into the lifeboat?
MR. MOORE: Oh, no; we got clear of the ship as soon as we were lowered in the water.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you take any passengers on your boat in the water?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How far were you from the ship when it sank?
MR. MOORE: I should say just over a quarter of a mile, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: You heard the cries of the people in the water, did you not?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir; everybody heard that, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you see the ship go down?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: What was the appearance of the ship at that point of time?
MR. MOORE: I saw the forward part of her go down, and it appeared to me as if she broke in half, and then the after part went. I can remember two explosions.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did your boat make any effort to go back?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Why not?
MR. MOORE: All the people in the boat wanted to get clear of the ship. They did not want to go near her. They kept urging me to keep away; to pull away from her. In fact, they wanted to get farther away.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you make any effort to go back to the ship?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Why did you not go back and attempt to rescue some of the people who were sinking?
MR. MOORE: Well, sir, we were about a quarter of a mile away, and the cries did not last long. I do not think anybody could live much more than 10 minutes in that cold water. If we had gone back, we would only have had the boat swamped.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Do you think it would have been swamped?
MR. MOORE: Yes; if there were any alive. Five or six pulling on that boat's gunwales would no doubt have capsized the boat.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How long have you been at sea?
MR. MOORE: Seventeen years, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Have you seen ice frequently?
MR. MOORE: No, sir. I do not generally come this way in the wintertime. I go on the Bombay route.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Have you ever seen ice before?
MR. MOORE: Oh, yes; I have seen ice before.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Do you know whether it is customary for ships to slow down when they know that ice is in the vicinity, or do they keep on, relying upon their ability to steer clear?
MR. MOORE: I think they go more to the southward when there is ice.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How about slowing down?
MR. MOORE: I could not answer as to that.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: What did you row for? To what point did you row, or in what direction?
MR. MOORE: We started to pull away in the boat. There was one bright light away on the starboard bow, 2 or 3 miles away, I should judge.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: And you rowed for that light?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir. While we were rowing we came on small ice; you could see small ice in the distance.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: That night; before dawn?
MR. MOORE: Yes; we got away from it.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: You were surrounded by ice at dawn, were you not?
MR. MOORE: Yes, at dawn.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Is it your idea that when the ship struck it was near all this ice at that time?
MR. MOORE: I could not say that, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: When you looked out that night after you struck, did you see any iceberg?
MR. MOORE: I never saw any ice at all until after we got away in the boat.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you see very much then?
MR. MOORE: No, sir; it did not look like much.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Was it high?
MR. MOORE: No, sir; it was low.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: But the ice you saw in the morning was high?
MR. MOORE: Yes. There was ice all around in the morning.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Was it your idea that that ice had floated down in your direction, or did you think you had floated down into it?
MR. MOORE: I believe the ice we saw in the morning was to the northward of where the Titanic had gone down.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Do you think that ice had been to the northward of the Titanic?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: And was slowly coming down?
MR. MOORE: Yes. There were lots of bergs around, and there was a great field of ice, I should say between 20 and 30 miles long.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Solid ice?
MR. MOORE: Yes. The stretch of ice was very low, but there were also big bergs.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Would it have been possible for a ship to make its way among that ice?
MR. MOORE: No, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: It would have had to avoid it altogether?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did the Carpathia have to exercise much care in getting out of the ice?
MR. MOORE: When we went aboard the Carpathia there was ice all around, and I believe after I got aboard we had to steam all around it.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: And was the ice to the northward of you then?
MR. MOORE: I could not say, because I never knew the direction the ship's head was.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Well, the ship soon took a direction toward the southwest, did it not?
MR. MOORE: I could not say.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: It must have done so in order to go to New York.
MR. MOORE: I should say it went to the westward, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Then, were these icebergs to the north of your ship at that time or the south?
MR. MOORE: I could not say. I do not know what the direction of the ship was when she started steaming away.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Take that entire crew. Do you think that entire crew was able to work together as well as if that ship had been running for six months or a year?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir. I think they were all trained men, sir. They were all able seamen.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: And knew their business?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Do you think they could work together with the same effectiveness­­
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: There were about 750, crew and passengers, saved, and your boats were able to accommodate about 50 per boat, which would make 1,000, or, at the rate of 60, 1,200. How do you account for it that more were not saved?
MR. MOORE: Well, I should say that in the first lot of boats that went away people were not eager to get in them. All the people around about were put in the boat and they were lowered away, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Were they urged to go in the boat?
MR. MOORE: They were told to come along and jump in, ladies and children first.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: When there were no more ladies and children, were the men urged to get in?
MR. MOORE: Anyone could jump in then, as far as I know, to fill the boat up, to get it away.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How many could you safely lower to the water, 70 feet below, in one of those boats; what would you regard as a wise method of loading those boats from the boat deck?
MR. MOORE: I should say from 30 to 40 people.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: And then you would expect to take on more when the boat got in the water?
MR. MOORE: We could have taken more, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you wait there at all, for people to offer themselves, when you got down to the water?
MR. MOORE: No; we were told to go clear of the ship.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Were you given any instructions to pull in any particular direction?
MR. MOORE: No, sir. I think everyone pulled toward this white light.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: What did you think that light was at the time?
MR. MOORE: I thought it was a fisherman. That is what I thought. It was only just one single light.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did that light disappear?
MR. MOORE: We kept pulling for it until daylight, and we could not see a thing of it then.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you have this light in view all the time while you were pulling a the oars?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How far do you think you pulled from the point where the ship went down?
MR. MOORE: I could hardly say.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Do you suppose you pulled as far as 10 miles?
MR. MOORE: No, sir. We were going against the current.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Was there a current?
MR. MOORE: I should say so, sir. We kept the boat's head to the wind. We kept going toward this white light.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: You were sure that the light was there?
MR. MOORE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: It was a genuine light, you think?
MR. MOORE: Yes; one bright light.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: There were 750 saved, in all, and of them 210 belonged to the crew, and of the 210 about 15 were women, stewardesses. How do you account for the fact that such a large proportion of those people saved belonged to the crew?
MR. MOORE: I can only account for the seamen being saved, two in each boat. That would number just about the number of seamen who were saved.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: That would be about 40?
MR. MOORE: Yes; I think there were 39 saved.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: How do you account for the 79 or 80 firemen being saved?
MR. MOORE: I could not answer as to that.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did they rush into the boats?
MR. MOORE: I do not think there was any rush at all, sir. I think a few were picked up in the water.
Witness excused.
TESTIMONY OF THOMAS JONES.
[Testimony taken separately before Senator Newlands on behalf of the subcommittee.]
The witness was sworn by Senator Newlands.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Where do you live?
MR. JONES: No. 68 Nessfield Street, Liverpool, England
SENATOR NEWLANDS: What is your occupation?
MR. JONES: Seaman.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Were you one of the boats' crew on the Titanic?
MR. JONES: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: Did you have any drill of the boats' crew?
MR. JONES: Oh, yes.
SENATOR NEWLANDS: On the Titanic?
MR. JONES: Yes, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS : When?
MR. JONES: Before leaving Southampton, sir.
SENATOR NEWLANDS : How oft is it customary to have a drill of the boats' crew?
