SENATOR PERKINS: And it was the same way with both of you men?
MR. HOGG: Yes; about two months ago, I think, my eyes were tested.
SENATOR PERKINS: In an ordinary way, can you not see better with your plain eyes than you can with artificial glasses?
MR. HOGG: But the idea of the glasses, sir, is that if you happen to see something on the horizon you can pick your ship out, if it is a ship, for instance.
SENATOR PERKINS: As soon as you see anything, you signal the officer on the bridge, do you not?
MR. HOGG: Yes, sir; you would strike the bell. But you would make sure, if you had the glasses that it was a vessel and not a piece of cloud on the horizon. On a very nice night, with the stars shining, sometimes you might think it was a ship when it was a star on the horizon. If you had glasses, you could soon find out whether it was a star or not.
SENATOR PERKINS: As soon as you discover anything unusual, however, you call the attention of the officer on the bridge to it, do you not?
MR. HOGG: Quite so.
SENATOR PERKINS: And he has glasses, of course?
MR. HOGG: He has glasses, sir; yes, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: Is there anything that you want to state that could have been done to save these people, aside from that?
MR. HOGG: That is all I can suggest.
SENATOR PERKINS: If you had had life rafts on board more could have been saved, could they not?
MR. HOGG: If we had had more boats I dare say that we could have got away with a lot more.
SENATOR PERKINS: The general feeling, though, you said, was that the ship was safe, and that she was not going to sink. What was the general opinion that prevailed as to the seaworthiness of the ship?
MR. HOGG: I should say that I never thought she was going to sink. I went to relieve the lookout 20 minutes after accident. I thought she was not going down.
SENATOR PERKINS: There was a general feeling of confidence among the sailormen that she was perfectly secure?
MR. HOGG: Yes, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: And unsinkable?
MR. HOGG: Yes, sir; that she was unsinkable.
SENATOR PERKINS: Unless you have something more to state that you think will throw light on this subject, that will be all; and we thank you for what you have said.
MR. HOGG: That is all I have to say, except this: I think all the women ought to have a gold medal on their breasts. God bless them. I will always raise my hat to a woman, after what I saw.
SENATOR PERKINS: What country women were they?
MR. HOGG: They were American women that I had in mind. They were all Americans.
SENATOR PERKINS: Did they man the oars? Did they take the oars and pull?
MR. HOGG: Yes, sir. I took the oar all the time, myself, and one lady steered. Then I got another lady to steer, and she gave me a hand on the oar, to keep herself warm.
SENATOR PERKINS: One of the boats picked up a lot of people that were on the upturned collapsible boat?
MR. HOGG: I did not see that. I believe that is so.
SENATOR PERKINS: You people had no buoy, nor anything but the life preservers that you picked up?
MR. HOGG: That is all.
SENATOR PERKINS: Is there anything else that you can think of, any recommendation or suggestion that you have to make? If so, we would like to have you do so.
MR. HOGG: That is all, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: I say that because you are good practical men, and have had a great deal of experience. I thank you very much. We will excuse you now. That is all. To­morrow morning, we will take up this matter, and probably you can go home. You want to go home to England, all of you, do you?
MR. HOGG: Yes, sir; we are all married men, waiting to get back home.
SENATOR PERKINS: Are you a married man, Mr. Symons?
MR. SYMONS: No, sir; but I have my mother and father waiting for me.
SENATOR PERKINS: You are a married man, Mr. Hogg?
MR. HOGG: Yes, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: How many children?
MR. HOGG: Two, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: Your home is in Hull, also?
MR. HOGG: All my people are there, but my wife is in Southampton. I make Southampton my home now. I married a Hampshire woman.
SENATOR PERKINS: I thank you very much for your statement. There is one other thing I wanted to ask. Are you all temperate men? I want to ask whether there was any drunkenness among any of the crew?
MR. SYMONS: None whatever, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: You are personally acquainted with the habits of the crew. Were there any drinking men among them?
MR. SYMONS: We never allowed it to be served on board the ship, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: No liquor whatever was allowed to be served them?
MR. SYMONS: No, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: There was none in the forecastle or in the mess room with you?
MR. SYMONS: No, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: You never saw a man under the influence of liquor on the voyage?
MR. HOGG: No, sir; I do not see where they could get it from.
SENATOR PERKINS: None was permitted or allowed on board?
MR. HOGG: No, sir.
SENATOR PERKINS: One of you has stated that his boat picked up eight people and the other that he did not pick up any. Could you not have picked up some people just as well as this other man? Could you have done it just as well as this other man?
MR. HOGG: I wanted to assist in picking up people, but I had an order from the boat: "We have done our best; go on to the Carpathia; we have picked up all we can find;" and I said, "Very good."
SENATOR PERKINS: Who gave you that order?
MR. HOGG: Somebody in the boat ­ I do not know who it was ­ said not to take any more, that we had done our best.
SENATOR PERKINS: I merely asked the question because of the natural thought that if one boat picked up eight persons, the other boat might have been able to do so. You did not get any orders, Mr. Symons, not to pick up any more people?
MR. SYMONS: No, sir; there were no more around about where I was.
SENATOR PERKINS: Were these those two boats the same size?
MR. HOGG: They were the same size.
SENATOR PERKINS: As I understand, one of the boats had more packed into it than the other. As I understand it, Mr. Symons pulled away from the ship; and then, when he came back there, they picked up all the people there were around.
Whereupon, at 6 o'clock p.m., the taking of testimony before Senator Perkins was concluded.
TESTIMONY OF JOHN HARDY.
[Testimony taken separately before Senator Fletcher on behalf of the subcommittee.]
The witness was sworn by Senator Fletcher.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Will you state your full name?
MR. HARDY: John Hardy, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Where do you reside?
MR. HARDY: Oakleigh, Holy Rood Avenue, Highfield, Southampton.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What is your age, Mr. Hardy?
MR. HARDY: I am 36 years old.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Are you married or single?
MR. HARDY: I am married. I have a wife and two children.
SENATOR FLETCHER: How long have you followed the sea?
MR. HARDY: I have been 14 years at sea.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What is your position now?
MR. HARDY: Now and for the last seven years I have been chief steward, second class.
SENATOR FLETCHER: With what company are you employed?
MR. HARDY: I have [been] in the White Star Line service for 12 years past.
SENATOR FLETCHER: With what ships were you employed?
MR. HARDY: I was with the Majestic, the Adriatic, the Olympic, the Teutonic and the Titanic.
SENATOR FLETCHER: When did you ship with the Titanic?
MR. HARDY: I shipped with the Titanic on her last voyage.
SENATOR FLETCHER: In what capacity?
MR. HARDY: As second­class steward.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did anything unusual occur on that voyage?
MR. HARDY: Nothing unusual occurred until we struck the iceberg.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What are your duties?
MR. HARDY: My duties were to be around the ship until 11 o'clock at night, when I would see to the closing up of the rooms and the turning out of lights.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You may begin now at the time of the collision of the Titanic with the iceberg, and state fully what happened.
MR. HARDY: I did not retire until 25 minutes after 11. I went down to my room after going around the ship and seeing that all the unnecessary lights were out. I went to my room and stripped and turned in. I had not been more than five minutes before I heard this slight shock. I got up and slipped on my pants and coat over my pajamas and went on deck to see what the trouble was. I got on deck and could not see anything, and I went below again and turned in again within about 10 minutes after I had gone on deck.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What deck?
MR. HARDY: I had gone up then to B deck to look over the ship's side to see if I could see anything. I could not see anything and I went below and retired again and was reading a few minutes when the chief first­class steward came to my room and asked me to get up, as he thought it was pretty serious, that she was making water forward. I went with him forward to see what water she was making, and on my return to my end of the ship I met Purser Barker.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Who was he?
MR. HARDY: Purser Barker. He advised me or told me to get the people on deck with their life belts on as a precaution. Immediately I sent down for all hands to come up. The stewards were interested in their own cabins, because they had all retired, and the middle watch came on at 12. They all came along, and I went among the people and told those people to go on deck with the life belts on, and we assisted the ladies with the belts, those that hadn't their husbands with them, and we assisted in getting the children out of bed. I also aroused the stewardesses to assist them. The whole of the men came, and they assisted me in going around calling the different passengers.
SENATOR FLETCHER: On which deck? Was it on just the one deck?
MR. HARDY: On all the decks, sir; D, E, and F.
SENATOR FLETCHER: How many men did you have?
MR. HARDY: I had 12. The whole class numbered 70, which, of course, they were not interested in bedrooms, consequently it is only the bedroom stewards that would be interested in the rooms. We commenced to close the water­tight doors on F deck. I assisted the bedroom stewards also in sending the people up through the companionways to the upper decks.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Who told you to close the water­tight doors?
MR. HARDY: We had this order also from Mr. Barker, when he told me to rouse the people as a precaution.
I got them all up on the outer decks, and they were grouped about the ship in different parts, and I went to my station at the boat, which was boat 1, on the starboard side. I saw that lowered before I myself got there; that is, I myself did not get into it, as there was no room. By that time all the starboard boats had gone, and I went over to the port side and assisted the ladies and children in getting into the boats, and finally I was working on deck until the last collapsible boat was launched.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Where was that located?
MR. HARDY: Right forward, on the port side. We launched this filled with passengers. We launched the boat parallel with the ship's side, and Mr. Lightoller and myself, two sailors and two firemen ­ the two sailors were rigging the poles and getting them in working order and Mr. Lightoller and myself loaded the boat. When the boat was full, Mr. Lightoller was in the boat with me; and the chief officer came along and asked if the boat was full, and he said yes. He said he would step out himself and make room for somebody else, and he stepped back on board the ship and asked if I could row. I told him I could, and I went away in that boat.
We lowered away and got to the water, and the ship was then at a heavy list to port by the time we commenced to lower away. We got clear of the ship and rowed out some little distance from her, and finally we all got together, about seven boats of us, and I remember quite distinctly Boatswain Lowe telling us to tie up to each other, as we would be better seen and could keep better together. Then Officer Lowe, having a full complement of passengers in his boat, distributed among us what he had, our boat taking 10. We had 25 already, and that number made 35.
Officer Lowe then returned with his crew back to the ship to pick up all he could. I found out afterwards he had picked up some. We hung around then until dawn, until we sighted the Carpathia, pulling now and again. We were towed up by Mr. Lowe with a sail to the Carpathia, not having enough men in the boat to pull. There was only just this quartermaster and myself, two firemen, and about four gentlemen passengers, and the balance were women and children.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Do you know the names of the quartermaster and firemen?
MR. HARDY: I do not know the names of the firemen, but Bright was the quartermaster, and he took the tiller. He was using an oar to steer by. I myself pulled with all my might.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Do you know the names of any of the passengers?
MR. HARDY: No, sir; I do not. They were all strangers to me. There were a number of third­class passengers, that were Syrians, in the bottom of the boat, chattering the whole night in their strange language.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Then you were taken aboard the Carpathia?
MR. HARDY: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What boat had been unloaded before you got to the Carpathia?
MR. HARDY: Five or six of them, or possibly more. We were some of the last.
SENATOR FLETCHER: How many boats had been lowered before you lowered the collapsible?
MR. HARDY: All the lifeboats had been lowered and had left the ship.
SENATOR FLETCHER: All of the lifeboats?
MR. HARDY: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: And the sea boats?
MR. HARDY: They are lifeboats. Those are the wooden boats.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Had the other collapsibles gone?
MR. HARDY: From the port side?
SENATOR FLETCHER: Yes.
MR. HARDY: I do not know that.
SENATOR FLETCHER: This was on the starboard side?
MR. HARDY: I came in the last collapsible boat that left the ship and, greatly to my surprise, when I got on the Carpathia I saw Officer Lightoller coming in the following afternoon. When he stepped from this collapsible boat, I was sure he had gone down in the ship and I was greatly surprised when I saw him on the Carpathia.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you see Mr. Ismay at any time?
MR. HARDY: I never saw Mr. Ismay from Southampton until to­day in this building.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You did not even see him on board the Carpathia?
MR. HARDY: No; I did not see him. I was in the second class and more interested in the second class, and was doing all that I could to pacify them.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you take in that collapsible boat all the people that you could take on her or that were there?
MR. HARDY: From where?
SENATOR FLETCHER: From the Titanic, when you were lowered away.
MR. HARDY: Yes; and we took 10 of the other boat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: I mean when you lowered away from the ship did you take all that she would hold safely or all who were there.
