MR. FRANKLIN: Of course the question of the Californian would not have made any difference, because my recollection is that he testified that the Californian was simply wanting to pass an ice message to him about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and he was passing it to the Baltic later, and he picked it up­­
SENATOR SMITH: That was about 5 hours and 40 minutes before the accident occurred?
MR. FRANKLIN: But they got that same information a half an hour later, and whether they got it half an hour earlier or later in this particular case made no difference.
SENATOR SMITH: No; but minutes count in such a situation.
MR. FRANKLIN: But your point in regard to declining to receive or not receiving, or in regard to indifference in receiving, information of that kind is of course well taken.
SENATOR SMITH: Minutes count. You heard the testimony of the lookout?
MR. FRANKLIN: In this particular case, the minutes did not amount to anything.
SENATOR SMITH: And you heard the testimony of the witness Fleet, the other lookout, that with glasses he could have avoided the iceberg and saved the ship?
MR. FRANKLIN: I did not know that.
SENATOR SMITH: You heard the testimony of the wheelman, Hichens, that if he had gotten his signal to alter his course a few seconds earlier he might have avoided that iceberg.
MR. FRANKLIN: Of course that applies to every accident ­ those remarks ­ because he got it just the moment that the lookout got it.
SENATOR SMITH: Yes; but neither one of them got it in time.
MR. FRANKLIN: No; but they got it as quickly as the human eye could get it, apparently.
SENATOR SMITH: But here was a half hour that the Californian was endeavoring to give the Titanic warning that she was among the icebergs.
MR. FRANKLIN: But that was five hours and a half or three quarters before the accident.
SENATOR SMITH: That is just 30 minutes earlier than any other notice come to the ship, is it not?
MR. FRANKLIN: I do not yet understand what time, if any time, this Amerika notice was received by the ship.
SENATOR SMITH: I have been unable to get that, and I have been unable to get from the officers of the Titanic the exact time when the message from the Californian was received, or whether there was any message from the Californian received at all. Nobody seems to know about it, at all.
MR. FRANKLIN: The operator said he picked up the message from the Californian on the way from the Californian to the Baltic.
SENATOR SMITH: He picked it up through the Baltic, just as Cottam, of the Carpathia, took a message from the Titanic to the Frankfurt, saying "you are a fool; keep out," when the Frankfurt was asking 'What is the matter?" I think the direct call ought to be responded to the moment it is made; and it ought to have been.
MR. FRANKLIN: I think they ought to respond to every call of that kind they get; they ought to at once.
SENATOR SMITH: And he did not do it in this instance?
MR. FRANKLIN: I can only refer you to his testimony; I do not know.
SENATOR SMITH: You heard it?
MR. FRANKLIN: I heard it; it is a matter of record.
SENATOR SMITH: Now, you say you think that as the result of this inquiry some improvement may be made by congressional legislation which will have a tendency to remove some of the causes which contributed to the accident.
MR. FRANKLIN: That, I take it, is the very important object of this investigation.
SENATOR SMITH: That, I say to you, is the direct object of this investigation. Now, you have been present all the time, and I saw you first of the officials of the White Star Co. on the dock in New York when the Carpathia arrived, and I want to ask you whether you have been treated with consideration and courtesy throughout the inquiry?
MR. FRANKLIN: Well, I certainly have.
SENATOR SMITH: So far as you know, have the officials of your company been similarly treated?
MR. FRANKLIN: I think they have had every courtesy and consideration. The only question is that we could like it very much if, when one of our witnesses has testified, he would be allowed to proceed home. This is a matter of expediency, of which you are the best judge.
SENATOR SMITH: And which I have refused to allow; I refused that permission.
MR. FRANKLIN: You have refused permission, so far as I know.
SENATOR SMITH: I want you to know that that has not been done in any captious way, or for the purpose of criticizing anybody, or for the purpose of inconveniencing anybody, but because each day's proceedings bring out a little more strongly than the preceding day's circumstances surrounding this affair; and the body which we represent would not be satisfied, and the people they represent will not be satisfied, if we do not make the inquiry thorough and painstaking. As I understand you, you have no criticism to make of the course that has been pursued?
MR. FRANKLIN: We quite appreciate that, Senator, and we are very anxious to cooperate with you in every way. We had hoped that would be able to proceed with the witnesses from abroad, who are anxious to get home earlier, and we have been disappointed that that has not been done. But we very thoroughly realize that you have a very important problem on your hands, and you are the best judge of how that should be proceeded with.
SENATOR SMITH: You will admit, Mr. Franklin, that thus far you are the only witness outside of the Britishers who have been witnesses who has been placed on the stand? I refer to and include Maj. Peuchen of Toronto, Canada, whom I also regard as a Britisher. We have placed no one else on the stand, have we, except these officers and men?
MR. FRANKLIN: Well, Mr. Marconi.
SENATOR SMITH: Mr. Marconi is a foreigner.
MR. FRANKLIN: I have tried to make myself clear, that we realize the importance of this investigation; we realize the many matters that are being put before you on all sides; your anxiety to deal fairly with us and everybody else, and we are not wishing you to think for one moment that we are in any way, and I do not want you to think from what I say to you that we are, in any way, complaining. Do I make myself clear to you?
SENATOR SMITH: You do, and I am greatly obliged to you. Do you think we are holding our sessions sufficiently prolonged each day?
MR. FRANKLIN: From my point of view, you could sit day and night; but I think from the point of view of you gentlemen and the others you are doing so.
SENATOR SMITH: For the present I am going to excuse you, and ask the Sergeant at Arms if Mr. Luis Klein is here?
MR. CORNELIUS: No, Sir; he is not.
SENATOR SMITH: Is the captain of the Californian here, or the captain of the Mount Temple?
MR. CORNELIUS: I have seen neither one, yet.
SENATOR FLETCHER: I would like to ask one or two questions. Do you know whether the Titanic or your company give anything in the way of extra pay, any inducements, to the officers or members of the crew of your ship for extra diligence in case of emergency, accident, distress, or anything of that sort?
MR. FRANKLIN: That matter would be dealt with by the management of the ship, located abroad, after the arrival of the steamer. But what the company does, as a matter of fact, is this: Every officer on a steamer which has been run free from all accidents for 12 months gets a bonus ­ the captain and other officers. The slightest accident eliminates that bonus. Therefore it is to every officer's advantage to have his ship run absolutely free from accident.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What do you believe, from your experience in this business, as to whether it would be practicable to run ships in pairs across the ocean?
MR. FRANKLIN: No; I do not think that would be at all practicable.
SENATOR FLETCHER: For what reason?
MR. FRANKLIN: The ships are all of different speeds, and I think it would be an element of risk rather than otherwise, probably. It is better to have the ships separated. From a commercial and business point of view it would be a very different matter to work it out in the way you suggest.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You do not believe, then, it would be practical?
MR. FRANKLIN: I do not believe it would be, and I do not think it would be an element of safety.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Or even add to the safety of passengers, to have ships go in hailing distance of each other?
MR. FRANKLIN: No, I do not think so. I do not think it is a practical matter.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Under your arrangement with the Marconi Co., did the company pay the Titanic for the privilege of operating its machine on the ship, or did the ship pay the Marconi Co.?
MR. FRANKLIN: That I could not go into detail about with you, because the entire arrangement is made between the Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. ­ that is, the White Star Lineand the Marconi Co. in Liverpool, and it is a matter of agreement between the two companies, and we have nothing to do with it on this side of the Atlantic.
SENATOR SMITH: I will ask Mr. Gill, of the Californian, to be sworn
TESTIMONY OF ERNEST GILL.
The witness was duly sworn by Senator Smith.
SENATOR SMITH: What is your full name?
MR. GILL: Ernest Gill.
SENATOR SMITH: Where do you live?
MR. GILL: Liverpool, England.
SENATOR SMITH: How old are you?
MR. GILL: Twenty­nine.
SENATOR SMITH: What is your business?
MR. GILL: Second donkeyman on the steamship Californian.
SENATOR SMITH: I want to read to you the following statement and ask you whether it is true:
I, the undersigned, Ernest Gill, being employed as second donkeyman on the steamer Californian, Capt. Lloyd, give the following statement of the incidents of the night of Sunday, April 14:
I am 29 years of age; native of Yorkshire; single. I was making my first voyage on the Californian.
On the night of April 14 I was on duty from 8 p.m. until 12 in the engine room. At 11:56 I came on deck. The stars were shining brightly. It was very clear and I could see for a long distance. The ship's engines had been stopped since 10:30, and she was drifting amid floe ice. I looked over the rail on the starboard side and saw the lights of a very large steamer about 10 miles away. I could see her broadside lights. I watched her for fully a minute. They could not have helped but see her from the bridge and lookout.
It was now 12 o'clock and I went to my cabin. I woke my mate, William Thomas. He heard the ice crunching alongside the ship and asked, "Are we in the ice?" I replied, "Yes; but it must be clear off to the starboard, for I saw a big vessel going along full speed. She looked as if she might be a big German."
I turned in, but could not sleep. In half an hour I turned out, thinking to smoke a cigarette. Because of the cargo I could not smoke 'tween decks so I went on deck again. I had been on deck about 10 minutes when I saw a white rocket about 10 miles away on the starboard side. I thought it must be a shooting star. In seven or eight minutes I saw distinctly a second rocket in the same place, and I said to myself, "That must be a vessel in distress." It was not my business to notify the bridge or the lookouts; but they could not have helped but see them. I turned in immediately after, supposing that the ship would pay attention to the rockets.
I knew no more until I was awakened at 6:40 by the chief engineer, who said, "Turn out to render assistance. The Titanic has gone down." I exclaimed and leaped from my bunk. I went on deck and found the vessel under way and proceeding full speed. She was clear of the field ice, but there were plenty of bergs about.
I went down on watch and heard the second and fourth engineers in conversation. Mr. J. C. Evans is the second and Mr. Wooten is the fourth. The second was telling the fourth that the third officer had reported rockets had gone up in his watch. I knew then that it must have been the Titanic I had seen. The second engineer added that the captain had been notified by the apprentice officer, whose name, I think, is Gibson, of the rockets. The skipper had told him to Morse to the vessel in distress. Mr. Stone, the second navigating officer, was on the bridge at the time, said Mr. Evans.
I overhead Mr. Evans say that more lights had been shown and more rockets went up. Then, according to Mr. Evans, Mr. Gibson went to the captain again and reported more rockets. The skipper told him to continue to Morse until he got a reply. No reply was received. The next remark I heard the second pass was, "Why in the devil they didn't wake the wireless man up?" The entire crew of the steamer have been talking among themselves about the disregard of the rockets. I personally urged several to join me in protesting against the conduct of the captain, but they refused, because they feared to lose their jobs.
A day or two before the ship reached port the skipper called the quartermaster, who was on duty at the time the rockets were discharged into his cabin. They were in conversation about three­quarters of an hour. The quartermaster declared that he did not see the rockets. I am quite sure that the Californian was less than 20 miles from the Titanic, which the officers report to have been our position. I could not have seen her if she had been more than 10 miles distant, and I saw her very plainly.
I have no ill will toward the captain or any officer of the ship, and I am losing a profitable berth by making this statement. I am actuated by the desire that no captain who refuses or neglects to give aid to a vessel in distress should be able to hush up the men. ERNEST GILL.
Sworn and subscribed to before me this 24th day of April, 1912.
SAMUEL PUTNAM, Notary Public.
I will ask you, witness, whether this statement is correct?
MR. GILL: Yes, sir; that is correct.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What direction was the Californian going?
MR. GILL: We were headed for Boston, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: in what direction were the rockets from the Californian when you first saw them?
MR. GILL: On the starboard side, forward.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Was the Californian passed by the Titanic, her course being the same as the Titanic's course was originally?
MR. GILL: I think she must have passed the Titanic. The Titanic must have passed us first, because we were floating, and that would take a lot out of our way. We were a slower boat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: After the Titanic struck the iceberg did the Californian pass by the Titanic?
MR. GILL: The only way I can account for this, we were stopped in the ocean, and it is not natural for a ship to keep her head one way all the time. She must have been drifting.
SENATOR FLETCHER: How long after the rockets were sent up was it before the Californian got under steam and proceeded?
MR. GILL: I do not know what time she got under way, sir. It was somewhere about 5 o'clock, or in the vicinity of 5 o'clock.
