MR. LORD: Nothing more until about something between then and half past 4, I have a faint recollection of the apprentice opening my room door; opening it and shutting it. I said, "What is it?" He did not answer and I went to sleep again. I believe the boy came down to deliver me the message that this steamer had steamed away from us to the southwest, showing several of those flashes or white rockets; steamed away to the southwest.
SENATOR SMITH: Captain, these Morse signals are a sort of language or method by which ships speak to one another?
MR. LORD: Yes, sir; at night.
SENATOR SMITH: The rockets that are used are for the same purpose and are understood, are they not, among mariners?
MR. LORD: As being distress rockets?
SENATOR SMITH: Yes.
MR. LORD: Oh, yes; you never mistake a distress rocket.
SENATOR SMITH: Suppose the Morse signals and the rockets were displayed and exploded on the Titanic continuously for a half to three­quarters of an hour after she struck ice, would you, from the position of your ship on a night like Sunday night, have been able to see those signals?
MR. LORD: From the positions she was supposed to have been in?
SENATOR SMITH: Yes.
MR. LORD: We could not have seen her Morse code; that is an utter impossibility.
SENATOR SMITH: Could you have seen rockets?
MR. LORD: I do not think so. Nineteen and a half miles is a long ways. It would have been way down on the horizon. It might have been mistaken for a shooting star or anything at all.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you see anything of the Amerika during that voyage?
MR. LORD: No.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you see anything of the Frankfurt?
MR. LORD: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: Where and when?
MR. LORD: I met him 5 or 10 minutes past 12, after I was leaving the Titanic, the scene of the disaster. He was running along parallel with the ice, apparently trying to find an opening, and he saw me coming through, and he headed for the place I was coming out, and as we came out he went in. He went through the same place toward the scene of the disaster.
SENATOR SMITH: Where was the Frankfurt headed?
MR. LORD: He was running about south­southeast, when I saw him, coming away from the northwest.
SENATOR SMITH: For what port?
MR. LORD: I saw in the papers since, he had arrived in Breton Harbor. I did not know then.
SENATOR SMITH: Had you any means of fixing his position at any time between 10 and 12 o'clock Sunday night?
MR. LORD: Oh, no; none whatever.
SENATOR SMITH: Or between 10 o'clock Sunday night and 2 o'clock Monday morning?
MR. LORD: None whatever.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know the captain of the Frankfurt?
MR. LORD: I never met him.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know, of your own knowledge, whether you have ever exchanged wireless messages with the Frankfurt?
MR. LORD: Yes, sir, we did; on the morning of this disaster, or the morning after the disaster.
SENATOR SMITH: Where were you at that time?
MR. LORD: We were stopped in this position I have given you.
SENATOR SMITH: At the scene of the wreck?
MR. LORD: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: And where, with reference to distance or longitude and latitude was the Frankfurt?
MR. LORD: I do not know; he did not give us his position.
SENATOR SMITH: What hour was this?
MR. LORD: I suppose shortly after 5.
SENATOR SMITH: In the morning?
MR. LORD: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Sunday morning?
MR. LORD: No, Monday morning; the day after the accident.
SENATOR SMITH: And what did he say?
MR. LORD: I think the first message we got was, "ship sunk." But I understand between the German and English operators they do not always grasp one another's messages; there is a little confusion about it. Apparently we did not get it. The first report I got to the bridge that morning, after I had sent down and had the operator called, the chief officer came back and said, "He reports a ship sunk." I said, "Go back and wait until you find out what it is. Get some news about it." So he went back, and I suppose 10 minutes afterwards he came back and said, "The Titanic is sunk, and hit an iceberg."
SENATOR SMITH: The wireless operator told you that?
MR. LORD: No; he did not tell me. The chief officer was delivering the message. I was on the bridge, and he was running backward and forward to the operating room. I said, "Go back again and find the position as quickly as possible." So he went back, and he came back, and said, "We have a position here, but it seems a bit doubtful." I said, "You must get me a better position. We do not want to go on a wild goose chase." So, in the meantime, I marked off the position from the course given me by the Frankfurt in the message just from one operator to another. I marked that off and headed the ship down there.
SENATOR SMITH: Will you kindly give it to us?
MR. LORD: I gave it to you earlier.
SENATOR SMITH: That was your position?
MR. LORD: That was the position of the Titanic given by the Frankfurt.
SENATOR SMITH: I recall that. I thought you said you had the position of the Frankfurt?
MR. LORD: No, sir; he gave me the position of the Titanic disaster.
SENATOR SMITH: Was that the first information you got of the sinking of the Titanic?
MR. LORD: That was the first information.
SENATOR SMITH: You received it from the North German­Lloyd boat, Frankfurt?
MR. LORD: The Frankfurt.
SENATOR SMITH: And that was about 5?
MR. LORD: Shortly after 5; between 5 and half past.
SENATOR SMITH: Monday morning?
MR. LORD: Monday morning.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you have any further communication between your ship and the Frankfurt until you met later that day?
MR. LORD: I do not think so. As we were trying to get official news from the Frankfurt the Virginian chipped in, and he gave me this message, which I will read to you.
SENATOR SMITH: Give the date.
MR. LORD: There is no date on it. There was great excitement then and no date was put on.
SENATOR SMITH: Give the time of the day.
MR. LORD: 4:10 a.m., New York time.
SENATOR SMITH: Can you tell where it was received?
MR. LORD: No; it was given right away.
SENATOR SMITH: I understand, but was it received Monday or Sunday night?
MR. LORD: Well, there is nothing on it at all, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you recollect?
MR. LORD: I remember perfectly well, at 6 o'clock; here it is in the log book:
Six o'clock, received message re Titanic.
This is from the Virginian.
Captain­
It does not say what ship­
Titanic struck berg; wants assistance; urgent; ship sinking; passengers in boats. His position is 41-degrees 46-minutes, longitude 40-degrees 15-minutes. Campbell, Commander.
SENATOR SMITH: You heard nothing further from that source?
MR. LORD: From the Virginian? I had a message about an hour and a half after. He said, "When you get to the scene of disaster will you please give me particulars of what is happening?"
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know, or does your log show, or are you able to determine from your chart, the depth of the water where the Titanic sank?
MR. LORD: Well, I see it is approximately 2,000 fathoms, which would be 12,000 feet.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Let me ask you a question with reference to that steamer you saw 4 miles away. What was her position in reference to your ship­­­
MR. LORD: Pretty near south of us, 4 miles to the south.
SENATOR FLETCHER: (continuing) As to being on the starboard or port side.
MR. LORD: Well, on our ordinary course, our ordinary course was about west, true; but on seeing the ice, we were so close we had to reverse the engine and put her full speed astern, and the action of reversing toward the ship to starboard, and we were heading about northeast true. When this man was coming along he was showing his green light on our starboard side, before midnight. After midnight we slowly blew around and showed him our red light.
SENATOR FLETCHER: And he passed southwest?
MR. LORD: He was stopped until 1 o'clock, and then he started going ahead again; and the second officer reported he changed from south­southeast to west­southwest, 6 1/2 points; and if he was 4 miles off, the distance he traveled I estimated to be 7 or 7 1/2 miles in that hour.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Was he ever any closer to you?
MR. LORD: No, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Were you able to tell what kind of a ship it was?
MR. LORD: The officer on watch, and the apprentice there, and myself ­ I saw it before 1 o'clock before I went to the watch room ­ were of the opinion that it was an ordinary cargo steamer.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you see the funnels?
MR. LORD: No, sir. It had one masthead light and a green light, which I saw first.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You could not hear any escaping steam, or the siren, or the whistle?
MR. LORD: No, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You have two men on duty in the crow's nest, but only one on duty at a time?
MR. LORD: No; we never have two in the crow's nest. When we double the lookout we have one man on the forecastle head. That is right up in the bow of the ship.
SENATOR BOURNE: What is the tonnage of the Californian?
MR. LORD: Four thousand and thirty­eight, sir.
SENATOR BOURNE: She has accommodations for how many passengers?
MR. LORD: Accommodations for 47.
SENATOR BOURNE: Do you have a regular boat drill on your vessel?
MR. LORD: Once a passage.
SENATOR BOURNE: After you leave the dock?
MR. LORD: After we leave port.
SENATOR BOURNE: Only one?
MR. LORD: Well, you see we are only 13 days on a passage.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You mean the net tonnage?
MR. LORD: The net tonnage is 4,038.
SENATOR FLETCHER: And what is the gross tonnage?
MR. LORD: Six thousand two hundred and thirty­three.
SENATOR SMITH: Senator Fletcher asked you regarding this ship that stopped you on Sunday night?
MR. LORD: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you any idea what steamer that was?
MR. LORD: Not the faintest. At daylight we saw a yellow­funnel steamer on the southwest of us, beyond where this man had left, about 8 miles away.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Do you suppose that was the same one?
MR. LORD: I should not like to say. I don't think so, because this one had only one masthead light that we saw at half past 11.
SENATOR SMITH: From the log which you hold in your hand, and from your own knowledge, is there anything you can say further which will assist the committee in its inquiry as to the causes of this catastrophe?
MR. LORD: No, sir; there is nothing; only that it was a very deceiving night. That is all that I can say about that. I only saw that ice a mile and a half off.
TESTIMONY OF CYRIL FURMSTONE EVANS
The witness was sworn by the chairman.
SENATOR SMITH: Where do you reside?
MR. EVANS: Seaforth, Liverpool.
SENATOR SMITH: How old are you?
MR. EVANS: Twenty years old, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: What is your business?
MR. EVANS: Wireless operator on the Californian, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: How long have you been a wireless operator?
MR. EVANS: Just over six months.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you had any special training in that field?
MR. EVANS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: What?
MR. EVANS: I had 10 months at the Marconi school, the same school as Bride, the junior operator on the Titanic.
SENATOR SMITH: What other ships than the Californian have you ever been employed on?
MR. EVANS: On the Cedric, sir; the White Star boat.
SENATOR SMITH: Any others?
MR. EVANS: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: How long were you on the Cedric?
MR. EVANS: One trip, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: When was that made?
MR. EVANS: I don't know exactly, sir. I have had three trips on the Californian.
SENATOR SMITH: You have been on the Californian ever since you left the Cedric?
MR. EVANS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Where were you Sunday, April 14?
MR. EVANS: From 7 o'clock in the morning until half past 8 I was on duty. From half past 8 to 9 I was having my breakfast. From 9 o'clock to half past 12 I was on watch. From 1 o'clock to 3 o'clock I was on watch. From 3 o'clock to half past 5. At half past 5 I had my dinner. From 6 o'clock I was on watch. I was on watch until 5 and 20 minutes past 11. I heard the Titanic working. I put down the phones and I turned it.
SENATOR SMITH: What time did you receive the C.Q.D. call from the Titanic Sunday night?
MR. EVANS: I did not receive it, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You did not receive it at all?
MR. EVANS: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: What time did you communicate with the Titanic?
MR. EVANS: In the afternoon, sir. I was sending a message to the Antillian, of our line. I was sending an ice report, handed in by the skipper, sir. I was sending to the Antillian, and the Titanic called me up and we exchanged signals, exchanged an official TR. We call it a TR when a ship gets in communication with another. I said, "Here is a message; an ice report." He said, "It's all right, old man," he said. "I heard you send to the Antillian." He said, "Bi." That is an expression used among ourselves.
SENATOR SMITH: What does it mean?
MR. EVANS: It is an expression used. It means to say "enough,' "finished.'
SENATOR SMITH: Through?
MR. EVANS: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: Does it mean good­by?
MR. EVANS: No; it does not mean good­by.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know with what operator you were communicating on the Titanic?
MR. EVANS: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know whether it was Phillips or Bride?
MR. EVANS: No, sir; I do not know who was on watch.
SENATOR SMITH: Bride had been in school with you?
MR. EVANS: Yes, sir. I do not know who was on the Titanic, though.
SENATOR SMITH: And did you know Phillips?
MR. EVANS: I had met Phillips in the London office.
SENATOR SMITH: You do not recall which one it was you spoke with that night?
MR. EVANS: You never know who is on watch unless the operator is inclined to talk and tell you his name. Then you get to know the name of the person operating at the other end.
SENATOR SMITH: When that message was sent by you, do you recall the time exactly?
MR. EVANS: [consulting memorandum]. It was sent at 5:30 p.m., New York time, on the 10th of April, sir. I worked New York time.
SENATOR SMITH: What did the message say?
MR. EVANS: I have the message here, sir, but I have not had authority from my company to disclose it.
SENATOR SMITH: Well, I think you may disclose it with perfect propriety. It was our understanding with Mr. Marconi that this information would be obtained. Are you a Marconi operator?
MR. EVANS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: If you are willing to disclose it, with that assurance, I will be glad to have you read it.
MR. EVANS: It is a master service message, handed in on the 14th of April from the Californian to "Captain Antillian." It is dated 6:30 p.m. "A.T.S." which means apparent time ship.
Latitude 42 3 north, longitude 49 9 west. Three large bergs 5 miles to southward of us. Regards. (Sig.) Lord.
SENATOR SMITH: I would like to know the date?
MR. EVANS: I said it was handed in on the 14th, sir.
