SENATOR SMITH: I was quite persistent, and I do not desire to be impertinent at all, and I am sure you will acquit me of that­­
MR. FRANKLIN: Correct, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: But that I may not overlook any important reasons for the information you received at 2:30 a.m. Monday not becoming public through any announcement of the White Star Line, and, in view of the fact that I hold in my hand a telegram signed "White Star Line," which you have previously seen, dated at 8:27 p.m., Monday, April 15, in which some member of the White Star Line says:
"Titanic proceeding to Halifax. Passengers will probably land there Wednesday. All safe. (Signed) White Star Line.
And in view of the fact that that same information was given out here by your agents to people who made inquiries for families and friends on Monday, I am prompted to ask a very direct question. Between the time that you received this information from Montreal and the time you made public the information which you received from Montreal, did your company reinsure the Titanic or its cargo anywhere?
MR. FRANKLIN: Absolutely, no.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you make any endeavor to reinsure with the Lloyd's in England?
MR. FRANKLIN: None whatever.
SENATOR SMITH: Are you speaking now for all the officers of your company, here and abroad?
MR. FRANKLIN: I say this, that our insurance is handled in our New York office, and I am sure that nobody would have taken any account of our company or anybody connected with the company, in any way, without first having taken it up with me.
SENATOR SMITH: You had already advised your Liverpool office, in a message which they received 10 o'clock Monday morning, of the loss of the Titanic?
MR. FRANKLIN: I sent a message, and the memorandum on the message shows it went about 6 o'clock, as I remember it.
SENATOR SMITH: In the morning?
MR. FRANKLIN: In the morning.
SENATOR SMITH: Monday?
MR. FRANKLIN: They would receive that message five hours later, their time, barring the amount of time it would take to get the message through, depending upon the condition of the wires. That message you have already seen.
SENATOR SMITH: I have it here.
MR. FRANKLIN: That clearly states that it was newspaper rumor. It does not say anything else. I will read it off to you if you want me to.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you a copy of it there?
MR. FRANKLIN: I have. Newspaper wireless reports­­
SENATOR SMITH: It is addressed how?
MR. FRANKLIN: To Liverpool. You have the original there, Senator. This only says, "To Liverpool," on the sheet I have:
Newspaper wireless reports advise Titanic collision iceberg 41-degrees 46-minutes north, 50-degrees 14-minutes west. Women being put lifeboats. Steamer Virginian expects reach Titanic 10 a.m. today. Olympic and Baltic both proceeding Titanic. We have no direct information.
I might say that through the entire day we told the newspaper representatives, who were there all the timewe got our first information from the newspapers, and we told the newspapers all the timethat our only authentic information was coming from Capt. Haddock and we were giving them that.
SENATOR SMITH: If your officials in Liverpool or London, or any place else, had reinsured your cargo would you have known it?
MR. FRANKLIN: I would certainly have had the advice. But there was nobody in England who was in any way connected with the insurance department and nobody there who would have taken action in connection with insurance matters. I might say we carry no insurance on the cargo, Senator.
SENATOR SMITH: None at all?
MR. FRANKLIN: We only insure the freight money; the insurance is not on the cargo itself, but on the freight money.
SENATOR SMITH: The ship was insured for $4,000,000?
MR. FRANKLIN: This ship was insured with outside underwriters for $5,000,000, in round figures. It was, in pounds, about a million pounds. The company carried the remainder, up to about $600,000between $500,000 and $600,000. That is, our insurance fund carried the remainder.
SENATOR SMITH: I asked you yesterday if I had all telegrams and cable messages and wireless messages between yourself and other officers or directors of the company?
MR. FRANKLIN: To the best of my knowledge.
SENATOR SMITH: Either on shipboard or in any other part of the world?
MR. FRANKLIN: To the best of my knowledge and belief, you have everything.
SENATOR SMITH: Regarding this accident?
MR. FRANKLIN: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: On the succeeding days?
MR. FRANKLIN: Yes, sir; and on subsequent days.
SENATOR SMITH: That is all.
Witness excused.
TESTIMONY OF ANDREW CUNNINGHAM.
The witness was sworn by the chairman.
SENATOR SMITH: Where do you reside?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: In Southampton, England.
SENATOR SMITH: How old are you?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Thirty­eight.
SENATOR SMITH: What is your business?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I was stateroom steward on the Titanic.
SENATOR SMITH: What deck were you assigned to, if any?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: C deck; aft, on the starboard side.
SENATOR SMITH: How many rooms did you have charge of?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Nine, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know who occupied those rooms on the voyage from Southampton to the place of the wreck of the Titanic?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Who were they?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: In number 85 were Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Cummings, of New York City; in 87 Mr. and Mrs. Clark, of New York City; in 89 T. W. Stead, the editor of the Review of Reviews, from London; in number 91 were a Mr. and Miss Graham, of New York City; in 125 was a Miss Schutz, a governess to Miss Graham. The other cabins were vacant.
SENATOR SMITH: Where were you the Sunday afternoon and evening preceding this accident?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: It was my afternoon off. I was off that Sunday afternoon.
SENATOR SMITH: You were off that afternoon?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir. It happened to be my turn for the middle watch, or from 12 to 4. So I was excused from duty from 9 until the time I was called to on the middle watch.
SENATOR SMITH: Were you on duty when this accident happened?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I was just called, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: What did you do when you found that there was an accident?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I was stationed on D deck, forward, that night.
SENATOR SMITH: In charge of what?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: On the bells; to answer bells ­ the wants of any passengers.
SENATOR SMITH: Were you on D deck at the time the impact occurred?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Where were you?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I was leaving the glory hole, where we lived.
SENATOR SMITH: After the ship struck this obstacle, what did you do?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I answered one or two of the bells. The ladies wanted to know how to put on life belts. There had been no orders passed then. They asked me how to put them on, and I showed several of them; six or seven probably. I do not know their names. I looked down on E deck to see how things were there. There was a stairway that led from the E deck to the post office, and the water was down there then. That was level with F deck.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know the names of any of the passengers on D deck whom you assisted that night?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No, sir; it was not my section.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you ever seen any of them since?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes; I saw one maid on the Carpathia afterwards.
SENATOR SMITH: What was her name?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I do not know.
SENATOR SMITH: Was that Ms. Graham's maid?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: She was no one you had known before; no one from your special section on the ship?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No; only seeing her on the ship.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you look about the Carpathia to see whether any of those passengers whom you had assisted were on board?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I saw 5 of my own passengers.
SENATOR SMITH: Who were they?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Mr. and Miss Graham and the governess, and Mrs. Clark, and Mrs. Cummings.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you make diligent search?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: On the Carpathia? No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know whether the others survived or were lost?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: My own people? They were lost, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: After you found that there was water in the post office, what did you do?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: There was another bell rung, and I came up and answered it.
SENATOR SMITH: Was there any signal given or order given, within your hearing, to arouse the passengers from their staterooms?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Oh, yes. About half­past 12 all the stateroom stewards came on duty again, to their respective stations. I went back to my own station on C deck, and my passengers had been aroused. There were only three left, then.
SENATOR SMITH: At half­past 12?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you hear any order of that kind given before half­past 12?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: That was about 55 minutes after the ship had struck the iceberg?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Forty­five or fifty minutes; I think she struck the iceberg about a quarter to 12.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know whether any of the passengers were given any warning by any order or by any person before that time; do you know that of your own knowledge?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Not that I know of. A sort of a general order was passed around.
SENATOR SMITH: At that hour?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: At that hour.
SENATOR SMITH: Were you awake when this collision occurred?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I had just been called to go on watch?
SENATOR SMITH: Were you dressed, or were you in bed?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I was lying on my bunk with my clothes on.
SENATOR SMITH: Who called you?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: One of the other stateroom stewards.
SENATOR SMITH: What did he say to you?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: He said, "It is time to turn out."
SENATOR SMITH: Is that all he said?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: That is all he said.
SENATOR SMITH: When did you first learn of the very serious character of the collision?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: From my own knowledge, when I saw the water in the post­office deck, I thought it was pretty bad then.
SENATOR SMITH: That was the first information that you got that was reliable, and then you formed your opinion?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: About its seriousness? You yourself judged as to its seriousness at that time.
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know whether they had an emergency alarm on the Titanic at that time?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: To call all the passengers?
SENATOR SMITH: Yes.
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I do not think so.
SENATOR SMITH: You do not think they had?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: In the absence of such an alarm, how would the passengers be awakened in case of distress?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Each stateroom steward would go around and call them himself.
SENATOR SMITH: Then, if they were apprised of serious danger, they would be obliged to depend entirely upon the vigilance of the stateroom steward?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: That is so, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you return to your stateroom after you found that there had been a collision?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: About half past 12, when the order was given to awaken all the passengers, I went back to my own section ­ C deck aftand all my passengers were gone out except three.
SENATOR SMITH: They had gone out?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: They had gone up on the boat deck with life belts on, all except three.
SENATOR SMITH: How do you know they had gone up there?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Because the stewardess had called the ladies and they were not in their rooms.
SENATOR SMITH: The stewardess told you?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: And where were the other three?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Mr. Cummings was in his stateroom.
SENATOR SMITH: Asleep?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No; he had come down for an overcoat. He had been on deck. Later, Mr. Clark came along and entered his stateroom and he then put on a life belt. Then Mr. Stead asked me how to fix on a life belt and I helped him put it on and that was the last man of my passengers.
SENATOR SMITH: You put the life belt on Mr. Stead, yourself?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: That was the last life belt you adjusted to anyone?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you ever see Mr. Stead after that?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Then you assisted these ladies you have mentioned to put life belts on ­ four or five altogether ­ and Mr. Stead.
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you put life belts on any other persons?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No, sir; not that evening.
SENATOR SMITH: Or at any other time.
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you put one on yourself?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes; when all the passengers had gone out.
SENATOR SMITH: After the passengers from your staterooms had gone up, you put a life belt on yourself?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: And where did you go?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I waited on the ship until all the boats had gone and then I took to the water.
SENATOR SMITH: You waited on the ship until all the boats had gone and then threw yourself into the water?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes; into the water.
SENATOR SMITH: How long was it before the boat sank?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I went into the water about 2 o'clock, I should say.
SENATOR SMITH: How long had you been in the water before the boat sank?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I should say about half an hour.
SENATOR SMITH: When you struck the water what did you do?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I swam clear of the ship, I should say about three quarters of a mile. I was afraid of the suction.
SENATOR SMITH: You were swimming away from the suction that you supposed would follow the sinking?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: What did you do then?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I had a mate with me. We both left the ship together.
SENATOR SMITH: Did he have a life preserver on?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: What did you do?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: We saw the ship go down then. Then we struck out to look for a boat.
SENATOR SMITH: You swam around in the water until you saw the ship go down?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Until I saw the ship go down.
SENATOR SMITH: Then you turned to look for a lifeboat?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: Then I turned to look for a lifeboat, yes.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you see one?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: No. I heard one, and I called to it.
SENATOR SMITH: Did that lifeboat come toward you, or did you go toward it?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I went toward it.
SENATOR SMITH: It did not come toward you?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: I do not think so.
SENATOR SMITH: When you got in it, whom did you find in it?
MR. CUNNINGHAM: There was a quartermaster in charge ­ Perkins or Perks. It was No. 4 boat. They picked us up. There was also a lamp trimmer in it named Hemmings and another sailor called Foley, and a fireman. The rest were ladies. Two of my own passengers happened to be there.
SENATOR SMITH: Two of your own passengers and Hemmings and Foley and Perkis and yourself?
