SENATOR FLETCHER: Can you say whether any rockets fired at night by a ship under those conditions form a distress signal, or whether rockets may be sent up that are not distress signals?
MR. BOXHALL: Some companies have private night signals.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What are they?
MR. BOXHALL: They are colored as a rule; stars, which you can easily see. These rockets were not throwing stars, they were throwing balls, I remember, and then they burst.
SENATOR FLETCHER: It seems that an officer on the Californian reported to the commander of the Californian that he had seen signals; but he said they were not distress signals. Do you know whether or not under the regulations in vogue, and according to the custom at sea, rockets fired, such as the Titanic sent up, would be regarded as anything but distress signals?
MR. BOXHALL: I am hardly in a position to state that, because it is the first time I have seen distress rockets sent off, and I could not very well judge what they would be like, standing as I was, underneath them, firing them myself. I do not what they would look like in the distance.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Have you ever seen any rockets sent off such as you say are private signals?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Under what circumstances?
MR. BOXHALL: Ships passing in the night, signaling to one another.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Were these rockets carried on the Titanic for the purpose of being used as distress signals?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir; exclusively.
SENATOR FLETCHER: They were not carried or supposed to be used for any other than distress signals.
MR. BOXHALL: No; no, sir. We did not have any time to use any of those things.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you see any other rockets from any other ships that night?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes; I did. I saw rockets on the Carpathia.
SENATOR FLETCHER: That was in the morning?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir; it was in the morning. It was quite dark.
SENATOR FLETCHER: About what time was that?
MR. BOXHALL: I do not know. I think it was a little after 4 o'clock, sometime, when I got on board the Carpathia. It might have been three­quarters of an hour before.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What sort of a rocket was that?
MR. BOXHALL: An ordinary rocket. I think it was, so far as I could see, a distress rocket in answer to ours.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What kind of steamer was that which you saw, that apparently turned around, as to size and character?
MR. BOXHALL: That is hard to state, but the lights were on masts which were fairly close togetherthe masthead lights.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What would that indicate?
MR. BOXHALL: That the masts were pretty close together. She might have been a four­mast ship or might have been a three­mast ship, but she certainly was not a two­mast ship.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Could you form any idea as to her size?
MR. BOXHALL: No; I could not.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You know it was a steamer and not a sailing vessel?
MR. BOXHALL: Oh, yes; she was a steamer, carrying steaming lights ­ white lights.
SENATOR FLETCHER: She could not have been a fishing vessel?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Was she a sailing vessel?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; a sailing vessel does not show steaming lights, or white lights.
SENATOR FLETCHER: I understood you to say all the lifeboats but one had been lowered when the one you were in was lowered. Was that correct?
MR. BOXHALL: There was one boat hanging on the davits on the port side when I left.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Was that a collapsible boat?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; it was a lifeboat; No. 4 lifeboat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Had the collapsible boats all been lowered?
MR. BOXHALL: There was no collapsible boat touched on the port side when I left. They could not lower them until the boat I was in got away and left our falls clear.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Then the collapsible boats were all lowered after the boat in which you left was lowered?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you say how many went in that boat you were in?
MR. BOXHALL: Approximately, I should judge there were between 25 and 30; 25 or 30, as nearly as I can tell.
SENATOR FLETCHER: That was one of the boats that had a capacity of 60 or 65?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: It was not?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; she was one of the smaller boats. She was an emergency boat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What they call a sea boat or surf boat?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir; a sea boat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Could you tell anything about the suction when you were half a mile away?
MR. BOXHALL: No; but I did find there was a little suction just as I was pulling around the ship. I was lowered on the port side, and pulled around to the starboard side shortly afterwards, and I found there was suction then; that the ship was settling down broadside.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Were you convinced, when you took to the boat in which you left, that the Titanic would go down?
MR. BOXHALL: I was quite undecided about it.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you say you talked with Mr. Ismay on the bridge about three­quarters of an hour before the Titanic sank?
MR. BOXHALL: I talked to Mr. Ismay a little while before I left the ship. I do not know whether it was three­quarters of an hour or not before the ship sank.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Where was it?
MR. BOXHALL: I had just fired a distress signal and was going to the chart room to put the lanyard back in the chart room and go out again, and Mr. Ismay was standing by the wheelhouse door.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You had not begun to prepare for lowering the boats?
MR. BOXHALL: Oh, yes; some of the boats had gone.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Some of the boats had gone?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What was Mr. Ismay doing there?
MR. BOXHALL: He just came to the door on the bridge, as nearly as I can tell; walked up as far as the door. He was not there when I went to stow the lanyard; at least not when I went to fire the distress signal a moment before.
SENATOR FLETCHER: That was on the boat deck?
MR. BOXHALL: On the boat deck, yes sir; on the bridge.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What did he say to you?
MR. BOXHALL: He asked me why I was not getting the boat away.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What did you reply to that?
MR. BOXHALL: I told him I had no orders to get the boat away. I said the crew were ready and people were getting in the boat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: What did you do then?
MR. BOXHALL: I went on with my work.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you proceed then to get the boats away, and get them ready?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; the chief officer got that boat ready, and it was just ready to lower when the captain told me to get in her; that is, they had just started to lower when the captain told me to get in her.
SENATOR FLETCHER: The captain told you that?
MR. BOXHALL: I think they were either just starting to lower or I had heard them sing out "Lower away," when the captain told me to get in the boat. I did not load it. The chief officer loaded it and superintended the lowering.
SENATOR FLETCHER: You did not assist in loading any of the boats?
MR. BOXHALL: I was there some little time before that; I can not say what boat it was that I was assisting in clearing away, and I can not say what boats they were, but they were on the port side.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you assist in lowering the boat in which you went away, that the chief officer told you to get into?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir. He did not tell me to get into that boat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Capt. Smith did?
MR. BOXHALL: Capt. Smith did.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Where was he at that time?
MR. BOXHALL: He was standing up on the boat deck, just by the bridge?
SENATOR FLETCHER: Where?
MR. BOXHALL: Alongside of the fiddley; alongside the officers' house.
SENATOR FLETCHER: And not far from boat No. 4?
MR. BOXHALL: Right abreast of No. 2 boat.
SENATOR FLETCHER: No. 2 boat?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Was Mr. Ismay there, too?
MR. BOXHALL: I did not notice Mr. Ismay there.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Had not the captain previously given the command to get the boats away before Mr. Ismay told you about that?
MR. BOXHALL: He may have done so, but I did not hear it.
SENATOR FLETCHER: How many of the crew went in that boat in which you left?
MR. BOXHALL: One steward, one cook, a sailor and myself.
SENATOR FLETCHER: The captain wanted you to go in order to have someone in charge of the boat, to be sure that some one could use the oars? Was that the idea?
MR. BOXHALL: Probably.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did he ask for anybody who could row to get in the boat?
MR. BOXHALL: Did the captain ask?
SENATOR FLETCHER: Yes.
MR. BOXHALL: No; I did not hear him.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you see the captain after that?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; not after I was lowered away.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Did you see Mr. Ismay after that?
MR. BOXHALL: Not until he came up alongside of the boat I was in, alongside of the Carpathia; when his boat pulled up alongside. I was passing people out of one of the other boats. That is the first time I saw him afterwards.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Mr. Ismay was in the collapsible boat, was he not?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Do you know which one?
MR. BOXHALL: I do not know, sir. There was no collapsible boat away from the ship when I left, unless the one on the starboard side had gone away. I can not remember whether she had gone away or not. There was none on the port side.
SENATOR FLETCHER: After you got in the water did you see the light from this steamer that you had seen previously?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes; I saw it for a little while and then lost it. When I pulled around the ship I could not see it any more, and did not see it any more.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Apparently that ship came within 4 or 5 miles of the Titanic, and then turned and went away in what direction, westward or southward?
MR. BOXHALL: I do not know whether it was southwestward. I should say it was westerly.
SENATOR FLETCHER: In a westerly direction; almost in the direction in which she had come?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: That is all.
SENATOR SMITH: Mr. Boxhall, you saw this ship with the light?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And you took the rockets and fired them, to signal to it?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: We have been figuring the distance the Californian was away from the Titanic, and from the positions given we have concluded ­ that is, we have evidence to support the theory ­ that the Californian was but 14 miles distant from the Titanic. Do you think that under those circumstances you could have seen the Californian?
MR. BOXHALL: I do not know, sir. I should not think so.
SENATOR SMITH: You should not?
MR. BOXHALL: No. Five miles is the distance the British Board of Trade requires masthead lights to show that is, the white steaming lights of the steamer ­ but we know that they can be seen farther on such a clear night as that.
SENATOR SMITH: Suppose the Californian, 14 miles away, had been firing rockets for you and you had been on the bridge or on the boat deck, do you think you could have seen the rockets?
MR. BOXHALL: Not at 14 miles; I should not think so.
SENATOR SMITH: You have had 13 years' experience?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: In navigation?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You have spent 12 months in a training school?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: At the risk of invading a field with which neither one of us may be familiar, I want to ask you about the water­tight compartments of the Titanic. Are you familiar with them?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir. I did not go down in the water­tight compartments of the Titanic, or view the electrical appliances down below.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Were you familiar with the water­tight compartments above?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: Have you been in them?
MR. BOXHALL: I have walked through them, sir.
SENATOR FLETCHER: On which deck or decks were they located?
MR. BOXHALL: They were located on pretty nearly every deck, I should think, from what I remember. I can not say the highest deck where there were water­tight compartments. I did not take particular notice of that.
SENATOR SMITH: Can you tell to what decks the water­tight bulkheads extended?
MR. BOXHALL: There were water­tight doors on E deck; I know that.
SENATOR SMITH: On A deck?
MR. BOXHALL: On E deck.
SENATOR SMITH: Assuming that the water­tight bulkheads extended to the upper or E deck, were there hatches on E deck?
MR. BOXHALL: There were water­tight doors on D deck.
SENATOR SMITH: Were they fitted with water­tight covers or doors?
MR. BOXHALL: The door, sir, is simply an iron door with clamps on it on both sides.
SENATOR SMITH: That could not be sealed?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes; you can seal that door from either side. The clamps work right through the door.
SENATOR SMITH: I am talking about the hatches. Are you talking about the hatches?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir; I am talking about the doors.
SENATOR SMITH: Were the hatches on E deck fitted with water­tight covers.
MR. BOXHALL: Yes; but not to keep out a rush of water like this. They would only keep out the­­
SENATOR SMITH: [interposing]. Deck water?
MR. BOXHALL: The deck water that would wash over the deck.
SENATOR SMITH: They were not intended to resist the sea?
MR. BOXHALL: Not water with a pressure; they were not intended to resist that. They were not intended to resist pressure from underneath.
SENATOR SMITH: They were fitted with coamings, in the language of the sea?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And not with a water­tight cover?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, there is a water­tight cover just to prevent the sea going down. There are wooden hatches on the top beams instead of the coamings; wooden hatches laid across the beams, and after the hatches are put on the water tight covers are spread over.
SENATOR SMITH: Then you said you went down in the mail room?
MR. BOXHALL: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And saw the water coming in?
MR. BOXHALL: No, I did not see water coming in. I said I could hear the water coming in.
SENATOR SMITH: Where did you explain you saw the water coming in the mail room?
MR. BOXHALL: I was standing in the sorting room, and the water was just then within two feet of the deck I was standing on. I could see it through the opening in the staircase which led down to the lower place.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know whether there was any way of sealing the hatch to the mail room to keep the water from coming onto E deck?
MR. BOXHALL: No, I do not know, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You did not see anything of that kind?
MR. BOXHALL: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You have heard some witnesses testify that there was water on E deck?
