19. (a) Was the apparatus for lowering the boats on the Titanic at the time of the casualty in good working order? (b) Were the boats swung out, filled, lowered, or otherwise put into the water and got away under proper superintendence? (c) Were the boats sent away in seaworthy condition and properly manned, equipped, and provisioned? (d) Did the boats, whether those under davits or otherwise, prove to be efficient and serviceable for the purpose of saving life?
Answer. (a) Yes. (b) Yes. (c) The 14 lifeboats, 2 emergency boats, and C and D collapsible boats were sent away in a seaworthy condition, but some of them were possibly undermanned. The evidence on this point was unsatisfactory. The total number of crew taken on board the Carpathia exceeded the number which would be required for manning the boats. The collapsible boats A and B appear to have floated off the ship at the time she foundered. The necessary equipment and provisions for the boats were carried in the ship, but some of the boats, nevertheless, left without having their full equipment in them. (d) Yes.
20. (a) What was the number of (a) passengers, (b) crew taken away in each boat on leaving the vessel? (b) How was this number made up, having regard to (1) sex, (2) class, and (3) rating? (c) How many were children and how many adults? (d) Did each boat carry its full load; and if not, why not?
Answer. (a), (b), (c) It is impossible exactly to say how many persons were carried in each boat or what was their sex, class, and rating, as the totals given in evidence do not correspond with the numbers taken on board the Carpathia. The boats eventually contained in all 712 persons, made up as shown in the answer to question 21. (d) No. At least 8 boats did not carry their full loads for the following reasons: (1) Many people did not realize the danger or care to leave the ship at first. (2) Some boats were ordered to be lowered with an idea of their coming around to the gangway doors to complete loading. (3) The officers were not certain of the strength and capacity of the boats in all cases (and see p. 39).
21. (a) How many persons on board the Titanic at the time of the casualty were ultimately rescued and by what means? (b) How many lost their lives prior to the arrival of the steamship Carpathia in New York? (c) What was the number of passengers distinguishing between men and women and adults and children of the first, second, and third classes, respectively, who were saved? (d) What was the number of the crew, discriminating their ratings and sex, that were saved? (e) What is the proportion which each of these numbers bears to the corresponding total number on board immediately before the casualty? (f) What reason is there for the disproportion, if any?
Answer. (a) Seven hundred and twelve, rescued by Carpathia from the boats. (b) One. (c), (d), and (e) are answered together. The following is a list of the saved:
First Class:
Adult males 57 out of 175, or 32.57 per cent.
Adult females 140 out of 144, or 97.22 per cent.
Male children 5 (all saved)
Female children 1 (all saved)
203 out of 325, or 62.46 per cent.
Second class:
Adult males 14 out of 168, or 8.33 per cent.
Adult females 80 out of 93, or 86.02 per cent.
Male children 11 (all saved)
Female children 13 (all saved)
118 out of 285, or 41.40 per cent.
Third Class:
Adult males 75 out of 462, or 16.23 per cent.
Adult females 76 out of 165, or 46.06 per cent.
Male children 13 out of 48, or 27.08 per cent.
Female children 14 out of 31, or 45. 16 per cent
178 out of 706, or25.21 per cent.
Total Passengers 99 out of 1,316, or 37.94 per cent.
Crew Saved:
Deck department 43 out of 66, or 65.15 per cent.
Engine room department 72 out of 325, or 22.15 per cent.
Victualing department 97 out of 494, or 19.63 per cent.
(including 20 women out of 23)
20 out of 23, or 86.95 per cent
212 out of 885, or 23.95 per cent
Total on board saved 711 out of 2,201, or 32.30 per cent.
(f) The disproportion between the number of the passengers saved in the first, second and third classes is due to various causes, among which the difference in the position of their quarters and the fact that many of the third­class passengers were foreigners, are perhaps the most important. Of the Irish immigrants in the third class a large proportion was saved. The disproportion was certainly not due to any discrimination by the officers or crew in assisting the passengers to the boats. The disproportion between the numbers of the passengers and crew saved is due to the fact that the crew, for the most part, all attended to their duties to the last, and until all the boats were gone.
22. What happened to the vessel from the happening of the casualty until she foundered?
Answer. A detailed description has already been given (see pp. 32­34).
23. Where and at what time did the Titanic founder?
Answer: Two twenty a.m. (ship's time) April 15. Latitude 41-degrees 46-minutes N., longitude 50-degrees 14-minutes W.
24. (a) What was the cause of the loss of the Titanic, and of the loss of life which thereby ensued or occurred? (b) What vessels had the opportunity of rendering assistance to the Titanic; and if any, how was it that assistance did not reach the Titanic before the steamship Carpathia arrived? (c) Was the construction of the vessel and its arrangements such as to make it difficult for any class of passenger or any portion of the crew to take full advantage of any of the existing provisions for safety?
Answer. (a) Collision with an iceberg and the subsequent foundering of the ship. (b) The Californian. She could have reached the Titanic if she had made the attempt when she saw the first rocket. She made no attempt. (c) No.
25. When the Titanic left Queenstown, on or about April 11 last, was she properly constructed and adequately equipped as a passenger steamer and emigrant ship for the Atlantic service?
Answer. Yes.
26. The court is invited to report upon the rules and regulations made under the merchant shipping acts, 1894­1906, and the administration of those acts and of such rules and regulations, so far as the consideration thereof is material to this casualty, and to make any recommendations or suggestions that it may think fit, having regard to the circumstances of the casualty with a view to promoting the safety of vessels and persons at sea.
Answer. An account of the board of trade's administration has already been given and certain recommendations are subsequently made.
VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS.
The following recommendations are made. They refer to foreign­going passenger and emigrant steamships.
WATER­TIGHT SUBDIVISION.
1. That the newly appointed bulkhead committee should inquire and report, among other matters, on the desirability and practicability of providing ships with (a) a double skin carried up above the water line, or, as an alternative, with (b) a longitudinal, vertical, water­tight bulkhead, on each side of the ship, extending as far forward and aft as convenient, or (c) with a combination of (a) and (b). Any one of the three (a), (b), and (c) to be in addition to water­tight transverse bulkheads.
2. That the committee should also inquire and report as to the desirability and practicability of fitting ships with (a) a deck or decks at a convenient distance or distances above the water line which shall be water­tight throughout a part or the whole of the ship's length; and should in this connection report upon (b) the means by which the necessary openings in such deck or decks should be made water­tight, whether by water­tight doors or water­tight trunks or by any other and what means.
3. That the committee should consider and report generally on the practicability of increasing the protection given by subdivision, the object being to secure that the ship shall remain afloat with the greatest practicable proportion of her length in free communication with the sea.
4. That when the committee has reported upon the matters before mentioned, the board of trade should take the report into their consideration and to the extent to which they approve of it should seek statutory powers to enforce it in all newly built ships, but with a discretion to relax the requirements in special cases where it may seem right to them to do so.
5. That the board of trade should be empowered by the legislature to require the production of the designs and specifications of all ships in their early stages of construction and to direct such amendments of the same as may be thought necessary and practicable for the safety of life at sea in ships. (This should apply to all passenger­carrying ships.)
LIFEBOATS AND RAFTS.
6. That the provision of lifeboat and raft accommodation on board such ships should be based on the number of persons intended to be carried in the ship and not upon tonnage.
7. That the question of such accommodation should be treated independently of the question of the subdivision of the ship into water­tight compartments. (This involves the abolition of rule 12 of the Life Saving Appliances Rules of 1902).
8. That the accommodation should be sufficient for all persons on board with, however, the qualification that in special cases where, in the opinion of the board of trade, such provision is impracticable, the requirements may be modified as the board may think right. (In order to give effect to this recommendation, changes may be necessary in the sizes and types of boats to be carried and in the method of stowing and floating them. It may also be necessary to set apart one or more of the boat decks exclusively for carrying boats and drilling the crew, and to consider the distribution of decks in relation to the passengers' quarters. These, however, are matters of detail to be settled with reference to the particular circumstance affecting the ship.).
9. That all boats should be fitted with a protective continuous fender, to lessen the risk of damage when being lowered in a seaway.
10. That the board of trade should be empowered to direct that one or more of the boats be fitted with some form of mechanical propulsion.
11. That there should be a board of trade regulation requiring all boat equipment (under secs. 5 and 6, p. 15, of the rules, dated February, 1902, made by the board of trade under sec. 427, merchant shipping act, 1894) to be in the boats as soon as the ship leaves harbor. The sections quoted above should be amended so as to provide also that all boats and rafts should carry lamps and pyrotechnic lights for purposes of signaling. All boats should be provided with compasses and provisions, and should be very distinctly marked in such a way as to indicate plainly the number of adult persons each boat can carry when being lowered.
12. That the board of trade inspection of boats and life­saving appliances should be of a more searching character than hitherto.
MANNING THE BOATS AND BOAT DRILLS.
13. That in cases where the deck hands are not sufficient to man the boats enough other members of the crew should be men trained in boat work to make up the deficiency. These men should be required to pass a test in boat work.
14. That in view of the necessity of having on board men trained in boat work, steps should be taken to encourage the training of boys for the merchant service.
15. That the operation of section 115 and section 134 (a) of the merchant shipping act, 1894, should be examined, with a view to amending the same so as to secure greater continuity of service than hitherto.
16. That the men who are to man the boats should have more frequent drills than hitherto. That in all ships a boat drill, a fire drill, and a water­tight door drill should be held as soon as possible after leaving the original port of departure and at convenient intervals of not less than once a week during the voyage. Such drills to be recorded in the official log.
17. That the board of trade should be satisfied in each case before the ship leaves port that a scheme has been devised and communicated to each officer of the ship for securing an efficient working of the boats.
GENERAL.
18. That every man taking a lookout in such ships should undergo a sight test at reasonable intervals.
19. That in all such ships a police system should be organized so as to secure obedience to orders, and proper control and guidance of all on board in times of emergency.
20.That in all such ships there should be an installation of wireless telegraphy, and that such installation should be worked with a sufficient number of trained operators to secure a continuous service by night and day. In this connection regard should be had to the resolutions of the International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy recently held under the presidency of Sir H. Babington Smith. That where practicable a silent chamber for "receiving" messages should form part of the installation.
21.That instruction should be given in all steamship companies' regulations that when ice is reported in or near the track the ship should proceed in the dark hours at a moderate speed or alter her course so as to go well clear of the danger zone.
22. That the attention of masters of vessels should be drawn by the board of trade to the effect that under the maritime conventions act, 1911, it is a misdemeanor not to go to the relief of a vessel in distress when possible to do so.
23. That the same protection as to the safety of life in the event of casualty which is afforded to emigrant ships by means of supervision and inspection should be extended to all foreign­going passenger ships.
24. That (unless already done) steps should be taken to call an international conference to consider and as far as possible to agree upon a common line of conduct in respect of (a) the subdivision of ships; (b) the provision and working of life­saving appliances; (c) the installation of wireless telegraphy and the method of working the same; (d) the reduction of speed or the alteration of course in the vicinity of ice; and (e) the use of searchlights.
