Titanic Disaster.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 253, 25 April 1912, Page 5

Titanic Disaster.

• THE SENATORIAL ENQUIRY. EVIDENCE OF THE CREW. '• * HARROWING DETAILS. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright Received 24, 9.50 p.m. New York, April 24. If the freight steamer Lena had been equipped with wireless telegraphy she could have reached the Titanic in time to 6ave those on board. She passed Wtthm twenty miles of the sinking liner. Washington, April 24. At the Senate enquiry into the Titanic wreck, Frederick Fleet gave evidence that he was in the crow's-nest at the time of the collision. He had been instructed to look out sharply for ice. He saw a large berg and two small tables of ice. Be sounded three bells and telephoned i to the bridge. The vessel immediately - went to port. The ice got larger as she went along. When she struck it was about fifty feet high. He was not alarmed at the collision, and simply thought it a narrow shave. Fleet stated that the lookouts asked Mr. Lightoller, .the second officer, for glasses on the Atlantic voyage. > Glass.s had been proTided at Belfast and Southampton. Mr. Lightoller said that there were none. Fleet was of opinion that if the look-outs had glasses they would have been able to give, sufficient warning. Fleet took charge of a lifeboat containing three. men and twenty-five women. He had orders to pull towards a light off the Titanie's bow, but failed to find it. The Tessel at one time was abreast of the boat, but slipped by. Major Peuchen, of Toronto, gave evidence that he inspected the iceberg, but thought it was not serious. Later, on showing Hays the iceberg, he noticed the ship's list. Hays replied: "The Titanic can't sink, whatever we have struck. She's good for eight or ten hours." Peuchen then went to the lifeboats, and was surprised that the sailors were not at their posts. There was a shortage of competent seamen. Thirtysix women went in the first lifeboat. A crowd of stokers cam" on deck, and an officer pluckily drove them off the deck like sheep. He called the women to fill I the second boat. Peuchen continued that some women refused to leave their : husbands. He thought the failure to sound a general alarm accounted for, many women not coming on deck in time to go into the boats. He wondered why more men were taken when the boats Were lowered. Mr. Lightoller said, "They can't manage the boat." One seaman asked Peuchen, who is a yachtsman, to slip down a rope, take an oar of the lifeboat, and row as fast as possible to escape the suction. Shortly afterwards he heard the Titanie's signal to return. Those on the lifeboat did not wish to return, because the quartermaster said, "It is our lives against those on the ship." A number of married women's protests were ignored. Two explosions 1 followed. Pittman. the third officer, gave evidence that a special lookout was kept ] for ice on Sunday. At first he did not think the collision was serious. He met Mr. Ismay, who was in his dressing gown and said, "Hurry! There's no time for fooling." He told me to get the women and children into the boats. Mr. Ismay helped to launch one of the boats, and remained on the Titanic when witness's boat left. Pittman expected to be able to bring the passengers aboard again in a few hours. The boat was not filled because no more women were about when she was lowered. The Titanic settled by the head, then suddenly stood on end and dived straight down. Four ) explosions, like big guns, followed. He believed that these were the bulkheads going. Many cries of distress followed. Be ordered the men to get out the oars and pull towards the wreck and save a few more, as there were only forty aboard the boat, which would hold sixty passengers. The men demurred, saying that St was a mad idea. Even the women did not urge him to return. He yielded to the passengers' importunities. Pressed by Senator Smith, Pittman gav« harrowing details. He heard ecreams and one long continuous moan as if of death agony. The cries continued for an hour. He had no personal knowledge of the 6hip mentioned by Boxhall. Smith suggested that it might have been the Helligolav, which was iocked at New York on the 17th and reported that she had encountered an iceberg near wher« the Titanic sank. The public were excluded from the enquiry in consequence of interruptions. THE THIRD-CLASS PASSENGERS. ' IN SUPPORT OF MR. ISMAY. Received 25, 12.20 a.m. London, April 24. The opinion is- expressed by Lloyds that it is possible that the officers of ] the Titanic mistook the reflection of | their own lights from a distant iceberg | for an approaching vessel. A conference of leading shipping companies, including those in the Australian trade, informed Mr. Buxton that it has decided to provide boats and rafts for all on board vessels at the earliest possible date. New York, April 24. Seven hundred and ten third-class passengers were aboard the Titanic, of Whom 277 were women. One hundred and thirty-eight third-class passengers were saved, including 106 women. Twenty stewardesses were also saved. Mrs. Meyer indignantly denies the newspaper statement that she said she would a thousand times rather be dead than be Mr. Ismay. She states that she has telegraphed to Mr. Ismay. regretting the horrible post mortem to which he is being subjected, and advising him to hare courage.

A DRASTIC ENQUIRY

/ "DOLLARS IN FOUR FIGURES." BOYCOTTING THE SAVED. London, April 23. The New York correspondent of the Daily News states that the Senate intends enquiring whether the Titanie's officers disregarded repeated warnings of the presence of icebergs; whether it was unavoidable that a hundred women perished; why the White Star Company was ignorant of the disaster until evening, though the Baltic and Olympic knew the details at noon; why a Marconi official sent a wireless message to the operators on the Carpathia on Thursday: "Say nothing. Hold your story for dollars in four figures." The correspondent adds there is some talk of a club boycott of men who left the ship while women were aboard; but it is difficult to criticise men when boat after boat was lowered partly filled. Nine out of ten passengers for an hour and a half believed the vessel was unsinkable, and deliberately refused to enter the earlier boats. A steward named Nicholls states that half the men went back to bed. Threequarters of an hour after the collision he saw a passenger punching a ball in the gymnasium. The women had to be coaxed to enter the boats. Peter Daly, a first saloon passenger, states that the captain ran to the railing, calling, "Bring the boats back; they are only half filled." The Hoffmann children are sons of a Nice tailor. The mother asserts that the father kidnapped the children a . month ago, and disappeared. The London Times calls attention to the ignorance of Senator Smith, chairman of the enquiry, in asking Mr. Lightoller whether the watertight compartments were intended as a refuge for the passengers. THE BRITISH ENQUIRY. COMPLETE AND EXHAUSTIVE. I London April 23. In the House of Commons. Mr. Crooks moved an adjournment to call attention to the necessity for the Board of Trade preventing the officers, crew and passengers of the Titanic dispersing before giving evidence at the British enquiry. Mr. Buxton, replying, promised to ■ subpoena all necessary, and to subsidise I the poorer witnesses. Lord Mersey had been appointed Wreck Commissioner to 1 ■ assist the assessors, and would commence the investigation directly. The ■ Government was also convening a meeting of the British companies to consider precautions ppnding a revision of the law. Mr. Crooks withdrew his motion. A FUTILE APPEAL. New York, April 23. Mr. Franklin, vice-president of the International Mercantile Marine Com- ' pany. gave evidence that the collision probably opened five or six of the watertight compartments. Boxhall, the Titanie's fourth officer, [ gave evidence that the berg was dark grey and 30ft. high. After the collision they fired Morse lights to attract a ship which was five miles away. The ship did not answer, though the Titanic signalled, "Come at once. We are sinking." He did not know the name of the ship. FUTURE PRECAUTIONS. London, April 23. Lord' Mersey's committee and the. Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee will meet to discuss matters affect- ' ing safety at sea, and after receiving their reports Mr. Buxton, president of • the Board of Trade, will decide as to the expediency for a further national or international committee or commisj sion. Meanwhile he has ordered affidavits from America of the officers, crew or passengers who are not returning to England, of any useful information relating to the disaster. THE RELIEF FUNDS. London, April 23. The Queen of Norway has given a hundred guineas to the Lord Mayor's fund, which has now reached £105,000. Other funds in Britain and America total £7O/100. SAFETY BEFORE SPEED. London, April 23. The White Star and Cunard Companies state that the standing instructions to captains are to ensure the safety of life and of the ship before speed. THE WOMEN LOST. A GENEROUS NATION. New York, April 23. Thirty-two women from the first and second' class are amongst those drowned in the wreck of the Titanic. No engineers were saved. A hundred bodies have been recovered, among the first to be identified being the body of Mr. Widener, the millionaire. Bills are being introduced into Congress to present gold medals to the captain and crew of the Carpathia, and to give ten thousand dollars apiece to the widows of the Titanie's American mail clerks. THE SAFETY APPLIANCES. VERY ELABORATE DEVICES. SOMETHING STILL WANTING. The Titanic, like the Oplympic, we regarded as being most complete in respect to her manifold and elaborate safety devices. The vessel was divided into upwards of .10 steel compartments, separated by heavy bulkheads. An automatic device on tlie bridge controlled all these heavy steel doors, making it possible for a single hand to close them all in case of danger. The doors were electrically connected with a chart on the bridge, where each door was represented by a small electric light. When one of the doors closed the light burned red; while

it remained open the lamp remained dark. The officer on the bridge was thus able to see at a glance if all the compartments were closed. There was stil lanother set of safety devices to guard against fire in every part of the ship. A series of thermostats were scatered throughout the great framework, which would indicate a rise in the temperature above a certain point. Should th« temperature reach the danger point the fact would be at once communicated to the officer on the bridge by the ringing of a bell, while an electric light on a grea! chart displayed on the wall would burn ltd. Everything that human forethought, engineering skill, and science were believed to be able to suggest was provided to ensure the safety of the great leviathan of the deep. The tragic story that is told shows, however, that there was still something wanting. THE TITANTC'S COMMANDER. COMMODORE OF THE WHITE STAR FLEET. Captain Smith, who was in command of the Titanic at the time of the collision, was the oldest servant in the White Star Line. He was between 68 and 70 years of age, and had commanded all the latest vessels of the fleet, with the exception of the Oceanic. It is said that he was offered command of that vessel, but refused it. The reason of that refusal is told by an interesting story. It appears that there was some question as to whether Captain Smith or a»other commander (Captain Cameron) was commodore of the fleet, and it so happened that when the Oceanic was built Captain Smith's rival was appointed to the command of that vessel. Subsequently Captain Cameron died, and Captain Smith was offered command of the Oecanic. This he refused, and later on went to the Adriatic, being content to wait until the Olympic and then the Titanic were built. For five years he was commander, and up to the time of the mishap to the Olympic had not had any accidents. This was his first trip across the Atlantic in his new charge, and the result is already known. Captain 'Smith was said to be one of the coolect commanders afloat. A little story is told how on one occasion a mast on the Olympic carried away. At the time Captain Smith Wiis sitting in his cabin, and whin informed by an officer of what had happened, he scratched his head and said, "Yes, sir; I heard the bump." At times, when vessels are crossing the Atlantic between Liverpool and New York, ice is seen practically for days. There is nearly always a heavy fog round about when approaching the' American coast, and officers who have been in that service, state that there are times when one can see nothing of a vessel but the tops of her masts. 0 The fog, resting lightly on the top of the water, envelopes the hull, and it is only by seeing the masts that vessels know that there is another ship in the vicinity. When the ice coining down from the north meets the warmer waters , of the Gulf 'Stream, it melts, and this causes the fog. It is usual for White Star liners when proceeding through these fogs to have as many as eight men on watch on the deck. There are three on the bridge, two in the "crow's nest" on the foremast and three in the bows. This is a standing rule in the company, and is never altered or varied under any circumstances whatever. THE ATLANTIC LINERS OF THE FUTURE. Probable developments in the increase in the size of ships will form the subjectmatter of several papers to bo communicated to the International Navigation Congress, to be held in Philadelphia in May. Mr. C. Loemans, of Amsterdam, in his paper, will predict th ' ' - .■..•., will see vessels of 70,000 and 73,000 tons traversing the ship-lanes of the North Atlantic. In a generation lie believes there will be ocean leviathans of 100,000 tons plying between Europe and North America. This sized vessel, he savs, will have a length of 1500 ft, a widtli of 100 ft, and a draught of more than 50ft. Mr. E. L. Corthell, of New York, will also discuss this_ subject at the congress. His predictions are based on tables worked out from past increases and from tlie economic advantages of larger ships. He believes that vessels of 1100 ft in length for 1048 is a modest prediction The future dimensions of merchant and war vessels have important bearing on the size necessary for canals. Mr. Corthell points out that important ship canals should be large 'enough to accommodate the largest vessels alloa\ because even the merchant vessels are liable to be pressed into service by their Governments ' in time of war. When it is completed, the Panama Canal_ will be the only s'lip canal with capacity to pass the greatest vessels afloat. Its locks will take vessels nearly 110 ft wide, more than 40ft deep, and 1000 ft long. These dimensions were insisted on by the Genn-e.! Naval Board of the United States after the Consulting Board and Canal Commission had suggested a size that has already been proven inadequate. The German Government is now paving dearly for constructing its Kaiser* Wilhelm Canal too small. This canal was built in the years 1887-1895, requiring eight years to complete. In less than 15 years it became inadequate, so that the largest vessels were compelled to go around the Cape Skagen route. Nov the canal is being 'enlarged at enormou- -ost in order ' to accommodate Germany's merchant and war fleets. The Suez Canal is also being deepened, the Canal Company recently being compelled to borrow 150 million francs for the purpose.