TITANIC DISASTER

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10618, 25 April 1912, Page 5

TITANIC DISASTER

THE SENATE ENQUIRY

CABLE NEWS

(United Prm Auodatidn—BV Metric Tekgraph-^Chpyright.)

POINTED QUESTIONS BY

COMMITTEE,

(Received April 24, 8.20 a.m.)

LONDON, Aprii 23

The Daily News New, York correspondent states that the Senate's Committee of Enquiry intends enquiring— Whether the Titanic's officers disregarded the repeated warnings alxmt the icebergs. Whether it was unavoidable that a hundred wemen perished. Why the White Star Company was ignorant of the disaster until the evening, 'though the steamers Baltic and Olympic knew details of the wreck at noon.

Why a Marconi official wirelessed to the operators on the Carpathia ' on Thursday: "Say nothing; hold'your story for dollars in fouivfigures." . The correspondent adds that there is some talk of a club boycott of the men who left the ship while women were aboard ; but it is difficult to criticise these men when boat after boat was lowered partly filled, and nine out of every ten passengers for an hour and a half believed that the Titanic was unsinkable, and deliberately refused to enter tho earlier boats.

A SEAMAN'S EVIDENCE.

(Received Last Night, 9.45 o'clock.) WASHINGTON, April 24. . In the Senate's enquiry in connection with the wreck of the Titanic, Frederick Fleet gave evidence that he was in the crow's-nest at the time of the collision. Ho had been instructed to look out -sharply for ice, and saw a berg as large as two small tables. He sounded three bells and telephoned to the bridge. Tho wssel immediately went to port. The ice got larger as they went along. When the vessel struck it was about 50ft high. He was not alarmed at the collision, although he thought it a narrow shave. Fleet stated that the lookouts asked Lightoller ibr his glasses. Atlantic voyage glasses had been provided at Belfast* and. So u thamptbn. Lightotter. [ said; there were none../-Fleet"°P m^ 'f had;. glasses ; they.; \youid 'havQ been able to, give sufficient; w/arningi /'Eject',,took.charge of ;a lifeboat coiitai uing s tfiree'"meif and 'Menty-fivc women.- He had orders to pull towards the light off the Titanic's bow, but he failed to find it. The vessel was dne time abreast of the boat, but it slipped by.

A PASSENGER'S EVIDENCE. Major Penchcn, ipf Toronto, gave evidence .that he hispected the _ iceberg, and; thought it not serious Later, while showing Hays the iceberg, lie noticed the ship list. Hays replied, "The Titanic can't sink; whatever we've struck, she's good for 8 or 10 hours." Major Penchcn then went to the lifeboats. He was surprised that the sailors wcrp not at their posts. There was a shortage of competent seamen.'Thirty-six women were in the first lifeboat. A crowd of stokers came on deck, but an officer pluckily drove them off the deck like sheep and called for women to fill tho second boat. Some refused to leave their husHe 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 lowered, Lightoller'said, "We cannot manage tho boats with our seamen." He asked Pehchen,.who was a yachtsman,/to slip down a rope and take the oar'*f the Hfchoat. They rowed as fast as possible to escape the suction. Shortly afterwards they heard the Titanic signal, "Return those lifeboats." Ho did not wish to return, because the Quartermaster said, "It's our lives against those on thp ship." The married women's protests' were ignored. Two explosions followed. THE THIRD OFFICER.

Mr Pitman, the third bfiicer,' deposed that Ji'special.'lookout was kept for v ico on Sunday. , At.first he dicl not think the collision was serious. He mot ;Mr Isiriav who M'as in his dressing gown, and who said, -"Hurry, jjtate'u • *.io time for fooling," M.Y ISWSJ. told J wiia jHsssUo. got **;r c hii < W into j ! tu " Vjac-8. Mr Ismay helped to launch one, and remained on the titanic when witness's boat left. Pitman expected to be able, to bring the passengers aboard again in a few hours. Tho boat .was not fdled, becauso there were J no more women about when it was lowered. The Titanic settled by the head, and then suddenly stood «n end and dived straight down. Four explosions like big guns followed. He believed .they were the .bulkheads. Many cries of distress wero heard. He ordered the men to gob out the oars and pull towards tho wreck, to save a few more, as there were only forty aboard the boat, which would hold sixty. The passengers demurred, saying that it was a. mad idea. Even the women did not 'urge him to return. He yielded to import-unities. Pressed by Senator Smith. Pitman gave harrowing details. He heard screams and one long, continuous moan as if in death agony. The crie,s continued for an hour. He had not a personal knowledge of the ship menlioued by Boxhall. Senator Smith suggested that it might have been the ; Heligoland, which was docked in New York on tho

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17th, and was reported to have encountered an iceberg near where the Titanic sank. PUBLIC EXCLUDED.

The public has been excluded froiu the enquiry, in consequence of interruptions.

THE VALUE OF WIRELESS

(Received Last Night, 9.45 o'clock.)

NEW YORK, April 24

If the freight steamer Lent bad been equipped with wireless she ccuid have reached th Titanic in time to have saved those aboard.

She passed within 20 miles of the sinking liner.

A SENATOR'S IGNORANCE

(Received April 24, 8.50 a.m.)

LONDON, April 23,

The Times calls attention to the ignorance of Senator Smith, chairman of the Enquiry Committee, in asking Mr'Lightoller, the second officer of tho Titanic, whether watertight compartments were intended as a refuge for passengers. Steward Nichols states that half the men passengers went back to bed three quarters of an hour after the collision. He saw a passenger using the punching ball in the gymnasium. The women, ho said, had to be coaxed to enter the boats.

Mr-Peter Daly, a first saloon passenger, states that Captain Smith ran to the'railing calling to bring the boats 1 back which were 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 .from London. RECOVERING THE DEAD. NO ENGINEERS SAVED. (Received April 24, 11 a.m.) ' NEW YORK April 23. Thirty-two women were drowned.' among the first and second class pas-, sengers. /No engineers were saved. A hundred bodies' .have been recovered. Mr Widener's was among the first to be identified. ' '■- are to be introduced4n. ,Cpi\ r .. 'gress to present gold' medals to".the, Captain and crew of the Carpathia,: -and 10,000 dollars apiece to the widows of. the Titanic's American mail clerks, RELIEF FUNDS MOUNTING'UP. \ (Received April 24, 10.5 a.m.) LONDON, April 23. The Queen of Norway has subscribed a hundred,'guineas to tho Lord Mavor's Fund, which now amounts to £105,000. Other funds in Great Britl am and America total £70,000.