THE TITANIC DISASTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12789, 14 June 1912, Page 5

THE TITANIC DISASTER.

(Press Assn — By Telegraph.— Copyright.) (Received June 14, 12.12 p..ii.)LOND ON,. June 13. . At the Titanic inquiry, Lord Mersey, the president, stated there was no doubt the Califorriian saw the Titanic's signals, and she ought to have made efforts to help. ' ■ -LONDON, June 7. In a. paper read.before one of the scientific societies t)r Wilde said that if 'the Titanic had . been ; equipped with a; powerful searchlight the,, iceberg with which she collided would have'been seen m ample time to avert the disaster. The responsibility for the ship not being so provided, he declared, rested with tho , naval authorities. According to the scientific journal Nature the Admiralty . claims the exclusive right to use searchlights at sea* on the ground that their brilliancy interferes with the navigation of other ships. This, says Nature, is why rtone of the Atlantic liners have been equipped wnth searchlights. Mr Harold Sanderson, one of the directors of the White. Star Line, stated that if, as a result of the Titanic inquiry, the shipping companies were ordered to man their vessels with ablebodied sailors, it would simply mean /asking them to get for their ships a type of, .seamen that .not exist m the^couh'tty. ' He expressed the Opinion' that it would be impracticable for a ship like the Titanic to accommodate the full number of lifeboats required for a vessel of her magnitude. Mr Sanderson went on to say -that even m fine weather the lifeboats were not seaworthy when loaded with 65 persons. .The most the boats would carry was forty, and m rough weather it was impossible to even launch them. Mr Ismay, managing director of the White Star Co.' was, at, the Titanic inquiry, .cross-examined by Sir Rufus Isaacs with regard to the ship's equip-' ment of the lifeboats. Counsel : Did you know that the nuihber of boats was inadequate? Mr Ismay : I did. So if all the boats left the ship there would still be people oil board? — Yes. When the last boat left, you must have known tliat V a number of persons were left oh board T— Yes, I did. Where were the passengers when you left? — I can only assume that they must have gone to the after-part of the ship. I was really not thinking about it. Witness further stated thatj, judging from the evidence, 'he believed that those on board the steamer Californian saw the signals of distress that . were made by the Titariic. . ,-' "' NEW YORK, June 7V/V t The vAlue of the subdivision of ar ship' 3 hull into small watertight compartments was demonstrated, when., the battleship Arkansas, while travelling at full speed near • Rockland, Maine, bumped along a reef m a way , : similar to that m which the Titanic struck the iceberg that brought her to grief. ~~, The hull of, the . Arkansas was- seriously damaged for a length of 44ft. >-