“IF—”

Southland Times, Issue 17025, 25 April 1912, Page 5

“IF—”

WIRELESS HAD BEEN INSTALLED CHANCES OF RESCUE MISSED STEAMER CLOSE TO TITANIC SENATE’S SEARCHING INQUIRY (By Telegraph. Press Association.—Copyrlcht.) NEW YOBK, April 24. Received April 24, 9.45 p.m. If tlie freight steamer Lena had been equipped with wireless, she could have reached tho Titanic in time to save all those aboard. She passed within twenty miles of the sinking liner without knowing anything about her. A SIGNAL UNHEEDED. FOURTH OFFICER’S ALLEGATION. NEW YORK, April 23. Mr Franklin, Vice-President of the International Mercantile Marine Company, gave evidence that the collision probably opened live or six watertight compartments. Boxshall, the Titanic's fourth officer, gave evidence that the berg was dark grey and thirty feet high. After the collision lie fired the Morse lights to attract a ship which was five miles away, but the ship did not answer, though the Titanic signalled, "Come at once: wc are sinking.” He did not know the name of the ship. WASHINGTON, April 24. Received April 24, 12.30 p.m. Frederick Fleet gave evidence’ that he was in the crow’s-nest of the Titanic 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, and sounded three bells. He telephoned to the bridge and the vessel immediately went to port. The ice got larger as the vessel went along, and when she struck it, it appeared to be about fifty feet high. He was not alarmed at the collision, and thought it was merely a narrow shave. Fleet stated that the look-outs had asked Lightolier for glasses on the Atlantic voyages, and glasses had been provided at Belfast, but not at Southampton. Lightolier had said that there were none. Fleet was -of the opinion that if the look-outs had had glasses, they would have been able to give sufficient warning for the Titanic to have moved to safety. Fleet took charge of a lifeboat containing three men and twenty-five women. He had orders to pull towards the light off the Titanic’s bow, but failed to find it. Major Peuchen, of Toronto, gave evidence that lie inspected the ico-berg. He thought at first that it was not a serious collision. Later lie was showing Hayes the Iceberg, when ho noticed the ship’s list. Hays said: “The Titanic can't sink. Whatever wc have struck, she’s good for eight or ten hours.” Peuchen then went to the lifeboats, and was surprised to find the sailors not at their posts. There was a shortage of competent seamen. Thirty-six women were in the first lifeboat, when a crowd of stokers came on deck and attempted to rush it, but an officer plucklly drove them off the deck like sheep. He called to the women, who filled the second boat. Peuchen continued that some refused to leave their husbands. He thought that the failure to sound a general alarm accounted for many women not coming on deck when It was time to get into the boats. He wondered at the time why so many men had been taken. One seaman asked Peuchen, who is a yachtsman, to slip down a rope and take an oar. The lifeboat was rowed as fast as possible away from the wreck to escape the suction. Shortly afterwards they heard a signal from the Titanic, asking them to return, but on the lifeboat did not wish to, because the quartermaster said, “It’s our lives against those on the ship.” Married women’s protests were ignored. Two explosions then followed. Pitman, - the third officer, gave evidence that a special look-out was kept for icc on Sunday. At first he did not think the collision was serious. He met Ismay, who was in a dressing gown, and the latter said, “Hurry! There's no time for fooling.” He told witness to get the women and children into the boats. Ismay helped to launch one of the boats, and was on the Titanic when witness’s boat left. Pitman expected to be able to bring the passengers aboard again a few hours later. His boat was not filled because no more women -were about when it was lowered. The Titanic settled by the head, and then suddenly stood on end and dived straight down. Four explosions, like big guns followed. He believed that they were tho bulkheads bursting. Ho heard mapy cries of distress. He ordered the men to get out (heir oars and pull towards the wreck to save a few more, as there were only forty aboard the boat, which would hold sixty passengers. The men demurred, saying it was a mad idea, and even the women did not urge him to return. He yielded to the passengers’ importunities. Pressed by Senator Smith, Pitman gave harrowing details of the awful wreck. He said that he heard screams which came later as one long continuous moan, as if they were a chorus of deatli agony and cries, and these continued for an hour. He had no personal knowledge of tho ship. Again questioned by Senator Smith, Pitman suggested that it might have been that the Helligolav, which was docked in New York on March 17, encountered an iceberg near where the Titanic was sunk. The public were excluded from the inquiry in consequence of interruptions. AN OPINION AT LLOYDS. TITANIC'S OFFICERS MISLED. Tho opinion is expressed at Lloyds that it is possible that the officers of the Titanic- mistook the reflection of her own lights from the distant iceberg for an approaching vessel. BOAT ACCOMMODATION. Received April 24, 1 1.25 p.m. A conference of leading shipping companies, including those in the Australian trade, informed Mr Sydney Buxton that they had decided to provide boats and rafts sufficient for all aboard their vessels at the earliest possible date. FURTHER FIGURES, | OF THOSE LOST. ' NEW YORK, April 24. Received April 24, 11.25 p.m. There were 710 third-class passengers aboard tho Titanic, whereof 277 were women. Altogether 13S third-class passengers wore saved, whereof 10G were women. Twenty stewardesses were also saved. TEE BRITISH INQUIRY. j LORD MERSEY TO CONDUCT IT. ! LONDON, April 23. I Mr Will (’rooks moved the adjournment to call attention to the necessity for Hie Boa»d of Trade preventing the officers, crow, and passengers of the Titanic dispersing before they have given evidence at the British inquiry. Mr Buxton, replying, promised to subpoena till who were necessary and subsidise tho poorer witnesses. Lord Mersey’s Committee and the Wreck Commissioner, and will tie assisted by assessors. lie will commence tlic investigation directly. Tho Government is also convening a mooting of British companies to consider precautions ponding the revision of tlie law. Mr Crooks withdrew his motion. Lord cMrseyV, Committee and the Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee meet to discuss matters affecting safety at sea, and after receiving their reports, Mr Buxton will decide as to the expediency for a further national or international committee or commission. Meanwhile he has ordered affidavits from America of the officers and crew or

passengers who are not returning to

England of any useful Information relating to the disaster. FURTHER DETAILS. SUGGESTIVE WIRELESS SIGNALS. LONDON. April 23. The “Daily News" New York correspondent states that the Senate intends inquiring whether the Titanic’s officers disregarded the repeated warnings as to Icebergs; whether it was unavoidable that a hundred women perished: why the White Star Company was Ignorant of the disaster until the evening, though the Baltic and Olympic knew the details at noon; why the Marconi official wirelessed the operators on the Carpathia on Thursday: “Say nothing; hold your story for dollars in four figures.” The correspondent, adds that there is some talk of a club boycott of men who left the ship while women were aboard, but it is difficult to criticise the men when boat after boat was lowered only partly filled. Nine out of ten passengers for an hour and a half believed the vessel unsuitable and deliberately refused to enter the earlier boats. A steward, Nichols, states that half the men went back to bed for threequarters of an hour after the collision. He saw a passenger punching a ball in the gymnasium. 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 two Hoffman children were 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 Lightolier, the second officer, whether the watertight compartments wore intended as a refuge for passengers. THE BELIEF FUNDS. LONDON. April 23. The Queen of Norway has given one hundred guineas to tho Lord Mayor's fund, which has now reached £105,000. Other funds in Britain and America total £70,000. The White Star and Cunard Companies state that tho captain’s standing instructions arc to ensure the safety of the lives and ship before speed. RECOVERING THE BODIES. COMPENSATION PAYMENTS. NEW YORK, April 23. Thirty-two women from the first and second class were amongst those drowned in the Titahlc wreck. No engineers wore saved. One 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 Titanic's American mail Clerks. ABOUT CAFE RACE. THE SCENE OF THE COLLISION. SHIPMASTERS’ EXPERIENCES. Mr H. Bramwell, of the Park Hotel, Bathurst, who has had twenty-nine years at sea, and holds a' master’s corticate, had something to say concerning the ill-fated Titanic. “I have crossed the Atlantic over 200 times,” said Mr Bramwell, "and the neighbourhood of Cape Race) in which the Titanic is said to have collided with an iceberg, is particularly dangerous on account of the fogs which almost continually hang around there. It is about there that all the steamer lines converge. It may be news to some to know that the outward and homeward tracks across the Atlantic are followed almost along strictly defined lines, which in nautical phraseology arc called steamer lanes. The lanes are from fifty to. a hundred miles apart generally, and thus diminish the risk of collision between the steamers of the outward and homeward routes. But towards Cape Race they converge, and after leaving there diverge more or less as the steamers are bound to Boston. New Y'ork, Philadelphia or Baltimore. "The vicinity of Cape Race is particularly dangerous, also, from the fact that it is near the fishing ground of the cod fleet, which Kipling, in his ’Captains Courageous,’ describes with'such fulness and accuracy. “What surprises me is that bergs are so far south .so early In the year. June is generally the earliest they are looked for. It is rather exhilarating work being in charge- of a ship about Cape Race in a fog. You are continually fancying you can see ships and fishing boats or a derelict. It might be a berg at any time, and if you do meet one it is generally too late to avoid it.” He was asked if the presence or vicinity of icebergs could be determined. “By some experts they can be,” he replied. “The waters about Cape Race are in the Gulf Stream, the temperature of which is very much higher than the water on either side of it. In a fog a man is employed drawing water and taking the temperature of it, and any considerable drop is an indication that ice is in the vicinity. But it is not by any means a reliable test, as the berg may be shifting towards you and thus leaving the old track behind.” AMERICAN PRESS METHODS. SHIPMASTERS’ EXPERIENCES. “FAKED STORIES.” •The reporting of the Titanic tragedy has been marked by unreliable, distorted, and hysterical statements emanating from New York. Long before the Carpathia had reached New York Harbour with the survivors from the Titanic, highly coloured, and even impossible stories, plainly tainted with yellow journalism, were being circulated throughout the world, only to be followed by contradictory reports. How unreliable many of these stories are, is, perhaps, not apparent to the layman, but by shipping men and seafarers, who are in a position to judge, many of the reports are condemned as totally unreliable, and in some instances, absurd. A representative of “The Press,” who has had some years’ experience of seafaring men and shipping matters, has observed this distrust of American journalistic methods displayed in a very striking manner on numerous occasions in the course of his work amongst shipmasters. The majority of foreign-going shipmasters and ships’ officers are averse as a general rule to being interviewed by reporters, and especially is this the case in regard to those who have had experience in American seaports. In their case a reporter is usually regarded at first sight with difetrust, and in some instances with positive aversion. And the reason it not far to seek. A closer acquaintance with them usually elicits* the fact that they have unpleasant memories of the methods of American yellow journalism. “If you have no story to tell them, they are not discouraged, but will invent one* to suit themselves,” is the statement of many shipmasters. Some extraordinary stories of alleged happenings at sea or on shipboard, published iu American journals, have been cited b\ masteio and officers of ships that have visited Lyttelton during the past few years. 'Captain Masolius. of the German steamer Kaltenturm. which was in Lyttelton last week, commented strongly on the unreliability of the cables regarding the Titanic disaster. Ho showed the reporter two copies of the “Boston Herald,” which contained two extraordinary stories relating to his ship. Eaclt story occupied over a column of space in a prominent part of the papei, t\ as given live or six large typo headings and was told with a wealth of detail in the form of an interview with Captain Masellus. The first story was to the effect that after passing out of tho Mediterranean by way of the Strait of Gibraltar on her passage from India to Boston, the officers of tho Katlenturm sighted a huge whale which was behaving m a most extraordinary fashion, writhing and plunging and leaping clear out of the sea as if in great agony. The officers were so impressed with the sight that they called Captain Maselius, who examined the whale closely through his binoculars. The whale was opening its cavernous mouth ’while jumping out of the water and Captain Maselius saw plainly that one side of Us lower jaw was badly swollen and inflamed, and the only conclusion he could come to was that the poor whale was suffering from a violent toothache and was attempting to knock

out the offending molar by jumping clear out of the sea and descending with its full weight on the water! The second “interview,” published a day or two later with startling headlines, was a terrible snake story. Again falsely quoting Captain Maselius the paper stated that the Kattenturm left India with a large number of live snakes on board consigned to some menagerie or Zoo in the United States. The snakes were all of one species, the most deadly poisonous known. During the passage one snake escaped from its crate and attacked a member of the Lascar crew, who died in great agony in a few minutes. Every man on board joined in a hunt for the snake, which successfully evaded capture. Night after' night it Issued from its secret hiding place, but although all hands carried weapons for the remainder of the passage the snake always dodged its pursuers, and finally disappeared by way of a deck ventilator in a hole where it hid amongst the cargo. The crew went in fear of their lives, and at the time of writing, the cargoworkers were dreading a sudden attack from the venomous reptile! Captain Maselius solemnly assured the “Press” reporter, that during the passage from India to Boston not a single whale was sighted! The Kattenturm had no snakes on board for America and not one man had seen a snake or had died from any cause whatever. During the whole of his stay in Boston, he had not even spoken to a newspaper reporter. ENORMOUS PASTS. The Titanic had triple-screws, and was propelled by a combination of turbine and reciprocating machinery. She could steam 21 knots, though not constructed primarily for speed, the owners' chief intention being to provide steamers containing every conceivable comfort and convenience for Transatlantic, travellers. In the hulls of the Titanic and Olympic there v, .a 2,500,000 rivets, weighing 1000 tons. The Titanic’s rudder weighed 100 tons, and the weight of the castings, comprising the stern frame, rudder, and brackets, amounted to 280 tons, or GO tons more than those of any other steamer. The largest beam weighed over four tons, and measured 92ft.., and the longest steel plates were 36ft. Each engine crank shaft weighed over 118 tons, bedplate 195 tons, eacli column 21 tons, and the heaviest cylinder, with lever, 50 tons, and wing propeller 38 tons. The weight of the casting for the turbine cylinder was 163 tons, and of the propeller, which was of solid bronze, 22 tons. The anchors were 19ft, in length and over 15 tons in weight, and each link of their chains weighed several hundred-weight.