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British
Inquiry
Testimony of Charles
Lightoller
14068. (The
Solicitor-General.) When you came up where did
you find yourself? - I found myself alongside of
the collapsible boat, which I had previously
launched on the port side, the one I had thrown
on to the boat deck.
14069. The one still
shut up? - Yes, still shut up, bottom up.
14070. Were you able to
make use of it to clamber on to it? - Not at
that time. I just held on to something, a piece
of rope or something, and was there for a little
while, and then the forward funnel fell down. It
fell within 3 or 4 inches of the boat. It lifted
the boat bodily and threw her about 20 feet
clear of the ship as near as I could judge.
14102. You say you saw some six people who had
got to this collapsible boat. Were they men? -
Yes.
14103. I think you said
they were standing on it? - As far as I remember
yes, standing or kneeling.
14104. What happened to
you? - I climbed on to it.
14105. Then just tell
us what was the course of events after that from
your point of view? - There were several people
in the water round about us who struggled
towards the boat and swarmed towards the boat
and got on to it during the night occasionally.
Of course we could not paddle that boat about;
it was absolutely water-logged.
14106. I suppose it was
shut up in the sort of sense that that little
profile which is in your hand is shut up? - Yes,
just upside down like that bottom up
(describing). Do you mean she was shut up like
that?
14107. Yes? - No, she
is a flat boat like that. She consists of the
shape of the boat and two bottoms divided into
compartments which contain air. When the boat is
turned over it is quite flat on the surface of
the water.
14108. Like a raft? -
Exactly.
14109. There are six
and you yourself were there and others got to
it? - Yes, as far as I know during the night. I
did not count them. It was merely an estimate
from other people. There were nearly 28 or 30
people on this raft in the morning.
14110. (The
Commissioner.) Do not you know how many were
taken off to the “Carpathia”? - No, my Lord, I
do not. We were taken into a lifeboat before we
went on board the “Carpathia.”
14111. (The
Solicitor-General.) That is between the going
down of the “Titanic” and dawn? - Yes.
14112. (The
Commissioner.) When were you taken off this
collapsible boat? - Just at daybreak.
14113. By what boat? -
I do not know the number.
14114. Were you all
taken by one boat? - Yes.
14115. And how many
were in the boat that took you off when you got
on board? - I counted those myself; standing in
the stern I counted 65 heads.
14116. That included
those that had been taken from the collapsible?
- Including those taken off that boat, 65 heads.
I could not myself see anyone who sat in the
bottom of the boat. I judge there were at least
75 in the boat.
14121. So there would
have been about 45 on this lifeboat when you
approached her or when she approached you - that
is right? - Yes. I may say there were two
lifeboats approached us.
14122. Did not you all
get into one? - We all got into one. This being
the lighter one of the two, I chose it.
14123. You all got into
her? - Yes.
Testimony
of William Lucas
1595. Did you go back in
your boat? - I transferred all the women from my
boat to No. 8 boat because I was frightened of
my boat capsizing and going down.
1596. Whose boat was
No. 8 boat? - Poingdestre was in charge.
1597. You got all your
women out of your boat into No. 8? - Yes.
1598. Then what did you
do with your boat? - Poingdestre asked me if I
would go in the boat and get hold of an oar and
I said yes, and then I went over to the upturned
boat where we had picked up 36 from the
wreckage.
1599. What upturned
boat was this? - This was one of the boats that
had got off from the deck where I was assisting
before I went away in this collapsible boat.
1600. Was it a
collapsible boat? - It was a collapsible boat.
1601. It was upturned?
- It was upturned.
1602. Were there people
clinging to it? - Yes, 36 on the top of it.
1605. Now with regard
to these 36 people on this upturned boat, what
happened to them? - I put them in the boat that
I was in.
1606. You took them
off? - Yes.
1607. With your
collapsible? - No, with this No. 8 boat.
1613. You went in No. 8
yourself? - Yes.
1619. Now, you picked
up 36 people off an upturned boat? - Yes.
1620. Did you pick up
anyone else in No. 8? - No.
1621. Were there any
other people to be picked up? - Well, there were
people to be picked up, but they were dead
before we got there.
Even
though Lucas said he was transferring people into
#8, he was incorrect. We are positive
that Poingdestre was in #12.
Lightoller
claimed he climbed onto the overturned portside
collapsible - Collapsible B. Lucas, though
he erroneously said #8 instead of #12, claimed to
pick up the survivors who remained on the
overturned collapsible. So Lightoller
climbed from Collapsible B into #12.
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