speed until you get everything working smoothly and satisfactorily down below. Ismay said he had nothing to do with the ‘movement of the ship’, but he continued to refer to himself and the Captain as we; they were a team.
Did Ismay know of the ship’s proximity to icebergs? No, sir, I did not. I know ice had been reported. Had he been on the ‘so-called northern route before?’ We were on the southern route, sir. You were not on the extreme northern route? We were on the extreme southern route for westbound ships.[2] Made to look a fool, Smith determined to embarrass Ismay. ‘What was the longitude and latitude of this ship? Do you know?’ Preferring to appear ignorant, Ismay replied that he had no knowledge of such things because he was not a sailor. The audience duly registered that the Managing Director of the White Star Line did not have so much as a schoolboy’s grasp of navigation. Did Ismay know they were near icebergs at all on Saturday? On Saturday? No sir. Did he know anything about a wireless message from the Amerika warning of ice? No, sir. Was he aware of their proximity to ice on Sunday? On Sunday? I did not know on Sunday. I knew that we would be in the ice region that night sometime. That you would be or you were? That we would be in the region on Sunday night. Did he have any consultation with the Captain on the matter? Absolutely none… it was absolutely out of my province. I am not a navigator. I was simply a passenger on board the ship. Did he know how the wireless service worked on the ship? No, he did not. Did he ever see the wireless operator? No, he did not. Was he on the deck when the order was given to lower the lifeboats? Yes, he heard the Captain give the order. Did he see any of the boats lowered? Yes, three. Were the boats on various decks? No, only on the sun deck. On the sun deck? Yes, what we call the sun deck or the boat deck. They were on the boat deck? That would be the upper deck of all? The upper deck of all, yes. Was there any order or supervision to the lowering of the boats? Yes. What was it? That I could not say. The boats were simply filled and lowered away. Did they first put in some men for the purpose of controlling them? We put in some of the ship’s people. Some of the ship’s people? Yes. How many? That I could not say. About how many? I could not say. How many men were in the boat in which Ismay had left the ship? Four. Besides yourself? I thought you meant the crew. I did mean the crew. There were four of the crew. What position did these men occupy? Ismay did not know. How did it happen that women were first put aboard these lifeboats? The natural order, said Ismay, would be women and children first. Was that the order? Oh yes. That was followed? Yes. So far as you observed? Yes. Were all the women and children accommodated in these lifeboats? I could not tell you, sir. How many passengers were in the lifeboat in which you left the ship? About forty-five. Forty-five? Yes. Is that its full capacity? Practically, yes. Was there any struggle around the boats? I saw none.
There was palpable astonishment in the room. Many of the spectators were holding their copies of the New York Times which that day carried an interview with Abraham Hyman, who had shared Ismay’s boat. Hyman described the loading of Collapsible C as taking place amongst ‘so much confusion that nobody knew what was going on… some of the people were too excited to understand what was said to them and they crowded forward and then some of the officers came and pushed them back, crying out for women to come first, and some of them said they would shoot any man who tried to get into the boats’.
Smith continued: you helped put some of the women in the boats yourself? I put a great many in. Did you see the first lifeboat lowered? That I could not answer, sir. I saw the first lifeboat lowered on the starboard side. What was going on on the port side I have no knowledge of. Did the first lifeboat contain the necessary number of men? As to that I have no knowledge. Is it true the women in the second lifeboat were obliged to row that boat from 10.30 at night until 7.30 in the morning? The accident, Ismay said, did not take place until 11 o’clock, but as to the women doing the rowing, of that I have no knowledge. You have no knowledge of that? Absolutely none, sir. So far as your observation went, would you say that was not so? I would not say either yes or no; but I did not see it. How long were you on the ship after the collision occurred? That is a very difficult question to answer, sir. Practically until the time — almost until she sank. What were the circumstances of your departure from the ship? In what way? Did the last boat that you went on leave the ship from some point near where you were? I was immediately opposite the lifeboat when she left. Immediately opposite? Yes. What were the circumstances of your departure from the ship? Smith repeated, I merely ask that– The boat was there, Ismay interrupted. There was a certain number of men in the boat, and the officer called out asking if there were any more women, and there was no response, and there were no passengers left on the deck. Smith was confused; 1,500 people were left on the ship but there were no passengers left on the deck? No sir; and as the boat was in the act of being lowered away, I got into it. At the time that the Titanic was sinking? She was sinking. Did you see any of the men passengers on that ship with life preservers on? Nearly all the passengers had life preservers on. All that you saw? All that I saw had life preservers on. All of them that you saw? Yes, as far as I can remember. Naturally, you would remember that if you saw it? When you entered the lifeboat yourself, you say there were no passengers on that part of the ship? None. Did you see any struggle among the men to get into these boats? No. Was there any attempt, as the boat was being lowered past the other decks, to have you take on more passengers? None, sir. There were no passengers there to take on.
The East Room listened spellbound as Ismay described leaving behind him an empty ship.
Smith then asked about the damage to the Titanic, about the course taken by Ismay’s lifeboat, about the length of time he had been on the open sea, about the number and type of boats, about how he climbed on board the Carpathia. He asked how many of the crew were saved, how the ship sank, whether she was broken in two, whether there was an explosion, whether there was much confusion on board as she went down, and how far he was from the Titanic when she took her final dive: I did not look to see, Ismay replied; and I do not know how far we were away. I was sitting with my back to the ship. I was rowing all the time I was in the boat. We were pulling away.
At this point, General Uhler looked bothered and scribbled a note which he passed to Smith. Ismay pointed out that had the Titanic not received her Board of Trade passenger certificate she would not be allowed to travel, adding that for all he knew she was carrying more than the recommended number of lifeboats and that lifeboats are built not for the number of passengers but to have a certain cubic capacity. Alexander Carlisle, who had been the Chief Designer of the Titanic but was now no longer employed by Harland & Wolff, would tell the British press that the final decision for the number of lifeboats had been made by Ismay; that the ship’s davits were able to hold forty-eight boats but that Ismay had insisted on carrying the Board of Trade requirement of sixteen along with four collapsibles.
Ismay then denied having anything to do with the selection of men who accompanied him in the lifeboat and repeated, to the astonishment of the committee, that his ship was unsinkable, that she was specially constructed to float with any two compartments full of water. I think I am right in saying that there are very few ships — perhaps I had better not say that, but I will continue now that I have begun it — I believe there are very few ships today of which the same can be said. While the press were noting this down, Ismay provided them with another headline: If this ship had hit the iceberg stem on, in all human probability she would have been here today. A gasp went round the room. This was a surprisingly informed conclusion from a man who claimed to have no technical knowledge. The blame for the disaster, Ismay was implying, lay in the instructions given from the bridge. Had Ismay been in the position of Chief Officer Murdoch, who was no longer living, he would not have
