LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT INSPECTED.
“Everything was complete,” said Lightholder. Sixteen lifeboats, of which four were collapsible, were on the Titanic, he added. During the tests, he said, Captain Clark, of the British Board of Trade, was aboard the Titanic to inspect its life-saving equipment.
“How thorough are these captains of the Board of Trade in inspecting ships?” asked Senator Smith. “Captain Clark is so thorough that we called him a nuisance.”
Lightholder said he was in the sea with a lifebelt on one hour and a half.
“What time did you leave the ship?” “I didn’t leave it.”
“Did it leave you?” “Yes, sir.”
“Where were you when the Titanic sank?” “In the officers’ quarters.”
“Were all the lifeboats gone then?” “All but one. I was about fifteen feet from it. It was hanging in the tackle, and they were trying to get it over the bulwarks the last time I saw it. The first officer, Mr. Murdock, who lost his life, was managing the tackle.”
The last boat, a flat collapsible, to put off was the one on top the officers’ quarters, Lightholder said. Men jumped upon it on deck and waited for the water to float it off. Once at sea, it upset. The forward funnel fell into the water, just missing the raft, and overturning it. The funnel probably killed persons in the water.
“This was the boat I eventually got on,” declared Lightholder. “No one was on it when I reached it. Later about thirty men clambered out of the water on to it. All had on life preservers.”