Incident to the sudden close of the hearing was the story of Harold S. Bride, the second and only surviving wireless operator of the Titanic. His tale was one of suffering and of death.
He told of the final plunge of the vessel to its ocean burial. Its captain’s end also was revealed. He leaped from the bridge when the waters were closing over his ship.
In connection with the transfer of the hearing to Washington it was intimated that the power of the Senate on federal territory would be undisputed in getting at the real facts and no question of State rights could arise to interfere.
Throughout the hearing, also, officials of the White Star Line had portrayed the dangers of sailors’ boarding houses in New York as a reason why those detained by the committee should be allowed to sail on the Lapland, which left today.
Throughout the hearing Wireless Operator Bride, crippled as a result of his experiences and seated in an invalid’s chair, told his story of the last moments of the Titanic.
His narrative, drawn from him piecemeal by Senator Smith, of Michigan, chairman of the committee, held enthralled the committee and the audience.
When his ordeal was ended he was almost on the verge of collapse.
THE LAXITY OF THE WIRELESS
Another phase of the laxity of the wireless, so far as man is concerned, was developed by the chairman. He drew from the witness an acknowledgment that on Sunday evening Bride was sitting, the telephonic apparatus strapped to his ears, adjusting his accounts, while the steamship Californian, seeking to warn the Titanic that icebergs were invading the lanes of ocean travel, called incessantly.
Bride said he heard the call but did not answer because he was “busy.”