COTTAM TELLS HIS STORY
Thomas Cottam, of Liverpool, the Marconi operator on the Carpathia, was the next witness.
Cottam said that he was about ready to retire Sunday night, having partially removed his clothes, and was waiting for a reply to a message to the Parisian when he heard Cape Cod trying to call the Titanic. Cottam called the Titanic operator to inform him of the fact, and received the reply. 'Come at once; this is a distress message. C. Q. D.' "
"What did you do then?"
"I confirmed the distress message by asking the Titanic if I should report the distress message to the captain of the Carpathia."
"How much time elapsed after you received the Titanic's distress message before you reported it to Captain Rostron?"
"About a couple of minutes," Cottam answered.
COTTAM RECALLED
When the committee resumed the investigation on April 20th, Cottam was recalled to the stand.
Senator Smith asked the witness if he had received any messages from the time the Carpathia left the scene of the disaster until it reached New York. The purpose of this question was to discover whether any official had sought to keep back the news of the disaster.