OCR Text |
Show 1 pt l I M H Mount Temple Unable HI . to Aid on Account of H Ice Floes Hl Boston. April 25. The steamship mm Californian of the Leyland line was mW within ten miles of tho White Star B liner Titanic when that boat went B down, according to tho sworn statc- M ment of Ernest Gill, .second donkey Bj man on the boat, B The officers or the ship dcclaro that B th'e steamer was tw.enly miles away, B that she saw no rockets and never B "sighted the Titanic. Gill says he por- B I 'r.onally saw tlie rockots. saw tho 1 , linwlsldo lights of tho Titanic and B I .heard the Bhip's officers talking amon Bj i hemselves and declaring that the H 'captain had been told of the Bending BJ J of the distress rockets. B Gill Makes Affidavit. H Gill told his story in tho presonce Hr- ,of foi:r membors of the crew of the B - Californian. the Boston American ro- H , porter and a notary public. The other H "sailors assented to all his statements, H but rofused to make public statements H- , or ot'norwise corroborato Mr. GUI, be- H cause they wore afraid of losing their H 'jobs. The affidavit follows: H j -;' am 20 years of age, siugle, na- H tlve of Yorkshire. I was making my H third voyago in the Californinn H "Night of April 1 1 I was on duty H ' from' S p. m until 12 midnight in the B I , engine room. At 11 '56 I came on H ' deck. The stars were shining bright- I , ly. It was very clear and I could I see for a long distance The ship's B engines had been stopped since 10:30 H and she was drifting among floe ice. H Crew Whispers of Scandal. H "I looked over the starboard side H and saw the lights of a very largo H steamer about ten miles away. I H could see her broadside lights. H "I watched her for fully a minute. B . The r could not have helped but sec H her from the bridge and lookout. At H 12 o'clock I went to my cabfn. H woke my- mate, WilJiam Thomas. Fie B beard the ice crunching alongside the Hl ship and asked, 'Are we in the ice" H "I replied, 'Yes, it must be cleared H off to the starboard, though, for a H big vessel is going along at full speed. H She looked as if sho might be a big B German.' H "I turned in, but could not sleep. B In half au hour I turned out, think- B ing to smoko a cigarette Bocnuse of H '. the cargo J coufd not smoke betweea , B decks, so I went on deck again. Hl Beholds Two Rockets. B "I had been on deck about ten min- B utes when I saw a white rocket about ten miles away on the starboard side. I, thought it must be a shooting star. In seven or eight minutes I saw distinctly dis-tinctly a second rocket in the samo place, and I said to myself, 'That must bo a vessel in distress.' "It was not my business to notify the bridge or the lookouts, but thoy could not have helped but see them. "I turned in immediately after, supposing sup-posing that the ship would pay attention at-tention to the rockets. I knew no more until 1 was awakened by the chief engineer calling "Turn o'ut to render assistance' It was then 6:40 " 'The Titanic has gone down," he explained. I went on deck and found the vessel under way and proceeding full speed. She was clear of the ice field, but there were plenty of bergs about. Hears Strange Admissions. "I went down tn the engine room on watch and heard tho second " and fourth engineers In consultation. J. C Evans is the second and Wooten is the fourth. The second was telling tell-ing the fourth that tho third officer had reported rockets going up on his watch. I .knew then that it must have been the Titanic I had seen. 'vThe second engineer added that tli? captain had been notified by the apprentice ap-prentice officer, whose name I think is Gibson, of the rockets. Tho skipper skip-per told him to Morse with a light to a vessel in distress. Mr Stone, tho second navigating officer, was on tho brldgo at the time, Mr. Evans said. "I overheard Mr. Evans say that Mors lights had been shown and more rockets went up. Then, accord ing to Mr. EvanB, Mr Gibson went to tho captain again and reported more rockets. Tho skipper told him to continue con-tinue to Morse until he got a reply, but no reply was received. "Tho next romark I heard the second sec-ond pass was, 'Why the devil didn't they wake the wireless man up?' Sees Broadside Lights. "The entire crow of the steamer have been talking among themselves about the disregard of the rockets. personally urged several to Join me in protesting against the conduct of I tie captain, but thoy refused because I they feared to lose their jobs. "A day or two before the ship reached port the skipporj called the quartermaster, who waH on duty at tho time the rockets weie discharged, into his cabin. Thoy were In consultation consul-tation about three-ciuartors of an hour. The quartermaster declares ho did not see the rockets. "I am quite suro tho Californian was less than twenty miles from the Titanic, which the officers report to have been our position. I could not have seen her if she had been moro than ten miles distant, and I saw her verj .plainly "1 liuve no ill-will toward the captain cap-tain or any of the ship's officers, and I am losing a profitable berth by making mak-ing this statement, r am actuated by tho desire that no captain who refuses or neglocts to give aid to a vessel in distress should be able to hush up the matter. (Signed.) "ERNEST CILL," Sworn to and subscribed before me this 24th dnv of April, 1912. (Signed) SAMUEL PUTNAM, Notary Public. |