An attack was made in the course of the inquiry on the moral conduct of
two of the passengers, namely, Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and Mr. Bruce
Ismay. It is no part of the business of the court to inquire into such
matters, and I should pass them by in silence if I did not fear that my
silence might be misunderstood. The very gross charge against Sir Cosmo
Duff Gordon that, having got into No. 1 boat, he bribed the men in it to
row away from drowning people is unfounded. I have said that the members
of the crew in that boat might have made some attempt to save the people
in the water, and that such an attempt would probably have been
successful; but I do not believe that the men were deterred from making
the attempt by any act of Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon's. At the same time I
think that if he had encouraged the men to return to the position where
the _Titanic_ had foundered they would probably have made an effort to
do so and could have saved some lives.
As to the attack on Mr. Bruce Ismay, it resolved itself into the
suggestion that, occupying the position of managing director of the
steamship company, some moral duty was imposed upon him to wait on board
until the vessel foundered. I do not agree. Mr. Ismay, after rendering
assistance to many passengers, found C collapsible, the last boat on the
starboard side, actually being lowered. No other people were there at
the time. There was room for him and he jumped in. Had he not jumped in
he would merely have added one more life, namely, his own, to the number
of those lost.