As one of the passengers who was moving around the deck and saw the heroic efforts made by his fellow passengers to achieve that which the crew utterly failed to accomplish, I resent, with every spark of manhood that is in me, the finding of Lord Mersey’s Court when he says that “Probably (the) disastrous attempts of the frightened passengers to assist in the launching operations” added to the “difficulties” the officers and crew found in trying to lower the boats. I would suggest adding to the “difficulties” mentioned above the following: lack of discipline among the crew and the lack of expert knowledge as to the handling of the boats, knowledge that can come only to the well-trained crew. He says of this wonderful crew that “many more than half of them lost their lives.” I suppose that is because the other half “worked with skill and judgment.” It would seem that Lord Mersey measures “skill and judgment” by the number that were lost; and if so, why doesn’t he pass the same relative judgment on the passengers who lost their lives? He mentions figures, but here are the totals: There were 1,257 passengers and 472 were saved. To have been consistent, he should have written after the paragraph, “In addition to these difficulties there were the well-meant but probably disastrous attempts of the frightened passengers to assist in the launching operations,” the following: “Many more than half their number lost their lives.” From what, pray? Because they were “frightened,” or because the crew acted with “skill and judgment”? It doesn’t seem to me that this Court of Inquiry has stood up to its business like the historic Briton who isn’t afraid to take his medicine, and place blame where it should be placed; rather, it has hidden behind the act itself, which it finds “was done not merely with the intention of sinking the ship, but also with the intention of destroying the lives of the people aboard.” So for the Captain, the Court finds that he acted with “the judgment of a skilled and experienced man, and ... ought not ... to be blamed”; for the Crew and Officers, that their “conduct ... was satisfactory. They did their best ... and their best was good”; for the Cunard Line, that the “reduction of the steamer’s speed was of no significance and was proper in the circumstances.” And what does this honorable Court find for the passengers who entrusted their lives to the judgment of the Captain and those under him? To wit, that “some of the passengers attempted to assist in launching the boats ... and did more harm than good,” and that “the frightened passengers (made) probably disastrous attempts to assist in the launching operations.”