Blog 150 - Marine Musings - Titanic - Part X - On That Fateful Day
- ranganathanblog
- Jan 11
- 3 min read
The Mesaba sends a warning to the Titanic about an ice field that includes “heavy pack ice and [a] great number [of] large icebergs.” Wireless operator Jack Phillips—who works for the Marconi Company—is handling passengers' messages and never passes the warning on to the Titanic's bridge.
Thus starts the fateful day in the life of RMS Titanic.
The route Titanic followed on her maiden voyage was a sort of compromise between a shortest possible route and a safest possible route. This route was a 'Great Circle' - from Fastnet Rock - (the official starting point of a transatlantic crossing) to a point called “The Corner” at 42°N, 47°W, followed by a straight line to New York harbor. See below for a map of the route, from “Keeping Track of a Maiden Voyage” by Sam Halper
A more Southerly Route plotted
The Iceberg awaits at the Grand Banks
Warnings start coming in on the Marconi sets showing icebergs about 1 day away from where the Titanic is
It is 0900H, 14th April 1912
A Life Boat Drill was scheduled for 1100H on 14th April 1912, but never took place, probably because the Captain had not concurred and given authorisation.
The Iceberg and the Titanic
The second warning of icebergs - this one with the MSG prefix
There were 3 more received, but this was the last one that Capt EJ Smith saw
The Mesaba sends a warning to the Titanic about an ice field that includes “heavy pack ice and [a] great number [of] large icebergs.” Wireless operator Jack Phillips—who works for the Marconi Company—is handling passengers' messages and never passes the warning on to the Titanic's bridge.
The Captain had consulted with Ismay (the Chairman and Managing Director of the White Star Lines) about the ice warnings. Ismay, who lived to tell the tale, in his testimony, asserted that he did not influence the Captain in any way, on being shown the message about the icebergs. He also stated that it is possible that the Captain did not slow down or stop for the night in order to be clear of the field of ice, so they continued at full speed.
5.30 pm Sunday 14th Apr - A course change was scheduled for a westerly course. Delayed by 20 minutes as the Titanic steamed on a southerly course for those 20 minutes. Ironically and tragically, instead of taking it away from the iceberg, it puts itself on a collision course with the iceberg.
Meanwhile, in a very rare phenomenon, in 1912, the Labrador Current, instead of being a coasting counter current, pushed itself into the belly of the warm Gulf Stream current. So, the Gulf Stream, instead of its usual North Easterly direction, found itself pushed into an east-southeast direction, before going up north again. See sketch.
The ice berg, instead of meeting an 18 deg C warm current and quickly melting, was insulated by the cold Labrador Current.
At around 6 pm, 14th April 1912 Capt Smith decided to change course, more westerly than southerly He did not know this, but he had put himself on a collision course with the iceberg.
Lookouts in the Crows’ Nest were alert, but did not have binoculars. (The binoculars were locked away in a safe, the key to which was in the suitcase of the Second Mate who had signed off at Southampton(?).
There was no moon. Visibility was not very good (because of the darkness), but not bad.
One must remember that seamen are used to looking out into dark background for hours together and spotting anomalies.
The sea was calm. Too calm.
The Iceberg was not spotted till the last minute.
One of the theories - opinions - is that the fresh water in the iceberg had made the iceberg nearly colourless.
Experts opine that it had probably become a ‘black berg’.
‘Black Bergs’ are icebergs that have become discoloured due to either sediment or algae and are difficult to spot on a dark night.
An iceberg’s underwater section
Had there been even the slightest bit of wind or swell, the waves lapping against the iceberg would have caused a white froth, which would have been more easily spottable and much earlier, than with a silent, calm sea.
Paradoxically, it was the calm seas that allowed the lifeboats to float without hindrance, till the ‘Carpathia’ arrived on the scene to rescue the survivors.
Another opinion is that the iceberg’s bottom section that was in the water had slowly melted way, making it top heavy. Then, the possibility of the iceberg turning turtle and exposing its darker underside exists. Being darker, the Lookouts could not have spotted it against a dark background, till the last minutes.
AR
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