Part 4 - Queenstown & The Open Sea
11 April 1912 - 11.39pm, 14 April 1912
11 April 1912 - Thursday morning - Captain Edward John Smith takes Titanic through some additional practice turns en route to Queenstown. 11.30am - Titanic arrives at Queenstown and drops anchor about two miles from land. Second and Third Class passengers board from tenders along with bags of mail and more cargo. Seven passengers disembark. 1.30pm - The starboard anchor is raised one last time and Titanic embarks on her Trans-Atlantic crossing headed for New York City, the last photograph of her alive is taken from the dock as she sails away. Between 11 April - 12 April 1912 - Titanic covers 386 miles (which includes the stop at Queenstown) in fine, calm, clear weather. Between 12 April - 13 April 1912 - Titanic covers 519 miles, the fine weather continues, although various ice warnings are received, they are not rare for April crossings. 13 April 1912 - 10.30pm - A passing ship, Rappahannock, warns of heavy ice pack ahead, they report the ship has been damaged coming through the ice field. 14 April 1912 - Sunday - 9.00am - Day of Impact - The first iceberg warning of the day is received by Titanic's senior radio (wireless) operator, Jack Phillips, from Carolina. It warns of an ice field and icebergs at 42° North, from 49° to 51° West, about a day's sailing away. 10.15am - Captain Edward John Smith is passed the first telegraph warning of icebergs. 10.30am - Religious services are held in the First Class dining saloon. 11.00am - A lifeboat drill is scheduled to occur, however this is cancelled by Captain Edward John Smith, reason unknown, no explanation given. Now although a couple of the lifeboats had been tested before they set sail, and there was a quick drill earlier yesterday, the crew had no real rehearsal of them, their only experience was the real-life need of them just over twelve hours later. 11.40am - The Dutch liner, Noordam, reports of “much ice” in the same area as the Carolina. 12pm Noon - At noon everyday, Titanic’s officers gather together on the wing of the navigational bridge to calculate her daily position with sextants: “Since noon Saturday 546 miles”. 1.42pm - A second iceberg warning is received via White Star Line steamship, Baltic, she reports “large quantities of field ice” and large icebergs in latitude 41° 51’ North, longitude 49° 52’ West about 250 miles ahead of Titanic. The message was delivered to Captain Edward John Smith. 1.45pm - A “large iceberg” warning is received via the German liner, Amerika, (41° 27’ North, 50° 8’ West). 2.00pm - Captain Edward John Smith passes the iceberg warnings to Joseph Bruce Ismay, he pockets the messages. 5.30pm - 7.30pm - Over two hours the air temperature drops ten degrees to 33° Fahrenheit. 5.50pm - Captain Edward John Smith alters Titanic’s course from South-West to directly West, this is supposed to occur earlier, at 5.30pm, however, delaying the change of course allowed Titanic to travel further South in the hope to dodge the ice and icebergs as warned about in the reports he received. Ironically, this should have positioned Titanic in an area of the Gulf Stream that should be free of icebergs; most years the ice is not there, this year however, the cold water had pushed the warm Gulf Stream further South and the change of course still directed Titanic straight toward danger. 6.00pm - Second Officer Charles Lightoller relieves Chief Officer Henry Wilde on the bridge. 7.15pm - First Officer William Murdoch orders the forward forecastle hatch to be closed to stop the glow from inside the ship from interfering with the crow’s nest watch above. 7.20pm - Assistant radio operator Harold Bride finishes work on the accounts and finally picks up three warning messages of large icebergs in the area of 42° 3’ North, 49° 9’ West, which are sent from SS Californian. Bride takes the messages to the bridge, but Captain Edward John Smith has left and is at a dinner party in the First Class dining room; the message is given to another officer, but no one survived who can say that they seen this message. The ice is now only 50 miles ahead of Titanic. 8.40pm - Second Officer Charles Lightoller passes orders to Titanic’s crew to look after the fresh water supply as the temperature of the surrounding sea water is close to freezing. 8.55pm - Captain Edward John Smith excuses himself from the dinner party and goes to the bridge, he discusses the calm and clear weather conditions and the visibility of icebergs at night with Second Officer Charles Lightoller. There is no moon and nothing to indicate before them that an iceberg could be looming ahead. 9.20pm - Captain Edward John Smith retires for the night with orders to rouse him “if it becomes at all doubtful.” 9.30pm - Second Officer Charles Lightoller tells the lookouts in the crow’s nest to watch carefully for icebergs until morning. 9.40pm - SS Mesaba warns of field ice and a "great number" of icebergs in the vicinity of latitude 42° North to 41° West to 50° 30’ West. This message does not have the prefix "MSG" - the indication a message is for the captain, it is treated as non-urgent and the radio operators continue their busy work with passenger's personal telegrams. 10.00pm - Second Officer Charles Lightoller is relieved on the bridge by First Officer William Murdoch. The lookouts are relieved, with the new watch in the crow’s nest, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Robinson Lee, told to watch carefully for icebergs. Now the temperature is 32° Fahrenheit, the sky is cloudless, the air is clear. 10.30pm - The sea temperature is now 31° Fahrenheit. 10.55pm - Approximately 10 - 15 miles North of Titanic is Californian, she has stopped sailing for fear of the perilous ice and sends out warnings to all shipping in the area. Californian contacts the nearby Titanic with a further warning of ice. The reply they receive is very terse as Phillips is desperate to conclude the passenger's messages; “Keep out. Shut up! I am busy. You’re jamming my signal. I’m working Cape Race.” Californian’s only radio operator, Cyril Evans, listens in to Titanic’s messages and radio traffic. The iceberg is now about 15 miles ahead, Titanic is racing towards it at about 22 knots (25 mph). 11.30pm - The lookouts, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Robinson Lee, in the crow’s nest note a slight haze appearing directly ahead of Titanic. The iceberg is just 4 miles, 10 precious minutes ahead. Radio Operator Cyril Evans on Californian shuts down his radio and retires for the night, Titanic is on her own. 11.39pm - The iceberg is about 1,000 yards ahead. |