Marconigram send times

[Mike Spooner]

The problem I see with captain Smith he never gave the wireless room a clear instruction that all ice warnings ahead are reported to the bridge immediately. Make no excuse he know be facing the annual winter icefield.

 

[Ajmal Dar]

Ajmal,
That was the common practice at the time. At the British Inquiry, 11 ship captains testified that Captain E.J. Smith did exactly what they would have done under the same circumstances (5 of the captains were from other subsidiaries of International Mercantile Marine, the White Star Line owners, while 6 of the captains were from other companies). Now, if they had the Mesaba warning, it's possible that Captain Smith might have ordered all engines stopped or a reduction of speed since the Mesaba warning indicated ice extremely close to the Titanic's course.

Gordon,

Thanks for the Statistics on the number of Captains that came forward in the enquiry.

My view is like everyones, that it was a combination of factors that coalesced to sink the Titanic.

To my mind, I may be wrong, I think the Killer factor to the Titanic is that it came upon a Black Berg.

All the best,

Ajmal
(Nottingham UK)

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

The problem I see with captain Smith he never gave the wireless room a clear instruction that all ice warnings ahead are reported to the bridge immediately. Make no excuse he know be facing the annual winter icefield.

Hi Mike,

You make a valid point re: the ice warnings. If I understand things correctly, this was the first time that the winter ice field had extended as far south as it did. We're looking at this with the advantage of 110 years of hindsight, plus the knowledge of all the ice warnings that were transmitted at the time. Which ice warnings the Titanic received is another story altogether. Unfortunately, we will never know the answer because that radio log went down with the ship.

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

Gordon,

Thanks for the Statistics on the number of Captains that came forward in the enquiry.

My view is like everyones, that it was a combination of factors that coalesced to sink the Titanic.

To my mind, I may be wrong, I think the Killer factor to the Titanic is that it came upon a Black Berg.

All the best,

Ajmal
(Nottingham UK)

Ajmal,

Yes, there were a number of factors involved. The first was the Olympic's collision with the HMS Hawke which resulted in the delay of Titanic's maiden voyage by about a month. When the Titanic left Southampton, the moorings of the SS New York broke and the New York almost collided with the Titanic which delayed her sailing by almost 1 hour. Had that not occurred, the Titanic would have arrived at 41 43 57.0N 49 56 48.8W about one hour earlier and would have passed about 3/4 mile south of the iceberg.

Perhaps the worst error was that ship captains viewed wireless as a "novelty" rather than a serious navigation tool. Proof of this is that there is a picture of the Californian at the wreck site that was taken from the Carpathia. Even though both ships had radio, they were communicating with signal pennants. The first pennant seen in the picture of the Californian says "Answer". I've seen multiple references to that picture, but haven't actually seen it. I would love to so I could read the answer.

 

[Ajmal Dar]

Ajmal,

Yes, there were a number of factors involved. The first was the Olympic's collision with the HMS Hawke which resulted in the delay of Titanic's maiden voyage by about a month. When the Titanic left Southampton, the moorings of the SS New York broke and the New York almost collided with the Titanic which delayed her sailing by almost 1 hour. Had that not occurred, the Titanic would have arrived at 41 43 57.0N 49 56 48.8W about one hour earlier and would have passed about 3/4 mile south of the iceberg.

Perhaps the worst error was that ship captains viewed wireless as a "novelty" rather than a serious navigation tool. Proof of this is that there is a picture of the Californian at the wreck site that was taken from the Carpathia. Even though both ships had radio, they were communicating with signal pennants. The first pennant seen in the picture of the Californian says "Answer". I've seen multiple references to that picture, but haven't actually seen it. I would love to so I could read the answer.

Gordon,

Thanks for the answer.

What is your view on the Black Berg? Surely it's blackness was a major factor in why Tiitanic lookouts spotted it too late? I think that had it been white, it would have been spotted a lot earlier? Why don't we hear more on this aspect of the tragedy?

Best regards,

Ajmal

 

[Mike Spooner]

Captain Smith was no novice to icefields, yes the 1912 icefield was larger than other years, but you must apply caution to any icefield. We never know for sure why Smith got careless that night.

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

Gordon,

Thanks for the answer.

What is your view on the Black Berg? Surely it's blackness was a major factor in why Tiitanic lookouts spotted it too late? I think that had it been white, it would have been spotted a lot earlier? Why don't we hear more on this aspect of the tragedy?

Best regards,

Ajmal

Ajmal,

Here is a photo of the berg that the Titanic is believed to have struck. The moon was a waning crescent, 2 or 3 days from being New. It didn't rise until about 4 a.m. The berg wasn't seen because there was no light to reflect off of it. Binoculars (and telescopes) magnify by reducing the field of vision. It would be hard to see the berg unless the Milky Way was behind it, where its mass would obscure the starfield behind it.

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

Here's a link to the ice warning sent out by the Mesaba, the warning that Jack Phillips acknowledged but then did nothing else with it. On the prefix line there are two letters. I would be interested in everyone's take as to what the letters are. I have since found out that the Marconi Company also had a 2-letter code with the identical meaning of MSG (Master Ship Message). I think I know what they are but I'm interested in what others think they are.

https://www.jpr-global.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/mesaba_glace.jpg