Hello Julian.I don't know about all this - perhaps I am missing something obvious?
If Captain Lord could have worked out his DR stopped position on the back of his match box used to light his pipe in a few minutes or quicker, or worked it out in his head then I presume this was because he was a course due west or near enough due west?
The other available primary source evidence is that Captain Smith could not do this calculation in his head, and even when he had wrote out Titanic's CQD position got it wrong. Boxhall also got the position wrong.
Rostron got his DR course to Titanic's CQD wrong and despite getting it wrong still thought he was in the correct Boxhall CQD position despite him obviously (with hindsight) not being in Boxhall's CQD position. He also clearly got his speed wildly wrong after altering course for the CQD position.
There is some evidence that also Captain Moore got his navigation wrong on his rescue attempt.
So I pose again why was Captain Lord so perfect in his navigation that evening and night, when all the other key players got it wrong to a greater or lesser degree?
The corroboration of The Antillian ice warning message of bergs seen sent by The Californian is hidden in the depths of the British Inquiry and the evidence of George Turnball, Deputy Manager of Marconi in the UK. Plus it is generally assumed that The Parisian (on the same course as The Californian) and an hour or so ahead saw exactly the same icebergs that The Californian did as reported to The Antillian and Titanic by Evans on The Californian. In respect of such important corroboration as came from The Parisian, it may be that too many assumptions have been made? (Plus of course assuming that The Parisian's navigation was as 'perfect' as The Californian's!)
On a separate matter I accept on the above posts of Sam and Jim that Captain Lord did not have to go down to the chart room and spent 10 - 15 minutes to work out the DR stopped position of The Californian, though it did take the slow and plodding Boxhill some time to work out his own faulty and inaccurate CQD position and Boxhall certainly could not do this quickly in his head or on the back of a fag packet or back of an envelope.
I agree with Jim that even though Captain Lord would not have known beforehand where The Antillian was, having got wireless contact he would have supplied the info to The Antillian as not only a ship of his own line, but also a ship he had previously commanded, and no doubt he was familiar with it's officers and many of it's crew.
The associated point I have made a number of times that this message to The Antillian was also sent at the same time to Titanic as Turnball's detailed evidence shows plus Bride being recalled (Bride admitted he did not respond initially because he was writing up his accounts at the time).
Cheers,
Julian
Actually, any Navigator who knew his ship's hourly change of latitude and longitude on a constant course could work that out in his head.
Captain Smith was no exception to the Rule. Nor were any of the captains or their Navigators that fateful night.
During his BBC interview in 1962, Boxhall said Captain Smith used the 8 pm DR as the basis for his CQD position calculation, but the ship was 20 miles too far ahead of that 8 pm DR and therefore it was 20 miles in error. Captain Smith put the ship 20 miles too far ahead in his calculation. In fact, if Boxhall had been correct, Smith would have placed the ship, 20 miles astern of where she really was. I suspect, like me, Boxhall's memory was playing tricks with him. However, Smith was not responsible for the 8 pm DR. 3rd Officer Pitman, as Senior navigator of the 6 pm to 8 pm Watch had that privilege. Smith simply used what was written in the Scrap Log Book.
Captain Rostron likewise depended on his Navigating Officer to provide him with a 12-30 am DR position for Carpathia. However, that man did not explain why his ship was farther east than it should have been at 4 am that morning. Nor did he, later, offer any explanation but simply lied about the navigation skills of Boxhall.
Captain Moore did the obvious: he created confusion to cover up something...I know-not what but have my suspicions.
In his evidence, he was vague about where his ship was when he got the first distress call. he was also vague about where his ship crossed the 50th meridian...41-20'north or 41-15'North. as I pointed out to you before, he never gave an exact position to his questioners...the best he could do was a longitude which was only a position line.
Evans never attempted to deliberately contact Titanic before 1 pm that night. When he contacted "Antillian". Titanic heard him and called the Californian. The ships exchanged "Time Rushes" (contact data) and Evans offered Titanic the ice warning he had given to Antillian. Titanic said they had already heard it.
In my opinion, Boxhall. in his anxiety and the drama of the moment, simply assumed the wrong speed and runtime when working his DR position. He used a time of 11-45 pm when he should have used a time of 11-40 pm. He used 22 knots when he should have used about 22.4 knots. He eitherr assumed that the full clcok set back had been made before impact or assumed that the recorded time did not account for a partial set back of 24 minutes and double compensated for that. it is, however, significant that the man was so confident of the accuracy of his work, that when he died, he had his ashes scattered on that very spot...before the wreck was discovered.