Some questions

[Paul Lee]

Hi all,
Is there any evidence that the lights in the public areas on board were turned off on the night of the 14th April as an encouragement for the passengers to go to bed? And if so, which ones, and at what time? I suppose that the lights would have been turned back on when the passengers were being roused?

Also, does anyone know where I can get a starchart showing the night sky on 14th April?

Best wishes
Paul

 

[Lee Gilliland]

There's Polaris.net Starchart Map Server online, or you can get a downloadable version at Versions of Starchart

As I understand it, the rooms were closed one by one by that room's steward when it became empty.

 

[Donald J A Smith]

"showing the night sky on 14th April" Well, Hello Paul - The night sky of 14/15 April 1912, and as it was visable so sharply above Titanic - is that shown in the illustration by my fellow 'Hampsteadite', Fortunino Matania. You now only need to turn to the interesting article 'Anatomy of a Boat Deck Portrait', written recently by Senan Molony - and right here on ET!

 

[Dave Gittins]

For some comments on the sky, see my site at Titanic and Astronomy

David Billnitzer has correctly pointed out that the sky in the Matania drawing is all wrong. I've confirmed it using a computer program.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Paul, check out this thread for info on the 'lights out' policy:

All Electric Lights On

Hey, Everyone always shows the Titanic with all the lights on as it sails into the distance. Many of the ships rooms were not occupied so wouldnt those lights be off? Would they be turned on anyway. Also, in the early morning hours it must have been really dark. Please help me Out...

www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

 

[Lee Gilliland]

There is also an interactive sky dome at Sky & Telescope that can send you back to the Night of April 14-15, 1912 (you will need to click on the word "Skychart" in the upper left). They haven't put in the Lyrid Meteor Showers, which more than likely was the one that caused the falling stars, but they are working on it.

 

[Paul Lee]

Hi everyone,
Thanks so much for your help.... would it be fair to say that, at the time of the collision, the Titanic's public rooms would have been lit?
I know that the 1st, and probably 2nd class dining saloons would have their lights on as the stewards prepared the tables for the next morning, and I recall that the 1st class smoking room was still occupied....are there any others that anyone can recall?

Best wishes to you all!
Paul

 

[Donald J A Smith]

Hello, again, Paul - Mrs Astor and at least one other lady - perhaps others with their maids - completed dressing for the lifeboats in the gymnasium - which must have been lighted. I am hugely impressed by the helpful response to your 'sky-at-night' query. Almost obsessively pains-taking in researching the smallest detail of every illustration (another double-spread - of the Titanic Inquiry - is 'virtual reality'!), Matania nonetheless did not have the benefit of modern computers - or the ET message board.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Paul, it's likely that only the 1st Class Smoking room was still fully lit at the time of the collision. All of the saloon stewards who gave evidence at the two Inquiries testified that they were in bed by then - none mentioned being on duty later than 10.30pm. The only people still working in the First Class Saloon (dining room) were the night watchmen, who came on duty at 11pm. In 2nd Class, Chief Steward Hardy was responsible for ensuring that the public rooms were closed up and the lights off at 11pm, and he too was in bed at the time of the collision. The public facilities in 3rd Class had of course been closed and unlit since 10pm.

 

[Pat Cook]

Well, apparently there were some stewards still on duty. Lawrence Beesley wrote that, after the collision:

"...I jumped out of bed, slipped on a dressing-gown over pyjames, put on shoes and went out of my cabin into the hall near the saloon. Here was a steward leaning against a staircase, probably waiting until those in the smoke-room above had gone to bed and he could put out the lights."

I have always wondered who this man was. I had originally thought of James Witter, who was seen just after this outside the stewards quarters (according to Walter Lord). Also, Hardy did mention in his testimony that four stewards were kept at their stations between the hours of eleven and twelve.

Hope this is of some help.

Best regards,
Cook

 

[Paul Lee]

Thanks for all your help!

(Just one more little question: would the lights in the public gangways, such as boatdeck and A-deck promedades, also be left on?)

Cheers to you all!
Paul

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Hi, Cook. It was the saloon stewards (ie the waiters) who were off duty for the night (the people that Paul thought might have been laying tables). There were always a few bedroom stewards on night duty, along with the night watchmen. One of these, James Johnston, survived and his testimony at the British enquiry is interesting in shedding some light on the night duties. Johnston's own 'zone' was in and around the 1st Class saloon, and he appears to have had supervisory responsibilities for others who kept watch elsewhere: "There is a bedroom steward and a night watchman on each deck, and all the third class and all the second class reported to me each night when they came on watch".

I'd forgotten about Beesley's encounter, which makes it clear that the 2nd Class Smoking Room also was still in use and with lights on at the time of the collision.

Paul, Hardy stated that he went off duty "after going around the ship and seeing that all the unnecessary lights were out". I seem to recall reading elsewhere that that included most of the lights on the promenades and companionways other than those needed for passengers to find their way back to their cabins. He was referring to the 2nd Class areas, but I imagine a similar policy would have been followed in 1st Class.

 

[Lee Gilliland]

Something occurs - I imagine, Paul, that your question was originally asked because of the description of the Titanic by the Californian? But I imagine most of the lights were turned back on after the collision and when the passengers and crew were awakened, yet I've never heard anyone mention this.

 

[Inger Sheil]

Interesting insight there from Dave, Donald, Bob and of course Cookie (how many times has Beesley's text 'shed light' on a question, eh?). You working on a new angle, Paul?

One thing that intrigued me was the indication of the light level on the boat deck during the evacuation. Lowe, for example - although he didn't delve into the issue during the inquiries - later told John Simpson's sister that the doctor had given him a torch to assist him on the boatdeck (an interesting indication of where the electric torch he was later seen carrying by witnesses such as Sara Compton came from). Another witness, when pressed on the identification of an officer, replied that it was difficult to tell who it was because of the darkness. While it's difficult to find too much supporting evidence that this darkness was materially a factor in hindering the loading and lowering of the lifeboats, it surely didn't help.

 

[Paul Lee]

Hi everyone,
Well, one thing I am interested in is allowing people to view various aspects of the Titanic disaster via Java based applets, so that anyone with a web browser can experiment with how the disaster might have turned out had things been different.
My first attempt at this idea (modelling the flooding of the Titanic) has been put on hold, but my next idea is to show what people on the Titanic and Californian (and later on, Carpathia and Mount Temple) would have seen the night of the disaster.
Big project, but it should be worthwhile in the end!

Best wishes

Paul