Is this your imagination or Fleet said he saw something like that? Why to speculate what Fleet could have seen if IIP clearly states that an iceberg cannot be spotted before it is 1/4 miles away?
The Captain of the
Carpathia testified they had a few lookouts, and their elevation was lower than the Titanic's lookouts, and they were looking for icebergs all right, but still they were unable to see them closer than "a mile and a half to two miles away", and maybe by that time there were some waves breaking over them, which makes them much easily to spot.
I know about this record in the log of SS Marengo. It adds nothing to confirming a presence of a mirage. I know that some call ice-blink a refraction. Maybe it was what they saw. At least ice-blink for sure could be seen at a night time.
The bottom line is that there is no single confirmed record about anybody anywhere in the world observing any mirage (except the ones that involve light source) at a night time.
It was described as a black mass and with nothing to illuminate the iceberg it could only be identified as a dark mass against the backdrop of stars.
I believe the log from the Marengo is significant and is key evidence to what was seen that night. Strong refraction was seen south west of the Titanic at midnight that very same night she sank, so it can't be dismissed or treated as irrelevant. It is a crucial piece of evidence. There were millions of stars that spanned down to the horizon which would set the backdrop to anything ahead which would appear as a black mass against the stars and the ice field which could be visible from the crows nest would appear like a haze, especially with the strong refraction affecting it. e.g.
Fleet
"Well, I reported an iceberg right ahead, a black mass."
Lee
"It was a dark mass that came through that haze"
Boxhall saw it immediately after the collision.
"I was not very sure of seeing it. It seemed to me to be just a small black mass not rising very high out of the water"........"I saw a black mass, a low-lying black mass...."
When the Titanic's lights went out and she was about to take her final plunge the survivors described the ship as a black mass.
Mr. Archer - "Yes, sir; just a black mass."
Mr. Brice - "She became a black mass before she made the final plunge."
As this was the same description as the iceberg it can be deduced that the iceberg was just a black mass which stood out merely by the lack of stars behind it and as it approached it would become bigger and block out more stars until the lookouts realized it was worth reporting to the bridge. I believe there is an account from Fleet after the Inquiry where he said that he discussed with Lee what it could be before they reported it and this delay may have been the reason why both men were so vague at the Inquiry. I recall an account from the SS Parisian which said that the stars illuminated the enormous ice field and made it glow like a glass palace on the horizon.
Both Fleet and Lee saw the haze on the horizon yet survivors lower down saw nothing. I believe that is an indication that the lookouts were observing the ice field further away which would be illuminated by the millions of stars shining down on it and the refraction would make it appear as an unusual haze.
Fleet
Q - Could you clearly see the horizon?
A - The first part of the watch we could.
Q - The first part of the watch you could?
A - Yes.
Q - After the first part of the watch what was the change if any?
A - A sort of slight haze.
Q - A slight haze?
A - Yes.
Q - Was the haze on the waterline?
A - Yes.
Q - It prevented you from seeing the horizon clearly?
A - It was nothing to talk about.
Q - It was nothing much, apparently?
A - No.
Q - Was this haze ahead of you?
A - Yes.
Q - Was it only ahead, did you notice?
A - Well, it was only about 2 points on each side.
Q - When you saw this haze did it continue right up to the time of your striking the berg?
A - Yes.
Yet lower down the haze could not be seen at all as the survivors in the lifeboats could not see that far away from their lower altitude e.g.
Lawrence Beesley
"First of all, the climatic conditions were extraordinary. The night was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen: the sky without a single cloud to mar the perfect brilliance of the stars, clustered so thickly together that in places there seemed almost more dazzling points of light set in the black sky than background of sky itself; and each star seemed, in the keen atmosphere, free from any haze, to have increased its brilliance tenfold and to twinkle and glitter with a staccato flash that made the sky seem nothing but a setting made for them in which to display their wonder. They seemed so near, and their light so much more intense than ever before.........The complete absence of haze produced a phenomenon I had never seen before: where the sky met the sea the line was as clear and definite as the edge of a knife, so that the water and the air never merged gradually into each other and blended to a softened rounded horizon, but each element was so exclusively separate that where a star came low down in the sky near the clear-cut edge of the waterline, it still lost none of its brilliance. As the earth revolved and the water edge came up and covered partially the star, as it were, it simply cut the star in two, the upper half continuing to sparkle as long as it was not entirely hidden, and throwing a long beam of light along the sea to us."
Note - He said the stars close to the horizon would throw a long beam of light towards him. If there were a number of stars close to the horizon the lookouts possibly might have had their vision hampered by the glare of light glistening on the sea which would detract their attention away from peering through the starlight to see and identify the approaching black mass as an iceberg until it was too late.
The intensity of the stars may have illuminated the horizon similar to moonlight and made the silhouette of the iceberg appear as a dark mass which approached the ship.
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