Titanic's Rockets Timeline

[Mike Spooner]

Dear Samuel Harpern,
I have read your excellent book quite few times now. Report into the Loss of the SS TITANIC. You mention the first distress rocket fire at 12.47am and the last one around at 1.50am. That's 63 minutes. If eight rockets are fired the an average time of 7.875 minutes per rocket. I can see the law is an ass here to? Distress rockets are very really seen. I can see no captain would reacted on just seeing the first rocket. The second rocket would certainty bring to your a tension may be there is some thing out there. Certainty by the third one yes there is ship in trouble. Which now 23 minutes has past by making the time 1.14am. The next move for Captain Lord is to gather the crew together and increase steam pressure in the boilers. I can another 10-15 minutes is lost before he can get going. The time now 1.24am -1.29am. I can see were the law becomes an ass? It very well saying you must go to the rescue of ship after seeing distress rockets! The Law should of said only processed if it safe to do so first! Lord has only less than one hour to get there! As for how many miles away has be discussed many times before. As in your book Barnett believed between 5-7 miles away. As for De Coverly believed 17-20 miles apart. Morse code lamp was used on the California but not seen by Titanic.The maxim range for a Morse code lamp 15 miles.That's a good indication the two ships were 17-20 miles apart. The rescue a tempt to reach Titanic in time, in the pitch dark with no search light and no moon light is fraught with danger! That is the reason why Lord has stop over night until early day light to make sure he has clear visibility before taking on an ice field. Even then he will only process at 5-6 knots.The hidden dangers is below the water level as only 10% of the ice field is above the water level. Should he make a heavy contact at that speed there is good chance he will get away with it. At speed no chance the ship will be ripped open and lost in less than half an hour. So what speed can he do in the pitch dark with safety in mind? I would of thought no more than 3-4 knots! How many hours to get there? Could of well been over four hours! Yes he may have be guilty by not doing any thing to start with but that situation was impossible to reach the Titanic in time! Lands up been used as a escape goat in the two Titanic enquires and lost his job too.The biggest mistake he made was the removal of pages from the ship log book of that night. Which only through great suspicion what he had to say!
Mike.

 

[Jim Currie]

Hello Mike,

You are 100% correct. Lord was most certainly used as a Scape Goat. The evidence he and his crew gave is to this very day, still being manipulated to line up with the findings of the UK Inquiry.
The missing proper answer to the following question would put an end to the nonsense:
If the ship seen approaching Titanic as she was sinking was "approaching"...moving; how could that have been the SS Californian?

 

[Aaron_2016]

Mr. Buley (able seaman) also saw the other ship approach.

Q - When did you first see that boat on the bow? How long was it before you launched?
A - When we started turning the boats out. That was about 10 minutes after she struck.
Q - Did that boat seem to be getting farther away from you?
A - No; it seemed to be coming nearer.
Q - You are quite positive there was no illusion about that boat ahead?
A - It must have been a boat, sir. It was too low down in the sea for a star. Then we were quite convinced afterwards, because we saw it go right by us when we were in the lifeboats. We thought she was coming toward us to pick us up.
Q - How far away was she?
A - Three miles, sir, I should judge.


.

 

[Samuel Halpern]

Eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable. Here's a bit more of what Buley had to say:

Mr. BULEY. Yes, sir; they could all have been saved. There was a ship of some description there when she struck, and she passed right by us. We thought she was coming to us; and if she had come to us, everyone could have boarded her. You could see she was a steamer. She had her steamer lights burning.
She was off our port bow when we struck, and we all started for the same light, and that is what kept the boats together.
Senator FLETCHER. But you never heard of that ship any more?
Mr. BULEY. No; we could not see anything of her in the morning when it was daylight. She was stationary all night; I am very positive for about three hours she was stationary, and then she made tracks.
Senator FLETCHER. How far away was she?
Mr. BULEY. I should judge she was about 3 miles.
Senator FLETCHER. Why could not she see your skyrockets?
Mr. BULEY. She could not help seeing them. She was close enough to see our lights and to see the ship itself, and also the rockets. She was bound to see them.
Senator FLETCHER. You are quite certain that it was a ship?
Mr. BULEY. Yes, sir; it was a ship.
Senator FLETCHER. How many lights did you see?
Mr. BULEY. I saw two masthead lights.
Senator FLETCHER. No stern lights?
Mr. BULEY. You could not see the stern lights. You could not see her bow lights. We were in the boat at the time.
Senator FLETCHER. Did you see that ship before you were in the water?
Mr. BULEY. Yes, sir; I saw it from the ship. That is what we told the passengers. We said, "There is a steamer coming to our assistance." That is what kept them quiet, I think.
Senator FLETCHER. Did she come toward you bow on?
Mr. BULEY. Yes, sir; bow on toward us; and then she stopped, and the lights seemed to go right by us.
Senator FLETCHER. If she had gone by you, she would have been to your stern?
Mr. BULEY. She was stationary there for about three hours, I think, off our port, there, and when we were in the boat we all made for her, and she went by us. The northern lights are just like a searchlight, but she disappeared. That was astern of where the ship went down.

Buley left in boat #10.

Boxhall said that he thought the steamer turned around and showed a stern light when he was sent away in boat #2. After his boat was lowered and came around to the starboard side of Titanic, he never saw that steamer again. Buley says that the steamer went by them when they were in the boat, and was astern of where Titanic went down when the steamer disappeared in the morning. Very different stories.

 

[Mike Spooner]

Dear Samuel,
As in your book Barnett clamed he can see a ship 5-7 miles away. The key issue which side of Titanic could been seen the lights from? The PORTSIDE as in the America Hearings 16 others thought the same. Even the early lifeboats launch were told row towards the ship on the port side. Lightoller in is book. Titanic and Other Ships. Saw a ship a couple miles away on the portside. Was this the ship Barnett saw? As for California she was on the STARBOARD SIDE 17-20 miles away! Yet poor old captain Stanley Lord never got a chance to expand this in the two enquires. One wonders if the enquires had made their minds to blame Lord for the death of 1500 lives. As it would take another 50 years found out by chance in 1962 the mystery ship on the portside was the Norwegian trawler Samson fishing for seals without a license and did no want exposes her self.
Mike.

 

[Rob Lawes]

As it would take another 50 years found out by chance in 1962 the mystery ship on the portside was the Norwegian trawler Samson fishing for seals without a license and did no want exposes her self.

This is one of the myths surrounding the Titanic story. Subsequent research discovered that the Samson was in dry dock in Iceland and could not have been in the region of the wreck at the time.

 

[Mike Spooner]

Dear Rob,
So do we know what the mystery ship on the portside was?
Mike.

 

[Samuel Halpern]

As in your book Barnett clamed he can see a ship 5-7 miles away.

Now where did you see that in the book? Barnett could see nothing since he wasn't there. What was written in the book about Barnett, one of the MAIB inspectors, was:

"Both Barnett and De Coverly agreed as to the approximate location of Titanic when she struck the iceberg, and that both Titanic and Californian had been under the influence of a strong south setting current of more than one knot in the local vicinity. However Barnett believed that Californian had been under the influence of a south setting current since about noon and was between 5 to 7 miles from Titanic, while De Coverly believed the south setting current affected Californian much later on, and the two ships were between 17 and 20 miles apart. Barnett believed that Titanic was seen from Californian, while De Coverly believed that if she was seen, it was caused by abnormal refraction. They both agreed that the two ships remained in the same relative position with respect to each other, drifting southward with the current, from the time Titanic collided with the iceberg until the time she foundered. They also both agreed that Titanic’s distress signal were indeed seen from Californian, and that proper actions were not taken."

As for California she was on the STARBOARD SIDE 17-20 miles away!

No she wasn't, and that too was addressed in the book:

"De Coverly’s Objection 2: Titanic turned to port at the time of collision, and her red sidelight would not be seen. – This is a mistaken conclusion based on incomplete research. Titanic was turned to port just before contact was made with the iceberg, but turned to starboard following the impact to avoid further damage along her starboard side. The order to do so (hard-aport) was overheard by Quartermaster Alfred Olliver who came onto the bridge just as the ship struck the ice. Titanic was also seen turning to starboard immediately after the collision,[i] and the iceberg was seen disappearing off her starboard quarter as the ship was slowing soon afterward.[ii] When Titanic came to a stop, her head was pointing northward as later witnessed from Titanic’s bridge by Quartermaster George Rowe and by Titanic’s Fifth Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe.[iii] In addition, the wreck on the bottom of the Atlantic shows Titanic’s bow section buried in the mud about ½ nautical mile due north of the center of the boiler field, with the bow itself pointing northward in the direction that it planed forward as it sank after breaking free from the stern section while on the surface. Californian was northwestward of Titanic, and Titanic was pointing northward before she sank keeping her red sidelight open to Californian until it disappeared below the horizon as Titanic trimmed down by head more or more before she sank."

[i] Scarrott, BI 355-356.

[ii] Shiers, BI 4543, 4546.

[iii] Rowe, BI 17671; Deposition of H. G. Lowe before the British Consulate General in New York, May 1912.

 

[Rob Lawes]

Dear Rob,
So do we know what the mystery ship on the portside was?
Mike.

Mike, I've no idea. Rest assured, if I did know I would have written my own book and appeared in a documentary about it by now.



Rob.

 

[Mike Spooner]

Dear Samuel,
I would like to clear a misunderstand. Yes I am aware Barnett and De Coverly are both inspectors. Now if I have said Barnett could see 5-7 miles that is a mistake on my behalf sorry. I can see they have calculated current drift of more than 1 knot. Surprising how different the results are? Barnett 5-7 miles and De Coverly 17-20 miles apart. As for me saying the Californian is on the starboard side, as the ship is on north of Titanic therefore I consider is she is on starboard side.
Looking at your swinging digraph on page 205 and in the Triumph & Tragedy book at 10.21pm Lord ordered the ship swung round to ENE. Which I think was a prudent move from Lord facing away from the ice field. If the ice field creeps on to him he can move the ship easily out of range. I always think Captain Stanley Lord has done every thing textbook correct. Even trying to giving a voluntary message to Titanic at 11.00 of his position 42 5' N, 50 7' and reason for stopping. As we known told to get off the line deafening to operated and shut up I am busy with messages to send out.
Looking at your swinging graph or chart at 12.10am would of that been the same position as at10.21pm?
Seeing the swing chart again between 12.10am and 1.50am the Titanic at 12.47am is some were between the two of them. As for California at 12.35am is almost right angles to Titanic. Far as vision goes I can see Titanic would of had a good broadside view. As for California not so good has the Titanic bow is almost in direct line. The question I ask had the Titanic been further Northwest before the ice berg contact?
If not how can the crew on the California see so well the blaze of lights on Titanic?
A Few Remaining Issues the controversial subject how many miles apart? As in your book the figure mention within 12-14 miles with caution! What I am trying to get my head around is the Morse code lamps been used by both ships yet can't see each other? The Morse code lamp range 12-15 miles is that in day light or night time? Well if night time the ships must be more than 15 miles apart. Then there is the nagging question quite few on Titanic are saying they can see a ship lights 5-7 miles away as in Lightoller book he claims only two mile away! There must of been a third ship.
I have tried the Norwegian Samson ship and got the cold shoulder from a member saying it was at the time dry dock in Iceland! Can you please throw any more light on the above questions?
Mike.