Some new developments regarding the "crash stop" have revived this string. Let me throw out a hypothesis out for debate. (Or, is it throw fresh meat to the sharks?)
In my book I postulate that it took over a minute from when Fleet banged the bell to the actual impact with the ice. I extended the traditional 37 seconds after some deliberate thought about what events had to happen between crow's nest warning and impact. Most critical in my mind was getting Titanic's bow rotated enough to starboard to both "port around" the berg and as a partial solution as to why the ship was pointing north after the accident. I don't think the accident could have happened as it did unless the bow was actually swinging to its right.
With more time between warning and impact, I now realize we have raised the question of Captain Smith's whereabouts. He could have been in quarters. Logical on most nights, but not this one. His appearance on the bridge at @ 8:55 p.m. ...and his conversation with Lightoller ... indicates he was aware that his ship was entering an area filled with ice. This supposition is borne out by the ice messages which we know tht he did receive, including the one from Baltic. From Boxhall's testimony we know that Smith stayed on the bridge in the chart room until about 10:30 pm. Boxhall says the captain went into his personal chartroom after that time. Maybe so, maybe not. Either way, I can't imagine he was snoozing on his couch. Smith must have heard the commotion of the alarm and the unusual "hard aport" helm order for the middle of the ocean. Don't know about other captains, but that would have gotten my attention and I would have been on a dead run for the bridge. Smith must have done the same.
Two men were needed to operate both the regular engine room telegraph and the emergency telegraph simultaneously. The instruments were too far apart for one person to operate at the same time. And, simultaneous operation of the telegraphs is what appears to have happened that night.
By his own admission, Boxhall was not one of those men. Nor was Moody, who probably remained on the telephone to relay additional information from the lookouts. Olliver was still walking to the bridge and Hitchens was at the wheel. The only other man available to operate the second telegraph was Captain Smith.
With the captain on the bridge, Murdoch would have felt free to enter the blind wheelhouse to operate the watertight door switch. In fact, he may have been ordered to do so by Smith. Since Olliver saw Murdoch oprerate the switch, it seems true. Until now, I have never been able to understand why Murdoch would have left the open bridge...where he should have been standing to observe the movement of his ship during a critical maneuver...and gone into a closed wheelhouse. But, if the captain is on the bridge, he is free to do so. He may even have been ordered by Captain Smith to close the watertight doors.
Note--If Murdoch was alone, he did not have to leave the bridge to have the watertight doors closed. He could have shouted an order to Moody, which may have accomplished the task faster than he actually did it himself.
A while ago we learned how sick Boxhall was after the sinking. His error in the ship's final position may also be proof of the state of his health. He was probably coming ill during that watch, so his testimony has to be viewed with some question. If the above supposition is true, it wasn't the captain he saw coming out of the wheelhouse, it was Murdoch. A slightly woozy Boxhall may have misheard what the two men said, and we have the "crash stop" myth.
And, you thought I'd forgotten all about that little detail.
-- David G. Brown
