STORIES FROM TITANIC

The Titanic was on fire when it left Southampton on April 2, 1912. It is thought the fire burned for 11 days in the coalbunker and the bulkhead was red hot and warped but watertight.

TITANIC NEARLY CRASHED BEFORE SAILING

Second Office Lightoller wrote in his memoirs: “Before she cleared the dock we had a striking example of the power that lay in those engines and propellers. The Oceanic and St Paul were moored to the wharf alongside each other. The terrific suction set up in that shallow water simply dragged both liners away from the wharf.  The St Paul broke adrift altogether. It looked like nothing could save the St Paul crashing into the stern of the Titanic. In fact, it was only Captain Smith’s experience and resource that saved her.” 

RMS TITANIC PROPELLERS

Before the sinking of the Titanic there were no searchlights on ships. At the fatal night there was no moon and it made the icebergs invisible. After the disaster searchlights on ships became the law.

The night before the disaster, wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride repaired the damaged transformer and then had to catch up with the backlog. It is thought they have missed the vital message at 9.40pm. It came from the ship Mesaba: “Saw much heavy pack ice, and great number of large icebergs. Also field ice.”  It took two hours from the sent message till the ship crashed.

Second Officer Lightoller wrote later in his memoirs: “The position this ship gave was right ahead of us and not many miles distant. The operator who received was busy at the time and he put the message under a paperweight at his elbow, just until he squared up what he was doing and he would have then brought it the bridge. That delay proved fatal.”

Second Officer Lightoller stopped men and boys from getting into the lifeboats in spite of some being half empty. The operation to abandon ship was totally disorganised. Despite a shortage of lifeboats because the Titanic was claimed as unsinkable, if properly handled there would have been enough for 1,178 people from the 2,223 people on board. It is known that lifeboats lowered two-third empty. Lightoller also refused the richest man Colonel John Jacob Astor to accompanying his pregnant wife even so the lifeboat was almost half empty.

At around 1am officers were given firearms. First Officer William Murdoch shot one or two passengers trying to climb into the last boat although there was space there. Then he shot himself.

Chief baker Charles Joughin survived in the freezing water the longest. He swam about two-and-half hours. He drank whisky when the ship struck the iceberg and with that he survived the longest in the water.

On May 13, 1912 a boat was found with three dead bodies in it. Fifth Officer Lowe set the boat adrift on the fatal night after taken the passengers who were alive into his own boat. At the inquest he stated that it was heartless to do so but he was interested in saving lives. One of the dead people was Thomson Beattie but the others were never identified.