   |
Titanic History Wednesday, April 15, 2026 |
| 1912 - 12:00 AM: Shipbuilder Thomas Andrews was on the bridge and he and Smith took a fast tour of the ship's forward area. They were back on the bridge in 10 minutes.
1912 - 12:10 AM: Captain E. J. Smith asked how long until the ship was submerged and Shipbuilder Thomas Andrews, after some fast calculations, told him, "An hour and a half. Possibly two. Not much longer." Smith ordered the boats uncovered. 1912 - 12:15 AM: Captain Smith walked into the wireless room and tells Phillips to send the call for assistance. He handed him the paper with the position of the ship and returned to the bridge. The order had been given to get the passengers up and into lifebelts. Many, still confused as to why they had been awakened, lined up at the purser's office to get their valuables. Most were still unaware of the urgency and made no preparations to leave the ship. 1912 - 12:25 AM: The order had been passed to load the boats. 1912 - 12:40 AM: Boat number 7 was the first to be lowered with 27 people in a boat designed for 65. The boat rowed away from the ship and its passengers sat for the next 90 minutes watching Titanic sink. 1912 - 12:55 AM: Lifeboat 6 portside was lowered. Margaret Brown was picked up and dropped into the descending boat. The passengers noticed there was only one man present and called for more to aid in rowing. Major Arthur Peuchen was allowed by Lightoller to slide down the falls, the only man Lightoller let into a lifeboat. Boat 6 contained 28 passengers, even though it was made for 65. 1912 - 1:00 AM: Lifeboat 3 was launched from the starboard side with 50 people aboard. Minutes later another lifeboat of the same size, Lifeboat 1, was lowered containing only 12 people. All were designed to hold 65. 1912 - 1:40 AM: Most of the boats forward have gone. Collapsible C has been put in the davits in place of the now departed number 1 and Chief Officer Wilde calls for woman and children, no one responds. wasmay and first class passenger Billy Carter (the owner of the Renault in forward hold #2) get into the boat and it was lowered. By now the lwast was pronounced enough that the boat has to be pushed away from the hull so the rivets will not tear the canvas that makes up it's sides. 1912 - 1:55 AM: Lightoller returned to load boat 4 through the windows of the promenade deck. Again a boat was lowered with too few seamen and Quartermaster Perkins slides down the falls to help. Seven more men were pulled from the water, two die of exposure. 1912 - 2:05 AM: Captain Smith went to the wireless room and released the operators from their duty. Phillips started to gather their papers while Bride kept working the key. Smith returned to his bridge to await his fate. 1912 - 2:10 AM: Collapsible B was washed from the deck while the seamen were attempting to attach the davits. The men working on it including Lightoller found themselves in the water. The boat floated away upside down. 1912 - 2:20 AM: Titanic was completely submerged. 1912 - 3:30 AM: The Titanic survivors adrift in the lifeboats, first saw Carpathia's Rockets. 1912 - 4:10 AM: Carpathia arrived at the site of the sinking, and began to take on survivors. Lifeboat 2 was the first to be picked up. 1912 - 8:10 AM: Lifeboat 12, the last one afloat, was picked up by the Carpathia. 1912 - 8:30 AM: The Californian arrived at the site. 1912 - 8:50 AM: Carpathia left the site for New York, leaving the Californian to pick up the bodies. 1875 - 1st class passenger Mr Edward Pomeroy Colley was born in County Kildare, Ireland. 1914 - 2nd class survivor Mrs Elizabeth "Eliza" Hocking died in a road traffic accident at the age of 56. 1939 - 2nd class survivor Mrs Elizabeth Anne Mellinger and her daughter, Madeleine Violet Mellinger, together with Emma Bliss and Samuel John Collins met for a Titanic reunion dinner at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 1975 - 3rd class survivor Master Meier Moor died of natural causes at the age of 70. It was the 63rd anniversary of the sinking. 1961 - 3rd class survivor Miss Bertha Bridget Moran died of natural causes in Michigan, USA at the age of 77. It was the 49th anniversary of the sinking. 1898 - 3rd class survivor Miss Jamila ("Amelia Garrett") Nicola-Yarred was born. 1890 - 3rd class survivor Mr David Vartanian was born to Azadia Vartanian and Sierma Agoien in Turkish Armenia. 1964 - 3rd class survivor Mrs Selma Augusta Emilia Asplund died of an intestinal obstruction at the age of 90. 1868 - Postal Clerk Mr Oscar Scott Woody was born. |
| Shop at Cafepress |
 |
 |
 |
| more Titanic designs |
Columns: Mark's Article
|
[ A SIMPLE EXPLANATION ] It was a simple conclusion for the U.S. and British Board Of Trade Inquiries. Stanley Lord, Captain of the Cunard Line's Californian was clearly verging on the accusation of criminal negligence. It was he, after all, who ignored his officer's observations of a nearby ship which seemed to be in some sort of distress. White rockets were clearly seen by the ship's Second Officer, Herbert Stone, apparently coming from a position near that of a ship's lights that had appeared to be steaming up from the east only minutes earlier. Rather than wakening his Wireless Operator, Stanley Lord simply chose to attempt to signal the nearby ship by morse lamp, a technique which recieved no response. Eight white rockets were counted in total, the equivalent of those fired by the White Star Line's Titanic - at that time in a state of peril. At approximately the same time on the Titanic, Fourth Officer Boxhall fixed his eyes on the lights of another ship, about a third of the size of the Titanic. Why weren't they responding to the distress rockets? Surely they could see a liner the size of the Titanic? At both of the Board Of Trade hearings, Captain Lord maintained his theory that the Californian was approximately nineteen miles north-west of the Titanic's last reported position. This, he claimed, placed both the ship out of sight of each other, due to the curvature of the Earth. He introduced the idea of a possible third ship that may have been in the area that night. This theory was disregarded, and Stanley Lord was accused of attempting to cover up his "slackness" by shifting the blame to someone else. [ NEW EVIDENCE UNCOVERED ] Robert Ballard's discovery of the Titanic wreck in 1985 shed some new light on the mystery surrounding the Californian's inaction in the early morning of April 15, 1912. The discovery made it possible to state the Titanic's final position with reasonable certainty - assuming the wreck fell relatively straight down after the sinking. The wreck was found lying approximately 13.5 miles east-southeast of her reported CQD position. This is only just south of her reported course, but well to the east, placing the Californian approximately 21 miles north-west - a position fairly close to Captain Lord's estimation. The wreck is also five and a half miles north-east of where the first lifeboat was picked up, which gives the idea that there was a reasonably strong current that night, one which caused the lifeboats to drift to the south-west. With this in consideration, one must assume that the Californian would have also drifted - in a direction which would have brought it closer to the position of the Titanic. But even so, when the Carpathia came to the site in the morning, Californian was still nowhere in sight, even after a night of drifting. Over the distance, Captain Lord's ship could have certainly still seen the rockets put out by the Titanic, but the actual ship would not have been in sight. If there was a third ship in the area, then the rockets may well have seemed to be coming from above that ship, rather than behind it. This puts Captain Lord's theory in a new light. Was there really a third ship in the area? [ THE THIRD SHIP ] Certainly there was some sort of ship between the Titanic and the Californian that night. The Norwegian sealing ship Samson has for many years been the supposed 'mystery ship'. A journal kept by a member of her crew describes how the ship lay near the Titanic, saw the rockets, but rather than sticking around, decided to leave the area in view of the fact that they were engaged in illegal hunting. This same journal also places the Samson south of Cape Hatteras on Saturday afternoon. This distance is so great, that not even the Mauretania (at the time the fastest liner) could have made it to the waters off Newfoundland in time. A scholar has also revealed information from official sources in Iceland, which places the Samson in the fishing port of Isafjordhur on April 6 and once again on April 20. This testimony gives the small vessel 14 days to have made the 3000 mile journey to the Titanic and back. That would have made the world record twice over for a six-knot ship. Even still the question remains - if it wasn't the Californian, nor the Samson, who was it? More than likely, it will always remain a mystery, as have many circumstances surrounding the Titanic's fateful voyage. |
Making Waves
history with kelly
copal's queue
site of the month
the flub report
wallpapers/quotes
graphic sets
characters
scenes
downloads
rare pictures
facts
books
columns
for your website
about back-to-titanic.com | contact us