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Volume 28 Number 4, Winter 1985/86
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ISSN 0029-8182
Oceanus
The International Magazine of Marine Science and Policy
Volume 28, Number 4, Winter 1985/86
Paul R. Ryan, Editor Frank L. Lowenstein, Assistant Editor Eleanore Scavotto, Editorial Assistant Carole Hyde, Eaii Intern
Editorial Advis<orY Board
1930
Henry Charnock, Professor of Physical Oceanography, University of Southampton, tngland
Edward D. Goldberg, Professor of Chemistry, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Gotthilf Hempel, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Research, West Germany
Charles D. Hollister, Dean of Graduate Studies, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
John Imbrie, Henry L. Doherty Professor of Oceanography, Brown University
John A. Knauss, Provost for Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island
Arthur E. Maxwell, Director of the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas
Timothy R. Parsons, Professor, Institute of Oceanography, University of British Columbia, Canada
Allan R. Robinson, Cordon McKay Professor of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Harvard University
David A. Ross, Chairman, Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Sea Grant Coordinator,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Published by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Guy W. Nichols, Chairman, Board of Trustees Paul M. Fye, President of the Corporation James S. Coles, President of the Associates
John H. Steele, Director of the Institution
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103 Robert Duane Ballard: Deep Wilderness Man
by Paul R. Ryan 109 Bibliography, addendum
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Cover: Anchor chains, winches, and capstans on the bow of the Titanic, 1985. Back cover: The crow's nest. Photos courtesy of WHOI, Dr. Robert Ballard, and IFREMER.
Copyright® 1985 by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Oceanus (ISSN 0029- 8182) is published for $20 per year in March, June, September, and December by the Woods FHole Oceanographic Institution, 93 Water Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543. Second-class postage paid at Falmouth, Massachusetts; Windsor, Ontario; and additional mailing points. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Oceanus Subscriber Service Center, P.O. Box 6419, Syracuse, N.Y. 13217.
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The Titanic: Lost & Found
Preface — An Ocean of Revelations
by Edward S. Kamuda
Introduction
by Robert D. Ballard
The Titanic: Lost & Found (1912-1985)
by Paul R. Ryan
The Discovery of the Titanic by the U.S. and French Expedition
by P.R.R. arid Anne Rabushka
The Titanic's Role in History
by Frank Lowenstein
The Titanic Maritime Memorial Act of 1985, the position of the U.S. State Department, and Ballard's Congressional Testimony
Bride's Story
by Harold Bride
Wireless Revisited: The Radio Room of the R/V Knorr
by Ernest "Butch" Smith
'I Was Aboard the Titanic'
by Edith Russell
The Steamship Californian Controversy
from the British Inquiry Lord of the Californian
by John C. Carrothers
Gill, the Donkeyman's Tale
by Eugene Seder
Personalities — 'E.J.' Smith, Astor, the Strauses, Ismay, Lightoller and Murdock, Guggenheim, 'Molly' Brown, Widener
The Dead — 'A Strange Task Stranger'
by Carole Hyde The Ravages of Time
by Holger W. jannasch
Who Owns the Titanic?
by Dean E. Cycon
Salvaging the Titanic: An Impossible Dream?
by Eleanore Scavotto
'Cap, They Got Her'
by Captain RJ. Bowen
Argo: Capabilities for Deep Ocean Exploration
by Stewart E. Harris and Katie Albers Index
103 Robert Duane Ballard: Deep Wilderness Man
by Paul R. Ryan 109 Bibliography, addendum
Cover: Anchor chains, winches, and capstans on the bow of the Titanic, 1985. Back cover: The crow's nest. Photos courtesy of WHOI, Dr. Robert Ballard, and IFREMER.
Copyright® 1985 by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Oceanus (ISSN 0029- 8182) is published for $20 per year in March, June, September, and December by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 93 Water Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543. Second-class postage paid at Falmouth, Massachusetts; Windsor, Ontario; and additional mailing points. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Oceanus Subscriber Service Center, P.O. Box 6419, Syracuse, N.Y. 13217.
1
Preface:
An Ocean of Revelations
by Edward S. Kamuda
It had been more than 73 years since man cast his eyes on the Royal Mail Steamer TiLmic, once the pride of the White Star Line. The very last impression ot the ship in the minds ot the 705 survivors on that cold April night in 1912 was of the liner's stern, lifted out of the water and pointing to the star-strewn heavens. Internal lights grew pale, flickered out for a brief few seconds, and came on again. Then blackness ensued, followed by a horrendous rumble as machinery, cargo, furniture, and people still on board tumbled down into the sea. The stern sank back slightly, and the great ship slid gracefully into the ice-strewn ocean, leaving only a wisp of grey smoke, and a calm sea littered with debris, lifeboats, and more than 1 ,500 drowning souls.
With the completion in 1 91 2 of the U.S. Senate and British inquiries into the cause of the disaster, the story of the Titanic was over for most people, except for those sizable numbers who would relive the tragedy in films and books over the years, and of course, for those who had lost loved ones. However, the story was also not over for those with an engineering bent.
An new argument began about what became of the ship once she slid below the surface. There were few answers, as little information was available about the ocean at such depths. Engineers expressed greatly different theories. Some thought the liner leveled off at "approximately 1,000 feet below the surface" and then turned on her side "as a leaf falls" and hit the ocean floor at a moderate speed of "1 5 feet per second," "probably damaging her superstructure," with masts and funnels snapping off in the process.
Others surmised that the liner broke in two, and slammed into the seabed at a speed of 100 miles per hour, causing enormous damage. Still others believed that the ship nose-dived into the thick mud of the North Atlantic seafloor, burying a third of the ship, with the rest of the liner standing up at a nearly perfect 90-degree angle. Only a few guessed that the ship landed on the seabed on an even keel, gently, and would be found in pristine condition.
Now, 73 years later, thanks to the scientific expedition mounted by Dr. Robert Ballard of the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the French Government, the complex details of the TiLmic's final moments as well as her present condition, can be answered with more than an "educated guess."
One of the first photographs to be released revealed a ship's boiler resting in the gravel-like seabed. It immediately answered one question involving the destruction of the Titanic. Those who argued that the ship's boilers rumbled through the ship, possibly exiting from the liner's hull had been scoffed at over the years. "The ship's hull and interior were too well built to allow that to happen," was the argument. That sobering photograph gives us a different answer.
But there were more surprises as each new photograph was released — silent testimony to the splendor of the Titanic: a silver serving tray beside the ship; bottles of fine wine unbroken — labels still affixed; luggage seen through a hole in the side of the liner; and two funnels still standing on the ship's boat deck.
Even more surprises emerged from the discovery — the stern lies more than 200 feet from the liner, twisted and bent, the deck cranes smashed and strewn about. Further examination should reveal how and why this occurred. The forward mast, containing the crow's nest where lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee spotted the deadly iceberg, now rests against the liner's bridge (see back cover).
Each new photograph produced, each new fact revealed, gives one more of an appreciation not only of the Titanic herself and the building technology of the time, but also of the inventions of this modern day — robot cameras and equipment created for the exploration of the great oceans of the world.
The Titanic died in 1912 as an instrument of transportation, but today she continues to expand man's knowledge of the ocean. Let us give thanks to all who took part in this great scientific drama for sharing with us this ocean of revelations.
Ldward 5. K^imucLi is Secretary and Co-founder of ttie Titanic Historical Society.
Introduction
by Robert D. Ballard
iVly desire to search for the Titanic goes back many years, to about 1973, when the decision was made at Woods Hole to replace Alvin's original steel hull with a new one made of a titanium alloy. Such a conversion would increase its diving range from 6,000 feet to its present operational range of more than 13,000 feet, making it possible to reach the Titanic's estimated depth.
Preparing for the search took many years of hard work and involved several false starts. As time went on, my interests turned away from manned submersibles towards unmanned vehicles. Ultimately those interests began to focus on the Argo vehicle system, which I became more and more convinced was a necessary next step in exploration technology for our continued research in the deep sea and, more specifically, on the Mid-Ocean Ridge. Initially, I had hoped the Titanic program might help our laboratory to raise the funds to build Argo. That proved unsuccessful, and, after several attempts, the Titanic faded into the background while all our energies went into developing /Argo.
By 1980, we had convinced the U.S. Navy to provide funds to develop Argo, not to search for the Titanic, but to assist them in their own search programs and to develop a fundamentally new approach to scientific exploration in the deep sea. The Argo program stresses visual imaging instead of more conventional acoustic imaging techniques.
From 1980 to 1983, it was difficult to sit on the sidelines and watch as other attempts were mounted to search for the Titanic. The failure of those efforts clearly illustrated that finding the Titanic was a more difficult undertaking than anyone had suspected. Distinguished researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Lamont- Doherty Geological Observatory had used excellent search equipment and had not succeeded. Watching their efforts convinced
me that the key to discovering the Titantic lay in having sufficient time on target to conduct a thorough search of an area of 1 00 to 1 50 square miles.
By 1985 we would have the technology necessary to search for the Titanic and approval from the Navy and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to test Argo in the area where the Titanic sank. But that limited test period was not enough to insure success. For that reason, I turned in 1983 to an old friend, France, and more specifically Claude Riffaud, Jean Jarry, and Jean-Louis Michel — long time friends from the days of Project FAMOUS (French-American Mid-Ocean Undersea Study). These men I knew and deeply respected. We had worked together in 1973 and 1974 on man's first investigation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge using manned submersibles. These were men of the deep who would find the Titanic an exciting technological challenge and at the same time, a human adventure. I went to Paris and arranged to have dinner at Claude Riffaud's apartment. Claude invited Jean Jarry and the new head of IFREMER {Institut Frangais de Reclierches pour I'Exploitation des Mers), Yves Sillard who accepted the Titanic challenge. The rest is now history (see page 16).
Now that the Titanic has been found and photographed, my greatest desire is to take Argo back to sea off the coast of Mexico and conduct our first scientific program, looking at recent volcanic activity and hydrothermal vent fields on the East Pacific Rise. If all goes as planned, we should be at sea doing that work as this issue of Oceanus is being read.
Robert D. Ballard is a Senior Scientist in the Ocean Engineering Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and head of the Deep Submergence Laboratory' in the same department. He and jean-Louis Michel of IFREMER were co-chief scientists aboard the R/V Knorr's cruise that discovered the Titanic.
The Titanic: Lost & Found (1912-1985)
We have fed our sea for a thousand years
And she calls us, still unfed. Though never a wave of all her waves
But marks our English dead; We have strawed our best to the weeds unrest,
To the shark and the sheering gull. If blood be the price of admiralty.
Lord Cod, we ha' paid in full.
— Rudyard Kipling
by Paul R. Ryan
I he foundering of the "unsinkable" Titanic on her maiden voyage in 1912 served notice that man's technology — then as now — is not invulnerable to the forces of nature, be they in the form of ice, wind, or fire. The steel-plated, four-stack vessel was enormous and extravagant, some would say too big and too lavish — four city blocks long and eleven stories high. Men standing beneath her giant propellers in the Belfast yard where she was built appeared hardly bigger than barnacles. And her appointments— a Cuilded Age facade even down into steerage class.* Gourmet cheeses and vintage wines. She was a ship catering to those who could afford an Atlantic crossing in a ragtime, black-tie style — the Astors, Wideners, and Guggenheims of the world who in that highly social-conscious time substituted in the public's consciousness for today's glamorous movie stars.
Although a symbol of the limits of technology in her day, the discovery of the Titanic by a team of French and American scientists on September 1, 1985, paradoxically served to usher in a new era in marine science. The vehicle that discovered the largely intact hull of the doomed liner is called Argo. It is an unmanned sonar and TV-imaging system that will allow vast areas of the world's seafloor to be observed for the first time. The French vehicle used in the search is called SAR. It is described on page 19.
* Steerage is a term left over from the 1860s when it had been legal to transport people to one shore and then carry cattle in the same quarters on the trip back. The term gave way eventually to third-class.
Argo, named after the mythical vessel that carried Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece, was on its maiden voyage when it discovered the Titanic. Plans call for the Argo vehicle — which is about the size of a small airplane fuselage — to eventually house a smaller robot named lason, which will be used for close-up viewing of features on the bottom, jason will be a tethered vehicle with sophisticated TV cameras for eyes and manipulator arms capable of retreiving small objects.
Argo and jason are financed by the U.S. Navy and are being developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's (WHOI's) Deep Submergence Laboratory, which is headed by Senior Scientist Robert D. Ballard (see page 103). The Navy's interest in the vehicles is prompted by the fact that the more they know about the deep seabed, the better their antisubmarine warfare program will be. Although Ballard's interest in finding the Titanic goes back at least 10 years, his motivation in developing Argo and Jason derives from more recent scientific goals.
Both an engineer and a geologist, Ballard has probably spent more time on the bottom of the deep ocean than anyone alive. In 1977, he was in Alvin — a three-person submersible operated by WHO! for the Navy and the National Science Foundation — when it verified the existence of hot springs in the Galapagos Rift and came upon unusual life forms for the first time — such as giant tube worms with no mouth or gut.
As this issue of Oceanus comes off the press in December, Ballard and other marine scientists are scheduled to use Argo on the East Pacific Rise. They
ic Titanic ci( Queenstown, Ireland, I'UZ. lujintv hci departure for New York. (Photo courtesy The Cork Examiner) Below, workmen are dwarfed beneath propellers on the sister ship Olympic, which were exactly like those on the Titanic. (Photo courtesy Harland and Wolff, Ltd.)
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expect in just 20 days to examine as muc h of the seatloor as has been covered in 12 years using manned submersibles. While manned submersibles are limited to a tew hours on the bottom before they must surface for air, Argo can stay on the seafloor for long periods of time.
Documenting A Disaster
The intent of this issue of Ocednus is to review the history of the Tit.mic disaster, and also to document the discovery of the wreck. In selecting information on the history of the great ship, we have been guided by two members of the Titanic Historical Society: Edward S. Kamuda, co-founder of the organization and Editor-in-Chief of The Titanic Commutator, the official journal of the society; and lohn Mollis, society spokesman, who opened his extensive files to us and served as a consultant on the issue, as he did for the film version of Clive Cussler's Raise the Titanic.
The story of the Titanic, dubbed "Empress of the Ocean," is riddled with conflicting eyewitness accounts. For example, did the band play the nondenominational hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" or the Episcopalian hymn "Autumn" in the last
moments before the ship turned her stern to the star-lit heavens and slowly, almost apologetically disappeared below the surface. Does it really matter? A( tually they sound a little alike. Mollis believes it was prolxibly "Autumn" l)ecause she was a British shi|) and the band w(njld have been more familiar with that hymn. Other conflicting testimony deals with sue h diverse topics as the fate of the officers and whether the ship broke in half.
After all these years, there is no agreement even on the number of dead, or, for that matter, on the number of people on board before the sinking. A cautious writer fudges a bit, "more than 1,500" people died: the truth probably lies between 1,517 and 1,521. Such discrepancies make the work of historians of the Titanic difficult.
There were two official inquiries into the disaster, one in the United States and the other in Great Britain. The one in the United States was led by Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan and concluded about a month after the disaster; the British inquiry lasted until July 30th of that year and took into account the material gathered by the Senate investigation. We have leaned heavily on these reports for our account of the tragedy.
The Titanic Tale
In 1898, fourteen years before the Titanic's voyage, a popular novel written by Morgan Robertson and called Futility appeared in the United States. It was a yarn about a great "unsinkable" luxury liner named the Titan that sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg at top speed. Almost all of the passengers lost their lives because there were not enough lifeboats aboard. The similarities between the fictional Titan and the real Titanic are uncanny:
|
Titan |
Titanic |
|
|
Ship length |
800 ft. |
882.5 ft. |
|
Tonnage displacement |
75,000 |
66,000 |
|
Propellers |
3 |
3 |
|
Speed at impact |
25 knots |
22 knots |
|
Number of passengers |
3,000 |
2,340 |
|
Number of lifeboats |
24 |
20 |
|
Month of sinking |
April |
April |
The Titanic's keel had been laid in the summer of 1909 at the Belfast, Ireland, shipyards of Marland & Wolff. William j. Pirrie, the head of the shipyard, had risen from boilermaker to baronet. Mis yard held the reputation of being one of the best in the world. Lord Pirrie's nephew, Thomas Andrews, who accompanied the Titanic on her maiden voyage and went down with the ship, served as one of the principal designers of the liner. Then, as managing director of the yard, he supervised the details of her construction.
j. Bruce Ismay was chairman of the White Star Line of Liverpool, England, operators of the Titanic.
Reportedly having a personal fortune worth $40 million, he too sailed on the maiden voyage, but survived. In 1902, the International Mercantile Marine (IMM), a braintrust of J. Pierpont Morgan who sought to add the North Atlantic steamship trade to his other enormous financial interests — such as railroads, coal, and steel — struck a deal with the White Star Line. The line would be principally American-owned, but would remain under British management. The agreement allowed the line to stem a rate war with Cunard and other lines.
Ismay and Lord Pirrie put their heads together in 1907 and, with Morgan's blessing, decided they would build two twin ships to compete with the speed of the new Cunard liners, the Lusitania and Mauretania. The White Star ships would be the last word in comfort and elegance. They would be able to guarantee a week's crossing on a regular schedule. The two vessels would be built side by side in twin slips.
The first of the twin sisters, the Olympic, sailed on her maiden voyage to New York on May 31, 191 1. On the same day, the Titanic was launched from Slip 3 in Belfast. Although the Olympic had many of the same appointments as the Titanic, the younger sister benefitted from correction of design flaws found in her older sister. Modifications were extensive; 100 more first-class cabins than the Olympic, and a Parisian boulevard on B-deck to create the illusion of a sidewalk cafe. Ultimately, the Titanic outweighed her sister by more than a thousand tons. The cumulative effect was such that the two ships could no longer be
regarded as twins. The two ships would eventually be joined by a larger third sister, the BritLmic, which was converted to a hospital ship at the outset of World War I and never saw service as a passenger liner.
Morgan came down from London for the Titanic launching and inspected his own private suite aboard. He planned to make the maiden voyage, but would later cancel because of poor health.
The Titanic was built throughout of steel and had a cellular double bottom. For about half the length of the vessel the double bottom extended up the ship's side to a height of 7 feet above the keel. All decks were steel plated throughout — three million rivets weighing 1 ,200 tons held her together. Each link in her anchor chains weighed 175 pounds. The huge power plant, comprising 29 enormous boilers under heat from 159 furnaces, produced a registered horse power of 50,000 and an average speed of 21 knots. At full speed she could produce 55,000 horsepower and a speed of 25 knots.
The one thing the Titanic did not have was ample lifeboats for the approximately 2,340 people on board, although she exceeded the number required under British regulations by four. She carried fourteen 30-foot wooden boats, two 25-foot wooden boats, and four canvas collapsible craft (see page 37).
One-way passage in the most luxurious first- class suites, those with private promenades, went for $4,350, equivalent to about $50,000 today. At the other extreme, the steerage bunks, the lowest in the ship and closest to the bow, went for considerably less than first-class dog kennel passage. The ship— in addition to her splendid suites, cabins, dining saloons, ballrooms, and lounges— housed a swimming pool, squash and tennis courts, sun paHors, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, and several libraries.
The Titanic's crew numbered 860. Sixty-five of these were officers, mates, and deckhands; 320 were listed as engineers; and 475 stewards, cooks, and helpers rounded out the crew. Although the ship had accommodations for about 2,500 passengers, only about 1,480 booked for the maiden voyage, roughly a fourth traveling first-class, a fourth second-class, and half steerage or third-class.
Several of the first-class passengers on board had fortunes exceeding many millions of dollars. Among them were John Jacob Astor (estimated worth $150 million), who was returning from Egypt with his 19-year-old bride; Benjamin Guggenheim ($95 million), the mining and smelting king; Isidor Straus ($50 million), a partner in R.H. Macy & Co.; and George D. Widener ($50 million), Philadelphia financier and tractor baron. All perished when the Titanic went down. Other prominent passengers included William T. Stead, a leading British evangelist, editor, and publicist; Jacques Futrelle, a noted American journalist whose wife would survive and whom this writer would visit often in her Scituate, Massachusetts, nursing home; Henry B. Harris, a Broadway producer; Major Archibald Butt, military aide to President Taft who was traveling to the White House with a message from the Pope; Frank D. Millet, American painter; John B. Thayer, a vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Arthur Ryerson, steel executive; and Col. Archibald Gracie of the U.S. Army (Rtd.). Only Gracie would survive from this group to
Anchor chains of the type used on the Titanic. Each link weighed 1 75 pounds. (Photo counesy Ken Marschall collection: from The Largest Ships of the World, 1914)
write a book about his experiences. The Truth About the Titanic, published in 1913. He died less than 8 months after the loss of the Titanic.
The Voyage and the Iceberg
The Titanic left Southampton, England, on Wednesday, April 10, and, after calling at Cherbourg, France, proceeded to Queenstown, Ireland. She sailed from the Irish port on Thursday, April 1 1 , shortly after noon, following what was at that time the accepted outward-bound route for mail steamers from the Fastnet Light, off the southwest coast of Ireland, to the Nantucket shoal light vessel off the East Coast of the United States.
Just before the Titanic sailed from Southampton, a second-class passenger, Mrs. Albert F. Caldwell, called to a deckhand loading luggage: "Is this ship really unsinkable?" "Yes, indeed, lady," the deckhand replied, "God himself could not sink this ship."
There were two omens on the day of departure from Southampton. A coal strike in Britain had left a number of vessels short of coal. The Titanic needed 650 tons of coal per day to run her 1 59 furnaces. The White Star Line, operators of the Titanic, were forced to cancel the trips of their ships Oceanic and Adriatic, transferring the passengers and
Boilers ol the type installed un the Titanic. Note size of man in relation to the boilers, (from Shipbuilder magazine, 191 1)
coal to the Titanic. On the day she sailed, the Titanic had a fire in a coal bunker, which continued until the ship sank. A fireman, J. Dilley, would later testify: ". . . my sole duty, together with 1 1 other men, had been to fight that fire. We had made no headway against it . . . The fire started in Bunker No. 6. There were hundreds of tons of coal stored there . . . The wet coal on top kept the flames from coming through, but down in the bottom of the bunkers the flames were raging . . . The stokers were alarmed over it, but the officers told us to keep our mouths shut — they didn't want to alarm the passengers."
The second omen occurred as the Titanic left the dock. The tremendous force of the ship's suction snapped the steel hawsers of the steamer New York, which was moored close by, causing her to drift toward the Titanic. The Captain, Edward J. Smith, ordered ahead on the port engine, the wash from this action gently pushing the New York back. He then cut his engines and tugs drew alongside to aid the New York. This is but one of many ifs in the Titanic tale. If the ship had collided with the smaller steamer it might have delayed the maiden voyage long enough for the Titanic to have missed her fate.
After leaving Queenstown, the huge vessel moved sleekly through the North Atlantic in almost perfect weather (experiencing only a brief period of fog). Passengers commented that there was a minimum of pitching, rolling, and vibration. The first day, the Titanic made 484 miles, the second 519,
and the third 549. Some of the passengers participated in betting pools on the daily runs. Ismay had set the ship's New York arrival time at Wednesday morning. Junior officers told passengers that the hours of Tuesday night seemed a better bet.
Other passengers passed the time by dancing in the main ballroom. The Titanic's eight-member band was billed as the best on the Atlantic. It included Wallace Hartley, bandmaster, Theodore Brailey, pianist, and Jock Hume, cellest and first violinist. To a man, the entire band played to the very end in an extraordinary demonstration of courage.
It was Sunday afternoon on April 14th, the fateful day, when passengers exercising on deck first noticed patches of drifting ice. This did not alarm seasoned travelers who explained to others that ships on the northern express route often encountered ice in April. What they did not know — indeed no one on the Titanic knew — was that the ice conditions were worse than normal and would prove to be the worst in 50 years for that month. A mild winter had caused glaciers on the west coast of Greenland to give birth to large numbers of icebergs.
The Titanic received six wireless messages that Sunday warning of the danger of ice. The first came from the steamship Caronia at 9 a.m. It said:
Captain, Titanic:
West-bound steamers report bergs, growlers.
8
The poop deck of the Titanic (see also stern photo on pullout). Picture was taken while at Queenstown, Ireland. The baggage jireight handling cranes could each lift a maxinnum of 2Vi tons. Note the two docking telegraphs on aft bridge and the one spotted in the debris field on page 28 (lower photo). (Photo courtesy The Cork Examiner)
and field ice in 42° Compliments.
N., from 49° to 51° W., April 12.
Barr.
Captain Smith acknowledged receipt of the message.
The second message came from the steamship Baltic, arriving at 1:42 p.m. It stated:
Capt. Smith, Titanic:
Have had moderate, variable winds and clear, fine weather since leaving. Greek steamer Athenia reports passing icebergs and large quantities of field ice to-day in latitude 41° 51' N., longitude 49° 52' W. Last night we spoke German oiltank steamer Deutschland, Stettin to Philadelphia, not under control, short of coal, latitude 40° 42' N., longitude 55° 1 1 ' W. Wishes to be reported to New York and other steamers. Wish you and Titanic all success.
Commander.
Captain Smith acknowledged receipt of this message, too, passing it along to Ismay, who showed it to two ladies who in turn may have communicated its contents to other passengers. It remained in Ismay's possession until 7:15 p.m. at which point Captain Smith asked him to return it so that it could be posted in the chart room.
The third message was perhaps the most crucial. It was sent from the German steamer Amerika to the Hydrographic Office in Washington
Ice Terms
An iceberg may be defined as a detached portion of a polar glacier carried out to sea. The ice of an iceberg formed from a glacier is of quite fresh water. Only about an eighth of its mass floats above the surface of sea water.
A "growler" is a colloquial term applied to icebergs of small mass, which therefore only show a small portion above the surface. It is not infrequently a berg which has turned over, and is therefore showing what has been termed "black ice" or, more correctly, dark-blue ice.
Pack ice is the floating ice which covers wide areas of the polar seas, broken into large pieces, which are driven ("packed") together by wind and current, so as to form a practically continuous sheet. Such ice is generally frozen from sea water, and not derived from glaciers.
Field ice is a term usually applied to frozen sea water floating in much looser form than pack ice.
An icefloe is the term generally applied to the same ice (i. e., field ice) in a smaller quantity.
A floe berg is a stratified mass of floe ice (i. e., sea-water ice).
— From the British Inquiry, 1912
Sailing Directions
One of the chiel ddnger^ in cross/ng the Atlantic lies in the probability of encountering masses of ice, both in the form of bergs and of extensive fields of solid compact ice, released at the breaking up of winter in the Arctic regions, and drifted down by the Labrador current across their direct route. Ice is more likely to be encountered in this route between April and August, both months inclusive, than at other times, although icebergs have been seen at all seasons northward of the parallel of 43° N., but not often so far south after August.
These icebergs are sometimes over 200 feet in height and of considerable extent. They have been seen as far south as latitude 39° N., to obtain which position they must have crossed the Culf Stream impelled by the cold Arctic current underrunning the warm waters of the Culf Stream. That this should happen is not to be wondered at when it is considered that the specific gravity of fresh-water ice, of which these bergs are composed, is about seven-eighths that of sea water; so that, however vast the berg may appear to the eye of the observer, he can in reality see one-eighth of its bulk, the remaining seven-eighths being submerged and subject to the deep-water currents of the ocean. The track of an iceberg is indeed directed mainly by current, so small a portion of its surface being exposed to the action of the winds that its course is but slightly retarded or deflected by moderate breezes. On the Great Bank of Newfoundland bergs are often observed to be moving south or southeast; those that drift westward of Cape Race usually pass between Creen and St. Pierre Banks.
The route chart of the North Atlantic, No. 2058, shows the limits within which both field ice and icebergs may be met with, and where it should be carefully looked out for at all times, but especially during the spring and summer seasons. From this chart it would appear that whilst the southern and eastern limits of field ice are about latitude 42° N., and longitude 45° W., icebergs may be met with much farther from Newfoundland; in April, May, and June they have been seen as far South as latitude 39° N. and as far east as longitude 38° 30' W.
— From United States Pilot (East Coast), 1909, second edition, published by the British Admiralty and supplied to the master of the Titanic together with other necessary charts and books.
through the Titanic at 1:45 p.m. because she was the nearest vessel to Cape Race, Newfoundland, the relay point to Washington. It said:
Amerika passed two large icebergs in 41° 27' N., 50° 8' W., on April 14.
The message never reached the bridge of the Titanic. The position given was south of the point of the disaster and recorded on the same day. In all likelihood had an officer on the bridge seen the message, he would have slowed the ship down and taken other precautions. It has been theorized that Phillips, the senior wireless operator in the Titanic's Marconi room, shoved the warning aside when his set suddenly went dead. After an afternoon of troubleshooting with his colleague Bride (see page 48), the crucial message lay under a pile of messages to be sent that passengers had dropped off during the afternoon.
At 7:30 p.m. a fourth message was intercepted. It was from the steamship Californian to the steamship Antillian. It read:
To Captain, Antillian:
Six-thirty p.m., apparent ship's time; latitude 42° 3' N., longitude 49° 9' W. Three large bergs 5 miles to southward of us. Regards.
Lord.
Bride later testified that he delivered this message to
10
an officer on duty, but could not recall which one.
The fifth message arrived in the Marconi room at 9:40 p.m. from the steamer Mesaba. It read:
From "Mesaba" to ''Titanic^' and all east-bound ships:
Ice report in latitude 42° N. to 41° 25' N., longitude 49° to longitude 50° 30' W. Saw much heavy pack ice and great number large icebergs. Also field ice. Weather good, clear.
The British inquiry found: "This message clearly indicated the presence of ice in the immediate vicinity of the Titanic and if it had reached the bridge would perhaps have affected the navigation of the vessel. Unfortunately, it does not appear to have been delivered to the master or to any of the officers. The Marconi operator was very busy from 8 o'clock onward transmitting messages via Cape Race for passengers on board the Titanic, and the probability is that he failed to grasp the significance of the message . . ."
The air temperature that Sunday morning had been about 45 degrees Celsius, but by 10 p.m. had dropped to 32 degrees. The sea temperature was 31 degrees at 10:30 p.m. and still dropping. There was no moon, but the sky was cloudless, and full of stars. Captain Smith and Second Officer Lightoller, standing on the bridge at 8:55 p.m., remarked that they had never seen a more brilliant night. The Titanic was making about 22 knots.
At about 1 1 p.m., the Titanic received a sixth
Artist's rendition of the Titanic's forward grand staircase to promenade deck. Note photo ol glass dome area on page 2b. (© Mary Evans Picture Library/Photo Researchers, Inc.)
warning message — this time from the Californian which had stopped in the ice at 10:30 p.m. relatively nearby and ahead of the Titanic, but Phillips cut it off, telling the other operator "Shut up! Shut up! I'm working Cape Race." The operator on the Californian did just that until 1 1:30 p.m., when, being the only Marconi operator aboard, he closed down his set and went to bed.
The watch on the Titanic had changed at 10 p.m., First Officer William Murdock taking over from Second Officer Lightoller. Both men were old hands at crossing the Atlantic in "greyhounds," as liners of the T/tan/'c-class were called. Some of their crossings had been made in dense fog. The two friends talked about the falling temperature and the possible presence of icebergs. Lightoller then advised Murdock that a message had been sent to the crow's nest telling the lookouts to keep a sharp watch. With that, he went below, leaving the bridge to Murdock.
In the crow's nest, seamen Fleet and Lee, shivering in the freezing air, peered forward — they had no binoculars — into the night. Usually icebergs could be spotted by the outline of waves breaking at their base, but this night the sea was so calm that this aid was not available. Down below, most passengers had gone to bed, although a few were still playing cards. In the main dining hall, stewards were setting the tables for breakfast with highly polished silver and china cups.
At a little before 1 1 :40 p.m.. Fleet, acting almost instinctively on sighting a large, irregular shaped object ahead, rang the crow's nest warning bell three times, and, in almost the same motion, telephoned the bridge, shouting "Iceberg right ahead."
Almost simultaneously with the three-bell warning, Murdock gave the order to "Hard-a- starboard," and immediately pushed the telegraph levers to "Stop. Full speed astern." The helm was "hard over," and the ship's bow had fallen off 2 points when she hit the iceberg well forward on her starboard side.
History's Worst Ship Disaster
The worst single ship disaster in history occurred on January 30, 1945. The Wilhelm Gustloff, a German tourist ship carrying wartime refugees, was sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13 off Gdansk (then Danzig), Poland. Approximately 7,700 of the 8.700 men, women, and children on board the 25,484-ton vessel were killed either by explosions caused by torpedoes or by drowning.
11
Captain Edward /. Smith at Queenstown, Ireland. (Photo courtesy The Cork Examiner)
Murdock, who would not survive the sinking, immediately cIos(hI the water-tight doors in the engine and boiler rooms. The shi[) had been construe ted to stay afloat with any two comfwrtments com|)letely flooded.
Captain Smith then rushed onto the bridge and asked what the ship had struck. Murdock replied:
An iceberg, sir. I hard-a-starboarded and reversed the engines, and I was going to hard-a-port round it, but she was too close. I could not do any more. I have closed the water-tight doors.
Then Captain Smith summoned Andrews, the ship's designer, and both went below and surveyed the damage. It did not take Andrews long to figure out that there was no hope for his "unsinkable" ship. The ice had sliced the vessel open about 10 feet above the level of the keel for a distance of about 300 feet. Water was pouring in the forepeak. Number 1, 2, and 3 holds, and Number 5 and 6 boiler rooms. A scant 10 minutes after the collision water was 14 feet above the keel in all compartments except Number 5 boiler room.
When Andrews confirmed his own assessment of the damage. Captain Smith assembled those of his officers then awake and told them the worst. There was to be no panic; priority in lifeboats was to be given to women and children.
The Captain then hurried to the wireless room and ordered Phillips and Bride to send out distress signals. About 12:15 a.m., Phillips began tapping out "CQD" — at that time the usual international distress call — followed by "MGY," the Titanic's call letters, and her position, 41 degrees, 46 minutes North, 50 degrees, 14 minutes West. About 12:45 a.m. Phillips switched to "SOS," the new international distress signal. It marked the second time* the new signal had been used since an international convention had approved it.
Captain Smith then ordered the lifeboats uncovered and instructed stewards and crew members to go through the ship and get all passengers on deck with life jackets on. There had been no emergency drill undertaken since leaving Southampton. The ship began to list as the bow settled deeper and deeper into the water.
At about 12:45 a.m., the Fourth Officer, Joseph C. Boxhall, began sending up distress rockets, which exploded in the air at regular intervals and gave off white stars. He continued to do this until he left the ship at 1:45 a.m.
At approximately 12:25 a.m., the Titanic wireless operator raised the Cunard liner Carpathia, which was bound from New York to Liverpool and only 58 miles away. The Carpathia's Captain, Arthur H. Rostron, immediately wired back that he was coming to the rescue. The Cunard liner, which
* The first ship to send an SOS was the American steamer Arapahoe in August 1909. The first lives saved by a wireless distress call (CQD) were on the White Star liner Republic in January 1909. The call, sent by Jack Binns, an English radio operator, came after the Republic collided with the liner Florida off Nantucket.
12
I i 4.1 i
«g39v; 1^.— oiQ .^visf
i I^'awmI^
THf lUCKUD
< '\ -■ i^^^i,*.^;^
OQUBU BOTTOM
ICE PEitmATmcn^E
DOUfffjfOtTOM
13
sew
49°W
42''N
50'..
40'-
30'-
B
\
\ c
D-t
'—■►--<-:
Ice Field i
20'
10'
Californian's Course
A Icebergs sighted by the CaWornian (solid triangle) and Parisian (dashed triangle). Square shows position of Calhornian when it made the sighting.
B Californian's dead reckoning posi- tion.
^ Titanic's COD position.
D Californian's position if located northwest of position C.
EThe location where the Titanic's wreckage and lifeboats were found.
FCarpathia's course toward the Ti- tanic's CQD position.
SO^W
50'
t
A ^
-50'
10 miles
42°N
■-40'
■•30'
30
20
49°W
would sink after a torpedo attack in World War I, carried 740 passengers and 325 crew. At approximately 12:20 a.m. out on the Titanic's deck, the order had been given to begin lowering the boats. Second Officer Lightoller, one of those directing the lifeboat operations, testified later that the noise of steam escaping from the 8 exhaust vents on the stacks was so great that he had to give directions with his hands. There were few passengers on deck to climb aboard the first boats.
The story of the passengers' fate and the loading and events in the lifeboats is described elsewhere in this issue (see page 81). Suffice to say that tales of bravery seem to substantially outnumber those of cowardice on that night. The Titanic disappeared at 2:20 a.m. The night was left to the piercing cries and wailing moans of the drowning. In the lifeboats, rowing was the best defense against the bitter cold. It would be 73 years before the Titanic would be located at approximately 1:05 a.m. on September 1, 1985, by scientists aboard the research vessel Knorr, operated for the U.S Navy by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Paul R. Ryan Is Editor o/'Oceanus.
The QE II
The Queen Elizabeth II of the Cunard Line is the largest luxury liner in service today. She weighs more than 67,000 tons, stands 13 stories high, and measures 963 feet.
Titanit liieboals on way to Carpathia. Photograph taken by passenger aboard the rescue vessel, April 15, 1912. (The Betlmann Archive)
14
The Rubaiyat
The Worldly Hope men set
their Hearts upon Turns Ashes — or it prospers:
and anon. Like Snow upon the
Desert's dusty face Lighting a little Hour or
two — is gone.
Of the jewels that sank to the bottom of the Atlantic when the Titanic plunged to her ocean grave none possessed more general interest than those used in the bound copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which was being brought to America. There were 1,050 precious stones studding the binding.
The book, which later became known as the Titanic Omar, was to be exhibited by Henry Sotheran & Co of 45 Piccadilly West in London, along with a number of other books in honor of the coronation of King George V. Sotheran & Co. described themselves as "booksellers to the King." The bookbinding took three months to produce and took two years to complete. It was considered to be the most elaborate specimen of bookbinding at that time, representing more time and thought than had ever been expended on the cover of a book before. The New York Times of April 7, 1912, described the designs as follows:
Sunk panels of ornamental shapes are introduced into both covers and doublures, to break up the monotony of a flat surface, and also to avoid excessive projection of the jewels that are inset. The 1 ,050 stones comprise rubies, turquoises, amethysts, topazes, olivines, garnets, and an emerald. They are introduced into the decoration and each stone is in a gold setting, which is firmly fixed underneath the leather, thus making it almost an impossibility for it to come out. Close gold tooling, producing in appearance the richness and splendor of solid chased gold panels, is strongly in evidence on the whole work, and affords a fitting background for the jewels.
On the front cover, in a sunk panel of a shape suggestive of Persian architecture, appears, as a central figure, a heart shape, richly jeweled with rubies, olivines, and garnets, and closely gold tooled. This is surrounded by a conventional arrangement of three peacocks, elaborately inlaid in their many natural lines, and filling, with the graceful radiating lines of their tails, the remainder of the panel.
The eyes of the feathers are jeweled with 97 topazes, all of which are specially cut to the correct shape of the eye. The crests of the birds are suggested by 18 turquoises, and rubies are inset to form the eyes. The slight background thus left is tightly filled with gold dots.
Surrounding this panel is a border and corner piece, suggestive both in color and design of
characteristic Oriental decoration, and set with 289 garnets, turquoises, and olivines. The design is completed with a border suggesting a conventional treatment of the vine inlaid in brown and green and set with 250 amethysts arranged so as to form the bunches of grapes.
Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Re- pentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly— and lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
The Convergence of the Twain
in a solitude of the sea Deep from human vanity. And the pride of life that planned her, stilly couches she.
Steel chambers, late the pyres
Of her salamandrine fires.
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rythmic tidal lyres.
Over the mirrors meant To glass the opulent
The sea worm crawls — grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.
Jewels in joy designed To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.
Dim moon-eyed fishes near Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" ....
Well: while was fashioning
This creature of cleaving wing.
The immanent will that stirs and urges everything
Prepared a sinister mate
For her — so gaily great —
A shape of ice, for the time far and dissociate.
And as the smart ship grew.
In stature, grace and hue.
In shadowy silent distance grew the iceberg too.
Alien they seemed to be No mortal eye could see The intimate welding of their later history.
Or sign that they were bent
On paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one august event.
Till the spinner of the years Said "now" and each one hears. And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.
— Thomas Hardy
15
The Discovery
The discovery team poses on the R. V. Knorr. (Photo courtesy Ndtionjl Geographic Society/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
16
of the Titanic
by the U.S. :.and French Expedition
r^ by Paul R. Ryan
^ and Anne Rabushka
The Titanic lies in 13,000 feet of water on a gently sloping alpine-like countryside overlooking a small canyon below. [Her] bow faces north and the ship sits upright on the bottom, [two of her] mighty stacks still pointing upward. There is no light at this great depth. It is quiet and peaceful, a fitting place for the remains of this greatest of [peacetime] sea tragedies to rest. May it forever remain that way.
—Robert D. Ballard, 9 September 1985
I he discovery of the Titanic on 1 September 1985 is a tale of two research centers — Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Toulon, France — of two ships — the Knorr and Le Suroit — and of two new extrenriely sophisticated underwater vehicles called Argo and SAR. At this point in the telling, the tale is not unlike the iceberg that sank the Titanic — an eighth above the surface and the rest below.*
The finding of the Titanic was the ( ulmination of 10 years of off-and-on planning and research on the part of Robert D. Ballard, a
* For a first-hand account of the search for the Titanic see the December issue of National Geographic in which an article by Ballard and John-Louis Michel appears.
17
The French SAR vehicle with its support ship Le Suroit. (F'hoto courtesy of IFREMER)
geologist/engineer and Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Others aided him in his efforts, including the National Geographic and the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR). He located the shipwreck during a campaign that began from Brest, France, with two cruises by a team of French engineers led by John-Louis Michel of the Institut Fran^ais de Recherche pour I'Exploitation des Mers (IFREMER) at Toulon. Ballard's close association with the French extends back to Project FAMOUS, a French- American expedition in 1973/74 that explored parts of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge by submersible. IFREMER was born in 1982 when the French government decided to merge the national fisheries ministry with the national center for exploration of the oceans (CENEXO).
For Ballard, the Navy, and the French, the Titanic was essentially a target — a large, newsworthy target — to test prototype underwater vehicles that will give man a "telepresence" on the ocean floor. Telepresence, a word coined by Ballard, means using video technology to project one's mind to the seafloor without physically descending to it. It will allow scientists to see vast areas of the seafloor — its mountains, canyons, and deserts — never before explored. It also means that scientists will not have to go down into the abyss in cramped three-man submersibles like Alvin, the workhorse of deep underwater research at the
moment. For the National Ce(ygraphic, the Titanic represented an opportunity to support an exfiedition ot historic al interest and to develop new [)h<)t()gra()hi( tec hni(]ues. The objective was to exc ite the imagination of the [)ublic with large, deep water images; the c hoic c was to come back with ()ic tures of acres of mud or, if luc ky, the bones of the Titanic as a demonstration of this new technology.
Before the cruises began two in the French ship (10 July to 19 July, and 26 July to 6 August) and one in the Woods Hole vessel (22 August to 9 September) — the scientists did a lot of homework on the historical and operational aspects of the wreck as well as the geological and physical processes at work in the general area where the Titanic went down, some 360 miles off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
Ballard and his associates had feared that benthic storms, strong bc:)ttom currents, mud slides, or a combination of these forces, could have buried the wreck in the course of 73 years. They also thought that turbidity (the suspension of sediments due to currents) might make it too murky to take photographs or do video work. This fear had been put aside a few years before by Emory Kristof and Al Chandler, both photography engineers at National Geographic. They had gone out on the International Ice Patrol's cutter Evergreen on one of that organization's annual April 15 voyages to lay a wreath at the approximate site of the Titanic sinking. A camera was lowered and began taking pictures of the bottom on contact. From this simple test, they determined that turbidity was not a problem.
The Navy's contribution to the search — besides millions of dollars to develop the Argo vehicle — was in providing Ballard with detailed topographic maps of the terrain in the search area.
The French-American campaign, of course, was not the first to seek to locate the Titanic. A Texas millionaire, Jack Grimm, an oilman and geologist, financed three expeditions to find the White Star liner in 1980, '81, and '83. Grimm used the Sea Marc I (from the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory) and Deep Tow (see Oceanus, Vol 25, No. 1, p. 28) systems, the latter a towed underwater vehicle of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Grimm produced a film, directed by Michael Harris and narrated by the late Orson Wells, entitled "Search for the Titanic" from the 1980 and '81 search activity. He has plans to recover some Titanic artifacts (to be placed in museums such as the Smithsonian) in 1986 or '87, using the eight- man 52-foot recertified submersible Aluminaut. He also hopes to produce another film based on these activities as well as another book. (The first was Beyond Reach by William Hoffman and Jack Grimm, Beaufort Press, 1982.) Grimm has been aided in his searches by scientists from Scripps in California and Lamont-Doherty at Columbia University in New York. The 1983 expedition turned up an interesting anomaly (thought to be one of the ship's three propellers), but Ballard this year found the "propeller" to be nothing more than
18
a stone outcrop.
The French-American 1985 plan had called for the French to find the Titanic and for the Knnrr to follow up and do the photographic work. But Murphy's Law works at sea as well as on land. Once on station, Le Suroit ran almost immediately into heavy weather — 30 to 40 knot winds with higher gusts, seas of 12 to 13 feet, and surface currents of 2 knots. These conditions made it impossible for the French — who had been studying every detail of the ship and its history for more than a year — to complete their survey of the search area, which had been reduced to 150 square miles by the French and American calculations as to the Titanic's true position. Nevertheless, operating in treacherous conditions that at one point threatened to part the cable to their underwater vehicle, the French eliminated 80 percent of the search area as the resting spot of the Titanic.
The SAR vehicle (5 meters long and 1 meter wide) towed by Le Suroit and nicknamed Poisson or "fish" by the French carried two lateral or side-scan sonar instruments and one vertical sonar unit capable of penetrating bottom sediments. It also trailed a magnetometer 50 meters behind, capable of telling whether any anomalies turned up in the 1 kilometer swath of the SAR were metal or not. SAR was towed at an altitude of 60 meters above the bottom and reportedly distinguished objects as small as 30 by 76 centimeters.
Ballard explains: "An acoustical search is very different than a visual search. With a side-scan sonar like SAR, you are searching for the main wreckage which will show up on the records like a large radar blip on the screen, with a high shadow behind it. At the same time, the magnetometer tells you if the object you are looking at is metallic or, like most images, is made of non-metallic rock or sedimentary material."
One problem Le Suroit encountered was that it could not come about in the heavy seas and strong currents. The French had hoped to survey the 1 50 square miles by "mowing the lawn" so to speak, going across the area and then turning about and going back again. The heavy weather forced the ship to retrieve the SAR after a crossing and run back down to the starting point before lowering the SAR again, a time-consuming process. Another time-consuming process (about 30 percent of the time at the site) was the establishment of transponder nets used to navigate the "fish." At one point, the SAR had to be retrieved while Le Suroit rode out a gale, even though the months of July and August had been picked as the best weather window for the search area. Still, Ballard was impressed by the French technology, later stating that the U.S. does not have a comparable system: "Mine complements their's and their's complements mine."
The second French cruise came to an end with a frustrated but not disheartened crew. Ballard later described the situation as "like trying to get across New York City in a cab with $5 in your pocket." The American oceanographer and key members of the French crew, including Michel, were let off Le Suroit at St. Pierre, a French island
SONARS
SAR
3 800 metres
SYSTEMES OPTIQUES
SUROIT
MINI RAIE fHicam^a PHOTO
^-
100m2(10)( tO)
- 3 800 mdtres
Sonar and camera used by the French researchers. (Diagram courtesy of IFREMER)
off Newfoundland, and immediately began a circuitous trip via Toronto to the Azores to join the Knorr on the last leg of the search.
When the Knorr arrived on station she initially had the benefit of 10 good days of good weather. Ballard's strategy to find the 7;"tan;"c was
19
Bottom image created by the side-scan sonar on the SAR vehicle. The line in the middle is the sh/p's (Le Suroit's) track. (Image courtesy of IFREMER)
slightly different from the French's. The remaining search area contained three different types of terrain: 1) a canyon with many tributaries, 2) a sand dune area not unlike the Sahara desert, and 3) part of a large mudslide 1 2 to 1 5 miles long and 3 to 5
miles wide, the possible aftermath of an earthquake in 1928. The slide broke many transatlantic cables at the time, and the French SAR system was used to establish that the Titanic was not buried in most of that area.
On the surface of the north Atlantic, the Knorr's computer processes information passed to her sonar receiver from transponders anchored on the ocean bottom. It is translated into orders for her towing crane
Sonar transponder
cycloidal propellers. Whirling like vertical paddles, the propellors drive the ship in any direction, towing the equipment sleds in precise paths at the ends of their two and a half-mile cables.
wmimmmmmfmmmimif
ltV,»ORlP
/ Sonar receiver
Cycloidal propeller R.V. KNORR
'ARGO/ANGUS .<^
^ Sonar transmitters on the cable
^■^^ send information to the Knorr.
**^S .^ Sound transmissions from Ar go,
.^■•' searching with her low-light
<^ video cameras, are received by
.;:^ the sonar transponders and
o""^ """""•••>»,„, relayed to the ship's computer. <^ " Argo's position is calculated and
recorded, until she finds her quarry. Then the recording sled '"in,,,, Angus, using lights and cameras, is guided by the computer through the same deep-sea path.
^
20
Argo vehicle being launched off the Knorr during hunt for the Titanic. (Photo National Geographic/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
The first order of business on the Knorr was to check the anomaly encountered in Grimm's 1983 expedition and craters found by the French that could possibly have been caused by the boilers from a disintegrating Titanic. The craters, however, turned out to be glacial erratics, a geologist's term for large boulders caught up in and released from melting icebergs. After eliminating these targets — instead of "mowing the lawn" — they concentrated on looking for a debris plume. In previous searches for other wrecks, it had been Ballard's and the Navy's experience that ships headed for watery graves left a debris plume of more than a mile behind impact. By establishing a spaced track pattern of searching for the debris rather than the wreck itself, more area could be covered.
"Our data suggested that at least a 1.1 knot southerly current was running the night the Titanic sank," Ballard recalled, "dispersing the debris in a north-south direction. Based on these factors we concluded our best plan was to run east-west lines starting in the south and working north in the area not already covered by the SAR. It was this strategy that was ultimately responsible for our discovery."
The Knorr, equipped with cycloidal propellers (see Oceanus, Vol. 25, No. 1, p. 48), can hold herself in position in heavy winds and seas, an advantage over Le Suroit. She also carried two underwater vehicles — Argo, named after the vessel that carried Jason in mythology on his quest for the Golden Fleece, and ANGUS (Acoustically
Navigated Geophysical Underwater Survey), an older 3-camera (35 mm) system often used in conjunction with Alvin on her dives to the hydrothermal vents in the Pacific.
The Argo system is described in detail elsewhere in this issue (see page 99). Suffice to say that Argo, which eventually will house a little tethered robot named jason capable of sending back detailed closeup images of objects on the bottom, carries three video Silicon Intensified Target (SIT) cameras that can operate at a light level equivalent to a film speed of 200,000 ASA. Operating with either a continuous light source, or a strobe effect that "bangs out light for Charlie Chaplin-like snapshot images," the cameras can take pictures in excess of 100 feet (30 meters) off the bottom. Ballard described the system as basically "a lot of commercial equipment that can be bought off the shelf. Its unique nature comes from the software that has been developed by the Deep Submergence Lab from field tests." It was the Argo system that found the Titanic.
For several days after arriving in the search area, the drill was to eliminate potential targets and to explore individually the numerous tributaries running off the deep canyon in the search area not covered by the French. "The section we were headed for was about 1 ,000 meters across and 40 to 50 meters deep," Ballard explained. "The problem was not the depth of the canyon, but the complex series of secondary channels or tributaries that entered the canyon from both sides producing
21
The control room aboard the Knorr. lean-Louis Michel (center standing), lean larry (center sitting), and Robert Ballard (arms folded) watch television monitors as expedition members maneuver the Argo vehicle 13,000 feet below. (Photo by Emory K. Kristof. © National Geographic Society jWtlOl)
a complex series of sonar shadows."
The initial excitement of being on station and looking for the Titanic soon wore off. Ballard's crew* from the Deep Submergence Laboratory (DSL) was not nearly as versed in the lore of the tragedy as the French, who had thoroughly researched it. Evenings the crew could see one of two movies aboard— Ra/se (he Titariic, based on dive Cussler's book, or A Night to Remember, based on Walter Lord's book. A seven-man round- the-clock 4-hour watch (each having a Frenchman) was set up in the small control center that had been especially erected on the starboard side of the aft deck. The center was basically a video studio with switching capabilities that permitted the scientific party to talk to the Argo cameras through microprocessors. The ship also could be navigated from the center.
As the days went by, hope for finding the wreck waned. Transponder nets were set and retrieved. A routine of keeping eyes glued to the video monitors settled in. Ears listened to rock and
* The scientific party: Robert Ballard, chief scientist; Jean- Louis Michel, co-chief scientist; lean Jarry, French project manager; Emile Bergeron; Martin Bowen; Sharon Callahan; Tom Crook; Tom Dettweiler; Steve Gegg; Stew Harris; Cathy Scheer; Bob Squires; Dana Yoerger; Earl Young; Billy Lange; James Saint; Georgina Baker; Lisa Schwartz; George Rey; Emory Kristof; Ralph White; Bernard Pillaud; and Terrence Snyder.
country music, and mouths bulged with buttered popcorn.
On 31 August, Ballard left the control center with the rest of his 8 to 12 p.m. watch crew after turning over the watch to Michel. The weather was building after 10 days of pond-like conditions. Had something in his calculations been wrong? He had pinned his hopes of finding the Titanic on believing the course data given by the rescue ship Carpathia, discounting dead-reckoning fixes given by the Californian (for a complete discussion of this controversy, see pages 61, 64, and 74). After researching all the data, he was convinced that the Titanic had gone down somewhere on the east side of the iceflow (see map, page 14) and not on the west side as her official last sent position indicated.
But it was time to take a shower, relax, and read some of (General "Chuck") Veager, the autobiography of a test pilot with "the right stuff" (the first to break the sound barrier) that he admired and related to. In Ballard, there is something of the astronaut, Jules Verne's Captain Nemo, and Lewis and Clark wrapped into one. he is the natural successor to Jacques Cousteau, who, faulted at times by some for his science, nevertheless made the world appreciate the wonders in shallow coastal waters and the necessity to protect them. Indeed, one of the French SAR instrument's prime purposes is to monitor pollution in deep areas of the world's oceans.
22
About an hour had elapsed since Ballard had left the control center, when a knock came at his door. It was the cook, John Bartolomei, who had visited the center for the first time some moments before. He stuck his head in the door, and excitedly exclaimed, "the guys in the van think you should come down."
Ballard pulled on his DSL jump suit over his pajamas and hurried to the control center, stepping into the soothing red light of the farm kitchen-sized room to see the first video image of the boilers on the monitors. "That's it," he blurted out, the excitement in him rising. His pilot's instincts
vehicle was retrieved. No spare part was available. The Knorr's Chief Engineer, Harold Oakes, and First Engineer, Richard Dudeck, fashioned a small miracle. They took an old bushing out of a spare (yc loidal propeller and, working for nearly 14 straight hours on a lathe in the engine room, made a jerry-rig gear for the winch.
Meanwhile, an ancient fathometer at work on the Knorr, similar to a fishing boat's fish-finder or echo-sounder, returned the first clue as to the exact whereabouts of the Titanic's massive hull. From that point, it was relatively simple to lock in the Titanic's coordinates using a special
//
That's it
//
immediately went to work. He called for Argo to be raised, realizing that the vehicle must be flying below the deck level of the Titanic. They would have to pinpoint the ship, bracket her with transponders, locate the stacks, find out what rigging remained.
But, at the moment, the control room was filling with excited crew members and scientists as word of the discovery spread throughout the ship. Some 30 people crowded into the center. Someone remarked that it was 1:40 a.m. The Titanic had gone down at 2:20. Ballard led the group out on the fantail, where they observed a brief, silent, memorial service for the more than 1,500 people who perished in the disaster. They also raised the flag of the Titanic's builders, Harland and Wolff.
Ballard's decision to raise Argo, while the right one, brought trouble on his head. The winch holding the Argo coaxial cable broke after the
transponder navigation system installed on the Knorr for the expedition. Next, a transponder net was deployed.
By then, it was time to lower Argo again and begin the photographic mission. The weather and the world were about to close in. Winds and seas in the next couple of days would build to 40 knots and 13 to 14 feet; the London Observer would run a tentative story based on rumors stating that the Titanic had been found. Ballard, working almost round-the-clock, meanwhile flew Argo gingerly around the wreck.
"I have never taken a pill in my life," he would later recall, "but I was tempted to take a Valium during this period." He did not want to have to go back to the Navy and report the loss of the expensive Argo vehicle in the Titanic's guy wires, saying "sorry about that." At the same time, pressure was beginning to build from the press,
(continued on page 33)
23
The Discovery in Pictures
Peak of Titanic's bow with emergency anchor and handling boom
Anchor chains, capstan heads, and open ventilator shalt on bow All photos this series courtesy of WHOI, Dr. Robert Ballard, and IFREMER
24
Entrance to fo'c'sle
Starboard railing with rattail fish (about 3 feet long) and mooring bitts
25
CQD . . . CQD . . . SOS . . . CQD . . . SOS . . . MGY (Titanic) . . . come at once . . We have struck a berg . . . CQD OM , position41°a6'N, 50°ia'W. . . require immediate assistance ... We have collided with an iceberg . . . Sinking .
Whcit once was glass dome above grand staircase
Hole u/icre number 1 stack broki' oil
26
Litebocit davit at upper right
27
CQD . . . CQD . . . SOS . . . CQD . . . SOS . . . MGY (Titanic) . . . come at once . . We have struck a berg . . . CQD OM , position 41°46'N, 50°14'W. . . require immediate assistance ... We have collided with an iceberg . . . Sinking .
Silver platter and coal in debris field
bhip's i(cm docking tclcgrjph in debris jl lower right
28
Base ol stern cargo crane
Part of stern section with rollers
29
CQD . . . CQD . . . SOS . . . CQD . . . SOS . . . MGY (Titanic) . . . come at once . . We have struck a berg . . . CQD OM , position ai°46'N, 50°14'W. . . require immediate assistance ... We have collided with an iceberg . . . Sinking .
Collapsed bulkhead Irom Captdin s quarters and davil
One oi Titanic's lead cut-glass windows Irom lounge door al lower left
30
Starboard wing bridge, badly damaged
Section ot steel hull plating
31
CQD . . . CQD . . . SOS . . . CQD . . . SOS . . . MGY (Titanic) . . . come at once . . . We have struck a berg . . . CQD OM , position ai°a6'N, 50°ia'W. . . require immediate assistance . . . We have collided with an iceberg . . . Sinking .
Clumber pot, upper right (circled)
bed 'springs in c/c/ufs /k'/cj
32
Titanic
Lost and Found (1912-1985)
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution together with scientists from France recently discovered the broken hull of the Titanic in the North Atlantic.
These exciting photographs were taken by cameras mounted on Angus, a towed sled maneuvered by operators on the research vessel, Knorr.
t
The Stern of the Titanic broke off and is in pieces in a long debris field behind the main body of the wreck. The exact point of separation has not yet been determined.
wine, possibly French Bordeaux, champaiii and Madeiras, litter the bottom of the Atlun ir the remains of the luxury liner Titanic.
|
IHH |
nA^VV |
|
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[^r^ Sbje Netty g^rk ^iwcii. ^^^'i^
mAmc SINKS TO^'',«o^«f,,f I^obS'^^^S^^^^Sw;,
^^;;risr^c Be,.. ^^^;:;::y^,;^^_^
aboard the litanir, April 12. 1912.
Front page of The New York Times April 16, 1912 — The Bettmann Archive, Inc. Copyright^ 1912 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
Correction
In the caption of the pullout under the painting "Women and children loaded onto ifeboats aboard the Titanic," the date should read April 15, 1912-not April 12.
nome. ai this point an aircraii appeareo overneaa Anne KaousnKa is ruoiic iniormaiion uiiicer at whui.
The Homecoming
^wt
H
44
The Knorr returning home to Woods Ho/e after Titanic discovery. (Photo by Amy Rader)
33
WHOI, the Navy, and the National Geographic tor more intormation about the discovery and the pictures being taken.
In the heaving seas at the surface, Ballard and Michel directed the navigation of Argo some 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) belov^. First surveying around the hull and then flying over it, Ballard determined that the wreck was sitting upright, that number 1 and 4 stacks were gone, and that the forward mast had toppled over, taking some of the guy wires with it. Argo flew so close to the Titanic that at one point it bounced off one of the stacks, picking up a small amount of paint on its steel frame.
At this point, Ballard decided to approach the ship from the stern, but, to his surprise, could not find it. Had it broken off somewhere beyond number 3 stack? Cruise time was running out. Ballard decided to lower ANGUS to get closeup high-quality 35 mm color pictures of the bow section covered with "a thin dusting of sediments, like a gentle snowstorm." Etched indelibly into the mind were images of wine bottles, silver plates, cut-glass windows, a mattress frame, twisted cranes, the ship's telegraph, and the crow's nest — a treasure trove of pictures from the deep.
Argo and ANGUS were finally secured on the aft deck. The transponders were retrieved. And the Knorr, which had been aided in her positioning on station by SatNav, a satellite system that provides position accuracy on the order of 35 meters even in the heavy seas, prepared to head home. At this point an aircraft appeared overhead
and circk'd tor more than an hour. It had no identification markmgs. Ballard believes it was taking a navigational fix on the Titanic'^, position, the exact coordinates of which he has kept secret.
On the trip back to Woods Hole, Ballard discovered that he had actually seen the stern after all— in pieces. A review of the film images disclosed that the stern was contained in a debris field extending more than a mile behind the wreck.
The Knorr reached port on 9 September 1985, giving a 360-degree demonstration of her cyclodial maneuverability on the way in. Families, crewmembers, and wellwishers celebrated with champagne. Meanwhile hundreds of reporters and 18 film crews recorded the event for posterity. Ballard (for profile see page 103) would comment at a later talk to WHOI Associates on a message he had received from his mother: "You've done a lot of great science; hope you survive the Titanic."
Argo will be transferred to the Knorr's sister ship, Scripps's R/V Melville in December for a survey of nearly 200 kilometers along the East Pacific Rise in hydrothermal vent country (see Oceanus, Vol. 27, No. 3). The Rise is part of the 64,000-kilometer Mid-Ocean Ridge system. Since Project FAMOUS 12 years ago, scientists have explored only 192 kilometers of the ridge. In just 20 days, if all goes well, Ballard and a team of international scientists hope to double this mark.
Paul R. Ryan is Editor of Oceanus magazine at WlHOi. Anne Rabushka is Public Information Officer at Wi-lOI.
The Homecoming
1 r?
■IMl«iMfl.rT5M?\
The Knorr returning home to Woods Hole after Titanic discovery. (Pho(f) bv Amv Rader)
33
fc(JNGRATULATieR5 ^ "■
Photo by Amy Rader
At left, Ballard welcomes invited guests aboard the Knorr after docking. (Photo by N. C. Pascoe). Below, WHOI Director John Steele climbing up rope ladder from launch that met Knorr outside Woods Hole harbor. (Photo by Amy Rader) Lower left, Ballard shakes hands with his French co- chief scientist lohn-Louis Michel. At right, is lean larn/, the French Titanic Project Director. (WHOI photo)
34
Above and below, WHOI Deep Submergence Lab crewmembers greet sweethearts and {amily nnembers. (WHOI photos)
The Titanic discovery merited world press coverage. Above, some of the "gentle persons" of the media at work. (Photo by Amy Rader) Below, Ballard shares a moment with Doug, one of his proud sons. (WHOI photo)
35
The Titanicfs Role in History
by Frank Lowenstein
Looking up at the Titanic s bridge cjb in Quccnsbnd, Ireland. Captain E. I. Smith can be seen leaning out of cab with lifeboat on davits below. This is believed to be the last photo taken of the captain before departing for New York. (Courtesy Paul Popper Photo, taken by Rev. f . M. Brown)
The whole civilized world was stirred to its depths when the full extent of loss of life was learned, and it has not yet recovered from the shock. And that is without a doubt a good thing. It should not recover from it until the possibility of such a disaster occurring again has been utterly removed from human society . . .
— from The Loss of the SS Titanic by Lawrence Beesley
lew disasters have had such far-reaching effects on the fabric of society as the sinking of the Titanic. Besides altering the way the North Atlantic passenger trade was conducted, the loss also affected basic attitudes about social justice. In some cases the effects of the changes were immediate; the routes followed by passenger liners were shifted to the south four days after the disaster and an ice patrol was instituted during that same year. Other changes exerted subtle influences over the development of our culture that still echo today.
Alterations in Steamship Routes
On 17 April 1912, just two days after the sinking, the liner Carmania sailed from New York on a route 1 10 miles south of the route it would have followed before the Titanic sank. The United States and Great Britain had negotiated this change by telegraph. On April 19th, the U.S. Hydrographic Office announced an even more drastic change — liners were to follow courses 270 miles south of that followed by the Titanic, increasing the length of the New York to England trip by 9 to 14 hours. This swift shift of the sea lanes was but one symptom of an overall change in attitudes about technology. If the "unsinkable" Titanic could go down so easily, no ship was safe.
The practices followed by Captain E. j. Smith of the Titanic were, according to the British inquiry into th(^ sinking, not unusual:
for many years past, indeed, for a quarter of a century or more, the practice of liners using this track when in the vicinity of ice at night had been in clear weather to keep the course, to maintain the speed, and to trust to a sharp lookout to enable them to avoid danger.
36
Newsboy hctwks papers to a public hungry for information. (Photo courtesy Radio Tirves Hulton Picture Library)
In fact, according to The New York Times, many ships played chicken with the ice in pursuit of ever faster crossings:
'Co to the north and save as much time as possible.' This has been looked upon as the unofficial order to many skippers, and it has been obeyed in many cases. . . . the passengers are not aware of the risk that is being taken to bring them across in good time. The skipper is often congratulated for the feat.
Lifeboats for All
Another transformation in the weeks following the Titanic disaster concerned the number of lifeboats carried on passenger ships. The British Board of Trade regulated the number of lifeboats carried aboard British passenger vessels, and its simple rule was that any vessel weighing more than 10,000 tons must carry 16 lifeboats. The Titanic exceeded this requirement, carrying 16 wooden lifeboats plus 4 collapsible boats; all the lifeboats combined could carry just under 1 ,200 people, or about half those on board. Had the ship been full, these boats would have sufficed for only a third of those on board. The regulations of the United States and Germany were tougher, requiring sufficient lifeboats for about two- thirds of the total capacity on a ship the size of the Titanic.
Since few expected the Titanic to sink, little thought had been given to use of the lifeboats. Two of the collapsible boats were strapped to the roof of the officers quarters and proved difficult to remove during the disaster.
Before the Titanic sank, E. K. Roden, a naval engineer, had written in The Navy that "boats enough are needed to accommodate every person on board. . . . Notwithstanding the many watertight compartments ... no one can guarantee to build an
Artist's depiction of the loading o/Titanic's lifeboats with women and children. (The Bettmann Archive)
unsinkable ship. . . . Unsinkable ships like fireproof buildings are still dreams which we hope some day to realize."
37
Such mils notwithstanding, ships regularly sailed without suttic ient lifeboats in the early 1900s, and until the Titanic sank there was little [)ul5lic outcry to c hange the situation. Although Alexander Carlisle, one of the c hief designers of the Titanic, originally proposed putting 50 boats on the ship, the White Star Line considered this unnecessary. The attitude of most of those in the trans-Atlantic passenger trade was summed up by Captain E. J. Smith (later captain of the Titanic), in an interview with The New York Times six years before the sinking:
/ connnt imagine any condition vv/i/c/j would cause a modem sltip to founder. . . . Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.
When the unimaginable occurred, the Titanic's officers did not fill the lifeboats to capacity, for fear the boats would collapse from the weight of the passengers as they were lowered, in fact, the shipyard where the Titanic was built had tested the boats for exactly this parameter, but the officers did not know it. Hence many lifeboats were lowered half full, or less. There had been no boat drill while at sea, and only a perfunctory one in port before leaving, so the crew of the ship was unfamiliar with their stations; many did not even know how to row. All lifeboats carried sails, but in only one boat was there sufficient knowledge among the crew to use them.
In 1914, the International Conference on Safety Of Life At Sea agreed on a treaty that called for every ship to carry sufficient lifeboats for all persons on board. It also mandated lifeboat drills, and that sufficient crew members be trained in manning the boats. Never again would so many die for lack of proper equipment. Other important provisions of the treaty included at least intermittent monitoring of the wireless around the clock for passenger vessels, and construction of watertight compartments and double bottoms on ships. Perhaps the most important outcome of the conference, however, was the formation of the International Ice Patrol.
The International Ice Patrol*
Immediately after the sinking of the Titanic, a British ship began patrolling the sea lanes to ensure that the location of ice was known to all ships crossing the Atlantic. On the Titanic, such knowledge had been haphazard, depending on reports from other ships. Two critical ice messages received by the Titanic on the day of the disaster were not seen by the officers on the bridge.
The British patrol was soon replaced by two U.S. Navy cruisers, which finished out the rest of the
* This history of the International Ice Patrol is based largely on conversations with Robert Dinsmore, former Commander of the patrol and currently Consultant on Marine Operations and Planning at WHOI.
1912 iceberg season (March through August). In 1913, two Ll.S. Revenue Cutters monitored the ice and a British vessel conducted some preliminary researc h on the movements of ice.
By January of 1914, the International Conference on Safety Of Life At Sea had suggested an international patrol to keep watch for icebergs and to do research on ice conditions in the sea lanes. The United States was asked to manage the patrol. On 17 February 1914, President Wilson authorized the Revenue Cutter Service to undertake the responsibility. (The Revenue Cutter Service and the Lifesaving Service were merged in the following year to form the Coast Guard.) Funding of the Ice Patrol was an international effort, with the bulk provided by Great Britain, the United States, France, and Germany.
In April of 1914, two U.S. Coast Guard cutters undertook the first official ice patrol. The area covered by the patrol extends from 40 degrees North to 52 degrees North, and from 39 degrees West to 57 degrees West. Thus it includes a portion of the island of Newfoundland.
After the iceberg season of 1914 was over, researchers from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods FHole and Harvard University went north to study ice distribution and to map the Labrador Current, which carries ice south from the Arctic to the sea lanes.
Lacking such conveniences as portable salinometers and modern current meters, the researchers depended on biological criteria — particularly the presence of an Arctic copepod — to identify waters of the Labrador flow, which carries ice south from the Arctic. The patrol asked ships traversing the Atlantic to radio in their position and the temperature of the surrounding sea, data also used to map currents.
From 1915 until the present, the International Ice Patrol has continued its mission. The only gaps occurred during the two world wars. Although there is no way to tell how many lives would have been lost without the patrol, in the decade prior to the formation of the Ice Patrol, approximately 2,000 lives were lost in shipwrecks involving ice. Since its inception, no lives have been lost in patrolled areas, although some interesting incidents have occurred.
On one cruise the patrol found a mother polar bear and cubs marooned on a berg far out to sea. After some thought, they rigged up a cage on the deck, and transferred the bears into it, but the outraged mother broke loose and started chasing the crew across the deck. Eventually, to the relief of those aboard, she jumped ship and swam away. Two cubs were brought back to the United States; one was sent to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
In the late 1920s another unusual incident occurred. In miserable weather, the Ice Patrol's ship stopped in the lee of a large berg near the edge of the ice. One commercial vessel kept on a course right into the ice, despite the warnings of the patrol. Finally, the ship reported that it had run aground on a berg, and it could not get free. When the Ice Patrol ship came out from behind their shelter to rescue the other ship, they found it aground on the opposite side of the same berg. Eventually the Ice
38
Top, an iceberg in the North Atlantic. At right, nnembers of the International Ice Patrol prepare to drop annual wreath in waters near where the Titanic went down. (Photos courtesy of International Ice Patrol, USCC)
Patrol was able to pull the grounded ship free, and she proceeded with greater caution.
In areas not covered by the patrol, the loss of life continued, despite radar and other modern technologies. During World War II, when the patrol was temporarily suspended, a Canadian convoy ran into an ice field, losing several ships and many lives. In 1958, in Greenland waters (not covered by the patrol), the Danish liner Hans Hedtoft sank on her maiden voyage; about 200 lives were lost. Denmark and Canada have since instituted patrols in their northern waters.
For many years the patrol was based at the Coast Guard base in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Most of the researchers with the patrol came from Harvard University or Woods Hole's Marine Biological Laboratory. In particular, Henry Bigelow, a Harvard professor and later the first director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic institution, served as a consultant to the patrol from Its inception. He convinced a young Coast Guardsman named Edward Smith to pursue a doctorate in physical oceanography to aid in the Ice Patrol's work. When Smith received his Ph.D. from the University of Bergen, Norway, in 1922, he was the first American to receive a doctorate in physical oceanography, and only the second to receive a doctorate In any branch of oceanography.
For most of the remainder of that decade. Smith served as commander of the International Ice Patrol, living and working In Woods Hole. When, in 1930, Henry Bigelow convinced the National Academy of Sciences that there was a need for an oceanographic institution on the East Coast, the work pursued by Smith and others connected with the International Ice Patrol Influenced the decision to locate It In Woods Hole.
In the early 1930s, Floyd Soule came to Woods Hole to help with the scientific side of the patrol's work. Together Smith and Soule developed scientific Instruments that had wide applications In oceanographic work and also Improved the Ice Patrol's efficiency. One of these was an electrical sallnometer to determine the salinity of water samples while still aboard ship. This greatly facilitated the mapping of currents, which, in turn, helped In charting the flow of Ice.
A more important outgrowth of the patrol's work was the development of sonar. In the early 1920s researchers were looking for a device to detect Icebergs in fog or at night. One method tried bounced sound waves off of Icebergs ahead of a ship. Because of the physical properties of water, the method had limited range, and consequently, limited usefulness. But these experiments with reflected sound led to the development of both sonar and the fathometer. Without these two devices, which were developed as an Indirect result of the sinking of the Titanic, the Titanic might never have been found and many other oceanograplilc discoveries also might never have occurred.
39
52°N
44°-
42°
40°
57°W 55° 53° 51° 49° 47° 45° 43° 41° 39°
Area of International Ice Patrol operations. Star marks approximate location ot the Titanic.
Ice Patrol researchers surveying icebergs and glaciers off Greenland in the 1960s. (Photo courtesy of International Ice Patrol, U5CC)
Today planes are the primary means ot localmg and tracking icebergs. (Photo courtesy of International Ice Patrol, USCC)
During World W.ir II, the k e Pdtrol suspcncicd operations. Smith was sent to ( ommand U.S. tor( es in Greenland, largely because he knew more about thearea than anyone else of appropriate rank. German submarines were a( tive in Greenland waters. After the war. Admiral Smith, who had a( quired the nic kname "Iceberg," left the Coast Guard to become dircn tor of the Woods Hole Oc t'anographic Institution. Meanwhile, major transformations took place within the patrol.
Most significant of these was the use of aircraft for Icxating ice. The days when ships were stationed at the southern edge of the ice fields were C3ver; although ships are still used to study ice conditions. In 1983, the patrol began using side- looking airborne radar (SLAR) to detect icebergs. This technology can detect icebergs as small as 10 meters long, and covers a swath 27 nautical miles wide. Once an iceberg has been spotted, the patrol uses computer models to predict its drift and break-up. As with oceanography itself, the tools of the Ice Patrol are changing, but its function remains thoroughly necessary.
All commercial ships crossing the North Atlantic still radio in their positions and ice sitings, without regard to nationality. This makes the patrol one of the longest running and most successful international efforts in existence.
Each year the patrol lays a wreath at sea to commemorate the Titanic. Through this ceremony, the connection between the patrol and the ship is' kept alive.
The Role of Radio
Another enterprise affected by the sinking of the 7/(an/c was the fledgling woHd of radio. Marchese Guglielmo Marconi had sent the first trans-Atlantic radio message in 1901, and in the succeeding 11 years the use of this new technology exploded. Almost all passenger liners carried a radio transmitter and operator. These operators were not employed by the steamship companies but by various wireless companies, the most successful of which was the Marconi Company, owned by Marconi himself. Since a means of transmitting voice signals was not yet available, all messages were sent in Morse code. Hence, these early radio sets were known as the wireless telegraphs.
The first lives saved by the use of radio occurred about 50 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. There, in 1909, the White Star liner Republic collided with the Italian liner Florida in a dense fog, and, after some hours, sank. Another White Star liner, the Baltic, responded to the Republic's wireless call for help, and succeeded in finding the Republic in time to rescue almost all of the passengers and crew. This dramatic event brought wireless to the forefront of the public's imagination, and by the time the Titanic sank numerous amateur radio operators, as well as a much smaller number of professional operators, were listening.
Once again, the new technology proved its worth. The Titanic was able to summon many ships
40
to its location. The situation was not perfect, however. The Californian, which was only half as far from the Titanic as any other ship, had turned off her wireless set for the night (see page 61). Her only Marconi operator was sound asleep, and the captain would not learn of the Titanic's distress until morning. Had the Californian learned of the disaster earlier, she might have been able to save many of those lost. But without wireless, all those aboard the Titanic probably would have been lost. Consequently, criticism of the rules under which wireless operated tended to be muted.
The last coherent word from the Titanic reported the engine room flooding; then a few weak signals were heard. After that the great ship was silent, and the world waited for word from the rescue vessels. The airwaves rang with messages between ships and calls from both amateur and professional stations ashore, as all sought to learn if the pride of the age had indeed sunk. The volume of traffic was too much for the few frequencies and weak receivers of the day; only fragmentary, contradictory, and incomplete messages reached New York.
Among those listening was a young Russian immigrant named David Sarnoff. He was employed by the Marconi Company to work at Wanamaker's Department Store in New York City, in theory facilitating communication between the New York and Philadelphia branches of Wanamaker's. Actually, his main purpose probably was to draw curious customers into the store. In any case, at 4:35 p.m. (New York time) on April 15, 1912, Sarnoff picked up the first definite confirmation that the Titanic had sunk from her sister ship, the Olympic. Sarnoff remained at his post for the next 72 hours, taking down information as it arrived, including the list of survivors and dead. President William Howard Taft ordered all other professional wireless stations on the East Coast shut down in an effort to improve reception. There was, however, no way to regulate amateur wireless operators, and their transmissions made the airwaves all but unintelligible.
As a result of the prominence he achieved in the wake of the Titanic's sinking, Sarnoff was rapidly promoted within the Marconi Company, becoming Assistant Traffic Manager in 1915. One year later he sent a historic memo to Edward J. Nally, then General Manager of the Marconi Company:
/ have in mind a plan of development which vi/ould make radio a household utility in the same sense as a piano or phonograph. The idea is to bring music into the home by wireless.
Sarnoff's idea would not be realized until 1920, when radio station KDKA began broadcasting in Pittsburgh. By this time Sarnoff had advanced to become Commercial Manager of the Marconi Company, and when the American branch of this company was bought by the newly formed Radio Corporation of American (RCA) in 1919, Sarnoff continued in the same capacity for RCA. By 1922, he was vice-president of RCA. Eventually he would play a vital role in the development of television and would become Chairman of the Board.
Wl
CXuCc7T"Ti«trvro VIA rAlt'llH /*
Marchese Cuglielmo Marconi (1874-1937).
Marconi lived long enough to see his invention become one of the dominant means of world communication, vital in both war and peace. He died in 1937 and was buried in his native Italy.
A Sign of the Times
Today, there is little question as to the dominant newspaper in the United States. The New York Times is read on both coasts and is widely available overseas. It has an unmatched reputation for accuracy and an extensive news gathering network, but its predominance was not always so great.
In the early 1900s, The Times was only one of many New York papers, including The New York Herald, the New York American, the New York Tribune, and The World. The sinking of the Titanic was one factor that helped put The New York Times a cut above the rest.
At 1:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the first edition of the paper was about to be printed, when the following bulletin arrived:
CAPE RACE, [Newfoundland] Sunday Night, April 14 (AP)— At 10:25 o'clock tonight the White Star Line steamship TITANIC called CQD to the Marconi station here, and reported having struck an iceberg. The steamer said that immediate assistance was required.
Carr Van Anda, managing editor of The Times shook the newsroom to action, stopping the presses to make room for a new lead story that reported the . Titanic sinking in mid-ocean after striking an iceberg. One further report came in that night, which reported the Titanic down by the head and putting the women and children off in boats. Based on this report and the total silence that followed it, Carr Van Anda took a chance. The final edition of The New York Times reported the great liner sunk.
All newspapers had access to the same information at this point. As Elmer Davis explained in
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his book. History of The New York Times, in dealing with this news "an individual newspaper could distinguish itself only by specially competent treatment." The Times accurately deduced from the AP bulletins that the ship had sunk. But most other newspapers relied on her watertight compartments, and ran timid reports of her distress call, many with assurances of her invulnerability. The last edition of The New York Times reported the Titanic sunk, even as the last edition of The Evening Sun (a Baltimore paper) reported that all of the passengers were safe and the liner was being towed to Halifax.
Even when the truth was out, The New York Times still kept its lead. The Times was the first paper to report the shortage of lifeboats, and when the Carpathia arrived in port, The Times had the best coverage of the arrival, including an exclusive interview with the Titanic's surviving wireless operator (see page 46).
Its superior handling of the Titanic story gave The Times an edge over the competition that it was never to lose. During World War I, this edge was honed until, according to Barnett Fine's biography of Carr Van Anda, A Giant of the Press, "at the end it had achieved an international reputation that ranked it as the foremost newspaper in the world."
Social Effects?
Many people have postulated that the sinking of the Titanic was responsible for a number of social changes that took place in the first third of the 20th century. Everything from the decline of feminism, to the growth of black consciousness, to the declining idolization of the upper classes has been attributed to the Titanic. Although the Titanic doubtless had relevance for all these issues and many others besides, it is difficult to look back from 73 years' distance and say this event was responsible for any one particular change in attitudes. Thus the following section is intended merely to point out some of the changes in social attitudes following the Titanic disaster, and to indicate how the sinking may have influenced these developments.
Steerage Ignored
When the Titanic sank, public attention focused on the noted celebrities on its upper decks; the more numerous third-class passengers, many of whom were immigrants or foreigners and held in low regard by the class-conscious American society of the time, were all but forgotten. These passengers also had been largely ignored during the evacuation of the ship. Many were grouped together by the crew on E deck, 5 decks below the lifeboats. From there, they were largely on their own. Two groups of women and children were shepherded to the surface by Third Class Steward John Edward Hart, but most who escaped reached the boats only by dogged persistence.
Some steerage passengers reported that when they tried to cross into first- or second-class areas, they were blocked or threatened by crew members or officers of the Titanic, even though there was no way to the lifeboats without passing through these areas. Some actually climbed up and along the
The Plight of the Crew
Dnce ashore, there was a class that fared even worse than the steerage passengers, and that was the crew. Many individuals and organizations contributed funds for the aid of the rescued steerage passengers. Vincent Astor contributed $10,000; Andrew Carnegie $5,000; others contributed smaller amounts; and the New York Giants played a benefit exhibition game. Charles Steinway, of the Steinway Piano Company sponsored a $2-a-plate benefit dinner and cabaret performance. (Remember, this was when The New York Times cost a penny.)
The crew, however, was by and large penniless, and White Star Line refused to issue them any pay until their return to England. Moreover, they would be paid for their work only until the moment the Titanic sank, after which they were no longer considered on the job. /. Bruce Ismay later donated £10,000 out of his own pocket to a fund for seamen; this money was used to help the surviving crew members of the Titanic and the widows of the men who perished. — FL
Titanic's cranes to escape the doomed steerage compartments.
The troubles that faced these third-class passengers stemmed from a number of sources. Most were immigrants and did not speak English; thus they may not have been aware of the problem or may have had difficulty communicating with the crew. Many had all their worldly possessions with them and were reluctant to part with them. Steerage passengers were ordinarily locked out of first- and second-class areas, partially because of U.S. immigration law requirements, and no explicit orders were given to drop these barriers. Most importantly, the steerage passengers simply were not considered as valuable as the first- and second-class passengers.
When the survivors reached port, the biased treatment accorded the third-class passengers did not receive much attention from the press, public, and government. The heroism of those who managed through luck and perseverance to escape was ignored; the focus, instead, was on the chivalry of those first-class men who gave their lives to allow women to live. Any reports of unchivalrous behavior were ascribed to third-class men or, as by the Titanic's fifth officer, Harold Lowe, to one particular nationality. In fact, Lowe's continual reference to the cowardly men he had encountered as Italians, brought a request for an apology from the Italian ambassador to the United States. Lowe's correction for the record is fascinating:
/ do hereby cancel the word "Italian" and substitute the words "immigrants belonging to Latin races." In fact, I did not mean to infer that they were especially Italians, because I could only judge from their general appearance and complexion, and therefore I only meant
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to imply that they were of the types of the Latin races. In any case, I did not intend to cast any reflection on the Italian nation.
This is the real truth, and therefore I feel honored to give out the present statement.
H. G. Lowe
Although some may still believe in superiority based on appearance or national origin as Lowe evidently did, few would be willing to state it so plainly. Any such public statement today would provoke a storm of outrage. In 1912, it passed with little public comment; Lowe was only echoing the assumptions of most Americans. Perhaps this is why the terrible loss of life in the steerage compartments evoked far fewer eulogies than the many fewer losses in first class.
This not-so-subtle racism and the accompanying fascination with the upper classes was one of the casualties of the decades following the Titanic's sinking. It seems likely, however, that this change had more to do with the heroism of the poor and rich alike in World War I, and with the development of new idols in the form of movie stars in the years following the war, than it does with the sinking of the Titanic.
Suffrage But No More
In the years immediately prior to the sinking of the Titanic, the women's suffrage movement was quite strong, and like today's feminists, the suffragettes were demanding equality on many levels. The Titanic dealt a blow to this move toward equality. If women were men's equals, then no distinction should have been made in filling the lifeboats. Many suffragettes argued that this was the way things should be ordered, but it was not a popular view. Harriet Stanton Blatch, president of the American Political Woman's Union, argued that since men were responsible for the lack of lifeboats on the ship, it was proper that they were the ones who went down with it. If women received the vote, she stated, "Then we would have laws requiring plenty of lifeboats."
A backwash of conservatism on women's issues swept the nation following the sinking. Led by First Lady Nellie Taft, antisuffragettes raised $25,000 for a women's memorial to the chivalry of the men on the Titanic. The resulting 18-foot-tall statue of a half-clad man pays tribute to the men "who gave their lives that women and children might be saved."
What the ultimate effect of the Titanic disaster on the women's movement would have been is impossible to say. Two years later, World War I drowned out the sacrifice on board the Titanic in a massive wave of death. Although women received the vote in 1920, the issues of equality that were being discussed before the sinking were not raised so vigorously again until the carnage of World War II had begun to be forgotten.
Standing Black and Tall
While stifling the women's movement, the Titanic disaster raised the consciousness of blacks in the United States. That such a disaster could overcome
An Educational Legacy
y_Jne of the more unusual legacies of the sinking of the Titanic is Widener Library at Harvard University. This enormous building, the main library at Harvard, houses some 3 million volumes. It was donated to the university by Mrs. Eleanor Hkins Widener, a survivor of the Titanic, in memory of her son Harry Elkins Widener, who died in the wreck. Construction of the library was begun in 1912, and it was formally presented to the university on 24 June, 1915.
Mrs. Widener was convinced that if her son had known how to swim, he would have survived, and she donated the money for the library's construction on the condition that every person graduating Harvard College be required to pass a swimming test (50 yards of any stroke but backstroke) before receiving their diploma. The test is still given, although it has not been required for graduation since the late 1 950s. Whether being able to swim 50 yards would have helped Harry Widener is a matter of conjecture. — '^^
the epitome of white culture gave blacks new hope and confidence in themselves.
John and Alan Lomax, in their Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly note that the sinking was "the most widely celebrated tragedy of that era, the event that seems to have caught the imagination of the Negro." A number of ballads appeared about the sinking, most of which either relished the fact that no blacks were lost in the sinking or made fun of white incompetence. Typical was a Lead Belly ballad called "De Titanic," collected and analyzed by the Lomaxes:
Lead Belly's ballad is 'worldly and sinful' and it places the responsibility for the tragedy on 'Captain Smith,' who drew the color line too sharply in refusing passage to lack Johnson: 7 ain't haulin' no coal.' But the song ends tnumphantly, 'Black man oughta shout for joy, never lost a girl or either a boy.'
Such ballads represent one step in a mental transformation to equality, a gradual transition from emulating white people to standing up for their own values. Once again, the importance of the Titanic in this process is hard to pin down.
Although the total number of lives lost was tiny compared to the number of lives lost in the two world wars that followed, the fact that the 7;(an/c captured people's imagination has given it great weight in public consciousness. Its significance is perhaps best estimated by the tremendous interest that has been evoked by the discovery of the ship. Its ultimate effects on society may not be complete even today.
Frank Lowenstein is Assistant Editor o/'Oceanus.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: On 6 November 1985, the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries unanimously approved the tollowinf> bill, with several amendments. The amendments emphasize that guidelines and agreements regarding the Titanic are intended to be cooperative and international in nature. Semi-annual reports to Congress on the progress of negotiations are required. Additionally, a provision was included stating it is the sense of Congress that only limited research and exploration should proceed (the site should not be altered or disturbed) pending an international agreement on the maritime memorial.
99th congress LJ Q ^070
1st Session II* IV» <J Am i Jm
To designnlt' the shipwreck ot the Til.inic ^is a ni.irilinii' mcniori.il .ind to [)rovi(lo for rcison.iblo roscnrc h, cxplor.ition, .ind, if appropriate, salvage activities.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Septembfr 11, 1985
Mr. )oNES of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. Lent, Mr. Biacci, Mr. Studds, Mr. Lowry of Washington, Mr. Carper, and Mr, Huc;hes) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries
A BILL
To designate the shipwreck of the Titanic as a maritime memorial and to provide for reasonable research, exploration, and, if appropriate, salvage activities.
Be /f enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as "The Titanic Maritime Memorial Act of 1985".
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings. — The Congress finds that —
(1) the Titanic, the ocean liner which sank on her maiden voyage after striking an iceberg on April 14, 1912, is a maritime memorial to the men, women, and children who perished aboard her;
(2) the recent discovery of the shipwreck Titanic, lying more than twelve thousand feet beneath the ocean surface, demonstrates the practical applications of ocean science and engineering;
(3) the shipwreck Titanic, well preserved in the cold, oxygen-poor waters of the deep North Atlantic Ocean, is of major national and international historical significance;
(4) the shipwreck Titanic represents a special opportunity for deep ocean scientific researc h and exploration; and
(5) the shipwreck Titanic is a cultural and historical memorial which merits reasonable international protection.
(b) Purposes. — The Congress declares that the purposes of this Act are —
(1) to establish the shipwreck Titanic as an international maritime memorial to those who lost their lives aboard her in 1912;
(2) to require the establishment of national guidelines for conducting research on and exploration and, if appropriate, salvage of the shipwreck Titanic;
(3) to express the sense of the United States Congress that all nations conduct their activities relating to the shipwreck Titanic in accordance with these guidelines; and
(4) to direct the United States to enter into negotiations with other interested nations, including Great Britain, France, and Canada, to establish an international agreement which will protect the scientific, historical, and cultural significance of the shipwreck Titanic.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
(a) "Administrator" means the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
(b) "Secretary" means the Secretary of State;
(c) "Shipwreck" means the vessel. Titanic, her cargo, and other contents;
(d) "United States" means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
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American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and any other Commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
SEC 4. COMMENDATION.
The Congress of the United States highly commends the members of the joint international expedition which discovered the shipwreck Titanic, and urges that this cooperative effort serve as a model for further international activities related to this memorial.
SEC 5. NATIONAL GUIDELINES.
(a) The Administrator shall develop guidelines to govern research, exploration, and, if appropriate, salvage of the shipwreck Titanic, which: (1) are consistent with its historical and cultural significance, as well as the purposes and policies of this Act; (2) promote the safety of individuals involved in such operations; and (3) recognize the sanctity of the shipwreck Titanic as a maritime memorial.
(b) In developing these guidelines, the Administrator shall consult with other interested Federal agencies, academic and research institutions, and members of the public.
SEC 6. INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT.
(a) The Secretary is directed to enter into negotiations to develop an international agreement which provides for international research, exploration, and, if appropriate, salvage of the shipwreck Titanic consistent with guidelines developed pursuant to section 5 and the purposes and policies of this Act.
(b) The Secretary shall consult with the Administrator when fulfilling section 6(a) above. The Administrator shall provide research and technical assistance to the Secretary.
(c) Upon adoption of an international agreement under section 6, the Secretary shall provide notification of the agreement to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries in the House of Representatives and to the appropriate committee in the Senate, including recommendations for legislation to implement the agreement.
SEC 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that pending adoption of an international agreement under section 6, no nations should undertake any activities in regard to the shipwreck Titanic which are not in compliance with the guidelines developed under section 5.
SEC. 8. DISCLAIMER OF EXTRATERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY.
By enactment of this Act, the United States does not assert sovereignty or jurisdiction over, or the ownership of, any marine areas, the vessel or any of its cargo, unless otherwise subject to its jurisdiction.
U.S. Position on Titanic Memorial Site
I he Department of State supports the purpose of this legislation to designate the Titanic as an international maritime memorial. The Titanic represents a unique maritime event because of the circumstances of the disaster and the tremendous number of lives lost. This supposedly unsinkable vessel's loss became a turning point in international maritime safety law.
The bill announces the Sense of Congress that the 7/(an;c be protected. The bill is an important step forward, in that it recognizes the international character of this subject. The United States cannot achieve the objective of this legislation unilaterally. The United States must consult, discuss, and negotiate with others to achieve the end which we all seek.
There are many complicated issues to be addressed. First, there is the vessel's location. It is located on the ocean floor in 12,000 feet of water
beyond the jurisdiction of any country. Ownership issues must also be sorted out. It is only with the assistance of the United Kingdom that we can hope to uncover the nature and character of the rights of its nationals in this vessel. Finally, discovery itself may afford certain rights under maritime law and so cooperation with the French government is vital. For these and other reasons we endorse an international approach to protect the Titanic.
Acknowledging this need for a cooperative approach, the Department of State endorses the concept that the guidelines for protection of the Titanic be developed internationally, rather than by the United States alone. A provision in the bill which recognizes the need for a cooperative approach would encourage other countries' support for the creation of a maritime memorial. We could also benefit from their advice in defining this concept so that it is used in a narrow, rather than a broad sense.
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In proposing to c reate a maritime memorial Ijeyond national jurisdiction the Uniti'd States must l)e careful not to interfere unreasonalily with the legitimate activities ot other c ountries anci their nationals. Although the United States does not have the right to prohibit the nationals of other countries from ciefacing or salvaging the 7;Mn;c , we may [prohibit our own nationals and other persons subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. from doing this. It is on this basis that we should proceed.
You may also hear calls for a moratorium. I would urge that language to this effect be avoided in this bill. The Department would support such an approach if it becomes necessary or desirable in the future. There may come a point in negotiating such an Agreement where it would be helpful. If that time comes we may need to return to the Congress for additional legislation.
Since introduction of the legislation, the United States has solicited the views of the three governments mentioned in the bill. Preliminary indications are positive, as long as the U.S. acts in a cooperative fashion. I know the Committee is interested, as we are, in how negotiations to obtain an Agreement to protect the Titanic would be conducted. This will be decided after further consultation with our allies and others, taking into account the approach most likely to be successful.
We are exploring the question of what role, if any, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) should play in the proposed negotiations. Tentative indications suggest that IMO officials would support the concept of that Organization providing the forum for negotiations. At the same time, because an Agreement through IMO may require two or more years to achieve, an Interim Agreement among the most concerned States may be necessary.
The Committee has asked for information regarding potential claims to the vessel. The rights to the vessel and its contents are indeed quite murky after 73 years. But potential claims could be made by Commercial Union, the company that insured the Titanic; a citizen to whom the company may have subrogated its rights; Cunard, the company which owns the vessel; and survivors or heirs of passengers who could prove ownership of recovered property, among others.
Salvage law is complicated and involves distinctions between proprietary or ownership and possessory rights. These issues must all be examined, in consultation with involved governments, if the Titanic is to be protected (See article page 94).
The United States will take the lead in encouraging an international agreement to protect the Titanic, to insure that it remains a lasting memorial to those who died in the tragedy. While we support the intent of H.R. 3272, we recommend that the legislation be amended as described in the addendum to my statement. I would also note that the costs to implement this legislation would include sums for personnel and overhead involved in assigning one or two persons to engage in multilateral talks, and appropriate sums for travel. This is based on the assumption that other states are interested in entering into a multilateral forum, to discuss coordination of activities pertaining to the Titanic. No additional appropriations will be requested by the Administration.
In concluding my testimony, I would like to emphasize that customary international law supports cooperation among States to protect objects of an archaeological and historical nature found at sea. The United States will work toward this end.
Addendum
The Department of State recommends that the legislation be amended in the following manner:
Section 2: Purposes — in order to promote a cooperative spirit among nations which would be the foundation of any agreement to protect the Titanic, this Section should encourage the establishment of an international maritime memorial and the establishment of international guidelines.
Section 5: National Guidelines — The word "International" should be substituted for the word "National" title of this Section. In Section 5 (b), language should be added to reflect that interested foreign governments are to be involved in the drafting of guidelines.
Section 6; International Guidelines — The Department recommends that language be added to Section 6 (a) in order to assure the proper cross referencing of the purpose of the bill which is to create a maritime memorial.
Letter Writers
The editor welcomes letters that comment on arti- ( les in this issue or that discuss other matters of importance to the marine community.
Early responses to articles have the best chance of being published. Please be concise and have your letter double-spaced for cMsier reading and editing.
Statement of
Brian J. Hoyle, Director,
Office of Ocean Law and
Policy,
U.S. Department of State
Before the
House Merchant Marine and
Fisheries Committee
29 October 1985
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Robert D. Ballard's Statement Before the House Merchant Marine
and Fisheries Committee 29 October 1985
^Dince man has built ships, nature and man himself have sent many of those crafts of commerce and of war back to the bottom of the sea. Those that sank in the deep sea were felt lost forever while those sinkings which occurred in shallow water have, at times, been the focus of intense search and recovery operations. Since Alexander the Great descended to the bottom of the sea in the first crude diving bell, salvaging the treasures of the sea has become a part of our folklore. To many Americans, underwater treasure hunters and salvagers are marine cowboys with the wind blowing in their faces and the wild seas to ride.
We have followed their exploits in the news and seen little harm in their actions except when they have clearly destroyed wrecks of historical value. This conflict of interest between salvagers and marine historians and archaeologists is at the center of public attention. Resting in 1 3,000 feet of water off the North American coast is the greatest shipwreck in man's history, the RMS Titanic and, unlike most shallow water wrecks, it is in excellent condition.
The chances that a ship sinking in shallow water will end up like the Titanic are small. Many ships which sink in shallow water have struck a reef and are severely damaged or went aground in a storm and were violently pounded against a reef or a rocky coastline. Once the remains of these ships came to rest, their wooden planks are food for the worm boring organisms that live in the shallow waters of the world's oceans. The metallic objects began to rust in the oxygen-rich waters and encrusting organisms flourished in the sun-bathed surface layers slowly turning man-made outlines into mounds of coral or current swept sand dunes. In many cases, all that remains is the cargo itself and the treasure hunters see no conflict in the salvage efforts.
I am neither an archaeologist nor treasure hunter; I am a marine scientist and explorer. I am not here to enter the debate as much as I am here to point out that the technological genius most Americans are so proud of has entered the deep sea in full force and placed before us a new reality. In short, the great pyramids of the deep are now accessible to man. He can either plunder them like the grave robbers of Egypt or protect them for the countless generations which will follow ours.
Unlike the shallow reefs off Florida which reduce a wreck to an unrecognizable mound of encrusted coral, the deep sea is a preserving environment. Ships in the deep were, in many cases, sent to the bottom without having sustained any major structural damage. They either took on water during a storm and sank, or like the Titanic, had a hole punched in their hull. In the deep sea.
shipwrecks enter a world of total darkness which makes the growth of plants impossible. Without plants, few animals can be found, creating a desert- like world with an organism here and another one there. The freezing temperatures of the deep sea further inhibit biological activity as does the extreme pressure. The pressure at the Titanic site is more than 6,000 pounds per square inch. Far from land, the rate of sedimentation in the deep sea is measured at an inch or so per thousand years. And in some deep sea environments like the historically travelled Mediterranean Sea, the bottom waters are poor in oxygen further making the deep sea a giant preserving refrigerator.
Some would say, so what. If the deep sea is a great preserver of man's history, what good does it do us if it is left in total darkness beyond the reach of man's inquiring mind. My answer is it isn't and each day we are moving at a faster and faster pace to make it easily accessible to the general public. The technology we used to find the Titanic is the vanguard of the very technology man will use to find, document, and revisit historic pieces of preserved history in the deep sea. Known as "telepresence," this technology in cruder form has been with us for many years. Going to the movies or turning on the television or picking up the phone are all forms of telepresence. The ability to project your thoughts, your eyes, and eventually your hands, is each day becoming an increasing reality. Exploration in the deep sea is not driving this technology, but it is beginning to benefit from it. The space program with its robots on Mars and Venus, the military with its desire to remove humans from the risks of combat, and the commercial world with their evolving television coverage and the proliferation of multiple cinemas, are the driving forces of telepresence technology. Cinemas are becoming smaller and eventually more personalized. Commercial companies are beginning to build small cinemas inside flight simulators for a life-like trip through the Universe.
I strongly believe that if the Titanic is left alone that within the next few years, beginning as early as next year, robotic vehicles will be able to enter its beautifully designed rooms and document in color its preserved splendor. No salvage operation in the world could duplicate this feat.
The Titanic is just one such example. Literally thousands of ships lie in the deep sea awaiting mankind. The question is, will he come to plunder or to appreciate? This is a debate which grows louder, not quieter. Technologists, like myself, can only cause this problem and suggest its possible impact, but Congress must take the necessary actions and, in my case, hopefully before the Titanic is destroyed.
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Bride 's Story
EDITOR'S NOTE: This statement was dictated by Harold Bride to a reporter for The New York Times, who visited him with Marchese Marconi in the wireless cabin of the Carpathia a few minutes after the rescue ship docked. {©Copyright, 1912, by The New York Times Company. Reprinted here by permission.)
\A/hen I was dragged aboard the Carpathia I went to the hospital at first. I stayed there for 10 hours. Then somebody brought word that the Carpathia's wireless operator was "getting queer" from the work.
They asked me if I could go up and help. I could not walk. Both my feet were broken or something, I don't know what. I went up on crutches with somebody helping me.
I took the key and I never left the wireless cabin after that. Our meals were brought to us. We kept the wireless working all the time. The Navy operators were a great nuisance. I advise them all to learn the Continental Morse and learn to speed up in It if they ever expect to be worth their salt. The Chester's man thought he knew it, but he was as slow as Christmas coming.
We worked all the time. Nothing went wrong. Sometimes the Carpathia man sent and sometimes I sent. There was a bed in the wireless cabin. I could sit on it and rest my feet while sending sometimes.
To begin at the beginning, I joined the Titanic at Belfast. I was born at Nunhead, England, 22 years ago, and joined the Marconi forces last July. I first worked on the / loverhrd, and then on the Lusitania.
Asleep When Crash Came
I didn't have much to do aboard the Titanic except to relieve Phillips from midnight until some time in the morning, when he should be through sleeping. On the night of the accident, I was not sending, but was asleep. I was due to be up and relieve Phillips
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/. C. (Ijck) Phillips, senior radio operator on the Titanic, who lost his life when the vessel went down. (Photo courtesy The Marconi Company, Ltd.)
earlier than usual. And that reminds me — if it hadn't been for a lucky thing, we never could have sent any call for help.
The lucky thing was that the wireless broke down early enough for us to fix it before the accident. We noticed something wrong on Sunday and Phillips and I worked seven hours to find it. We found a "secretary" burned out, at last, and repaired it just a few hours before the iceberg was struck.
Phillips said to me as he took the night-shift, "You turn in, boy, and get some sleep, and go up as soon as you can and give me a chance. I'm all done for with this work of making repairs."
There were three rooms in the wireless cabin. One was a sleeping room, one a dynamo room, and one an operating room. I took off my clothes and went to sleep in bed. Then I was conscious of waking up and hearing Phillips sending to Cape Race. I read what he was sending. It was traffic matter.
I remembered how tired he was and I got out of bed without my clothes on to relieve him. I didn't even feel the shock. I hardly knew it had happened after the Captain had come to us. There was no jolt whatever.
I was standing by Phillips telling him to go to bed when the Captain put his head in the cabin.
"We've struck an iceberg," the Captain said, "and I'm having an inspection made to tell what it has done for us. You better get ready to send out a call for assistance. But don't send it until I tell you."
The Captain went away and in 10 minutes, I should estimate the time, he came back. We could
Marconi Marine 1912 installation, as fitted in the wireless room of the Titanic. At left is a valved receiver with headphones; fitted to the wall is the magnetic detector and, beneath this, the Marconi/Franklin multiple tuner; partly obscured by the head of the operator is the 10 inch induction coil spark transmitter. On wall at right are the controls of the power generator, housed in the adjoining cabin. (Photo courtesy The Marconi Company, Ltd.)
hear a terrible confusion outside, but there was not the least thing to indicate that there was any trouble. The wireless was working perfectly.
"Send the call for assistance," ordered the Captain, barely putting his head in the door.
"What call should I send?" Phillips asked.
"The regulation international call for help. Just
that." send
Then the Captain was gone. Phillips began to "C.Q.D." He flashed away at it and we joked while he did so. All of us made light of the disaster.
Joked at Distress Call
We joked that way while he flashed signals for about five minutes. Then the Captain came back.
"What are you sending?" he asked.
"C.Q.D.," Phillips replied.
The humor of the situation appealed to me. I cut in with a little remark that made us all laugh, including the Captain.
"Send 'S.O.S.,' I said. "It's the new call, and it may be your last chance to send it."
Phillips with a laugh changed the signal to "S.O.S." The Captain told us we had been struck amidships, or just back of amidships. It was 10
minutes, Phillips told me, after he had noticed the iceberg, that the slight jolt that was the collision's only signal to us occurred. We thought we were a good distance away.
We said lots of funny things to each other in the next few minutes. We picked up first the steamship Frankfurt. We gave her our position and said we had struck an iceberg and needed assistance. The Frankfurt operator went away to tell his Captain.
He came back and we told him we were sinking by the head. By that time we could observe a distinct list forward.
The Carpathia answered our signal. We told her our position and said we were sinking by the head. The operator went to tell the Captain, and in five minutes returned and told us that the Captain of the Carpathia was putting about and heading for us.
Great Scramble on Deck
Our Captain had left us at this time and Phillips told me to run and tell him what the Carpathia had answered. I did so, and I went through an awful mass of people to his cabin. The decks were full of
49
scrambling men and women. I saw no fighting, but I heard tell of it.
I came back and heard Phillips giving the CarpMhici fuller directions. Phillips told me to put on my clothes. Until that moment I forgot that I was not dressed.
I went to my cabin and dressed. I brought an overcoat to Phillips, it was very cold. I slipped the overcoat upon him while he worked.
Every few minutes Phillips would send me to the Captain with little messages. They were merely telling how the Carpathia was coming our way and gave her speed.
I noticed as I came back from one trip that they were putting off women and children in lifeboats. I noticed that the list forward was increasing.
Phillips told me the wireless was growing weaker. The Captain came and told us our engine rooms were taking water and that the dynamos might not last much longer. We sent that word to the Carpathia.
I went out on deck and looked around. The water was pretty close up to the boat deck. There was a great scramble aft, and how poor Phillips worked through it I don't know.
He was a brave man. I learned to love him that night and I suddenly felt for him a great reverence to see him standing there sticking to his work while everybody else was raging about. I will never live to forget the work of Phillips for the last awful 15 minutes.
I thought it was about time to look about and see if there was anything detached that would float. I remembered that every member of the crew had a special life belt and ought to know where it was. I remembered mine was under my bunk. I went and got it. Then I thought how cold the water was.
I remembered I had some boots and I put those on, and an extra jacket and I put that on. I saw Phillips standing out there still sending away, giving the Carpathia details of just how we were doing.
We picked up the Olympic and told her we were sinking by the head and were about all down. As Phillips was sending the message I strapped his life belt to his back. I had already put on his overcoat.
I wondered if I could get him into his boots. He suggested with a sort of laugh that I look out and see if all the people were off in the boats, or if any boats were left, or how things were.
The Last Boat Left
I saw a collapsible boat near a funnel and went over to it. Twelve men were trying to boost it down to the boat deck. They were having an awful time. It was the last boat left. I looked at it longingly a few minutes. Then I gave them a hand, and over she went. They all started to scramble in on the boat deck, and I walked back to Phillips. I said the last raft had gone.
Then came the Captain's voice: "Men, you have done your full duty. You can do no more. Abandon your cabin. Now it's every man for himself.
You look out for yourselves. ! release you. That's the way of it at this kind of a time. Every man for himself."
I looked out. The boat deck was awash. Phillips clung on sending and sending. He clung on for about 1 0 minutes or maybe 1 5 minutes after the Captain had released him. The water was then coming into our cabin.
While he worked something happened I hate to tell about. I was back in my room getting Phillips's money for him, and as I looked out the door I saw a stoker, or somebody from below decks, leaning over Phillips from behind. He was too busy to notice what the man was doing. The man was slipping the life belt off Phillips's back.
He was a big man, too. As you can see, I am very small. I don't know what it was I got hold of. I remembered in a flash the way Phillips had clung on — how I had to fix that life belt in place because he was too busy to do it.
I knew that man from below decks had his own life belt and should have known where to get it.
I suddenly felt a passion not to let that man die a decent sailor's death. I wished he might have stretched rope or walked a plank. I did my duty. I hope I finished him. I don't know. We left him on the cabin floor of the wireless room and he was not moving.
Band Plays in Ragtime
From aft came the tunes of the band. It was a rag- time tune, I don't know what. Then there was "Autumn." Phillips ran aft and that was the last I ever saw of him alive.
I went to the place I had seen the collapsible boat on the boat deck, and to my surprise I saw the boat and the men still trying to push it off. I guess there wasn't a sailor in the crowd. They couldn't do it. I went up to them and was just lending a hand when a large wave came awash of the deck.
The big wave carried the boat off. I had hold of an oarlock and I went off with it. The next I knew I was in the boat.
But that was not all. I was in the boat and the boat was upside down and I was under it. And I remember realizing I was wet through, and that whatever happened I must not breathe, for I was under water.
I knew I had to fight for it and I did. How I got out from under the boat I do not know, but I felt a breath of air at last.
There were men all around me — hundreds of them. The sea was dotted with them, all depending on the life belts. I felt I simply had to get away from the ship. She was a beautiful sight then.
Smoke and sparks were rushing out of her funnel. There must have been an explosion, but we had heard none. We only saw the big stream of sparks. The ship was gradually turning on her nose — just like a duck does that goes down for a dive. I had only one thing on my mind — to get away from the suction. The band was still playing. I guess all of the band went down.
They were playing "Autumn" then. I swam with all my might. I suppose I was 150 feet away
50
when the Titanic, on her nose with her after-quarter sticking straight up in the air, began to settle — slowly.
Pulled Into a Boat
When at last the waves washed over her rudder there wasn't the least bit of suction I could feel. She must have kept going just so slowly as she had been.
I forgot to mention that, besides the Olympic and Carpathia we spoke to some German boat, I don't know which, and told them how we were. We also spoke to the Baltic. I remembered those things as I began to figure what ships would be coming toward us.
I felt, after a little while, like sinking. I was very cold. I saw a boat of some kind near me and put all my strength into an effort to swim to it. It was hard work. I was all done when a hand reached out from the boat and pulled me aboard. It was our same collapsible. The same crowd was on it.
There was just room for me to roll on the edge. I lay there not caring what happened. Somebody sat on my legs. They were wedged in between slats and were being wrenched. I had not the heart left to ask the man to move. It was a terrible sight all around — men swimming and sinking.
I lay where ! was, letting the man wrench my feet out of shape. Others came near. Nobody gave them a hand. The bottom-up boat already had more men than it would hold and it was sinking.
At first the larger waves splashed over my clothing. Then they began to splash over my head and I had to breathe when I could.
As we floated around on our capsized boat and I kept straining my eyes for a ship's lights, somebody said, "Don't the rest of you think we ought to pray?" The man who made the suggestion asked what the religion of the others was. Each man called out his religion. One was a Catholic, one a Methodist, one a Presbyterian.
It was decided the most appropriate prayer for all was the Lord's Prayer. We spoke it over in chorus with the man who first suggested that we pray as the leader.
Some splendid people saved us. They had a right-side-up boat, and it was full to its capacity. Yet they came to us and loaded us all into it. I saw some lights off in the distance and knew a steamship was coming to our aid.
I didn't care what happened. I just lay and gasped when I could and felt the pain in my feet. At last the Carpathia was alongside and the people were being taken up a rope ladder. Our boat drew near and one by one the men were taken off of it.
One Dead on the Raft
One man was dead. I passed him and went to the ladder, although my feet pained terribly. The dead man was Phillips. He had died on the raft from exposure and cold, I guess. He had been all in from work before the wreck came. He stood his ground until the crisis had passed, and then he had collapsed, I guess.
But I hardly thought that then. I didn't think much of anything. I tried the rope ladder. My feet
pained terribly, but I got to the top and felt hands reaching out to me. The next I knew a woman was leaning over me in a cabin and I felt her hand waving back my hair and rubbing my face.
I felt somebody at my feet and felt the warmth of a jolt of liquor. Somebody got me under the arms. Then I was hustled down below to the hospital. That was early in the day I guess. I lay in the hospital until near night and they told me the Carpathia's wireless man was getting "queer" and would I help.
After that I never was out of the wireless room, so I don't know what happened among the passengers. I saw nothing of Mrs. Astor or any of them. I just worked wireless. The splutter never died down. I knew it soothed the hurt and felt like a tie to the world of friends and home.
How could I then take news queries? Sometimes I let a newspaper ask a question and get a long string of stuff asking for full particulars about everything. Whenever I started to take such a message I thought of the poor people waiting for their messages to go — hoping for answers to them.
I shut off the inquirers, and sent my personal messages. And I feel I did the right thing.
If the Chester had had a decent operator I could have worked with him longer but he got terribly on my nerves with his insufferable incompetence. I was still sending my personal messages when Mr. Marconi and The Times reporter arrived to ask that I prepare this statement.
There were, maybe, 100 left. I would like to send them all, because I could rest easier if I knew all those messages had gone to the friends waiting for them. But an ambulance man is waiting with a stretcher, and I guess I have got to go with him. I hope my legs get better soon.
The way the band kept playing was a noble thing. I heard it first while still we were working wireless, when there was a ragtime tune for us, and the last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea with my life belt on, it was still on deck playing "Autumn." How they ever did it I cannot imagine.
That and the way Phillips kept sending after the Captain told him his life was his own, and to look out for himself, are two things that stand out in my mind overall the rest.
Iceberg Carriers
British scientists in World War II planned to sculpt aircraft carriers out ot polar icebergs and tow them to the English Channel, where they would be clad in metal. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that Project Habbakut be given top priority.
The plan was never implemented, but would have been had the war lasted longer. The British Association for the Advancement of Science commented: "Had not the atomic bomb been dropped on Japan and the war come to an end, ice ships would have almost certainly appeared on the oceans of the world. "
51
Titanic Survivor Statistics
FirsliLiss: Adult null". Adult temales Male children (all saved) Female children (all saved)
Second class: Adult males Adult females Male children (all saved) Female children (all saved)
Third class: Adult males Adult females Male children Female children
Total
Crew saved:
Deck department
Engine-room department
Food department (including 20 women out of 23)
Total
Total on board saved Passengers and crew:
Adult males
Adult females
Children
Total
57 out of lys, or 32.57 percent. 140 out of 144, or 97.22 percent. S
I
203 out of 32.5, or 62.46 percent.
14 out of 168, or 8.33 percent. 80 out of 93, or 86.02 percent. 11 13 118 out of 285, or 41.40 percent.
75 out of 462, or 16.23 percent.
76 out of 165, or 46.06 percent.
13 out of 48, or 27.08 percent.
14 out of 3 1 , or 45. 1 6 percent. 178 out of 706, or 25.21 percent. 499 out of 1,316, or 37.94 percent.
43 out of 66, or 65.15 percent.
72 out of 325, or 22.15 percent.
97 out of 494, or 19.63 percent. 212 out of 885, or 23.95 percent. tTT out of 2,201, or 32.30 percent.
338 out of 1,667, or 20.27 percent.
316 out of 425, or 74.35 percent.
57 out of 109, or 52.29 percent.
71 1 out of 2,201 or 32.30 percent.
Source: British government report "Loss of the Steamship Titanic." Editor's note: The total number of people aboard the Titanic at the time of the disaster has varied considerably over the years from one published account to another, the discrepancies mostly involving the number of crew aboard. The figure 2,201 represents the lowest figure in circulation.
Wireless Revisited: The Radio Room of the R/V Knorr
by Ernest "Butch" Smith
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ernest "Butch " Smith is the Radio Officer aboard the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's research vessel Knorr. Like most of the people on board at the time of the discovery, he believes that the Titanic should be left undisturbed. He also has received many cards and letters expressing similar sentiments from HAM radio operators around the country.
W.
e arrived on the Titanic search site at approximately 2200 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), 24 August 1985. The first thing I did from the radio room was to verify via the International Ice Patrol data how far we were from the ice. The closest icebergs were more than 200 miles to our north. We were in the clear. The weather was overcast with a slight drizzle and the temperature was around 67 degrees Fahrenheit. Seas were running between 5
and 7 feet and seemed to calm somewhat after our arrival.
There was a feeling of excitement, and at the same time a feeling of sadness among crew and scientists alike, realizing that this was the location of the great Titanic disaster. From a Radio Officer's point of view, I tried to visualize what the Chief Marconi Operator of the Titanic, Jack Phillips, and his able assistant, Harold Bride, had gone through so many years ago on this exact location. (In those days, in contrast to today, wireless operators were not considered nor treated as Officers, but were employees of Marconi Marine.) FHow tremendously busy they must have been even before^ disast(>r struck.
In that day, wireless had brought the world a new dimension in living. It was being used extensively on the larger ocean going vessels to provide communications, entertainment, and, in case of an emergency, infinite help. It also was still
52
Radio Officer Ernest "Butcli" Smith at work in the radio room alMard the Knorr. (Photo courtesy of the author)
somewhat of a novelty among the passengers to be able to send messages to just about any place in the civilized world. Phillips and Bride were both outstanding wireless operators. Phillips had graduated at the top of his class from the Marconi School. A wireless operator did not get assigned to a great ship like the Titanic unless he had proven himself over the years. Both Phillips and Bride had spent some time as Postal Telegraphers before they took to the sea, both were Marconi School graduates, and both had served on four or five other ships before their appointment to the Titanic. It was an assignment, I am sure, that they were both very proud of.
On that tragic night, they had received reports of icebergs from other ships to their west and had relayed the information to the bridge of the Titanic. (With the exception of the message received from the Mesaba, which reportedly never reached the bridge.) Following that, they once again resumed trying to clear the ever growing pile of official and personal messages from the passengers, sending to the wireless coast station on Cape Race, Newfoundland, which in turn would relay the messages via "land line" to various final destinations.
Once disaster had struck, Phillips and Bride courageously stayed on duty in the wireless room sending out reports on the Titanic's condition and position to all within hearing range. Even after Captain Smith had released them from duty, they continued on. The last signals heard from the Titanic were likely heard by Harold Cottam, Marconi Operator on board the Carpathia, which eventually rescued more than 700 of the 2,224 people on board the Titanic. These last signals were heard at approximately 12:28 a.m. (New York time) shortly before the great ship descended toward the bottom
of the sea. Both Phillips and Bride were washed overboard as the ship disappeared from the surface. Bride managed to survive by clinging to one of the two (upside-down) collapsible life boats that were washed off the Titanic at the same time. Phillips was among the many who perished from exposure to the frigid waters. Cottam, who so gallantly stayed on his key from the time they first heard the Titanic's "CDQ/SOS" until they reached New York, died in 1984 at the age of 93.
The resting place of the Titanic was located at 0405 GMT on September 1, 1985, 73 years and some months after she was last seen on the surface. About half of the people on board the Knorr were off duty when this occurred. I was one of them, soundly asleep in my stateroom adjacent to the radio room. It was only a matter of minutes before I was called on the ship's telephone by Captain Richard Bowen, who told me the news of the discovery. Among those awake, which was now just about everyone, there was much excitement. The 12 to 4 watch on the Knorr's bridge, commanded by Dave Megathlin (2nd Mate) who was assisted by Peter Flaherty and Roger Hunt (both Able Bodied Seamen) could hardly contain their excitement. In the control van, the scientists and technicians were wild with excitement. A few minutes after the discovery, Robert Ballard (co-Chief Scientist) assembled those who were free on the fantail of the R/V Knorr where he raised the Titanic's builders' flag and then held a brief memorial service, remembering those who had perished on that tragic night. It was a very touching moment, one that I will always remember.
From that moment forward, the "traffic" through the radio room increased tremendously. Something on the order of 100 commercial radio telephone calls, 40 radio telegraph messages, 81
53
HAM radio phone patches (calls) via Mr. Gil Geitner (W4LLA), and numerous calls from coast stations with "traffic" for the R/V Knorr passed through the radio room. On a normal trip I only handle about '/20 of this amount during a 30-day leg — and this all took place in just 8 or 9 days!
One memorable experience occurred just after I cleared with Ocean Gate Radio in New York. I received a call from Potishead Radio in England who said they were holding hundreds of calls for the Knorr and wanted to know to whom they could refer the calls since I was not handling traffic via their station. I asked them to kindly refer the calls to Ocean Gate Radio in New York. They in turn replied they would cooperate and then immediately called the Queen Elizabeth II to continue traffic with that vessel. It struck me as ironic that we were sitting over the resting place of the R.M.S. Titanic and were in a way linked yet to another great British passenger vessel, the QE II.
Interviews with Robert Ballard were conducted via radio with David Hartman of "Good Morning America," Peter Jennings of "The ABC Evening News," Tom Brokaw of NBC, Maria Schriver of "The CBS Morning News," Terry Drinkwater of CBS, and Walter Sullivan, science writer for The New York Times. To handle the list of calls continuously coming in for the Knorr, I would simply get the party's name and phone number from the marine operator and add it to my fast growing list. Ballard would then return calls when he was able to take some time from the control van to do so. Between these calls, the French scientists on board were quite often on the radio to France. When time permitted, I would attempt to catch up on my radiotelegraph traffic. (These messages were sometimes in French.) Also helicopter operations had to be coordinated via the radio room between Captain Bowen and the helicopter operations center in St. Johns, Newfoundland. All of this together took a good portion out of a 24-hour communications day.
It is ironic that the radiotelegraph (a radio signal sent in Morse code) is still used extensively in this day and age, some 73 years after it played such an important role in saving lives during the Titanic disaster. On a routine day, the Knorr sends in weather observations and ice reports (when appropriate) to the United States Coast Guard (three to four times a day), as well as messages to our ship's agents in various ports of call, via radiotelegraph. Since the days of the sinking of the Titanic it has been mandatory that vessels of 1,600 gross tons and larger carry at least one licensed Radio Officer on the vessel, primarily for safety purposes. These vessels are also equipped with an auto alarm device that alerts the Radio Officer of an "SOS" while he is off duty. The Radio Officer is required to monitor 500 kilohertz (KHZ), one of the international distress and calling frequencies, for an aggregate of eight hours a day. This is totally radiotelegraph work. Two other distress and calling channels are monitored continuously on the bridge of the Knorr — very-high frequency (VHF) voice Channel 16 and single side- band (SSB) voice Channel 2182 KHZ. The vessel is
equipped with devices for sending out automatic alarms (required by international law) on both 500 KHZ and 2182 Kf 1Z. The International Ice Patrol transmits information on iceberg location and ice conditions several times daily. The ice patrol was established as a direct result of the Titanic sinking (see page 38). These measures have saved many lives on the high seas over the years. Sea travel today is as safe as our technology can make it, due directly to the saga of the Titanic. It truly can be said that those who perished on that night did not die in vain.
Ernest "Butch" Smith is Radio Officer on the R(V Knorr, operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the U.S. Navy.
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y^ \J\Ja5 ^^boaird the J I
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It was not really my idea to sail on the Titanic. I had booked passage on the George Washington, to sail April 7, 1912, but my editor cabled me from New York to postpone my sailing in order to report the fashions at the Paris Easter Sunday races. By taking the Titanic, a faster ship on the Wednesday following Easter Sunday, I could still arrive in America at about the same time. In any event, the opportunity of crossing on this much-publicized, and above all unsinkable, floating palace, delighted me.
I was a fashion writer, buyer, and stylist. This trip was one of the first of my career, as I had just started in business, and I was taking with me not only my own wardrobe, but many orders executed for business firms and private clients. They were uninsured, as when I applied for insurance on this merchandise, I was told that it was ridiculous to spend money for insurance when travelling on an unsinkable vessel. So, misled like the rest of the world, I placed full confidence in the world's greatest ship: "46,328 tons . . . 882 feet long ... 3 propellers ... 4 smoke stacks rising 1 75 feet above the water. . . ." She was truly almost a skyscraper. We were not used to ships of such dimensions and grandeur in those days. The Olympic and Titanic were sister ships, the first of their kind.
The train-run from Paris to Cherbourg was quite pleasant. I chatted with some Swedish and American ladies in the compartment and with a Mexican gentleman who informed us he was a Member of Parliament in Mexico. We formed a very merry little party. The fact that we were all sailing on this exceptional vessel on her maiden voyage, seemed to draw us together. Everybody was looking forward to seeing the monster ship.
We sat about on the huge tender, which had been especially built the year before for these new White Star ships, and for three hours shivered and waited. It was cold. It had been raining. I remember sitting next to Colonel and Mrs. John Jacob Astor, who were on their wedding trip and playing with their big dog. The Colonel told me the Titanic had cost $10 million to build, and emphasized that she was unsinkable, "a miracle of modern ship-building."
Finally a murmur went around the tender: "The Titanic is in sight." I saw what seemed like a huge building, 1 1 stories high with tier upon tier of glittering electric lights, dressed over-all. Truly a beautiful and impressive spectacle.
* Originally published in the Ladies Home Companion, May, 1964. Reprinted by permission.
rrsmsf-ame^sseit^lgH
Edilii Russell and toy pig. (Photo courtesy Titanic Historical Society)
The Titanic had had an accident coming out of Southampton, when she went too close to the New York and caused the latter to break loose from her moorings. I did not know this at the time, of course, and if I had, I should probably have been imagining all kinds of ominous things. As it was, I could not help being strangely impressed by the way the tender rolled and heaved, in this calm sea, alongside the great ship. The gangway over which we climbed aboard seemed in danger of being pulled loose from its fastening.
I hated the idea of crossing that gangplank, and no sooner had I got on board than I sought out Nicholas Martin, the General Manager of the White Star Line, Paris bureau, to see if it would not be possible to collect my luggage and book by a later steamer, as I was frankly afraid. Martin said he would gladly release me from the sailing, if I felt that way.
55
bill ht' could not get my luggage oft. "Vou .ire |ust nervous. You are [)ertectly sate. This shi[) is unsinkable. You c an get oil it you want to, but your luggage will have to go on to New York."
Beginning Hours
The tirst d.n s ot the trip were uneventful, marked by the usual making of ac quaintances, promenades on dec k, tea in the Winter Garden, and so forth. It was only by looking out to sea that one realized one was t)n the ocean.
On Sunday, April 14, it was brilliantly sunny, l)ut so intensely cold that it seemed the only sensible thing to do was to stay in bed to keep warm, which I did until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I then went out on deck, and noticed a large crowd of men passengers looking down at the water being thrown u|i from the blades of the propellers. The foam whirled in a great cascade, made blood-red by the rays of a glorious setting sun. It looked like a crimson carpet stretching from the ship to the horizon. I remember commenting to a group of people standing there about this beautiful and awesome waterfall, and then I walked forward in the ship. I was never to see any of these people again.
There was much commenting on the intense cold, and some of the men said they had heard notices were posted that we were in ice-fields. However, that did not seem to make very much difference. We were going full speed ahead and would arrive positively in New York on the following Tuesday as it was intended the ship should make a record trip. And with this calm sea and perfect weather, there was no reason why we should not do so.
On Sunday night I dressed in a white satin evening gown, as there was a gala dinner. The men were all in their evening clothes and the ladies in full dress. But I wish to say there was no dancing. British ships do not, or did not at that time, permit dancing on the Sabbath night. Nor was there excessive drinking on the part of the captain or anyone else, as has been frequently stated. It was a calm, well- behaved crowd of people. I distinctly remember the lounge, a very beautiful spectacle, everyone sitting about in evening clothes, the orchestra playing.
About 9:30 p.m., having some letters to write, I went up to the drawing room and, incidentally chatted with a little lady from Los Angeles. Her husband came alcjng and said he was going to the smoking room to play bridge. "Play all the bridge you want to," she said, "but uncier no circumstances do I want you to come down and wake me. I want to have a good night's sleep." Both perished.
I had been writing for some time when the library steward called "Lights out, please, it's 11:30." I hancJed him a number of letters telling him that I did not have my purse with me but wcjuld pay for the stam[)s the next morning, and I took a couple of books from the library to read.
The Collision
I walked from the stern of the ship to my room, which was way forward on the same deck. I was just turning on the electric light when I felt a very slight
jar, then a second, a little stronger, ,^\^d a third, accom|)anied by a heavy shock, strong enough to make me c ling to my bedpost. I noticed immediately that the door of my room had a decided list. The shi[) seemed to have come to a dead sto[); but as I thrust my head out of the stateroom window, I notic cci a huge white mass, like a mountain, slowly drifting by. I [)uf on my fur coat and ran round to a frienci's room and said, "Come along, let's go out <\nd see what has happened."
We were quickly joined by several others in various stages of undress. We all looked at this white mass, and someone said, "It's an iceberg!" I must say I was overjoyed, because I had always wanted to see an iceberg from the time of my school days. Someone said icebergs showed only one-ninth above water, and another remarked that this one must be a "corker" under the surface. It towered well above the smoke stacks of the ship. I found out afterwards that an iceberg has a light side and a dark side. Unfortunately destiny decreed that the dark side shc:)uld be toward the ship.
Looking down towards the Cabin Class deck, I noticed a number of stokers walking across it and going down below, the ice crunching beneath their boots. Someone said: "Why, they are walking on a solid ground of ice." Nobody had any fear or thought of danger. The calm sea and brilliant, starry sky, completely reassured us. The only disagreeable factor was the intense cold, enough to numb one's face and hands.
We walked about the deck, and I spoke to several officers and asked them what it was all about. They said: "We have struck an iceberg. There is nothing to worry about. The best thing to do is to go back to bed." After about three-quarters of an hour, I decided I would do so, to get warm. I returned to my room, started to undress, and was ready for bed, when a young man I met earlier in the day called through the door: "An order has been given that we are to put on lifebelts." I called back: "What for?" "Well," he said, "that's the order."
I went to the lounge on A Deck where I saw my bedroom steward, Wareham. He was fully dressed, with black coat and bowler hat. "Miss," he said, "I am glad indeed to see that you are up and dressed."
"Wareham, do you think there is any danger, or is this just one of those English rules that requires us to put on lifebelts?"
He replied: "It is a rule of the Board of Trade that in time of danger lifebelts must be worn by the passengers. But please don't be alarmed."
"Wareham, what about my dresses and other things . . . Do you think they will transfer the luggage?"
To this he replied: "Now, if I were you, I think I would go back to my room and kiss them good- bye."
"In that case, do you think the ship is going to sink?"
"No, Miss. She certainly ought to be able to hold out a good 48 hours anyway."
"Wareham, I think it would be a good idea if I had my mascot with me. i left it on the dressing
56
Above, the Titanic's Parisian cafe. Below, the gymnasium. (Harland and Woltl photos courtesy of Charles Ira Sachs/ONRS)
57
table. Would you mind going to the stateroom to get it tor me?"
My mother, having heard that the pig was considered a symbol of good luck in France, and feeling that good luck was just what I needed, had presented me with a toy pig, the size of a big kitten and covered with white fur and black spots. I cherished it, the more so as it was really a music- box, and by twisting its tail one produced the then popular air "La Maxixe." I promised my mother that I would keep this mascot with me at all times. This little pig later saved my life.
And as I saw him going back down the corridor to fetch it, I noticed that there was an incline from the drawing room down the passage. As I learned afterwards, it was beneath my stateroom that the iceberg had torn into the ship's side, directly under the swimming pool, and then come up against the water-tight bulkheads, which were holding the ship up for the time being.
Wareham brought me back my toy pig, and the people all around me smiled. 1 felt a little more reassured. I never saw Wareham again, but remember his wistful remark "I hope we get out of this alright. I have a wife and five little kiddies at home."* The stewards, in fact all the employees of the Titanic were an exceptionally fine lot of men and women, glad that they had been transferred from the Olympic where nearly all of them had served. They undoubtedly knew there was danger, but at no time did they portray their fear to the passengers. No words can adequately praise these magnificent officers and crewmen.
I went up to the Boat Deck and remember seeing a lot of men standing about. We waited and stood around aimlessly and then another order was shouted: "All women and children will immediately return to A Deck." Again I stood quite a long time wondering what it all meant. Then yet another order: "Women and children back again up to the Boat Deck."
I thought this just a farce, a sort of boat drill, for frankly I did not know what it could mean. So I disregarded these instructions, went back to the lounge, found a nice comfortable armchair, and sat down where it was warm and cozy. There were four or five men passengers seated about the lounge, and one of them said he had heard they had launched five lifeboats.
"Surely there is no danger," I said. And he answered: "No, but you know these English. They are the greatest people for rules and regulations and the greatest sticklers for this sort of thing."
"Well if it is only a question of rules and regulations, I for one do not propose to go out on that deck and freeze to death," I retorted.
Just then I saw an officer and called out to him: "Mister officer, should I leave in a lifeboat? Is there any danger?" To this he replied: "No, I do not know that there is any immediate danger, but this ship is damaged and she certainly cannot proceed to New York. She may be towed into the nearest
* Wareham's body was picked up by the Mackay-Bennett and buried in Halifax.
Captain £. /. Smith on the Titanic 's promenade decl<. (Photo courtesy Paul Popper Photo)
harbor. We expect the Olympic along in the next two or three hours. They will take the passengers off. However, there is no immediate danger. Madam. You can use your own judgement in this matter." 1 then went to the Boat Deck and found
58
myself standing next to Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line, who was wearing his black evening trousers and a nightshirt with frills down the front. He was shouting orders. A number of men on the other side of him were banked up almost in a solid mass near the cabin bulkhead. He spied me and called out: "What are you doing on this ship? I thought all women and children had left. If there are any more women and children on this ship, let them step forward and come over to this stairway immediately."
Ismay practically threw me down a narrow iron stairway to the deck below. There has been much criticism of Ismay, but he certainly saved my life. I passed between lines of sailors to the rail. Two burly sailors got hold of me and attempted to throw me head foremost into the lifeboat which was suspended alongside. But when I noticed how far from the rail the lifeboat was, swinging off its davits from above, I became terrified — so much so that my legs and feet went rigid and my slippers fell off. I screamed to the two men: "Don't push me!" One replied, "If you don't want to go, stay!"
I then looked about in the gutter of the deck for my slippers, which I found minus a diamond buckle that had fallen off. I never found the buckle.
Then I looked up at the rail and at the lifeboat which was swinging so perilously far from it, about seven stories above the sea.
The boat was very full and slightly tilted to one side. The thought of getting up on that rail and jumping petrified me; it seemed to me a feat that only an acrobat could perform, especially as I had on a narrow skirt and a coat which reached right down to the ankles. So there I stood with my little pig under my arm. One of the sailors reached forward and exclaimed: "If you don't want to go, we'll save your baby anyway," and he grabbed my little pig which, perhaps in the excitement he mistook for a baby, and threw it into the lifeboat. I stood looking towards the lifeboat thinking: "There is my mascot. I promised my mother it would be with me, always."
Just then I heard a very quiet voice next to me saying: "Madam, if you will put your foot on my knee and put your arm around my neck, I will lift you to the rail and from there you will be able to jump into the boat with less danger, and you will not be so frightened."
"Would you really go?" I asked the man, "if you were me?"
He answered: "Yes, without a doubt."
He then made a chair of hands with one of the sailors (such as we do in playing games), each one holding the other's wrist, and lifted me. I jumped and fell into the lifeboat, landing on my head at the bottom of the boat, where I groped about for my mascot and found it almost immediately with its little forelegs broken. I struggled into an upright position. The man who had helped me leapt in immediately afterwards and then came the order: "Lower away!"
We were lowered toward the water very slowly, with a decided tilt, and someone in the boat cut the fall ropes before we actually touched the water. One of the men near me said: "Shove her off
Titanic Dimensions
A
long with some 1,500 lives, a considerable volume of steel was lost when the Titanic went down. The ship was 882.5 feet long and 93 feet wide. Her boat deck and bridge were some 70 feet above the water and about 92 feet above the keel. The ship weighed 46,328 gross tons (103,774,720 pounds), and at the time of her construction she was the largest moving object in the world. When floating, she displaced 66,000 tons of water. To move this bulk she carried 2 four-cylinder reciprocating engines. These drove the port and starboard propellers. The center propeller was driven by a turbine that ran off the exhaust from the engines and steam from the boilers. Together these engines could generate at least 55,000 horsepower — equivalent to more than 500 automobiles straining at her propellers. The Titanic's top speed was in the neighborhood of 24 to 25 knots (a speed she never reached).
Although the Titanic could accommodate 3,502 passengers and crew members, on her maiden voyage she carried only 2,201* people. Nonetheless she seemed a floating city to those aboard, and even crew members became lost in her labyrinthian passageways. She carried a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, palm-decorated verandas, a Turkish bath, and a special compartment for storing automobiles. There was even a darkroom available for the use of any amateur photographers aboard. — FL
* This figure comes from the 1912 report of the British Titanic Wreck Commission. Other estimates from the time ranged up to 2,340, and estimates by modem historians also differ, with estimates ranging from 2,207 to 2,235. Naturally, these discrepancies result in significant disagreement as to how many people died.
quickly, or we are going to be sucked under." I did not understand what he meant.
In the Lifeboat
Looking up from the lifeboat, the Titanic seemed the biggest thing in the woHd. I saw many people hanging over the rail. I distinctly heard music, but I do not remember hearing "Nearer My God To Thee." As we drew away, everything was calm and still, with the reflection of the lights on the water, passengers leaning over the rails . . . nothing to predict the horror of the next few minutes.
Despite the many stars in the sky, it was the blackest night I have ever seen. The mate, who was in some sort of command, had found a piece of rope. He would light it and let it flare for a few minutes, swinging it around as a signal, and then extinguish it. His idea was that by flourishing this light he could warn other lifeboats in the vicinity and so prevent our being rammed.
59
I now looked toward the starboard light ot the 7/Mn;t , shining bright green. I noticed that this light seemed to be getting lower, nearer to the water. We had lelt the liner at about 1:45 a.m. At 2:00 a.m. I looked at my wrist-watch. One of the stewards rowing made the remark: "She won't hold out much longer."
I did not realize even then what he meant, but I htMrd him say to the other steward "Let's lean into it and get away or she may still suck us under."
Gradually the green starboard light dropped closer to the water. At about two o'clock green rockets were tired from the upper deck ot the ship, her very last call tor help. At 2:20 I saw the starboard light disappear into the water. The stern of the ship, fully lighted, stood up to the sky — suggesting a skyscraper by night, so high and straight did it rise into the air. Then it seemed to shoot down into the water, every light blazing. There was a heavy explosion beneath the water, then a second and a third. Contrary to what the men in our boat had feared, these explosions actually thrust us farther away, as by an invisible hand.
Just before the ship went down, there came a huge roar from her, as though from one's throat. The men in our boat asked us all to cheer, saying that what we heard were shouts of joy indicating that all aboard had cleared the ship and were saved. And everyone in our boat did actually cheer three times. This, of course, was merely a device to distract us from the awful sound as the ship went down, and it did at least serve that purpose. Somehow or other we were still quite incapable of realizing the full extent of the tragedy in which we were participants.
The sea was absolutely calm and there were stars out, but the night was so black that we could see the silent icefloes around us only when our boat came close up on them, and it was bitterly cold. Against this background of cold "tranquility" a number of women in the boat had become half hysterical with apprehension over absent husbands and children. The babies fretted and cried all night and I played "La Maxixe" to calm them, twirling the pig's tail around and around to produce the music. Next day the pig could hardly play, so many times had he been called upon. Finally, that intense cold which precedes dawn settled on the water. Only those who have stood a night watch of any kind can realize the peculiarly penetrating chillness of the half-hour that divides night from morning. In searching for extra clothing for one of the stewards, we suddenly came upon a passenger in the bottom of the boat whom we had not noticed before, although he had been lying practically at my feet. By now there was enough light to recognize him as a stoker. The poor fellow was dead. I suppose he may have jumped head first into the boat, knocked himself unconscious and had frozen to death without being noticed.
Rescue
Presently I saw another light on the horizon, and told the young man rowing next to me about it. He was too depressed to believe me. "Madame, don't get
imaginative. There is no light, and there will not be any light. It's no use looking tor good things when none are coming." Another seaman echoed this pessimism. "This is my third shi[)wreck," he said. "If I g{>t out of this one, I'm going bac k home to be a milkman."
But before long, we all saw the white light and then a red one beneath it, which signified the arrival of the Carpjthici. As the sun rose, beautiful and clear, we rowed as best we could toward the rescue ship, amid ice peaks which made me think of the mountains rising out of the Italian lakes. Brilliantly lighted, she seemed so big that we thought she might be the Olympic, and we feared her suction.
As we drew closer to the rescue ship, we noticed other lifeboats also making for her, together with the collapsible raft, with Bruce Ismay and other passengers aboard. About 8 a.m. my lifeboat, number 1 1, drew alongside the Cdrpcithi,}. Up to that time the sea had remained absolutely calm, but now a great many whitecaps appeared. We were tossing and rolling. Having left the Titanic at about 1:45 a.m. this made about bVi hours that I had spent in the lifeboat, but it seemed only an hour.
The first person to leave our boat was a baby boy, who was hoisted up in a canvas sack and the other babies were hoisted aboard in the same way. One little baby struggled madly and did not want to leave at all.
After this, a "boatswain's chair," very much like an old-fashioned swing, was lowered for the grown-ups. The women were told to sit on the little wooden seat, close their eyes, and hold on tightly to the ropes. Thus we were hoisted with great speed up into the Carpathia. Welcoming hands were stretched out to receive us. After we had been underway for about three quarters of an hour the ship slowed down and the bodies of six sailors who had been taken on board, but who had died of exposure, were buried in the sea. A priest aboard delivered a prayer.
I was indeed lucky to be saved. My losses were only material, while there were so many who lost those whom they loved. I have crossed the Atlantic often since — nearly a hundred times— but still I will not travel by airplane. Steamships and automobiles are my favorite modes of transport.
Edith Russell had travelled on the Titanic in first class passage, using her professional name "Miss Rosenbaum." When the premiere of the 20th Centun/-Fox movie Titanic took place in /95J, Life magazine presented an article entitled "Movie Re-Enactment Awakens Dramatic Memories. " Edith was pictured with her toy pig and the dress she wore on the Titanic in 1912. A few years after the article was written, her luggage was lost during one of her Atlantic crossings, and most o/^ her Titanic memorabilia with it — except her toy pig. Edith L. Russell died in a London hospital on April 4, 1975. In her obituary, a reporter quoted her as once saying, "I'm accident prone. I've been in shipwrecks, car crashes, fires, floods and tornadoes. I've had every disaster but bubonic plague and a husband." She was 98 years old when she died.
60
The
Steamship Californian Controversy
We had to assume that the data from the Californian had either been altered, collected poorly, or some- thing— we could not believe it.
—Robert D. Ballard, September 11, 1985
CjplJin Stjniey Lord aller the British Inquiry and alter being dismissed Irom the Leyland Line.
The following is from the "report of a formal investigation into the circumstances attending the foundering on April 15, 1912, of the British steamship 'Titanic,' of Liverpool, after striking ice in or near latitude 41° 46' N., longitude 50° 14' W., North Atlantic Ocean, as conducted by the British government" and presented by Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan to the U.S. Senate, August 12, 1912.
On the 14th of April the steamship Californian, of the Leyland Line, Mr. Stanley Lord, master, was on her passage from London, which port she left on April 5, to Boston, LJnited States, where she subsequently arrived on April 19. She was a vessel of 6,223 tons gross and 4,038 net. Her full speed was MVi to 13 knots. She had a passenger certificate, but was not carrying any passengers at the time. She belonged to the International Mercantile Marine Co., the owners of the Titanic.
At 7:30 p.m., ship's time, on April 14, a wireless message was sent from this ship to the Antillian:
To Captain, Antillian:
Six thirty p.m., apparent ship's time, latitude 42° 3' N., longitude 49° 9' W. Three large bergs, 5 miles to southward of us. Regards.
Lord.
The message was intercepted by the Titanic, and when the Marconi operator (Evans) of the Californian offered this ice report to the Marconi operator of the 7;(an/c, shortly after 7:30 p.m., the latter replied:
It is all right. I heard you sending it to the Antillian, and I have got it.
The Californian proceeded on her course S. 89° W. true until 10:20 p.m., ship's time, when she was obliged to stop and reverse engines because she was running into field ice, which stretched as tar as could then be seen to the northward and southward.
The master told the court that he made her position at that time to be 42° 5' N., 57° 7' W. This position is recorded in the log book, which was written up from the scrap log book by the chief officer. The
61
scrap log is destroyed. It is a position about 19 miles N. by E. of the position of the Titanic when she foundered, and is said to have been fixed by dead reckoning and verified by observations. I am satisfied that this position is not accurate. The master "twisted her head" to E.N.E. by the compass and she remained approximately stationary until 5:15 a.m. on the following morning. The ship was slowly swinging around to starboard during the night.
At about 1 1 p.m. a steamer's light was seen approaching from the eastward. The master went to Evans's room and asked what ships he had. The latter replied: "I think the Titanic is near us. I have got her." The master said; "You had better advise the Titanic we are stopped and surrounded with ice." This Evans did, calling up the Titanic and sending: "We are stopped and surrounded by ice." The Titanic replied: "Keep out." The Titanic was in communication with Cape Race, which station was then sending messages to her. The reason why the Titanic answered "keep out" was that her Marconi operator could not hear what Cape Race was saying, as from her proximity the message from the Californian was much stronger than any message being taken in by the Titanic from Cape Race, which was much farther off. Evans heard the Titanic continuing to communicate with Cape Race [Newfoundland] up to the time he turned in at 1 1 :30 p.m.
The master of the Californian states that when observing the approaching steamer as she got nearer he saw more lights, a few deck lights, and also her green side light. He considered that at 1 1 o'clock she was approximately 6 or 7 miles away, and at some time between 1 1 and 1 1 :30 he first saw her green light; she was then about 5 miles off. He noticed that about 1 1 :30 she stopped. In his opinion this steamer was of about the same size as the Californian — a medium-sized steamer, "something like ourselves."
From the evidence of Mr. Groves, third officer of the Californian, who was the officer of the first watch, it would appear that the master was not actually on the bridge when the steamer was sighted.
Mr. Groves made out two masthead lights; the steamer was changing her bearing slowly as she got closer, and as she approached he went to the chart room and reported this to the master; he added, "She is evidently a passenger steamer." In fact, Mr. Groves never appears to have had any doubt on this subject. In answer to a question during his examination, "Had she much light?" he said, "Yes, a lot of light. There was absolutely no doubt of her being a passenger steamer, at least in my mind."
Gill, the assistant donkeyman of the Californian, who was on deck at midnight, said, referring to this steamer: "It could not have been anything but a passenger boat, she was too large."
By the evidence of Mr. Groves, the master, in reply to his report, said: "Call her up on the Morse lamp, and see if you can get any answer." This he proceeded to do. The master came up and joined him on the bridge and remarked: "That does not look like a passenger steamer." Mr. Groves replied: "It is, sir. When she stopped her lights seemed to go out, and I suppose they have been put out for the night." Mr. Groves states that these lights went out at 1 1 :40, and remembers that time because "one bell was struck to call the middle watch." The master did not join him on the bridge until shortly afterwards, and consequently after the steamer had stopped.
In his examination Mr. Groves admitted that if this steamer's head was turning to port after she stopped, it might account for the diminution of lights, by many of them being shut out. Her steaming lights were still visible and also her port side light.
The captain only remained upon the bridge for a few minutes. In his evidence he stated that Mr. Groves had made no observations to him about the steamer's deck lights going out. Mr. Groves's Morse signaling appears to have been ineffectual (although at one moment he thought he was being answered), and he gave it up. He remained on the bridge until relieved by Mr. Stone, the second officer, just after midnight. In turning the Californian over to him, he pointed out the steamer and said: "she has been stopped since 1 1:40; she is a passenger steamer. At about the moment she stopped she put her lights out." When Mr. Groves was in the witness box the following questions were put to him by me [the Chief Justice, Lord Mersey]:
Speaking as an experienced seaman and knowing what you do know now, do you think that steamer that you know was throwing up rockets, and that you say was a passenger steamer, was the Titanic^ — Do I think it? Yes. from what I have heard subsequently? Yes. Most decidedly I do, but I do not put myself as being an experienced man. — But that is your opinion as far as your experience goes? — Yes, it is, my lord.
Mr. Stone states that the master, who was also up (but apparently not on the bridge), pointed out the steamer to him with instructions to tell him if her bearings altered or if she got any closer; he also stated that Mr. Groves had called her up on the Morse lamp and had received no reply.
Mr. Stone had with him during the middle watch an apprentice named Gibson, whose attention was first drawn to the steamer's lights at about 12:20 a.m. He could see a masthead light, her red light (with glasses), and a "glare of white lights on her afterdeck." He first thought her masthead light was flickering and next thought it was a Morse light, "calling us up." He replied, but could not get into communication, and finally came to the conclusion that it was, as he had first supposed, the masthead light flickering. Sometime after 12:30 a.m.. Gill, the donkeyman, states that he saw two rockets fired from the ship which he had been observing, and about 1:10a.m., Mr. Stone reported to the captain by voice pipe, that he had seen five white rockets from the direction of the steamer. He states that the master answered, "Are they company's signals?" and that he replied, "I do not know, but they appear to me to be white rockets." The master told him to "go on Morsing," and, when he received any information, to send the apprentice down to him with it. Gibson states that Mr. Stone informed him that he had reported to the master, and that the master had said the
62
steamer was to be called up by Morse light. This witness thinks the time was 12:55; he at once proceeded again to call the steamer up by Morse. He got no reply, but the vessel fired three more white rockets; these rockets were also seen by Mr. Stone.
Both Mr. Stone and the apprentice kept the steamer under observation, looking at her from time to time with their glasses. Between 1 o'clock and 1:40 some conversation passed between them. Mr. Stone remarked to Gibson: "Look at her now, she looks very queer out of water, her lights look queer." He also is said by Gibson to have remarked, "A ship is not going to fire rockets at sea for nothing;" and admits himself that he may possibly have used that expression.
Mr. Stone states that he saw the last of the rockets fired at about 1 :40, and after watching the steamer for some 20 minutes more he sent Gibson down to the master.
/ told Gibson to go down to the master, and be sure and wake him, and tell him that altogether we had seen eight of these white lights like white rockets in the direction of this other steamer; that this steamer was disappearing in the southwest, that we had called her up repeatedly on the Morse lamp and received no information whatsoever.
Gibson states that he went down to the chart room and told the master; that the master asked him if all the rockets were white, and also asked him the time. Gibson stated that at this time the master was awake. It was five minutes past two, and Gibson returned to the bridge to Mr. Stone and reported. They both continued to keep the ship under observation until she disappeared. Mr. Stone describes this as "A gradual disappearing of all her lights, which would be perfectly natural with a ship steaming away from us."
At about 2:40 a.m. Mr. Stone again called up the master by voice pipe and told him that the ship from which he had seen the rockets come had disappeared bearing SW. ViW., the last he had seen of the light; and the master again asked him if he was certain there was no color in the lights. "I again assured him they were all white, just white rockets." There is considerable discrepancy between the evidence of Mr. Stone and that of the master. The latter states that he went to the voice pipe at about 1:15, but was told then of a white rocket (not five white rockets). Moreover, between 1:30 and 4:30, when he was called by the chief officer (Mr. Stewart), he had no recollection of anything being reported to him at all, although he remembered Gibson opening and closing the chart-room door.
Mr. Stewart relieved Mr. Stone at 4 a.m. The latter told him he had seen a ship 4 or 5 miles off when he went on deck at 12 o'clock, and at 1 o'clock he had seen some white rockets, and that the moment the ship started firing them she started to steam away. Just at this time (about 4 a.m.) a steamer came in sight with two white masthead lights and a few lights amidships. He asked Mr. Stone whether he thought this was the steamer which had fired rockets, and Mr. Stone said he did not think it was. At 4:30 he called the master and informed him that Mr. Stone had told him he had seen rockets in the middle watch. The master said, "Yes, I know; he has been telling me." The master came at once on to the bridge, and apparently took the fresh steamer for the one which had fired rockets, and said, "She looks all right; she is not making any signals now." This mistake was not corrected. He, however, had the wireless operator called.
At about 6 a.m. Capt. Lord heard from the Virginian that the "Titanic had struck a berg, passengers in boats, ship sinking;" and he at once started through the field ice at full speed for the position given.
Capt. Lord stated that about 7:30 a.m. he passed the Mount Temple, stopped, and that she was in the vicinity of the position given him as where the Titanic had collided (lat 41 ° 46' N.; long. 50° 14' W.). He saw no wreckage there, but did later on near the Carpathia, which ship he closed soon afterwards, and he stated that the position where he subsequently left this wreckage was 41 ° 33' N.; 50° 1 ' W. It is said in the evidence of Mr. Stewart that the position of the Californian was verified by stellar observations at 7:30 p.m. on the Sunday evening, and that he verified the captain's position given when the ship stopped (42° 5' N.; 50° 7' W.) as accurate on the next day. The position in which the wreckage was said to have been seen on the Monday morning was verified by sights taken on that morning.
All the officers are stated to have taken sights, and Mr. Stewart in his evidence remarks that they all agreed, if it is admitted that these positions were correct, then it follows that the Titanic's position as given by that ship when making the CQD signal was approximately S. 16° W. (true), 19 miles from the Californian; and further that the position in which the Californian was stopped during the night, was 30 miles away from where the wreckage was seen by her in the morning, or that the wreckage had drifted 1 1 miles in a little more than five hours.
There are contradictions and inconsistencies in the story as told by the different witnesses. But the truth of the matter is plain. The 7/fan/c collided with the berg at 1 1 :40. The vessel seen by the Californian stopped at this time. The rockets sent up from the 7/(an/c were distress signals. The Californian saw distress signals. The number sent up by the Titanic was about eight. The Californian saw eight. The time over which the rockets from the Titanic were sent up was from about 12:45 to 1:45 o'clock. It was about this time that the Californian saw the rockets. At 2:40 Mr. Stone called to the master that the ship from which he had seen the rockets had disappeared. At 2:20 a.m. the Titanic had foundered. It was suggested that the rockets seen by the Californian were from some other ship, not the 7/(an;c. But no other ship to fit this theory has ever been heard of.
These circumstances convince me that the ship seen by the Californian was the Titanic, and if so, according to Capt. Lord, the two vessels were about 5 miles apart at the time of the disaster. The evidence from the 7;(an;c corroborates this estimate, but I am advised that the distance was probably greater, though
63
not more than 8 to 10 miles. The ice by whic h the Ci//7om/jn was surroLinclccI was loose ice extending for a distance of not more than 2 or 3 miles in the direction of the 7;fan/c. The night was clear and the sea was smooth. When she first saw the rockets, the Ca/;7orn;an could have pushed through the ice to the open water without any serious risk and so have come to the assistance of the TiLmic. Had she done so she might have saved man\ if not all of the lives that were lost.
The Third Ship Mystery
The Californi.Mi, whose captain according to the Inquiry commited gross neglect by ignoring the distress calls, did not arrive until after the Carpathi.} had picked up all the survivors. After sending the rebuffed warning to the TiLmic, the Californian's wireless operator had switched off his set and turned in for the night — seconds before the S.O.S. was sent out. On deck the Second Officer definitely did see flares but failed to deal with the matter with any sense of urgency believing them to be a signal to another ship, or, it has been suggested, a firework display not uncommon on transatlantic liners. According to him, the vessel turned away and vanished. Captain Lord, asleep in his cabin, slept through two calls from the officer on watch. He was unused to Atlantic emergencies and it was the first time he had been caught in ice, but whether he was 10 or 20 miles away not enough effort was made to find out the true nature of the signals. The radio operator was not wakened until much later in the morning.
Charles Lightoller, Second Officer on the Titanic, believed that the ship close to was the Californian and at the Inquiries Captain Lord was made a scapegoat for the disaster. Since then several other boats have been named as a third ship seen by both the Californian and the Titanic. A Canadian ship, the Mount Royal, was suspected, but the Board of Trade refused to take further action unless Mount Royal crew members came forward. None did. Others have suggested it to be an American fishing vessel. In 1962, the Secretary of the Mercantile Marine Service Association, who took up the campaign to clear Captain Lord's name, named a Norwegian ship, the Samson, which he claimed had deliberately steamed away. Its chief officer, Henrik Naess, said that he had seen the rocket signals at a distance of about 10 miles. They steamed away, he claimed, because the ship was on an illegal seal-hunting operation.
From Great Newspapers Reprinted special issue on Titanic, 1972, published by Peter Way, Ltd., London. <