Direction Titanic was pointing after Collision

[Michael F. Koch]

Here's some more testimony that favors the mystery ship being off Titanic's port bow and the Titanic pointing N-NE. Note: Crawford wasn't sure what direction they were headed after they left Titanic, but during the questioning Senator Fletcher determines if Crawaford's boat was heading SW to the mystery ship, then Carpathia must have been approaching from the NE, because Carpathia came up from the exact opposite direction from where they were rowing. We know Carpathia came up from the SE, so they must have been rowing in something of a NW direction i.e. off the port bow of Titanic before she sank if she were pointing N-NE. He also claims the mystery ship was stationary.

Testimony from Bedroom Steward, Alfred Crawford:

Senator BURTON. You saw two steamer lights, Mr. Crawford, did you?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Two lights; one steamer light; one steamer with two lights. A steamer carries two lights, one on the fore and one on the main.

Senator BURTON. One was a little higher than the other?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes, sir; the after light was higher than the foremost.

Senator BURTON. You can not be deceived about that, can you?

Mr. CRAWFORD. No, sir; I am positive. Everyone in the boats was positive of that. We all thought she was making toward us.

Senator BURTON. Did she seem then to be moving toward you?

Mr. CRAWFORD. No; she seemed more like she was stationary.

Senator BURTON. You thought she was coming toward you?

Mr. CRAWFORD. We thought she was coming toward us.

Senator BURTON. Why did you think she was coming toward you?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Sometimes she seemed to get closer; other times she seemed to be getting away from us.

Senator BURTON. Those lights remained visible until it became daylight, did they?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes, sir.

Senator BURTON. You say others in the boat recognized those lights?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes, sir; all the ladies. The lady with the tiller saw it.

Senator FLETCHER. How far away could you see those lights? Have you had any experience to enable you to judge how far that ship was away from you?

Mr. CRAWFORD. I should say it would not be any more than 10 miles at the moat; because, being in a low boat, you can not see like being raised high.

Senator FLETCHER. But you could see the lights very distinctly?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Very distinctly; yes, sir.

Senator FLETCHER. How was it that when day broke, and the sun rose, you could not see any ship?

Mr. CRAWFORD. I could not say. We saw the other ship coming to us, and we turned around for it.

Senator FLETCHER. But you could see nothing in the way of a ship or vessel, or anything, where these lights were?

Mr. CRAWFORD. No, sir.

Senator FLETCHER. Can you not see a ship 10 miles off, under those conditions?

Mr. CRAWFORD. We did not look for her after we saw the Carpathia coming up.

Senator FLETCHER. In what direction did the Carpathia appear?

Mr. CRAWFORD. She came up this way [indicating], and we were pulling over that way.

Senator FLETCHER. Do you know on what course you were moving your boat?

Mr. CRAWFORD. No; I could not say.

Senator FLETCHER. You could not tell?

Mr. CRAWFORD. No.

Senator FLETCHER. Did you see the Northern Lights?

Mr. CRAWFORD. I did not notice.

Senator FLETCHER. Do you know whether you were moving west?

Mr. CRAWFORD. I do not know the compass, and I could not say.

Senator FLETCHER. You do not remember observing the Northern Lights?

Mr. CRAWFORD. No, sir.

Senator FLETCHER. You could not tell from the stars in which direction you were moving?

Mr. CRAWFORD. No.

Senator FLETCHER. Did you move in the direction in which the Titanic was moving when she went down?

Mr. CRAWFORD. No; we were the other way; that way [indicating].

Senator FLETCHER. Which way?

Mr. CRAWFORD. The Titanic was moving this way; we were that way [indicating].

Senator FLETCHER. Suppose the Titanic was going west; then you went northwest?

Mr. CRAWFORD. If the Titanic was coming along this way we went across that way, straight for the light.

Senator FLETCHER. If the Titanic was moving west you moved southwest?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Probably so.

Senator FLETCHER. Toward the light?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes, sir.

Senator FLETCHER. And then the Carpathia appeared in what direction?

Mr. CRAWFORD. She came right up around and started to pick up the boats.

Senator FLETCHER. She came from the northeast from you, then?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Probably so.

Senator FLETCHER. Assuming you had been going southwest?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Yes, sir.

Senator FLETCHER. She appeared from the northeast. How far away was the Carpathia when you saw her?

Mr. CRAWFORD. Saw the lights?

Senator FLETCHER. Yes.

Mr. CRAWFORD. The captain saw the lights from the bridge.

Michael Koch

 

[Paul Lee]

A thought occurred to me as to why Captain Smith would start the ship moving again after the collision. At the time the engines were resumed, there was no word back about damage to the ship.
What if he had seen the NW-SE lay of the icefield at that point? Would he have tried to have steamed around it, perhaps heading North to find safe passage through the west?

Cheers

Paul

 

[Paul Lee]

By the way, how long would it have taken for the Titanic to go from S86W to a northerly position (following the hard-a-starboard, hard-a-port manoeuvre)? I know that she was slowing after the collision.

I estimate (VERY crudely I must add) that, with a turning radius equal to 6-8 ships lengths (as a ships engineer once told me), and accepting the speed at 22.5 knots, this would take about 8 minutes to perform. Obviously, a slowing ship would take longer, which would put it well after 11.48, which seems a bit late for the Titanic to still be steaming to me.....

Cheers

Paul

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>What if he had seen the NW-SE lay of the icefield at that point? <<

This would assume that the ship was moved in the first place. I beleive from the available evidence that she was, but the testimony from the engine room doesn't tend to indicate that they did anything more then move back and forth. From Trimmer Dillon's testimony to the Mersey Wreck Commission:

quote:

3719. You just heard it ring. Then a few seconds after that you felt a slight shock? - Yes.

3720. Was anything done to the engines? Did they stop or did they go on? - They stopped.

3721. Was that immediately after you felt the shock or some little time after? - About a minute and a half.

3722. Did they continue stopped or did they go on again after that? - They went slow astern.

3723. How long were they stopped for before they began to go slow astern? - About half a minute.

3724. For how long did they go slow astern? - About two minutes.

3725. Two or three did you say? - Two minutes.

3726. And then did they stop again? - Yes.

3727. And did they go on again after that? - They went ahead again.

3728. For how long? - For about two minutes.

3729. Then did they stop the boat after that? - Yes.

If what he says is true, it sounds to me more like they were checking things out. That or they were trying to manuever out of some pack ice they could see close by. I'm not aware of any evidence in the official record that would indicate that they knew the extant of the icefield in front of them.

But in fairness, it doesn't appear that they were asked.​

 

[Paul Lee]

I agree that there isn't a great deal of evidence that supports the nrthward motion of the ship. But if it didn't happen, it does cause other problems to occur (the current heading of the wreck, and the Californian saga). Rowe may be right when he said that the Totanic's bow was swinging. But to go from nearly due west to north in 2 hours 40 minutes....someone should have noticed a great change in heading? Thats about 34 degrees an hour!

Perhaps what Captain Smith did then, was, once the port around movement was done, he simply moved the engiens back and forthas you say?

Cheers

Paul

 

[Samuel Halpern]

The time it would take to point up in a direction NNW true is about 2.5 min following the collision. Speed down to about 17 knots in tight turn at t=1 below. Speed down to about 14 knots when slow astern ordered about 1/2 min later at t=2 below.