Enjoying this, David. There's life in the old
dog yet. I'll answer in the usual way.
"One thing he knew, however, is that if the British government could pin the accident on him, they would. How convenient to have a scapegoat."
Two things:
(1) Like everyone of us who have ever been in front of HM Wreck Commissioner, he would be very much on his guard. He would also be very apprehensive. The Board of Trade ruled the lives of all British seamen. The Board could decide when a man could or could not work at sea. It issued my Certificates and ruled my life for a very long time.
(2) The British Government could not pin anything on anyone. Only The Board of Trade could do so and it was and still is, not accountable to the Government of the day. The Board of Trade, originally the Lords of Trade or Lords of Trade and Plantations is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. This means that it's members were in 1912, and still are, responsible only to the highest law makers in the land and above the sitting Government.
"His testimony is quite correct. He did take over at “10 o’clock” and he was given the course specified above. Things did go well until 20 minutes to 12. It is my belief that the ship never wavered from its course. To a seaman, that would mean that the ship steered the course specified by the captain through the officer of the watch. Even though the captain might have changed Titanic’s course Hichens’ statement would still be true that the ship never wandered more than a degree or two one side or the other of the intended heading."
Nice wee swerve , David but not good enough. Lets re-enact the movements of bridge personnel between 10 pm that night and the time when you say that missing second helm order was given.
When Hichens took over the wheel at 10 pm, the man he relieved would give him the course to steer and add anything of use like "She's carrying a wee bit of port helm". Hitchens would repeat what was told to him and would also check the course board in front of him.. This was a blackboard lit by a little, dim lamp. All ships had them right up until the 70s and 80s. It was subdivided by white painted lines. In the case of
Titanic, these would be labelled
"Standard".. "Steering" "Var:" . "Dev":
If, as you say, Smith had ordered a course change at any time before impact, the sequence of events would be as follows:
Before any planned course alteration, Smith would either write the order to do so in his night order book before 10 PM for Murdoch to see it and acknowledge when the latter came on duty. Otherwise, he would write in the same book that he intended altering at a specific time and would be on the bridge to do so. Whatever the case, Lightoller would most certainly have mentioned this in his evidence. He could not guarantee that Boxhall would forget about it or that the QM's didn't see it. So it wasn't in the Night Orders. It follows that if and order to turn it wasn't in the book, then Smith or Murdoch suddenly decided to alter to port.
However, if Murdoch did not see the ice barrier ahead, then it was not an emergency turn but a planned one. That brings Smith back into the picture because Murdoch would not make an arbitrary decision to alter course.
So Smith orders a turn to port to go south of the ice.... how far should that turn be? 2 points or 8 points? David, if Smith ordered such a turn, he would have pre-planned it.. had the officers of the Watch primed. Before it was executed, the helmsman would be aware of what was going on. Boxhall or Moody would be dispatched to the Standard compass platform. The course board would be wiped. The helm order " bring her round to (the desired heading by steering compass)." would be given, Moody would repeat it, Hichens would repeat it. The next order would be "let me know when you are right on- Mr Moody". When the ship's head was steady on the desired course, Boxhall would note the heading on the Standard compass. He would know the desired heading on that compass. He would then have Moody adjust the heading by the steering compass to correspond to the desired heading on the Standard Compass. When this was done, the proper Steering and Standard compass headings for the new course, together with the Magnetic variation and the ships Magnetic Deviation to apply to the Standard, would be noted in chalk on the course board.
OK! The foregoing might not be exactly what would happen but it's near enough as damn-it is to swearing. More to the point, it demonstrate that Hichens would not have forgotten about such an operation taking place just before impact. No way would he forget such a complicated series of happenings.
"And, this is exactly what a forensic reconstruction of the ship’s dead reckoning shows. From the time it turned “The Corner” it followed the North 71 West course. But, as I have repeatedly stated, when the two distress (“CQD”) positions are plotted they do not lie on that course line. Rather, they lie on a line 11 degrees to the left (south) of the track from “The Corner.” Since both men believed they were giving a location where the ship ought to be, it follows logically that the line from Captain Smith’s CQD position to Boxhall’s was the course actually being steered up too the time of the accident."
The intended new course at 5-50pm was to be 265 True. That being so, then if she had turned exactly at
The Corner after running for 126 miles from Noon and hit the Ice berg when the patent Log read 260 miles, she would then have been at the position 42-48.3 'North, 49-59.7'West and exactly on the prescribed course.
The wreck lies at about 41-44'North, 49-47'West. It is 4.8 miles ESE of where
Titanic should have been. If she hit the iceberg a mile to the northward and eastward of where she sank then she hit the iceberg at about 41-45'North, 49-46'East. 4.3 miles to the south and 3 miles eastward of where she should have been. This indicates that she turned onto 265 true when she was south and east of
The Corner
With his distress position, Captain S
However, the foregoing assumes as do so many others, that
Titanic arrived at, or passed through,
The Corner. at 5-50pm that late afternoon of April 14. Given that she was bucking a 1 knot current against her bow between Noon and around 8 pm, and the fact that the prevailing wind effecting was acting on Titanic's starboard side from Noon until 6 pm that Sunday - is that remotely likely? You use the word 'forensic'. Here's how I see it.
Unlike others, I won't speculate. I'll only us the evidence available - a set of know 'facts' copied from and based on, the transcript of the evidence given at both Official Inquiries into the disaster. These are as follows:
(1):
Titanic's Noon April 14 position worked in retrospect from the distance she had run on her Great Circle course up to that time and the distance remaining to run until she reached
The Corner where she was to alter onto her next fixed course. (By calculation based on evidence from 3rd Officer Pitman)
(2); The course she followed from Noon April 15 until she turned at 5-5-pm. (5th Officer Lowe)
(3): The prevailing wind for the period Noon until 8pm that evening, Sunday, April 14.... (Log of the SS Californian)
(4): Distance run by Patent Log from Noon, April 14 to 5-50pm that afternoon. (5th Officer Lowe)
(5): The Patent log reading at at time of impact - 260 miles. (QM Rowe)
(6): The position of the wreck of
Titanic on the sea bed.
From the above, I deduce the following arguments which I'll illustrate in the form of 2 sketches drawn to scale. I will also give my own estimate of the position where
Titanic hit the iceberg.
1: Noon position April 14...Latitude; 43-01'North...Longitude 44-32'West.
2. Course and distance... Noon to 5-50pm... 240.5 True x 124 miles.
3: Weather: Noon to 8pm.. Wind North: Fresh to moderate becoming light . Sea: North, moderate at first becoming slight.
4: Average speed per patent log to 6 pm. 20.95 knots.. Distance Noon to 5-50 pm = 122.5 miles
5: patent log reading at time of impact =260 nautical miles.
6: Distress position per 4th Officer Boxhall Laritude 41-46'North... Longitude 50-14'West.
7: Distress position per Captain Smith latitude 41-44'North.. Longitude 50-24'West.
8: Position (average) of the wreck of Titanic: Latitude 41-44'North.. Longitude 49-57'West.
9: Position where impact took place : Latitude 41-45'North, 49-56'West.
Sketch 1 : The Accident area.
View attachment 1708
If Titanic had turned exactly at The Corner and had been right on the line she would have been where shown, She was not, she was displaced to the south and east of that position. Furthermore, if there was not alteration of course before impact then obviously, all things being equal, she would have turned at a position equal to that amount and direction of displacement from her intended turning point at The Corner. See here:
In the above sketch, I have simply transferred the displacement shown in the first sketch, back to the Corner.
Originally, I thought that Smith had aimed for the eastern extension of the new course. Now, I believe that he noted the drop in speed at 4 pm that afternoon and estimated that
Titanic would continue to be effected by current However I think he misjudged it's direction and although aware of the effect the wind abaft the starboard bean was having on
Titanic, underestimated that too. He wrote in his Order Book that
Titanic was to be turned at 5-50 pm; the time at which he estimated
Titanic would cover the total distance to go
Titanic was a flat bottomed, high sided vessel with a lot of wind resistance above the waterline. The addition of four enormous sails (funnels) ensured that she would be badly effected by a beam wind. With the result,
Titanic crossed the eastern extension of the new course to the east of
The corner and turned onto her new course of 265 True. at a point 4.3 miles by 137 true from where Smith intended and that was, right at
The Corner
Incidentally, it was only Captain Smith's Longitude for his distress position that was wrong. His latitude was spot-on. This could not have been an accident. He must have estimated that at 5-50pm his ship had turned to the south of where he had intended and made the appropriate adjustments... he was a first class navigator and seaman who knew that region like the back if his hand.
As for Boxhalls CQD... have a look at his displacement south of the prescribed track.. almost exactly 1 mile. How convenient!
Jim C.