Lights going out in the bow

[Augusto Félix Solari]

I read a witness testimony on the Titanic Inquiry project and it caught my attention. It is the following one:

"Senator BOURNE.
Hence, you assumed that she broke in two. The bow lights were extinguished, were they?

Mr. BRIGHT.
You could not see anything of them after that.

Senator BOURNE.
Did you see any lights on the stern after she settled?

"Mr. BRIGHT.
Yes, sir; until she finally disappeared underneath the water.

Senator BOURNE.
Until the stern disappeared, after the break?"

The extract is obviously implying that the lights went off in the bow at first and they disappeared from the stern only after the break up. Is this possible?

 

[Adam Went]

Augusto:

Considering that the bow was already well and truly underwater by that stage, I imagine that the lights would have been somewhat difficult to see.

From what I've read and heard, the lights went off at 2.17 AM, came back on for a brief moment, and then went out and stayed out at 2.18 AM. Not sure how accurate that is but it sounds about right.....the lights that were already underwater in the bow section surely would have shorted out somewhere by that point.

I've always felt that the bow section split off completely only after it was below the waterline and out of sight of the survivors.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>The extract is obviously implying that the lights went off in the bow at first and they disappeared from the stern only after the break up. Is this possible?<<

Once the breakup occured, there would be no lights in the bow section because the electrical cables leading to the generators would have been broken as well.

It's entirely possible that the lights in the stern could have been going a for just a bit longer but it would depend on whether or not any steam was getting to the generators, and whether or not the switchboard wasn't shorted out.

 

[Augusto Félix Solari]

But with the pipes that bring the steam from the boilers to the generators broken, the lights couldn't have lasted much.

 

[Adam Went]

Infact everybody on board was fortunate that they lasted as long as they did. It would have been absolute chaos if there was no lights and no power say an hour before ship went under, rather than just a couple of minutes. The Lusitania, for instance, had no power within moments of the torpedo striking....and that was in broad daylight, not the middle of the night.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>But with the pipes that bring the steam from the boilers to the generators broken, the lights couldn't have lasted much.<<

Quite right, and they didn't. A flicker, a few moments of light, and they were gone. However, by this time, the boats were gone and the express elevator was already plunging to the bottom.