Photo of Titanic Iceberg

[Donald J A Smith]

Surely 'Titanic' never struck any portion of the fatal berg which would have been visible even at high noon. Nor were its portholes, railings, its starboard bridge-wing nor its rigging damaged. If explanations have been given for many bergs having similar 'shorelines', then why should we continue to imagine that we see the evidence of improbable 'paint'?

 

[tom blackburn]

John T. Harold of the Birmingham during an ice patrol, commented in a Hydrographer report later in the year 1912, that he had noted an iceberg with apparent marking on the berg near the waterline. He notified ships in the area at the time he spotted it to see if any ships had run into or scraped the side of the berg.
Based on this report, this may have been a common occurrence of ships scraping against bergs and leaving paint marks.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

But a paint mark conforming to ever nook, cranny, gully, dip, and crag in a strieght unbroken line? I don't think it would work like that in an actual collision unless somebody could demonstrate that the ship would conform...almost like rubber...to every curve of the berg without breaking it.

 

[Kyrila Scully]

There are a number of photographs that claim to be "the berg". I'm willing to share four of my photos with you for comparison if you want to email me.

Kyrila

 

[Roy Kristiansen]

Hi, Tom!

>>Based on this report, this may have been a common occurrence of ships scraping against bergs and leaving paint marks.

Michael's point is good - wrecks are never "tidy."

Early 1912 certainly was rough on Atlantic shipping, as the following headline should indicate. I've posted most of the article before, but hopefully this much will be enough to make the point.

THE SEATTLE DAILY TIMES
May 7, 1912, p. 10:

MARINE LOSSES OF 1912 BREAK RECORD
Present Year Will Go Down in History as Most Disastrous Ever Known to Ocean Going Vessels.

TITANIC WRECKS [sic] ADDS CLIMAX TO LONG LIST
Thirteen Ships Lost in January, Twelve in February and Twenty-Two in March -- Five Now Overdue.

. . . And all this was before April handed us the Titanic.

Roy

 

[Phil Fazzini]

The infamous Iceberg-does it appear in original W.Lord hardcover "A Night to Remember"? Does it appear in postcard-photograph which appeared several years ago? Was it ever photographed?

[Moderator's Note: This message and the one immediately following, originally a separate thread in a different topic, have been moved to this pre-existing thread addressing the same subject. MAB]

 

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

My understanding is that there are photos of icebergs in the area. A couple of them are good candidates, but I'm told that the story of the "tell-tale red smear" on one of them at the bottom could be bacteria growing at the waterline.