Reversing Engines

[Parks Stephenson]

Paul,

What did you say?

Sorry, just kidding.

I'll repeat an example of what you explained here. For those of you who have heard this story before, please bear with me.

I was aboard the USS Ranger when she suffered a disasterous fire in 1983 while on station in the North Arabian Sea. Six engineering personnel lost their lives that day, asphyxiated by smoke in the escape trunk from their space. Their bodies were laid out at the triage area set up on the ship's aft sponson. I have a very specific memory of seeing their bodies covered up on that sponson. I can still picture the entire scene in my mind. Trouble is, there's no way that I ever made it back that far aft that day. I was busy helping fire teams in the middle of the hangar bay. Even today, being as truthful as I can be, I cannot explain why I have such a vivid visual memory of an event that I could only have heard about, or expected to see based on what I was told.

I'm not saying that's the case for Boxhall, but there you have it. Human memory is a fallible thing. The inquiry transcripts may be faithful recordings of the eyewitness statements, but those statements are only as good as the human memory which spawned them.

Parks

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Another thought that occurred to me right after I hit the Send button...it's cruelly ironic that my clearest memory of the Ranger disaster is false, while more truthful memories are confused and hazy.

Parks

 

[Erik Wood]

Quite ironic!!

Erik

 

[Earl Chapman]

Parks,

I checked my copy of the Manual of Seamanship (1937), published under the authority of the British Admiralty, and founding the following statement which supports that all telegraphs were manned (and presumably operated) when entering or leaving harbour:

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Quote:

Telegraphmen.---Are stationed at the engine room telegraphs. They work them as ordered by the officer of the watch. Usually at sea one only is required. When entering or leaving harbour the telegraphs are fully manned.

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Presumably, the practice of manning all telegraphs when entering or leaving harbour was also followed by the Merchant Marine, but this cannot be confirmed by the above quote. The White Star Line did not follow the above "rule" with respect to the provision of one "telegraphman" to operate the telegraph while at sea. On merchant ships, the telegraphs were expected to be operated by the officer of the watch or delegated to one of the junior officers (or standby quartermaster). I would expect that the navy required this additional sailor for warships to ensure that a warship could respond to an emergency as quickly as possible.

Also I would expect that identical telegraphs were in use for both military and commercial steamers and it would make sense for both services to dim or extinguish telegraph lights as soon as practical. I tend to agree with you, that Boxhall would have considerable difficulty is seeing the position of the telegraphs without his night vision.

Earl Chapman
Montreal, Canada

 

[David G. Brown]

It is my opinion that Murdoch did intend to order "Astern Full," BUT NOT TO AVOID THE ICEBERG. He would have issued that order after clearing the berg, had that eventuated.

There was lots more ice ahead of Titanic than just one iceberg. There was the field of ice that trapped Californian. This field is plainly shown in the ice charts prepared for the US hearings.

Striking on the iceberg slowed the ship and helped it turn rapidly to starboard. This meant the ship was no longer heading for the ice field behind the deadly berg. Murdoch never issued the "Astern Full" command because it had become superfluous.

There was likely more discussion of the events surrounding the accident than Boxhall related in his testimony. It is entirely possible that Murdoch explained that he planned to call for a crash stop, and that is what Boxhall recalled in the hearings. This would confirm what Paul and Parks said in their recent postings.

--David G. Brown