Titanic's Masthead Light

[Julian Atkins]

Here is a sketch I understand Fleet made

Hi Aaron,

re your post 24 above of 12th December 2017.

I have also seen 'Fleet's sketch'. It is quite a remarkable set of drawings. The perspective is near perfect, and very very difficult to draw properly . The text that accompany the drawings is in a 'moderne' style. Either Fleet was a remarkably accomplished artist and student of the then 'moderne' calligraphy, or he described what he saw to a very good artist who made the drawings and did the text.

Cheers,

Julian

 

[Jim Currie]

Do we know for how many minutes before the sinking the Titanic's masthead light was either under the water or out of power?

The navigation light-switch box would be in the wheelhouse or enclosed bridge, Mila. The moment the water reached the box, the nav.light fuses would blow. This would happen at the time or slightly before Liughtoller was washed off the top of the bridge housing


.

 

[Jim Currie]

Thank you Sam,
I believe Stone and Gibson saw the masthead light until 2:17 Titanic's time so 3 minutes before the sinking. Would they be able to see the masthead light if the distance between the two was around 14 miles?

Hello, Mila.

In theory, Titanic's mast head light would have been visible at the last moment when about 15 miles away. However, in reality, even a modern ship's lights are almost impossible to detect at that distance, even then.using binoculars Add to that the fact that the lighting system of Titanic was low powered with a maximum of 100 volts and back then and the light bulbs were incandescent. Her lights would probably have been a whitish-yellow and only visible with a telescope or binoculars at distances over 10 or 12 miles. James Gibson clearly saw the white masthead light of the nearby vessel at 12-15 am that morning and did so with the naked eye after arriving on the bridge and before his night vision was properly adjusted. There is no way he was seeing Titanic.
Here's a copy from the B.o.t regulations regarding electric nav, lights appearing in Nicholls's Seamanship & Nautical Knowledge:

 

[Mila]

Hi Jim,
Welcome back!

My question was more about the earth curvature than about luminosity. I thought that at 2:17 a.m. the Titanic masthead could have been too low to see it from a ship that was located 12-14 miles away.

 

[Jim Currie]

It was, Mila.

 

[Mila]

Jim,
From what distance it could have been seen in your opinion?

 

[Jim Currie]

Jim,
From what distance it could have been seen in your opinion?

Not knowing the details, Mila, I can only make an educated guess.

Going by the evidence of Captain Lord and his 3rd Officer, Groves, it seems that they were "noticing" lights at a distance of between 10 and 12 miles.
In the case of Groves, he "noticed" his first white masthead light at 11-10 pm when, according to him, it was 10 to 12 miles away from the Californian.
By his estimate, that vessel stopped at 11-40 pm when about 6 miles away from the Californian. If that were the case, then the vessel showing these two masthead lights (Titanic had one) covered a distance of about 6 miles in 30 minutes making that vessel a 12-knot ship.
Titanic would have covered 11.25 miles in that time and would have been 17.25 miles away from the Californian when Groves first "noticed" her. That is absurd. Sam completely washes over this.
Additionally, if Groves and Lord were seeing the exact same ship and Lord noticed her at or before 10-50pm, AND the ship in question was Titanic; then when Lord first noticed her, she was at least 50 minutes away from stopping. This suggests that Titanic was at least 18.75 miles away when Lord first noticed it with the naked eye. Now that truly is totally absurd.

Does this make sense to you and others?

 

[Mila]

Jim I am afraid to disappoint you but I am sure Groves watched the Titanic. His "second" masthead light could have been a star or a planet. There were plenty of them rising in south-east

Maybe the "second" masthead was a reflection? And Lord, he also could have mistaken a rising star with a masthead light or he might have seen the Titanic. Think for yourself Groves watched the approaching ship for 30 minutes or so. He saw her to stop, and to turn. A few more people saw her after that, and she was the same ship Groves watched. She was the Titanic.

 

[Jim Currie]

Read the evidence care4fully, Mila.

Groves saw his lights approaching from the south for half an hour. Lord saw his light approaching from a direction 90 degrees to the left of where Groves saw his.
Here are a few facts.
If a ship the same as Titanic approached from the eastward and changing her bearing from left to right, her starboard side would open to an angle of about 45 degreed to the Californian. Those on Californian would have seen a bright pinpoint become a blaze of light, the likes of which they had seldom if ever seen before. Her green sidelight would be hard to see, even with binoculars
If Titanic turned as Sam claims she did, then those on Californian would have seen as I described before. Then, as Titanic turned hard left, the blaze would lessen to become a pinpoint and she would show her stern light before it opened up until Titanic's entire starboard side was in full view. Thereafter, it would narrow once more and this time, the bright light would still be there but greatly reduced in area and her port sidelight would be visible. Here's a rough sketch of what they would see. I have left out the 7th position which would be a ship showing a red port light and a portside glare of light. The following sequence, it indeed it ever happened, would have been seen over a period of about 6 minutes. Hardly missable.