Dear Mr Molony,
I was very pleased and excited when i found your article about the rockets. I am working about the time difference between Titanic and Californian, and so the rockets are a matter of high interest for me. Before i read your article i thought that
Boxhall had fired two rockets and Rowe finished the remaining six. What you found seems very convincible to me.
I have some remarks about timings and intervals.
1. I think the rockets were fired in intervals of 7 to 8 minutes
2. I dont think it is necessary for Rowe to set his watch back 20 minutes to make the times meet.
... and one remark about
the Californian:
The observations on
the Californian are more accurate as you believe.
Boxhall an Rowe fired their rockets really at one time. These rockets explode and throw stars. On the long distance Stone and Gibson could not distinguish whether the stars came from one single rocket or from 2 rockets fired simultaneously. The Titanic fired 14 rockets, and the Californian saw two small and six big ones, and she did not miss a number.
Before i continue with the details i should explain the ships time of Californian and Titanic.
The ships time of the Californian is 1 hour 50 minutes ahead of New York time. This is very clearly stated by Cpt Lord and Evans, the wireless man of the Californian, in the US enquiry. In discussions about Californian and Titanic i found in several books, e.g. Eaton&Haas, that Titanics clock was 12 minutes ahead of the Califonian, because at noon she (Titanic) was 3 degrees east of the Californian. This sounds quite reasonable. But there is a serious problem:
The last CQD was caught by the Virginian at 00.27 New York Time. Now when we add 2 hours 2 minutes to get ships time, we will find that this CQD was sent at 2.29 Titanic ships time. But she went down 9 minutes before!! So there must be a mistake.
There is just one small hint to get Titanics ships time. Rostron sent a telegramm to Cpt Haddock of the
Olympic to report the rescue operation. There he said: Titanic foundered at 2.20, 5.47 GMT. 5.47 GMT is 0.47 New York time. The remaining time difference is 1 hour 33 minutes. This time is used in the epilogue of the US senate enquiry. Obviously this knowledge got lost after let's say 20 books about Titanic were written, and the remaining 280 books which were written since tell us that Titanic-time is 1 hour 50 minutes ahead of New York Time. Nearby the Californian suddenly we are informed that the Titanics clock is going ahead another twelve minutes ...
So fare the ships time. To get all times in one view i say:
11.00 New York time = 00.33 Titanic-time = 00.50 Californian-time.
There we are. The Californian-time is 17 minutes ahead of the Titanic-time in stead of 12 minutes behind. This makes a difference of nearly half an hour!
Now lets go back to the rockets. 2nd officer Stone saw six rockets from 00.45 to 1.15 Californian-time. After that he saw three more. The time in his affidavit is not quite clear. He saw the rockets, and that the other ship was turning, and at 1.50 the Californian was heading WSW. Before we make a final decision about the time we look after the intervals. Five rockets in 30 Minutes include four intervals, and 30 divided by four is 7.5 minutes. Gill, the donkey man went on deck short after half past one. After 10 minutes he saw one flash, and after 7 or 8 minutes another one. Rowe fired 6 Rockets from 0.45 to 1.25. These are 6 rockets, but 5 intervals in 40 minutes. So we have 8-minute intervals.
Supposed Rowes last three rockets were the last three seen on the Californian, Stone and Gibson were to see these at 1.23, 1.31 and 1.39 Californian time.
Now we change back from Californian time to Titanic time. We must take away 17 minutes. Eight rockets were seen from the Californian from 00.28 to 1.22 Titanic-time. Rowes were sent from 0.45 to 1.25. The time for the last meets very well the Californian observation time. To find the time for the first two rockets sent by Boxhall we have to count two times 8 minutes back from the point were Rowe started. So these two rockets were sent probably at 0.37 and 0.29 Titanic-time. This time again meets beautiful the time were the Californian saw the first rocket.
I dont see any reason for Rowe having set back his watch for 20 minutes, but i see a lot of reasons for some hundred Titanic-books to be rewritten which teach us that the first rocket was sent at 0.45 Titanic-Time. The clearing off the boats started short after twelwe, the first CQD was sent at 11.58 ( take 1 hour 33 minutes, not 1 hour 50 minutes). Boxhall said, the light was seen before he took the position 41.46 N 50.14 W to the Marconi room. This new position was sent since 10.35 New York time, which is 00.08 Titanic-Time. Why should he wait more than 30 minutes to send the rockets ? So it makes much sence that these eight rocketsignals (2 single and 6 double flashes) were sent between 00.28 and 1.25 Titanic Time, and they were seen between 0.45 and 1.42 Californian time.
best regards
Markus Philipp
