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The White Star Line

Titanic's maiden voyage 2

The collision:

April 14 1912 The conditions which were encountered that night were exceptional. The sea was as calm as a mill pond, and the night exceptionally clear, with no wind at all. The stars were brilliant but there was no moon. The Titanic was traveling at 21 knots, Murdock the first officer was on watch on the bridge. Captain Smith had retired to his cabin for the evening, satisfied that all was well. Smith had left instructions to keep a lookout for ice and, if visibility worsened, to slow down and call him immediately.

Suddenly, at 23:30 the still night was shattered by 3 bells, giving the alarm from the crows nest. At the same time a shout down the phone, "Ice ahead". The lookouts had seen a large iceberg on the starboard bow. Murdock had seen it at almost the same time, and and instantly rang the command "Full speed astern" on both wing engines and "Stop" on the center turbine. at the same time he shouted to Hitchin, who was the Quartermaster at the wheel, "Hard a star-board". The Titanic's bows shifted slightly to port and as the iceberg slid past on her starboard side the well deck was covered with ice. Murdock shouted the order "Close all watertight doors". At this moment Captain smith appeared and took charge of the situation. He sent the carpenter below to sound the ship and gave orders for the wireless operators to send the distress signal.

Some passengers felt a slight vibration, but none of them realised that the ship was doomed. Part of the iceberg had torn open the bilges. The opening measured about 300 feet, form just forward of the foremast to boiler room No.5. Five of the watertight compartments were damaged. The Titanic was designed to float with her two largest compartments flooded but few ships today would have survived such damage. It has been said that if the Titanic had struck the iceberg head on she would not have sunk, as her bow would have been telescoped and only the smaller compartments would have been damaged. However, it was said at the Court of Inquiry, it would have been very bad seamanship for Murdock not to have tried to avoid the hazard ahead. If there had been Moonlight it would have reflected on the ice therefore the lookouts would have seen earlier; or if the sea had been rough, the breakers around the ice would have been seen from a greater distance. The circumstances were so incredible everything was against her that night.

Events according to F. Ray

F. Dent Ray was one of the first class stewards, he always said that the Titanic was a magnificent ship, everyone was delighted with her, none more than Thomas Andrews who had taken sensitive instruments with him to measure the vibration from the engines to the propellers. He found there was almost none. He worried only about three things. The number of screws in the coat hooks on cabin doors, the Galley hot press did not work properly and the pebble dashing in the Parisian cafe was a bit too dark.

Dent Ray had recently married and had retired early after a busy day waiting in the first class dining room. He was laying in his bed when he felt a slight jolt and thought the ship had lost a propeller, but he knew that this would not be hi concern and turned over for sleep. Suddenly he was awakened by another Steward who shouted for him to get up, as the ship was sinking. At first Ray thought it was a windup but his mate had told him that they had struck ice and put some into Ray' bunk to prove it.

At that moment the second steward, Dodd, arrived and ordered them all up onto the deck. As he went into the corridor which was known as 'Scotland Road' he noticed there was a slight lean down to the bows. He walkd up the back staircase to the boat deck, there he saw crowds of people wearing various assorted clothing and covers being ripped of the lifeboats. The Titanic lay dead in the water, the safety valves of the boilers were blowing off steam and the noise was deafening. Ray decided that some warmer clothing was essential so he went back to his cabin and put on some more clothes, and an overcoat his wife had given him for the voyage. He knew that the ship was sinking. Water was at the bottom of the service doors from Scotland Road' to the Grand Staircase. As he passed the Pursers office he noticed that they had the safes open and were taking out the jewelry etc. Ray had been detailed to row in boat no. 13 which was on the starboard side, and so, made his way there. On his way he met another Steward who said to him "You're not going are you? your safer here". Ray replied " I am. I'm detailed to row that boat". Ray never saw that steward again.

When he returned to the deck the lifeboat was full, this was one of the few that were. The crew had problems convincing the people to get into the lifeboats, this was because the passengers thought the Titanic was unsinkable. No one dreamed that she would go down, the majority beleived they would be safer in the warmth of the Titanic than be cast adrift on that glacial night. The truth was that there were only enough lifeboats for around 1,000 people but ray stated that even if there had been enough for every soul onboard they still would not have gone. Ray took his place in the boat and they were lowered away.

Looking back at the Titanic it could be seen how the front of the vessel had sank into the water. as she sank lower her stern lifted into the air. Suddenly all the lights went off, came back on and went out again, this time for good. I do not suppose that in those days they would have had the luxury of circuit breakers which could automatically reset, that being the case one could only begin to imagine the bravery of those men who fought to keep the lights glowing for as long as humanly possible. Ray said that in her final moments the bow of the ship was down in the water and her stern rose high into the night sky, her huge propellers clearly visible. There was a terrific noise like thunder which he assumed were the huge engines leaving their beds and crashing through the bow of the ship, completely destroying everything in their way. the engines were at that time the largest turbine engines ever built, along with the Britannic and the Olympic. after this there was an awful moaning and the deep cry of many souls struggling in the icy water

Everyone in the lifeboats knew there were people left onboard, the pumps and dynamos were kept going until the end. It was not until the survivors in lifeboat no.13 were onboard the Carpathia and the roll was called that they realised the loss of life was over 1,500 people.

Click here to view Maiden voyage 3, What about Bruce Ismay

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