Iceberg sighted and struck
On a flat calm, moonless sea, lookout Frederick Fleet rang three bells and telephoned the bridge: iceberg right ahead. First Officer Murdoch ordered the helm over and the engines reversed; roughly half a minute later the berg scraped down the starboard side. Later sonar work on the buried hull indicated a series of narrow openings totalling only a few square metres — not a continuous gash — but they were spread over about 90 m and opened the forward six compartments to the sea. She was making about 22 knots.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- RMS Titanic · vessel · not located
- North Atlantic — Grand Banks approaches · maritime region · Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the Labrador Current · not located
- Captain Edward John Smith · person · not located
Evidence
Verified — Every field is supported by a cited authoritative source. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Report on the Loss of the S.S. Titanic — British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry
Found the loss due to collision with an iceberg brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was navigated; recorded the ship's particulars, the voyage timings, the ice messages received and the lifeboat complement; held that Titanic exceeded the Board of Trade requirement; found the Californian could have reached her; concluded (incorrectly) that the hull sank intact.
Wreck Commissioner's Court / Board of Trade, London · 1912-07-30 · Verified
Lord Mersey presiding; 36 sitting days, 97 witnesses
Sonar survey of Titanic's buried starboard hull and analysis of the collision damage
Imaging of the sediment-buried starboard plating indicated a series of narrow separations along about 90 m of hull totalling only a few square metres in area, rather than the long continuous gash assumed in 1912.
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (Marine Forensic Panel) · 1996 · Verified
Marine Forensic Panel, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers - analysis of the 1996 sub-bottom sonar imaging of the buried starboard hull
Recorded on RMS Titanic
- Keel of yard number 401 laid at Harland and Wolff
- Titanic launched at Belfast
- Sea trials in Belfast Lough and delivery to White Star
- Maiden voyage departs Southampton
- Titanic anchors in Cherbourg roadstead
- Titanic sails from Cherbourg for Queenstown
- Titanic anchors off Roche's Point, Queenstown
- Titanic sails for New York — last sight of land
- Baltic's ice warning handed to Ismay and pocketed
- Mesaba reports heavy pack ice and bergs directly ahead
- Californian's ice message cut off — 'keep out, I am busy'
- Iceberg sighted and struck
- Andrews establishes the ship cannot float
- First distress call transmitted — CQD, later SOS
- First lifeboat lowered; first distress rocket fired
- Last boat launched from the davits
- Lights fail and the hull breaks in two
- Titanic founders
- Carpathia reaches the boats and begins the rescue
- Cable ship Mackay-Bennett sails from Halifax to recover the dead
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The RAPID array begins continuous AMOC measurement at 26.5°N · 2004-04
- Wreck located by the Argo camera sled · 1985-09-01
- International Ice Patrol established · 1914
- Cable ship Mackay-Bennett sails from Halifax to recover the dead · 1912-04-17
- Andrews establishes the ship cannot float · 1912-04-15 00:05
- First distress call transmitted — CQD, later SOS · 1912-04-15 00:15
- First lifeboat lowered; first distress rocket fired · 1912-04-15 00:45
- Last boat launched from the davits · 1912-04-15 02:05