To avoid the icebergs found each Spring off the coast of Newfoundland, ships take a more southerly course than at other times of the year. Ships will sail until they reach a pint known as 'The Corner', which is located at 42 north latitude, 47 west longitude. From here, they steam almost due west to the Nantucket Lightship. Captain Smith however decided to delay the turn for 45 minutes, and Third Officer Herbert Pitman calculated that when they did turn the corner, they were ten miles south of the normal shipping route.
Smith's decision was likely because of the numerous ice warnings the ship had received throughout the voyage. As early as Friday, the French liner La Touraine reported ice and passing steamer Rappanhannock morsed by signal lamp of passing through much heavy pack ice. Titanic had since passed the areas spoken of by these two ships, but the messages from the Batlic and the Caronia meant that ice would still be a threat during the rest of the voyage.
At 6:00pm, Second Officer Charles Lightoller came on duty to releive Cheif Officer Henry Wilde. Lightoller had been with the White Star Line since January 1900, and had worked as Fisrt Officer on the 17,000 tonne Oceanic. He was originally going to have the rank of First Officer of the new 46,000 tonne Titanic, but only a few days before the maiden voyage was to begin, Captain Smith brought along Henry Wilde as Cheif Officer, bumping Lightoller down to second, and William Murdoch to First. Originally, the Second Officer was to be Mr. David Blair. When the shuffle came to being, Blair was transferred to the Olympic, taking with him the knowledge of where the binoculars were stored, something that may have saved fifteen hundred lives. Lightoller had lived an adventurous life. He had been shipwrecked on a deserted island for eight days, he had unsucessfully prospected for gold in the Yukon and had also worked as a cowboy in the Canadian West. Now, he expected to command his own ship soon, and always did his orders 'by the book'. He could be intolerable of those who did not follow orders tio the letter or of those whom he suspected used poor judgement.
At 7:15, lamp trimmer Samuel Hemming came to the bridge to report that the navagational lights had been lit. He found the bridge in darkness to allow the crew to see out, and William Murdoch acting as Officer of the Watch while Lightoller was in the Officer's Mess Room for dinner. Just as he was leaving, Murdoch called to Hemming.
"Hemming, when you go forward see the fore scuttle hatch closed as we are in the vacinity of ice, and there is a glow comming from that. I want everything dark before the bridge, as any light would interfere with their (the lookouts) ability to see an obsicle in their path." Hemming went forward and closed the hatch personnaly before going down below.
In the first class resteraunt on B deck, Captain Smith lingered over dinner with several of the ships more prominant passengers, among them George and Elanor Widener. Their guests included their son Harry, the Carters, who had brought a brand new red Renault car with him on the voyage, and Major Archibald Butt, President Taft's Military Aide-De-Camp. As with White Star regulations, Captain Smith drank neither wine nor liquor of any sort. Shortly before 9:00, he excused himself to return to the bridge.
In third class an informal party was being held after dinner, with music being provided by an Irish band. Nearly one hundred passengers were gathered in the Second Class dining room for a hymn-sing lead by Rev. Carter. Included in the people gathered there was Lawrence Beesly, an English School teacher on holiday. He noted that almost all the hymns delt with dangers at sea. 'Lead Kindly Light' was written about a ship wrecked in the Atlantic, and one of the most popular songs was 'Eternal Father, Strong to Save', commonly known as 'For Those in Peril on the Sea'.
At 8:55, Captain Smith arrived on the bridge and commented to Lightoller about the cold.
"Yes, it's very cold sir. Infact, it's only one degree above freezing. I have sent word down to the carpenter and rung up the engine room and told them that it will be freezing during the night" was Lightoller's responce.
"There's not much wind" Smith said, changing the subject.
"No, it is a flat calm as a matter of fact" Lightoller replied.
In his 24 years as a mariner, Lightoller had never seen the sea so calm. He casually remarked to the captain that the lack of wind will make the bergs hard to see. Upon leaving the bridge at 9:20, Smith left Lightoller with the instruction: "If in the slightest degree doubtful, let me know." |
