The Titanic's two wireless operators, Jack Phillips and his assistant Harold Bride , were in the wireless room busy trying to catch up with the multitude of passenger messages that needed to be sent. The wireless set had broken down the previous day and hadn't been repaired until early Sunday morning. At 1:40pm, while the men were working hard to catch up, they were interrupted by a message from the White Star steamer Baltic. The message was as follows: "Captain Smith, Titanic. Have had moderate variable winds and clear fine weather since leaving. Greek steamer Athinai reports passing icebergs and large quantity of field ice today in latitude 41.51 north, longitude 49.52 west. Last night we spoke [with] German oil tanker Deutschland, Stettin to Philadelphia, not under control; short of coal; latitude 40.42 north, longitude 55.11. Wishes to be reported to New York and other steamers. Wish you and Titanic all success."

This message from the Baltic was immediately given to Captain Smith who, instead of giving it to the officers on watch, carried it with him. Captain Smith encountered Bruce Ismay (managing director of the White Star line) as he walked aft along the promenade. According to Ismay's testimony in a later hearing regarding the loss of theTitanic, the Captain handed him the message without comment. Ismay briefly glanced at the message and then put it in his pocket.

During the few spring months when icebergs were a threat around the Grand Banks, ships would take a more southerly route, steaming southwest until reaching forty-two degrees west longitude and forty-seven degrees west longitude. This location was commonly referred to as "the corner". From this point on they steamed nearly due west on the course for Nantucket Lightship. The Titanic reached "the corner" around 5:00pm but, instead of immediately turning, Captain Smith ordered a delay in changing the ship's course until 5:45. This caused the Titanic to travel an additional sixteen miles southwest. When the ship finally turned the corner, she was approximately ten miles south off the normal shipping route. It is likely that the Captain decided this change in course in response to the ice warnings received earlier that day.

Second Officer Lightoller came on duty at 6:00pm. His watch would last until 10:00 that night. Lightoller had been with the White Star Line since January 1900, and he had left the 17,000-ton Oceanic to join the 46,000-ton Titanic. At 7:35, shortly after his dinner, he noticed how quickly the temperature was falling now that the sun had set. An hour later the temperature was almost freezing yet the weather was clear and the sea unusually calm.

Meanwhile, lookouts Archie Jewell and George Symons stared out into the darkness from their high perch. It was a starry, moonless night. Had there been a moon to reflect upon the sea's surface, it might have been possible for them to spot any icebergs that were in the vicinity. Generally, however, it was very hard to see icebergs on the best of nights.

At 8:55pm Captain Smith arrived on the bridge and remarked to Second Officer Lightoller about how cold it was.

"Yes, it is very cold, sir," Lightoller replied. "In fact, it is only one degree above freezing. I have sent word down to the carpenter and run up the engine room and told them that it will be freezing during the night." "There is not much wind," Smith said. "No, it is a flat calm as a matter of fact," came Lightoller's reply.

Because of the many stars in the sky, Lightoller believed that there would be a great deal of reflected light from any icebergs that might be nearby. At 9:20 the Captain left Lightoller with these instructions: "If in the slightest degree doubtful, let me know." And with that he left the bridge knowing that navigationally speaking, this was the most crucial part of the Titanic's voyage. Unfortunately, even though the Captain had received a number of ice warning messages that afternoon - most notably from the Baltic, Caronia, Amerika, and the Californian - only the Caronia's warning had been posted in the chartroom (according to later testimony from the surviving officers). The officer's, therefore, were unaware of the other warnings.

At 9:30 Lightoller instructed Sixth Officer Moody to telephone the crow's nest and ask the men to keep a sharp lookout for small ice and to pass the word to subsequent watches.

Shortly after 9:30, Jack Phillips in the wireless room, still busy transmitting messages from passengers, was interrupted by a message from the steamer Mesaba as follows: "Ice Report. In latitude 42 north to 41.25 north, longitude 49 west to longitude 50.3 west. Saw much heavy pack ice and great number large icebergs, also ice field. Weather good, clear."

Phillips, who had already delivered a number of ice messages to the bridge, simply replied, "Received, thanks." This message, probably the most important received by the Titanic so far, went undelivered. The Mesaba had identified a huge ice field into which the Titanic was directly headed. Later that night an overworked Phillips was interrupted from his work yet again from a message from the Californian. "Say, old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice." Phillips, infuriated with the interruption, angrily replied, "Shut up! Shut up! I am busy. I am working Cape Race."

Cyril Evans, the Californian's operator, listened as Phillips sent "Sorry. Please Repeat. Jammed," to Cape Race. Twenty-five minutes later he could still hear Phillips morsing, and at 11:35 he shut down his set and went to bed.

11:30 found the Titanic steaming at 22 1/2 knots. Fredrick Fleet and Lee, now on lookout in the crow's nest, stared out ahead into the darkness. Then, the horizon infront of them seemed to develop a slight haze. A few minutes later Officer Fleet could just make out a black object immediately in their path. He knew instantly what it was.

Reaching for the crow's nest bell, he rang it quickly three times indicating to the bridge that there was something directly ahead, and then he picked up the telephone. As soon as the phone was picked up in the wheelhouse, he said: "Is someone there?" "Yes," Officer Moody, on duty, replied. "What do you see?" "Iceberg right ahead." "Thank you." came Moody's reply and he hung up the phone. "Iceberg right ahead!" he called loudly to First Officer Murdoch. Murdoch, having already seen the iceberg ahead, rushed to the engine room telegraph and signaled "full speed astern" while ordering "hard a' starboard" to wheelmaster Hichens. Hichens immediately spun the wheel hard over.

Fredrick Fleet, with the telephone still in his hands, waited anxiously for the bow to begin to swing to port. The iceberg loomed ever closer and the lookouts braced themselves. Suddenly, the bow of theTitanic began to turn and, it looked as if the ship might clear the iceberg. However, as the iceberg moved alongside the starboard bow, a strange scraping noise was heard...

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Copyright ©1997 Gary Arnold