TITANIC TIMELINE PART FIVE

TITANIC TIMELINE PART FIVE:  Collision to Sinking

Photos of TITANIC sinking in this post are from the film, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, based on the book by Walter Lord.

11:50 PM: During first ten minutes after impact, water rises 14 feet above the keel, forward. First five compartments begin to take on water. Boiler room No. 6, five feet above keel, is flooded in eight feet of water.

Harold Bride in Radio Room.

    12:00 AM: Mail room, 24 feet above keel, begins taking enough water to float mail bags. Following reports to Captain Smith, now on the bridge, of water pouring into number 1, 2, and 3 holds, and boiler room No. 6, and his own rapid tour to inspect damage with Thomas Andrews, Smith asks Andrews for his assessment. Andrews calculates the ship can stay afloat from one to two-and-a-half hours only. This is based on the mathematical certainty that if more than four holds are flooded, once a compartment fills with water, the water will spill into the next compartment and so on. Titanic's bow begins to sink. The ship is doomed. Captain Smith orders CQD distress call for assistance sent out over ship's wireless. Titanic's estimated position: 41º 46' N, 50º 14' W. Boilers shut down and relief pipes against funnels blow off huge noisy clouds of steam.

April 15, Monday: 12:05 AM: Squash court, 32 feet above keel is awash. Orders are given to uncover the lifeboats and to get the passengers and crew ready on deck. Only enough room in the lifeboats for 1,178 of the estimated 2,227 on board if every boat is filled.

    12:10 to 1:50 AM: Several crew members on the Californian, some 10 to 19 miles away, see lights of a steamer. A number of attempts to make contact with the ship with Morse lamp fail. Rockets are observed, but as they appear so low over the ship's deck, and make no sound, they do not seem like distress rockets, and no great concern is taken. Distance between ships seems to increase until they are out of sight of each other.

    12:15 to 2:17 AM: Numerous ships hear Titanic's distress signals, including her sister ship the Olympic, some 500 miles away. Several ships, including Mount Temple (49 miles away), Frankfort (153 miles), Birma (70 miles), Baltic (253 miles), Virginian (170), and Carpathia (58 miles) prepare at various times to come to assist.

    12:15 AM: Band begins to play lively ragtime tunes in first-class lounge on A Deck, later moving up to Boat Deck near port entrance to Grand Staircase.

    12:20 AM: Order given to start loading lifeboats with women and children.

    12:25 AM: Order given to start loading the lifeboats with women and children first. The Carpathia, southeast some 58 miles, receives distress call and immediately heads full speed to rescue.

    12:45 AM: The first lifeboat, starboard No. 7, is safely lowered away. It can carry 65 people, but leaves with 28 aboard. First distress rocket fired. Eight rockets will be fired altogether. Fourth Officer Boxhall observes vessel approach Titanic and then disappear despite attempts to contact her with Morse lamp. Boat No. 4 begins loading between 12:30 and 12:45.

    12:55 AM: First port-side boat No. 6 lowered with only 28 aboard, including Molly Brown and Major Peuchen. Starboard No. 5 is lowered. Ismay is chastised by Fifth Officer Lowe for interfering with his command. (41 aboard - room for another 24.)

    1:00 AM: Starboard boat No. 3 is lowered with only 32 aboard including 11 crew.

    1:10 AM: Starboard No. 5 is lowered (capacity 40) with only 12 aboard, including Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon, and seven crew. Port-side No. 8 loaded and lowered carrying only 39 people. It is steered in the water by the Countess of Rothes.

    1:15 AM: Water reaches Titanic's name on the bow and she now lists to port. The tilt of the deck grows steeper. Boats now begin to be more fully loaded.

    1:20 AM: Starboard No. 9 leaves with some 56 people aboard. Titanic has now developed a noticeable list to starboard.

    1:25 AM: Port-side boat No. 12 is lowered with 40 women and children on board. Two seamen are put in charge of boat. After Titanic sinks, this boat is tied together with boats 4, 10, 14 and collapsible D. Later on survivors are moved from boat 14 to the other boats by Fifth Officer Lowe so he can return to pick up swimming passengers. Boat 12 is subsequently overloaded with 70 passengers, many rescued from collapsible D.

    1:30 AM: Signs of panic begin to appear among some passengers on the ship. As port-side boat 14 is lowered with 60 people, including Fifth Officer Lowe, a group of passengers appears ready to jump in the already full boat, and Lowe fires shots into the air to warn them away. Titanic's distress calls now near desperation. "We are sinking fast" and "Women and children in boats. Cannot last much longer"

    1:35 AM: Port-side No. 16 is lowered with over 50 people. Starboard boat No. 13 leaves with 64 people, mostly second and third-class women and children. Starboard boat No. 15 is lowered 30 seconds later with 70 aboard and barely avoids collision with boat 13 as it is lowered on top of No. 13. The latter pulls away in the water in the nick of time.

    1:40 AM: Most of the forward boats have now away, and passengers begin to move to the stern area. Ismay leaves on collapsible C (39 aboard), the last starboard-side boat launched. The forward Well Deck is awash.  

  1:45 AM: Last words heard from Titanic by the Carpathia on her way to the rescue - "...Engine room full up to boilers..." Port-side boat No. 3 is lowered and leaves with only 25 people. She can carry 40.

    1:55 AM: John Jacob Astor, refused entry to port-side boat No. 4 by Lightoller, sees his wife off safely as boat is lowered with 40 women and children and some crew aboard. In the rush, 20 places in the boat are left empty.

    2:00 AM: Water now only ten feet below Promenade Deck.

    2:05 AM: There are now still over 1,500 people left on the sinking ship. Collapsible D is one of the last boats left. It has room for 47 people. To prevent a rush on the boat, Lightoller waves (and possible fires) his pistol into the air and crew members form a circle around it, with arms locked together, and allow only women and children aboard. The boat is lowered with 44 aboard. Titanic's forecastle head sinks under water, the tilt of her decks growing steeper.

    2:10 AM: Captain Smith releases wireless operators from their duties.

    2:17 AM: Philips continues to send last radio message. Captain Smith tells crew members, "It's every man for himself," and is seen returning to the bridge, possibly to await the end. Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder, is seen alone in the first-class smoking room staring into space. Titanic's bow plunges under, enabling the ensnared collapsible B to float clear upside down. Father Thomas Byles hears confession and gives absolution to over one hundred second and third-class passengers gathered at the aft end of the Boat Deck. The ship's band stops playing. Many passengers and crew jump overboard. Titanic's forward funnel collapses, crushing a number of swimming passengers. Collapsible A now floats free and about two dozen people in the water grab hold of it. It clears right side up, but is swamped and dangerously overloaded. Lowe, in boat No. 14, saves them just before dawn. Probably as many as half, however, have died.

    2:18 AM: A huge roar is heard as all moveable objects inside Titanic crash toward the submerged bow. The ship's lights blink once and then go out. Many survivors witness the ship break in two. The bow half sinks.

    2:20 AM: Titanic's broken-off stern section settles back into the water, righting itself for a few moments. Slowly it fills with water and again tilts its stern high into the air before slowly sinking into the sea. Over 1,500 souls are lost in the "greatest maritime disaster in history."