 To find out more details about my new paperback book on the Titanic and the Californian,
including ordering details, please look here. |
| To find out more details about my new paperback book on the Titanic and the Californian,
including ordering details, please look here. |
by Dr.Paul Lee
With thanks to Brian Hill and Alan Ruffman
It is widely reported that the winter of 1912 had been unusually warm, resulting in a greater than normal amount of icebergs and field ice breaking loose from the Arctic circle and drifting into the North Atlantic on the southerly setting Labrador Current. For the first few months of the year, this ice was a nuisance to vessels off the north-eastern Canadian coast as it was confined to a region off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland ... but the ice soon began to be reported by vessels much further south, heading to ports on the Eastern seaboard of the United States. By April, the ice had affected ships heading towards Boston, Portland, Saint John (New Brunswick) ... and New York. This latter destination was of course the point towards which the new White Star Line ship Titanic was heading. Only a few days away from completing the outward leg of her maiden voyage, the ship was steaming at about 22.5 knots (25.9 mph). Whether because of apathy, overconfidence, or the presence of the White Star Line chairman on board stimulating the need for extra speed, many radioed ice warnings received by the new leviathan were all but ignored. A token delay her in change of course, bringing her slightly south of her intended track, failed to prevent the inevitable meeting of steel and ice.
Popular wisdom, imprinted in the mind of historians, describes a massive ice field, 3 or 4 miles wide, and some 55 miles in length (or even more - account vary) lying in a roughly north-south direction directly in the Titanic's path, and surrounded by huge icebergs. But there are many accounts of ice, dotted all over the ocean, preserved in contemporary documents (for instance, see this link), and unknown to Titanic scholars, possibly because many of them were from ships that did not possess wireless and had to report them verbally when they arrived at their port; they would not therefore appear in the "immediate" press reports of the loss of the Titanic. This page attempts to explore the ice warnings and the impact they had on navigation.
Although an excellent discussion of the Titanic's intended route to New York can be found here, the basic details can be repeated here for the sake of completeness. From the south-west coast of Ireland, and after a brief stop at Queenstown, the Titanic headed roughly west-south-west on a "Great Circle" course. This course, when plotted on a Mercator map, is not a straight line. Due to the sphericity of the Earth, the shortest route is a curve when depicted on such a map. The "Great Circle" route forms a plane which intersects the centre of the Earth. However, when a location, called "The Corner" is reached, the heading is changed from south-west to a more westerly course. This is known as a "rhumb" course. The Titanic would then head towards the Nantucket Shoals Lightship and then to the Ambrose Lightship. Other ships also manoeuvred towards the corner before altering course; the Californian and the Mount Temple (though her actual course led her more to the south and west to avoid ice).
In winter months, when the risk of ice is lesser (confined as it would be to northern latitudes), steamers took a northern route, heading for "The Corner" at about 44 N, 47 W when heading west, or 43 N 47 W when heading east. On January 14th, a customary change to "The Corner" was performed; now vessels headed for 42 N 47 W as they headed west.
The Titanic calamity forced a change to these routes. At the US Senate Inquiry, Captain Knapp, the hydrographer of the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department in Washington, D. C. informed the investigators that,
April 16, the steamship companies in New York announced that they had shifted their route to cross 47 west., in latitude 41 north, westbound, and to cross 47 west, in latitude 40 10' north, eastbound.
April 18, having received the approval of the Secretary of the Navy, the office directed Lieut. Grady, in charge of the branch Hydrographic Office at New York, to confer quietly with the steamship companies and urge a still farther southward shifting of the steamship lane. Lieut. Grady found the companies entirely open to suggestion; they cabled to their European houses, and, by common agreement, the tracks were laid to the southward, as follows: April 19, westbound, great circle to latitude 38 north, longitude 45 west; then to latitude 39 north, longitude 50 west; then to Nantucket Shoals Lightship; then to Ambrose Lightship.
Eastbound, Ambrose Lightship to latitude 40 north, longitude 70 west; then to latitude 38 20' north, longitude 50 west; then to latitude 38 20' north, longitude 45 west; then great circle to Bishops Rock.
Lloyd's Weekly Shipping Index for May 16th reports that westbound crossing was to reach longitude 45 and 50 N in latitude 38 N; and eastbound, to reach 45 and 50 N at 37 40 N.
The westbound routes are depicted in the following diagram. The uppermost red line indicates the Titanic's anticipated route; the next line denotes the new, more southern track used after the Titanic went down. The bottom red line shows the dogleg that forced ships to miss the ice reports from April 18th onwards. This change of route was a necessity. On May 2nd, 1912, the White Star Liner Cedric left Liverpool, arriving in New York 9 days later. A New York telegram from this liner reported that "after leaving Queenstown, [she] went as far south as 39 7 N, and the following day an ice field was sighted directly ahead."
The adoption of these new routes seem to have been immediate (except presumably for ships having no wireless and already enroute to New York or Europe). In the New York Times on April 20th, 1912, the Cunard SS Mauretania was reported to have sailed "to the south of the ice packs," the longer route delaying her arrival until April 19th. Data presented in the Appendix to this page, shows this ship was at 40.56 N 48.41 W on April 17th, where she saw an iceberg 4 miles to the north, well to the south of the Titanic's route. The Mauretania had received the news of the disaster a few hours after it occurred on the 15th, but its passengers were not informed of the tragedy until wednesday when it was relayed in the on-board newspaper. The generous passengers then organised a collection for the bereaved.
What of the other ships? How was their navigation affected? This author has, researched ships for whom starting locations and dates could be ascertained via an internet search and could be found in Lloyd's publications; this would determine which direction the vessels were travelling. Such information could be obtained from websites such as Findmypast which lists passenger carrying vessels leaving the British Isles.
One caveat is that I assume that the coordinates printed in Lloyd's publications and the New York Maritime Register are correct! However, where more than one set of latitude and longitude are printed, a reasonable deduction of ship's course can be obtained. For others, doubt lingers, but without the navigational logs of the ships, this is all we have to work with. The collated data will be discussed presently.
The path of ice over time can be display using an appropriate programme, such as the bespoke Java Applet below. However, since no one was tracking each individual piece of ice, there is no way of knowing whether a berg seen one day was the same seen 'x' number of miles away the next day. And, if no ships happened to follow a route where ice had drifted, obviously this would lead to seeming "bald patches" on a chart. Still, the charts are useful for showing what was seen, where and when. The "where" has a caveat in that we have to implicitly assume that the location of the ships are accurate. The "when" also has a condition too: in most cases, there is no mention of the time of day that a sighting occurred. It is possible that, for example, an iceberg seen at one co-ordinate at 6.00am is the same seen 12 miles away at 6.00pm.
Hopefully, the usage of the Applet is self explanatory. The user can select a region with a mouse button pressed down, and the main viewing panel will resize to show a zoomed-in region; the arrows on the perimeter of the chart allow the user to move to a selected region. Additionally, the time increment between days can be specified; the default value is 2 seconds; a lower number may not allow the data to be redrawn on screen properly.
The data are colour coded as follows:
The orange lines indicate the routes undertaken by vessels from the 42 N 47 W "Corner". The uppermost line goes to St.John's, Newfoundland; the next line counterclockwise goes to Halifax; the next to Sable Island, and thence to St John, New Brunswick; the next line goes to Portland, Maine. The next yellow line traverses the route to Boston, and the most southerly line, south of 42 N, goes to New York.
The Applet has a number of issues outstanding, which are being worked up. When zooming in, the lines of latitude do not always show up; the ability to pause and then restart from the stopped time does not function at present (you have to "stop" the simulation, and re-start it from the beginning). Also, the "tooltips" facility does not work: this would allow the user to be presented with a box displaying information pertinent to the area the mouse cursor is placed over. If you have any more suggestion, please mail me .
As afore mentioned, we can now make a determination of the movements of the ships in the area for the month of April, 1912. For reasons detailed above, we have many such data with which to work. What they tell us is conflicting and confusing, and in some instances, controversial. I have only dealt with ships that traversed the route to/from Europe and the North Eastern coasts of America and Canada. The only ships that encountered ice or wreckage whilst travelling east were; the Portsmouth, from Gulfport (April 16th) to Cardiff (April 30th), sighting wreckage on April 20th; the Manchester Engineer, from St John, New Brunswick (April 18th) to Manchester (May 2nd), sighting ice on April 23rd; the Riverdale, from New Orleans (April 10th) to Hamburg, sighting ice on April 22nd; the Talisman, from Mobile (April 9th) to Liverpool (May 1st), sighting ice on April 21st; the Harlseywood, from Mobile (April 9th) to Manchester via Nofolk, Virginia (April 16th), sighting ice on April 23rd.
Of these, the following can be said: the Portsmouth, passed right through the disaster area; the Manchester Engineer
was slightly to the south and well to the east when she sighted "her" ice - seemingly heading roughly towards
the slightly modified "corner" announced on April 16th.
The Riverdale encountered ice slightly to the south but well to the east of the wreck site; again, she seems to be heading
towards a more southerly corner than the Titanic did. The same can be said for the SS Talisman, as can the Harlseywood.
It is interested to note that, with the exception of the Manchester Engineer, none of the vessels were heading east from
north eastern coast USA/Canada ports encountered ice (as far as we know). These ships seem to have bypassed the massive
congregation of ice to the west. The Manchester Engineer, if heading for a corner at 40 10 N 47 W from St John would have
just skirted to the south of the accepted ice at 50 W, before meeting ice close to her turning point. If one views
the applet for the date of sighting (April 23rd), one can see a cluster of reports at the rough area of this corner for both
east and westward ships. Ships that did not possess wireless (these ships are not listed in this report for June 1912; it seems likely that they did not have wireless installed in April) and did not communicate with other ships via morse lamp,
and left port too late to have learned of Captain Knapp's declaration of altered shipping lines would have headed on their
old, prescribed courses. What is interesting is that three of these ships had courses from ports well to the south of
New York's latitude. These courses may have prevented them from engaging in icy conditions.
Although many of the ships' routes are almost right, with deviations caused by current, and changes in navigation causing some of the courses to be slightly off by a few miles, some of them cause problems in our analysis. They do not seem to conform to the accepted routes.
One such example is the SS Zeeland, on the Antwerp to New York route. On April 14th, she is in a region to the north of the corner, heading on a route roughly to the location of New York, before diverting to the south east to avoid a huge ice field. What was she doing so far north? The Zeeland did have radio in June 1912; she may have diverted to avoid the ice on her rhumb course to the corner.
A minor mystery that can be explained is that of the Rappahannock; she encountered ice on April 11th. She is reported to have been on the Halifax to London route, except that she is on a direct course between the corner and St Johns, New Foundland! If one peruses the ice warnings for March 1912, one learns that she was heading to St.Johns; a possible explanation is that she was steaming for Halifax via St. Johns.
But this is, as said, a minor mystery; of those ships identified in Lloyd's List, many are off-course, bypassing the 42 N 47 W corner completely; some may be due to the advance ice warnings, but the amount of deviation (hundreds of miles in some cases) is significant. But this cannot explain all these cases, as not all the vessels were equipped with wireless. It could be that they deviated to avoid unrecorded ice sightings, but why not report them to Lloyd's or any other authority? A discussion of all these cases is omitted, for reasons of tedium and repetition. Of course, there are instances were Lloyd's have reported, or been given, wrong coordinates, but these are discussed later on this webpage; and in any matter, single instances of ice are verified by later sightings of bergs and field ice, often by the same ship, reinforcing the author's opinion of the correct nature of many positions.
A probable conclusion is that in some, but not all cases, the ships were making a shorter route, whether by company's orders or by the whims of the captains. Most of the ships that met ice were westbound vessels, and many of those were sailing from British ports ... could the spectre of the national coal strike have forced an economic decision to save coal? This cannot be the whole story, as the end of the strike was announced on April 6th, 1912, and even then, ships were still cutting off the corner ... and even after, in some instances, after the routes were changed following the Titanic catastrophe.
Regarding the lay of the icefield near the Titanic, what can we say? The afore mentioned Captain Knapp produced this map for the US Senate Inquiry:
It is inaccurate though. The data from the Trautenfels, which encountered the ice very early in the morning on April 14th, has been merged with the Titanic's distress location (which we now know was wrong), some 18 hours later. Indeed, the lay of the field is taken directly from the Trautenfels. The SOS location is well to the west of the western edge of the icefield, which was found by the Mount Temple to be 50 9.5 W at about 7am on April 15th. Clearly, between the Trautenfels encounter and the Titanic's collision, the ice had drifted. I have assumed that the Trautenfels reported location is correct. By mixing up this ship's report of ice with that of the Titanic, it places the White Star leviathan to the east of the icefield, which is incorrect.
Fortunately, another map, drawn by Captain Stulping of the Russian steamer, the SS Birma, appeared in The Daily Telegraph on April 25th, 1912. How accurate this chart is, is a source of debate.
I have superimposed the location of the Trautenfel's ice on this chart; after steaming for 25 miles, the field was cleared. If one accepts the southermost latitude of the Trautenfels field, and equates it to the south-westernmost tip of the Birma's field, the mean direction of it can be ascertained (the red arrow). The southwest-northeast layout of the ice is rougly matched between the two datasets. From Captain Stulping's report, housed at the UK National Archives, we know that he cleared the southern boundary of the field and encountered the Carpathia at about 12.00pm. The southernmost tip of the Trautenfels ice, at 41.40 N at 5.40am + the steaming time of the Birma to skirt the ice, is now at about 41 20 N at about midday. In somewhat less than 18 hours and 20 minutes, the ice had drifted 20 miles south; a maximum of 1.1 knots.
Further evidence comes from the a report written by ss Asian's Marconi Operator Howard for his employers. His ship was en route to tow an oil tanker, the Deutschland, that lay helpless in mid Atlantic due to a shortage of coal. The Asian made for the tanker and headed on a course of N70E "in order to bring the Asian in the same latitude as the Desutschland. This course was continued till 3am 75th meridian [New York] Time time April 14/12 when the captain again altered the course to S70E as he expected the Deutschland to drift southerly. Eventually the Deutschland was sighted at 7am..." which was at 40 42 N 55 11 W.
Additionally, at 10.35am, the Olympic received a message from the Parisian, stating that the field ice extends to 41 22 N. The ice extended to the north-west. Further communication was obtained at 12.50pm when the Olympic enquired about navigating in the area of the disaster:
"Safe from field ice to 41.22. 50.14; as the ice was yesterday, you would need to steer from that position about northeast and north to about lat. 41.42 and 50, then approach his position from the westward [sic], steering about west north-west. My knowledge of the Titanic's position at midnight was derived from your own message to New York, in which you gave it as 41.47, 50.20; if such were correct, she would be in heavy field ice and numerous bergs."
The Parisian was at 41 42 N, 49 55 W at 8:00 p.m; to find the southernmost tip of the field ice, she would have had to steam south. This would be from a latitude of 41 42 to 41 22; a distance of 20 miles. At a speed of about 12 or 13 knots, it would take over an hour and a half to reach this location; this is the minimum time since we do not know her longitude when she left the ice behind. Furthermore, the correspondence with the Olympic makes it clear that the ice was at this latitude "yesterday" (ie - on the 14th, at a time after 9.30pm). Obviously this would not be the same position at noon the next day.
Safely docked in port on April 21st, Captain Gambell of the SS Virginian gave his account of the Titanic to the press. "We passed the place where the Titanic sank at a distance of six or seven miles. I had to go around an ice field. The ice was closely packed between us and the position of the Titanic when she went down, and there would have been great danger in going nearer. No boats, packages, or wreckage were to be seen."
The Virginian picked up the distress call at at 1.02am New York Time, when she was 170 miles north of the Titanic. She turned around and proceeded to the wreck, her top speed being 18 knots. By the time he picked up a message from the Carpathia instructing him to resume her voyage (because she had picked up the lifeboats), the Virginian had travelled 162 miles. This would be at 10.02am, close to Gambell's time of "10am". According to Lloyd's, his ship was in the area of "42 3 N, 50 20 W and 41 19 N, 49 50 W, where she saw numerous bergs and growlers". This report does not mention the icefield, but his interview with the press did. The co-ordinates in Lloyd's journal therefore gives the boundaries of the field. By this account, the lower extemity of the ice is 41 19 N; close to the Birma's chart value of 41 20 N. The Virginian data tells us that the icefield was 44 minutes, or 44 nautical miles long.
Further evidence can be inferred from the SS Mount Temple. When she picked up the Titanic's plea for help at 12.11am, she was at 41 25' N., 51 14' W and turned back. Until sometime after 3am, she never encountered any ice. The Mount Temple had modified her original course based on warnings, and met "her" corner at 41 15 N, 50 W. By working backwards, based on course and speed, she would have been at this location at 7.15pm. At this point, it would have been light enough to see, and given the Mount Temple's dimensions, she would have been able to see some 7 miles to the horizon. Therefore, the ice, which was invisible, was still to the north of 41 22 N.
How far north did the ice stretch? The SS Californian's controversial location places the ice in (at least) 42 05 N, and stretched as far north and south as the eye could see. The SS Lena, which docked in Portland, Maine a few days later gave some more details. In the New York Times on April 25th, Chief Officer Elias is interviewed. He says that the Lena passed within 34 miles to the north-east of the wreck position and that the night "was clear as a bell"; he surely would have mentioned ice if any had been seen? If so, 34 miles north-east of the SOS position would be a latitude of 42 10 N. The Lena would be heading slightly to north of west. By the time she arrived at the Titanic's longitude, she would therefore be even further north. And yet, by inference, nothing had been seen.
How does the drift compare with other estimates? The Californian was reported to have left the Titanic's wreckage at 41 33 N 50 01 W at 11.20am; this was based on her noonday position of 41 33 N 50 09 W at midday and working backwards. But, there is one dissenter. Third Officer Groves says that the flotsam was left at 10.40am. If we use the estimate of speed from the previous values, the wreckage is now left at 50 53 W. The Titanic, as we now know, sank at 2.20am at 41 44 N 49 57 W. We therefore can deduce two values for the speed and direction of current; namely, 1.26 knots to the south-south-west (195.22 degrees) or 1.37 knots to the south-south-east (164.78). Both these values are slightly more than that inferred from the Trautenfels/Birma data.
The Californian placed the wreckage in a latitude of 41 33 N about 9 hours after the disaster. The next report of wreckage and/or bodies (which provides a position) is from the SS Portsmouth, which, on April 20th "passed through a quantity of wreckage, apparently not long in the water; cabin fittings and white painted woodwork and teak, one cabin sofa, upholstered and one lifebelt, white, hardly discoloured." This was at a position to the north and east of the wrecksite. Indeed, most of the wreckage can be located in this area of the north Atlantic.
The only exception to these sightings is that of abandoned Titanic lifeboat, collapsible A, which was encountered by the White Star Liner Oceanic on May 13th, with three bodies still on board the damaged raft. It was reported in The New York Times (on May 17th), that the boat had travelled 7 3/4 nautical miles per day. There is, unfortunately, a flurry of different locations given for the recovery of this boat. The Cork Examiner (16th May) gives the location at 39 56 N 47 01 W. This information comes from Reuters. The New York times is unsure whether the latitude is 30 56 N or 39 56 N. Given the distance that the boat had travelled in 28 days, and the much more southerly route undertaken by the Oceanic, a latitude of 39 56 N seems the more plausible. Thus, despite much of the wreckage and bodies being caught in a north-easterly heading current, here is one item that got caught in a south-easterly current. Most of the operations to recover bodies were confined to the north and east of the wreck; what a pity they didn't search to the south too, but as one commentator says "they could hardly search the whole North Atlantic," and had to rely on reports from passing steamers. If no steamers passed any bodies in their shipping lines, they obviously would not be reported.
[On an unrelated note, the recovery of collapsible A must have been particularly troubling to one Oceanic passenger. For she carried one Mme Navratil. Her estranged husband had kidnapped her two children a month later, taking them to a new life in America. Monsieur Navratil, travelling under the pseduonym "Mr.Hoffman" had booked passage on the Titanic. And, while he did not survive, his children did, and now Mme Navratil was coming to New York to collect them.]
So, with the wreckage seemingly caught in the Gulf Stream, can it be traced any further in its eastward progress. Sadly not. A long and laborious search through Lloyd's journals reveals no more sightings after May. It is tempting to think of the ironic possibility that scattered fragments of the great liner wound up on the coast of Ireland, her country of birth, some 5 or 6 months after the sinking. Newspaper reports from Chicago newspapers give conflicting reports of body(-ies) being found in early June by the SS Ilford. One body is reported to have been found in latitude 49.06 north, longitude 42.51 west. This is many hundreds of miles to the north-east of the wrecksite; obvious evidence for the Gulf Stream.
Collapsible B, upturned and providing refuge for some two dozen Titanic survivors, is an altogether different story. Cable laying ship, the Mackay Bennett, involved in operations to recover the dead, saw this boat at 41.55 N 49.20 W on April 23rd, but the SS Paul Paix reports seeing her at 41 51 N 42 29 W on May 16th. The distance between these two points is 306 nautical miles, or a rate of 13 nautical miles per day. Unlike boat A, this boat was to the north-east. The two had drifted off the Titanic as the great ship sank. Despite them being in close proximity to each other in the aftermath, they had wound up in very different locations. It is likely that boat B, the wreckage and the bodies became caught in the North Atlantic Drift, which converged with the colder, southerly flowing Labrador current only a few miles from where the Titanic went down. The rate of drift is about right.
Is there a way to postulate where the boundaries of the Labrador current were on the afternoon or evening of April 15th? We have water data from the Californian and the Titanic. For the former ship, there is an indication of a drop of temperate of 11 degrees during the afternoon at about 48 degrees W. The water data from the Titanic is not so dramatic; the information that we do have was taken at about the time the sun set, and so water temperature was dropping anyway. But there is a hint of a drop at double the previous value beteen 7.30 and 8pm, in the vicinity of 48 W. Water has a very high specific heat capacity and one of its properties is that it takes a comparitively long period of time for water to relinquish its absorbed heat content, even after the source of energy (the sun) has been removed. The sun had indeed set at 7.30pm but it was still light enough to perform stellar observations for navigation (one needs to see the horizon and the stars to perform this). It would be surprising if the water temperature had dropped by such an amount in half an hour.
This is summarised in the following diagram, showing the water temperatures and locations for
the Titanic and the Californian during their journeys.
This leads this author to postulate that the bodies and wreckage drifted south in the Labrador current, until, at some point, they were caught in the easterly North Atlantic Drift. This explains why so many pieces of flotsam were seen to the east. There are very few reports of field ice around 50 W after April 15th. This may be due to the shipping lanes having been shifted south, but there are still instances of ships passing very near to the Titanic's grave. The last report of field ice in this vicinity is from the SS Cestrian, who reported it between 41 50 N and 41 42 N. Thereafter, there are instances of small, broken chunks of ice in the area. A possibility is that the field ice had been broken up and dispersed by the North Atlantic Current (though the Cedric reported, as given above, that it saw an ice field well south of the disaster area; given the distances involved, it is unlikely that this is the field that the Titanic would have encountered had she not hit the iceberg). The icebergs themselves continued drifting south. The furthest south ice reports that I could glean were dated between May 8th-10th, 1912 from many ships (Amerika, La Savoie, Carmania, Pretoria, Monmouth, Merian, Mechanicia, George Washington, Mannheim et. al.) who all describe large and small icebergs in the area of 39 N, 47 W. but no field ice at all. It may be salient at this point to recount what Captain Knapp included in a memorandum to the US Senate Inquiry:
1. The Labrador Current, which brings both berg and field ice down past Newfoundland, sweeps across the banks in a generally south to southwest direction, flowing more westerly on its surface as it approaches the warm Gulf Stream water in about latitude 43, with a set of about 12 miles a day. The speed of the Gulf Stream drift at its northern edge is only about 6 miles a day at the fiftieth meridian and its depth is probably less than 300 feet.
2. An ice-field arriving at the edge of the Gulf Stream drift finds itself impelled less and less to southward and more and more to eastward and north-eastward; but a deeply floating iceberg may continue to plow southward into the warm east-flowing current and end its career south of latitude 40; by melting and breaking up. The reason for this is that the cold, south-moving current actually under-runs the warm surface water.
3. The southward progress of icebergs across the Grand Flanks is estimated to be a degree in five days, or about 12 miles a day; but it seems to slack up as the warm current near the tail of the bank is approached (lat. 42 to 44N., long. 49 to 51 W.) Here the icebergs are reported with greatest frequency. This may be because the largest number of passing steamers travels the region or because the bergs loitering that vicinity owing to the commingling of the two ocean currents above named.
4. The course of an iceberg in that region could be predicted if the following factors in the problem were known: (a) Vertical section below water. (b) what ratio of the vertical section is in each current (polar and Gulf Stream), (c) direction of each current. (d) velocity of each current. What these factors are must be estimated in each case, varying with each berg according shape and size, and varying with the location and date to some extent. 5. Not much is known regarding the subsurface current. This should be studied during a hydrographic survey of the banks: at the same time careful observations are needed of the surface currents (direction, velocity, meeting points, temperature, color, etc.). A thorough study of the question is desirable; and it would be possible for a naval vessel to gain much useful information by a season's work in that vicinity (April to August, inclusive). She could also record direct observations of ice movements, and act an a radiotelegraph station to warn other ships.
Therefore, it is possible that icebergs, which "penetrate" much deeper in the water and hence are more prone to deeper currents, travel in different directions to items located at or near the surface of the water; field ice, wreckage and bodies, for instance.
Sam Halpern's article in the Titanic Historical Society Commutator (issue 181), entitled "We Could Not See One Body" (a quotation from the Carpathia's Arthur Rostron on the morning of the disaster) speculates that a "cold water eddy", a counter clockwise circulatory current had prevailed on April 15th, and for the next few days. This current is some 55 miles in diameter. This explains why there were reports of bodies and wreckage well to the north-east of the wreck a few days afterwards, and then, to the south-east a few days hence. This may be so, but it does not explain the other cases of bodies and wreckages being seen, nor does it explain the huge variation in number of bodies and type of flotsam seen; those seen on, say, April 25th may not have been the same as on April 20th. A much more likely explanation is that the wreckage had been dispersed into islands by competing eddies between the Gulf and Labrador Currents.
The Lord-Macquitty collection held at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London has an intriguing item:
"Photograph of a TITANIC collapsible recovered in the Bahamas 18 months after the disaster by RMS Port Kingston. Together with an explanatory letter from Herbert Hill, n.d. Given to Walter Lord by William MacQuitty."
The photograph, in the form of a postcard, looks like one of the Titanic collapsibles, albeit the canvas sides seem to be missing. Being a collapsible, it lacks the "Titanic" nameplate and lifeboat designation. There is no way to ascertain if the boat really does come from the "Titanic": the Bahamas is well to the south-west of the wrecksite, so it seems unlikely that the boat was carried there by the current. It is possible that the boat was caught in the North Atlantic Gyre (a huge circulating current), before reaching the area of southern Europe, and then travelling back west to the area of the Bahamas on the North Equatorial Current. This is possible, but I have no other information on whether to determine whether the boat is from the "Titanic." A lifejacket from the Lusitania was found in the Delaware River, in Philadelphia, five years after that liner went to the bottom just south of Ireland. It could have followed the same path as the "Titanic" lifeboat.
The letter indicates that the lifeboat was found approaching Turk's Island at the entrance to the Carribean Sea, and wound up in Avonmouth, where the picture was taken. This may be the source of an anecdote in Michael Davies' book, where the headline in the first edition of the Titanic Enthusiasts of America journal (a.k.a. The Titanic Historical Society) The Marconigram (later renamed The Titanic Commutator) in September 1963 was "Bristol has Titanic lifeboat". Davies notes that the story was "wrong."
The majority of these data come from the entries in the New York Maritime Register, which have been transcribed here. The problem with the Register entries is that they very often don't include the name of the ship, or shore station reporting the data (these have been denoted by "???"). These entries have been supplemented by data from "The Shipping Gazette and Lloyd's List" and "The Lloyd's Weekly Shipping Index" held at the Guildhall Library and the National Maritime Museum, both in London; indeed the reports in these latter two publications, which do contain ship's names have often corroborated the seemingly incomplete data from the New York Maritime Register.
Other ice reports have been found in the New York Times and other newspapers, as well as websites ( in particular, the Titanic Inquiry Project ), books ( such as "Titanic:Triumph and Tragedy" by John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas ) and other documents (e.g. Captain Lord's 1959 affidavit).
To help with my visualisation of this data, I had attempted to identify the extent of the observed ice. So, if an account says, for instance, "[we saw an] ice field extending NNE to horizon", I have estimated the distance of the ice to be at least 8 miles, which seems reasonable given the dimensions of the ships in the list (the height above the waterline determines how far one can see to the horizon).
I have also only included data where a specific data is mentioned. The Mount Temple's captain was asked about ice reports during the British Inquiry. He told the court that he was warned of ice between 42 15' N. 49 48 W. and 41 25 N., 50 20' W. This report came from a steamer called the "Corinthian" and the Mount Temple received it on April 13th. We don't know when the ice was actually seen, though.
Other ice warnings can be found here
| Date | Ship/station reporting (where known) | Position | Ice report |
|---|---|---|---|
| "April 3 " | "SS Alexandria" | "45.04 N 56.38 W" | "saw drifting ice and ice fields." |
| "April 3 " | "SS Haulwen" | "44.45 N 58.20 W " | "ran into an ice field." |
| "April 4" | "SS Nieuw Amsterdam" | "43.20 N 49.00 W" | "ice field extending NNE to horizon" |
| "April 4" | "SS Columbia" | "43.20 N 49.00 W" | "saw field ice extending to the NNE as far as could be seen" |
| "April 4" | "SS Columbia" | "43.30 N 45.17 W" | "saw two small growlers" |
| "April 4" | "SS Virginian" | "43.37 N 49.00 W" | "saw several light patches of field ice" |
| "April 6" | "SS Strathfillan" | "49.00 N 48.00 W" | "encountered ice" |
| "April 7" | "SS Armenian" | "42.36 N 49.36 W" | "encountered heavy field ice which extended in an ENE distance of 70m from this coordinate" |
| "April 7" | "SS Armenian" | "43.20 N 48.20 W" | "saw several large and small bergs" |
| "April 7" | "SS Armenian" | "42.36 N 49.36 W" | "heavy field ice" |
| "April 7" | "SS Rosalind" | "45.10 N 56.40 W" | "ran into a strip of field ice about 3 or 4m wide, extending north and south as far as could be seen. Some very heavy pans were seen." |
| "April 8" | "SS Royal Edward" | "42.50 N 49.30 W 42.30 N 50.10 W" | "passed thick and heavy loose field ice." |
| "April 8" | "SS Royal Edward" | "42.48 N 49.40 W" | "a large berg" |
| "April 8" | "SS Brinkburn" | "47.00 N 47.00 W" | "encountered ice, field ice and numerous small bergs" |
| "April 8" | "SS Rio Pirahy" | "42.44 N 49.34 W" | "for 7 hours passed a large quantity of field ice and icebergs." |
| "April 8" | "SS Empress of India" | "43.28 N 49.36 W" | "observed ice field with bergs as far as eye could see from NW to SE. The icefield was 100 miles in extent and appeared as a white line on the horizon" |
| "April 8" | "SS Victorian" | "42.50 N 50.09 W" | "passed through ice at 1.15pm 42 50 N 50 09 W. Passed floes of pack ice and field ice to the north as far as could be seen." |
| "April 9" | "SS Knutsford" | "40.56 N 47.56 W" | "reports a temperature drop in 40 56 N 47 56 W which was attributed to a huge iceberg seen 1.5 hours later. The weather was hazy at the time." |
| "April 9" | "SS Cassandra" | "43.38 N 49.16 W 39.26 N 39.36 W" | "met heavy field of ice 43 38 N 49 16 W. Steamed southwest to 39 26 N 39 36 W when the floe was cleared" |
| "April 9" | "SS Cassandra" | "43.00 N 51.00 W" | "Bergs and heavy ice passed" |
| "April 10" | "SS Excelsior" | "41.50 N 50.25 W" | "passed a large ice field in a NNE direction, a few hundred feet wide and at least 15m in extent." |
| "April 10" | "SS Amerika" | "41.27 N 50.08 W" | "passed 2 large bergs" |
| "April 10" | "SS Canada" | "43.10 N 49.20 W" | "10 miles of heavy broken and open field ice, also several large bergs" |
| "April 10" | "SS Messina" | "46.00 N 47.00 W" | "passed several large icebergs and numerous growlers; also large quantity of field ice extending to the north and south" |
| "April 10" | "SS Carthaginian" | "46.50 N 53.21 W" | "saw 1 large berg" |
| "April 11" | "SS La Flandre" | "42.2 N 50.7 W" | "Encountered an ice field whcih forced a detour to the south of 20 (or 30?) miles." |
| "April 11" | "SS Rappahannock" | "43.20 N 48.45 W" | "passed through heavy field ice during dense fog" |
| "April 11" | "SS Messina" | "44.10 N 48.25 W" | "closely packed ice extending for many miles in a NW and SE direction; also passed close to a large iceberg 150 feet high and 500 feet long" |
| "April 11" | "SS Carmania" | "41.58 N 50.20 W" | "passed numerous bergs and extensive ice fields" |
| "April 12" | "SS Etonian" | "42.00 N 50.00 W" | "passed 20 icebergs and a field of ice 108 miles in length" |
| "April 12" | "SS Canada Cape" | "45.00 N 47.40 W" | "encountered drift and pack ice." |
| "April 12" | "SS Caronia" | "42.00 N 49.00 W 42.00 N 51.00 W" | "bergs, growlers and field ice" |
| "April 12" | "SS Corby" | "42.00 N 49.45 W" | "passed two large icebergs and passed through quantity of field ice extending in a NNE and SSW direction. Also, passed 3 miles south of a very large iceberg and same distance north of a large quantity of field ice extending 3 miles east and west. Was not able to get north and south dimensions." |
| "April 12" | "???" | "41.37 N 50.26 W" | "1 medium and 2 large bergs" |
| "April 12" | "SS La Touraine" | "44.58 N 50.40 W" | "Crossed thick icefield" |
| "April 12" | "SS La Touraine" | "45.20 N 45.09 W" | "Saw another icefield and two icebergs" |
| "April 12" | "???" | "41.40 N 50.00 W" | "7 bergs and large quantities of pan ice" |
| "April 12" | "???" | "41.58 N 50.20 W" | "numerous moderate sized bergs and extensive field ice." |
| "April 12" | "SS Kintail" | "44.00 N 46.18 W 44.30 N 49.20 W" | "passed field ice. Steamed 40 miles around one pack of field ice shaped like the letter 'S';" |
| "April 12" | "SS Minnesota" | "42.00 N 49.55 W" | "passed through field ice about 2 miles wide and extending to the NE and SW as far as the eye could see." |
| "April 12" | "SS Lapland" | "42.00 N 49.50 N" | "ran thourgh ice while in fog" |
| "April 12" | "SS President Lincoln" | "41.55 N 50.14 W" | "Encountered ice field" |
| "April 12" | "SS George Washington" | "42.13 N 49.49 W" | "two towering bergs and two smaller ones" |
| "April 12" | "SS Sachem" | "43.13 N 48.49 W" | "saw a big ice field and took 2 hours to pass it. In it counted 14 bergs" |
| "April 12" | "SS Servian" | "41.53 N 50.20 W" | "from 5.15am to 7.20pm passed field ice and numerous large and small icebergs. Icefield extended well to the southward" |
| "April 12" | "SS Avala" | "41.40 N 50.00 W" | "Passed 7 large icebergs and steamed for 5 1/2 hours through pack ice" |
| "April 13" | "SS Borderer" | "41.50 N 50.01 W" | "for 30m along the direct charted course of steamers bound to New York, passed through heavy field ice, and in that distance counted 16 bergs. The ice extended as far north and south as the eye could reach." |
| "April 13" | "SS Hellig Olav" | "41.43 N 49.51 W" | "passed 3 large bergs" |
| "April 13" | "SS Hellig Olav" | "41.30 N 50.08 W" | "1 medium sized berg and field ice" |
| "April 13" | "SS Hellig Olav" | "41.43 N 49.51 W" | "Passed three large icebergs" |
| "April 13" | "SS Hellig Olav" | "41.39 N 50.08 W" | "medium-size berg and field ice. (error in transcript; said 50.81 W)" |
| "April 13" | "SS Etonian" | "41.50 N 49.50 W" | "Photographed iceberg" |
| "April 13" | "SS Corsican" | "42.15 N 49.48 W 41.25 N 50.20 W" | "passed heavy field ice and numerous bergs" |
| "April 13" | "SS Canada Cape" | "44.15 N 47.50 W" | "large quantity of field ice sighted to the north-west at 4.30am, also several bergs. At 7am the steamship passed through a large amount of drift ice with large pack ice to the northwest. From this up to noon several large bergs were passed, one of which was over 200 feet high, |
| "April 13" | "SS President Lincoln" | "41.50 N 50.40 W 41.50 N 50.20 W" | "Saw an iceberg" |
| "April 13" | "SS Carmania" | "41.56 N 50.50 W 41.54 N 51.30 W" | "30 large icebergs and extensive field ice, some bergs being about 400 feet high and 1/4 to 1/2 mile in length" |
| "April 14" | "SS La Bretagne" | "41.39 N 49.21 W 41.39 N 50.21 W" | "steamed through an ice field with numerous bergs. for 4 hours." |
| "April 14" | "SS Pisa" | "42.06 N 49.43 W" | "encountered extensive field of ice and saw 7 bergs of considerable size." |
| "April 14" | "SS Trautenfels" | "42.01 N 49.53 W" | "5.05 am; sighted 2 bergs fully 200' long and 40' high;" |
| "April 14" | "SS Trautenfels" | "42.01 N 50.06 W 41.40 N 50.22 W" | "5.40am heavy field ice was encountered which extended for a distance of 30m and made it necessary for the steamer to run in a southwesterly direction for 25m to clear it; in the field ice, counted 30 bergs, some of which were large; off to the northward no clear water was seen, so that the captain estimated that the ice in that direction must have extended fully 30m. There were no openings in the field. During this time sighted about 30 large bergs." |
| "April 14" | "SS Athenai" | "41.51 N 49.52 W" | "icebergs and large quantities of field ice 41 51 N 49 52 W (may be 49 34 W - 11.45am passed several (about 6) icebergs about 50-60 feet high and large quantity of field ice." |
| "April 14" | "SS Amerika" | "41.27 N 50.8 W" | "two large icebergs" |
| "April 14" | "SS Californian" | "42.03 N 49.09 W" | "Three (or two?) large bergs 5 miles to the south" |
| "April 14" | "SS Californian" | "42.05 N 50.07 W" | "10.20 pm Encountered field ice, about 5 miles wide, stretching north and south; also icebergs" |
| "April 14" | "SS Mesaba" | "41.50 N 49.15 W" | "11.00am passed a quantity of bergs, some very large; also a field of pack ice about 5 miles long" |
| "April 14" | "SS Mesaba" | "42.00 N 50.00 W 41.35 N 50.30 W" | "passed another field of pack ice with numerous bergs intermixed, and extended from 4 points on the starboard bow to abeam on the port side. Had to steer about 20 miles south to clear it. Ice seemed to be one solid wall of ice, at least 16 feet high, as far as could be seen. In latitude 41 35' north longitude 50 30 west, we came to the end of it, and at 4 P.M. we were able to again steer to the westward. Saw no more ice after this. Weather clear and bright." |
| "April 14" | "???" | "41.50 N 49.33 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 14" | "???" | "41.53 N 49.36 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 14" | "???" | "41.54 N 49.32 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 14" | "???" | "41.55 N 50.30 W 41.40 N 50.13 W" | "heavy pack ice and 30 bergs." |
| "April 14" | "???" | "41.58 N 49.52 W 41.56 N 49.36 W" | "a large field of heavy pack ice." |
| "April 14" | "SS Zeeland" | "45.47 N 48.39 W" | "A berg" |
| "April 14" | "???" | "46.04 N 45.46 W" | "Pack ice" |
| "April 14" | "SS Zeeland" | "46.15 N 47.08 W" | "25 bergs" |
| "April 14" | "SS Zeeland" | "46.17 N 46.55 W 46.04 N 45.46 W" | "very heavy pack ice with many bergs; steamed south 27 miles to lat 45 N to clear it; 46 4 N 45 46 W passed eastern edge of ice pack." |
| "April 14" | "SS Parisian" | "41.55 N 49.13 W" | "Passed three icebergs" |
| "April 14" | "SS Parisian" | "41.55 N 49.02 W 41.42 N 49.55 W" | "Passed 14 medium and large icebergs and numerous growlers between 4.30pm and 8.00pm" |
| "April 14" | "SS Campanello" | "42.00 N 50.16 W 41.10 N 49.00 W" | "April 14-15: encountered heavy pack ice, large bergs and field ice, drifting south" |
| "April 14" | "SS Paula" | "41.54 N 49.32 W" | "One large berg at 11.40am" |
| "April 14" | "SS Paula" | "41.50 N 49.33 W" | "One large iceberg at 11.40am" |
| "April 14" | "SS Paula" | "41.53 N 49.36 W" | "One large iceberg at 12.00pm" |
| "April 14" | "SS Paula" | "41.58 N 49.52 W 41.56 N 49.30 W" | "Heavy pack ice encountered at forenoon" |
| "April 14" | "SS Paula" | "41.55 N 50.13 W 41.40 N 50.30 W" | "Heavy pack ice and 30 large bergs in one field at 5.30pm" |
| "April 15" | "SS Memphian" | "42.00 N 48.00 W 42.00 N 50.00 W" | "steamed through a field of broken ice and icebergs from 4pm on April 15th to 2am on April 16" |
| "April 15" | "SS Memphian" | "42.00 N 49.25 W 42.00 N 50.00 W" | "ran into field ice. Ice extended in all directions; numerous large and small bergs dotted the field" |
| "April 15" | "SS Louisianian" | "41.26 N 49.36 W" | "[ran into an icefield] being about 17 miles long and interspersed with 30 bergs of various sizes. The side of the field nearest the vessel appeared to be ~17m long." |
| "April 15" | "Bulletin from New York" | "42.06 N 49.43 W" | "Field ice reported" |
| "April 15" | "Bulletin from New York" | "41.27 N 50.08 W" | "Icebergs reported" |
| "April 15" | "???" | "42.00 N 48.00 W 42.00 N 49.00 W" | "A field of broken ice and bergs; bergs north and south as far as could be seen." |
| "April 15" | "???" | "41.04 N 50.17 W 42.03 N 48.45 W" | "encountered heavy pack ice and numerous bergs, the last berg sighted in 42o03'N 48o45'W." |
| "April 15" | "???" | "41.52 N 48.24 W" | "2 small bergs, about 5 miles apart" |
| "April 15" | "SS Californian" | "41.33 N 50.42 W" | "Western extremity of field ice, plus two icebergs." |
| "April 15" | "SS Amerika" | "41.30 N 50.00 W" | "Icebergs passed" |
| "April 15" | "SS Virginian" | "42 3 N, 50 20 W and 41 19 N, 49 50 W" | "Saw numerous bergs and growlers" |
| "April 15" | "SS Manitou" | "42.20 N 49.30 W" | "Ice seen" |
| "April 15" | "SS Carthaginian" | "44.46 N 47.31 W 44.49 N 47.38 W" | "saw a large number of icebergs" |
| "April 15" | "SS Carthaginian" | "44.54 N 48.05 W 44.30 N 48.03 W" | "field ice seen and ran for 25 miles south to clear it; the field stretched north and south as far as could be seen, 1-3 miles in extent." |
| "April 15" | "SS Californian" | "41.33 N 50.01 W" | "Position that Titanic's wreckage was left in at 11.20am." |
| "April 16" | "???" | "42.40 N 49.15 W" | "several bergs seen" |
| "April 16" | "???" | "43.26 N 46.07 W" | "A berg seen 1 mile to the southward" |
| "April 16" | "???" | "45.30 N 46.55 W" | "2 large bergs and numerous pieces of ice seen." |
| "April 16" | "SS Manchester Corporation" | "46.15 N 45.30 W" | "loose field ice with numerous bergs extending south to 45o30'N and to the westward." |
| "April 16" | "SS Prinz Adalbert" | "42.03 N 48.57 W 41.37 N 50.14 W" | "3.30am 42.03N 48.57W encountered first iceberg. Course 259 True, very slow. Met huge icefield extending north and south at 8am. He steered various courses to clear it and eventually got clear in 41.37N 50.14W." |
| "April 16" | "SS Cymric" | "48.36 N 43.43 W 47.31 N 45.24 W" | "Saw large number of bergs" |
| "April 16" | "SS Cymric" | "47.31 N 46.20 W" | "Saw several large bergs, one surrounded by pack ice for 10 miles" |
| "April 16" | "SS Caledonia" | "43.30 N 48.00 W" | "Saw field ice" |
| "April 16" | "SS Centurion" | "41.18 N 50.00 W 41.18 N 49.45 W" | "passed a quantity of icebergs" |
| "April 16" | "SS Centurion" | "41.12 N 48.49 W" | "saw solitary berg, with a height 68 feet 270 feet long, seemed to be drifting SW." |
| "April 16" | "SS Bohemian" | "41.15 N 49.00 W 41.15 N 50.00 W" | "passed an immense field of ice as far as eye could see; studded with icebergs of various dimensions" |
| "April 16" | "SS Baron Ardrossan" | "40.00 N 48.30 W" | "Saw 2 large icebergs and large quantity of field ice" |
| "April 16" | "SS Gwladys" | "41.38 N 47.20 W 41.38 N 50.00 W" | "saw many icebergs and much field ice" |
| "April 17" | "SS Mauretania" | "40.56 N 48.41 W" | "Passed a medium sized berg 4 miles north" |
| "April 17" | "???" | "41.55 N 50.04 W" | "Heavy field ice" |
| "April 17" | "SS Manchester Corporation" | "44.25 N 49.15 W 44.15 N 49.30W" | "Saw several large pieces of ice" |
| "April 17" | "SS Hesperian" | "43.30 N 48.00 W" | "Saw field ice" |
| "April 17" | "SS Columbia" | "46.07 N 46.55 W" | "Saw 4 huge bergs" |
| "April 17" | "SS Ascania" | "46.31 N 46.55 W" | "Saw large bergs" |
| "April 17" | "SS Ascania" | "46.20 N 46.20 W" | "passed innumerable immense bergs and heavy pack ice" |
| "April 17" | "SS Inverclyde" | "41.47 N 47.54 W" | "saw berg 200 feet high and 600 long" |
| "April 17" | "SS Montrose" | "42.30 N 49.30 W 42.42 N 50.30 W" | "Saw heavy pack ice and a number of large and small bergs; also number of pieces of ice" |
| "April 17" | "SS Montrose" | "42.42 N 50.30 W" | "several bergs sighted 5 miles south of last location" |
| "April 17" | "SS Baron Ardrossan" | "41.56 N 50.04 W" | "Baron Ardrossan forced to stop due to heavy field ice" |
| "April 17" | "SS Indradeo" | "42.08 N 47.50 W 42.08 N 50.00 W" | "Field ice and bergs of various sizes." |
| "April 18" | "???" | "41.52 N 47.59 W 41.33 N 50.00 W" | "many bergs, one 110' high" |
| "April 18" | "???" | "42.23 N 48.53 W 42.31 N 50.23 W" | "14 large bergs" |
| "April 18" | "???" | "42.21 N 49.17 W" | "a large field of ice and more than 25 bergs" |
| "April 18" | "???" | "40.42 N 49.20 W" | "a berg ~80' high and 400' long" |
| "April 18" | "SS Laurentic" | "48.26 N 44.25 W" | "Small bergs seen" |
| "April 18" | "SS Laurentic" | "48.05 N 45.19 W" | "Saw 19 bergs" |
| "April 18" | "SS Laurentic" | "48.18 N 44.46 W" | "2 small bergs seen" |
| "April 18" | "SS Laurentic" | "48.13 N 44.58 W" | "5 bergs and several small growlers seen" |
| "April 18" | "SS Megantic" | "47.59 N 46.08 W 48.27 N 45.15 W" | "50 bergs and numerous growlers" |
| "April 18" | "SS Megantic" | "48.27 N 44.42 W" | "large bergs" |
| "April 18" | "SS Megantic" | "48.52 N 43.56 W" | "large bergs seen" |
| "April 18" | "SS Megantic" | "49.01 N 43.23 W" | "one growler" |
| "April 18" | "La Savoie" | "41.52 N 47.59 W" | "saw many icebergs, one 100 feet high" |
| "April 18" | "SS Cameronia" | "41.27 N 48.00 W" | "Saw 9 large bergs" |
| "April 19" | "???" | "41.16 N 48.10 W" | "A large berg seen" |
| "April 19" | "???" | "41.18 N 49.50 W" | "A large low lying berg" |
| "April 19" | "???" | "40.55 N 47.42 W" | "a berg ~60' high and 200' long and small drift ice." |
| "April 19" | "???" | "41.02 N 48.24 W" | "about 20 large and small bergs" |
| "April 19" | "SS Rochambeau" | "41.18 N 49.50 W" | "iceberg seen at 8.41am" |
| "April 19" | "SS Rochambeau" | "41.33 N 51.13 W" | "14 bergs, 1 of which was at least 300 meters long and 25 meters high." |
| "April 19" | "SS Royal Edward" | "41.18 N 49.50 W" | "saw an iceberg at 8.41am" |
| "April 19" | "SS Royal Edward" | "41.16 N 48.10 W" | "Saw another berg at 1.15pm" |
| "April 19" | "Lake Erie" | "42.38 N 48.55 W 43.40 N 50.30 W" | "saw 9 large bergs and numerous pieces of ice" |
| "April 20" | "SS Rhein" | "42.01 N 49.13 W" | "3 big icebergs seen 8 miles west" |
| "April 20" | "SS Rhein" | "42.01 N 49.20 W" | "2 large bergs 35 feet high 100 feet long and 3 small bergs" |
| "April 20" | "SS Rhein" | "41.59 N 49.52 W" | "saw 2 small bergs" |
| "April 20" | "SS Rhein" | "41.58 N 50.03 W" | "saw large berg ~600' high and 200' long." |
| "April 20" | "SS Rhein" | "41.57 N 50.19 W" | "saw large berg 100 feet high 200 feet long" |
| "April 20" | "SS Bremen" | "42.00 N 49.23 W" | "5 icebergs" |
| "April 20" | "???" | "42.00 N 49.45 W" | "2 small bergs" |
| "April 20" | "???" | "42.01 N 49.26 W" | "2 large bergs ~35' high and 100' long; also 3 small bergs." |
| "April 20" | "SS Cevic" | "40.57 N 47.45 W" | "saw iceberg 50 feet high and 150 feet long, with 2 pinnacles" |
| "April 20" | "SS Cevic" | "40.58 N 47.36 W" | "small berg and observed small pieces of floe ice northward" |
| "April 20" | "SS Ancona" | "40.03 N 49.29 W" | "saw iceberg 300 feet long and 50 feet high" |
| "April 20" | "SS Moltkefels" | "41.00 N 47.00 W" | "saw 25 icebergs (4 on port and 21 on starboard)" |
| "April 20" | "SS Potsdam" | "41.38 N 47.50 W" | "passed two icebergs" |
| "April 20" | "SS Bremen" | "42.08 N 48.09 W" | "saw small iceberg" |
| "April 20" | "SS Bremen" | "42.06 N 48.55 W" | "saw berg 100 feet high and 400 feet long" |
| "April 20" | "SS Bremen" | "42.02 N 49.32 W 41.57 N 50.00 W" | "2 large bergs and pack ice" |
| "April 20" | "SS Portsmouth" | "41.48 N 49.20 W" | "passed through a quantity of wreckage, apparently not long in the water; cabin fittings and white painted woodwork and teak, one cabin sofa, upholstered and one lifebelt white, hardly discoloured. Dense fog at time" |
| "April 20" | "SS Rhein" | "42.01 N 49.13 W" | "saw bodies and wreckage eight miles west of three big icebergs" |
| "April 20" | "SS Bremen" | "42.00 N 49.23 W" | "150 to 200 bodies seen" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "41.03 N 46.52 W" | "Saw 1 medium berg and several growlers." |
| "April 21" | "???" | "41.03 N 46.58 W" | "Saw 1 small berg and several growlers" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "41.00 N 46.48 W" | "Saw 1 medium berg." |
| "April 21" | "???" | "41.12 N 46.15 W" | "Saw 1 large berg" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "40.51 N 47.08 W" | "Saw 1 large berg 100' high and 500' long" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "41.17 N 46.22 W" | "Saw 1 large berg" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "41.34 N 47.40 W" | "Saw 3 large bergs and a number of growlers" |
| "April 21" | "SS Steiermark" | "41.55 N 49.10 W" | "Saw 4 bergs" |
| "April 21" | "SS Dortmund" | "42.00 N 50.00 W" | "Saw 10 bergs" |
| "April 21" | "SS Steiermark" | "42.05 N 47.52 N 41.50 N 47.45 W" | "Saw 2 bergs" |
| "April 21" | "SS Steiermark" | "41.55 N 49.10 W" | "Saw 2 bergs" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "46.10 N 58.30 W" | "A lane of drift ice extending in a NW and SE direction to the horizon" |
| "April 21" | "SS Steiermark" | "46.20 N 49.00 W" | "Field ice" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "43.28 N 49.23 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "43.44 N 48.56 W" | "A small low berg" |
| "April 21" | "???" | "43.46 N 48.51 W" | "A small low berg." |
| "April 21" | "???" | "40.53 N 48.09 W" | "A medium sized berg." |
| "April 21" | "???" | "41.00 N 48.16 W 41.43 N 45.46 W" | "passed from 50 to 60 large & small bergs" |
| "April 21" | "SS Talisman" | "41.22 N 47.50 W" | "Passed 4 icebergs" |
| "April 21" | "??" | "42.00 N 49.20 W" | "SS Rhein forwarded a message to the Mackay Bennett about sighting three large icebergs" |
| "April 21" | "Mackay Bennett" | "42.01 N 50.24 W" | "Saw icebergs" |
| "April 21" | "SS La Navarre" | "40.45 N 49.50 W" | "small icebergs and 3 large ones" |
| "April 21" | "SS Sloterdijk" | "42.19 N 47.50 W" | "Saw large iceberg" |
| "April 21" | "SS Sloterdijk" | "42.14 N 48.55 W 42.17 N 49.03 W" | "Saw 3 bergs" |
| "April 21" | "SS B....?" | "42.00 N 49.29 W" | "Passed an overturned lifeboat and 3 large icebergs" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "40.39 N 48.48 W" | "a berg ~900' long and 120' high" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "41.50 N 48.00 W 41.42 N 49.47 W" | "Saw field ice and several bergs" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "41.50 N 49.47 W" | "Field ice and several bergs" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "40.35 N 48.56 W" | "Saw a berg ~60' high and some small pieces of ice." |
| "April 22" | "???" | "41.01 N 46.39 W" | "Saw a small berg" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "41.18 N 46.11 W" | "Saw a small berg" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "41.22 N 46.04 W" | "Saw a small berg" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "41.28 N 45.54 W" | "Saw 12 bergs of various sizes" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "41.32 N 45.54 W" | "Saw several bergs" |
| "April 22" | "???" | "41.42 N 45.13 W" | "Saw 9 bergs of various sizes" |
| "April 22" | "SS Laconia" | "40.41 N 47.07 W" | "Saw large berg (8 miles north)" |
| "April 22" | "SS Riverdale" | "41.07 N 44.18 W" | "Saw large iceberg and 7 or 8 smaller ones" |
| "April 22" | "SS Cestrian" | "41.50 N 48.30 W 41.42 N 49.47 W" | "passed through field ice and sighted several bergs." |
| "April 22" | "SS Royal George" | "42.32 N 47.55 W" | "Saw large berg" |
| "April 22" | "SS Royal George" | "42.31 N 48.21 W 42.34 N 49.22 W" | "saw 5 bergs and 7 growlers and some small pieces" |
| "April 22" | "SS Royal George" | "42.34 N 50.06 W" | "saw large berg 8 miles to the north" |
| "April 22" | "SS Melbourne" | "41.57 N 45.37 W" | "Saw 6 large bergs" |
| "April 22" | "SS Cestrian" | "41.00 N 49.12 W 41.00 N 49 34 W" | "passed deck fittings, chairs, beddings and other wreckage from Titanic" |
| "April 23" | "SS Winifredian" | "42.13 N 50.25 W" | "a large berg and several small pieces close around it" |
| "April 23" | "SS Rotterdam" | "41.40 N 48.41 W 41.47 N 48.49 W" | "2 bergs and 2 pieces of ice" |
| "April 23" | "SS Rotterdam" | "42.15 N 45.49 W 41.49 N 46.41 W" | "Saw 11 bergs." |
| "April 23" | "???" | "40.56 N 47.15 W" | "Saw 3 bergs" |
| "April 23" | "SS Manchester Engineer" | "41.30 N 47.45 W" | "Saw numerous icebergs, large and small" |
| "April 23" | "SS Harlseywood" | "41.15 N 47.00 W" | "Saw several large icebergs" |
| "April 23" | "SS Atholl" | "41.00 N 47.00 W" | "Saw 4 large bergs" |
| "April 23" | "SS Exeter City" | "42.35 N 48.00 W 42.24 N 49.20 W" | "saw 7 large bergs, and 20 medium sized one and great number of small flat pieces" |
| "April 23" | "SS Helios" | "42.20 N 46.03 W" | "Saw large berg" |
| "April 23" | "SS Helios" | "42.15 N 45.22 W" | "several large and small bergs" |
| "April 23" | "Mackay Bennett" | " " | "Stopped at an overturned lifeboat" |
| "April 23" | "Banshee" | "42.00 N 49.30 W" | "saw a drawer of a wardrobe with brass knobs on it. Then a part of a cabin door and piece of rail painted white. Saw two bodies" |
| "April 24" | "???" | "42.00 N 47.00 W" | "Saw 12 bergs over 5 hours" |
| "April 24" | "???" | "42.00 N 47.00 W" | "Saw 3 bergs" |
| "April 24" | "???" | "42.00 N 47.00 W" | "Saw a large berg" |
| "April 24" | "???" | "42.45 N 45.38 W" | "a berg 20' high and 60' long and a small berg ~5' high and 15' long" |
| "April 24" | "SS Melbourne" | "41.13 N 54.10 W" | "Saw 3 large bergs" |
| "April 24" | "SS Helios" | "41.49 N 48.59 W" | "Saw a large berg" |
| "April 24" | "SS Helios" | "41.45 N 49.22 W" | "Saw several small bergs" |
| "April 24" | "Mackay Bennett" | "41.49 N 49.35 W" | "Recovered five bodies [NB: this is reported at 44.49 N; this may be an error for 42.49 or more likely 41.49 N]" |
| "April 25" | "SS Winifredian" | "41.43 N 49.58 W" | "Saw a large berg 10 miles distant" |
| "April 25" | "SS Graf Waldersee" | "41.48 N 47.10 W 41.51 N 49.52 W" | "Saw 8 icebergs" |
| "April 25" | "???" | "40.45 N 47.00 W" | "Saw 2 large bergs" |
| "April 25" | "???" | "41.24 N 51.18 W" | "Saw several small pieces of ice" |
| "April 25" | "???" | "41.31 N 49.53 W" | "Saw a large berg (12 miles south)" |
| "April 25" | "???" | "41.36 N 49.40 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 25" | "???" | "41.40 N 46.42 W" | "a berg 30' high and 150' long." |
| "April 25" | "???" | "42.09 N 50.03 W 42.19 N 50.06 W" | "2 large bergs and several small pieces" |
| "April 25" | "???" | "47.32 N 46.18 W" | "A large field of pack ice" |
| "April 25" | "???" | "48.13 N 44.40 W" | "Saw a large berg" |
| "April 25" | "SS Ardanmhor" | "48.45 N 47.40 W" | "encountered bergs, thence on a WSW course for 55m, passed 30 large bergs and many growlers; midway passed through a lane of field ice closely studded with growlers which took the steamer 12 hours to force her way through" |
| "April 25" | "SS Chicago" | "41.11 N 49.56 W 41.33 N 48.28 W" | "Saw 5 bergs" |
| "April 25" | "SS Trignac" | "46.34 N 44.00 W 44.30 N 47.40 W" | "Saw 13 large bergs" |
| "April 25" | "SS Niagara" | "41.00 N 48.53 W" | "Saw iceberg" |
| "April 25" | "SS Danta" | "41.57 N 49.02 W 41.56 N 49.51 W" | "Saw 20 large and small bergs" |
| "April 25" | "SS Canada" | "48.00 N 44.40 W" | "Saw large iceberg" |
| "April 25" | "???" | "47.32 N 46.18 W" | "a large field of pack ice" |
| "April 25" | "SS Graf Waldersee" | "41.48 N 47.10 W 41.51 N 49.52 W" | "passed 8 icebergs and a quantity of wreckage, including life buoys, chairs and pieces of wood believed to be from sunken steamer Titanic" |
| "April 26" | "SS Main" | "40.48 N 46.42 N" | "A large berg" |
| "April 26" | "???" | "41.47 N 47.57 W" | "Saw 4 bergs (8 miles to the north)" |
| "April 26" | "SS Galileo" | "40.54 N 46.54 W" | "10.20am a berg ~110' high and 220' long" |
| "April 26" | "SS Main" | "41.02 N 46.28 W" | "Saw 2 bergs" |
| "April 26" | "SS Galileo" | "41.04 N 46.37 W" | "a large berg ~110' high and 220' long" |
| "April 26" | "SS Finland" | "41.28 N 46.07 W 40.58 N 46.42 W" | "9 bergs from 600'-1000' long and 140'-200' high;" |
| "April 26" | "SS Finland" | "40.56 N 47.34 W" | "Saw large berg" |
| "April 26" | "SS Snowdon Range" | "42.00 N 49.45 W" | "a berg ~40' high and 300' long" |
| "April 26" | "???" | "43.53 N 46.50 W 43.34 N 48.02 W" | "4 medium sized and 6 small bergs; also many broken pieces of ice." |
| "April 26" | "SS Canada" | "46.15 N 48.55 W 47.32 N 46.18 W" | "Saw a large berg and then saw many bergs and growlers" |
| "April 26" | "???" | "48.40 N 46.22 W 47.15 N 48.17 W" | "Saw 10 bergs, mostly large" |
| "April 26" | "???" | "41.48 N 46.55 W" | "a berg ~50' high and 200' long." |
| "April 26" | "SS Gibraltar" | "41 13.5 N 49 34 W" | "seven bodies and wreckage." |
| "April 26" | "???" | "41.47 N 48.40 W" | "a berg ~20' high and 150' long" |
| "April 27" | "SS Oscar II" | "41.04 N 46.50 W" | "a medium sized berg" |
| "April 27" | "SS Oscar II" | "41.04 N 47.42 W" | "Saw a large berg" |
| "April 27" | "SS Oscar II" | "40.53 N 46.38 W" | "a medium sized berg and several growlers" |
| "April 27" | "SS Oscar II" | "41.10 N 46.33 W" | "a berg ~80' high and 275' long." |
| "April 27" | "SS Oscar II" | "41.10 N 50.00 W" | "Saw a large berg" |
| "April 27" | "SS Sagamore" | "41.14 N 49.44 W" | "a very large berg and some distance to the southward, several detached pieces of ice." |
| "April 27" | "???" | "42.20 N 49.31 W" | "A small berg" |
| "April 27" | "???" | "46.19 N 48.11 W" | "A berg" |
| "April 27" | "???" | "47.30 N 46.00 W" | "numerous growlers and bergs" |
| "April 27" | "???" | "47.37 N 44.19 W" | "ice was seen" |
| "April 27" | "???" | "49.02 N 47.49 W 48.28 N 49.37 W" | "on a S64oW course, 39 bergs and several growlers and some slob ice. The bergs were in most part to the northward and low with flat tops." |
| "April 27" | "SS Sagamore" | "41.21 N 49.36 W" | "saw two dead bodies with life belts on, several deck chairs, racks etc., also a quantity of painted woodwork" |
| "April 28" | "???" | "40.40 N 48.00 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 28" | "SS Mendoza" | "40.50 N 46.20 W" | "Saw a very large berg" |
| "April 28" | "???" | "45.36 N 42.32 W" | "a small berg; also 8 ice floes covering an area of 5 to 6 square miles." |
| "April 28" | "???" | "45.30 N 42.27 W" | "A small berg" |
| "April 28" | "???" | "47.00 N 43.30 W" | "~75 large and small bergs." |
| "April 28" | "???" | "47.55 N 51.21 N" | "a large high berg and a small one." |
| "April 28" | "SS Mongolian" | "49.00 N 47.45 W 48.00 N 50.00 W" | "numerous large and small bergs." |
| "April 28" | "???" | "41.13 N 46.34 W" | "A very large berg" |
| "April 28" | "???" | "41.24 N 49.15 W" | "Saw a large berg" |
| "April 28" | "SS Pannonia" | "41.12 N 46.15 W" | "saw 1 large berg 300 feet high" |
| "April 28" | "SS Pannonia" | "41.17 N 46.22 W" | "One large berg" |
| "April 28" | "SS Pannonia" | "41.09 N 46.48 W" | "1 medium berg (originally said 40.09 N)" |
| "April 28" | "SS Pannonia" | "41.03 N 46.52 W" | "1 medium berg and growlers (was originally 48.52 W)" |
| "April 28" | "SS Pannonia" | "41.03 N 46.58 W" | "1 small berg and growlers" |
| "April 28" | "SS Pannonia" | "40.51 N 47.08 W" | "1 large berg 100 feet high and 500 feet long." |
| "April 29" | "???" | "41.18 N 49.09 W" | "A small berg" |
| "April 29" | "???" | "41.20 N 48.43 W" | "A medium sized berg" |
| "April 29" | "???" | "41.20 N 47.07 W" | "A small berg" |
| "April 29" | "???" | "41.21 N 49.22 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 29" | "???" | "41.25 N 48.43 W" | "a berg ~150' high; appeared as though it had been run into by a vessel." |
| "April 29" | "???" | "44.21 N 48.10 W" | "Bergs" |
| "April 29" | "SS Shenandoah" | "44.27 N 48.30 W" | "A number of large bergs" |
| "April 29" | "???" | "45.00 N 46.45 W" | "Bergs" |
| "April 29" | "SS Shenandoah" | "44.21 N 48.10 W 45.00 N 46.45 W" | "Large bergs" |
| "April 29" | "SS Ilford" | "48.40 N 46.22 W 47.15 N 48.17 W" | "Saw 10 bergs" |
| "April 30" | "SS Shenandoah" | "45.03 N 45.28 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 30" | "SS Shenandoah" | "45.05 N 45.56 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 30" | "SS Shenandoah" | "45.07 N 45.34 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 30" | "SS Shenandoah" | "45.10 N 46.00 W" | "2 large bergs" |
| "April 30" | "SS Shenandoah" | "45.12 N 45.28 W" | "A large berg" |
| "April 30" | "SS Minia" | "40.30 N 48.30 W" | "Numerous bergs (40.30 N may be a misprint for 41.30 N)" |
With such a large dataset from which to work, it is inevitable that there are conflicts of information. Witness:
A possible explanation for this confusion is that we must differentiate between when an ice report was made and when it was received. Those ships that possessed wireless could transmit their observations immediately, but those without had to wait till they passed within visual communication range of another vessel, or were in port, so that they could relay those messages directly. Although Lloyd's usually indicated the date that an ice warning was made, and not received, sometimes this is not so. Sometimes ships relayed messages from others and it is a possibility that the dates associated with the ice is not when the ice was seen but when the message was re-transmitted.
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