Countdown to Disaster

The Last Days of the R.M.S. Titanic

Friday, April 12, 1912

 Friday, April 12th, 1912 was the second full day of Titanic's voyage. Traveling at about 21 knots, Titanic had covered 386 miles (between noon of the 11th of April and noon of the 12th), and from noon Friday to Saturday she would cover another 519 miles. The weather was fine, and all was running smoothly. In fact, it seemed as if nothing at all could go wrong. Unfortunately, plenty did.

 The wind was rather chilly and the ship was listing to port. Purser McElroy theorized that this was most likely because too much coal was being used on the starboard side. This was due to the fact that a fire in Boiler Room 6 had been recently discovered. Firemen were desperately attempting to put it out, but it seemed to be out of control. The fire had been caused by coal left to dry, which, rubbing together, had flicked a spark which had spontaneously combusted. Apparently, the smoldering had started during the trials almost two weeks before.

 That day, Titanic's wireless room had been packed with incoming and outgoing messages, several incoming messages were from ships with greetings and warnings of ice (among them were messages from the Avala, California, President Lincoln, La Tourine, Montrose, Manitou, St. Laurent, Corsican, East Point, Empress of Britain, and Lackawanna). That same day, the French Line Steamer Niagra had stopped, surrounded by ice. It was soon discovered that she was damaged, and she sent a call for assistance. The Carmania traveled to the ship to wait for further information, and a message was sent out to the ships that further aide was not required.

 At about 11 o'clock p.m., the wireless system on board the Titanic ceased to function and Junior Operator Harold Bride was sent to inform the Captain. The two men, Phillips, the senior, and Bride, the junior, spent hours trying to locate the problem and fix it. On the 13th, they discovered that the culprit was actually a piece of machinery called a secretary and went to work on it immediately. That night, vessels encountered a huge, rectangular-shaped ice field right in Titanic's path.  

Countdown to Disaster has been prepared for ACT I by Titanic Researcher Addison Hart of DeKalb, Illinois.

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