* * * * *
At the time this message was received the _Titanic_ position was about
42° 35´ N., 45° 50´ W. Capt. Smith acknowledged the receipt of this
message also.
Mr. Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line, was on board
the _Titanic_, and it appears that the master handed the _Baltic's_
message to Mr. Ismay almost immediately after it was received. This no
doubt was in order that Mr. Ismay might know that ice was to be
expected. Mr. Ismay states that he understood from the message that they
would get up to the ice "that night." Mr. Ismay showed this message to
two ladies, and it is therefore probable that many persons on board
became aware of its contents. This message ought in my opinion to have
been put on the board in the chart room as soon as it was received. It
remained, however, in Mr. Ismay's possession until 7.15 p. m., when the
master asked Mr. Ismay to return it. It was then that it was first
posted in the chart room.
This was considerably before the time at which the vessel reached the
position recorded in the message. Nevertheless, I think it was irregular
for the master to part with the document, and improper for Mr. Ismay to
retain it, but the incident had, in my opinion, no connection with or
influence upon the manner in which the vessel was navigated by the
master.
It appears that about 1.45 p. m. (_Titanic_ time) on the 14th a message
was sent from the German steamer _Amerika_ to the Hydrographic Office in
Washington, which was in the following terms:
_Amerika_ passed two large icebergs in 41° 27´ N., 50° 8´ W., on
April 14.
This was a position south of the point of the _Titanic's_ disaster. The
message does not mention at what hour the bergs had been observed. It
was a private message for the hydrographer at Washington, but it passed
to the _Titanic_ because she was nearest to Cape Race, to which station
it had to be sent in order to reach Washington. Being a message
affecting navigation, it should in the ordinary course have been taken
to the bridge. So far as can be ascertained, it was never heard of by
anyone on board the _Titanic_ outside the Marconi room. There were two
Marconi operators in the Marconi room, namely, Phillips, who perished,
and Bride, who survived and gave evidence. Bride did not receive the
_Amerika_ message nor did Phillips mention it to him, though the two had
much conversation together after it had been received. I am of opinion
that when this message reached the Marconi room it was put aside by
Phillips to wait until the _Titanic_ would be within call of Cape Race
(at about 8 or 8.30 p. m.), and that it was never handed to any officer
of the _Titanic_.
At 5.50 p. m. the _Titanic's_ course (which had been S. 62° W.) was
changed to bring her on a westerly course for New York. In ordinary
circumstances this change in her course should have been made about half
an hour earlier, but she seems on this occasion to have continued for
about 10 miles longer on her southwesterly course before turning, with
the result that she found herself, after altering course at 5.50 p. m.,
about 4 or 5 miles south of the customary route on a course S. 86° W.
true. Her course, as thus set, would bring her at the time of the
collision to a point about 2 miles to the southward of the customary
route and 4 miles south and considerably to the westward of the
indicated position of the _Baltic's_ ice. Her position at the time of
the collision would also be well to the southward of the indicated
position of the ice mentioned in the _Caronia_ message. This change of
course was so insignificant that in my opinion it can not have been made
in consequence of information as to ice.
In this state of things, at 7.30 p.m. a fourth message was received, and
is said by the Marconi operator Bride to have been delivered to the
bridge. This message was from the steamship _Californian_ to the
steamship _Antillian_, but was picked up by the _Titanic_. It was as
follows:
* * * * *
To CAPTAIN, _Antillian_:
Six-thirty p. m., apparent ship's time; latitude 42° 3´ N., longitude
49° 9´ W. Three large bergs 5 miles to southward of us. Regards.