Posted by True. Despite the night being one of the clearest in history, nevertheless several of Titanic’s lookouts testified to there being a haze on the horizon prior to the collision with the fateful iceberg:
Reginald Lee, Titanic Lookout:
2401. What sort of a night was it?
– A clear, starry night overhead, but at the time of the accident there was a
haze right ahead.
2402. At the time of the accident a
haze right ahead?
– A haze right ahead – in fact it was extending more or less round the horizon.
There was no moon.
2403. And no wind?
– And no wind whatever, barring what the ship made herself.
2404. Quite a calm sea?
– Quite a calm sea.
2405. Was it cold?
– Very, freezing.
2408. Did you notice this
haze which you said extended on the horizon when you first came on the
look-out, or did it come later?
– It was not so distinct then – not to be noticed. You did not really notice it
then – not on going on watch, but we had all our work cut out to pierce through
it just after we started. My mate happened to pass the remark to me. He said,
“Well; if we can see through that we will be lucky.” That was when we
began to notice there was a haze on the water. There was nothing in sight.
2409. You had been told, of course, to
keep a careful look-out for ice, and you were trying to pierce the haze as much
as you could?
– Yes, to see as much as we could.
2441. (The Attorney-General.)
I said 60 ft.; I am told it is about 55 feet. (To the Witness.) Can you give us any idea
of the breadth [of the iceberg]? What did it look like? It was something which
was above the forecastle?
– It was a dark mass that came through that haze and there was no white
appearing until it was just close alongside the ship, and that was just a
fringe at the top.
2442. It was a dark mass that appeared,
you say?
– Through this haze, and as she moved away from it, there was just a white
fringe along the top.
2447. Quite right; that is where she
hit, but can you tell us how far the iceberg was from you, this mass that you
saw?
– It might have been half a mile or more; it might have been less; I could not
give you the distance in that peculiar light.
Frederick Fleet, Titanic Lookout:
17245.
Now at the time you went into the crow’s-nest, which would be at 10 o’clock on
that night, was the sky clear?
– Yes.
17246.
The sea we know was very calm?
– The sea calm.
17247.
The stars shining?
– Yes.
17248.
Could you clearly see the horizon?
– The first part of the watch we could.
17249.
The first part of the watch you could?
– Yes.
17250.
After the first part of the watch what was the change if any?
– A sort of slight haze.
17251.
A slight haze?
– Yes.
17252.
Was the haze on the waterline?
– Yes.
17253.
It prevented you from seeing the horizon clearly?
– It was nothing to talk about.
17254.
It was nothing much, apparently?
– No.
17255.
Was this haze ahead of you?
– Yes.
17256.
Was it only ahead, did you notice?
– Well, it was only about 2 points on each side.
17257.
When you saw this haze did it continue right up to the time of your striking
the berg?
– Yes.
17263.
Did you say anything to your mate about it?
– Well, I told him there was a slight haze coming.
17264.
Is that Lee?
– Lee.
17265.
At the time that you noticed the haze was there anything in sight?
– No.
17266.
Did it interfere with your sight ahead of you?
– No.
17267.
Could you see as well ahead and as far ahead after you noticed the haze as you
could before?
– It did not affect us, the haze.
17268. It did not affect you?
– No, we could see just as well.
George Symons, on Titanic’s Lookout before Fleet and Lee, also testified to seeing the same ‘haze’, despite the clear night:
11983. While you were on the look-out,
up to 10 o’clock, what sort of a night was it?
– Pretty clear, Sir, a fine night, rather hazy; if anything a little hazy on
the horizon, but nothing to speak of.
11984. Would you describe it as a very
clear night?
– Yes.
Titanic’s Lookouts also testified at a 1913 Titanic trial. Their exact words are presently lost, but a legal precis of their testimony at the time records their evidence as follows:
REGINALD ROBINSON LEE, Titanic lookout 10-11.40pm
The sea was calm; the sky was clear. It was cold. There was a haze on the water.
A portion of the berg was above the haze. When he saw the berg he did not think he could see the lower part of it below the haze. If the whole berg had been covered with haze he would not have seen it so soon.
The sky was clear; the sea was not. There was a haze, as seen when one looked for the horizon.
FREDERICK FLEET, Titanic lookout, 10-11.40pm
There was a very slight haze on the horizon, but it did not hinder them in performing their duties.
GEORGE SYMONS, Titanic lookout, 8 to 10pm
There was a slight haze on the water obscuring the view of the sky-line. It was about the same in their watch throughout the two hours.
In the past this important evidence has been disregarded as false and inconsistent with the clear night. But it is for that reason an unlikely story to make up and Symons, who also testified to the haze, was not even on watch at the time of the collision.
Lord Mersey, the British Wreck Commissioner presiding over the 1912 trial commented pointedly as follows:
“I mean the evidence before and after the accident is that the sky was
perfectly clear, and therefore if the evidence of the haze is to be accepted,
it must have been some extraordinary natural phenomenon…”
It is possible that Lord Mersey was more right than he realised, when he said these words in 1912, because the Lookouts’ descriptions of a slight haze on a clear night, which did not seem to reduce visibility, is consistent with the apparent haze seen when a cold-water mirage is present and scattering light on the horizon.
Indeed, weather charts of the time reveal that the air pressure at the time of Titanic’s collision was approximately1039mb – too high for a fog to form.
W Kelly, an American scientist, explained in an essay on fog in 1832 that:“There was generally with the mirage an appearance of a fog bank on the horizon…the air within the horizon was at the same time perfectly clear.”
And Dr Andrew T Young, one of the world’s leading atmospheric refraction experts, explained this today: “The superior mirage is often associated with an appearance of “fog” at the horizon, because one sees much further than usual in the mirage strip below the “false horizon”
So it could be that the sinking of the Titanic was not a simple accident caused by negligence, but rather the ultimate tragedy, a human catastrophe caused by the awesome power of nature.
If you’d like to read the full book of101 Things You Thought You Knew About The Titanic…But Didn’t!, or any of my other books on Titanic, please visit my Author Page on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/tim-maltin/e/B005LNHYEQ/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1