[Sharon]

- Titanic Sinking Timeline –

“Titanic” prepares to depart from Southampton, England, shortly after noon on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, on its maiden voyage, a six-day trip across the Atlantic to New York. The ship carries 2,228 passengers and crew.

Titanic arrives at Cherbourg, France, at 6.30pm.
Departs from Cherbourg at 8.00pm sailing down the English Channel heading towards the South coast of Ireland

Thursday, April 11th 1912, arriving in Queenstown (Cobh), South of Ireland, at 11.30am, the ship departs Queenstown at around 1:30 p.m.

R.M.S. Titanic now set off on her maiden voyage, across the North Atlantic. The weather is clear, the seas calm, on Thursday April 11th and Friday 12th.

On Saturday April 13th, as “Titanic” approaches
the mid-Atlantic, Bruce Ismay seems determined to beat the crossing times set by “Titanic’s” sister ship the “Olympic”, and to make New York a day early. “Titanic” increases speed to more than 22 knots.

At 9 a.m. Sunday, April 14, Cunard liner “Caronia” sent a message reporting icebergs, growlers (smaller bergs) and field ice in the area.

At 11:40 a.m., Dutch liner “Noordam” reports ice in much the same position as noted by “Caronia” also “Amerika” reports two large icebergs in the same area at 1:45 p.m.

At 5 p.m., “Titanic” reaches the “corner”, a navigational reference point at 42 degrees N, 47 degrees, where Capt. Smith delays the turn to New York, probably due to earlier ice warnings, and makes the corner 50 minutes later and 16 miles farther southwest.

At 7:30 p.m. An ice warning from the “Californian” is intercepted.

At 9:30 p.m. Capt. Smith retires to his cabin, for the night.

10 p.m. “Titanic” is approaching a field of ice and bergs several miles wide. “Californian” sends messages at 11 p.m. that it is stopped and surrounded by ice, 11:35 p.m. the “Californian’s” wireless room shuts down.

11:40 p.m. Lookout Frederick Fleet spots a black object in their path “Iceberg right ahead”.

11.43p.m. Titanic collides with Iceberg

At 11:50. The water is already 14-feet above the keel in the first five compartments.

12:03 a.m. Thomas Andrews makes his report to Captain Smith shortly after midnight. “Titanic” is doomed”.

At 12:05 a.m. Smith gives the order to prepare the lifeboats, Second Officer Lightoller is in command of the starboard side, First Officer Murdoch in charge of the Port side, along with Fifth Officer Harold Lowe and Sixth Officer James Moody helping where ever they could, the order to prepare the lifeboats was overseen by Chief Officer Henry Wilde.

At 12:10, Capt. Smith tells the wireless operators to send the distress call C.D.Q. from MGY (“Titanic”) and finally the new distress call S.O.S.

About 12.15 a.m. Several passengers and crew see the lights of another ship, perhaps as close as 6 miles away (This we now know was the Leyland Line steamer “Californian”).

At 12:25 a.m., “Carpathia” receives distress message C.D.Q. Responses also will come from the “Ypiranga”, “Frankfurt”, “Baltic”, and “Caronia”, “Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm”, “Mount Temple” and “Titanic’s” sister ship, “Olympic”.

12:35 a.m. Smith gives the order to man the lifeboats and abandon ship, the evacuation has begun.

12:45 a.m., Joseph Boxhall fires the first of eight distress rockets and repeats the act every five minutes.

12:45 a.m. lifeboat No. 7 with 28 people aboard becomes the first to get away.

12:55 a.m. Second Officer Lightoller lowers lifeboat No. 6 with 28 people aboard.

1:00 a.m., lifeboat No. 3 with 32 people aboard, is lowered.

1:00 a.m., lifeboat No. 1, with a capacity of 40, has only 12 aboard.

1:10 a.m., Second Officer Lightoller lowers lifeboat No. 8 with 28 people aboard.

1:15 a.m. “Titanic” lurches to port, the deck tilting.

1.20 a.m. Lifeboats No. 10 and No. 9 are lowered, this time with 35 and 56 people aboard respectively.

1.25 a.m. Second Officer Lightoller, lowers boat No. 12 with 30 people aboard.

1.30 a.m. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe brandishes his gun to deter men from rushing boat No. 14; it finally gets away with 58 people aboard.

1.30 a.m. Sixth Officer James Moody lowers boat No. 13 with 65 people aboard.

1.35 a.m. Lifeboats No. 16 and No. 15 are lowered, this time with 40 and 65 people aboard respectively. (The rush to escape, boat No. 13 is almost crushed when it is washed under the descending boat No. 15).

At 1:40 a.m., the mystery ship (Leyland Line steamer “Californian”) turns away or is no longer visible.

1:45 a.m. lifeboat No. 2 is lowered with 25 people aboard.

1:55 a.m. First Officer Murdoch gets lifeboat No. 11 away with over 70 people aboard.

1:50 a.m. lifeboat No. 4 is lowered with 32 people aboard.

It is 2.00 a.m., Collapsible boat C is two-thirds full when a group of passengers try to storm it, Chief Purser Hugh McElroy fires his pistol twice skywards to try to attain some attention. Bruce Ismay, White Star director, climbs aboard the boat as it is lowered with 44 people aboard, an action that will bring vilification later.

At 2.05 a.m. Collapsible D, with 22 women and children is lowered, First Officer Lightoller draws his revolver to keep the men from rushing the boat. Passengers Hugh Woolner and Mauritz Hakan Bjornstrom-Steffanson make a jump for it, taking places 23 and 24 of the 47 available.

2.05 a.m. Capt. Smith goes to the wireless cabin and releases Phillips and Bride, Phillips continues to work while Bride gather’s their papers before they leave.

At 2.15 a.m. Crewmen struggle to free Collapsible B on the roof of the officer’s quarters. It will eventually float off the ship, overturned, and later saves more than a dozen men from the freezing water who balance and cling to its curved hull in the ice bound Atlantic.

At 2:17 a.m. The last wireless signal is sent by Phillips.

At 2.15 a.m. The last boat to leave the “Titanic” was collapsible A, also stowed on the roof of Captain Smith’s quarters, becomes badly tangled in its lashings on the roof, but finally breaks free and floats away, more than 20 people climb into the swamped boat from the frozen Atlantic water, it finally saved 12 men who balanced on it’s curved hull until rescued, Collapsible's A and B were met by a flotilla of boats, assembled by Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, who was helping to pick survivors from the sea, by the time boat A was rescued there was more than a foot of water inside, those still alive were dragged aboard Lowe’s boat. The three dead were left in collapsible A, which was then abandoned to drift away into the night, when it was found a month later by White Star Liner “Oceanic”, it was taken aboard and the bodies were buried at sea, whilst the battered collapsible A was taken to join the other lifeboats in New York..

2:20 a.m. “R.M.S. Titanic” has battled against the all odds for more than two hours, but the end was inevitable. she is pulled beneath the ocean surface, she is no longer afloat.

[NurseBettie]

Great post!

[Hotstuff]

[tara2]

wow, now thats cool. so tragic though. can you imagine being trapped in your room when the ship went down. dark,freezing cold water...

[Sharon]

Originally Posted by tara2 ↗

wow, now thats cool. so tragic though. can you imagine being trapped in your room when the ship went down. dark,freezing cold water...

Terrible thought isn't it? You can only imagine how horrific it was out there on the dark Atlantic I've just bought the film with the fab Kate Winslet - such a weepie!!

My family and I went to the museum in Halifax, Canada, that houses things from Titanic, it was really awful seeing them for real. We saw the cemetary too, tragic.

Good post, another 50 years or so and the wreck will disintegrate completely.

[smackem]

Thanks Sada.

[annmarie]

i am always interested on anything about the titanic

[stevew3765]

You nailed it yet again!

[FearsMuse]

These pieces never fail to astound me. Fascinating to say the least! Sad, yet timelessly beautiful.