14–15 April 1912

Ice

At 11.40 p.m. on 14 April 1912, in the wording of the British inquiry, Titanic struck an iceberg, and at 2.20 a.m. the next day she foundered.⁠¹ The inquiry places the foundering in or near latitude 41° 46′ N., longitude 50° 14′ W., in the North Atlantic.⁠¹

A large iceberg photographed at sea, with a dark smear along the waterline, taken from the liner Prinz Adalbert on 15 April 1912. — An iceberg photographed on the morning of 15 April 1912 by the chief steward of the liner Prinz Adalbert, a few miles south of where Titanic sank. He had not yet heard of the wreck, and noticed a smear that looked like red paint near the waterline. The British inquiry recorded that there was ice in the area; it does not identify this particular berg as the one that was struck.Photo: The chief steward of the liner Prinz Adalbert (name not recorded) · Public domain · Commons

The photograph above was taken on the morning of 15 April 1912 by the chief steward of the liner Prinz Adalbert, a few miles south of where Titanic sank. He had not yet heard of the wreck. The smear that looked like red paint along the waterline has often been used to identify this particular berg as the one that was struck. The British inquiry recorded ice in the area; it does not identify this berg as the one. We credit the photograph, and we keep that uncertainty in view.

On Greenwich’s timeline she set sail from Southampton at 12.15 on 10 April 1912, called at Cherbourg and Queenstown, received a first ice warning from Caronia at 09.00 on 14 April, and struck the iceberg at 23.40 that night.⁠²

The court’s later finding was not that ice, by itself, was the whole cause. It found that the ship was being navigated at excessive speed.

Ice

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