The R.M.S. Titanic and Washington, D. C.: One Hundred Years: 1912 to 2012 - People, Government Process and Precedent, Investigations, and Locations
194
The R.M.S. Titanic and Washington, D. C.: One Hundred Years: 1912 to 2012 - People, Government Process and Precedent, Investigations, and Locations
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| ISBN-13: | 9781524624200 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 06/23/2016 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 194 |
| File size: | 67 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
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The R.M.S. Titanic and Washington, D. C.
One Hundred Years: 1912 to 2012-People, Government Process and Precedent, Investigations, and Locations
By Maureen Zottoli
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2016 Maureen ZottoliAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-4371-1
CHAPTER 1
Looking At Titanic with 1912 Eyes
What Was The Timeline?
Titanic had received ice warnings prior to April 14, 1912.
Titanic sent out a wireless message to Sandy Point giving an estimate of its miles remaining to travel.
Titanic had received ice warnings on April 14, 1912 - prior to hitting the iceberg.
At about 22:30 on April 14, 1912, the Californian wireless operator attempts to advise Titanic they are stopped due to ice. Titanic operator Phillips tells the Californian wireless operator to shut up.
At about 23:40 on April 14, 1912, Titanic struck the iceberg while traveling at nearly full speed through a known area to have hazardous icy conditions. There were also known reported derelicts that had been reported in the area as well.
From about 23:40 April 14, 1912, Titanic wireless operators would send messages requesting assistance and provided an S. O. S. position. (In 1985 the Titanic wreck is located about 13 miles from the 1912 S.O.S. position. The S. O. S. position was provided by the Titanic wireless operators.)
Carpathia received radio distress message from Titanic and at about 00:35 she begins what she estimates will be a 58 mile trip (4 hour trip) to intercept a crippled Titanic.
Titanic sends up bursting rockets.
Titanic sinks at about 02:20 on April 15, 1912. Her radio distress messages end at this time.
Carpathia sets a course to reach the S. O. S. position and travels on that course from 00:35 on April 14, 1912 until 02:40 on April 15, 1912.
At 02:40 on April 15, 1912, Carpathia sees White Star Company signals at one point off the port bow. (Carpathia had no way of knowing that Titanic had already sunk. Titanic was not firing distress signals at this time. The lifeboats were still about one and a half hours from rescue by Carpathia. Lifeboats were not equipped to shoot off White Star Company signals rockets. One point off the port bow is equal to about 11 degrees to the left of the direction or heading of the bow of the ship.) Carpathia's Captain Rostron states that he changes course to a heading towards the signals.
From 02:40 to 04:00, Carpathia is continuing to travel towards the Titanic and Rostron states that the Carpathia had to change course several times to avoid ice around 04:00.
At this point, the only radio traffic that was Titanic -related came from ships trying to raise Titanic on the radio or to contact ships and land stations to ask for her status. Titanic had sunk and was no longer sending radio signals and the lifeboats were not equipped with radios.
At 04:00, Carpathia spots icebergs. She begins to slowly wind around the bergs until 04:10 when she briefly sees the emergency green light of a lifeboat flare intermittently between bergs. Soon she sees the life boat flare fully, noting that there is no ship anywhere. Carpathia has probably only traveled about 45 miles as the crow flies to reach the lifeboat. But after slowly winding perhaps her ship's log indicated that she had traveled 58 miles. She seemed to have traveled 58 miles to reach the reported S. O. S. position. But upon arrival at 04:10, Carpathia does not report seeing any other ship in the vicinity. Carpathia is looking for a ship (a huge ship) and according to Captain Rostron; he sees no ship anywhere at 04:10. He sees only the lifeboats. (After bringing the survivors aboard, Carpathia sees 2 ships and later sees Californian coming from WSW.)
From some point after 04:10, Carpathia sent some news, but asks others to handle messages while they rescue the survivors.
At about 06:00, nearly two hours after the Carpathia came upon the Titanic lifeboats, the Californian first realizes R. M. S. Titanic has sunk. At about 06:30 on April 15, 1912, the Californian would leave its overnight spot and head out for the S.O.S. position.
Captain Lord says he travels 32 miles to reach the rescue site. But although Californian begins its trek to the S.O.S. position, it does not locate the Titanic. Californian finally locates Carpathia and joins the ongoing rescue operations nearly two hours later around 08:00.
Carpathia would ask the Californian to remain in the area to look for survivors in the area.
Some believe that Californian was located a mere 5 miles away as Titanic sank. Some say it was more like 18 miles.
Carpathia heads back to New York. And some ships would remain in the area looking around for survivors. This would lead to speculation that survivors had been rescued by other ships. And messages show that ships, land stations, passengers of Carpathia and Titanic survivors believed that several ships had rescued passengers and were headed to land. Some news stated that the Titanic was being towed.
President William Howard Taft gives orders to Navy Ships (CL-1 Chester, CL-3 Salem, and BB-30 Florida) on April 16, 1912.
President Taft holds cabinet meeting on April 17, 1912.
The Washington Post and New York Times publish the outline of issues, the fact that there was an investigation conducted by the Department of Justice detectives, and provided the resolutions and findings on April 18, 1912.
Carpathia arrives in New York with the Titanic passengers on April 18, 1912.
Captain Rostron, Captain Lord, crew members, and wireless operators would be called to testify at the United States hearings.
Issues to be Investigated
At some point between 23:40 April 14, 1912 and the April 18, 1912 edition of the New York Times: Titanic hit an iceberg and President Taft held a Cabinet Meeting where Taft specifically requested his Attorney General to perform a preliminary investigation into the things that went wrong to see if any laws had been violated, and if so, what laws were violated, who violated them, and if no laws were violated, then what laws could be established or was a rework of government needed. And all of this occurred before the Carpathia arrived in New York.
And according to a New York Times article, the Department of Justice had detectives running after those that had done these things.
On what authority would all of this have happened?
The author believes the Attorney General would have been asked by the President to conduct a preliminary investigation to see if there was anything to substantiate having a Senate hearing and also to provide a legal opinion to the President, Senator Smith or to Congressman Hughes or Senator Guggenheim had the Attorney General been asked for information. This is probably the source of the witness list and the sources of evidence and charts.
President Taft had ordered some of his fleet to check out the accident site on April 16, 1912. Radio messages were confusing. British Marconi had provided the call letters. The United States Government Printing Office printed the Call Letters book. This official publication of the United States Government indicates the use of identical radio identification codes for both a ship and a land station. United States laws in place at the time allowed for this duplication. Efforts were being made to eliminate duplicates back in 1911, but the law had not yet been changed. So in the January 1, 1912 printing, the call letter booklet contained duplicate call letter entries.
In addition, the Battleship Florida had intercepted private coded messages from Bruce Ismay, who planned to leave immediately on a ship which Ismay had requested be held for him upon arrival in the United States.
Several family members of Titanic passengers had received All Safe messages. Congressman Hughes calls White Star officials liars.
The New York Times article claimed that the Department of Justice investigation called for tougher federal controls.
The Weather Bureau
The records of the Weather Bureau indicate that there were static radio disturbances and heavy storms to include cyclone level winds and tornadoes which were even reported in the newspapers in April 1912. Various reports indicate that there was bad weather and radio disturbances as far east as the North Atlantic and the Grand Banks. The weather was bad in the Gulf area, with cyclone and tornadoes up through the central part of the United States and this caused the levees to be breached on April 13, 1912 with flood water remaining high until April 23, 1912. On April 14th, the Grand Banks forecasted brisk winds and weather disturbances. By the time Mackay Bennett and others were out in the icy waters looking for victims, gale force winds stopped the search. Static electricity and disturbances cause interruptions in radio transmissions. The country was experiencing a Katrina-type of storm and bridges were collapsing and the levees had been breached, so when All Safe messages and the news that Titanic was being towed arrived, Taft probably felt he could focus all of his attentions on the storm that was heading eastward and the needy victims in the mid-west. In 1912, only the weather reports on Titanic reporting calm seas and the water temperatures also taken on Titanic were the only temperature and weather-related information noted in the American hearings.
Wireless Messages and Marconi Purchase of Western Union
The owner of the British Marconi Company and the Marconi Wireless Telegraphic Co. of America in 1912 was Guglielmo Marconi. Although privately owned, some telegraph and wireless products and services were regulated. Mainly the railroads in the United States had seen regulation of their communications. Marconi had built the wireless that could be used at sea. The Washington Post wrote articles on the Marconi invention in their November 15, 1898 edition on page 3 entitled – Electrical Science and also in their March 31, 1903 edition on page 3 – Marconigraph Messages. Marconi stood to gain quite a bit as a result of the importance of the wireless and cable/telegram equipment used to send and receive important messages and he had just purchased Western Union. His investments experienced a sharp increase in value in the aftermath of the sinking. In 1912, some felt Marconi would support wireless messages being withheld to allow operators to tell the story of the sinking to the news media. The truth is that Marconi became involved personally in efforts to contact Carpathia and to get them to respond and did not withhold information to sensationalize a story. The weather to the West of Carpathia was filled with static disturbances and communications did not get through very well. Marconi employee "BRADFORD" was able to cable eastward to London with great detail and seemed to have a better idea of the situation than most in 1912. To Americans it all seemed very confusing and quite convenient. Ismay and Franklin were sending messages using disguised names to communicate a need for a quick trip away from America and back to Britain. And when these encoded messages were intercepted by the United States Navy, the United States needed to investigate exactly what was happening. In 1912, America was probably asking the question, "Why was Carpathia ignoring the President of the United States?"
Reinsurance Issues
"All Safe" messages had been sent from Carpathia. Ismay messages containing code names were being sent out and intercepted. Ismay was actively trying to gain passage to immediately return home. The President of the United States could get no response. All of this raised concerns. Germany expressed concerns about efforts to use reinsurance to cut losses and rumors emerged. Reinsurance concerns began to appear in newspapers in several countries. Reinsurance is a common practice whereby risks are spread out across several companies to cut potentially great losses experienced by one company on riskier claims. This allows some riskier insurance binders to be issued by companies with full disclosure. Reinsurance was not illegal and was commonplace. But reinsurance would become a problem if the reinsurance were done without disclosure to all parties and also after the fact of an incident which resulted in a total loss where the loss is covered up until the reinsurance can be successfully put into place. Some news articles across the globe gave the appearance that there may have been efforts to reinsure after the Titanic was known to have sunk. This would need to be investigated. No evidence to support any effort to defraud by reinsurance after the ship sank ever was demonstrated during the American hearings.
Navigation Issues
Rear Admiral French Ensor Chadwick often provided commentary to the newspapers. And it is Chadwick who would provide the harsh criticism of the English crew of the Titanic. He provided "details" to the papers regarding how all of the events surrounding its sinking were handled. Chadwick, who was not there or privy to all information regarding the Titanic "case" and not a called witness to the hearings, criticized the British navigational skills and stated the English had ignored messages and had been negligent. Yet he was interviewed and quoted in the newspapers as if he were a Titanic accident expert. In 1979, Wyn Craig Wade's book Titanic: End of the Dream quotes one of those articles.
Research shows that historically Chadwick was an overly opinionated retired Rear Admiral with the United States Navy, who himself had a very colorful history. As a young officer, Chadwick had brought back an invention to the United States for reverse loading cannons. It had been invented by a Frenchman, who showed the invention to the young officer. Chadwick provided the reverse loading cannon mechanism to the United States Navy for its use. This would lead to a lawsuit being brought against the United States by the French inventor. And the law suit would not be settled until the week prior to the Titanic sinking.
Chadwick was the captain on the flagship New York during the late 1890's. The New York was one ship out of a number of navy ships located off the coast of Cuba when an incident occurred that would be investigated by the United States. F. E. Chadwick provided information to investigators and testimony at hearings regarding the Cuban incident, and he also was known for being very prolific at providing the newspapers with his opinion regarding details of the Cuban case as it progressed, to include providing commentary on the other people involved in the case and the results of the hearings and Chadwick commentary.
So, to many of Chadwick's peers, it was not surprising, long after Titanic sank and the war with Germany had begun for the United States, that Chadwick would find himself being investigated by the Bureau of Investigation due to German Neutrality issues. His outspokenness had caused someone to report his comments as unpatriotic. During the First World War this was taken seriously and an unfounded accusation was made by someone stating that Chadwick was a German Sympathizer during WWI. The BOI had to conduct an investigation to check out the accusation. The BOI would close the case and dismiss the accusations after several interviews with Chadwick's peers who swore under oath that Chadwick was known to be very outspoken, but meant no harm. They said Chadwick had a tendency to actively express his opinions about things with no basis and was largely ignored.
Navigating at a high speed based on the testimony at the Titanic hearings when there had been ice warnings was commonplace during that time frame. But the ice was unusually bad, were Captain Edward Smith and his crew negligent? This was one of Chadwick's issues with the Titanic crew. However, several respected navigators would testify that Smith was traveling at a normal pace under the conditions that faced him.
Regulations on speed did not change, but the shipping lanes would be moved further south to provide safer navigation in the ice.
False Radio Messages Issues
Charles Steele's family was not the only one to receive an All Safe message, Mrs. Clarence Moore whose husband was aboard and did not survive, also received a message. Congressman J. A. Hughes, West Virginia, who had a daughter and son-in-law aboard Titanic, also had received an All Safe Message as well. The All Safe message Hughes received had come from White Star Line. But Hughes had also received a wire from Carpathia while staying at the Ebbitt House in DC directly from his daughter stating all was lost. Keep in mind that Congressman Hughes had spoken to Senator Smith and was aware of the lack of response from Carpathia to the naval ships. In addition, Hughes also knew about the Yamsi messages containing messages from Bruce Ismay requesting a ship be held for him so he could leave for London immediately. Hughes had not only received an All Safe message himself but was able to see that others had been reported and published in the papers. Congressman Hughes became suspicious and wanted answers, so traveled to New York on the same train as Senator Smith to intercept Carpathia.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The R.M.S. Titanic and Washington, D. C. by Maureen Zottoli. Copyright © 2016 Maureen Zottoli. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction R. M. S. Titanic, 1,Chapter 1 Looking At Titanic with 1912 Eyes, 7,
Chapter 2 Looking At Communications with 1912 Eyes, 23,
Chapter 3 Looking At 1912 thru 1985 Eyes, 29,
Chapter 4 Taft and the United States Executive Office, 43,
Chapter 5 The Executive Branch – Federal Departments, 55,
Chapter 6 Hearings and the United States Legislative Branch of Government, 65,
Chapter 7 Witnesses in the Washington, D.C. Area, 83,
Chapter 8 Homes, Residences and their Residents, 91,
Chapter 9 Documentation and the Library of Congress and National Archives, 109,
Chapter 10 Memorials and Monuments, 113,
Chapter 11 Art, Music, Theater and Literature, 125,
Chapter 12 Non-passenger Residents and Experts and Places To See, 129,
Chapter 13 Limited Liability and the United States Judicial Branch of Government, 131,
Appendix A References and Recommended Reading, 141,
Appendix B Introduction and Thanks, 149,
Appendix C Fodder for the Titanic-Californian Debate, 153,
Appendix D End Notes, 167,
Index, 181,