Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/141

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC the track on which the Titanic was steaming. The message read: "Latitude 42.3 north, longitude 49.9 west. Three large bergs five miles to southward of us." Later there was a third message: "Amerika passed two large icebergs in 41.27 north, 50.8 west on the 14th of April." A fourth message, sent by the Californian, reached the ship about an hour before the accident occurred, or about 10.40 o'clock, which said: "We are stopped and surrounded by ice."

These wireless warnings prove that the captain of the Titanic knew there was ice to the north, to the south, and immediately ahead of the southerly steamship route on which he was steaming. The evidence shows that Captain Smith remarked to the officer doing duty on the bridge, "If it is in a slight degree hazy we shall have to go very slowly." The officer of the watch instructed the lookouts to "keep a sharp lookout for ice." The night was starlit and the weather exceptionally clear.

After leaving Queenstown the speed of the Titanic had been gradually increased. The run for the first day was 464 miles, for the second 519 miles, and for the third day, ending at noon Sunday, it was 546 miles. Testimony given be- [ 119 ]