Paul Lee

At last I have finished my book. I've managed to prove that simple geometry shows that rockets fired from 21 miles away can be seen, and will attain the same height as the angular width of the full moon. The limiting factor is the brightness of the detonation. I'm also curious about the distance that the sound of the detonation will propagate, but there seems to have been an acoustic masking zone in operation (which might also explain other visual phenomena the night the Titanic went down as a strange mix or humid cold/warm air will extend the range at which objects can be seen over the horizon)

With best wishes

Paul
--
http://www.paullee.com

Do you know how far such distress rockets could be heard? I am aware that expert opinion says 3-4 miles, but there is an account by
one survivor of the Titanic who said that, at (approx!) 11 miles+, the sound of the detonations sounded like "a cannon" or "guns far off." Another survivor, in a lifeboat only a few miles distant, heard nothing.

Can anyone add any further light?

Many thanks

Paul

I am surprised at the distance but certainly wouldn't disbelieve it. It happened on a clear night as I understand and, at sea there would be nothing to interfere with vision so the conditions would be literally perfect. Whether or not you would recognise the effects as that of a rocket could be the subject of some speculation, I would personally imagine that at 20 miles of so (mid point of your estimate) it would appear as an indistince short term glow - if you want to test this out you could recreate something along the lines of the original rocket and fire it somewhere flat.

I would be interested to know if you could confirm the boat on which Bertha Mulvihill escaped.

Hi,
One thing to note is that on the night of April 14th/15th 1912, the weather was very clear and very cold. There was no moon, no
clouds, and no wind, perfect observing conditions for seeing lights at a distance, and the rockets would reach a maximum height of
860 feet before detonating.
There was an attempt to recreate the rocket firing during a 1996 pilgrimage to the wrecksite. The weather was warm, with a slight
haze. The rockets were not reproductions of the Titanic's distress signals, but still reached about 750 feet. According to radar,
the distance between the firer and the observing ship was of the order of 17 miles...and the rockets were still seen!

As for Bertha Mulvihill, have a look here:
http://www.encyclope...biography/1052/

It seems that she was in boat 15, lowered about 1.35am. This was the furthermost stern boat on the starboard side and was
heavily overloaded; the boats were designed to take about 65 people. This one had 70 in it!

Best wishes

Paul
--
http://www.paullee.com

Hi,
You must have read my mind! I am actually writing about the Titanic for a new ebook that I am writing on the ship and the infamous Californian incident ( http://www.paullee.c...ook_details.php ). Boat 8 was not the last one launched- it was one of the "middling ones", launched between 12.45 and 2.20, when the ship sank. There are speculated timings at http://www.titanicinquiry.com

As for the distance the rockets could be seen... on her way to the disaster site, the rescue ship Carpathia fired rockets, and these
were seen by the Californian. They were seen to be right on the horizon, and were from 15 to 31 miles depending on estimates.

Thanks my friend!