"Twice after that, the lookout said, he warned
Murdock that a berg was ahead. They were very indignant
that no attention was paid to their warnings."
TARDY ATTENTION TO WARNING RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENT
Murdock's tardy answering of a telephone call from the
crow's nest is assigned by Whiteley as the cause of the
disaster.
When Murdock answered the call he received the information
that the iceberg was due ahead. This information was
imparted just a few seconds before the crash, and had the
officer promptly answered the ring of the bell it is probable that
the accident could have been avoided, or at least, been reduced
by the lowered speed.
The lookout saw a towering "blue berg" looming up in the
sea path of the Titanic, and called the bridge on the ship's
telephone. When, after the passing of those two or three
fateful minutes an officer on the bridge lifted the telephone
receiver from its hook to answer the lookout, it was too late.
The speeding liner, cleaving a calm sea under a star-studded
sky, had reached the floating mountain of ice, which the
theoretically "unsinkable" ship struck a crashing, if glancing,
blow with her starboard bow.
MURDOCK PAID WITH LIFE
Had Murdock, according to the account of the tragedy
given by two of the Titanic's seamen, known how imperative
was that call from the lookout man, the men at the wheel
of the liner might have swerved the great ship sufficiently
to avoid the berg altogether.
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