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Description
A 2020 update to www.deviantart.com/arridanchu/… from 1998.

1 a.m., Monday, April 15, 1912, 1 hour and 20 minutes since the collision with the iceberg. The first lifeboat, #7, was launched at 12:40 a.m. The second lifeboat, #5, was launched at 12:43 a.m. Lifeboats #3 and #8 are being lowered now. Due to Titanic’s *entirely legal* lack of lifeboats for all, only 712 of 2,207 aboard will survive the sinking (Encyclopedia Titanica)

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On the bridge, Quartermaster George Rowe sets off rockets, an internationally recognized signal of distress, every 5 minutes to alert a ship on the horizon ~10 miles away. Fourth Officer Boxhall tries to communicate with the mystery ship via Morse lamp but is unsuccessful. Captain Smith commands the first port side lifeboats lowered to row toward that ship. They row, but the other ship never seems to get any closer. The mystery ship never responds, and Titanic sinks at 2:20 a.m., the rescue ship Carpathia still 1.5 hours away. The 1500 people stranded aboard Titanic perish.

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Both British and American inquiries into the Titanic sinking concluded that the mystery ship was the SS Californian, and the Californian had ignored the signals for help. Captain Lord of the Californian maintained his innocence to the end, but the facts remain that Californian saw a ship to the south stop at 11:40 p.m., fire 8 white rockets, and look “very queer out of the water” as well as “hav[ing] a big side out of the water” before disappearing after 2 a.m. Even if another ship had been in the area (popular candidates include the whaling ship Samson or the Mount Temple), Californian still saw *someone*’s rockets and did not respond, potentially leaving some *other* ship in distress. However, I find the British inquiry’s claim that Californian could have saved “all of the lives that were lost” impossible, as Californian only had 1.5 hours to arrive on the scene and evacuate 1,500 people. At most, Californian could have pulled more people from the water and save lives that way. Nevertheless, as a result of this inaction, ships are now required to have 24-hour radio watch, and the use of distress rockets has been standardized.

***

This drawing took way too long and it’s quite clear I got carried away drawing it. What I thought was going to be a quick sketch quickly ballooned into something else when I started filling in the water. The drawing is meant to be more evocative than representative, with the much-closer-than-actual ice floe showing the unforgiving harshness of nature, and the unresponsive mystery ship on the horizon highlighting the indifference of others to the plight of those aboard the doomed Titanic. But as with all things Titanic that I draw, my drive to be technically accurate in as many aspects as possible took over and this drawing ended up taking close to two weeks to complete. In that time, I referenced countless photos, deck plans, and websites to make sure the rigging, windows, and vents, the order of the lifeboats were correct; I was even compelled to make sure the constellations in the sky were accurate too. It was all-consuming and exhausting! No more drawings as involved as this, thank you! At least not unless it involves the Lusitania!

Description
A 2020 update to www.deviantart.com/arridanchu/… from 1998.

1 a.m., Monday, April 15, 1912, 1 hour and 20 minutes since the collision with the iceberg. The first lifeboat, #7, was launched at 12:40 a.m. The second lifeboat, #5, was launched at 12:43 a.m. Lifeboats #3 and #8 are being lowered now. Due to Titanic’s *entirely legal* lack of lifeboats for all, only 712 of 2,207 aboard will survive the sinking (Encyclopedia Titanica)

.

On the bridge, Quartermaster George Rowe sets off rockets, an internationally recognized signal of distress, every 5 minutes to alert a ship on the horizon ~10 miles away. Fourth Officer Boxhall tries to communicate with the mystery ship via Morse lamp but is unsuccessful. Captain Smith commands the first port side lifeboats lowered to row toward that ship. They row, but the other ship never seems to get any closer. The mystery ship never responds, and Titanic sinks at 2:20 a.m., the rescue ship Carpathia still 1.5 hours away. The 1500 people stranded aboard Titanic perish.

.

Both British and American inquiries into the Titanic sinking concluded that the mystery ship was the SS Californian, and the Californian had ignored the signals for help. Captain Lord of the Californian maintained his innocence to the end, but the facts remain that Californian saw a ship to the south stop at 11:40 p.m., fire 8 white rockets, and look “very queer out of the water” as well as “hav[ing] a big side out of the water” before disappearing after 2 a.m. Even if another ship had been in the area (popular candidates include the whaling ship Samson or the Mount Temple), Californian still saw *someone*’s rockets and did not respond, potentially leaving some *other* ship in distress. However, I find the British inquiry’s claim that Californian could have saved “all of the lives that were lost” impossible, as Californian only had 1.5 hours to arrive on the scene and evacuate 1,500 people. At most, Californian could have pulled more people from the water and save lives that way. Nevertheless, as a result of this inaction, ships are now required to have 24-hour radio watch, and the use of distress rockets has been standardized.

***

This drawing took way too long and it’s quite clear I got carried away drawing it. What I thought was going to be a quick sketch quickly ballooned into something else when I started filling in the water. The drawing is meant to be more evocative than representative, with the much-closer-than-actual ice floe showing the unforgiving harshness of nature, and the unresponsive mystery ship on the horizon highlighting the indifference of others to the plight of those aboard the doomed Titanic. But as with all things Titanic that I draw, my drive to be technically accurate in as many aspects as possible took over and this drawing ended up taking close to two weeks to complete. In that time, I referenced countless photos, deck plans, and websites to make sure the rigging, windows, and vents, the order of the lifeboats were correct; I was even compelled to make sure the constellations in the sky were accurate too. It was all-consuming and exhausting! No more drawings as involved as this, thank you! At least not unless it involves the Lusitania!