Telegraphs on Titanic

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

[kev600]

as i have started this disscussion i will make my point! I accpet that maybe before The Era of titanic and her sister ships that Telegraphs did not ring when the bridge did giving an order but on Titanic when the bridge rung the telegraph it rung. and then rung again when the engine room gave it back! This is one piece of evidence suggesthing this. Quartermaster Robert Hitchens was in the Wheelhouse on the night of the Collision. As some of you may know he survived and gave vital evidence because the two officers on the bridge at the time both perished. He said that As soon as Moody gave the Murdoch the iceberg right ahead warning he was told to go -Hard-a-Starboard- and as he was turning the wheel he says in his statement that he heard murdoch ringing the Telegraph. And he said it was right after he got the order to go hard-a-starboard! So the engine room didn't get backt that fast for certain. Anyway the more important thing is that when i have my telegraph on STAND-BY titanic starts moving. Please fix Both Problems if you don't mind

[Fredriksen]

Things to get fixed:

- The telegraphs have to ring when order is sent from the bridge.
- Titanic starts moving when the telegraph is set to Stand By
- It should be able to use the remaining telegraps; emergency, docking and manouvering/steering telegraph.

Something more?

[mvsmith]

kev600,
You are right that when you ring Stand By for the Port engine on the starboard telegraph, the engine room answers with Dead Slow Ahead. (20 RPM) This is true only for the “Ahead” Stand By.
This problem doesn’t occur with the port telegraph when ringing for Stand By on the Starboard engine.

As for the throttle, as you point out, it works on different increments from the telegraphs. It is not practicable, then, to control the telegraphs via the arrow keys in a rational manner.
Returning the throttle to zero does result in 0 RPM because it sets both telegraphs to the “astern” Stand By position.

I don’t understand Orinoco’s statement that the telegraph for the Port engine is backwards.
It is the mirror image of that for the Starboard engine so that pushing the handles forward rings forward (which is intuitive). Were the actual telegraphs configured in a non-intuitive fashion?

Sorry, Orinoco, I just looked at the pic in your post, and it is backward there. Your pic must have been pre V1.1, or else the tooth fairey fixed mine.

[sonarman]

I accpet that maybe before The Era of titanic and her sister ships that Telegraphs did not ring

Titanic had her maiden voyage in 1912, Waverley had her's in 1947

and as he was turning the wheel he says in his statement that he heard murdoch ringing the Telegraph

It is possible to hear a telegraph moving even without bells, there are wires and chains inside that make an audible noise which would certainally be audible on a steamship (much quieter than a diesel vessel ) especially on one the size of Titanic where the engine room is very far from the bridge. Even if the officer rang a telegraph on the bridge wing the helmsman would hear and see the telegraphs in the bridge move as they are a linked system.

Saying that however there were many types of telegraphs available and it is within the realms of probability that they could have rung on the bridge when pushed (and I prefer it that way too!).

[mvsmith]

I would need to know Hitchens’ exact words. Did he say he heard the telegraph ring on the bridge, or did he say he heard Murdoch ringing the telegraph? If the latter, he could have simply heard whatever sound the telegraph made as the handles are moved. As sonarman has twice pointed out, they can be quite noisy. My own experience with various old telegraphs in maritime museums, and aboard a few ships, is that the handles are necessarily heavily detented to prevent them from resting in an ambiguous position.  The sound of the detent would be audible and familiar to Hitchens. He would interpret the sound as “ringing the engine room”, as we might describe placing a telephone call as “ringing someone up”.

According to the transcript of the US inquiry as quoted in the Titanic – Nautical Society & Resource Center, Hitchens said “He (Murdoch) rushed to the engines. I heard the telegraph bell ring; also give the order ‘Hard a’ starboard’”. 

There are some inconsistencies between his testimony before the US and the British boards.

[mvsmith]

I received this reply from Dick Midhage at the Chadburn Society:
             
Hello Martin

As far as I know all the historical telegraphs, regardless of make, used on the ship's bridge for transmitting engine orders had a clear bell ringing.  Twin handled t'ghs had a two-tone bells, to indicate which engine was given the order to change engine speed.  Both could also be rung.  My main info is from the Cameron epic film, but I am quite sure that the courts records might also show this evidence.   You have raised a new point here.  If I learn of any further advices, I will write to you.
You have probably seen the Chadburn site, incl. my  article of 5 pages under 'Technical'? 
Best regards
Dick Midhage               (hon.secr.of the Society)             Sun. October 14, 2007.  York - England.

[Fred 12]

Those telegraphs look fake!

[Mad_Fred]

Looks pretty good to me...

[mvsmith]

Fred12:
Here is a photo of the bridge of RMS Olympic. It is the one that Cameron’s art department used. It probably was also used in designing the Titanic in this sim.
As Mad_Fred’s pictures, and others from the Chadburn Society show, the telegraphs are very close to the actual instruments.
Marty

[oly]

We Are Al So In Need For Realism On The Rms Titanic Why Doesnt Vstep Make A Titanic Version Of Shipsim.
Which Means Only The Titanic Which Is Fully operatable  and is fully open inside like that game in 1997 or something "titanic and adventure out of time".

greeting goossens oly

[kev600]

I personally think that the telegraphs in the Titanic 1997 film look very realistic in appearance and size. A few words would have to be changed but nothing to big. I personally think something like a titanic game would be great or something that has other ships in that era like maybe S.S. Nomadic. A reskin and a few slight adjustments to Titanic into a hospital ship and call her Britannic. And then maybe the luisitania or something. That would be good as a Steam Ship Game. Then everything could be done well. Also i think you should have the option of going into the engine and boiler rooms and maybe act as Chief Engineer or a Fireman. That would be fantastic. Also you see the engines moving and all that. Much more exciting. At the end of the day this will not happen in the  near future. It would be nice though

[Gustav]

Of course it should ring when turned on the bridge. Say if

Senior officer on the bridge: "Ahead full"

Junior officer: "Yes sir"

The junior officer turns the lever, its ring wich takes the attention of the senior that the order has been carried out.

Junior of.

"Ahead full sir"

Typical and simple

[sonarman]

Just found a great vid of "Waverley" on youTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOCfFejm2Hs) showing her bridge and engine room (even our friend Red Eagle makes an appearance). You also get a very clear shot of both her engine room and docking telegraphs in the video. As far as I remember when I worked aboard her telegraphs did not ring on the bridge and she had no answering pointer in them either.

In one scene we see her dock at a pier and the only sounds you will hear on the bridge are the officer's orders. I can't speak for Titanic though, it's very possible in a ship of that size her telegraphs did infact ring on the bridge when pushed.

I just watched a film about Dutch ww2 tugs the other day called "The Key" based on a novel by Jan De Hartog and interestingly in one scene Bill Holden rings the telegraph on the bridge and there is no sound and in another later scene a bell is heard, this indicates to me that the editor added the sound (it's a lot easier to add than subtract) signifying that sometimes these things are indeed added purely for dramatic effect. 

[Graeme Heddle]

I don't know about the telegraphs on titanic but it would be great if you could get to the engine room.

[adibsdall]

A number of you have quoted what happens on PS Waverley, however if you want to view twin telegraphs working with twin engines can I suggest you book a trip on SS Shieldhall, built 1956, www.ss-shieldhall.co.uk where we operate an open bridge and engine room policy.

I can confirm you only hear a bell when the engine room repeat the bridge command, however you can hear the chains "rattle" in the guides if you are stood close enough.  Don't believe Hollywood, we've got the real thing.

Hope this helps

Andrew ETO

[sonarman]

HI Andrew,

Thanks for that Shieldhall is a great ship, and her cargo today (passengers) is much improved from the old "brown bananas" I used to see her dump off Garroch Head whilst we sailed past on Waverley! Wouldn't it be great to see a UK "preserved ships" pack in the same vein as the Dutch "Elbe/Furie" addon. V-Step could include Shieldhall, Manxman, Waverley, Balmoral and perhaps Simon's Puffer made over as "Vic 32".

Nice website by the way with lots of great info, Did you ever hear the "sludge boat song" by the way, about Shieldhall
& Co?

Thanks
Stephen

[sonarman]

I don't know about the telegraphs on titanic but it would be great if you could get to the engine room.

I'd like to see an engine room too, but only if its a functional part of the game where you can do something moderate steam pressure, use the regulator, telegraph ,pumps etc, not if it's just eye candy.

[kev600]

I can confirm you only hear a bell when the engine room repeat the bridge command, however you can hear the chains "rattle" in the guides if you are stood close enough.  Don't believe Hollywood, we've got the real thing.

Thanks Andrew but are you sure that it wasn't different on Titanic because the Telegraphs were made by a different company and also it was a long time ago.