Daily History Picture: Titanic Iceberg? May 6, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures , trackback
A myth? This photograph is supposed to be the iceberg that ‘did it’ to the Titanic. See the paint along the side…
25 May 2015: NH has strong feelings…
Not, I suggest.
This photograph was up for sale in 2012
It is similar but marked as taken from a different ship. The entry says there are none before this emerged.
The photograph appears on a BBC page described as “An iceberg close to the site of Titanic’s sinking, 15 April 1912” but nothing more specific.
Scientific American shows this and the other commonly linked but only describes them as having been taken in the are at about the same time, which scotches the proposal below that there was only one, and suggests the mention of paint came later.
This blog discusses the sketches and the photographs.
I discount the mention of a paint stain. Even if mentioned contemporaneously ice often contains layers of debris which would look like a stain. There could be many sources – England regularly suffers sprinklings of red sand from the Sahara. It might also an algal stain formed on a former waterline.
Thanks NH!
