Titanic "goofs" comprehensive list
Rick Huffman
Revealing mistakes: A strip of desert is visible between the dock and the
Titanic when docked at Southampton.
Factual errors: Jack is shown having to rush to make sure he caught the
Titanic before it sailed. Many other steerage passengers board along side
him. In fact, all steerage passengers were aboard well before the ship
sailed; first class passengers did not begin boarding until all the steerage
passengers were aboard.
Factual errors: The Titanic's middle propeller was not used for manoeuvring
in port, and hence would have been stationary when starting away from the
dock.
Factual errors: The reciprocating engines were controlled from a platform
between the two engines about midway between the floor and the top of the
cylinders, not from the engine room floor. Even if the engines were
controlled from the floor level the controls would have been at the opposite
end of the engines since we are looking at the aft end of the engines, and
the boiler rooms are forward of the reciprocating engine room. Also, it
would have been quite impossible to see those engines from the vantage point
we are given since the watertight bulkhead between the reciprocating engine
room and turbine engine room would prevent us from being able to stand back
far enough.
Continuity: When Captain Smith orders, "Take her to sea, Mr. Murdoch --
let's stretch her legs", they are standing to the right of the wheelhouse
looking forward with the sun coming from their left. When Murdoch walks into
the wheelhouse to carry out the order, the sun is behind him.
Factual errors: Rose's paintings include Picasso's "Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon", one of the ballerinas series by Degas, and "Water Lilies" by
Claude Monet, none of which were ever on the Titanic.
Continuity: The draft markings on the Titanic's bow when Jack looks at the
dolphins later change size and position.
Factual errors: The real Titanic had a navigation light on the stern that is
missing in the film.
Anachronisms: Jack claims to have gone ice fishing on Lake Wissota, which
wasn't created until five years after the Titanic sank.
Anachronisms: The pipe frames supporting the third class berths have
set-screw speed rail fittings, not developed until 1946.
Factual errors: In overhead shots of the forecastle deck, the skylight for
the crew's galley can be seen located to starboard. This skylight was
actually on the port side.
Factual errors: Margaret Brown was never refered to as "Molly" until after
her death.
Continuity: In the scene where Jack is teaching Rose to spit, there is no
spit on his chin as he starts to turn around to face the ladies, but by the
time he has completed his turn he has some on his chin.
Factual errors: The painting over the fireplace in the Titanic's first class
smoking lounge in the film depicts New York Harbor, which was actually the
painting on the Titanic's sister ship, "Olympic". The painter, Norman
Wilkinson, had provided a scene of Plymouth Harbor for Titanic, but no
pictures of this work survive.
Anachronisms: A closeup of Captain Smith reveals that he is wearing contact
lenses.
Factual errors: The main characters have lunch in the Palm Court/Verandah on
A Deck. These were not used for dining, although passengers could order tea
or a small snack.
Factual errors: Cal orders lamb with mint sauce for himself and Rose. Lamb
was only available for dinner on the ship, while mutton was reserved for
lunch. The lamb was prepared in the D-Deck galley and would not have been
served in the Palm Court.
Revealing mistakes: While Jack and Rose are walking on the promenade the day
after he rescues her, a small hill with a building on it is visible over
Jack's shoulder and above the ship.
Anachronisms: The button on the left side of Jack's borrowed jacket is a
"Kingsdrew" button, first made in 1922.
Continuity: Jack takes Rose and Molly's arms to go into dinner. They start
walking, but in the next shot they are still standing apart.
Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in the glass door opened for Jack as he
enters the dining room.
Factual errors: The worship services held at 10:30 on Sunday April 14th,
1912, in the First Class Dining Room were open to all passengers of the
ship.
Anachronisms: "Almighty Father Strong To Save" is sung during the worship
service; the two verses used in the film were written by Robert Nelson
Spencer in 1937.
Factual errors: During the scene when Rose "flies" from the ship's bow, the
sunlight is clearly falling almost exactly straight across the ship from
left to right. On the evening of April 14, the ship had in fact turned to
almost a due west course, placing the actual setting sun almost straight
ahead and slightly to the right.
Revealing mistakes: In the same shot, the faces of Jack and Rose are lit
from a different angle, though still from the left.
Continuity: The length of Rose's fingernails throughout the movie.
Factual errors: The hands sketching Rose are clearly too old to belong to
Jack. (They actually belong to director James Cameron.)
Factual errors: Workers in the Titanic's engine room had to wear thick
protective clothing to shield them from the heat generated by the engines.
Anachronisms: The gauges in the engine room are fitted with sweated tubing
fittings, a plumbing technique not available when the ship was constructed.
The fittings should have been threaded brass.
Factual errors: There was no door between boiler room 6 and the cargo area
(and no access to any but authorized crew). If there had been a door, it
would have entered the third cargo area aft, not the one where the Renault
was stored.
Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in a brass panel on the front of the
Renault that Jack and Rose find in the cargo hold.
Factual errors: When the radio operator sends out the "CQD" message, the
pattern of dots and dashes he makes with the key is not intelligible Morse
code.
Factual errors: Professional radio operators hold the key with the thumb and
two fingers, rather than tapping on it as shown. Tapping would produce a bad
"fist" (the Morse code equivalent of a harsh voice).
Factual errors: When Captain Smith enters the wheelhouse, the ship's
telegraph is set to "Full Reverse" instead of "All Stop".
Continuity: The sea water would be at or below freezing point, yet
characters rarely display discomfort or disablement from being immersed.
Factual errors: Jack is supposedly held prisoner in the Master-at-Arms'
office, which is depicted as having a porthole. On the Titanic, this room
was an interior room and hence would have no portholes.
Continuity: That porthole is shown to be several feet below water, yet a
later shot from inside the room shows the surface of the water visible
inches above the porthole.
Continuity: The broken glass that the axe sits behind.
Factual errors: By the time the last boats, such as the one with J. Bruce
Ismay in it, were lowered, all of the distress rockets had already been
fired. In fact, the officer in charge of the boat with Ismay was the same
man who had fired them, Quartermaster Rowe.
Factual errors: The crew of lifeboat #14 didn't have flashlights to use when
looking for survivors in the water. Cameron knew this when making the film,
but used the flashlights to provide lighting.
Factual errors: It is impossible for voices to echo in the middle of the
North Atlantic unless there is a large, flat object like a ship nearby.
Errors in geography: We are shown a shot of Rose's view of the Statue of
Liberty from a ship, yet to obtain a view as indicated she would have to be
on land.
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Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Some artifacts recovered from the wreck of
the Titanic included a number made of paper, which were saved by being in
leather bags or such; it is therefore possible for Jack's sketch of Rose to
have survived as shown.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The tugs that assisted the Titanic away from
the Southampton dock did belong to the company known today as the Red Funnel
Line, but they had not yet adopted that nickname or colour scheme. As shown
in the film, the actual tugs had beige funnels.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Although the Titanic's fourth smokestack was
not an exhaust avenue for the ship's engines, it was used as an outlet for
the Titanic's massive kitchen. Since the Titanic used coal stoves, some
smoke would have been coming out of the fourth smokestack. In one of the
flyovers of the ship, it is possible to see that most of the top of the
fourth smokestack is sealed.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: It is often claimed that there is a tattoo
visible on Rose's arm in the scene where looks to be committing suicide. It
is actually a moon-shaped black dot - some embellishment that has come loose
from her robe, clearly visible in closer shots.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Although her fingers partially obscure it,
the coin that Rose gives to Jack is generally agreed to be a Barber dime,
minted 1892-1916. The Barber dime is distinctive because the portrait of
Liberty on the head of the coin faces the right, not the left.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: After the iceberg is spotted, First Officer
Murdoch bellows a helm order: "Hard-a-starboard!" But Quartermaster Hichens,
manning the wheel, turns the wheel counter-clockwise, or to port. At first
glance this would seem to be a mistake. The order itself,
"Hard-a-starboard," was a holdover from earlier days when the tiller of a
ship would be used to control the rudder. Pushing the tiller to the right
(starboard) would cause the ship to turn to the left (port). So a turn to
port was ordered by calling "hard-a-starboard." Sources differ on which way
the wheel had to be turned to actually carry out this order. Director James
Cameron is on the record as being aware of the possible confusion that
turning the wheel in the "wrong" direction might create, but decided to
include it to be as accurate as possible.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The "middle finger" gesture was used as early
as the late 19th century.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Young Rose's eyes appear green in some scenes
due to colored lighting from flares, etc.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The gun that Cal uses to go after Rose and
Jack was a Colt M1911, .45 ACP created in 1910. The gun holds 7 bullets in
the clip with an eighth in the chamber. Cal does not pull back the slide
(which would have ejected a bullet) before shooting and fires exactly eight
shots.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: There is much disagreement over the last song
played by the band before the ship sank. Wallace Hartley's family firmly
believe that it was "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as shown in the film, and
indeed had this inscription placed on his tombstone, as do the majority of
witnesses. According to Junior Wireless Operator Harold Bride, the band
played "Autumn"; recent conjecture is that he actually meant "Songe
d'Automne", which has some similar sections. The hymn itself has been set to
at least three melodies in the nineteenth century, of which the American
Lowell Mason's 1856 melody, heard in this film, is only one. Night to
Remember, A (1958), uses John B. Dykes' melody from the English Hymnal.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: There are two independent reports that an
officer shot one or more passengers, gave a "military" salute, and then
committed suicide. It is not known for sure if this was First Officer
Murdoch or not.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: It is often presumed that it is impossible
for people floating in unfrozen water to have ice form in their hair. This
is not the case. On the Titanic on April 14th, 1912, the air temperature
dropped over ten degrees Farenheit (5.6 C) between 7 pm and 10 pm. Even
assuming that the average temperature decrease slowed by half during the
next four hours (when the victims were in the water), the temperature of the
air would be below 25 F (-4 C). This is not unreasonable, as there were no
clouds to keep ambient temperature up. By convection, the temperature of the
air immediately above the surface of the water would certainly approach this
temperature. Freezing point depression of a fluid depends only on the amount
of material in the fluid. Average sea water has less than 2 moles of ions
per kilogram of water. This means that isolated sea water freezes at
temperatures between 28 and 25 F (-2 to -4 C). Assuming that the victims in
the water hair wet and as long as the air temperature was below 25-28 F,
then it is quite reasonable for their hair to freeze.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The lifeboats for RMS Titanic were in fact
labeled "SS Titanic". This is verified by a photograph which appears on page
718 of National Geographic Magazine Vol. 168 no. 6 (December 1985).
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The credits explain that some dramatic
license has been taken; this is apparent with several minor characters. For
example, Benjamin Guggenheim's mistress, Madame Aubert, never dined in the
First-Class Dining Saloon; she took all of her meals in the a la Carte
restaurant on B Deck.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Various other minute contradictions of
history. This film is prey to a large number of factual errors due to the
large volume of documentary evidence from the actual event.
David Beards
Regards,
Dave
--
=======David Beards========
===dav...@bigpond.com====
Rick Huffman <rickh...@att.net> wrote in message
news:7gbepm$s85$1...@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net...
The Fabulous Disney Babe
<rickh...@att.net> wrote so eloquently:
Dante also found a new one, last week or so, concerning the watch on
the stern when Rose was going to jump.
Details, please, Dante?
Fab
The Fabulous Disney Babe
http://members.aol.com/alweho
or http://members.aol.com/dscverybay/page/fab.htm (use the above one first)
"To me, Disney doesn't need to be a giant. All it needs to do is be the
BEST!
Insight"
Shawna
rickhuffman wrote:
<snip for content>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My goodness! That was SOME impressive
list! So much so, I printed it out to keep for
reference the next time I watch Titanic.
Rick, your "Titanic 'goofs' comprehensive
list" is exquisitely worded and mind-boggling
to read. :-) Are you a scholar, or in the
film industry? Or perhaps just someone
of above-average intelligence and knowledge?
I'm _very_ impressed with your post. You
obviously put alot of thought and research
into this, not to mention the _time_ it took
to post it !
Thanks for a thought-provoking, intelligent
post. Best one I've read in ages! :-)
Shawna
Slappy
David Beards <dav...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:xScW2.22686$MB3....@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> Do you really need to post this more than once?
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave
> Rick Huffman <rickh...@att.net> wrote in message
> news:7gbepm$s85$1...@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net...
> > Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in Rose's TV.
>> ...
>> ...
Sam Viscious
yourself or are you copying someone else's research. If you copied,
naughty, naughty! If you found them all by yourself, you must live, eat
, and breathe Titanic! Geez! Talk about going overboard! (get
it----going overboard, Titanic, ) :) I was trying to be funny.
Sam
JH
J "netcop" H
Slappy wrote in message <92547364...@news.remarQ.com>...
>Do you really need to include the entire original message in your reply?
>
>David Beards <dav...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
>news:xScW2.22686$MB3....@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
Louis Epstein
: Do you really need to post this more than once?
:
: Regards,
:
: Dave
Actually,reproducing content sometimes helps messages get to servers
with poor propagation.
So I'll repeat my caveat on the last two items...that I think "dramatic
license" and "factual error" are NOT INCORRECTLY regarded as goofs.
: =======David Beards========
: >
: >
: >
: >
: >
:
:
Louis Epstein
:
: <snip for content>
:
: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: My goodness! That was SOME impressive
: list! So much so, I printed it out to keep for
: reference the next time I watch Titanic.
:
: Rick, your "Titanic 'goofs' comprehensive
: list" is exquisitely worded and mind-boggling
: to read. :-) Are you a scholar, or in the
: film industry? Or perhaps just someone
: of above-average intelligence and knowledge?
: I'm _very_ impressed with your post. You
: obviously put alot of thought and research
: into this, not to mention the _time_ it took
: to post it !
I believe he downloaded it from the IMDB!!
Shawna
sorry folks......I didn't intend to post my message twice. When I
pushed the "send"
button to post my message, nothing happened
so I assumed it had "misfired" and didn't send
my first post. :-D ~~~~~~~~
yeah yeah, I know.......Sam V. is gonna give
me a thrashing again with wet noodles! :-)
:::: getting into position to receive my
punishment ::::: hehehe
Shawna
Slappy
press the "send' button or the equivalent, don't expect the post to appear
instantaneously. Be patient and rest assured that your very important
message will *most likely* be posted for all the world to see. Maybe check
in the next day and if your post still hasn't gotten through, then post it
again. Live and learn, eh?
Shawna <sha...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:18668-37...@newsd-131.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
>
> sorry folks......I didn't intend to post my message twice. When I
> pushed the "send"
> button to post my message, nothing happened
> so I assumed it had "misfired" and didn't send
> my first post. :-D ~~~~~~~~
> Shawna
>
Christine Bullock
flooding the grand staircase the water rises over the clock (and we get
a close up of this. Later in the movie we see water breaking through the
dome and if you look at the clock, the water is below it. Is this meant
to have happened? Also when Jack is looking at the dolphins, he says
look at it jump, before the dolphin jumps. I could be wrong on this one
because I can only guess that It must have jumped while the camera was
on Jack and not the dolphin. Are these two "goofs" or not?
Ric