An hour later the temperature was almost freezing yet the weather was clear and the sea was unusually calm.
Meanwhile, lookouts Archie Jewell and George Symons stared out into the darkness from their high perch. It was a starry, moonless night. Had there been a moon to reflect upon the sea's surface, it might have been possible for them to spot any icebergs that were in the vacinity.
At 8:55pm Captain Smith arrived on the bridge and remarked to Second Officer Lightroller about how cold it was.
Because of the many stars in the sky, Lightroller believed that there would be a great deal of light reflected light from any icebergs that might be nearby. At 9:20pm the Captain left Lightroller with the instructions: "If in the slightest degree doubtful, let me know." And with that he left the bridge knowing that navigationally speaking, this was the most crucial part of the voyage. Unfortunately, even though the Captain had received a number of ice warning messages that afternoon, the officers, therefore, were unaware of the warnings.
At 9:30pm Lightroller instructed Sixth Officer Moody to telephone the crow's nest and ask the men to keep a sharp lookout for small ice and to pass the word to subsequent watches.
Shortly after 9:30, Jack Phillips in the wireless room still busy transmitting messages from passengers, was interrupted by a message from the steamer Mesaba as follows: "Ice Report. In latitude 42 north to 41.25 north, longitude 49 west to longitude 50.3 west. Saw much heavy pack ice and great number of large icebergs, also ice field. Weather good, clear.".
Phillips, who had already delivered a number of ice messages to the bridge simply replied, "Received, thanks." This message, probably the most important received by the Titanic so far, went undelivered. Later that night an overworked Phillips was interrupted from his work yet again from a message as follows: "Say, old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice.
