Phase of the Moon April 15, 1912

  “New Moon in the arms of the Old Moon” 

The moon was waning to her last quarter when the Titanic set out from Southampton.  By the time of the impact with the iceberg on the evening of Sunday, April 14th, all that remained was a pale sliver before the new moon.  Below are the moon phases for April 1912, courtesy of NASA archives.  Many old superstitions surround the phases of the moon.  A man catches a glimpse of the new moon over his left shoulder, and he says: “This is bad luck.” It was considered an antidote for bad luck to turn over the paper money in a wallet at the new moon, thus guaranteeing good financial fortune for the future weeks.  As the moon and tides are forever entertwined, death comes on the ebbing tide and ebbing moon, so the folklore goes.  The waning moon proved bad luck and ill fortune for those aboard Titanic.

         Full               Last Quarter        New Moon       First Quarter

Apr  1  22:04 p   Apr  9  15:24     Apr 17  11:40 A        Apr 24  08:47

~ by Site Administrator on August 28, 2007.