Why didn't the lookout see the iceberg coming?

Answer 1

There have been entire chapters and perhaps entire books written about Titanic's lookouts and the iceberg. Author Tim Maltin had proposed a "refraction" theory with devastating success.

One of the many reasons, however, is that when water is rough, as it usually is, water sloshes against the base of an iceberg, making it visible. However, on the night of the sinking there were no waves and nothing to see (and no moonlight with which to see them).

Answer 2

Typically it's easy to see icebergs, which was part of Titanic's undoing. Normally, rough water sloshed up against the berg, causing a visual contrast and spray, but there were no waves that night. There was a stoker who had been to sea for twenty-six years and had never seen it so calm and flat as that night. It was like being On a Sea of Glass.

Answer 3

Lookouts typically see icebergs because waves usually slosh against them in turbulent waters but the night Titanic struck the berg, there was an absolute flat calm like never seen before.

There was a stoker who had been to sea for twenty-six years and had never seen it so calm and flat as that night. It was like being On a Sea of Glass.