Titanic..Reality Vs Movie
I wanted to
get this thing done in April... 'Wanted To' being the
key phrase. Ahhh...the best laid plans and so forth. Life, and a
touch of procrastination (What? ME...Procrastinate???)
changed those plans. The fact still remains that I'm, allegedly at
any rate, a History Blogger. Sort of. And as such if I didn't
pay homage to a certain 4-funnel luxury liner and her encounter with
an iceberg on her maiden voyage I should turn in my keyboard.
Especially this year. It was 100 years ago on the 14th of
April...Three months back...that RMS Titanic had a glancing collision
with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and became the best known,
most discussed shipwreck in history.
There were the inevitable few dozen
specials, documentaries, and factoid shows on The Titanic back in
April, none of which broke any really new ground. I watched most of
them, and all of 'em were interesting and well viewed because...well
because it's The Titanic! Titanic is one of those topics that just
grabs people and won't let go. This was the 'Challenger Explosion' of
her era. The (At the time) largest, most advanced ship ever built,
packed full of the rich, famous, and celebrated folks of her day,
going down with a majority of her passengers and crew on her maiden
voyage....yeah, a legend was borne. Try to find someone who hasn’t
heard of her...Ok, originally I said 'Ya Won't, but apparently some
peole thought the movie was just that...a movie, and were surprised
that it was set in the middle of an actual event (That is the
definition of 'Sad', IMHO). But it'll still be hard to find anyone
who hasn't heard of her.
Now this post isn't going to cover any
new ground either, but I'm going to try to do something interesting
(If not that different...more on that in a sec).
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| And the critics said it'd be The Flop Of The Century...Silly, silly critics!! |
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| Arguably the best known artist rendition of Titanic after striking the iceberg...the classic view of her down by the bow with distress rockets being fired. |
As we all recall, back in 1997 a guy named James Cameron made an obscure little flick about RMS Titanic, her fate, and a fictitious doomed romance. Critics derided the movie pretty much as one voice, declaring that it would be The Flop Of The Century. The critics, as we also recall, ended up eating a lot of words. The 'Potential Flop Of The Century'' became one of the biggest grossing films in cinematic history, and has become just about as well known as the Titanic herself... if not better known among the younger generation.
Titanic also gave us a lot of facts to
compare and contrast in the 'Movie Titanic Vs Real Titanic' sort of
way, and that's exactly what I'm going to do here.
Now it's been done before of course...type 'Movie Titanic vs Real Titanic' into any search engine and you'll get pages...and pages...and pages...of results. Also, I'm not going to dig into any of the following in deep and intricate detail, much as I'd like to...there are just to many facts, and I really want to get this posted at least during the 100th year after the disaster.
So with the preliminaries out of the
way, let's get to the meat of the matter:,
Jack Dawson
When James Cameron was fleshing out the two main characters...Jack
and Rose...he created them, named them, and gave them life and lines
as fictitious characters. Jack Dawson and Rose
DeWitt
Bukater, existed only as characters in a movie script. |
| Leo as Jack Dawson |
OK, this is 99 or so percent true...and James Cameron didn't find out about that other 1 percent until after filming was complete, because there was a J. Dawson on board Titanic. His real name was Joseph, not Jack, and he was a member of the boiler room crew (The 'Black Gang' as they were called.). To be specific, he was a coal trimmer, responsible for evening out the piles of coal that the stokers shoveled into the fireboxes of Titanic's 27 boilers. He went down with the ship, his body was recovered, and he was buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Specifically, buried in Grave 227 in Fairview Lawn Cemetery in that city.
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| The real J Dawson's grave in Halifax, N.S. |
Fans of the movie, upon learning of the real J (For Joseph, not Jack) Dawson's existence have descended upon the cemetery for years, leaving all nature of tokens of their esteem...who CARES if he's actually named Joseph, was a crew member rather than a third class passenger, never danced with an adorable little girl named Cora, and never fell in love with a beautiful First Class passenger named Rose. He's still 'J Dawson' and that's all that Titanic Fans and Leophiles need to know!
Jack's not the only character who had a real life sort of counterpart aboard The Titanic...Jack's Irish friend Tommy Ryan also had a real life counterpart...and he too was a crew member rather than a passenger. Thomas Ryan was a Third Class steward who went down with the ship, and whose body was never recovered.
Rose
DeWitt Bukater.
Rose's character (Portrayed flawlessly by Kate Winslette) was
entirely fictitious, and had no counterpart aboard the real
Titanic...and sorry, romatics, the love story portrayed in the movie
didn't happen either, and very likely couldn't
have happened.
There was however a Third Class Passenger named Rosa Abbot who jumped into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic with her two sons. She was the only woman, and supposedly the only passenger who was pulled from the water and survived.
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| Kate Winslette as Rose Bukater |
There was however a Third Class Passenger named Rosa Abbot who jumped into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic with her two sons. She was the only woman, and supposedly the only passenger who was pulled from the water and survived.
For more on Rosa Abbot, click here:
Little Cora and her doll. During the first part of the movie, when the submersible is exploring the debris field, we see the head of a porcelain doll looking up eerily from the sea floor. The doll head is really there and in fact when Bob Ballard found The Titanic back in 1986 he at first thought this doll's head was a skull.
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| The doll's head in the Titanic's Debris field. |
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| Cora Cartmell and The Doll |
An identical doll was carried by little Cora Cartmell. Cora was portrayed adorably by two young actresses named Alexandrea Owens and Liza Yumi Mitchell. Cora, as we may recall, stole everyone's heart in her most memorable scene at the dance in Third Class, where Jack told her 'You're still my best girl, Cora' just before he danced with Rose.
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| 'You're still my best girl, Cora...' |
Cora died in the sinking,
and there was, in fact, a deleted scene showing her death, a scene I am
truly thankful wasn't included in the movie. Suffice it to say she
and her parents were brought up short by one of the locked gates
separating third class from the rest of the ship.
Cora had her doll with her in this scene, and we would be led to believe, had the scene been included in the movie, that the doll head in the debris field was indeed Cora's doll.
Cora had her doll with her in this scene, and we would be led to believe, had the scene been included in the movie, that the doll head in the debris field was indeed Cora's doll.
Cora didn't really exist,
of course...but she represented all of the children from Third Class
who died in the sinking. There were 80 third class children on board
Titanic...only 25 survived.
The doll, however, does
exist. Thing is, the doll
found in the debris field was very likely carried by a First or Second
class child who lost it in the course of boarding and launching the
boats...All of the 2nd class children and all but one of
the first class children survived. A porcelain doll was not an
inexpensive item and it was highly unlikely that a third class child
would actually own one. A third class child would more than likely
own a rag doll, A rag doll just as loved by it's owner as the most
exquisite porcelain doll was loved by it's first or second class owner. But
this is one time I tend not to let facts get in the way of the movie.
In our minds, that doll's head belonged to an adorable little girl
named Cora
The
Car: Everyone
knows exactly what scene I’m speaking of here. Jack and Rose end up
in the Titanic’s
forward
cargo hold, find a 1912 Renault town car, end up in the back seat,
and partake in (If it had actually happened) one of the very first
examples of what we called ‘parking’ back when I was in high
school,
A very powerful and romantic scene!
Too bad it absolutely couldn’t have happened that way.
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| One the very first examples of 'Parking' Too bad it couldn't have actually happened... |
First lets take a
quick look at the car itself…The car that was loaded aboard the
Titanic was a chauffeur driven Renault type CB Coupe DeVille
with a French rating system 12 HP I-4 engine that probably would have
been rated at closer to 40 HP using the modern system.
The car was actually owned by William Carter of Bryn Mawr, who had purchased it in Europe and was shipping it back to the US. He and his wife both survived the sinking, and he placed a claim for 5,000 Dollars with Lloysds of London for it’s loss. James Cameron came close with that…the car shown in the movie was a 1914 model, but it was also the closest thing available. Lloyds of London kept (And keeps) immaculate records on all items it insures, and those records were still available…Cameron was able to use those records to restore the car bought for the filming to an all but exact replica of the Renault that went down with Titanic, as well as build a replica which was used for the famous 'Car Scene'
This is where Real Life and Movie Life diverge. In the movie, the Renault is owned by Rose's family, and arrives quayside occupied by Rose, her mom, Cal, and his (soon to be evil) manservant. They get out of their ride, baggage is loaded aboard the ship…and the next thing we know the Renault is being loaded aboard Titanic. While it’s barely possible that the car could have been loaded a few hours before sailing, it’s hugely improbable. And all but impossible that it could have been loaded even as it’s former occupants were boarding the ship. A great deal of preparation was needed before the ride was loaded.
The car was actually owned by William Carter of Bryn Mawr, who had purchased it in Europe and was shipping it back to the US. He and his wife both survived the sinking, and he placed a claim for 5,000 Dollars with Lloysds of London for it’s loss. James Cameron came close with that…the car shown in the movie was a 1914 model, but it was also the closest thing available. Lloyds of London kept (And keeps) immaculate records on all items it insures, and those records were still available…Cameron was able to use those records to restore the car bought for the filming to an all but exact replica of the Renault that went down with Titanic, as well as build a replica which was used for the famous 'Car Scene'
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| 1912 Renault restored to the exact specs of the car that went down with The Titanic |
This is where Real Life and Movie Life diverge. In the movie, the Renault is owned by Rose's family, and arrives quayside occupied by Rose, her mom, Cal, and his (soon to be evil) manservant. They get out of their ride, baggage is loaded aboard the ship…and the next thing we know the Renault is being loaded aboard Titanic. While it’s barely possible that the car could have been loaded a few hours before sailing, it’s hugely improbable. And all but impossible that it could have been loaded even as it’s former occupants were boarding the ship. A great deal of preparation was needed before the ride was loaded.
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| The Bukater's ride being loaded. Cool Scene...couldn't have have happened this way. |
The gas tank had to be drained (Even back in1912 having an unneeded 20 or so gallons of gasoline in the hold of the ship was not allowable). The movie car was apparently shipped as baggage rather than cargo but even so, the wheels would have been removed, then the car’s axles would have been attached to a specially built frame mounted on a pallet. Then the car would have been loaded aboard ship.
As the real car was purchased
new, it’s quite likely that it was actually shipped as cargo,
disassembled and crated, rather than palletized baggage.
In reality it would have also been
highly unlikely for Jack and Rose (Or any real life contemporary) to
make their way into the baggage hold unescorted, no matter who they
were being chased by. Gaining access to the cargo hold would have
been absolutely impossible. If the car was wheelless but palletized
it’s possible for their romantic interlude to have taken place…but
again the car would have been wheelless and attached solidly to the
pallet rather than resting on it’s tires if any real life Titanic
couple had used it to enact one of the first examples of
‘Parking’. If it had been loaded as cargo, the car would have
been absolutely inaccessible to any passenger.
The ‘I’m King Of The World’
Scene: Everyone remembers this one…Jack and Rose on the
bow of the Titanic’, Jack proclaiming himself to be ‘King
Of The World’, then holding Rose on the bow rail as she proclaims
that she ‘Feels Like She’s Flying’. Sun setting beautifully
into the ocean, Porpoises cavorting alongside the bow…One of the
most beautiful scenes in all of Hollywood history. It’s been
referenced, and repeated, and parodied repeatedly.
Only one problem, it couldn’t have
happened. While the stern of the ship was accessible to Third Class
passengers (It was in effect the Third Class Promenade Deck) The bow
was off limits to all but crew…and even had The Couple of the
Moment managed to make their way to the bow, they would have been in
plain sight of the bridge. They would have been politely escorted
back to where they belonged well before the scene could have taken
place.
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| 'I'm The King Of The World!!!... 'O, Jack, I feel like I'm flying!!' |
This also makes the pivotal scene
when Jack and Rose were on the foredeck, just forward and to
starboard of the crows nest just before the collision impossible as
well, of course.
AN interesting point
about the 'I'm King Of The World Scene...after the movie came out,
pretty much any vessel that floated and carried paying passengers had
to post crew members at the bow to prevent people from trying to
reenact the scene!
Ida
and Isidor Strous Ida and Isidor Strous were, of course, actual
people...Isidor Strous was part owner of an obscure little retail
chain called Macy's Department Stores'. He and his wife are best
known in Titanic lore for refusing to be separated and going down
with the ship. Isidor insisted that his wife board a lifeboat knowing
that he would not be allowed to board, and she refused to be
separated from him.
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| Ida and Isidor Strous |
During
the Nearer My God To Thee scene they were seen cuddling in bed in
their cabin as it flooded but this in not the way it actually
happened. In reality, after Isidor Straus refused to enter the
lifeboat (Lifeboat #8) while there were women and children who could
still be saved his wife refused to board without him, saying to him
“We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go."
(There was actually a deleted scene depicting this moment.)
They
insisted that their maid, Ellen Bird, save herself, then went to a
pair of deck chairs and sat side by side to await their fate...they
were seen being washed overboard by the wave created as the Titanic's
bow
went under. Isidor Strous' body was recovered by the cable ship
Mackay-Bennett,
which
was contracted by White Star to recover bodies from the
disaster...had they been in their cabin as depicted in the movie his
body would have never been recovered. Ida Straus' body in fact was
never recovered.
The
employees of Macy's designed a brass plaque commemorating their boss'
life and the great love he and his wife shared...Isidor Straus was
apparently a very popular boss and quite a guy in general. The plaque
was displayed for decades near what became known as 'The Memorial
Entrance' on 34th
street in Manhattan, but is now concealed behind temporary walls as
the store undergoes a remodeling.
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| Memorial plaque for the Ida and Isador Strous, donated by the employees of Macy's. The inscription reads: IDA STRAUS ISIDOR STRAUS BORN FEB. 6. 1849. BORN FEB. 6. 1845. DIED. APRIL. 15. 1912 "THEIR LIVES WERE BEAUTIFUL AND THEIR DEATHS GLORIOUS." THIS TABLET IS THE VOLUNTARY TOKEN OF SORROWING EMPLOYEES. |
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| First Officer William Murdoch |
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| Ewan Stewart as First Officer Murdoch |
To make up for their inaccurate portrayal of Murdoch, studio
executives actually flew to Murdoch's hometown, issued an apology and
made an $8,500 donation to Murdoch's memorial fund.
Captain Smith's death: Captain Edward John Smith was one of the White Star Line's best known, most experienced captains, and this is why he was given command of Titanic for her maiden voyage. The voyage was also to be his final trip before retirement.
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| Capt Edward J Smith |
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| Bernard Hill as Capt Edward J Smith |
In the movie, Captain Smith is seen entering the wheelhouse and
closing the door behind him, then standing at the ships wheel and
watching as the sea rose up on the wheelhouse windows while water
slowly filled the bridge.. He died spectacularly as the water finally
blew the windows in, drowning him.
In actuality, it's believed that Captain Smith survived the sinking
and died of exposure (As did the great majority of those who died),
though the true nature of his death remains a mystery. Many
witnesses...both crew and passengers...testified that he was seen
rescuing a small child and passing him or her up to those on board a
lifeboat (Likely Collapsible 'C' as it was the last launched and
was closest to the ship when she went down). Others noted that he
shouted words of encouragement to them.
He was said to have been seen swimming back towards the ship, seen to
sink, and never resurface, and yes, one first Class passenger even
reported seeing him on the bridge just before Titanic's final
plunge.
Another highly unlikely scenario was advanced by a young boy who was among the very last passengers to leave the stricken ship. The kid reported seeing Smith 'Put a gun to his head and fall down' but this possibility was strongly and vehemently denied by everyone...passengers and crew alike...who had ever known him.
The strangest (and least unlikely) tale comes from Captain Peter
Pryal, a well known Baltimore sea captain who had sailed with Smith,
and had known him for years. He reported in July 1912 that he had
seen and spoken to Smith on the streets of Baltimore, and that Smith
had boarded a train to Washington after stating that he was in town
on business. This one is highly unlikely, and swerves into the
bizarre, however. Capt Smith's wife lived until April 1931...it
stands to reason that he would have gotten in touch with her sometime
in the intervening 20 years. And had he lived he would have been the
guest of honor at BOTH inquests held concerning the disaster...one in
Britain, the other in The US.
My theory...he did everything possible to save his passengers, stayed
with Titanic until the last possible instant and died a
hero.
J
Bruce Ismay, the order to maintain top speed, and his cowardice.
J
Bruce Ismay was the Chairman and Managing Director of White Star
Lines, and also president of MMC, the American firm that bought White
Star in 1902. Ismay was vilified by both the popular press in 1912
and by the portrayal of him in two movies (A Night To Remember and
'Titanic'). Both told nearly the exact same story. Ismay hid reports
of ice from Captain Smith, demanded that Titanic
attempt a cross Atlantic speed record, refused to allow her to be
slowed as they approached the area designated as an ice field, then
dressed himself as a woman in order to get a place on a life boat.
Great story...just wasn't true.
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| J Bruce Ismay...Slanted Reporting is NOT a new thing |
First
lets take a look at the speed record attempt. Trying to break the
Atlantic Crossing Speed Record (Known as the 'Blue Riband') would
have been a useless gesture because the Titanic
was not built for speed, but rather for comfort and luxury. (Even her
and her sister ship Olympic's
third class
accommodations were far better than the steerage accommodations on
other ships). Titanic's
top sustainable speed was around 22 knots, while the Cunard Lines
Mauritania and
Lusitania were
capable of a sustained 26 knots. On top of that there was a major
coal miners strike underway, and coal was in short supply...as a fuel
conservation measure, two of her boilers weren't even fired up,
further reducing her sustained top speed..
Another
consideration was the disruption of the passengers...particularly the
First Class passengers...schedules. Had Titanic
arrived in New York a day early, the passengers arrivals would have
been out of sync with hotel and train reservations, among other
things, and changing reservations was nowhere near as easy to do in
1912 as it is in 2012. The result would have been a lot of rich,
powerful, influential, pissed off people.
Titanic's crew...and
White Star's Managing Director...would have prudently maintained her
normal schedule.
As
for demanding that Titanic not slow down while approaching the Ice
Field, it was normal procedure at that time to continue at normal
crossing speed unless blocked by pack ice. The assumption was that
lookouts, posted in the ship’s 'Crow's Nest' would be able to see
an iceberg as much as 8-10 miles off, giving the ship 20-30 minutes
to maneuver around it, a theory that was disproved spectacularly and
tragically by the disaster. Ismay was also known for following proper
chain of command and shipboard etiquette when at sea. The managing
director did not outrank the ship's captain when it came to issues
regarding operation and navigation of the ship. If anything he'd make
suggestion, with the disclaimer 'Subject to your
considering it prudent and in the interest of safe navigation to do
so' almost always included.
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| Jonathon Hyde as J Bruce Ismay |
As for the rumor concerning Ismay boarding a lifeboat while dressed
as a woman...many witnesses report seeing him assisting with getting
the boats loaded, and it's said that a crew member finally told him
to abandon ship after he assisted in loading and lowering Collapsible
'C', which was the last boat to leave the ship. He jumped down into
Collapsible 'C' and survived the sinking. Had he not done so he would
have suffered the same fate as everyone else left aboard.
Another interesting little tidbit that belongs in both the the 'Be
Careful Who You Piss Off' and 'Slanted reporting is not a new thing'
categories...the majority of the rumors about Ismay first appeared in
newspapers owned by media mogul William Randolph Hurst. Hurst
absolutely despised Ismay because of what he considered to be Ismay's
disrespect and lack of cooperation with the press from years back. Of
course, the majority of people reading articles about the disaster
and the aftermath didn't know this, and they'd read it in the
paper...it had to be the truth!
The 'Coward of The Titanic', then, wasn't. He was an early victim of
a slanted media with an agenda (And worse, a vendetta). He resigned
form MMC/White Star in 1914, but stayed active in other businesses
though Hurst, still in attack mode, claimed the resignation was a
sign of guilt. Ismay stayed out of the public eye for most of his
life, and died of a cerebral thrombosis in 1937. A British news paper
NOT owned by Hurst put it as well as can be put. Ismay's only mistake
was surviving the disaster.
So the true story of Bruce Ismay's actions and the movie/popular
rumor version of his actions are just about 180 degrees apart.
The
Iceberg, The Collision, and The Damage.
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| Iceberg, RIGHT ahead!!!! At this point her two reciprocating engines were pounding in full reverse, her helm was hard over, and the crew on the bridge and the look outs were praying for her bow to start swinging to port |
We'll never know exactly what happened in the minute before 11:40PM
on April 14, 1912 but I have a feeling that James Cameron came pretty
close on this one. In fact, he got several things just about dead on.
One of the pivotal scenes in the movie shows Frederic Fleet
(Portrayed by Scott G Anderson) first spotting the iceberg, then
ringing the bell and picking up the phone to the bridge (Pick UP You
bastards!!) and declaring 'ICEberg Right ahead! when it was
answered.
I can just about bet that the sequence was pretty close. Fleet told
6th Officer James Moody, who relayed the message to first
officer Murdoch...Murdoch then gave the order 'Hard A Starboard! To
the quartermaster, who spun the wheel to port...the left. This
seeming discrepancy is brought about because the old style steering
orders, used when ships had tillers rather then wheels,were still
used. Back in the day, tiller bars were attached directly to the
rudder, and to turn the rudder, and the ship, to the left (Port) you
pushed the tiller to the right (Starboard). This terminology was
actually used into the twenties until the rudder orders were
standardized to reflect modern technology.
At the same time he gave this order Murdoch rang the engine room
telegraphs for the two main engines to 'Full Astern' ...the center
turbine engine would stop automatically as it was not reversible, a
bypass took the exhaust steam that ran it around the turbine and
straight to the main condensers when the reciprocating engines were
reversed. Marine historians have said that the scene that depicts the
actions of the engine room, boiler room and bridge crews is just
about dead on with what probably actually happened.
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| Olympic's steering engine, which was identical to Titatnic's |
Also, when the engines were reversed, those huge 4 cylinder reciprocating engines (Huge 'Inline 4's cylinder arrangement wise.) had to be brought to all but a complete stop before they could be reversed. Then the reversing engine had to be thrown on-line, then the throttles opened back up. Between the steering orders and reversing the main engines it could have been as much as twenty to thirty seconds before the Titanic's bow actually started swinging to the left, and the iceberg wasn't sighted until about 37 seconds before impact. Only the two wing propellers, powered by the reciprocating engines, were reversed, as those engines were reversible while the Parsons turbine, which turned the center screw was not. This meant that the center propeller was stopped when All Reverse Full' was ordered. Only problem with that was the rudder was directly aft of the center prop. That propeller not providing extra thrust across and against the rudder likely reduced it's effectiveness...add that to the lag time between the wheel being put hard over and the steering engine actually swinging the rudder and you have a very, very sluggish turn. (Fleet's 'Why isn't she turning?!' and Murdoch mouthing 'come on, come on, come on...' as the iceberg got closer and closer). Interestingly enough, if her engines had NOT been reversed...had she kept on at the speed she was making, and the rudder had been put hard over, the extra bit of thrust from the center propeller acting on the rudder would have likely given her just enough additional maneuverability to miss the 'burg by a few feet.
The depiction of the collision was also dead on from what research,
forensic investigation, and most importantly, testimony of passengers
and crew at both the British and U.S. Hearings has revealed. She
almost missed it...in fact she came so close to missing the 'burg
that it was heart breaking. The forward 300 or so feet of the hull
sideswiped an underwater out cropping of ice, opening riveted seams
between hull plates in the first five compartments.. The impact was
actually pretty slight above the water line, no more than a little
extra vibration as the hull slid along the ice shelf. This was
illustrated perfectly in the movie as well.
James Cameron got the depiction of the damage...being caused at
that...right as well. For decades everyone thought that the iceberg
had ripped a three hundred or so foot long gash in the Titanic's
hull but in reality as the hull bumped along the the submerged
portion of the iceberg rivets were popped as the hull plates were
pushed inward, separating the plates and creating several openings
only a couple of inches wide and ranging in length from five feet to
forty-five feet, spaced out over the first two hundred and fifty feet
of her hull. It wasn't the amount of damage that sunk her...the
damage to the hull was actually minor...but the location of the
damage, and specifically the location of the last area of damage. The
berg slid along the hull for a final 45 feet starting about 210 feet
aft of the bow, opening up the coal bunkers for Boiler room 6...the
forward-most of the 6 boiler rooms, and extending a couple of feet
into boiler room 5. This was the damage that sank her. The first
several areas of damage caused the first 4 water tight compartments
to flood, but that was no biggie...she was designed to stay afloat
with all four of the first four watertight compartments breached. But
with the first five flooded, the water would rise up above the limit
of the waterproof bulkheads, and slop over into the next compartment
dragging the bow under, and ultimately sinking the ship.
Just how much total damage was there? The total combined area of the
openings was around twelve square feet...had it been one long narrow
hole it would have been, at the largest, about the size of a standard
door.
Lifeboats.
Any
discussion of The Titanic
has to include discussion of her lifeboats, and here again James
Cameron hit got it right…mostly.
The
Titanic carried 20 lifeboats...fourteen full size boats, thirty feet
long with a beam of 9 feet and a depth of 4 feet and two ‘cutters,’
25 feet long with the same beam and depth. These boats had capacities
of 65 and 40 passengers respectively. She also carried four Englehart
Collapsible boats with a capacity of 47 people each...These
capacities were possible only the most favorable conditions, but keep
in mind that the North Atlantic was a calm as a mill pond on that
long ago night, which pretty much equates to 'Most Favorable
conditions.
Titanic
had approximately 2200 people aboard, but only enough room on
board her lifeboats for about 1200 people. Back then the number of
lifeboats a ship carried was based on her tonnage rather than her
passenger capacity, and the tonnage classifications only went as high
as 10,000 tons (Before the big liners such as Lusitania, and
Mauritania, and White Star's Olympic and Titanic,
a 10,000 tonner was a HUGE ship). The greatest number of lifeboats
required was 16...regardless of how many passengers were on board.
Therefore Titanic actually carried 4 more lifeboats than she
was legally required to carry, thanks to the four 47 passenger
capacity Englehart collapsible boats.
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| R.M.S. Titanic. Note the distance between the forward three and aft four lifeboats. ALL of that area could have been used for lifeboats. White Star lines decided that the First Class Passengers' view of the sea was more important. But thet STILL had four more boats than legally required. |
It
was a well known fact that the laws regarding lifeboat capacity were
going to be changed soon, requiring boats for all aboard, but until
that time companies were reluctant to spend the money for additional
boats until it was required. (Some things really haven’t changed
that much in a century) Titanic and Olympic were
even fitted with Welin Quadrant Davits, which were designed for
'Double Banking...having two boats at each station. The Titanic’s
original plans called for double banking and her designer, Thomas
Andrews, certainly insisted on it but to no avail. In fact, she was
designed to, and originally supposed to, carry double the number of
davits she was equipped with. Look at a picture of Titanic and
note all of the deck space NOT occupied by lifeboats. The area not
occupied by lifeboats was almost exclusively the First Class
Promenade…Passenger convenience and money won out. White Stare 's
Brass felt that double banking would decrease the amount of deck
space available to First Class Passengers, and lining the entire boat
deck with lifeboats would obscure their highest paying passengers’
view. Besides, why spend money on extra boats when you don't have to
(I refer you again to my comment RE: Some things really haven’t
changed that much…). Bet if you had asked the First Class
passengers still on board at about 2:38AM on April 15th,
1912 if they would have preferred more lifeboats or a better view,
the answer wouldn’t have had anything to do with viewing the
sunset. So Titanic sailed with lifeboats for just shy of 1200
passengers (Half the number of people she had on board that night)
rather than just shy of 2400 (Around 150 more than she carried.)
Then
we get to the lifeboat drills...Wait...What lifeboat drills. A
lifeboat drill was actually supposed to have taken place on the
morning of April 14th...the day the Titanic struck
the iceberg…but Capt Smith canceled it for unknown reasons, though
it's possible he did so so the passengers could attend church. This
wasn't even touched on in the movie (And is not a generally well
known fact).
And
the crew was well trained and well versed in loading and launching
the boats, right? Right? RIGHT?? Ahhhh...wrong.
They had little training at all in loading and launching the boats. Keep in mind that the boats were not that small. The larger lifeboats were 30 feet long and were not lightweights, and the lowering gear was manual and non synchronized...the crews lowering the boats had to work as a team to lower them on an even keel. There was very little organization involved in loading and lowering the boats, and no consistency in the 'Women and Children First' rule...That all depended on which side of Titanic you happened to be on. On the port side, this rule was enforced strictly, with a couple of men being bodily removed from boats they had boarded. On the Starboard side this was less rigorously enforced as husbands and older male children were allowed to board. All of this was shown as accurately as known facts allow.
 |
| Lifeboat 15 almost being lowered directly on top of Lifeboat 13 |
They had little training at all in loading and launching the boats. Keep in mind that the boats were not that small. The larger lifeboats were 30 feet long and were not lightweights, and the lowering gear was manual and non synchronized...the crews lowering the boats had to work as a team to lower them on an even keel. There was very little organization involved in loading and lowering the boats, and no consistency in the 'Women and Children First' rule...That all depended on which side of Titanic you happened to be on. On the port side, this rule was enforced strictly, with a couple of men being bodily removed from boats they had boarded. On the Starboard side this was less rigorously enforced as husbands and older male children were allowed to board. All of this was shown as accurately as known facts allow.
Wait,
you ask...OLDER male children??? Oh yeah...the term child was
taken pretty literally. If you were a dude, on the port side of the
ship, and had the suffix 'teen' affixed to your age you were pretty
much S.O.L. 'Child' meant '12 and under'. This wasn't really brought
out in the movie, but it was a true fact. Back in 1912, a fifteen or
sixteen year old boy was not considered a child for the purposes of
loading lifeboats in an emergency.
Then
we have the well known (And well portrayed) fact that many...in fact
most...of the boats well under capacity. The first several boats
loaded and lowered were grossly underloaded,
and only the last three full size boats and only one of the two
collapsibles launched from davits were even close to their capacity.
Below’s a quick table showing the boats, their capacities, and the
number aboard when launched.
Port
Boat Number
|
Capacity
|
Time
launched
|
No.
on board
|
Starboard
Boat No.
|
Capacity
|
Time
Launched
|
No.
on board
|
8
|
65
|
1:00AM
|
25
|
7
|
65
|
12:40AM
|
28
|
6
|
65
|
1:10AM
|
26
|
5
|
65
|
12:43
AM
|
43
|
16
|
65
|
1:20AM
|
52
|
3
|
65
|
12:50AM
|
32
|
14
|
65
|
1:25AM
|
40
|
1
|
40
|
1:05AM
|
12
|
12
|
65
|
1:30AM
|
42
|
9
|
65
|
1:30AM
|
40
|
2
|
40
|
1:45AM
|
17
|
11
|
65
|
1:35AM
|
50
|
10
|
65
|
1:50AM
|
57
|
13
|
65
|
1:40AM
|
55
|
4
|
65
|
1:50AM
|
30
|
15
|
65
|
1:41AM
|
68
|
Collapsible
‘D’
|
47
|
2:05AM
|
20
|
Collapsible
‘C’
|
47
|
2:00AM
|
43
|
Collapsible
‘B’
|
47
|
2:20AM
**
|
14
|
Collapsible
‘A’
|
47
|
2:15AM*
|
15
|
·
Washed overboard w/15 people
on board. Sides had not been raised. Survivors transferred to
Collapsible ‘D’. Three bodies left on board, recovered from still
drifting life boat one month later
**
Collapsible ‘B’ washed over board inverted as Titanic’
started her final plunge. Several dozen climbed aboard overturned
boat, only 13 survived the night.
The
demographics of the surviving men, women and Children were
interesting as well, though not directly portrayed in the movie.
| Women | Children | Men | Total |
| First Class Women (Servants*) Total: 141 Died: 4 (0)Survived: 113 (24) % Survived: 97% (100%) |
First Class Children Total: 7 Died: 1Survived: 6 % Survived: 86% |
First Class Men (Servants*) Total: 171 Died: 105 (10) Survived: 54 (2) % Survived: 32% (17%) |
First Class Total Total: 319 Died: 120 Survived: 199 % Survived: 62% |
| Second Class Women (Servants*) Total: 92 Died: 13 (0) Survived: 78 (1) % Survived: 86% |
Second Class Children Total: 25 Died: 0 Survived: 25 % Survived: 100% |
Second Class Men (Servants*) Total: 155 Died: 138 (4) Survived: 13 % Survived: 8% (0%) |
Second Class Total Total: 272 Died: 155 Survived: 117 % Survived: 43% |
| Third Class
(Steerage) Women Total: 179 Died: 91 Survived: 88 % Survived: 49% Total Women Total: 412 Died: 108 Survived: 304 % Survived: 74% |
Third Class (Steerage) Children Total: 80 Died: 55 Survived: 25 % Survived: 31% Total Children Total: 112 Died: 56 Survived: 56 % Survived: 50% |
Third Class (Steerage) Men Total: 450 Died: 391 Survived: 59 % Survived: 13% Total Men Total: 776 Died: 648 Survived: 128 % Survived: 16% |
Third Class (Steerage) Total Total: 709 Died: 537 Survived: 172 % Survived: 25% Total Passengers Total: 1300 Died: 812 Survived: 488 % Survived: 37% |
SO
Class distinctions did play a part in the survival of
passengers....especially if that passenger happened to be a Third
Class Passenger. The sad thing is, with the lifeboats being launched
underloaded, there was lifeboat capacity to save ALL of the second
and third class women and children that died...with room to spare.
 |
| Titanic's lifeboats at the White Star pier in New York after being droipped off by Carpathia |
Now
for the inevitable 'What Ifs' The question has been asked 'Would
enough boats for everyone have made that much of a difference, given
the same time line and the same number of passengers in the boats'
and the sad but interesting fact is that it may not have made
that much of a difference.. The first boat wasn't launched until an
hour after the collision with the iceberg. Loading and launching each
boat was a slow, laborious process...remember they didn't even get to
launch the last two collapsibles.
Then
again, If Titanic had been equipped
with more davits, and more full sized lifeboats the crew wouldn't
have had to unstow, set up, and install the collapsibles on the
davits. Had sufficient boats been available, they would have
already been on the davits, so lets say that the crew may have gotten
two...at the most three...more boats away. Also, by the time Titanic
went down the boats were being loaded to near capacity if not
to capacity so lets say three boats got away with 60 people each on
board...180 more passengers saved. This would have
still left well over
1300 passengers and crew on board when she went down.
Now,
had there been sufficient boats, and had they started loading boats,
say 15 minutes after the collision, and had every boat launched been
loaded to capacity or close to capacity, they would have gotten at
least seven and possibly eight more boats away with anywhere between
420 and five hundred more passengers saved. BUT...and
it's a biggie...there would have still been
around 600 passengers and crew left on board (Assuming they also got
the three extra boats mentioned above away.) The death toll would
have been less that half of what it actually was. But it would have
still been huge. There just wasn't enough time.
Locked
Gates The third class
passenger areas were separated from First and Second class by
accordion gates (The very kind that have been used in school hallways
for decades) to prevent third class passengers from mingling with the
first class passengers. Interestingly enough, this was because of a
U.S. Immigration Bureau policy, to keep any possible communicable
diseases from spreading to passengers in First and Second class, and
then to the rest of the country (Preventative health care in 1912
wasn't even close to what it was now...or even to what it was fifty
to sixty years ago).
Contrary
to popular myth as well as what was portrayed in the movie, the gates
were not kept locked after Titanic
hit the iceberg to
keep Third class passengers away from the boats. They were kept
locked due to a near total lack of communication. Some stewards kept
gates locked while awaiting further orders while others allowed women
and children onto the boat deck. The crew did not make a search of
cabins and common areas of any
of
the three classes, much less Third Class, and to top it off there was
often a language barrier. Many of the third class passengers didn't
speak English. As a result many Third Class passengers had to fend
for themselves and only a quarter of them survived.
The
locked gates were shown...very dramatically...when Jack and Rose had
to break down a gate to get back up to the boat deck, and again in
the deleted scene that showed little Cora's death.. The insinuation
in the movie was that the gates were locked solely because the crew
didn't want to allow the Third Class passengers access to the boats,
but the actual reason was far more complicated than that.
Titanic's Band
and Nearer My God To Thee. One
of the long held, unshakable stories about Titanic
is
the band playing Nearer My God To Thee as the ship's bow sank further
and further, dragging the ship towards her final plunge.
First
Titanic's
band was actually a string ensemble rather than a 'Band', despite the
fact that a couple of older movies about the disaster portrayed it as
an actual band, complete with a brass section and woodwinds. To get
into a bit more detail, the group was actually two entirely separate
string ensembles. One was a quintet, under well known, well
respected, and popular band leader Wallace Hartly. The second was a
trio consisting of violin, cello, and piano. The two groups performed
at different times and locations on board Titanic,
with Hartley's group getting most of the work. The night of the
sinking is likely the only time all eight of them played together.
( After they moved outside to the boat deck, only seven of the eight
actually played, as I have a feeling getting a piano out to the boat
deck would not have been chief among anyone’s concerns.) |
| A period flyer showing Titanic's Band. |
This part James
Cameron got right on the money, at least as compared to known facts,
and yes, popular myth. Portraying them in a heroic light, playing
right to the end was also on the money.
No none can say for sure what happened to the band as the final plunge neared, nor can their conversations or actions be relayed with absolute certainty as all of them went down with the ship. But I have a feeling that the 'Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure playing with you/Nearer My God To Thee' scene was pretty close.
No none can say for sure what happened to the band as the final plunge neared, nor can their conversations or actions be relayed with absolute certainty as all of them went down with the ship. But I have a feeling that the 'Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure playing with you/Nearer My God To Thee' scene was pretty close.
Interestingly
it can't even be said for any certainty that 'Nearer My God To Thee'
was the last song they played . Others identified the last song
played by Titanic's
musicians as Songe d' Automne which has some similar passages as
Nearer My God To Thee, and the only thing that MOST people agreed on
was the fact that the band did play right up to to the very end.
Another
myth sometimes heard is that the passengers sang along as Titanic's
band
played. I have my doubts on that one...I have a feeling that singing
was the absolute last thing on anyone's mind as 2:20 AM on April 15th
drew close.
So I'll give this one to Mr Cameron. We can't absolutely know what
happened, or what song the passengers listened to, so he took the
most reported version of the event, and used it brilliantly.
The
Californian: One of the
most frustrating episodes of the sinking was the fact that a steamer
was visible ten or so miles off, and that it didn't respond to
Titanic's
distress signals. One of the most frustrating elements of the movie
was the fact that this was never even mentioned..
To
make a long story short, Californian
was brought up short by
pack ice and her captain, Stanley Lord, decided to stop engines and
stop for the night so they could wait until daylight to figure out
just how difficult getting around or through the ice would be.
 |
| S.S. Californian Arguably the most controversial element of 4-15-1912 |
They
actually saw Titanic
approaching,
Californian's
wireless operator attempted to advise her that they were stopped in
pack ice, and was promptly brushed off by Titanic's
wireless operator. Wireless being a new cutting edge technology,
passengers were more than eager to take advantage of it to send
messages to friends, family and business associates. Titanic's
Wireless operator was
working a backlog of such messages (remember, he had to do it in
Morse Code) when
Californian's
message blasted into his head phones from only ten or so miles
distant, all but making his ear drums meet in the center of his head.
No attempt was even made to read the message...Titanic's
wireless operator simply pounded out 'SUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP...I'm
working Cape Race!!'
Californian's wireless operator listened to traffic (Again, Morse code...voice wireless was still a ways down the road) until about 11:30, then he shut down his wireless and crashed for the night. Titanic hit the 'burg ten minutes later. Over the next two hours and forty minutes or so, Californian's crew at best misinterpreted, at worst ignored Titanic's distress rockets, even though Lord was advised of them. Two crew members on watch actually discussed the fact that something didn't look just right about her. Then they decided that she appeared to be disappearing beyond the horizon. The next morning Lord found out what actually did happen. Within a couple of days the world found out about Californian's role in the disaster...and a great deal of controversy that continues to this day ensued
 |
| Stanley Lord, Captain of S S Californian |
Californian's wireless operator listened to traffic (Again, Morse code...voice wireless was still a ways down the road) until about 11:30, then he shut down his wireless and crashed for the night. Titanic hit the 'burg ten minutes later. Over the next two hours and forty minutes or so, Californian's crew at best misinterpreted, at worst ignored Titanic's distress rockets, even though Lord was advised of them. Two crew members on watch actually discussed the fact that something didn't look just right about her. Then they decided that she appeared to be disappearing beyond the horizon. The next morning Lord found out what actually did happen. Within a couple of days the world found out about Californian's role in the disaster...and a great deal of controversy that continues to this day ensued
At first I thought James Cameron had missed the boat (Pun intended!) on this one as no mention of Californian was made what so ever. This fact alone turned my brother...who's even more of a history buff than I am...off entirely on the movie. But there are a couple of deleted scenes dealing with the Californian that apparently had to be relegated to the cutting room floor due to time constraints...OK, lets all say it together...so more time and effort could be given to The Jack and Rose story. But his intention was indeed to include The Californian's part in the story in the movie.
The
Sinking And The Break-up. One thing
James Cameron got right about Titanic’s sinking…it was not a
gentle affair. The last half hour or so of Titanic’s
existence was violent, loud, spectacular…but
nowhere near as spectacular as the movie portrayed. To give Cameron
his due, he based the scene on known facts.
Let’s
take a look at the break-up first. In the movie, she tore apart from
the top down…the two sections started separating at deck level…and
as a added bonus, Cal’s ass-clown man servant was swallowed up in
the abyss as the hull sections separated..
 |
| Artists rendition of Titanic breaking apart at the surface as one of the lifeboats pulls away. New information and studies indicate that she may have actually broken up below the surface and from the bottom up, |
Problem
is there were a couple of survivors on board Titanic right to the
end, and none of them reported seeing the ship break apart, though
many passengers reported hearing it. They just didn’t realize what
they were hearing. Almost every survivor reported loud roaring,
tearing, smashing sounds like the engines and boilers tearing loose
from their beds and crashing through the length of the ship. This, in
fact, is what was thought to have happened for decades, and is part
of the reason Bob Ballard was looking for her boilers as a ‘road
sign’ to the location of the wreck when he found Titanic’ back
in 1985. While several people thought that she had, in fact, broken
in two when she sank, the general consensus was that she left the
surface intact. This was, in fact, how her sinking was portrayed in
‘A Night To Remember’ back in ’58. Bob Ballard’s discovery of
the wreck…in two widely separated pieces…laid that to rest. The
discussion of how she broke up began immediately.
Most
recently a documentary on National Geographic, hosted by James
Cameron, raised the very real possibility that the break occurred
further forward than originally thought…between the 1st
and second funnels rather than the third and forth funnels…and that
it occurred beneath the surface, which is why no one actually saw her
break in two. It’s also theorized that she broke in two at a far
shallower angle…as little as 15 degrees…than depicted in the
movie. Remember the stern section crashing back down and creating a
mini tidal wave as it crushed a few hundred unfortunate
computer-generated swimmers to death? Not a single eyewitness report
described anything like that happening, and if it had happened it’s
a good bet that at least one of the lifeboats would have been
swamped. Someone would have certainly remembered it. Rather than the
violent crash-down depicted in the movie, almost all of the eye
witnesses remember seeing the stern settle back to a nearly even keel
for a very short period of time before lifting again, and sinking.
 |
| The movie version of the break-up...and I gotta admit, I was REAL happy that Cal's man-servant got his when she broke in two. James Cameron admitted he probably got this wrong in the documentary he hosted...but he was also working with the facts known and assumed at the time. And it was an awesome scene! |
Then
we have the stern rising until it was perpendicular to the
surface…standing perfectly straight up…and poising for a minute
or so as passengers slid and tumbled down the deck, and fell to
bounce off of propellers and spin into the sea. Then Jack and Rose
had time to climb onto the stern rail and ride it down. Another event
that likely didn’t happen exactly that way...or even close, truth
be known.
A
70 foot long section of the ship's double bottom, itself broken into
two pieces, was found on the ocean east of the wreck. The theory is
that when the hull split in two this section of double bottom
remained intact, connecting the two hull sections and actually
beginning to drag the stern section down. It’s now believed that
the stern righted itself to some extent very briefly before rolling
over to port and being dragged down. The event wasn’t anywhere near
as violent or spectacular as depicted in the
movie.
Just
to muddy the waters a bit more, the possibility, and I’ll even go
as far as saying probability of the break-up starting towards the
bottom if the hull, has been raised. The eyewitnesses who were still
aboard Titanic when she started breaking up reported hearing
loud sounds from the depths of the hull. This was likely the hull
plates and decks being pulled apart. The keel would have broken first
(IMHO) in either case. It actually makes sense. Keel breaks…the the
hull plates pull apart. Then the decks and superstructure, leaving
the bent but still intact double bottom.
I
read a spirited debate about the manner of her sinking, angle she
took before and as she went down, and exactly how she broke up over
on the Encyclopedia Titanica forums. Ford VS Chevy discussions have
never been as divided as the opinions on how Titanic
broke in two.
Flashlights
Aboard The Titanic. One of the
more intense scenes in the movie occurs after Titanic's
gone down, as Lowe
brings Lifeboat 14 back in to search for survivors. He was using a a
powerful flashlight to scan the waters for survivors. One problem.
That type of flashlight didn't exist yet. Though tubular flashlights
had existed since 1898, and were indeed used by the N.Y.P.D. there
was a reason they were originally called 'Flashlights'. Though the
'D' Cell battery was invented in 1896 (By the company that was to
become EverReady) neither battery or bulb technology was very
advanced back then. The small bulbs were not capable of extended 'on'
times, and the battery life was short, so the switches were spring
loaded momentary switches that turned the light on when pressed, and
off when released allowing brief periods, or flashes, of light. It
also appeared that the light carried by Lowe in 'Titanic' had a
Halogen bulb...it would be fifty or sixty years before halogen bulbs
for flashlights were developed. Oil lanterns were provided for
portable lighting on board Titanic,
and there was a lamp
trimmer included on the crew roster.
Now,
Lowe did
have a flashlight, but it was given to him by one of the passengers
in Lifeboat 14...a surgeon...and was very likely a very small light,
nothing even close to the powerful light depicted in the movie,and
likely something close to what we refer to today as a penlight.
There
was also a cane light, which was a walking cane with an electric
light on the upper end, very probably manufactured by Ever-Ready.
This was owned by Mrs J. Stewart White. She apparently waved it
around quite a bit both on board Titanic
and on the lifeboat she
ended up aboard, much the the annoyance of the crew.
But
flashlights as we know them just didn't exist in 1912. James
Cameron's not the only producer to miss this one though...
flashlights were also used by the crew in the 1958 movie A Night To
Remember, which is still considered by many to be the ultimate
Titanic flick.
The
Carpathia. The Carpathia
was given very little screen time but had it not been for her captain
and crew, I wouldn't be writing this because no one would have
survived the sinking. Carpathia
was 58 miles...about 4
hours steaming time...away from Titanic's
position when her
wireless operator received the distress call. Her Captain, Arthur
Rostrem, became the hero of the night in a big way.
 |
| RMS Carpathia. |
The
shots of Carpathia in
the movie were computer-generated, of course, but they were dead on
accurate. The shots on board , after the passengers were rescued
were likely equally accurate...James Cameron was, and is, a stickler
for period accuracy.
With
Carpathia
having such a huge role in the Titanic
story, there's no way I'm going to just say 'Cool, James C got it
right' and leave it at that. Carpathia's
story was epic in and of
itself.
RMS
Carpathia
was ordered by Cunard...White Star's biggest rival...and her keel was
laid in 1901 at Swan
Hunter & Wigham Richardson, she was launched in August 1902,
underwent sea trials in 1903 and made her maiden voyage in May of
that same year. She was 541 feet long with a beam of 64.5 feet, and
displaced 8700 tons...far smaller than Titanic. She was designed to
carry second and third class passengers (200 of the former, and about
1700 of the latter) as well as refrigerated food, and like Titanic
12 years later her Third Class accommodations were well above the
standard of the day.
She
ran the Liverpool to Boston run, and gained a reputation as a
reliable, comfortable, and well handled ship, but drew no special
attention to herself. Until that night in April, 1912.
On
the night of the 14th/early
morning of the 15th
she was eastbound and actually enroute to the Mediterranean when CQD,
Then SOS dit-dahed through the speakers and head sets in her wireless
room, and when her wireless operator replied, he got the message
'Come
at once. We have struck an iceberg.
Latitude 41.46 North, Longitude 50.14 West.'
Latitude 41.46 North, Longitude 50.14 West.'
He
sent a runner to the find the Captain as he remained in the wireless
room to keep in touch with the stricken Titanic.
The message that Carpathia's captain
wanted transmitted to Titanic was
brought back to him in minutes, and while the exact words are likely
lost to history, they were likely something to the effect of 'Let her
know we're about 60 miles away (It was actually 58) and comin' hard'.
My bet is that her wireless operator had barely started transmitting
the message when he felt her heel over as she came about, and felt
the familiar thrumming of her two big triple expansion engines
quicken.
Carpathia
was captained by Arthur
Rostron,
who
quickly and efficiently turned his liner into a rescue ship...the man
grabbed the situation by the balls and quickly owned it.
 |
| Arthur Rostron, Captain of R.M.S. Carpathia |
First
he rang for flank speed, grabbing all of the off-duty stokers and
trimmers and sending them to the boiler rooms so there would be extra
hands stoking her boilers. Then he ordered the heat turned off so
that the steam usually used to heat the cabins and crew's quarters
could be sent to the engines.
Carpathia
had a normal cruising speed of between 13 and 14 knots, if you really
wrung her out she might touch 17 knots. With-in a quarter hour
of receiving Titanic's distress
call she had a bone in her teeth, slicing through the North Atlantic
at between 19 and 20 knots. (This would be about the equivalent today of a Geo Metro making around 130 miles per hour. Of course, you'd never actually get a Geo Metro anywhere near 150% of it's normal cruising speed. The Carpathia actually came close to doing just that.)
At
the same time he ordered all of her lifeboats swung out on their
davits, rigged extra electric lights along her sides, ordered all
gangway doors opened as well as preparing rope and pilot ladders to
get passengers out of the water, had warm clothing and blankets
collected, had hot drinks and soups prepared, set up first aid
stations in the dining rooms (The largest spaces on board the ship)
and even had her forward cargo cranes rigged to bring the mail and
the passengers luggage aboard if that was an option. He also had his
crew make ready with their own coffee, likely telling them it was
likely to be a long night.
Her
passengers pitched in as well, donating warm clothing and blankets
and assisting in setting up the first aid stations. Of course, even
at 19 or so knots it took them three hours...then they had to work
their own way through the ice field and found nothing at the position
indicated in the distress signal. They finally spotted a flare from
one of the life boats (Boat #2 to be exact). The boat was brought
along side at Carpathia's
starboard gangway doors, and First Class Passenger Elisabeth Walton
Allen was the first passenger to be brought aboard. It would take
Carpathia about five
hours to get all of the surviving passengers aboard. The last boat to
come along side was the overloaded Boat #12 at about 8:30 am. About
a half hour later all of the survivors were aboard and being cared
for., and Carpathia was
bound for New York and a place in History.
Ironically
Carpathia was sunk
herself six years later, near the end of WWI after being torpedoed by
a German U-Boat...but that's a story for another day!
*
*
* *
*
Notes,
Links, and other cool stuff: One
of the most controversial (At least to 'Leophiles') facts about the
movie v/s Real Life is this: The Jack/Rose story probably could not
have happened at all...Under normal conditions Third Class passengers
were denied any and all access to First and Second class areas. Of
course if I had made that statement as the final credits rolled, I
wouldn't have made it to the lobby in one piece...I would have
probably been mobbed and brutally beaten by dozens of little
Leophiles! How DARE the Infidel cast doubt on Jack and Rose!!, lol
One of the reasons
that 'Titanic' was such a huge financial success was the fact that
millions of tween and teen girls went back and rewatched the movie
multiple times...the first time that phenomenon was seen in such
dramatic Fashion. Of course it wouldn't be the last...Twilight series
anyone?
The
Titanic cost
about 7.5 Million dollars to build...or about 400 million in today's
money. The movie 'Titanic' cost right at 200 million to make, or just
about half as much as Titanic cost to build in today's money.
Little Cora Cartmell was a fairly minor character in the movie. Tell that to her fans...Google 'Little Cora Cartmell, or Cora Cartmell. The (Fictional) child has entire blogs devoted to her, as well as fanfiction sites.
Little Cora Cartmell was a fairly minor character in the movie. Tell that to her fans...Google 'Little Cora Cartmell, or Cora Cartmell. The (Fictional) child has entire blogs devoted to her, as well as fanfiction sites.
Okay,
I could go on...and on...and on. Have I forgotten...or over
looked...anything?? Oh yeah. I've probably left out as much as I've
included. Can you spend hours...heck days
on sites dedicated to The Titanic?
Yep...without
even breaking a sweat. As The Old Fella said, There's LOTS more where
that came from. Is there info on the web? Does the oft-invoked
wild bear do his business in the woods???
Links:
First off, the ultimate Titanic site..the 'If you don't go to any
other Titanic site
go to this one 'Encyclopedia Titanica' (The name's a take on the
legendary 'Encyclopedia Britannica') This site has anything and
everything you need to know about Titanic,
and
includes hundreds of links to get you to even more info:
Encyclopedia
Titanica: http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/
The site also
features an awesome message board:
Encyclopedia
Titanica Message Board:
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/forums/forum.php
Yet
another pretty in-depth Titanic
site: http://www.the-titanic.com/Home.aspx
The
obligatory Titanic
Wikipedia
page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic
The
weather the night Titanic
sank:
http://robsobsblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/100-years-ago-tonight-titanic-sinks-on.html
A different
perspective on what happened in those critical last seconds before
the collision:
Recently completed
sonar map of the entire wreck site:
http://www.history.com/news/first-map-of-entire-titanic-wreck-site-sheds-new-light-on-disaster
An in depth study of The Englehart Collapsible Lifeboat, from Titanic Research and Modeling Association:
http://titanic-model.com/db/db-01/db_02.html
An in depth study of The Englehart Collapsible Lifeboat, from Titanic Research and Modeling Association:
http://titanic-model.com/db/db-01/db_02.html
AND
the movie!
'Titanic'
IMDb site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/
'Titanic'
(Movie) Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_%281997_film%29
Fun little page with
some little known movie facts:
Titanic
Movie Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TitanicMovie
Great
article, with pics, of a 1912 Renault CV restored to the exact specs
of the car that wwent down with Titanic:
http://www.rmauctions.com/CarDetails.cfm?CarID=r143&SaleCode=AZ08
And
a couple of other comparison sites:
This one's good,
full of facts, and hits a couple of items that I didn't hit:
Another
pretty decent if small site:
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