Ship of Dreams, Ship of Nightmares
April 15.
To many people, at least in America, it's a day to think of the Internal Revenue Service. For some of us, though, it's a time to remember a historic moment, a legendary ship.
Ninety-three years ago today, April 15, the RMS Titanic foundered in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, vanishing at 2:20 AM that morning. Just five days previous, on April 10, she had departed Southampton to begin her maiden voyage. Her setting sail was a dream come to fruition, a fulfillment of the vision that Harland & Wolff and the White Star Line had conceived five years earlier. At 882 feet long, she was the largest ship in existence at the time of her christening. She was grand, luxurious, and patently unsinkable, as four of her sixteen watertight compartments could sustain complete flooding without sinking - prompting the now infamous quote, "God Himself could not sink this ship."
Titanic was a ship of Dreams. For the wealthy traveling in First Class, she offered the ultimate in splendor and comfort, providing previously unseen extravagance for maritime travel. For the working classes traveling in Second and Third Class, she offered the path to a new life, a new world, a place where the streets were reputedly paved with gold. For all, she offered the experience of a historical voyage on a ship of breathtaking proportions.
Titanic was a ship of Nightmares. She reflected much that was wrong with Western European society of the time. For the wealthy traveling in First Class, she offered strictly enforced gender roles and prescribed behaviors, preventing some from pursuing their ambitions and preferred living styles - preventing some from making the choice to live. For the working classes traveling in Second and Third class, she offered second-class status, inferior accommodation - and ultimately, a decreased valuation of life.
At her heart, Titanic offers us glimpses of humanity, showcasing simultaneously the best within us and the worst.
At 11:39 PM on April 14, 1912, the events that are the reason we remember Titanic were set in play. The ship's lookouts, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, saw gleaming, jagged ice ahead, and rang the warning bell and telephoned the ship's bridge with the now infamous words, "Iceberg, right ahead!" And so, the real life nightmare began to unfold. Why did it happen? Why did the "omission" which left the lookouts' binoculars on-shore occur? Why were iceberg warnings from numerous ships, including the Caronia, Noordam, Baltic, Amerika, Californian, and Mesaba ignored, scoffed at, and in some cases, not even passed to the Captain? Why, in the face of so many warnings from sister ships, did the Titanic increase her speed? Was it arrogance? Carelessness? Thoughtlessness? Stupidity? As some have suggested, was Captain E.J. Smith too experienced to handle Titanic? Having sailed for thirty years on smaller ships, did he overestimate the ease with which a ship of Titanic's size could be steered through ice? In 2005, with only three survivors of the voyage remaining (the oldest of whom was five that night), these questions will remain unanswered.
Whatever the reason, the tragedy unfolded. Thirty-seven seconds after the warning to the bridge, at 11:40 PM, the Titanic struck an iceberg looming over sixty feet above sea level. The reality quickly became apparent; Titanic could not stay afloat with five of her watertight compartments flooded. Within hours, Titanic would be at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The signals "CQD-MGY" and "SOS" were sent out, but the Carpathia, Olympic, and Frankfurt were all hours too far away. Rockets were sent up, but there was no one to see. No one to see who would respond, that is - a specter of a ship hovering tantalizingly in the distance, that was later established as the Californian, ignored or did not receive all pleas for help from the doomed vessel.
For the first time, the ramifications of having lifeboat accommodations for 1178 with 2200 people aboard dawned on the ship's crew, as they gave the orders for "women and children" to be allowed to board the lifeboats at 12:25 AM.
Again, Titanic allowed humanity to showcase itself. Our worst impulses quickly displayed themselves. As the lifeboats were released into the Atlantic between 12:55 and 2:20 AM, First Class women, children, and some men crowded onto the boats with no thought for anyone but themselves - in some cases, with no thought for anything but their own comfort. It was of no consequence that they were leaving others behind to die - particularly those of a lower class and different ethnicity. Inefficiency and prejudice kept the crew from filling the lifeboats to capacity; of nineteen ships released from the sinking Titanic, only two were filled to or over their capacity of sixty-five. Men and lower-class people of all ages were kept from boarding, many times at gunpoint, resulting in an additional, avoidable loss of hundreds of lives. Some crewmembers took advantage of their positions of authority to sneak away on the ships, rather than helping passengers. Most stunningly, the Californian -- the only ship within distance of the Titanic -- entirely ignored cries for help for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained.
So, too, did humanity's best impulses emerge. Men and women decided to remain behind, realizing that to do so was likely death, yielding their lifeboat spots to others whom they felt were needed more by family and dependents. Musicians emerged on deck and put their hearts into playing, in an effort to calm passengers, until they could no longer stand on the ship's rapidly increasing incline. Religious leaders emerged to give emotional strength to people now minutes away from a death by drowning or hypothermia in the Atlantic Ocean. Wireless Operators Phillips and Bride refused to heed the Captain's 2:05 AM admonishment, "You can do no more. Now it's every man for himself," and continued to send distress calls until they could no longer - until three minutes before the death of Titanic. Others kept working to provide electricity to the ship, so that terrified people would not have to wait in utter darkness for the ship to sink. Loyal crew members assisted passengers in escaping the ship. The Carpathia, several hours away, immediately turned and came rushing to Titanic's aid.
Still, it was not enough, not nearly enough. When Titanic disappeared at 2:20 AM, fifteen hundred and twenty-three lives were lost that night -- and lost selectively. Ninety-four percent of first class women and children were saved, and sixty percent of first-class passengers overall, but only twenty-five percent of third-class passengers survived. Where 53.4% that could technically have survived the ship's sinking via lifeboats, only 31.6% actually did.
During the hours after the Titanic's demise, while its shivering survivors waited in the North Atlantic for the Carpathia, Titanic gave humanity one last chance to demonstrate itself. And it did, as for hours, the nineteen lifeboats waited, without lifting a finger, as the screams, cries, and pleas for help of former passengers now drowning to death slowly diminished. As the 1997 movie has now made famous, only one boat went back - hours later. One boat, where seventeen were not filled to capacity.
When the Carpathia arrived in the early morning hours of April 15, she pulled 705 people from the ocean - the remainder of the 2200 were gone. And again, the best of humanity emerged, with the Carpathia's passengers offering the beleaguered survivors comfort, their clothing, and even their own beds and living space.
When I think of Titanic, I think of everything it means to be human. I think of class divisions and prejudice, of compassion and charity, of gender-prescribed roles, of defiance of those roles, of seeking a better life, of selfishness and inward thinking, of innovating, of arrogance, of humility, of pushing technology to its limits, of enjoying the finest things in life, of suffering and hardship, of contending with nature, of bigotry, of people making the ultimate sacrifice, of people displaying the ultimate selfishness, of people yielding to their best impulses, and people yielding to their worst. I think of people just living their normal lives, who found themselves stuck in a moment that calls on them to be great, and I think of their varied responses to this challenge.
Somewhere out there right now, more than thirteen thousand feet under the North Atlantic Ocean, the ruins of a once-great ship bear witness, now and for all time.
April 15, 2005. 93 years. Rest in peace, Titanic.
To many people, at least in America, it's a day to think of the Internal Revenue Service. For some of us, though, it's a time to remember a historic moment, a legendary ship.
Ninety-three years ago today, April 15, the RMS Titanic foundered in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, vanishing at 2:20 AM that morning. Just five days previous, on April 10, she had departed Southampton to begin her maiden voyage. Her setting sail was a dream come to fruition, a fulfillment of the vision that Harland & Wolff and the White Star Line had conceived five years earlier. At 882 feet long, she was the largest ship in existence at the time of her christening. She was grand, luxurious, and patently unsinkable, as four of her sixteen watertight compartments could sustain complete flooding without sinking - prompting the now infamous quote, "God Himself could not sink this ship."
Titanic was a ship of Dreams. For the wealthy traveling in First Class, she offered the ultimate in splendor and comfort, providing previously unseen extravagance for maritime travel. For the working classes traveling in Second and Third Class, she offered the path to a new life, a new world, a place where the streets were reputedly paved with gold. For all, she offered the experience of a historical voyage on a ship of breathtaking proportions.
Titanic was a ship of Nightmares. She reflected much that was wrong with Western European society of the time. For the wealthy traveling in First Class, she offered strictly enforced gender roles and prescribed behaviors, preventing some from pursuing their ambitions and preferred living styles - preventing some from making the choice to live. For the working classes traveling in Second and Third class, she offered second-class status, inferior accommodation - and ultimately, a decreased valuation of life.
At her heart, Titanic offers us glimpses of humanity, showcasing simultaneously the best within us and the worst.
At 11:39 PM on April 14, 1912, the events that are the reason we remember Titanic were set in play. The ship's lookouts, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, saw gleaming, jagged ice ahead, and rang the warning bell and telephoned the ship's bridge with the now infamous words, "Iceberg, right ahead!" And so, the real life nightmare began to unfold. Why did it happen? Why did the "omission" which left the lookouts' binoculars on-shore occur? Why were iceberg warnings from numerous ships, including the Caronia, Noordam, Baltic, Amerika, Californian, and Mesaba ignored, scoffed at, and in some cases, not even passed to the Captain? Why, in the face of so many warnings from sister ships, did the Titanic increase her speed? Was it arrogance? Carelessness? Thoughtlessness? Stupidity? As some have suggested, was Captain E.J. Smith too experienced to handle Titanic? Having sailed for thirty years on smaller ships, did he overestimate the ease with which a ship of Titanic's size could be steered through ice? In 2005, with only three survivors of the voyage remaining (the oldest of whom was five that night), these questions will remain unanswered.
Whatever the reason, the tragedy unfolded. Thirty-seven seconds after the warning to the bridge, at 11:40 PM, the Titanic struck an iceberg looming over sixty feet above sea level. The reality quickly became apparent; Titanic could not stay afloat with five of her watertight compartments flooded. Within hours, Titanic would be at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The signals "CQD-MGY" and "SOS" were sent out, but the Carpathia, Olympic, and Frankfurt were all hours too far away. Rockets were sent up, but there was no one to see. No one to see who would respond, that is - a specter of a ship hovering tantalizingly in the distance, that was later established as the Californian, ignored or did not receive all pleas for help from the doomed vessel.
For the first time, the ramifications of having lifeboat accommodations for 1178 with 2200 people aboard dawned on the ship's crew, as they gave the orders for "women and children" to be allowed to board the lifeboats at 12:25 AM.
Again, Titanic allowed humanity to showcase itself. Our worst impulses quickly displayed themselves. As the lifeboats were released into the Atlantic between 12:55 and 2:20 AM, First Class women, children, and some men crowded onto the boats with no thought for anyone but themselves - in some cases, with no thought for anything but their own comfort. It was of no consequence that they were leaving others behind to die - particularly those of a lower class and different ethnicity. Inefficiency and prejudice kept the crew from filling the lifeboats to capacity; of nineteen ships released from the sinking Titanic, only two were filled to or over their capacity of sixty-five. Men and lower-class people of all ages were kept from boarding, many times at gunpoint, resulting in an additional, avoidable loss of hundreds of lives. Some crewmembers took advantage of their positions of authority to sneak away on the ships, rather than helping passengers. Most stunningly, the Californian -- the only ship within distance of the Titanic -- entirely ignored cries for help for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained.
So, too, did humanity's best impulses emerge. Men and women decided to remain behind, realizing that to do so was likely death, yielding their lifeboat spots to others whom they felt were needed more by family and dependents. Musicians emerged on deck and put their hearts into playing, in an effort to calm passengers, until they could no longer stand on the ship's rapidly increasing incline. Religious leaders emerged to give emotional strength to people now minutes away from a death by drowning or hypothermia in the Atlantic Ocean. Wireless Operators Phillips and Bride refused to heed the Captain's 2:05 AM admonishment, "You can do no more. Now it's every man for himself," and continued to send distress calls until they could no longer - until three minutes before the death of Titanic. Others kept working to provide electricity to the ship, so that terrified people would not have to wait in utter darkness for the ship to sink. Loyal crew members assisted passengers in escaping the ship. The Carpathia, several hours away, immediately turned and came rushing to Titanic's aid.
Still, it was not enough, not nearly enough. When Titanic disappeared at 2:20 AM, fifteen hundred and twenty-three lives were lost that night -- and lost selectively. Ninety-four percent of first class women and children were saved, and sixty percent of first-class passengers overall, but only twenty-five percent of third-class passengers survived. Where 53.4% that could technically have survived the ship's sinking via lifeboats, only 31.6% actually did.
During the hours after the Titanic's demise, while its shivering survivors waited in the North Atlantic for the Carpathia, Titanic gave humanity one last chance to demonstrate itself. And it did, as for hours, the nineteen lifeboats waited, without lifting a finger, as the screams, cries, and pleas for help of former passengers now drowning to death slowly diminished. As the 1997 movie has now made famous, only one boat went back - hours later. One boat, where seventeen were not filled to capacity.
When the Carpathia arrived in the early morning hours of April 15, she pulled 705 people from the ocean - the remainder of the 2200 were gone. And again, the best of humanity emerged, with the Carpathia's passengers offering the beleaguered survivors comfort, their clothing, and even their own beds and living space.
When I think of Titanic, I think of everything it means to be human. I think of class divisions and prejudice, of compassion and charity, of gender-prescribed roles, of defiance of those roles, of seeking a better life, of selfishness and inward thinking, of innovating, of arrogance, of humility, of pushing technology to its limits, of enjoying the finest things in life, of suffering and hardship, of contending with nature, of bigotry, of people making the ultimate sacrifice, of people displaying the ultimate selfishness, of people yielding to their best impulses, and people yielding to their worst. I think of people just living their normal lives, who found themselves stuck in a moment that calls on them to be great, and I think of their varied responses to this challenge.
Somewhere out there right now, more than thirteen thousand feet under the North Atlantic Ocean, the ruins of a once-great ship bear witness, now and for all time.
April 15, 2005. 93 years. Rest in peace, Titanic.