Titanic Sets SailThanks to Marko on Facebook for the reminder that a century has passed since the event that really jump-started Leonardo DiCaprio's career. Yet another reason to hate the British, I suppose. 100 years ago today, the ship named Titanic set sail from England bound for New York. Along the way, it sailed into destiny, infamy, and history, becoming one of the best-known tragedies in mass transit.
The largest passenger steamship ever built, Titanic created quite a stir when it departed for its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912. After stops in Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown (now known as Cobh), Ireland, the ship set sail for New York with 2,240 passengers and crew—or “souls,” the expression then used in the shipping industry, usually in connection with a sinking—on board.
I liked it better 100 years ago, when captains went down with their ships, rather than "tripping into lifeboats" like recent events...
That is all.
8 comments:
The media-fueled obsession that people are partaking in with this is annoying. The 're-sailing' that people are doing in period costume is really making me wish that they sailed on the Costa Concordia.
One of the best stories of an honorable captain doing his job comes from the sinking of the 'Flying Empress.' Worth a google search. Guy stayed alone on a sinking ship for a week trying to keep it afloat long enough to get it into shallow water.
"Well, fuck." --The White Star Lines' insurance claims adjuster, April 16, 1912.
The passenger liner was sinking rapidly. All the lifeboats but one had already cast off, and the one remaining boat had room left for three people. The Captain and three crewmen stood on the tilting deck.
"Men," said the Captain. "That bit about the captain going down with his ship is a myth. I fully intend to be on this lifeboat when it casts off. But rather than order one of you to stay behind, I'll give you each a fair chance at a spot in the boat. I'll ask each of you a question; if you can't answer it, you stay."
He turned to the first man, the ship's doctor. "What 'unsinkable' ship went down in 1912 after striking an iceberg?"
The doctor answered instantly, "The Titanic, sir."
"Correct." The Captian turned to the next man, the ship's purser. "How many souls were lost in that event?"
The purser thought for a moment. "1,514, sir."
"Correct." The Captian turned to the last man, a busboy from the dining room. "What were their names?"
And on the 27th of this month? Anniversary of a worse disaster in maritime history. 147 years since the sinking of the SS Sultana. 1600 souls perished versus a paltry 1500 on the Titanic. Pff, White Star Line... go big or go home!
As Paul indicates, the tradition is more that the Captain is the last one off the ship, not so much a requirement that he actually needs to go down with the ship.
Yay, finally a post where I'm a subject matter psuedo-expert! The captain isn't actually part of the crew. He is the owner's representative on board, and before, when signing on in the Sailing Articles, the captain's duties were listed in boilerplate as being "responsible in command for the safe passage of all passengers, cargo, crew, supercargo, vessel and all appurtenances." Unofficially, this equated that a captain who lost his ship, regardless of fault, would never get another. As the person ultimately responsible for everything, being the last person off is, in most circumstances, the best way to ensure passenger safety, although there were and are plenty of circumstances where the best place to oversee abandoning ship was in a lifeboat. Cruise ships are the best example of this, where crowd management can't be established. Wading in and shooting the most visible (male) person in an out-of-control crowd is usually the last chance to save panicked passengers before they need to be sequestered. Nowadays, doing that wouldn't fly.
OK, so it boosted LDC's career. It also showed us a voluptuous Kate Winslet in the altogether. I call it a tie at worst.
In aviation, the mayday call over 121.5 still mentions 'souls'. An example would be 'Mayday mayday, Cessna 1234A, 4 miles west of Anytown, engine failure, 3 souls on board'. Then again, aviation uses a lot of nautical terminology...
Just a factoid.
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