RMS Titanic: A Hundred Years Later

[Sheilawisz]

We are just a few days from the 100th anniversary of the famous sinking of the RMS Titanic, which took place in the night of April 14th 1912 and has been a source of mystery and fascination for the world since then. I have always felt a great interest in the story of the Titanic, so I wanted to see whether other Mythic Scribes members shared my interest and could express their thoughts about this part of world history.

First, I want to start this thread by paying homage to heroic Captain Arthur Henry Rostron, his crew, passengers and their aging but resilient ship RMS Carpathia. This passenger steamship received the distress signals from the Titanic a few minutes after midnight, and immediately Captain Rostron called all crew to action and proceeded to set course towards the last known position of Titanic.

The ship's heating and hot water supply were cut off in order to provide as much steam as possible for the old and strained engines, which had never worked so fast: The passengers soon realized that something strange was happening, and as they came up to deck they heard the terrible news.

Captain Rostron displayed great skills and courage as he maneuvered Carpathia at maximum speed between dangerous icebergs, finally reaching the lifeboats at around 4:00 of April 15th and taking 705 survivors aboard.

The passengers of Carpathia donated clothing for the shocked and freezing survivors, and after performing a religious ceremony at the site of the disaster, the Carpathia sailed to New York where it arrived three days later.

What are your thoughts about the disaster of the Titanic?? I think that if the ship had not turned and instead hit the iceberg straight forward, it would have survived.

 

[The Blue Lotus]

MY thoughts about the story vary mainly because no one will ever really know the hows and whys.
Sure we think we do... but who knows for sure.

I think the mystery of it all is what keeps us going back time and again.

And then we go an make a movie... A REALLY GOOD ONE! which lends a touch of heartbreak and romance to the tale.
I have followed every shread of news about that ship since I was about 8. From Iron eateing bacteria down to watching every interview with survivors that I could find etc etc.


When I was in Atlantic City, or perhaps it was Vegas I forget now, there was a Titanic exhibit that I seen.
Looking at the things that have been brought up was a moving experiance. To think that someone might have been using that item not long before their lifes light was extinguish made me cry.

I tend to not be an overly sentimental person, life is just easier that way... but Titanic moves my soul. It always has and it always will.


I love the story of Titanic so much that my new WIP Thorns is set starting in the 1900's just so I can write about the doomed steamliner. I think I will end Christine's tale on the 100th anniversary of the dawn the day the passangers were rescued.

May they all rest in peace.

 

[Sheilawisz]

Lotus, it's great to discover that at least another person here shares this interest with me!! =)

You are right when you say that what really happened that night with the Titanic will always remain a mystery, even though there is a new theory saying that the cold water and very cold air (which were very sudden that night, as they entered the Labrador stream) played a key role in the disaster, causing a strange mirage phenomenom that allowed the Titanic to draw too close to the iceberg before they could see it...

According to the theory, the same cold water mirage caused distorsions between the Titanic and the nearby ship Californian, which was smaller than Carpathia but was much closer to the Titanic and could have helped much faster =(

Still, I blame the decision to turn and try to avoid the iceberg instead of hitting it straight forward.

 

[Caged Maiden]

@ Blue, that was a really beautiful story.

I can't say I have been particularly interested in the story of the Titanic, but I like history in general and have read some articles and watched more than a few programs about it (just got done watching one in fact before I started typing this). I remember that my friend in elementary school had said her great-grandparents had tickets to board it in England, but were late. I can't verify the truth of that statement, but wow, I would feel pretty lucky to have been born if it were my family's story.

 

[Sheilawisz]

So much has been said about Titanic and its passengers and crew, but few people know the story of Captain Rostron and the Carpathia and how important they were that night... so, I wanted to share a link about them that you can see here: Carpathia.

They sometimes mention in documentaries and articles "the ship" that rescued the survivors, without any mention to its name or its Captain, like they were just passing casually and found the lifeboats!! Well... there is a good story behind that particular ship =)

 

[Aidan of the tavern]

I find the story fascinating. I read a book about it which had paintings and illustrations, and the picture that really struck me was a painting where one end was pretty low in the water and the other end was right in the air, before the thing snapped in half. The picture was just scary, because it showed me just the sense of scale, I mean that ship was HUGE, it carried over 2000 people, and here it was being manipulated and wrenched by the sea!
Plus it was late at night, the only lights came from the upper end of the ship. It would have been the most terrifying night of their lives, seeing this gargantuan "unsinkable" ship tearing in half, going vertical, all the lights going out, then plunging beneath the sea. Plus it would have reminded them just how vast and incredibly deep the sea that they were now trapped in was.

Phew, I was waxing lyrical there, I just don't think the film captured the sheer visual terror of that spectacle.

 

[Sheilawisz]

@Aidan: The feeling of such a vast and incredibly deep sea is very powerful for me, which reflects in the main universe of my stories: an endless and bottomless sea under an eternal starry sky, where worlds are large islands separated by unimaginable distances across the freezing night =)

I have a great respect for the sea, and I just don't understand how so many people take it so lightly!!

Well everyone, what are your thoughts about Captain Arthur Rostron and the Carpathia??

 

[Rikilamaro]

In Branson, MO there is a actual sized Titanic museum. It's pretty awesome. At the beginning of the tour you're given a passport with an actual traveler's name on it. You go through and see the letters, life jackets, china, etc they used. You can put your hand in water as cold as it was the night the ship went down. at the end of the tour you use your passport to see whether or not you lived or died. It was chilling in more ways than one.

 

[Sheilawisz]

@Rikilamaro: That museum sounds fascinating, even though it must be also a chilling experience!! Many people do not know how dangerous and easily lethal cold water can be: I think of cold water as a gateway to death, it fascinates me in some dark way and the coldness of the water in my endless sea is also mentioned in my stories.

Today I want to go to the Mall and watch Titanic in 3D, even though I have watched that movie so many times =)