bringing back to life the titanic

Bringing Back to Life theTitanic

Preface / Introduction

Prepare to Board the Titanic! Clear your mind of everything you know, every thought andimpression you have ever had about this great ship, and so recapture the state of mind you wouldhave had when you boarded her at Southampton, England 10 April, 1912.

Articles by Dr.Jeffrey Lant - "The first, the last, the epic journey of RMS Titanic, and you are there.Some centennial observations." "The centennial of the great ship Titanic which sank 100 years agotoday... April 15, 1912... and why she sails still in our minds."

This was the centennial not merely of a ship, albeit the grandest on earth, but of an entire cottageindustry and of people worldwide who cannot get enough of the ship once called — without irony— “Ship of Dreams”, “Last Word in Luxury,” and “Millionaire’s Special.” … But that was beforeshe struck an iceberg and became a thing not only of history but of imagination, fascination,persistence… the most famous ship of all the ships which have ever sailed the world’s broad seas.

Table of Contents

1. The first, the last, the epic journey of RMS Titanic, and you are there. Some centennialobservations. 2. The centennial of the great ship Titanic which sank 100 years ago today... April 15, 1912... andwhy she sails still in our minds.

The first, the last, the epic journey of RMS Titanic, and youare there. Some centennial observations.by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's program note. You know Titanic. It is the most famous ship that ever sailed... and the mostfamous ship that foundered, listed, and sank. It is this ship I ask you to board with me now, havingcleared your mind of everything you know, every thought and impression you have ever had aboutthis great ship, and so recapture the state of mind you would have had when you boarded her atSouthampton, England 10 April, 1912. For you are weighing anchor towards destiny... but do notknow it, no one does.

The Ritz afloat.

The White Star Line was an enterprise that dreamed dreams of magnitude, dreams of floatingpalaces, of luxury that made you catch your breath and hurry back to record what you saw in yourdiary, which your grandchildren would savor, a treasured heirloom forever. They brought the veryidea of awe to their work... and it was nothing but the very truth, a source of pride to an empire thatexisted solely because of its command of the seas.

Born in Belfast.

The idea for Titanic and her sister ships RMS Olympic and RMS Britannic commenced in mid-1907when White Star Line's chairman, J. Bruce Ismay, met with American financier J. Pierpont Morgan,the man who controlled White Star Line's parent corporation, the International Mercantile MarineCo. These men had everything... and so, of course, they wanted more. And they had the means to getit.

They insisted, they were adamant, Titanic must be the ultimate in every single element, everyfeature, every component, the dernier cri, the ship for which even the word acme was not goodenough.

Thus they hired the renowned firm of Harland and Wolff, giving them carte blanche, with but asingle command: the result must be the best, unrivalled, unexampled; colossus in the age of colossi,the incontrovertible symbol of this greatest age of man and his wondrous works.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, was stinted for Titanic, and if six men were killed constructing her,with 246 injuries overall, 28 of them "severe" (meaning loss of limb), why, what did that signify...great enterprises have great costs.

Launched 31 May, 1911.

Of the many proud days in Belfast, this was amongst the proudest for this was a day when theintricate skills of the men of this turbulent city were on best display. Project supervisor Lord Pirrie,J. Pierpont Morgan and J. Bruce Ismay were joined by over 100,000 jubilant, God-fearing peoplewho cheered to the very echo the ship, its sublime grace, the officials who dreamed, the designerswho imagined, and the small army of workers who constructed this masterpiece.

So you who read of these happenings longed to be part of Titanic and its gilded future... ratherimpulsively buying two tickets, a present (rather expensive to be sure) for your wife, for an eventyou would never forget, of that you were sure.

Thus you found yourself in Southampton... head high, walking up the gangway... where you heardthe unmistakable sound of a fashionable waltz, "Songe d'Automne"... it was exquisite... if a trifle sad

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for such a glad occasion. Yes, haunting, beautiful... mentally noting you would ask the band to playit en route when you wanted just the right sound for a perfect evening...

Thus did the great ship sail on... with no one imagining that she would soon become renowned notfor every aspect of nautical expertise, but for hubris, arrogance, ineptitude and for an end that wouldrival the very essence of Hell itself.

11:40 pm 14 April, 1912. The end begins.

At 11:39 pm of its final night afloat, the magnificent Titanic was a glorious vision, lighting heavenitself, steaming to a ceremonial entrance in New York City, the happy berth of 2,223 people,including the creme de la creme of European and American Society, names you knew, admired,envied.

Just one minute later, suffering a glancing blow from an iceberg whilst maneuvering to avoid it,Titanic began its transformation into a metaphor, not for man's greatness and technical abilities butfor his littleness in the face of unkind and unrelenting Nature, becoming a matter of myth, not merelyhistory.

"No, 't is not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 't is enough, 't will serve."("Romeo and Juliet").

And so it did... a mere gash in the pristine hull an invitation for the gelid waters of the ice-fleckedAtlantic to rush in, mocking the high works of man, drowning them without any effort at all, theirmerest motion enough for the gravest consequences.

In such times, the very best and the very worst of man's behaviors are evidenced... how one demandsthat half-filled life boats be lowered into the calm sea, the only chance to live, whist another,unbidden, gives up a place of safety in that very boat, to ensure the life of a total stranger. Theremaining moments on doomed Titanic evince all, telling evidence of who we are and what we maydo at anytime, to anyone, for good or ill.

Then came the moment you had to decide...a single moment that shows who you are... anddetermines what you must do. The moment is charged with importance; it is a life or deathdecision... and you must make it now, decisively, without regret or recrimination, and absolutely noopportunity to alter it, even if you could.

"Darling, get in the life boat."

And so you, like every other passenger traveling with a loved one, must act. Must do the right thing,although that thing may cost you your life. And this action must be prompt, for the great thing thatwas once astonishing Titanic is sinking faster now, its frightful end apparent, and with it your fate.

Thus, you look into your beloved's eyes and realize that your lives are now separating forever... andthe pain is more than you can bear. Then, as her life boat is lowered, you remember a token, sacrednow, in your pocket. A locket... with pictures of you both and the single line, "Remember, 14 April,1912", the happy day you meant, a lifetime ago, to memorialize... Giving this is the last time youtouch her hand... a fact she will never forget and will cherish forever.

Now trapped on the sloping deck, you search your soul for whatever comfort you can derive... andresolve not to die here, passive, but to jump to your fate. As you do, you hear the band still playing;the song you first heard upon boarding, the "Songe d'Automne", now not merely a waltz... but ahymn for a ship, an era... and now... for you.

Author's note: Of all the people who sailed on Titanic's only voyage, just 710 survived. Theremainder heard the valiant band play on, until it reached its final arrangement. There is good reason




to suppose that was the "Songe d'Automne'. It was composed by Archibald Joyce, the "English WaltzKing". We shall never know for sure, because the entire band went down with the ship. Find it nowin any search engine and think on its pathetic history and its final performance on the fateful shipTitanic.

*** We invite you to post your comments to this article below.




The centennial of the great ship Titanic which sank 100 yearsago today... April 15, 1912... and why she sails still in ourminds. by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Authors program note. You cannot pick up a newspaper this week, or turn on the television... oreven snatch a glance at your SmartFone without seeing the single word "Titanic" for this is thecentennial not merely of a ship, albeit the grandest on earth, but of an entire cottage industry and ofpeople worldwide who cannot get enough of the ship once called --- without irony -- "Ship ofDreams", "Last Word in Luxury," and "Millionaire's Special."

... But that was before she struck an iceberg and became a thing not only of history but ofimagination, fascination, persistence... the most famous ship of all the ships which have ever sailedthe world's broad seas.

The facts.

11:40 pm April 14, 1912, RMS Titanic struck an iceberg.

12:07 am April 15, 1912 RMS Titanic sank, taking with her 1500 passengers and crew.

Ships of every kind had sunk before in human history; even ships on their maiden voyage, likeTitanic. Passengers and crew had gone down with these ships before. Why then has Titanic seizedus so, so that even the smallest detail of this ship and her catastrophic end is grasped withenthusiasm, avidity, and reverence?

To answer this question, we must start with the undeniable facts about this great engine of humaningenuity, human craft... and, as it happened, human hubris and human ineptitude.

Born to be a symbol... but not the symbol she became, the symbol which will always be a part of herriveting tale.

First of all, this is the story of men, rich men, business men, visionaries all. Not until the"unsinkable" Molly Brown (1867-1932) enters the picture in the early morning hours of April 15, atthe helm of one of the too-few lifeboats, does a woman emerge... and it is significant, I think, thatwhen woman emerges into the sharp, unremitting glare of history, she is doing the humanitarianwork which has always been hers, saving souls and mending lives from the consequences of theideas run amuck of their bruised and imperfect menfolk.

Titanic is the story of men who dreamed, who set the highest goal, who raised the considerablefunds required, who insisted upon perfection... upon unexampled luxury and never-before seenefficiency, speed, and nautical mastery... of men who got everything they wanted to gain theirsoaring goal... but who, in the event, made error after error, thereby dooming their inspiring project,like Icarus who insisted upon flying close to the sun... and paid for his insistence with a waterydeath.

Titanic's end on April 15 is one of two dates you should remember if you are interested in whymale-dominated society, which was the order of this Edwardian day, began to crack and crumble; theother, of course, is July 28, 1914 when the great nations of monarchical Europe turned their fullattention and resolution to the exacting business of destroying each other and a cultured civilizationmillennia in the making. After such glaring instances of bombast, arrogance, and miscalculation theworld had enough of the very idea of male superiority. All that was missing from this sea- changewas a painter of brilliance to immortalize Molly Brown, vital, vulgar, outspoken, practical,




American, and very, very rich, in her moment of unimagined triumph as she brought her lifeboat ofdazed and frail humanity to safety while great Titanic, her blazing brilliance still afloat, sank beneaththe calm sea on that night of terror -- and courage.

"God himself could not sink this ship."

This is the most famous quotation about Titanic. It is also apocryphal, though (suitably) CaptainEdward J. Smith said this several years before his plum (and last) assignment: "I cannot imagine anycondition which would cause a ship to founder.... Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that." Thissame Captain Edward J. Smith, always pictured as a man promoted above his abilities, went downwith his ship, aware that no other course was possible for a pukka English gentleman... a decisionwhich spared him a lifetime of the denigration, contempt and obloquy which thereby accrued to theaccount of J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, who made sure he lived by disregardingthe immemorial protocol: "women and children first."

(Some) vindication for Captain Smith and all the men who created Titanic.

Good stories need good story tellers, people of dedication, committed to discovering all facts, andpresenting them in a way that not only captures the imagination of people... but does whatever isnecessary to hold that imagination until the story is well and truly told. Here Titanic has beenblessed indeed... most notably by Walter Lord, now by Tim Maltin.

Walter Lord, a man to remember.

Walter Lord (1917-2002) was the right man for the arduous job of telling Titanic's story just so. As aboy he traveled on RMS Olympic, Titanic's sister ship and he conceived a passion for how such amarvel could simply disappear. What might cause nightmares in other children made Lord want toknow more. And so years later, in 1955, his mesmerizing book was published to reviews whichindicated at once that here was a classic, a page-turner, the stark sobering truth told in language thatheld you captive and made you read, though the matter was often horrifying and always dismaying.

In due course, Lord's great achievement, "A Night to Remember", became a 1958 film to remember.No one interested in the whys and wherefors of Titanic can afford to miss either. Thus Lord deserveshis ineradicable connection with the ship that obsessed him until the day he died.

The benefaction of Tim Maltin.

Tim Maltin is a zealot, a man obsessed with truth -- and exoneration. He is well known in Titaniccircles, where his book "101 Things You Thought You Knew About The Titanic - But Didn't" isoften cited. Maltin's research, reported in his new e-book "Titanic: A Very Deceiving Night", issignificant. It poses the probability of a natural cause for what occurred, namely that icy waterscreated ideal conditions for an unusual kind of mirage that hid icebergs from lookouts and confuseda nearby ship as to the liner's identity, delaying rescue efforts for hours.

Thus his conclusion, soothing to family members and the unsettled spirts of the shroudless dead, thatthere was no blundering, just people doing the best they could under unexampled duress.

Earth's nearness to the moon and the sun, a fatal factor.

Researchers from Texas State University-San Marcos and Sky & Telescope magazine reported in themagazine's April issue that there was another significant natural factor. They report that the Earth'scloseness to moon and sun -- a proximity not matched in more than 1000 years -- created much moreice than usual, including the fatal iceberg some of which uncomprehending passengers playfullyused to ice their cocktails.Surely, they had nothing to worry about on this "unsinkable" masterpiece...




Sadly, they did not know that the rare gravitational pulls producing record tides --- and record ice --between December 1911 and February 1912 signalled the end of all... ship, most passengers andcrew, and any vestige of cosmic certainly and the comfortable verities of the Victorians. ThusTitanic's gliding descent into communal memory was in fact the first ceremony of note for our ownnightmares... That is why we are fascinated by Titanic... compelled by her story of hell... for we areall passengers on this tragic vessel where "Nearer My God To Thee" may have been the lastarrangement the brave band played as their world ended around them. We may have good need of itourselves. Go then to any search engine and listen to this hymn. And while you're there, listen, too,to the score by William Alwyn (1905-1985) for that best of Titanic's many films, "A Night ToRemember," for it precisely captures the mixture of grandiloquence and menace required.




ResourceAbout the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a widerange of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home businesstraining, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting,hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 onlineHome Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today.

Republished with author's permission by Patrice Porter http://20WaystoProfit.com.



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bringing back to life the titanic

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