TITANIC - FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE 🐈 🐈

(circa. 25 August 2024)

 


 

TITANIC

  

Yes, the 1997 Movie, and No, I'm not going to write about the Story, set aside 3 hours and watch it yourself. I just couldn't resist the temptation to write about Titanic and the Movie that I initially didn't want to watch, watching it 15 Times (and counting). Believe it or not, the 1997 Movie was one of 19 Movies made about Titanic, 11 Movies before and 7 Movies after the 1997 one. At the time, Titanic was one of the Most Expensive Movies made and for 12 Years it topped the list of Highest Grossing Films, the Films that made the most the Money. Since Money has a Time Value, Apples need to be compared to Apples, so in adjusting the Amounts to reflect the Values in 2024, Titanic is in the Third place of Highest Grossing Films ($3 677 000 000 = $3.67 Billion) and the Ninth Most Expensive Film Made ($380 Million). When I Searched for these figures, I was actually surprised to find out that the Highest Grossing Film Ever, is "Gone with the Wind" ($4.341 Billion) and I decided to share a bit of useless information about the Top 10 List of Highest Grossing Films. This is the Top 10 List of Highest Grossing Films in Today's (2024) value:

  1. Gone with the Wind - $4,341,000,000; 1939 (Producer: David O. Selznick)
  2. Avatar - $3,957,000,000; 2009 (Producer: James Cameron)
  3. Titanic - $3,677,000,000; 1997 (Producer: James Cameron)
  4. Star Wars - $3,563,000,000; 1977 (Producer: George Lucas)
  5. Avengers: Endgame - $3,275,000,000; 2019 (Produced by Marvel Studios)
  6. The Sound of Music - $2,984,000,000; 1965 (Producer: Robert Wise)
  7. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - $2,917,000,000; 1982 (Producer: Steven Spielberg) 
  8. The Ten Commandments - $2,758,000,000; 1956 (Producer: Cecil B. DeMille)
  9. Doctor Zhivago - $2,615,000,000; 1965 (Producer: Carlo Ponti)
  10. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - $2,577,000,000; 2015 (Producer: George Lucas)

  

  • In Total, these Films "earned" $32.664 Billion
  • 8 of the Films were made in the 1900's (20th Century)
  • 5 of the Films were Sci-Fi
  • James Cameron (J.C.) and George Lucas made 4 of the Top 10 Films
  • The Total Earnings of their 4 Films, make up 42.2% of the Total Earnings of all 10 Films.

  

IT IS MORE THAN JUST A MOVIE

  

At its core, the Film is a Love Story, set against the backdrop of "The Biggest Ship at the Time" with 2 People from different Social Classes, falling in love with each other. I asked my friend Google if there were any other Films made about Titanic and with my other Friend's help (Wikipedia), i found out that another 18 Films were made, with Titanic setting the theme. James Cameron probably had to do a lot of Convincing to get $200 Million to make a Movie about a Ship that was featured in 18 Other Movies as well, because not only was he the Producer, but also the Writer and Director. I also went through the List of Movies from 1990 that won an Oscar for Best Film, and all the Other Movies were Original Stories with Original Themes, except Titanic. It must have been a Huge gamble for everyone involved and in MY Opinion, the "Love Story" which also includes Stories of Other People on the Ship AND their Behavior under dire circumstances, were probably the Major factor that lead to making the Movie. I've written other Essays about Human Behavior and I guarantee that this one IS NOT going to focus on Behavior, although I might just refer to the other Essays. It's been 112 years (2024) since Titanic sunk, but it remained a Relevant Popular Topic even though there were other disasters throughout History, leading to the question: What is it about Titanic that makes it stand out in History?

  

I think it was after the Third time I watched the Movie, that I started thinking about how much I actually know about the Ship and the events that took place which History recorded. One Important thing to point out at this time is: "History is written by the Victors", and in Titanic's case there were 2 Versions. One Version was from American's Point of View and the other version, from the British point of View. The U.S. Senate initiated an Official Inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic and the British Board of Trade Initiated the British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic. With this in mind, I started my research and wasn't even surprised when I learned about some Facts that were different from what I thought the Truth was. For example:

  • The Correct Name of the Ship was - RMS Titanic (to discuss later);
  • The Ship SANK on 15 April 1912 at around 02:15am, not 14 April like most People think, after hitting an Iceberg at 23:40 on 14 April 2012;
  • At the Time, it was the Biggest Peacetime Maritime Disaster and there were only 2 Bigger Peacetime Disasters after Titanic;
  • Titanic didn't struck a Sea mine, like some People assumed at the time;
  • Recent studies into the cause of the sinking tried to "blame" things like: 
    • Maritime regulations at the time;
    • The quality of the bolts used; 
    • The Interior used too much Wood; 
    • Some stupid Person argued that the use of four Funnels increased the weight and pressure of the Ship, causing it to sink faster;
    • The Time it took before they sent out a QCD;
    • The one I actually agreed with is: If Titanic didn't swerve out and rather struck the Iceberg Head-on, it might not have sunk and there would've been enough time for other Ships to arrive, saving almost everyone. Depending on the damage, Titanic could've been Towed away or Scuttled.

  

My research also Included the two Inquiries about the sinking of the Titanic by the U.S. Senate and British Board of Trade, because I was puzzled by the fact that the U.S. wanted to get involved with a British Built Ship. The first fact I found was that, at the Time, Britain and Germany were the Leaders in Constructing Ocean Liners at the Time, with the U.S. lagging far behind. The next Fact was that there was a "Competition" between the 2 British Shipyards, Cunard and White Star lines, to build larger and faster "Passenger Liners" due to the rise in popularity of the "Hamburg America Line". Titanic was the Largest Ship when it was launched, but not the fastest, therefore the designers focused on Luxuries like: Squash Courts, a Turkish Bath, a Gymnasium, a Barber Shop and also the first Swimming Pool for First Class Passengers. Titanic didn't only transport passengers, but it also carried Post and therefore it is referred to as RMS Titanic (Royal Mail Service Titanic). It was a Status Symbol to be designated as a "RMS", because "any vessel designated as 'RMS' has the right both to fly the pennant of the Royal Mail when sailing and to include the Royal Mail 'Crown' insignia with any identifying device and/or design for the ship" (Wikipedia). The Outcome of the two Inquiries were quite different:

  • The U.S. Inquiry presented the following in a Report to the U.S. Senate: "The report was strongly critical of established seafaring practices and the roles that Titanic's builders, owners, officers and crew had played in contributing to the disaster. It highlighted the arrogance and complacency that had been prevalent aboard the ship and more generally in the shipping industry and the British Board of Trade. However, it did not find IMM or the White Star Line negligent under existing maritime laws, as they had merely followed standard practice, and the disaster could thus only be categorised as an 'Act of God'" (Wikipedia).
  • The British Wreck Commissioner published in its Report: "The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances of the above mentioned shipping casualty, finds, for the reasons appearing in the annex hereto, that the loss of the said ship was due to collision with an iceberg, brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was being navigated" (Wikipedia).

  

From these two Reports, it almost seems as if the U.S. was almost "jealous" about the British Passenger Line Construction while the British focused more on the Circumstances around the disaster, just MY Opinion. Another interesting fact that I found was, that based on Percentage, more British lost their lives than Americans, with the writer arguing that the British are just more Polite than the Americans (behavior). With this information and other Facts I discovered through my research, I watched the Movie again. James Cameron said in an interview at the time that he TRIED to stick to Historical Facts as much as possible, even Casting Actors who "Looked Similar" to the Real People on board of the Titanic. A piece of useless information, but did you know? Even after 27 years since the release of the Movie, the "extra's" are still receiving annual "Royalties" (money), of over $2 000 per person, for the roles they played in the Movie, even the ones who were "acting" as dead bodies in the water AND a grave was discovered, amongst other graves for People who died in the Titanic Disaster, for a Jack Dawson. While watching Titanic again, knowing what I discovered, I picked up a few discrepancies between the Movie and History, but it wasn't anything Major at all and J.C. could be forgiven for using his "Artistic Interpretation". He actually had more Historical facts Correct than Incorrect, and that needs some doing. I just wish that he included more about "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", because her character in the Movie doesn't do her justice. At the end of the Movie, I was actually more impressed than before, because J.C. managed to write a Fictional Love Story and Intertwined it with Historical Facts based on a Popular event in History that most People know something about. Where most Movies include different Settings or "Stages", Titanic had ONLY 1, The Ship, and J.C. Constructed a Replica of Titanic, to the finest detail, even though it was just 2-Thirds the size of the Original Ship. The disaster only starts after 1 hour and 40 minutes into the Movie, shifting the focus to the Ship and People's behavior under the pressure of a sinking ship with not enough Lifeboats. 

  

My research expanded and I became Curious about the Number of People on board and the Number of People who died, during the disaster. My friend Google was very nice to me and gave me various sources to verify the Numbers. I didn't want to use just one Source, instead I used several Sources, comparing the Numbers of each Source against the Others, to ensure that I had the Correct Numbers. Doing what I like most (Analyze), I created the following Graph and made Conclusions, based on Facts.

  

  
Graph 1

Lokking at the Graph, the following facts apply:

A. Titanic had 2 224 People in Total, on board:

  • 1 316 Passengers (59%);
  • 908 Crew Members (41%);
  • 325 First Class Passengers (14%); 
  • 285 Second Class Passengers (13%);  
  • 706 Third Class Passengers (32%); 

B. Overall deaths, based on the Total number of People on Board: 

  • 31% of deaths were Crew Members (696); 
  • 5.5% were First Class Passengers (123); 
  • 7.5% were Second Class Passengers (167); and
  • 24% were Third Class Passengers (528).

C. The Total Death Count was 1 514 (68% of the Total number of People on board): 

  • 696 Crew Members died (46%); 
  • 123 First class Passengers died (8%); 
  • 167 Second Class Passengers died (11%); and
  • 528 Third Class Passengers died (35%).

D. The Death rate per Class, based on the Number of People on board, shows a different picture:

  • 77% of Crew Members died (696 vs 908);
  • 38% of First Class Passengers died (123 vs 325);
  • 58% of Second Class Passengers died (167 vs 285); and
  • 75% of Third Class Passengers died (528 vs 706).

  

Because this is a "Social Experiment" and a very good example of a Group of People, in Different Social Classes, facing the Same disaster, just using the Counts or Numbers would lead to the wrong Conclusions. Each Class should be Compared to the Other Classes based on their Relation to Other Classes.


E. Based on the Total Number of People on board, the Classes should be arranged in the following Order (A above):

  • 1st Crew Members (908 = 41%);
  • 2nd Third Class Passengers (706 = 32%);
  • 3rd First Class Passengers (325 = 14%); and
  • 4th Second Class Passengers (285 = 13%).

 

F. Based on the Total Number of People on board and the Death rate as a Percentage of the Total Number of People on board (B vs A above)

  • Second Class Passengers had the Lowest Survival Rate, based on Percentage (13% on board vs 7.5% died - 5.5% Survived); 
  • First Class Passengers were the Second Lowest (14% on board vs 5.5% died - 8.5% Survived);  
  • Third Class Passengers were Third Lowest (32% on board vs 24% died - 8% Survived); and 
  • Crew Members accounted the Highest Survival Rate Overall (41% on board vs 31% died - 10% Survived). 

   

G. Based on the Total Number of Deaths and Death rate per Class (C vs D above):

  • Crew Members accounted for the Most deaths based on the Total death Count (46% vs 77% per Class);
  • Third Class Passengers had the Second Most deaths based on the Total death Count (35% vs 75% per Class);
  • Second Class Passengers were the Third Most deaths based on the Total death Count (11% vs 58% per Class); and
  • First Class Passengers had the Lowest number of deaths based on the Total death Count (8% vs 38% per Class).


Did you notice that something is different? The Relationship between the different Classes based on the Number of Deaths, does not follow the same Pattern as the Others (G vs E and F; A vs B and C and D). Relatively speaking, Second Class Passengers had the Highest Death Rate, of all the People, compared to the Other Classes and therefore it can be argued that THEY were the most impacted by the disaster than the Other Groups. Second Class Passengers represented the Third most number of Passengers, the Third Highest rate of deaths BUT the LOWEST Survival rate of all the classes. To be honest, finding out that More Crew Members died than Third Class Passengers, was a bit of a Shocker and the Movie should've reflected this more as well.

  

I then asked my friend Google if it was possible to get Similar Numbers, but based on Nationality. I must have asked very nicely, because My friend gave me what I was looking for, which lead me to do some more Analysis. I must mention this, I was amazed to find out that there were Passengers from 28 different Nationalities on board of the Titanic, including 5 South Africans "nogals". Unfortunately, My friend couldn't give me any Source that included the Crew Members as well, leaving me with only First, Second and Third Class Demographics. The first thing that had to be done, was to prove my earlier statement regarding more British deaths than American deaths. It was a Nailbiter, but I was correct, even though the difference was just 31 deaths. I then got rather emotional, because I decided to group People who weren't American or British, together as "Other" and after a quick calculation, I discovered that these "Other People" were more than the Americans and British Combined. The Graph below shows a simple division of the Number of Passengers, per Class, per Nationality, to start off with.

  

  
Graph 2

I then started having fun, playing with the Numbers, doing Calculations and making some Conclusions. As a start, I divided the Data according to Classes, with Percentages of "Survived" and "Died" and I calculated a Percentage per Class per Total AND a Percentage of the Class's Total of the Total Number of Passengers. The reason for this was because I wanted to know which Class had the Highest "Survival Rate" and Highest "Death Rate" based on the Total number of Survivors and Deaths. I also wanted to know which Class had the Highest Survival and Death Rate as a Percentage of the Total Number of Passengers on board and the Result was exactly what I expected.

  

  
Table 1

I really enjoyed it and manipulated the data into almost anything, just to see the Results, but then I realized that I needed to "Produce Results" that can be used as a Comparison against the Previous Data-set. The Result I settled on is shown in the Graph below.

  

  
Graph 3

Even though the Graph is sufficient to support the Conclusions I made, I decided to share the Table with the Results as well.

 

  
Table 2

It really doesn't need any explanation, but the Results were quite Interesting. Looking at each Class Individually, the following is quite Obvious: 

  • In The First Class Passengers Group, Americans accounted for the Most Number of Passengers, The Highest Survival Rate and The Highest Death Rate, but The British had the Highest Death Rate for the Number of British First class Passengers. The American First Class Passenger Death Rate (60%) was the Highest, based on the Overall Total Number of American Deaths (all 3 Classes Combined).
  • In the Second Class Passenger Group, The British accounted for the Most Number of Passengers, The Highest Survival and Death Rates and the Highest Death Rate for all Second Class Passengers, but the "Other Nations'" Combined Death Rate (62%) was the Highest based on the Total Number of Passengers in Second Class.
  • In the Third Class Passenger Group, The "Other Nations'" Combined Numbers accounted for the Most Passengers, The Highest Survival and Death Rates as well as the Highest Death Rate (87%) for all Third Class Passengers, but the British had the Highest Death Rate (85%) based on the Total Number of Passengers in Third Class.

  

It didn't surprise me, because the Results were what I expected, except the Death Rate per Class based on the Total number of Deaths, which I can't explain. I looked at the Totals again and I suddenly realized something that I've almost forgotten about, there were 2 Inquiries and the Numbers explain why. In Total, there were 296 Americans (23%) and 327 British (26%) on board of the Titanic, therefore it makes complete sense that the Americans wanted to do their Own Inquiry. It is a fact that some of the World's Most Wealthiest Men died in the Titanic Disaster, which J.C. portrayed very well in a scene where one of them says that they are dressed to their best and are prepared to go down as gentlemen. 

  

ONLY 15 TIMES

  

When the Oscar Nominations were made that year, it came as no surprise that Titanic received 14 Nominations, and became the First Movie to receive Nominations for 2 Separate Awards based on the same Character, Best Actress (Kate Winslet) and Best Supporting Actress (Gloria Stuart) playing the role of "Rose". Titanic also joined the List of Movies with the Most Nominations and everyone was expecting that the Movie will break the Record for the Most Academy Awards Won, but instead it joined the List of Movies with the Most Awards won (11). A few years later, Kate Winslet was asked how she felt about NOT winning the Oscar for Best Actress for Titanic, replying gracefully (and witty) that she would probably ONLY win an Oscar when she plays a role in "some kind of" Second World War Movie. A few years later (2009), she did win an Oscar for Best Actress, playing Hanna Schmitz in "The Reader", a Movie about a Post Second World War, Nazi War Crime Trial - Ironically! While making Titanic, J.C. started an affair with Suzy Amis (playing Lizzy Calvert), but he married, none other than, Linda Hamilton (from "Terminator") in 1997, divorcing her 2 years later and married Suzy in 2000. What would you do if a man worth $800 Million asks you to marry him? That's actually not much compared to George Lucas' $5.4 Billion and Steven Spielberg's $3.7 Billion Net Worth's.

  

Titanic had a huge Cast, amongst other things, and crew. Do yourself a favour and have a look on IMDB at how many people were involved in making the Movie, and for some interesting facts about the Movie, like 18 000 extra's that were hired, follow this LINK. The level of detail that J.C. got into for making the Movie, went as far as the box of Matches that "Jack" throws at "Cal" during the First Class Dinner scene, barely visible and only a few Seconds, but it HAD to be Authentic. In another scene, the Captain is seen stirring a slice of Lemon in his tea, anti-clockwise, because that's how the Real Captain stirred his tea. J.C. admitted during an interview once, that he allowed a "mistake" in the Movie, on purpose, which was a scene shot in a room with a digital clock, "just for fun". The Movie received 162 Nominations for Various Awards, winning 111 of those. Something else My friend Wikipedia will tell you, which I heard from Céline Dion during one of her concerts, before singing "My Heart will go on", is that she was asked to record a "Demo" of the Song, which she initially didn't want to do. After her husband convinced her, she did, and recorded the "Vocal" in one take. Using the "Demo Vocal", the Music Producer re-arranged the Studio version and it became the Theme Song of the Movie. The best part is that the Song was intended to be Recorded by the Norwegian singer Sissel KyrkjebøThe, but Horner felt he "owed her a Titanic chance" and decided to use Céline's "Demo" instead.  The Best Live Performance of the Song that I have seen, by accident, was when Céline performed the Song in 2017 during the Billboard Music Awards in honor of Titanic's 20th Year Anniversary. I generally don't like Live Performances like that, but this one took my breath away. Click HERE for the Youtube Video, and don't forget to look at THE DRESS!!!

  

I have actually stopped counting how many times I've seen the Movie and People look at me in a strange way when I tell them how many times I've seen the Movie, shaking their heads in disbelief. Believe it or not, even though the Movie is more than 3 hours long, I notice something "New" every time I watch it. I also have some nice "Memories" attached to the Movie, especially when my Brother, Martin, asked me to go and watch the Movie on the "Big Screen" with him. The theatre was packed and we sat in the 4th or 5th row, really close to the screen. Before the Movie started, previews of Other Movies were shown as the theatre filled up. One of the previews was a South African film by Katinka Heyns, "Paljas", with the whole theatre being awkwardly quiet, like dead silent, and just as the preview ended, I said, in a normal tone and not loud, "Diep huh" ("Deep hey" in English). The couple sitting next to me, started laughing, then the People in front of us started to laugh, People started laughing just because other People were laughing and my Brother gave me "That Look", shaking his head and his face turning into every shade of Red that you can think of. And People, in general, tell me that I'm not funny! Martin and I had some really good times after we "made peace", including a "Wine Tasting Course" that he paid for. With every class, we were given 4 "Wine Tasting Glasses" with different Wines and were asked to describe WHAT we tasted. I can't remember what exactly happened before I was asked to give my "description", but my response was "Green". Needless to say, I was never asked to give my description again.

  

J.C. also went out of his way to "debunk" some myths regarding Titanic's sinking, by including scenes that were obviously targeted against those myths. He actually went down to Titanic's wreck to ensure that he details he intended to use in the Movie, was correct. It might be hard to believe, but People believed that Titanic sank in One Piece, until the wreck was discovered in 1985, 73 years after she went down. After the discovery of Titanic's wreck, two "Schools of Thought" emerged, with one side arguing that Titanic sank in one piece and broke apart as it hit the Ocean floor, while the other side argued that Titanic broke apart before she started sinking and tore apart as she went down. If you are wondering why it took 73 years to find Titanic's wreck, the answer might be shocking: People didn't know where to look. Titanic's wreck lies within a region known as the "Midnight Zone", almost 4000 meters below the surface in absolute darkness. What's even more unbelievable, is that from the 1 514 dead, ONLY 334 bodies were recovered, 59 bodies were claimed by families, 125 bodies were buried at sea because they were too damaged or decomposed to identify, 118 of the recovered bodies remain unidentified AND 1 160 bodies (People) are still unaccounted for - STAGGERING! It might sound cruel, but the fact is that the People who died in the disaster, did, at least, not suffer a painful death, because the first thing that happens to a Person when Hypothermia sets in, is loosing consciousness within 15 minutes, basically falling asleep while the body's heartbeat slows down and a Person stops breathing. Contrary to popular belief, a Person can not freeze to death, the body is unable to freeze into a solid "ice cube" unless they are Cryogenically frozen. In the Movie, towards the end, People seem to be "frozen" in the water, probably just for artistic reasons, but in reality the water around the body "freezes" the clothes a Person wears, making it look like the body has "frozen". Scientists have actually spent time and effort to determine if both "Jack" and "Rose" were able to fit on the Wooden door, together, discovering that it was indeed possible and the Movie had it wrong - Really!

  

I can remember that at the time when Titanic was released, People who didn't like the Movie came up with the most ridiculous "facts" imaginable, like: It took Titanic just over 2 hours to sink, yet the Movie is more than 3 hours long OR at least the Movie shows that Third Class Passengers "reached" the First Class Level when their bodies were forced up by the rising water - SICK! The Movie has never been referred to as a Documentary or "Based on Real Events", but instead it is an Epic Romantic Disaster Film similar to "Armageddon". I see it from a different angle, as a perfect case study on Human Behavior under pressure, for different Social Classes, faced with the same Situation. The Psychological theory of Fight-or-Flight does not apply, because there is no where to run to and hide from the situation, it WILL happen no matter what. And here, the Movie has actually included scenes of what People do under these circumstances: Some People Pray; Some People just "go with the flow"; Some People just trample over other People with no regard at all; Some People use logic to determine where to go to, to stand the best chance of survival and Some People commit Suicide by jumping off the Ship. I love the fact that J.C. included the scene where Rose's Mother asks whether the Lifeboats will be seated according to Class, because it is still part of Human Behavior today due to Society allowing Hierarchical Systems to develop. As I mentioned before, J.C. could've given more attention to Molly Brown, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, who tried to "force" Lifeboats to turn back and look for survivors, although the bit that is included in the Movie is Historically Correct, yet incomplete. If you want to learn more about her, click HERE. I think that History has singled her out, because she was not born into the Upper Class and she did not marry a Wealthy man either, but by pure luck, her husband discovered an Ore Seam leading to him receiving Shares and a Seat on the Board of the Company he worked for. Molly adapted her behavior according to the "demands" from the "New" Social Groups she suddenly became part of, but her husband did not and they eventually separated, allowing her to continue her Travels and Political work.

 

I do credit J.C. for including a scene where J. Bruce Ismay gets into one of the Lifeboats, but I criticize J.C. for including a scene where Ismay "orders' the Captain to increase speed, for Titanic to gain publicity not just based on her size, but speed as well, which is just a rumour. I mentioned before that the disaster might have been mitigated if Titanic had hit the Ice berg head-on. Over the years, People came up with different Theories about how the disaster might have been prevented, some theories being totally ridiculous while others seem plausible. The one thing I'm completely sure of, is that the only way the disaster could've been prevented, is that there shouldn't have been an Ice berg in the first place. This is also depicted in the Movie, showing a Single Ice berg in the middle of the Ocean, in an area where Ice bergs are not suppose to be. It is fair to put the blame on Human Error, but it is more apt to blame Human Arrogance instead. Titanic has never been labeled as "Unsinkable", even though the Movie implies that, instead the term "Nearly Unsinkable" was used. Arrogance can also be applied to the White Star Line Company that wanted to build a Bigger Ship that can Transport more People, so they could make more Money. Every theory that People came up with for preventing the disaster can be discarded because of the Size of the Ship and the Speed at which it was travelling, increasing the Thrust exponentially and the designers did not compensate for this, because they assumed that her only failure modes would be ship-to-ship and ship-to-dock collisions, or grounding. As a matter of fact, Titanic almost collided with the SS City of New York Liner and the Oceanic, minutes after she left Port on her Maiden voyage and even this is included in the Movie, at the beginning. The designers ignored the knowledge that was available to them at the time, as well as past experiences. The Limited number of Lifeboats, Lack of updated Communication Technology, Maritime Regulations, Assumptions and NOT making Officers aware of certain Engineering and Damage Control Principles ADDED to the impact of the disaster, making it almost impossible to prevent.

  

WHY TITANIC?

  

Before Titanic, other Ships also struck Ice bergs and sank, and after Titanic there were other Maritime disasters with a higher loss of lives. What makes Titanic unique and still popular 112 years after the disaster? It is NOT Culture, NOT Common Knowledge, NOT Scientific, leaving ONLY Human Behavior. The fact that the disaster happened during her Maiden Voyage can be included as well as the Name of the Ship, due to Arrogance. It can only be Speculated what the after-affect could have been, if the disaster happened 5 years after her launch, for example. It is definitely not a Blue-print for People to use to avoid possible future disasters, because Bigger and Faster ships have been built and will be build, due to People's urge for Profits. The fact that 19 Movies have been made about the disaster, proves that People use the disaster to benefit from it. Watching the Movie on a screen, removes the Human experience side of the disaster, no matter how hard anyone tries to portray it. I am sure that the Real Life Experience of the disaster, was far worse than any Movie or Documentary can portray.

  

For ME, it all comes down to Human Behavior, starting with the "Idea" to build the Ship, long before the disaster even happened. According to my friend Wikipedia: "Ismay preferred to compete on size rather than speed and proposed to commission a new class of liners larger than anything that had come before, which would be the last word in comfort and luxury" (Wikipedia). Ismay approved the design in July 1908, setting the wheels in motion without knowing it. Titanic's Lifeboats had the capacity to carry at least 1 150 People, yet they were not filled to capacity, as the Movie also show, BUT Titanic had the Ability to carry up to 64 Lifeboats, instead someone decided on 24 only - Behavior. During Titanic's construction, 246 injuries and 8 deaths occurred due to a lack of Safety Precautions - Behavior. Narrowly averting 2 collisions within minutes after her launch - Behavior. Increasing speed while knowing that there might be Ice bergs - Behavior. The Crew were not trained in Evacuation - Behavior. The "Women and Children First" Protocol caused chaos - Behavior.

  

I can use reference after reference, but each of them will involve Human Behavior, even after the disaster as well. Maritime Regulations changed, meaning that People's Behavior had to change and this takes time, because (as discussed in other Essays) Behavior is influenced by Traditions, Values and Social Norms, which are influenced by Applying Knowledge that was Gained and Understood. I am certain that, if the Titanic disaster didn't happen, a Similar Event was inevitable. A Similar Event is still possible today, because Human Behavior Evolves. The Titanic disaster has become part of Popular Culture. Popular Culture can be described as "Generally recognized by members of a Society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a Society at a given point in time" (Wikipedia), implying that it has become Acceptable. 

  

I have just finished watching the Movie for the 16th Time while writing this Essay, and I am not ashamed to admit that the most heart-wrenching moment in the Movie, for me, is where the Mother sits on a bed while telling her 2 young children a Fairy Tale, as the Ship is sinking (2 hours and 30 minutes into the Movie).

I can not even imagine what I would've done if I was there 112 years ago.

  



FIN








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