h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thank you for all this information. It is interesting to note the local effects of the tragedy, it reminds me of the first-responder casualties of 9/11 in New York.

In the faculty where I work there are at least 3 people who have relations who were onboard the Titanic. It still is seen as a Southampton disaster by many, one that the people of Southampton want to remember, but never really talk about. Only now is there a museum to the disaster being made, but the main Titanic display is only to be temporary. It's quite an uneasy relationship between the city and the ship, quite different to how the Titanic is perceived in Belfast, where she was built, mainly because so few people from Belfast died.

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You know, I'll bet that's the real difference here. Southampton had a personal stake in Titanic, whereas for Belfast, it was only one of many ships they'd built.

I think for New York, it was personal, as well. They seem to have several monuments. That might have been because of the New York society people who died. (I know, Rose is supposed to be Philadelphia Main Line. That is *not* a Philadelphia Main Line accent, which is correctly described as a 'Main Line honk'.)

Well only Enoch and Elijah survived dimensional conversion without dying but it seems that denial about death is still pervasive in modern times. I think people should be more mindful of how they live their lives, and how they treat their neighbours and if they did that going to a different dimension wouldn't be so frightening. I suppose it does help people who have faith who recognize that there is a better place on the other side, which is what Jesus was trying to prepare people for. I think a lot of people don't want to be accountable for all the horrible stuff that is happening here that they enabled by omission or commission. If we'd get what we'd deserve that is a SCARY thought,but fortunately the Creator is not as awful as humans are and has made provisions.

End of sermon.

Stop that. Talk about 'Titanic'.

(I'd always assumed that Rose was supposed to be from Reading, mainly because Kate Winslett's from Reading, a town about an hour away on the train from Southampton. In the 1990s it would only have cost about £10 for a train ticket from Reading to Southampton, so when Kate Winslett was home next she could easily have popped down for a morning, filmed around Southampton for a bit and then gone back home for lunch. But no, Mr Cameron couldn't be bothered to film in Southampton. Sorry, I've not seen the film for a while and found it slightly annoying at first release).

Interesting point, Elektragheorgheni. The only time that the people onboard Titanic were able to mix across all class and social divides was during the Anglican church service, as it was believed that everyone is equal before God. I wonder what the service was on, and whether it helped prepare the congregation for what was to come?

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Yes, well I doubt that the sermon would have been included in the Newspaper the Titanic put out daily ---with the gossip, menus and ship board activities. Not even sure that they had a chaplain ---but at the time I thing the White Star line would have provided some sort of vicar. Some interesting lines of research here unless you are Titaniced out, check out DG's writing column in the post for more links.

Oh, now you've done it, BB. I'll have to go and see if I can find the sermon.

I haven't found it yet. If I do, I'll let you know.

The only time that the people onboard Titanic were able to mix across all class and social divides was during the Anglican church service, as it was believed that everyone is equal before God.

I have read that the strict segregation of the 3rd class had little to do with social eliteness, but the strict U.S. custom regulations that required all 3rd class emigrants to pass through a health examination, most famously at Ellis Island. If the ship's officers could not state that there had not been any contact between the classes all could be required to take the exam, a great inconvenience to any 1st and 2nd class who were otherwise exempt. As I understand it that is why the barriers existed between steerage and the upper decks.



One minor quibble in your first section "Southampton and the Titanic" you say 706 survived. Later in "Wreath laying on Captain Sir Arthur Henry Rostron's grave" you state the Carpathia rescued 705 people. I believe the 705 is correct, otherwise who saved the odd survivor.

Good entry, even if you are on the wrong side of the Solent.

F S

The Isle of Wight's always the right side of the Solent

Yes, it was US Immigration regulations that were behind the barriers existence. People forget that the Titanic was an ocean liner not a cruise ship, and that there is a significant difference.

I apologise for the confusion over the number of survivors - there seem to be so many different figures for how many people were on the Titanic and how many died that I'm not entirely sure which to believe, but I suspect you are right. Captain Sir Arthur Henry Rostron's knighthood was earned partly because of his actions in saving the Titanic survivors.

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In case you thought I was making this up, here is the news report on the 100th Anniversary Commemoration:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17670257

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Several years ago I read an account written by the wireless operator of the Carpathia. I am working from memory here and not research, so some of the facts could be off a bit.

At the time of the Titanic none of the wireless operators worked for the ship lines, they were all employed by the Marconi Wireless Company. Their salaries were paid from the fees paid by the passengers for private communications. They would also send and receive messages for the ship such as instructions and warnings, but this was not their primary interest. As the technology was fairly new they were almost all young men who knew each other and many had trained together. All the messages were sent by Morris Code so, like modern text messages (my aside) many abbreviations were developed so a message could be sent with less key strokes. a few of these were;
Officially;

CQ a general call to anyone listening or sometimes followed by a station or ship name

CQD a distress call

SOS a newly accepted distress call as it was one of the most easily learned code sequences

Ships and stations all had call signs (here I will just use the corresponding names)

Unofficially;

OM old man, all radio operators called each other old man, they just did

GTH go to h*ll

Now for the test

On the night of April 14th, the Carpathia's operator was bored and switched on his set.

CQ CQ this is Carpathia anyone listening

A loud reply came, either from a very powerful radio or a nearby ship

Vessel calling GTH OM this is Titanic, I am working Cape Race! (the relay station in Labrador)

Carpathia listed a bit and recognized Phillips', who he knew fairly well, style of sending code.

He then switched off his set and went to diner. He spent a few hours relaxing and around midnight he decided to switch on his set, he wanted to apologize to Phillips for stepping on his traffic, radio etiquette says you should always listen a while before broadcasting. He listed and the air was silent, at last he sent;

CQ Titanic CQ are you still on OM

The reply came almost instantly;

This is Titanic CQD CQD, followed by her position, that she had struck and was going down by the head. CQD SOS SOS come quickly!

The wireless operator immediately sent for the captain wile he remained on air and got further details. When the captain arrived at the radio shack he stated that they were 4 hours away and would come as quickly as possible.

CQ Titanic "We are headed north and steaming like h*ll!" (as I recall that was the title of the piece)

The entire crew were aroused and all the public rooms made ready to receive survivors. Blankets, robes, hot water and coffee were all prepared. As the radio was now silent our operator joined the others on the bow spotting for ice and survivors.

He talked about entering the ice field at about 4 AM at over 20 knots and the great searchlight sweeping the horizon.

You know the rest.

F S

After posting I found a related link

http://www.titanic-whitestarships.com/Carpathia%20Rescue.htm

F S

That's a great link, FS. Thanks.

From my reading, Titanic was the 4th ship to use SOS. But that's just what I read.

I also read that. Again it is hard to know how much is true out of what is written now.
Especially about how widely regarded the ship was at launch when it was the 2nd of the intended 4 Olympic-class ships (although only 3 were built). Yes, Titanic was larger than Olympic, but Britannic was bigger still. It's not unusual for sisterships to be slightly larger than their predeccessors. Does anyone care now that Oasis of the Seas is larger than Independence of the Seas which is larger than Liberty of the Seas which is larger than Freedom of the Seas, all of which were, at launch, the largest ship in the world? I don't think so, so I don't think at launch anyone was that excited that Titanic was slightly bigger than Olympic, but hindsight has made it more dramatic that Titanic was the biggest ship in the world, but describing it as 'Nothing like it in the world had ever been seen before' is a bit of an exaggeration. Titanic appears to have only been at most 4 inches longer than her sistership!

The other question is, what would have happened had the Titanic not sank? When we look at her contemporaries:

HMHS Britannia - Titanic's sister ship - torpedoed 1916
SS Californian - torpedoed 1915
RMS Carpathia - torpedoed 1918
RMS Lusitania - torpedoed 1915

Although Olympic and RMS Mauretania survived the war, during the Great War Titanic would certainly have been commandeered for war work, and become a tempting target for any U-Boat. So if the Titanic hadn't sunk in 1912 it may well have sunk within six years, but not introduced the international safety laws that her loss created.

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I starting writing this article a good month before the 100th Anniversary, when I foolishly assumed that the anniversary would pass by largely unnoticed, and have been quite surprised by the amount of publicity the anniversary has received.

Just to let people know that I'm considering writing an article on how the Titanic is remembered today. I am keeping the possibility of a collaboration open should anyone wish to become involved.

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This is a wonderful idea.

See: A87754143

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It is in Peer Review, thread is here: F48874?thread=8292948

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