Ruminating over Titanic

On April 10th, 1912, the "unsinkable" masterpiece Titanic set sail from Southampton in England on its maiden voyage, heading to New York City where it was supposed to dock on April 17th. Titanic stopped in Cherbourgh, France later on the 10th and Queenstown, Ireland on the 11th for additional passengers before making its way out to the open seas of the Atlantic, carrying 2,222 souls on board, counting passengers and crew.

Human nature wants to give a reason for this tragedy. There are more than enough theories running around the table as to why Titanic sank. The walls separating the bulkheads weren't sealed all the way to the top. That's weird. And unthinkable. Would Titanic have still sunk if the walls had gone all the way to the top? Maybe, maybe not. If we go that route then it's the fault of the ship's architect, Thomas Andrews, who nobly and tragically died on Titanic. Or it could be because there were no binoculars in the crow's nest for the lookouts so when the iceberg loomed out of the mist, the lookouts were only able to give First Officer Murdoch a 37-second warning to avoid the collision. But binoculars aren't common for lookouts because they actually inhibit their viewing range, so they can't really be considered at fault either. And no one can turn a ship the size of Titanic with only 37-seconds of warning. Then there are the 7 icebergs spotted on the 14th, but Captain Smith barreled on at full speed because the managing director of the White Star Line, Bruce Ismay, wanted to make the crossing in just 6 days.

Fault, as it were, could lie with any number of individuals, but honestly, Titanic sank because these things happen. Life happens, whether we want it to or not, and in the case of Titanic, the blame cannot be fully placed anywhere. A lot of little things added up to one massive tragedy that still fascinates the world today. It's remarkable to me that after all these years of knowing about the tragedy, that I haven't become jaded by it yet. I can watch a documentary on the sinking and tears still fill my eyes over the sheer loss of life that resulted from this tragedy. 

Over the next couple of days, I plan to watch the following films and maybe a few documentaries on Titanic: A Night to Remember (1958), Titanic (1953), and, of course, James Cameron's Titanic (1997). I've watched all of these films before, Cameron's film multiple times, but I think my favorite is A Night to Remember because it feels authentic to me since the sinking was still very much in living memory in the 1950s. It may seem morbid to spend time on such a tragedy right now while going through the COVID-19 pandemic, but I actually find comfort in tragedies that are different from what we're currently experiencing around the world. Despite all the tragedy, the world spins on. It will have a different look when we're on the other side of the pandemic and we may have different priorities than what we had previously. Many of us will have experienced loss by the end. Actually, maybe it makes this the perfect time to delve into the history of the Titanic.

My Posts Related to Titanic in 2020

Movie Review: Titanic (1953)