A news story on only the latest research into the sinking of the Titanic is on Foxnews.com as I type so I thought it a good time to bring back this post from December of 2014. In that Fox News story the Titanic had a fire in one of its coal bunkers that started 10 days before the ship departed for New York. It's theorized that the Captain was sailing fast so as to get into New York harbor, have the passengers depart and then fight the fire before "inevitable explosions" would occur. Does this sound odd to you. I worked in an industry with coal bunkers for 36 years and the whole story is indeed possible. The theory continues in that the hull may have weakened, for the iceberg struck just below that particular bunker.
Relating this to America, and also to the ending of the following post from 2014, the above researcher, Senan Molony, labelled the sinking of the Titanic a "perfect storm of extraordinary factors." We are in such a perfect storm today. A sitting president's attempt to sabotage the administration of an incoming president is part of it. Two United States Senators (McCain and Graham) who are playing with fire in an explosive atmosphere is part of it, and the Democrat's "damn the American people....full speed ahead on stopping the opposition party" is part of it....and the media, for their part, laughs as torches are set to the funeral pyre.....the macabre irony being that the laughter emanates from the top of that pyre. It is indeed a perfect storm.
Recent preface to Damn The Torpedoes....April 2016:
The doors had closed as they were designed to but six of the sixteen watertight compartments were already flooded. Unfortunately they were not totally watertight for they had no ceiling, and water overflowed into adjoining compartments. They effectively sealed the compartments for a time but some engineers today believe that this actually spelled doom for many passengers, for the weight of water in the bow of this ship prevented an even balance that might have given the ship as much as six hours more time before sinking. Others believe that higher compartment walls might have saved more lives. The RMS Titanic sank 104 years ago today.
There was a hymn sing on the ship a few hours before it brushed the iceberg. The last hymn sang, and particularly the last of four stanzas of that hymn, are interesting in retrospect. The hymn is Lead, Kindly Light. It was written as a poem in 1833 by John Henry Newman. Hours before this epoch disaster, and in the last hymn that was sung, worshipers began with....
Lead kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on.
The words continue through the first three paragraphs in a reflective mood of the author. Years later hymn author Edward Henry Bickersteth felt compelled to add another stanza which reads....
Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself has trod,
Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife in the calm light of everlasting life.
Lord, forgive us for forgetting Thee. Have mercy upon us for Thy name's sake alone. Help us navigate this tempest that we have brought upon ourselves. Instruct our dull minds. Restore our faith in Thee, and then use us in whatever capacity brings the glory that is Thy due.
Damn The Icebergs....December 2014:
The mood on the bridge was somber. The Captain never said a word as the chief engineer detailed the damage to the hull from the iceberg. All of the ship's officers were present. Muffled voices from somewhere on the decks below were the only sounds. It could have been a painting or a photograph. The scene almost had a Civil War flair to it as some of the uniformed men faced left, some straight ahead, some with a hand neatly placed between buttons on their coat. The Captain turned from looking out over the calm sea, picked up his cap from a table and carefully placed it over his grey hairs, walked over and opened the hatch as the muffled voices became loud shouts, and stepped out into the chilly North Atlantic air as reserved as he had done thousands of times before.
As the hatch swung shut the voices once again became muffled and the officers seemed to breath for the first time. The First Officer spoke, "Gentlemen, I promise you that if I am made captain after this voyage I will restore the promise of this great ship." The Second Officer took two steps into the middle of the gathering and spoke next "If I might interrupt sir, had you followed my advice we would have come to a stop hours ago at the first sight of icebergs." The Executive Officer cut him off "Stopped.....stopped! I would never have taken this route. Records are all you men are interested in...Fame!"
Everyone in the room was now shouting out allegations. They had all moved closer together and the scene was uncomfortable to watch for the one person not blessed by birth into the elite culture of the ship's staff officers. Throughout the entire meeting....the details, the captain's humiliation and the officers fighting over who might replace him.... was a lowly ship's mate standing at the wheel, holding firm onto it as was his duty even though all engines had stopped. He turned suddenly to face the others, his face red as the ribbon across his cap just below the word HMS Inviolable. What was there to lose? Would they reprimand him and send him to his quarters? "You are all daft! The ship is going to the bottom! None of you will live till morning!" The First Officer stared intently into his young face "Going down? Nonsense. This is His Majesty's Ship Inviolable. It is unsinkable!" At that point a pair of binoculars had slid off of a table and crashed onto the deck of the bridge. The lights flickered and a horrible groan emanated from the bowels of the ship. The officers, every one of them, for the very first time, realized what was indeed going to happen.
This invented scene is emblematic of our political process at this present time as our ship of state's officers are, one by one, promising how things would be different under their watch. 2016 presidential elections? Get the lifeboats out first gentlemen and should God have mercy upon us to even allow us another national election without great catastrophes to our homeland then it might be appropriate for you all to at least attempt to slither back... in but I'll tell you now not to apply for we would need new faces at the helm and on the bridge.
Relating this to America, and also to the ending of the following post from 2014, the above researcher, Senan Molony, labelled the sinking of the Titanic a "perfect storm of extraordinary factors." We are in such a perfect storm today. A sitting president's attempt to sabotage the administration of an incoming president is part of it. Two United States Senators (McCain and Graham) who are playing with fire in an explosive atmosphere is part of it, and the Democrat's "damn the American people....full speed ahead on stopping the opposition party" is part of it....and the media, for their part, laughs as torches are set to the funeral pyre.....the macabre irony being that the laughter emanates from the top of that pyre. It is indeed a perfect storm.
Recent preface to Damn The Torpedoes....April 2016:
The doors had closed as they were designed to but six of the sixteen watertight compartments were already flooded. Unfortunately they were not totally watertight for they had no ceiling, and water overflowed into adjoining compartments. They effectively sealed the compartments for a time but some engineers today believe that this actually spelled doom for many passengers, for the weight of water in the bow of this ship prevented an even balance that might have given the ship as much as six hours more time before sinking. Others believe that higher compartment walls might have saved more lives. The RMS Titanic sank 104 years ago today.
There was a hymn sing on the ship a few hours before it brushed the iceberg. The last hymn sang, and particularly the last of four stanzas of that hymn, are interesting in retrospect. The hymn is Lead, Kindly Light. It was written as a poem in 1833 by John Henry Newman. Hours before this epoch disaster, and in the last hymn that was sung, worshipers began with....
Lead kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on.
The words continue through the first three paragraphs in a reflective mood of the author. Years later hymn author Edward Henry Bickersteth felt compelled to add another stanza which reads....
Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself has trod,
Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife in the calm light of everlasting life.
Lord, forgive us for forgetting Thee. Have mercy upon us for Thy name's sake alone. Help us navigate this tempest that we have brought upon ourselves. Instruct our dull minds. Restore our faith in Thee, and then use us in whatever capacity brings the glory that is Thy due.
Damn The Icebergs....December 2014:
The mood on the bridge was somber. The Captain never said a word as the chief engineer detailed the damage to the hull from the iceberg. All of the ship's officers were present. Muffled voices from somewhere on the decks below were the only sounds. It could have been a painting or a photograph. The scene almost had a Civil War flair to it as some of the uniformed men faced left, some straight ahead, some with a hand neatly placed between buttons on their coat. The Captain turned from looking out over the calm sea, picked up his cap from a table and carefully placed it over his grey hairs, walked over and opened the hatch as the muffled voices became loud shouts, and stepped out into the chilly North Atlantic air as reserved as he had done thousands of times before.
As the hatch swung shut the voices once again became muffled and the officers seemed to breath for the first time. The First Officer spoke, "Gentlemen, I promise you that if I am made captain after this voyage I will restore the promise of this great ship." The Second Officer took two steps into the middle of the gathering and spoke next "If I might interrupt sir, had you followed my advice we would have come to a stop hours ago at the first sight of icebergs." The Executive Officer cut him off "Stopped.....stopped! I would never have taken this route. Records are all you men are interested in...Fame!"
Everyone in the room was now shouting out allegations. They had all moved closer together and the scene was uncomfortable to watch for the one person not blessed by birth into the elite culture of the ship's staff officers. Throughout the entire meeting....the details, the captain's humiliation and the officers fighting over who might replace him.... was a lowly ship's mate standing at the wheel, holding firm onto it as was his duty even though all engines had stopped. He turned suddenly to face the others, his face red as the ribbon across his cap just below the word HMS Inviolable. What was there to lose? Would they reprimand him and send him to his quarters? "You are all daft! The ship is going to the bottom! None of you will live till morning!" The First Officer stared intently into his young face "Going down? Nonsense. This is His Majesty's Ship Inviolable. It is unsinkable!" At that point a pair of binoculars had slid off of a table and crashed onto the deck of the bridge. The lights flickered and a horrible groan emanated from the bowels of the ship. The officers, every one of them, for the very first time, realized what was indeed going to happen.
This invented scene is emblematic of our political process at this present time as our ship of state's officers are, one by one, promising how things would be different under their watch. 2016 presidential elections? Get the lifeboats out first gentlemen and should God have mercy upon us to even allow us another national election without great catastrophes to our homeland then it might be appropriate for you all to at least attempt to slither back... in but I'll tell you now not to apply for we would need new faces at the helm and on the bridge.
