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Posted: 5/19/2017 11:11:29 PM EDT
It is just one of thousands of shipwrecks. There have been worse wrecks. Many large ships have gone down since. What is it about the Titanic that draws people's interest and keeps it? Why is it such a compelling story even over 100 years after it went down?
Is it because of the legend of it being called "an unsinkable ship" and then going down on its maiden voyage? Is that it? Or is there more, something different? BTW, here is a neat little video of the largest scale model of the Titanic, complete with moving parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFa2QFxcpJU |
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Media sensation at the time of the sinking, then it was perfect material for movies.
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Man, it's hard to say. I was obsessed with the Titanic when I read about the discovery of the wreck in 1980 or so and learned the story when I was 6 years old. My grandma was living with us at the time and she was born in 1910, and that was the first time I kind of tried to relate to someone I knew who was old to a past event when they were young. "Grandma was 2 years old when the Titanic sank."
I bought a plastic model of the Titanic, and a found out another kid on the block basically did the same thing when he found out about the story of Titanic. It fascinated him too. |
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Probably due to the wealthy casualties, combined with it happening right when film, radio and fast long distance communication were taking off.
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Quoted:
https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/414440/IMG-0284-212235.JPG I used to live next-door to the Titanic cemetery when I was a kid. View Quote |
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Extra points for those who played "Search for the Titanic" in the late 80's
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Quoted:
Extra points for those who played "Search for the Titanic" in the late 80's View Quote |
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It's a combination of things.
Largest ship at the time Coined as being unsinkable Maiden voyage Full of interesting and influential people at the time A massive ship sunk by an easily avoidable but still dangerous chunk of ice It took a long time to sink in a calm ocean, this let the human dramas unfold. Enough survivors to tell the tale It sank sorta interestingly breaking up on the surface Wasn't found for 70 years as a sort of mystery Basically it's a perfect setting for a movie. 2 hr run time of drama and character development. A ship that sinks in rough seas or capsizes from some human error in just a few minutes just isn't as interesting of a story. |
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It went down slow enough for a bunch of drama to unfold.
The band playing. Wealthy men wearing their best outfits to go down with the ship in. Daddies saying goodbye to their wives and children. No panic until the end. I think it makes us all wonder if we'd handle being in that situation, with as much grace is a lot of them did. |
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Very large loss of life
Completely preventable on many, many levels, from the lookouts not having binoculars to the lack of lifeboats (this makes it very good case study in risk management and similar fields) Seminal event for sweeping changes in maritime safety regulations She was a modern marvel in terms of speed, size and luxury that came to a tragic end A good bit of mystique given that her wreckage was not found for 70 years All of that stuff makes for a good story. On the other hand, it's kind of strange what makes a disaster "stick" in the minds of history. For instance, everyone has heard of the "Hindenburg Disaster" but I guarantee you if you asked 10 people about the "Tenerife Disaster" you would get 10 blank stares. The Hindenburg killed 36; 583 died in the Canary islands when two 747s collided on the ground in 1977. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster |
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When some jackass says, "God Himself can't sink this boat"* and it sinks...people take note.
*it was some variation of this quote |
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![]() The Engines of the Titanic |
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Quoted:
Very large loss of life Completely preventable on many, many levels, from the lookouts not having binoculars to the lack of lifeboats (this makes it very good case study in risk management and similar fields) Seminal event for sweeping changes in maritime safety regulations She was a modern marvel in terms of speed, size and luxury that came to a tragic end A good bit of mystique given that her wreckage was not found for 70 years All of that stuff makes for a good story. On the other hand, it's kind of strange what makes a disaster "stick" in the minds of history. For instance, everyone has heard of the "Hindenburg Disaster" but I guarantee you if you asked 10 people about the "Tenerife Disaster" you would get 10 blank stares. The Hindenburg killed 31; 583 died in the Canary islands when two 747s collided on the ground in 1977. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster View Quote The Tenerife has no footage of it happening. |
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Quoted:
That's easy. There was news coverage of the disaster as it unfolded. With film and audio of the whole thing. The Tenerife has no footage of it happening. View Quote Another aviation disaster that most have forgotten is UAL 232. There's footage of that, and the fact that more people survived than died was nothing short of a miracle. Those pilots literally did the impossible. And on the other hand, US 1549 will probably never be forgotten. |
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Glad to see you posting, OP.
![]() (Maybe you've been posting for a while but I hadn't seen any of them) |
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For those who have read Clive Cussler's "Raise the Titanic", DO NOT seek out and watch the movie!
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Speaking of the movie, despite its reputation as something of a chick flick I think Titanc is a great movie. I especially appreciate the attention to minor technical details... for instance, in the scene where the Deck Officer orders "hard to starboard" the helmsman turns the wheel to port. This was actually a holdover from the times when ships had large tillers and moving the tiller to starboard would turn the ship to port. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I love it when movies get little shit like this right.
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Quoted:
I don't necessarily disagree, but to the point of the thread, there aren't even photographs of the Titanic going down. Another aviation disaster that most have forgotten is UAL 232. There's footage of that, and the fact that more people survived than died was nothing short of a miracle. Those pilots literally did the impossible. And on the other hand, US 1549 will probably never be forgotten. View Quote Air disasters are over relatively quickly and don't leave much for human decision or emotion other then terror. Especially considering most people picture themselves as a passenger and not a pilot. People just can't really connect with that. Look at flight 93. There's a movie about that but not flight 800. Even though twa 800 exploding killed more people. It's because of the human drama unfolding, not the act of the disaster itself. |
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For me, it's because I used to cut the grass of one of the female survivors back in the early 70s.
Pisses me off to this day that I can't remember her name. ![]() |
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I couldn't care less about it, but my wife wanted to go to the Titanic museum in Branson while we were down there.
It was VERY good. I was totally blown away. I walked away understanding why it is such a great story. If you have the chance check it out. |
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Quoted:
I couldn't care less about it, but my wife wanted to go to the Titanic museum in Branson while we were down there. It was VERY good. I was totally blown away. I walked away understanding why it is such a great story. If you have the chance check it out. View Quote |
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Man against nature. Its not just a ship that sunk, it was a brand new, unsinkable ship that sunk. All of the errors, from the decision to maintain high speed to keep a schedule/set a record, to the too small rudders, to the faulty design with bulkheads that could flood over, to not enough lifeboats. Mans hubris is always fascinating.
I used to check out a book from the local library when i was a boy, it had very large plans in the endpapers that you couod open, very detailed. This was probably 1972 or so, way before the dicaprio fiom, obviously. |
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Quoted:
It's a combination of things. Largest ship at the time Coined as being unsinkable Maiden voyage Full of interesting and influential people at the time A massive ship sunk by an easily avoidable but still dangerous chunk of ice It took a long time to sink in a calm ocean, this let the human dramas unfold. Enough survivors to tell the tale It sank sorta interestingly breaking up on the surface Wasn't found for 70 years as a sort of mystery Basically it's a perfect setting for a movie. 2 hr run time of drama and character development. A ship that sinks in rough seas or capsizes from some human error in just a few minutes just isn't as interesting of a story. View Quote |
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I'm going to disagree with many here saying its because of those who died, but rather I'm going to say it became such a memorable story because people LIVED.
Because there were survivors there were stories of horrors and triumphs through the unspeakable struggles that captivate an audience. Those stories people want to hear, so they last and books and movies get made and it becomes a memorable part of history. I'd bet dollars to donuts if not a single soul survived we wouldn't even have hardly heard about it, but maybe once or twice in a history class. |
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Quoted:
Very large loss of life Completely preventable on many, many levels, from the lookouts not having binoculars to the lack of lifeboats (this makes it very good case study in risk management and similar fields) Seminal event for sweeping changes in maritime safety regulations She was a modern marvel in terms of speed, size and luxury that came to a tragic end A good bit of mystique given that her wreckage was not found for 70 years All of that stuff makes for a good story. On the other hand, it's kind of strange what makes a disaster "stick" in the minds of history. For instance, everyone has heard of the "Hindenburg Disaster" but I guarantee you if you asked 10 people about the "Tenerife Disaster" you would get 10 blank stares. The Hindenburg killed 36; 583 died in the Canary islands when two 747s collided on the ground in 1977. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster View Quote |
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Because there was room on that god damned door for 2 people. What a bitch.
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I went on a bear hunting trip in Nova Scotia in 1998, when the world was still talking about the movie, so it was at the fore front of many conversations. Hunting was not all that great the first week we were there, so our guide asked if we wanted to visit the Titanic museum, sure why not.
So the first place we visited was the cemetery and it was an odd place, if you stand in the middle of the section where some of those killed in the disaster are buried, you can't hear a damn thing, all of the street noises disappear and it is just a tranquil quiet! Then we visited the museum, it was sobering, very quiet, nice displays and many items that were recovered from the sinking that were floating on the surface, there was a wooden lounge chair that was on the deck in first class that was grasped so hard by a human hand, you could still see the finger imprints in the wood, many personal items that were recovered after the wreck was located, watches, combs, hair brushes, spoons, forks, plates, etc. They told a story that we don't often get to see from that time frame in history. Going to the cemetery and the museum was almost like a religious experience, I imagine something like visiting the Vatican or Jerusalem. It was odd, neat, sobering and worth it, I would recommend it to anyone that goes to Nova Scotia..Well worth the time, it helps explain some of the mystery and intrigue behind the movies and stories. |
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No actually the way the lifeboats were configured, there were not enough for everybody on board, a lot more could have been put in the life boats, but they stated they figured at least 900 would have still went into the ocean.
It was under equipped for the number of people that were on the ship. |
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One of my favorite short videos on the Titanic
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHmgF4ibmuk[/youtube] clickable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHmgF4ibmuk |
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Quoted:
Speaking of the movie, despite its reputation as something of a chick flick I think Titanc is a great movie. I especially appreciate the attention to minor technical details... for instance, in the scene where the Deck Officer orders "hard to starboard" the helmsman turns the wheel to port. This was actually a holdover from the times when ships had large tillers and moving the tiller to starboard would turn the ship to port. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I love it when movies get little shit like this right. ![]() View Quote as for the OP's question, it was one of the original and most compelling cautionary tales about the dangerous seductiveness of technology, right smack dab in the middle of the transition from pioneer days to modern industrial society. if you think of it as an old-timey sci-fi story, you won't be far wrong. then add the human drama to the morality play, and you have one of the greatest stories ever told...that actually happened. would be interesting to try to discern ripple effects from the titanic in terms of how we approach technology. |
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Quoted:
Man against nature. Its not just a ship that sunk, it was a brand new, unsinkable ship that sunk. All of the errors, from the decision to maintain high speed to keep a schedule/set a record, to the too small rudders, to the faulty design with bulkheads that could flood over, to not enough lifeboats. Mans hubris is always fascinating. View Quote |
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other than the abominable, george lucas-level harlequin romance dialogue, it was masterful filmmaking. as for the OP's question, it was one of the original and most compelling cautionary tales about the dangerous seductiveness of technology, right smack dab in the middle of the transition from pioneer days to modern industrial society. if you think of it as an old-timey sci-fi story, you won't be far wrong. then add the human drama to the morality play, and you have one of the greatest stories ever told...that actually happened. would be interesting to try to discern ripple effects from the titanic in terms of how we approach technology. View Quote |
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I was fortunate enough to see the Titanic Museum when it was in Vegas. The "big piece" is really something to see, and it's only a very small portion of the ship. Yes, I've seen yuuuge ships in real life, but they show a little square on a diagram of what piece you're looking at. It's a trip. I also have a piece of coal from inside the ship, it's the only legal artifact that can be owned from the Titanic. I too was obsessed with it as a kid, I'm not really sure why. It was long before the DiCaprio movie, but I do remember being able to find and check out books from the school library about it. ETA: "The big piece" https://jasonhbratton76.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/big-piece.jpg View Quote |
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https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/414440/IMG-0284-212235.JPG I used to live next-door to the Titanic cemetery when I was a kid. View Quote |
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