Sophia wrote on Aug 4^th, 2020 at 3:13pm:


Absolutely—Tamar Valley, the Tarquin, Salamanca Markets etc etc. Port Arthur—so much!

It is part of our history.

I visited the Dachau concentration camp site. Concrete posts, electrified barbed wire—stood there and “desolation” was the word that came to mind. The huts had all gone but the admin centre was there documenting what happened there: not gassing but experiments using prisoners as to how core body temperature dropped when dropped into a big tank of cold water. Plenty of photos.

I read that the US Air Force had removed the data to use it for themselves. At first I was outraged—how DARE they use these results obtained with force and cruelty? But then I realised the involuntary sacrifice could save lives and was reconciled to it.


This crap happened! We must not forget!

Diving into the entrance at night, of the Kiama Blow Hole - down to 10m at the start. Moving in with the rush of the swell, then holding on to a heavy rock or crevice in the walls, as the sea water withdrew back out. Eventually making it to the end, where a light from above where the sea water thumps out with  a spray of hissing sea.
There I heard and felt down the lateral line of my body, the sound of a young woman's ...thoughts. Go back. Danger. Leave. Both as a warning and a description of herself... her life. I went back a bit to change with my dive buddy for his turn at the head of the serpent.
Later up at the carpark, I asked by dive buddy if he heard any voices down there (as if people were above, as if jumped the fence to see what the light from our dive torches were about and taking?)? No he said without the thought that I might be schizoid playing across his mind. Good mate.
I later looked into the history of the Kiama Blowhole. There I learned there has been a number of deaths there. A young woman, a family of Afghans (11) who were washed into the water down by the entrance and more.
Don't forget dives like that.

(Briefly back on the subject of Titanic again).

Hey, Lols - thought you might find this interesting. An advertisement in a New York newspaper (might be the New York Times, not sure) that appeared in the paper prior to Titanic's ill fated maiden voyage.



If Titanic hadn't sunk on the night of April 14th - 15th 1912 it was due to leave New York and sail back to Southampton on April 20th (then May 11th, June 1st, June 22nd and July 13th).

Perhaps in some 'alternate reality' the ship missed its encounter with the iceberg and the sailings in the advertisement really happened... an interesting thought.

One 'alternate reality' where Titanic would have certainly survived would have been if she had started her maiden voyage on the original planned date - March 20th 1912. But, because of repairs that were needed to her sister ship Olympic after a couple of 'mishaps' and the repairs had to be done in Belfast, Titanic's maiden voyage was delayed by 3 weeks.

Besides the fact that Olympic and Titanic were both built there, the only dry dock large enough to take them (and the largest in the world at the time) was also there.

Olympic required 6 weeks of repairs after her collision with the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke in September 1911 (the repairs to Olympic had to use some parts that were to be installed on Titanic, including Titanic's starboard propeller shaft) and there was also the repair time and workers needed when Olympic lost a propeller blade after she struck an uncharted submerged object in February 1912. As a result of all this, Titanic's completion was delayed and her maiden voyage was put back to April 10th.

This is Olympic and Titanic in Belfast, February 1912 when Olympic was back there to have her missing (broken off) propeller blade replaced.

https://i.imgur.com/1Hseqin.jpg

Olympic on the left, Titanic (still not complete) on the right. Titanic had just been moved out of the dry dock to allow Olympic to be put in there for repairs. This is the last known photograph of the two sister ships together.

Below is a painting by renowned Titanic (and other ships) artist Ken Marschall showing what might have been - Titanic arriving in New York which would probably have been Wednesday 17th April 1912.

Some people believe that they were going to attempt to make it into New York on the Tuesday night to beat their sister ship Olympic's transatlantic crossing best time, there was a 'full speed' trial with all boilers lit (they didn't have them all lit on the night of the sinking) scheduled for during the day on Monday 15th but the iceberg put an end to that plan, of course.

I've also seen stories that the ship had been sailing through iceberg infested waters for up to 2 hours before the fatal collision but none of these bergs were seen by the lookouts in the crows nest or the bridge officers. Some surviving passengers even said later that they were sure they saw bergs in the distance being passed by the ship well before the collision.

In one of the two inquiries into the sinking, 2nd officer Charles Lightoller who was the most senior surviving officer said that "everything was against us that night" (no moon, no waves to cause 'surf' at the base of bergs making them easier to spot at night, etc.). Walter Lord, in his book The Night Lives On, the sequel to his best selling A Night To Remember mentioned Lightoller's testimony and his comment was:

"It is almost unbelievable that they sailed through iceberg infested waters for maybe 2 hours without coming to grief sooner".

"Everything was against us? It was a wonder she (Titanic) lasted as long as she did".

And, if they had missed the iceberg they would most certainly have had to slow down or stop for the rest of the night of the 14th/15th because there was a huge icefield and more icebergs further on past where they struck the berg. They wouldn't have made it to New York before Wednesday at the earliest in that case.

(I enlarged the painting a bit which is why it isn't as sharp as I would have liked):

@ Carl RE: reply #66

Always in hindsight of course, if only, shoulda coulda oughta etc.

They say it takes at least a minimum of 2 things to coincide to make things go wrong.
But seems Titanic had many things going against it.
It’s eerie when you think about his this book was written 14 years prior.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Titan:_Or,_Futility

Sophia wrote on Aug 7^th, 2020 at 8:10pm:


Yep, in other words "Make sure your little tugboat, etc. stays away from our propellers or bad things may happen". 

This is where one of the signs was fitted to Titanic, the other two were at the sides just out of view in this image (image courtesy of Titanic: Honor and Glory).



When Olympic arrived in New York on her maiden voyage in June 1911 one of the assisting tugboats got a bit too close to one of Olympic's wing propellers and was drawn into the side of the huge liner causing some damage to the tugboat - wasn't too serious and, fortunately, no-one was hurt.

Sophia wrote on Aug 7^th, 2020 at 8:10pm:


Hmm, never thought about toilets on the Titanic before. Lots of info here:

https://www.ranker.com/list/titanic-hygiene/melissa-sartore

Another link from that one:

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=TIKYAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA201&dq=public+bathtubs+t...

By the looks of it, if I were aboard in those days I may have preferred to "hang on" until the ship reached port... doubt I'd be able to hold it for almost a week though.

Sophia wrote on Aug 7^th, 2020 at 8:10pm:


Here's an updated version that someone uploaded to YouTube that's a lot 'smoother' and might look better on a big TV.



It just shows the insides of the ship and its a lot longer than the original one I posted the other day.

I've read that Morgan Robertson book The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility a few years back and it is rather uncanny although I did read somewhere once that post Titanic editions were 'embellished' a little to make it sound more similar to what happened to Titanic.

The part of the book where Titan encounters the iceberg is even more frightening than what happened to Titanic - the Titan 'runs up' onto an underwater ledge of the iceberg, stops, and tips over onto its side and then slowly slides back and sinks into the ocean in a matter of minutes and everyone aboard is killed except for John Rowland and the young girl.

I wonder if any pets survived?



“First-class passengers aboard the Titanic could bring their dogs; there were roughly 12 canines accompanying their owners on the ship. The Titanic had a kennel on the F Deck where John Hutchinson and a group of stewards or bellboys cared for the animals. Smaller dogs may have spent their time in their owners' cabins instead.
The dogs on the Titanic were walked daily along the poop deck, presumably cleaned up after by their handlers.
There were also several roosters and hens aboard the Titanic, and the ship had a resident cat named Jenny. Jenny was said to have birthed a litter of kittens the week before the Titanic set sail. The roosters and hens were owned by passenger Ella Holmes White, who was importing them to the United States from France.”

Carl D wrote on Aug 8^th, 2020 at 9:12am:


One would be excused for thinking the obvious 😊
Such play on words of co-incidence.