What Would You Have Done Differently...
By twoey68
@twoey68 (13627)
United States
May 8, 2008 8:38am CST
Most ppl have heard of the Titanic, the unsinkable ship. It was a top of the line luxury ship that could carry up to 3,547 passengers and crew. It was fitted with 20 lifeboats which was what was required at the time although there were not enough to hold everyone on board.
On a fateful journey on April 15, 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg tearing a hole in her hull and causing her to eventually sink. In a panic to get off the sinking ship lifeboats were half filled and sent off. Leaving 1,517 passengers and crew to die. Although all would not have gotten off b/c there wasn’t enough lifeboats to start with more would have been saved if cooler heads had prevailed. The first class passengers on the Titanic were some of the wealthiest and most prominent ppl in the world.
After the ship sank, only ONE lifeboat came back to rescue those still in the freezing water. Only one. No one else would come back even though there was plenty of room.
I would like to think that if I’d been a passenger on the ship and had been in a life boat I could have convinced the rest to go back for survivors though I probably would have gotten tossed out of the lifeboat if I had tried. Had I been one of the crew in charge of loading I would have tried harder to fill the life boats as full as possible.
If you had been on the Titanic would you have gotten in the first lifeboat you could reach? Would you have tried to go back and help others after the ship sank? If you were a crewmember would you have tried to fill the lifeboats fuller or just sent them off as they did?
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
5 people like this
16 responses
@twallace (2675)
• United States
8 May 08
I'm not a boat person and i would not have gotten on that boat in the first place. Can you imagine all those people that lost there lives on the night and it was cold at that. The ship sunk hitting an iceberg. That is more that i want to think about. Then i have to look at it like this it could have happened to anyone at anytime.
1 person likes this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
11 May 08
If I werew crew member and the Titantic was my only home, I wouldn't have gone down with the ship. I wouldn't been one of those people dealing with the passengers, I would have been one of the guys, yes I would have been male, helping to save the ship.
@Bizziebod (3497)
•
28 May 08
To be honest I don't think there is much anyone could have done differently, imagine the panic, the terror - would there have anyone there actually thinking rationally at the time - would you have thought rationally? I doubt I would have. The reason why the lifeboats didn't come back was because when large ships sink like this it drags everything down with it in it's area, these people would have been wise to keep away from it. The only lessons would be that people learned from this mistake.
@newzealtralian (3930)
• Australia
28 May 08
Definitely I would have taken a rescue boat back. Even if I had to knock all objectors out of it first. Why should only the rich be saved, when in truth, it is the poorer classes that make our world go round.
I would also have pointed out that the more people in the boats, the less likelyhood there would be of everyone freezing their butts off.
Obviously, I would mostly likely be thrown overboard myself, but I would have at least stood up for my beliefs.
@dragonfly242 (1060)
• Bahamas
9 May 08
We would all like to think that we would have done things differently but who's to say?
I would like to think that i would have been one of the rich on that faithful cruise, but i dont think so.I would also like to think that i would have tried to save as much people that i possibly could have.I do know that had i made it off the ship in an almost empty lifeboat i would have gone back to look for survivers.But i do believe things were handled poorly.It seems as if everyone concerned were so convinced that the ship was unsinkable that they had no legitimit plans for survival should the need arise, unfortunatly it did.
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
8 May 08
I would've tried to fill the life boats as full as possible and come back looking for survivors, if I was in a boat not full to the brim! Hard to believe only one lifeboat did so!
@DavidReedy (2378)
• United States
8 May 08
I would, ideally, like to reply as you did. But it's hard to say what any of us would have done under those circumstances--that much terror--the groupthink, the risk of sinking ship sucking your own lifeboat under, etc.
@LilyoftheThorns (12918)
• United States
9 May 08
If I were a crew member with any authority (although I think back then girls couldn't do this right?) I would have defeniatly tried to get the life boats filled as much as they could handle. It was stupid the lifeboats were half filled, there's no good reasons for that. It was an absolute, selfish waste of human life.
@Mirita (2668)
• United States
8 May 08
I think people were scared that their lifeboats would sink too ,and at the end there would be no survivals. This is problably why only one lifeboat came back. On the hand, probably I would had tried to save as many people as possible if I was in a position of powder.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
8 May 08
twoey I like to think that I would have stayed
behind a little to help load the boats as full
as possible. then I would have insisted they
go back to pick up the people in the water.
they probably could have save a lot more
had they gone back and picked up all that they
could carry in any one boat.
@tyc415 (5706)
• United States
8 May 08
Since I can not swim I would have gotten on the first life boat I could find. As for going back and helping others after the boat sank since I can not swim that would have been impossible for me to do. If I was a member of the crew I would have put as many people as possible on each life boat as long as it would stay afloat.
