The Sinking of the RMS Titanic and other ships.

[louisa]

Very descriptive!

[Adam Went]

Helen Churchill Candee said:
"It was a fancy dress ball in Dante's hell."

Cheers,
Adam.

[louisa]

As Lightoller stated at the hearings:

"Everything was against us"

[Adam Went]

There was an article in, I believe, Shipbuilder magazine, as the ship was under construction, which contained the words practically or virtually unsinkable.

Then you had Captain Smith saying in an interview "I cannot conceive a situation which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."

Much was made of the fact that the ship actually went above and beyond the requirements for lifeboats - the regulations of the day stated she must carry a minimum of 16, whereas Titanic was fitted with 20.

So while not quite going so far as to say the "God himself couldn't sink this ship" adage, it was advertised and therefore rumoured to be the safest ship going around. And ironically, it probably was as well.

Cheers,
Adam.

[louisa]

The Titanic did put out a flyer that described the ship as 'virtually unsinkable'

[Bridewell]

Unsinkable?

I read "Infamous disasters" on the board-description here, and since there wasn't one about the most infamous martime disaster in the world, I thought I should create one.

I first read about the Titanic when I was in school and the whole tale of the "unsinkable ship" going down with 2/3 of its passengers is just too good of a story to forget.

.

To the best of my knowledge the whole "unsinkable" thing is a myth. The White Star Line cut back on the number of lifeboats, because their presence would clutter up the promenade decks and "the ship would act as her own lifeboat", the argument being that she would stay afloat long enough for rescuers to reach her before she sank. This was an arrogant assumption to make because, very sensibly, all shipping except RMS Titanic seems to have laid up for the night when ice was encountered.

[louisa]

Yes. R.I.P. those heroes of World War II.

[Adam Went]

Rememberance Day today - 11/11/11. Time to give a minute's silence in remembrance of all those who have fought and given their lives in conflicts around the world for the benefit of our generations, and for the purposes of this thread, notably those who have lost their lives at sea.

Lest we forget.

Cheers,
Adam.

[sdreid]

It is fascinating and if Harvey also killed a previous wife and her mother, as some suspect, then he could be called a serial killer by some definitions.

[louisa]

I'd never heard about this case. I've just looked it up on Wikipedia.

Fascinating.

[sdreid]

Since I mentioned it on another thread, I thought I'd note here that the 50th anniversary of the Bluebelle Incident is upon us. That was certainly a bizarre set of events with the inspiring story of a brave little girl who survived it all.

[Adam Went]

That's fantastic, Babybird. Sadly some of the youngest Titanic survivors who were alive until recently usually refused to speak about the diaster. Millvina Dean was really the only exception to the rule, and Eva Hart seems a very eloquent woman.

Cheers,
Adam.

[babybird67]

radio interviews with survivors...

thought this might be of interest to some:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/titanic/5058.shtml

[Adam Went]

Hi Jeff,

Seems you've managed to get most of the way through Dickens' work. Let's also not forget that Dickens wrote many short stories, along with other works such as the "Sketches By Boz" series, and the editorial work he did in his lifetime as well. He was certainly very prolific and churned out his work at high speed (A Christmas Carol was written in 3 weeks, I believe) and this may well have contributed to his declining health and premature death in 1870, though the infamous train crash a few years before that certainly didn't help either.

One must be careful to try and read the novel before watching movie adaptations, otherwise doing the latter first can ruin the novel reading experience.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Mayerling]

Jeff:

I've not had the change to read The Old Curiosity Shop as yet, though I do have the complete collection of Dickens' work, so i'm sure i'll get to it at some point. The death of Little Nell was actually the main focus of the criticism that I mentioned in my previous post.

As unbelievable as it might sound, I think we could safely say that Dickens never wrote a BAD novel as such, but like any author, actor, artist, whatever - some work is going to be stronger than others in the eyes of most.

Dickens certainly matured as a writer, culminating in his later, darker works such as Bleak House.

Also, unsure if you were aware of it or not, but since you mention Ikey Solomons as Fagin, recent research has also found that The Artful Dodger was also based on a real person, who was transported to Australia for his mischief. I wish I still had the link to the story as it really was fascinating, but certainly keep an eye out for anything related to that.

Louisa:

Yes, very good point!
"David Copperfield" alone features Mealy Potatoes, for instance.
Not to mention Wilkins Micawber, Uriah Heep, Ham Peggotty, Miss Mowcher, Mr. Creakle, etc etc....

Cheers,
Adam.

Hi Adam and Louisa,

I haven't read a Dickens novel for a decade. Last was THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, and DOMBEY preceeded that one. I read BLEAK HOUSE in college, and DAVID COPPERFIELD, OLIVER TWIST, NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, HARD TIMES and GREAT EXPECTATIONS before that (also PICKWICK AND CHUZZLEWIT). NICKLEBY I read aloud to my father when he was blind, doing different voices for the characters. Sir Mulberry Hawk was George Sanders, and Vincent Crummles was Sidney Greenstreet. Of course I also read A CHRISTMAS CAROL and even THE BATTLE OF LIFE.

As for the names, how about BLEAK HOUSE, with Turveydrop, the dancing master who apes the Prince Regent in dress. Or Harold Skimpole. Or Vholes. How about Pumberchook in Great Expectations, or even Abel Magwich. Or in DOMBEY my favorite school master's name, Dr. Blimber, who teaches a curriculum based on the Greek syllabus.

Jeff