The "Going Down With The Ship" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Reading about one of the most-read tales ever told to the public.  The event I am going to review with you today happened over 100 years ago.  Perhaps when I begin my story you will recognize right away what I am going to remind you of  today.  About 110 years ago the newspapers were covered with stories about one of the biggest events that ever happened on the seas.  The public was beginning to gain knowledge of what perhaps caused the event.  First off, the crew had no training in manning, equipping or launching lifeboats.  Ah, you guessed it already, didn't you?  Continuing...The White Star Line and its personnel placed too much faith in the notion that the boat was unsinkable.  Beside that, the lifeboats could only accommodate less than half of its passengers.  And, to top all that off, the Captain proceeded through an area of the ocean that was littered with icebergs.  It was on April 15, 1912 that the unsinkable Titanic, with nearly 1,500 crew and passengers aboard, struck an iceberg and sank.  Since that time there have been many stories told, many accounts of the accident and even a movie made about the sinking of the Titanic.  As I read the story in this morning's LNP Newspaper, I wondered what it must have been like the day of and the day after the sinking of the Titanic took place.  So...I went online and read and read and read some more.  Published on April 16, 1912, a New York newspaper told that help reached the ship too late.  A newspaper from Montreal of the same date told that The Allan Line had issued a statement that read...We are in receipt of a Marconi via Cape Race from Captain Gambell of the Virginian stating that he arrived on the scene at the disaster too late to be of service.  Another headline from Halifax, N.S. on the same date read..."The Allan liner Parisian reports via Sable Island that she has no passengers from the Titanic on board.  The Parisian has just come into touch with the Sabine Island wireless station.  

The Semi-weekly Lancaster New Era ran headlines that read...More Than 1,300 Lives Lost As the Liner Titanic Sank.  Also...While Work of Transferring Her Passengers to Life Boats Was in Progress Early Monday Morning The Titanic Made Her Great Dive Into the Sea.  And, Cunard Liner Carpathia Picks Up From Life Boats Over 800 Persons and Is Preceeding to New York.  Off to the side in that newspaper was a smaller headline that read "Help Reached Her Too Late."

 In the April 27, 1912 News-Journal from Lancaster ran the headline Sensational Story At Titanic Inquiry.  I'm quite sure that every newspaper in the world ran headlines much the same as Lancaster, Pennsylvania ran in their newspapers those days after the sinking of the Titanic.  Many members of the White Star Line were quoted soon after the ship was said to be in trouble that it was impossible for the ship to sink.  P.A.S. Franklin, vice-president of the White Star Line stated: "We place absolute confidence in the Titanic.  We believe the boat is absolutely unsinkable.  We are not at all worried about the loss of the ship, but we are extremely sorry for the annoyance and inconvenience to our passengers and the traveling public."  24 hours later reality sunk in at the headquarters of the White Star Line.  There were reports in the newspaper about passengers rushing to the deck partly dressed, having been awoken from their beds by urgent calls to evacuate, and then getting into lifeboats in the frigid North Atlantic while scantily clad.  Shortly after the Lancaster New Era stated, "the sinking Titanic made her great dive into the sea, carrying with her hundreds of persons to death."  Being that the Titanic's first-class cabins were filled with the wealthiest members of the social elite of 1912, they received a large amount of media attention.  The Lancaster Morning Journal from April 17 dedicated most of its front page to the Titanic story, just as all local papers did for the entire week of the disaster.  As of that date it was still uncertain whom might have survived and whom didn't.  Among the rich and famous mentioned in that article were: John Jacob Astor IV who was one of the richest people in the world and member of the prominent Astor family.  Another was Isidor Straus, A Representative from New York and co-owner of Macy's department store.  Major Arcibald Butt, military aide to President William Howard Taft was on the ship as was Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line.  All but Ismay perished.  On a side note...Alfred G. Vanderbilt, tycoon of real estate and railroads, was said to be a passenger, but did not board the ship at the last minute.  Funny, but three years later he was on the RMS Lusitania that was torpedoed by a German U-boat.  There were no passengers from Lancaster on board the Titanic that fateful day, but a Mennonite Missionary from Boyertown, Berks county Pennsylvania, died in the event.  Her mother was so upset about losing her daughter that she died a year later from grief.  In the days following the sinking, local newspapers awaited the arrival of the Carpathia, a large boat that brought a load of Titanic survirors to New York on April 18.  Most lifeboats from the Titanic were filled with women and children.  The survivors paddled for hours in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, awaiting a rescue that none of them knew for certain would ever come.  One officer of the Titanic shot himself and of course, as has been reported over and over again, the ship's band played through the entire disaster from secular songs to hymns as the ship sank.  The Lancaster New Era story had these lines:  The Titanic sank, bow foremost, with 1,595 souls aboard, her captain at the bridge, her colors flying and her band playing "Nearer, My God, To Thee" in 2,000 fathoms of water, off the banks of New Foundland, under starlit skies, at 2:20 a.m. Monday."  By April 20, with the survivors on American land, the press began to pinpoint the problems that needed to be investigated.  Too few lifeboats, no training, etc. were talked about in most homes in the country.  And, the "Unsinkable Titanic" will be remembered and written about forever in United States history.  And, you have just read another of these accounts.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.