Titanic, Titanic 2012

Titanic Musings: Titanic II, Friday scramble

A friend of mine called up to ask whether or not this tycoon is really serious about building Titanic II. When I first heard the news, my first reaction is “here we go again.” When Cameron’s movie came out there was the same talk. Reaction from around the world was somewhat the same but the Chinese shipyard confirmed a memorandum of understanding had been signed.

“We will try to build a liner that has the same dimensions as the original Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage 100 years ago. The Australian side is in charge of the design,” Li told China Daily on Wednesday.

From everything that is out there, this replica will look like Titanic but of course would be  modern in its shipbuilding and safety. No doubt should it ever be built it would be a hit. People will line up just to tour the ship in port The guy is clever is trying to drum up interest not only in Titanic II but in his own cargo ship business. It also is a pointed stab at European and American shipbuilding firms. Building Titanic II and his other ships will benefit China and cost less to build there than in either of those two places.

Today is Star Wars Day. I remember when Star Wars (1977) first came out. Wow! It was exciting and fun to watch. Many of my generation were thrilled to watch this movie on the big screen and it entertains today. While the trilogy (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) are considered good movies, the prequels less so. Lucas wanted to make the newer movies more relevant but made miscues both in plot and characters (Jar Jar Binks for one). The overall story of how the Republic fell to a Sith Lord and Darth Vader’s emergence from a young handsome Anakin Skywalker was sidelined by all the mush in those movies. Many of the Star Wars universe books have filled in the gaps. Star Wars still thrills and entertains both young and old.

With all the major Titanic memorials going on, sometimes the smaller ones get less noticed. John Woodward was a cellist aboard Titanic and his body was never found. A crumbling sandstone memorial in Heath Lane cemetery was all that was left to remember him (except for a brass plaque in a church). So local people took up the cause and raised funds to put up a new gravestone with the old one. You can view the interview with those behind it here . I think it says quite a lot about how Titanic has touched people.

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episodes IV – VI) [Blu-ray]
Star Wars Trilogy (A New Hope / The Empire Strikes Back / Return of the Jedi) (Widescreen Edition with Bonus Disc)

Titanic, Titanic 2012

Titanic Musings

With the 100th anniversary of Titanic’s sinking over, things have quieted down. News wires were jammed with Titanic themed stories, sometimes just repeating what others wrote. There were remembrances galore, Titanic dinners, heartfelt commemorations. And then inevitably come the commentators all trying to write that piece that sums up Titanic. I lit a candle and watched the movie  A Night To Remember based on Walter Lord’s book of the same name. Though we have modern treatments like Cameron’s and a recent BBC miniseries, this movie still resonates.

I recommend the Criterion collection version which has commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall. They provide lots of interesting details, historical and otherwise, to the movie. The movie does a good job of visualizing Lord’s book but does shift around some things and not always historically accurate (like the opening scene which depicts a ceremony christening Titanic which never happened). Captain Smith comes across as more decisive in the movie but in actuality less so. The movie tends to show the crew working better than in reality in lowering lifeboats. On Titanic most of the crew and officers were unfamiliar with the ship and there were no drills. We see also how frightening it was to step into those boats seeing how far down they had to be lowered. We also see two very different reactions to Titanic’s sinking on California and Carpathia.

The depiction of Lord in that movie caused the real Captain Lord to seek a new investigation believing he had been unfairly maligned. Lord came under severe criticism in 1912 for failing to act. Conflicting testimony and Lord’s own statement the ship seemed to steam away gave rise to theories of a third ship, but that has never been proven. What is damning is that neither the officers or him were that interested in that ship to wake-up the wireless operator. Had they done so the SOS would have been heard. Rostron on Carpathia sprung into immediate action once he got the information and immediately set off. It is that standard that Lord, fair or not, is held to. Now had Lord had learned the same information at the same time as Carpathia, the outcome would have been the same. Both would have arrived long after the sinking and most passengers had died. So to blame Lord for Titanic deaths is a stretch and both of those captains heeded the ice warnings and stopped for the night while Captain Smith sped on.

There are many stories associated with Titanic and one notable is about Isidor and Ida Straus. When Isidor declined a seat on a lifeboat insisting that women and younger men be saved before him, Ida declined a seat saying “I will not be separated from my husband.”  As we have lived so will we die together.” It is one of those stories, told by witnesses afterwords, that had a lingering impact on people who learned of it. Such a remarkable show of love and devotion tends to do that. While most people learn that Isidor Strauss owned Macy’s not much else is reported about his life. Wikipedia has a biographical sketch but does not give you a feel for who he really was.

Thankfully an article in Jewish Ideas Daily does. Born in 1845 in Otterberg, Germany, his family immigrated to America in 1854 and settled in Talbotton, Georgia. While his family was Jewish, the family no longer was observant and ate bacon from their own smokehouse. He tried enlisting in the Confederate Army but was too young (16) and spent the war working as a store clerk. After the war the family moved to New York where he and his brother Nathan ran a shop selling family glassware and crockery at Macy’s Department Store. By 1896 both Isidor and Nathan took over ownership after the Macy family decided to sell making Isidor a very wealthy man.

Despite having no Jewish education and a secularist, he supported many Jewish institutions and causes even many he did not agree with. He was ardently anti-Zionist and wrote scathingly of its cause. His brother Nathan though was a supporter after a trip to the Holy Land. Ida was more appreciative of Jewish traditions reminding her grown children to remember Pasach and to eat Matzos. Like many he believed himself no longer Jewish but assimilated. Isidor and Ida’s deaths was mourned. Many Jews had died on Titanic but their story was the most well known. Memorial services were held in many places, a park in their name opened three years later (Straus Park). There is a memorial plaque on the first floor of Macy’s in New York, a public school named after them, and Straus Hall at Harvard (a gift from his three sons).

Walter Lord Still Lives On

Walter Lord’s A Night To Remember  first published in 1955 is enjoying record sales, print and e-versions. According to an AP report, 30,000 downloads of the e-edition were recorded by Open Road Integrated Media–the digital publisher. This is an excellent book. Check your local library to see if they have the old or newer editions of the book. It is worth reading and Lord’s excellent writing style does not disappoint. His book about Dunkirk is also highly praised. Worth a read if you come across it.

The Dark Side of Titanic

Gerry Adams penned an op-ed piece in the Irish Echo about Titanic. Adams, of course, was one of those agitating against the British in Northern Ireland for many years. So it comes as no surprise, despite the peace accords, that he would take a whack at British dominated Ireland in 1912. Harland & Wolff did not hire many Catholics, some were expelled, beaten or even killed. He writes further of the bad conditions Catholics endured and the divisions festered by government and business owners. It is interesting that while Adams praises the promising jobs created by Titanic themed building in Belfast, he wants no one to forget the society that built it. He praises Titanic but rues the society that built it.

Here We Go Again….Titanic II

Right after James Cameron’s movie came out there were people saying they wanted to build Titanic II. Nothing came of them, except lots of chatter on the Internet. Fast forward to 2012 and guess what? Some very rich guy who lives down under wants to build Titanic II. Oh and with Chinese help! It is his money, of course, so he is free to spend it as he wishes. However one wonders if it all just publicity stunt for something else. Whatever. Not holding my breath for tickets available for Titanic II in the near future.

Tacky Titanic:Titanic icecube

 

Need I say more?


Titanic, Titanic 2012

Titanic Musings-Ballard Wishes He Claimed Titanic

Right now the artifacts raised from Titanic are up for auction but only as a single lot. RMS Titanic, Inc. did not like this restriction since it makes hard to find a buyer or group of buyers willing to put up $189 million. However the proposed auction has been delayed and a press release yesterday indicates they are in negotiations with multiple parties. A press conference originally scheduled for 11 April has been put off until further notice. One wonders who these buyers might be considering the huge price tag. It could be a consortium of museums, government entities, or very wealthy business people who want to continue the exhibition.

Robert Ballard, who was part of the expedition that found Titanic in 1985, now regrets disclosing its location. Further he wishes now he could have made a claim on the wreck to prevent salvage. Except of course he could not have done so easily. Likely he would be excluded do his association with Wood’s Hole at the time. Wood’s Hole received government money and worked with the U.S. Navy. And government employees and those who work or affiliated with government are excluded from making salvage claims (which would give them an unfair advantage over private companies). Then there is the fact that Ballard was a reserve naval officer. Ballard knows this making his recent claim on National Public Radio curious. Then again perhaps it was just wistful thinking on his part.

Perhaps even more odd is the United Nations stance in the manner. Some years ago there was an attempt to secure a treaty to protect Titanic from further salvage. The proposed signatories would have been Britain, France, Canada, and the United States. The Titanic Treaty was never formally ratified and thus never came into effect (supposedly because France did not want to sign). But UNESCO apparently has included Titanic as protected under a 2001 convention on underwater cultural heritage. This comes into effect this year according to MSNBC thus any further salvage would allow parties to the convention to seize artifacts and prevent exploration that is “deemed unscientific or unethical.”

The problem is that no one is going to enforce this if the party involved either follows maritime law to salvage or is simply diving down to view the wreck. Simply diving down to view is allowed despite a foolish court action by RMS Titanic, Inc years ago to stop it (they lost, by the way). And UNESCO can do nothing if artifacts are raised and taken to a country that tells them to take a hike (like China or Russia). This sounds like your typical feel good thing that makes one feel good but actually achieves very little in the end.

That leaves Doug Wooley, who claims to own Titanic and wants to raise it, with a problem. Good luck on that Doug, 🙂

Titanic

Letters To Editor: Captain Smith Was At Fault

1 Comment

Titanic News Channel welcomes Letters To Editor. Please try to keep to 250 words. Please provide your name, location, and email address. Letters are subject to editing for punctuation and brevity.

Captain Smith Was At Fault

The musings ended and the facts finally were and are now accepted as fact. Captain Smith committed an incredibly egregious error in not standing his ground against Ismay and instead of keeping the ship still it moved ahead slowly and just enough to drive in enough water to overwhelm the pumps such that the fire damaged bulkhead gave way and the ocean went into the boiler room like a tsunami of doom. Author David G. Brown (“Last Log of the Titanic) brought this fact to the foreground. It is now accepted universally as a fact of a mistake of the highest order.

Mr. Brown also states that when Smith was last on the bridge the Titanic was already seeing, and steering around bergs. That Smith did not then slow the ship down and order a reassessment of the potential ice field ahead nor, at the very least, post a lookout on the bow (where there was a canvas cover and phone just for such a situation) are errors that make Smith’s ability to make decisive decisions clear. Even his oddly curt and detached chat on the Bridge with Lightoller reads like someone saying as little as possible so as not to give away his impairment.

Smith should have been retired after the Olympics collision with the Hawke. The size of liners and their effect on water and objects near to these giants was clearly lost on him. He was so self aggrandizing that he decided to head out, bow first, with a dash as the ship left Belfast only to be saved by a hair from repeating the Hawke accident with the pulling of the New York within feet of colliding with the Titanic. The hour delay he caused should have caused, a more clear minded C.E.O. than Ismay, to relieve the Captain of his duties right then and there.

Compared to Captain Rostron of the rescue ship Carpathia; Smith’s actions are simply dismissed as his being “overwhelmed”. That mat be true and if so it does nothing to suggest that he should not have been retired after the Olympic accident. That it was one full hour after the collision that the first lifeboat was launched places his image next to the Captain of the Costa Concordia who also launched his boats to late. Forget the sun and moon effect on tides, forget a possible wrong turn by the cagey Lightoller, the buck stops with a ships Captain. Captain Smith had no business as the master of a ship whose size heralded the passing of the time when Smith was relevant or competent to handle such a vessel.

Of all the important people who could not get into a lifeboat, including John Jacob Astor, but that the people who hosted that last nights dinner for Captain Smith; the Wideners did get into a boat is further evidence that the Titanic was a haphazard mess waiting for a disaster. If not that night, then some other night. Smith can be heralded by any who choose to. But they do so against solid evidence against him.

Daniel Conaway

Titanic, Titanic 2012

Titanic Musings

Titanic. Put that into a search engine and you get a lot back. Lots of sites to explore devoted to the subject (shameless plug alert for Titanic News Channel) along with sites that incorporate it in some fashion. Of course the entertainment news sites are full of stuff about the stars of that Cameron movie and what they think today about their roles. The movie is still widely popular and many will likely see the 3-D version. It is a visually stunning movie with perhaps the best recreation of what the ship and people looked like in 1912.

The 100th anniversary of the sinking has spurred many an event around the world, so many it is hard to keep track of. Why does Titanic still grab us long after sank in 1912? Recently while viewing an old National Geographic on India’s historic railway, the narrator noted that images linger long after leaving. And that is possibly at play here. Many who learn about Titanic get an image of a grand ship, of the people who worked on it, of the people who sailed on her from the highest to the lowest, and the image of the grand ship sinking on a cold moonless night taking with her 1,500 souls. Some were well known men and women, others just people working the ship to make money or traveling to a new life in the United States. The images linger.

Walter Lord’s  A Night To Remember (and later its sequel The Night Lives On) connected people to what happened in 1912. When it came out in 1955, people rediscovered the story which had lain dormant through two world wars and the Great Depression. It spurred a 1958 movie, A Night To Remember, which became a classic and many consider to be faithful to the actual story. Lord interviewed many Titanic survivors and did considerable research for his book. Both the movie and the book relay images from a time that linger with you. Perhaps it is seeing the Strauss’ deciding to stay aboard or Guggenheim dressed in his Sunday best. Or the people rowing away watching the ship go down. While some survivors reported the ship broke in two, that was discounted at the hearings but verified in 1985 when the wreck was found.

Other images have come into focus as well, such as seeing images of the wreck. The stern section is completely twisted and torn up likely because of trapped air inside as it went down. The front still has the outline of the famous ship but it too shows damage. Many artifacts have been brought up from the debris field, many of which are part of the traveling Titanic Exhibition. People may disagree over whether salvage was right or not, but seeing the artifacts of those who traveled aboard make the story come alive. And the story continues to thrive all over the place such as school kids doing Titanic themed projects or people putting up small displays about Titanic in a retirement home.

The wreck is suffering the ravages of time. Robert Ballard believes submarine excursions to the wreck have caused damage but there is disagreement. Some think that trash dumped by ships nearby is causing more bacteria activity that is eating away at the wreck. One thing is certain: the wreck will not last forever. Some argue the front section could be brought up (Douglas Wooley for instance) and put on display. Many, however, believe that would be an impossible task considering how deeply embedded the ship is in the sand. The images of the wreck remain with us as a haunting reminder of what if. What if this had been done instead of that. There are many things that if had been done differently might have averted the catastrophe and tragedy to come. Sometimes we get a jolt when a ship like Costa Concordia ends up on the rocks reminding all of the perils at sea even in our modern times.

There have been many notable and even worse shipwrecks than Titanic. Yet despite that Titanic lingers in the mind more than those events. The images linger.


Titanic, Titanic 2012

Titanic Artifacts Linked To First Officer Murdoch

The Associated Press reports today that certain artifacts recovered from Titanic have been identified as William Murdoch’s. The AP notes: The artifacts — including a shoe brush, straight razor and pipe — are the first to be specifically linked to Murdoch, who gained added notoriety after James Cameron’s polemical portrayal of him in the 1997 blockbuster movie “Titanic.”

You can read the full article and see a photo of the artifacts by clicking here.

Source: Associated Press, Titanic Artifacts Linked To Officer, 3 April 2012

Titanic, Titanic Miscellaneous

Who Really Found Titanic?

Does it really matter who found Titanic? Yes if you believe it was found before 1985. There have always been nagging claims that others found it, either private salvors or via classified naval operations. We know Ballard learned its approximate location during a classified naval operation involving the sunken U.S. submarine Scorpion. Ballard and the team got the credit in 1985 primarily because they could actually prove it. Claims that emerged fall into two distinct categories: (1) previous expeditions to locate Titanic that may have located the wreck; (2) classified U.S. or Royal Navy missions that may have located the wreck and kept secret for national security reasons.

Paul Lee has a fascinating web page on the subject (http://www.paullee.com/titanic/titanicfound.html) and goes through the many threads this story takes. It is worth a read to understand why many claim Ballard was not the first one to locate Titanic. Is it possible that others located Titanic? Sure but without any real proof such as statements under oath and documents that can be verified, there is not much to back up many of the claims. Paul Lee notes recently of hydrographic studies done that may have found the wreck, though not necessarily knowing exactly what they found. A 1980 study appears have passed right over the wreck and may have located it. But there is no way to prove that right now.

So we are left with some tantalizing possibilities but nothing that can definitively prove that Titanic was found prior to 1985.

***
Many have heard the name Douglas Wooley. He is the British chap who claims to own Titanic (the wreck at any rate) and also argues for Titanic being found prior to 1985. He is now seeking investors to raise Titanic (and Queen Elizabeth I). You can get information at http://www.swsalvors.co.uk.

Titanic, Titanic Exhibitions

Plantation Historical Museum To Hold Titanic Exhibit

The Plantation Historical Museum in Plantation, Florida will have a Titanic Exhibit from 14 April -30 Jun 2012. The grand opening and reception takes place on 14 April from 2:00-4:00 PM. A special presentation of A Night To Remember will take place from 5:30-8:30 PM. Admission is free. For more information about Plantation Historical Museum, go to http://www.plantation.org/Museum/index.html.

Titanic

Letters To Editor

2 Comments

Titanic News Channel welcomes letters from readers. Please try to keep letters no longer than 150 words. Letters longer than that may be subject to editing. Please include your name (real, not email name), your phone number, and city of residence. You can send letters to editor@titanicnewschannel.com.

Titanic/Jesuit/Illuminati
April 14, 2012 is the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and a lot of presumption as to why it sank is imposed on human error as if all these seemingly non-coincidental events, and sporadic instances occurred together to equal the solution to why it sank. So the story of events (not chronologically) goes like this: 1) Ignored warnings 2) Ship speed to meet the arrival time 3) Men on duty sleeping 4) Warnings not given to the captain 5) Steel rivets used in damaged area of ship 6) Iron rivets used on the rest of the ship 7) The navigation through (instead of around) the ice fields brought south by the Labrador current, (there are many other examples to follow). What if these are not coincidences (as I am suggesting), but a plan to assassinate the wealthy men who could stand in the way of getting the Federal Income Tax approved, and the Federal Reserve bank off the ground?

In 1898 the novella by Morgan Robertson (1861-1915) entitled “The Wreck of the Titan” was published. There are many similarities between the fictional Titan and the Titanic. Aside from the names both ships were the largest liners of the time. Both didn’t have enough life boats, they were moving at speeds to fast for conditions, lost almost the same amount of people. The Titan had an unplanned meeting with an ice shelf. The Titanic had a planned docking with an ice shelf but hit an iceberg first. Could this novella have been the blue print for the men from Jekyll Island to carry out their evil plan to govern the world via a central bank? The construction of the Titanic started in 1909 funded by J.P. Morgan (a Jesuit who hand picked the captain of the Titanic, also a Jesuit (who was given last rites before sailing). Jesuits hide under the cloak of religion. It is interesting to point out that the Titanic was not christened (The word “christen” comes from English culture and isn’t properly defined in the modern day.  It obviously derives from the word “Christ”, and means “to bring to Christ”). Could Cilia Thaxter’s poem “A Tryst” (1896) have been a precursor as well? Other names associated with supposed Titanic prophecy: W.T. Stead (who was on the Titanic), Mayn Clew Garnett, William Winthrop (writer, also on the Titanic).

Some of the wealthy men on board like millionaire John Jacob Astor IV, Macy’s owner Isidor Strauss and industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim opposed a federal tax and a central bank because a central bank would of [and does] drop the value of the amassed wealth these men had accrued (let’s not forget that a federal tax is unjust weights and measures). (Earlier in history a debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson over a centralized bank left Jefferson telling Hamilton that a centralized bank “would give the government too much power”). In the book “Bloodlines of the Illuminati” it is suggested that events like the Civil War, Kennedy’s assassination and the Titanic sinking were mere Illuminati family feuds carried out on a grand stage. For all the world to see, and to hide the crimes in plain sight. The Illuminati like to hide there tracks by throwing their blood money into bribery for willing stooges (the Illuminati have even hired The Mob for dirty work). It has been suggested that the Illuminati paid Spain to supply Nazi Germany with oil to keep the war effort going. Even today we see the Lee (Li) family infiltrating Hollywood. Were Bruce and Brandon Lee’s deaths accidents or premeditated murder?

The book “Creature from Jekyll Island” deals with the secret 1910 meeting of Illuminati delegates, and the birth of the federal income tax and Federal Reserve Bank (which operates in fiat money (which means they make money off of the honest taxpayer’s money). If every citizen were to withdraw all their money at once the Federal Reserve would collapse. In an article dated February 9, 1935 Frank Vanderlip (In Dutch means “from the lip”) (Does God have a sense of humor or what?) spilled the beans in the Saturday Evening Post of the proceedings at Jekyll Island, Georgia. How they used code names, private cars and separate travel arrangements were made to maintain secrecy. It is also interesting to note that the game Monopoly went of sale in 1935 (notice the dates). The game’s premise is to monopolize your opponent. Could this have been a panoramic evasion technique to cover up, or to hide in plain sight the proceedings of an Illuminati monopoly (with respects to the Federal Reserve)? (Pun intended).

It is also interesting that J.P. Morgan died in 1913 the year the Federal Income tax became effective, and the Federal Reserve was established. 1913 is a year after Titanic sank. John D. Rockefeller founds Rockefeller Institute and donates $100 million dollars as initial grant. In 2001 The Rockefellers donates $40 million (plus) to new era teaching, and inner city projects after the 9/11 disaster. Are these coincidences or comprehensive plans being unveiled? I believe it is the Illuminati economy (how things work together) and the panoramic picture that we need to peer into. The reason for our current financial economic woes is (generally put) the Federal Reserve’s lack of concern for the gold standard, and the unconstitutional issuance of paper money (Article 1, section 10) another way to make greed palatable. The Federal Reserve System is said to be unsinkable.

It is interesting to note that the Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable. There was a tale told in a sermon of a welder who worked on the construction of the ship etching in one of the steel plates “I defy God to sink this ship”. One of the welder’s work mate’s was very nervous of the challenge leveled to God, a challenge that proved to be founded. They were many sermons given (as you can imagine) about this disaster being God’s judgment on man’s pride. While I believe that God’s hand was in it, the evil men who constructed this event, were not compelled, but operated of their own volition (Acts 2:23).

Rowland is a character in “The Wreck of the Titan”. In the novella his character was assassinated by others. They said he had kidnapped Myra (when in truth he rescued Myra (after the Titan had hit an ice shelf head on), and saved her from a polar bear (among other obstacles and trials), and returned her to her frantically awaiting parents. I mentioned this excerpt because that is what evil does. It twists the truth to harm the innocent. How many innocent were on board the Titanic? In Halifax, Nova Scotia where many victims are memorialized. The passengers are listed not by financial status, class seating, by age (oldest to youngest) or by destination, but by SAVED or LOST, which is precisely how God looks at us.
Now I saved the best evidence for last. The Titanic officially sank at 2:20 A.M. on April 15th, 1912. What is the deadline for our current Federal Income tax? April 15th. Tell me that these crooks are not hiding in plain sight?

After 100 years we may have to wipe away the dust or even break out the baking soda and hot water to clean away the years of corruption. I posed a theory to my Face book congregation, with many interesting comments. One stands out. “How did they get the iceberg to cooperate?” What people don’t seem to reconcile here is that the captain was heading right into danger according to some Jesuit devotion to a Kamikaze agenda. This was a mass assassination success. The propaganda did its job by getting people to think these are random acts, and there was no intentional crime being committed in plain sight. I think an excerpt from Carl Sandberg’s poem “The People Yes” answers that (as well as the smugness of the Illuminati machine).

“Isn’t that an iceberg on the horizon, Captain?”
“Yes Madam.”
“What if we get into a collision with it?”
“The iceberg, Madam, will move right along as if nothing happened.”

The Literary Digest article (May 4, 1912) reads: “The disease that is gnawing at our civilization are the love of money and passion of luxury, those two combined are what sunk the Titanic.”

Michael Ramel
Port Washington, WI


Titanic, historic ship, and general history news.