Halloween Decoration in Fall Vera Kratochvil Publicdomainpictures.net
October is the 10th month on the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Under the old Roman calendar this was the eighth month and retained its name. October in the Northern Hemisphere begins the full transition to Autumn while in the Southern Hemisphere it is Spring.
Jack-o-lantern Pumpkins Glowing in the Dark Petr Kratochvil, publicdomainpictures.net
Autumn harvests are underway this month with apples, artichokes, cranberries, pears, and pumpkins becoming widely available in many areas. Pumpkins are important this time of year as decorations and the source for pumpkin pie and delicious roasted pumpkin seeds. In Ireland they used to use turnips to keep old Stingy Jack from entering their homes this time of the year. Carving them into menacing faces and with a candle near them, it would send old Stingy Jack (and any other ghost) away! When the Irish came to America, they found the pumpkin. Unlike a turnip, which is not so easy to carve, the pumpkin was much easier to use. And you could put a candle inside it was well. Soon this tradition, and many others they brought with them, would end up becoming a major Halloween icon in the United States.
October also brings with it Oktoberfest, a major event in Munich, Germany that spread into Europe, the United States and South America. It began in 1810 to honor a Bavarian royal wedding and now is in many places like a carnival with rides, lots of German themed food and of course beer. Beer of all kinds, especially craft beers find their ways to such events to be judged. Octoberfest usually goes from mid-September to October (it used to end on the first Sunday in October) but it usually goes on later these days. One figure estimates the consumption of beer to be around 1.85 million gallons (7 million liters) of beer. Now that is a lot of beer!
The first full moon of October is often called Hunter’s Moon. For 2024, it will be a super moon. During October the Moon orbits closer to Earth than any other time of the year. In the years when it is a super moon, it will look bigger and brighter than usual. And near sunset, it can appear larger and more orange. It certainly is important for this time of year when, according to some beliefs, the walls separating dimensions seems to thin allowing for ghosts and other things to be seen. In Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, it is this time of year that a traveling carnival appears looking for souls to ensnare.
Haunted House JL Field publicdomainpictures.net
Of course, the big event in October is Halloween or more properly All Hallows Eve on October 31. What used to be a day to prepare for the feast of All Saints and All Souls Days now has morphed into an event primarily for children to put on masks and ask neighbors for a treat. Haunted House exhibits are open, hayrides through a haunted landscape, and of course scary movies to watch. We get the obligatory Halloween themed commercials and lots of scary themed promos. Many parents opt to have simpler old-fashioned celebration with friends and children assembling for food, entertainment, and of course hearing very spooky stories.
The Coast Guard hearing into the Titan submersible catastrophe has concluded. The hearing revealed interesting details about the company, Rush Stockton and the submersible. Testimony indicates that Rush downplayed warnings about Titan’s reliability and safety. He was confident that it was safe. However, some testimony indicated there were problems with the craft that came up when it was diving. There was refutation that the company was focused solely on tourism and Titanic and that it was focused on making the ocean accessible to everyone. We also learned that there was no formal inspection done of the craft done by the Coast Guard.
That issue concerned one former employee, Matthew McCoy, who was a Coast Guard veteran and worked as an operations technician for about six months. He was concerned that classifying people as mission specialists rather than passengers would violate Coast Guard regulations. And also, that the Coast Guard had not cleared the submersible. He would learn after he left the company, which he thought was well run, had severed ties with both Boeing and the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory. He left the company over Stockton’s dismissal of Coast Guard investigating him and his comment he would buy off a congressman to make it go away.
Another issue the hearing looked into was the response to the emergency itself. Questions have been raised as to how slow it seemed to be to get all the necessary equipment to find Titan. Capt. Jamie Frederick, who helped lead the rescue effort, testified the biggest problem was getting the ROVs capable of diving down to Titanic. And also all the support equipment needed for it. They were able to get it together as quickly as they could but it took a “logistical tour de force.” The banging noises issue came up as well. Sounds were detected at regular intervals that some thought might be someone banging inside the submersible. However the data they studied indicates that was not the case and has been classified as an acoustic anomaly. Information about it was not revealed at the time as it was classified.
“It wasn’t for us to share with the family or with the public. It was one piece of data. It wasn’t definitive.” (Captain Jamie Frederick, U.S. Coast Guard)
One of the complications Frederick noted was conflicting information. At the time, they did not know about the slight shudder that the mast of the Polar Prince had detected just before losing contact with Titan. If they had known about that at the time, it would have changed the equation but could not answer how that would have changed the operation. Jason Neubauer, who chaired the investigation, noted that the Coast Guard is now changing how it handles whistleblower information. David Lochridge, an OceanGate employee who was fired after he raised concerns, submitted information to the Coast Guard that was not widely distributed but will be in the future.
Neubauer stated more investigative work needs to be done and more hearings may occur if warranted. He could not provide a timeline when it will wrap up its investigation and issue a report. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will issue a separate report on the implosion. If the reports indicate criminal charges be filed, then it will be turned over to the Justice Department for review and prosecution.
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The Coast Guard hearings on the Titan submersible tragedy began last week. We learned last week from a former employee of concerns about the structural integrity of the submersible. Here are more news and videos to watch about the hearings. So far, the picture of the company is not a good one.
The man who co-founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush has revealed the answers to what really went wrong on the Titanic excursion may never be known. Guillermo Sohnlein told a Coast Guard panel Monday that he can’t say what exactly led to the submersible implosion in June 2023 that killed five people. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know who made what decision when and based on what information,’ he said. ‘And honestly, I don’t know if any of us will ever know this, despite all of your team’s investigative efforts.’ Sohnlein could only say that the incident, which claimed the lives of adventurer Hamish Harding, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, ‘was not supposed to happen.’
Key points
Testified that OceanGate was planning on building 8 such submersibles and would not use a mothership to cut costs.
Contradicted testimony of former employee David Lochridge, who alleged OceanGate was all about profit. Said company was not driven by the idea of tourism or Titanic, which had already been explored.
Said Rush Stockton, who died in the implosion, was confident in the submersible.
Coast Guard released a 2018 redacted transcript between Stockton and Lochridge. Stockton insists he listened to his criticisms and that Lochridge was unhappy with the results. Stockton insisted the submersible was safe.
The Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) releases remotely operated vehicle footage of the Titan submersible’s salvage from June 26, 2023, for the Titan MBI hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, Sept. 23, 2024. As part of the investigation, the wreckage was recovered and transported to a secure facility for detailed analysis. (Video courtesy of Pelagic Research Services)
Businessman Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Stockton Rush, said the original vision was to create a fleet of four or five deep-diving submersibles capable of carrying five people to 6,500 yards deep. The plan for the company was to have no dedicated mothership.
“We wanted to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean,” Sohnlein said. Sohnlein ultimately left the company before the Titan disaster in June 2023. Rush was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded. Though Sohnlein left the Washington company years ago, he defended its efforts in the aftermath of the submersible’s implosion.
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Coast Guard Standard (not the same as used for law enforcement) 1964. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
More than a year after the Titan submersible imploded, killing all five voyagers on board, the story of the ill-fated expedition to the Titanic has taken the form of a modern-day Greek tragedy overflowing with mortal pride and heedlessness. Testimony during the first week of a hearing by a US Coast Guard panel probing the disaster has painted a damning portrait of the Washington-based company that developed and operated the 23,000-pound submersible as well as its founder – who charged deep-pocketed passengers about $250,000 per dive. “What this really comes down to is hubris and greed,” Peter Girguis, a Harvard University professor and oceanographer who has been monitoring the hearing, told CNN. “It’s both tragic and ironic that this example of hubris occurred within a few 100 meters or yards of another example of hubris, which is the Titanic,” he added, referring to another infamous maritime disaster involving what was the largest passenger ship in service and considered “unsinkable” when it struck an iceberg in 1912.
The Titan appeared to be off course on its way to the Titanic, so the crew decided to use thrusters so the submersible could make its way to the wreck, Hagen said. The starboard thruster failed to activate, he said. “We realized that all it could do was spin around in circles, making right turns,” Hagen said. “At this juncture, we obviously weren’t going to be able to navigate to the Titanic.” Hagen said the Titan dropped weights, resurfaced and the mission was scrapped. He said he was aware of the potentially unsafe nature of getting in the experimental submersible. “Anyone that wanted to go was either delusional if they didn’t think that it was dangerous, or they were embracing the risk,” he said.
The U.S. Coast Guard released new footage of the doomed OceanGate Titan submersible’s hull filmed via a remotely operated vehicle at the bottom of the ocean.
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Disclaimer: The following videos are here for informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed in the videos are solely from their creators and not from Titanic News Channel.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Public Domain (Wikipedia)
On 23 September 1806, and amid much public excitement, the expedition of William Clark and Meriweather Lewis returned to St. Louis, Missouri. They were the first to record an overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast and back. They had set out two years ago and came back with a wealth of knowledge about the territory of the newly purchased Louisiana Purchase. Under President Jefferson, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803 for a price of 3 cents per acre for some 828,000 square miles of land. It is considered one of the best land deals ever. Jefferson commissioned the expedition of Lewis and Clarke to explore this territory and report back what they found.
The expedition left in May 1804 with about four dozen men and equipment. Traveling up the Missouri River in six canoes and two longboats they would winter in Dakota before crossing into Montana where they saw the Rocky Mountains for the first time. They would meet the Shoshone Indians on the other side of the Continental Divide, who would sell them horses. The journeyed through the Bitterroot Mountains, down the rapids of the Clearwater and Snake rivers, until they reached the Columbia River and to the sea. They arrived at the Pacific Ocean on 8 November 1805 and were the first European explorers to do this overland from the east.
They paused for the winter and then made their journey back to St. Louis in the spring. The journals that were kept noted longitude and latitude with detailed notes on soil, climate, animals, plants, and native peoples. They identified new plants and animals (the grizzly bear for one). They also named geographic locations after themselves, loved ones, friends and even their dog. They experienced a variety of diseases and injuries during their journey but only one person perished. Their expedition is considered one of the most consequential and remarkable in U.S. history. Their travels in Oregon would lead the U.S. to able claim territorial rights later.
There are two equinoxes in the year, Autumn (September) and Spring (March). When these equinoxes occur the sun is directly on the equator, and the length of day and night is almost equal. In the Northern hemisphere, the September Equinox heralds autumn but the opposite below the equator where it heralds the beginning of spring. Go here to see the time it begins in your area.
Solstices and Equinoxes Image: NASA
For those of us in the North, it means a transition from summer to winter. During this period days start getting shorter and nights longer. Depending on where you live, you will likely have moderate warm days followed by long and cooler nights. Harvests of many crops often take place during the fall and in the old days you would make preparations to store food for the winter. Harvest festivals are very popular and in particular Halloween. Pumpkins begin appearing along with all kinds of Halloween decor culminating, of course, in All Hallows Eve (Halloween) on October 31.
Harland & Wolff David and Goliath crane in Belfast, 2006 Plastic Jesus (Dave) via Wikimedia Commons
The 163-year-old shipbuilder known for building Titanic has declared itself insolvent and put into administration. This is the second time in two years it has done this. The company’s board of directors said in a statement that there is a credible path forward for the company. Teneo, which handles administration under such circumstances, will take over the day-to-day operations of the company during this period. All non-core operations were already in the process of being shut down and employees in those areas are expected to lose their jobs. One marine services business is being sold, so it’s employees may retain their jobs.
The shipyards will remain open during this time and contracts it has will continue to be fulfilled. Of concern is a UK Royal Navy contract. A government spokesman said the government was concerned but has been told no jobs at the shipyard or core operations are at stake. Navantia, the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder, has expressed interest. Navantia is a partner in the program to build the Royal Navy vessels in which Harland & Wolff is a subcontractor. The UK defense contractor Babcock International is also interested as well. Creditors will be the first to get any payments required under any contracts they have with the company. Shareholders in the publicly traded company (trading in the stock was stopped a while back) will lose their investment.
David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations who worked at the company from 2015 to 2018, told the panel about the “red flags” he witnessed, including co-founder Stockton Rush’s desire to qualify a pilot in one day — typically a lengthy process. He also painted a picture of Rush’s personality. He walked through a harrowing incident when Rush’s bungled dive to the Andrea Doria wreckage site ended in Rush throwing a “PlayStation controller” at Lochridge’s head. Lochridge issued an inspection report in January 2018 detailing his laundry list of concerns with an early version of the Titan. He was fired not long after.
“All good here.” Those were some of the final words that the doomed Titan submersible crew communicated before the submersible imploded on its mission to the Titanic wreckage site in June 2023. The message, revealed as part of the Coast Guard’s Monday hearing into the circumstances of the failed mission, was sent to support vessel Polar Prince on June 18, 2023, shortly before the submersible imploded, killing all five of its crew members. It was an incident that captivated both sides of the Atlantic as crews made a mad dash to save the crew after the sub lost contact with the surface – with the world unaware that the lives had been lost.
The lead engineer for an experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreck of the Titanic testified Monday that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years earlier. “‘I’m not getting in it,’” Tony Nissen said he told Stockton Rush, co-founder of the OceanGate company that owned the Titan submersible.
Coast Guard Standard (not the same as used for law enforcement) 1964. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
With the public hearing on why a submarine out to explore the Titanic wreckage imploded looming, the Coast Guard announced that former employees of the company responsible for creating the vessel will speak in North Charleston. As part of the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation (MBI), public hearings are set to begin Sept. 16 before a panel at the Charleston County Council Chambers. A witness sheet provided by the Coast Guard includes OceanGate Co-Founder Guillermo Sohnlein and high rankers such as the former engineering director, scientific director, and operations director. Two people scheduled to speak, Renata Rojas and Fred Hagen, are listed as OceanGate mission specialists; however, several news outlets, including CNN and The Independent, say both Rojas and Hagen were previous OceanGate dive passengers. Others set for witness testimonies include Coast Guard, NASA, and Boeing officials, among others.
A Carnival cruise ship was undamaged after grazing a piece of ice in Alaska’s Tracy Arm Fjord last week — with one passenger dramatically comparing it to a modern “Titanic moment.”The hull of the Carnival Spirit was assessed and no damages were found after the incident on Thursday, Carnival Cruise Line wrote in a statement to The Post.
I’ve dedicated years of my life to studying the Titanic. Maybe I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t admit I’ve written two books on her, appeared in documentaries and TV interviews about her – and yet, still, I am glad the ship is falling apart. You see, my great-grandfather died on the ship – his remains are possibly still on board – and I believe it’s time to let her go. Not only that, I also firmly believe the Titanic is cursed – that it not only wrecked so many lives over 100 years ago, but it is still a malign influence today.
Suggested Reading
Behe, George TITANIC: SAFETY, SPEED AND SACRIFICE, Transportation Trails, Polo, IL 1997
Lord, Walter, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, 1955. Multiple revisions and reprints, notably Illustrated editions (1976,1977,1978 etc.)
Lord, Walter, THE NIGHT LIVES ON, Willian Morrow and Company, New York, New York, 1986 (First Edition)
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The northeast face of Two World Trade Center (south tower) after being struck by plane in the south face. September 11, 2001 Source: Robert (Flickr(
It was a day that changed America. Planes hijacked by terrorists flew into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center. Another plane would crash into the Pentagon. And a fourth plane that was destined for a target in Washington D.C. crash-landed into a field in Pennsylvania. The extreme heat caused by the fires from the impact of the planes would cause the collapse of the two towers.
Picture of the World Trade Center on 9/11 shortly after the WTC1 had collapsed. September 11, 2001 Source: Wally Gobetz
Firefighters and police raced to the towers trying to rescue those trapped inside the burning buildings. Stories of their heroism in getting people out are extraordinary examples of courage that are both remarkable and breathtaking. Things were so dire at one point that some jumped out of windows to the shock of people watching. And when the buildings collapsed, many of these brave firefighters and police were killed. As the rubble was cleared later, every body of a fallen firefighter and police officer was removed with great care and respect.
Ground Zero, New York City, N.Y. (Sept. 17, 2001) Source: U.S.Navy Public Domain
More than 3,000 people were killed (including 400 police and firefighters). Over 10,000 were wounded during the attacks on 9/11. Some suffered long term effects due to smoke inhalation and toxic chemicals that were burning at the time. The attacks of 9/11 was the most devastating foreign attack on American soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
We take time today to remember the fallen of 9/11. They went to work, got on planes, and did countless other things not knowing the evil that was about to take place. Countless lives were changed that day. Families were shattered with the loss of a husband or wife, beloved son or daughter. Friends were never seen again having perished in the towers, the Pentagon, or a passenger on the planes used as weapons.
We cannot forget those who perished on this day. And the heroic sacrifices of first responders- firefighters and police-who tried to save lives cannot be forgotten either.
We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here— the heroic first-responders: our fire fighters, police officers, emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel, along with all the innocent men and women who were victims of this tragedy simply because their work or service brought them here on September 11, 2001.
We ask you, in your compassion to bring healing to those who, because of their presence here that day, suffer from injuries and illness. Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy. Give them strength to continue their lives with courage and hope.
RMS Titanic pictured in Queenstown, Ireland 11 April 1912 Source:Cobh Heritage Centre, Cobh Ireland/Wikimedia Commons
When Titanic was found in 1985, it ignited a debate that exists to this day: salvage or not to salvage. Robert Ballard argued Titanic should be left in peace and treated as a grave. Others thought otherwise that the ship was not a grave and to try to preserve what was left by bringing up artifacts to be conserved and displayed. When RMS Titanic, Inc went to US federal court after going to the wreck site to claim salvage rights, the anti-salvage camp flew into a rage. Titanic became a divided community of salvagers and anti-salvagers with vicious posts on Usenet (a precursor to Internet chat rooms) and email discussion lists. Instead of reasoned discussion, accusations flew like popcorn in at a ballgame. And some of the anti-salvagers went to war literally going after people personally for their views sometimes creating utter falsehoods that had real world consequences. It forever split the Titanic community and ended a lot of friendships. Apparently, it has reared its head again with the Titan disaster.
Julie Cook grew up on Titanic. Her great-grandfather died on that ship, and she was raised knowing what happened. That led to her interest in all things Titanic. She studied its lore, read the many books, and even wrote some books herself. She like many joined social groups to share her love with the ship, meet other enthusiasts, and other descendants of survivors or families that lost loved ones on that fateful night in 1912. And she found out that there are darker sides to using social media when she got some nasty messages, some of a personal and sexual nature, or other ones accusing her of things she never did. She came across her fair share of “rivet counters” as well. These are people so into the Titanic that goes beyond the normal academic or casual student of history. They know the smallest details about the ship, its people, and a whole lot more than most really care or want to know. And of course, the conspiracy theorists. There are a lot of them.
The Titan tragedy seems to have brought back the salvage vs anti-salvage row. White recounts that in its aftermath “…. Titanic community erupted into a toxicity I’d never seen.”
There were two camps. Those who felt Titanic should now be left alone and that the symbolism of a sub named Titan being wrecked when visiting her was just too disturbing. And, on the other side, that expeditions must continue, to honour those who perished and retrieve artefacts from the wreck before it was too late. Some of these people are inevitably more concerned with the monetary value of what may be recovered, or what they can get from gruesome ‘Titanic tourism’. Arguments and name-calling ensued. I got threats sent to my personal email from strangers who read an article I wrote in this newspaper last June about the Oceangate tragedy.
This sounds all tragically familiar to what took place in the late 1990’s and later when salvage was a hot topic causing exactly the same kind of name-calling, I personally saw take place. This does not surprise me at all, and I bet a few of them are from that time. New recruits to the cause are probably also jumping in as well starting up once again an uncivil discussion and resorting to personal threats and even worse. The toxicity of what she encountered really hit Cook hard it seems from her commentary on Daily Mail. She wonders though that perhaps it is just time to let the ship go.
You may or may not believe in curses, but to me, the wrecking of Titan on an expedition to see Titanic was a sign that said: leave her alone now.
Well, I do not believe in curses and nor do I subscribe to various claims the ship was cursed. The argument about salvage or not has merit and worthy of discussion. What made it go so terribly wrong was the hatred that ultimately was spewed forth by those on both sides. It was not enough to just say a person was wrong, they had to be punished. We see it today when someone does something that another person finds offensive. Instead of just saying “I don’t like that” and going on with their lives, they make it mission to start a campaign to damage them. They gather supporters to write nasty things about the person, to search and find out where they live, and to make dark threats as well. The hatred takes on a life of its own and sometimes ends up achieving a bad result for the person being targeted. Cook has decided to leave all those groups and all the sniping behind. She has had enough and thinks at this point Titanic should be left alone.
Bathtub in Capt. Smith’s bathroom. Rusticles are observed growing over most of the pipes and fixtures in the room. June 2004 Lori Johnston, RMS Titanic Expedition 2003, NOAA-OE. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Many no doubt will agree with her (not necessarily about the curse part, but that the wreck should be left in peace). The recent expedition confirmed what we all knew was taking place. As time marches relentlessly on, the deterioration of the ship will continue. Nothing can stop or delay that now. The Titan submersible tragedy, rather than a curse, showed the fragility that exists when diving to depths where the pressure is so great that the tiniest flaw or imperfection will result in a catastrophe. We will have to await the report that will be issued as to what the cause or causes were. If anything, the people at OceanGate fell into the very same trap that Captain Smith and others had about Titanic: complacency. No one thought hitting an iceberg, a rare occurrence, would result in the catastrophe that played out in the end. It did and as a result it showed a whole lot of assumptions and judgments were wrong about the ship. And OceanGate made the same mistake in thinking its submersible was safe and reliable. Neither was cursed but suffered from the same fatal flaw that doomed both.
Suggested Reading
Behe, George TITANIC: SAFETY, SPEED AND SACRIFICE, Transportation Trails, Polo, IL 1997
Lord, Walter, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, 1955. Multiple revisions and reprints, notably Illustrated editions (1976,1977,1978 etc.)
Lord, Walter, THE NIGHT LIVES ON, Willian Morrow and Company, New York, New York, 1986 (First Edition)
Titanic News Channel is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Lepore, Stephen M. “OceanGate Co-founder Reveals Truth About Sub Disaster That Killed Five.” Mail Online. Last modified September 24, 2024. 
