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New information about the sinking of the Titanic?

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Kveto from Prague
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Location: Prague, Bohemia

Post by Kveto from Prague » Fri September 24th, 2010, 6:30 pm

[quote=""keny from prague""]All very true. however, you never know, maybe he could have acomplished something as a whistleblower.

Maybe Im just being overly chivalrous, but I think any male who survived when so many women and children perished has a lot to answer for.

I think i read that a year or two ago the last titanic suvivor, a baby at the time, had passed away.[/quote]

heres info on Michel Navratil, the longest surviving male. I always thought the story of his father and the navratil orphans was one of the few heartwarming stories.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/rom ... ages/37940

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Marcel_Navratil
Last edited by Kveto from Prague on Fri September 24th, 2010, 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

annis
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Post by annis » Fri September 24th, 2010, 8:14 pm

To be fair to Lightoller, his actions were quite heroic, and he undoubtedly saved many lives. He was notably strict in observing the "women and children first" rule when it came to evacuating passengers in the lifeboats.

"Once the fate of the ship became clear, second officer Lightoller immediately went to work assisting in the evacuation of the passengers into the lifeboats. Lightoller was notably stricter than some of the other officers in observing the rule of "women and children first", interpreting it almost to the point of "women and children only". Lightoller took charge of lowering the lifeboats on the port side of the Titanic. In this connection, his last action was an attempt to launch Collapsible B, a smaller Englehardt lifeboat with canvas sides that was stowed atop the officers' quarters on the hurricane deck, on the port side. As the ship sank, seawater washed over the entire bow, producing a large wave that rolled aft along the boat deck. Seeing crowds of people run away from the rising water and the collapsible boat washing away upside down, Lightoller decided he could do no more, and dived into the water.
Returning to the surface, he spotted the ship's crow's nest, now level with the water, and started to swim towards it as a place of safety before remembering that it was safer to stay clear of the foundering vessel. Then Lightoller was sucked under as water flooded down one of the forward ventilators. He was pinned there against the grating for a few seconds. Luckily, a blast of hot air from the depths of the ship erupted out of the ventilator and blew him to the surface. Following this, he saw Collapsible B floating upside down with several swimmers hanging on to it. He swam to it and held himself to it by a rope at the front. Then one of the Titanic's massive funnels broke free and hit the water, washing the collapsible further away from the sinking ship. Second officer Lightoller took charge, calming and organizing the survivors (numbering around thirty) on the overturned lifeboat. He led them in yelling in unison "Boat ahoy!" but with no success. During the night a swell arose and Lightoller taught the men to shift their weight with the swells to prevent the craft from being swamped. But for this, they would have been thrown into the freezing water again. At his direction, the men kept this up for hours until they were finally rescued by another lifeboat. Second officer Lightoller was the last survivor taken on board the rescue ship RMS Carpathia."

Source:
Wikipedia

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LoobyG
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Location: Derbyshire, UK

Post by LoobyG » Sat September 25th, 2010, 11:49 am

Thanks for posting these articles everyone, I lap up anything written about the Titanic and they've made interesting reading.

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