After re-watching James Cameron's movie again, I began to wonder if the building panic scene was portrayed as accurately as I previously thought it was. Sure, it makes beautiful cinema, but with the deck slanting not nearly as heavy as portrayed, maybe the situation wasn't quite like that.
After all, there must have been a reason for Walter Lord to say that "with the boats all gone, a curious calm came over the Titanic." And I can imagine why. Almost everyone must have concluded there was no escape with the lifeboats and thought about what to do now. But the ship wasn't slanting heavily and it was still warm inside, so maybe a lot of them retreated back to smoking rooms, lounges or even cabins, only to be caught by surprise when the lights went out and the ship broke in two.
If this is true, there may have been a lot less people who survived the actual sinking but were left swimming in the water to die of hypothermia. That would also explain why Collapsibles A & B weren't completely swamped by hundreds of swimmers even with these boats so close to where the ship went down. Heck, it may even explain why only 300+ bodies were found out of almost 1500 victims.
After all, there must have been a reason for Walter Lord to say that "with the boats all gone, a curious calm came over the Titanic." And I can imagine why. Almost everyone must have concluded there was no escape with the lifeboats and thought about what to do now. But the ship wasn't slanting heavily and it was still warm inside, so maybe a lot of them retreated back to smoking rooms, lounges or even cabins, only to be caught by surprise when the lights went out and the ship broke in two.
If this is true, there may have been a lot less people who survived the actual sinking but were left swimming in the water to die of hypothermia. That would also explain why Collapsibles A & B weren't completely swamped by hundreds of swimmers even with these boats so close to where the ship went down. Heck, it may even explain why only 300+ bodies were found out of almost 1500 victims.