Question Most survivors couldn't hear or feel the collision with iceberg. Why is that?

[Matthew Quayle]

ship big

... Okay, I won't leave it there. If the ship grounded (as I believe it did) the actual impact would have been pretty minor. By "grounded," I obviously don't mean she rode up out of the water, but simply there was a submerged shelf of ice that she slid over, doing some fairly minor damage in the critically wrong areas. It'd be like a very small earthquake, if you were sleepy, you mightn't even distinguish it from the vibration of the engines that have been your life for the past four days.

There is a superb Titanic Channel episode about it with Parks Stephenson, if you're interested in learning more about this theory.

 

[Aly Jones]

It were 11:40 pm when she struck, many were still up and awake because wsl policy was lights out at 1130pm.The lookouts 3 warning bell ring would've alerted many passengers to the up coming danger? So many were expecting some kind of collision.? Hearing those bells must had been a nightmare.

 

[RileyGardner17]

I would suspect the only passengers who might've heard were in the cabins of forward A/B/C deck, and if they did they didn't know what they meant nor did they dwell on it, I'd suspect. When you're a frequent traveller and been on a ship for a number of days "ship noises" like bells, whistles, etc. probably go right over your head.

 

[Tim Gerard]

Most passengers were asleep by 11:40pm and the collision was enough of a glancing blow that most were able to sleep right through it, such as 5th Officer Harold Lowe. But there were some people who were still awake, throughout the ship, who did feel something out of the ordinary, but minor enough that they didn't think too much of it at first. 2nd class survivor Lawrence Beesley was still awake and reading in his cabin, D56, way aft on D deck on the port side, he described what to him felt like a slight heave of the engines.

 

[Samuel Halpern]

It were 11:40 pm when she struck, many were still up and awake because wsl policy was lights out at 1130pm.The lookouts 3 warning bell ring would've alerted many passengers to the up coming danger? So many were expecting some kind of collision.? Hearing those bells must had been a nightmare.

Lights out policy was a function of different parts of the vessel. The last lights out would have taken place in the smoking rooms at midnight.
The lookouts striking 3 bells, or 2 bells or 1 bell would not have meant anything to most passengers. Other than every half hour, when ship bells were struck tolet the watch on deck know how much longer that had remaining in their watch, the lookout bells were used routinely by the lookouts to let the officer of the watch know that they had spotted something, which might include another vessel, ahead, to port, or to starboard. The bells did not signify danger. Nobody expected any collision. Let's not start conspiracy theories here.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Molly Brown said she was thrown out of her bed when the ship hit the iceberg but I feel like it was an exageration...

There is a scene from one of the movies (I believe it is one of the "deleted scenes" from the 1997 "Titanic" ? ).
Mrs. Brown is shown in what appears to be one of the lounges, having a drink.
She asks for some ice.
In the background, seen through a window, the iceberg is seen passing by.
Of course this can be crossed off as just an invention of the movie maker.

 

[Steven Christian]

Yeah movie making. But I recall reading someone saying that they collected some of the ice on the deck and using some to put in a drink. But I don't remember where that came from. Could have just been fiction too.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Yeah I would agree with that. From my limited experiance living aboard ship the foward berthing compartments were a lot worse than the aft ones. They were a lot noisier and when in rough seas they seem to get it worse as far as the shuttering and impacts when wave crashing. Of course the conditions were different and it might be apples to oranges and all that but I think the same physics apply. I remember going on my rounds and saying how it sucked up foward for the guys up there compared to us in the back and lower in the ship.

My experience was similar to yours in only having a relatively short period of sea duty.
Things seemed a lot smoother the lower you were and the closer you were to the middle of the ship rather than on an upper deck near the bow or the stern.

 

[Steven Christian]

Yeah just physics. On Titanic most reported not feeling anything, some just a slight shudder. Then like a lot of things the story got bigger and bigger for some.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Yeah movie making. But I recall reading someone saying that they collected some of the ice on the deck and using some to put in a drink. But I don't remember where that came from. Could have just been fiction too.

There is a scene in the 1958 "A Night To Remember" of a man coming in with a large chunk of ice that he said he picked up off the deck.

 

[Steven Christian]

Got that on my DVR. Guess its time to watch it again. Thought I read it somewhere but that could be the source. Thanks.

 

[Rennette Marston]

She was actually known and called Margaret Brown or Mrs J.J.Brown, never Molly. That name was created after she passed on.

She was also known as "Maggie" Brown until she died. She began being referred to as "Molly" Brown a few decades after her death.

 

[Rennette Marston]

Molly Brown said she was thrown out of her bed when the ship hit the iceberg but I feel like it was an exageration...

If my memory serves me right, her cabin was on E-deck on the starboard side near the 1st class E-deck staircase leading up to D-deck. This would place her near the collision so the vibration would've been more noticeable in that deck than in the upper decks far from the impact, IMO.

 

[Rennette Marston]

Here's a good article on the collision by Dr. Paul Lee. This is what the article has to say about "Molly" Brown's testimony of that event:

E-23 was the cabin of the famous Margaret Brown. In "The Newport Herald" of 28th and 29th May 1912, she says "I gave little thought to the crash that struck at my window overhead and threw me to the floor."

For comparision, here's a graph of the Titanic's damage on her starboard bow. Since Mrs. Brown's cabin was near where the iceberg struck the ship, the impact would've been much more noticable than it was in the upper decks of the Titanic:

Here's a testimony of another survivor who was in a cabin that was on the same deck as Brown's:

E-33 - In "The Cleveland Leader" (9/5/12), Mrs Edith Chibnall was quoted as saying, "I thought the ship had been struck by lightning when we dashed into the iceberg, so loud was the crash." But in "The Hastings and St Leonards Observer" 18/5/12 (via "The New York Herald") there is the following observation: "The impact was no so great as to throw passengers into a panic. "Miss Bowerman, the daughter, says that that neither she nor her mother thought that a serious accident had happened."

Perhaps the sound of the ship's side hitting against a massive floating object, not necessarily the vibration, was what startled Brown and Chibnall during the collision. What do you think?

 

[Robert T. Paige]

I know hollywood movies aren't factual but didn't one of them have her playing cards when they hit the berg?

That is questionable.???
In the 1953 "Titanic" , "Maude Young" ( 'a thinly disguised name' used instead of Margaret Brown in the movie, and played by the actress Thelma Ritter) is shown in a scene playing in a Bridge Game which includes "Richard Ward Sturges" (Clifton Webb) in the party when the Titanic hits the berg. I think they also included Isidor Straus in the Bridge game in the movie . This movie is notorious for its fiction and not fact. The band leader is called "Mr. Mc Dermott" and has some wood winds in it.
And "Maude Young" is a rich "Montana mining millionaire" who declares "I've got so many maids the maids have maids." This was my first "Titanic" movie and the first time I remember seeing the Titanic sinking or evening knowing the story. I was a Petty Officer in the USN at the time, on Liberty, and saw the movie in its first run in a downtown San Diego movie theater .

 

[Rennette Marston]

That is questionable.???
In the 1953 "Titanic" , "Maude Young" ( 'a thinly disguised name' used instead of Margaret Brown in the movie, and played by the actress Thelma Ritter) is shown in a scene playing in a Bridge Game which includes "Richard Ward Sturges" (Clifton Webb) in the party when the Titanic hits the berg. I think they also included Isidor Straus in the Bridge game in the movie . This movie is notorious for its fiction and not fact. The band leader is called "Mr. Mc Dermott" and has some wood winds in it.
And "Maude Young" is a rich "Montana mining millionaire" who declares "I've got so many maids the maids have maids." This was my first "Titanic" movie and the first time I remember seeing the Titanic sinking or evening knowing the story. I was a Petty Officer in the USN at the time, on Liberty, and saw the movie in its first run in a downtown San Diego movie theater .

Oh yes, I remember her. Here's the scene you mentioned from the movie. Start at 1:09:27:

Here's what this site has to say about the film. It is on p. 238. The emphasis is by me:

My idea—and I knew this would get Zanuck—was for me to go to London and New York and study the old newspapers, and I could come up with 60 percent truth, completely documentary. Clifton Webb would play one of twenty-five multimillionaires who went down on the Titanic —only a multimillionaire could afford to go on that maiden voyage from Southampton. The dialogue of the people was to be drawn almost exactly from life: We took it out of the newspapers. The famous line coined that night—"No cause for alarm"—drew big applause at the [film's] preview at the Academy Theatre because people recognized it [from newspaper accounts].

 

[Rennette Marston]

I should say that the 1953 version is a rather interesting cinematic understatement on its own. Although the 1997 version isn't so different screenplay-wise, what with the cheesy romantic melodrama and such. The Cameron version, as brilliant (and overrated) as it is, is actually lagging a bit behind in character development for its fictional characters than the '53 film. The acting in the '53 version is first-class, though! But overall, I rate Titanic (1953) third behind A Night to Remember (1958) and Titanic (1997).

 

[Robert T. Paige]

[QUatTOTE="Steven Christian, post: 434761, member: 141426"]
Yeah movie making. But I recall reading someone saying that they collected some of the ice on the deck and using some to put in a drink. But I don't remember where that came from. Could have just been fiction too.
[/QUOTE]

Oh yes, I remember her. Here's the scene you mentioned from the movie. Start at 1:09:27:

Here's what this site has to say about the film. It is on p. 238. The emphasis is by me:

The line about the maids is at about 0:07:00.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

I should say that the 1953 version is a rather interesting cinematic understatement on its own. Although the 1997 version isn't so different screenplay-wise, what with the cheesy romantic melodrama and such. The Cameron version, as brilliant (and overrated) as it is, is actually lagging a bit behind in character development for its fictional characters than the '53 film. The acting in the '53 version is first-class, though! But overall, I rate Titanic (1953) third behind A Night to Remember (1958) and Titanic (1997).

I would agree in your rating.

 

[Rennette Marston]

Yeah movie making. But I recall reading someone saying that they collected some of the ice on the deck and using some to put in a drink. But I don't remember where that came from. Could have just been fiction too.

I think that part of the story is more allegory than fact. Though I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen.

The line about the maids is at about 0:07:00.

Oh, I misspoke too soon! Thanks for clarifying.