One of the most moving events involving the Titanic disaster

[Asianyiah Solomon]

Bodily circulation and the measure of a life: Forensic identification and valuation after the Titanic disaster

 

[Incony]

Hypothermia gives the recipient about thirty minutes, before the mind cannot move the limbs, and unconsciousness and drowning are the consequence, The body retracts to the core heat, and if that cannot be maintained.. life stops.

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

Hypothermia gives the recipient about thirty minutes, before the mind cannot move the limbs, and unconsciousness and drowning are the consequence, The body retracts to the core heat, and if that cannot be maintained.. life stops.

That assumes that the person is in relatively good health. In my case, because of congestive heart failure, the shock to my system would probably kill me in under 10 minutes.

 

[Jay Ashby]

I read somewhere that the design of the life jackets could actually break your neck when you landed in the water in which case death would be mercifully swift.

Whether this is true or not or simply another myth I don't know. Has anybody else read this?

 

[Dave Gittins]

I believe there were problems with replica lifebelts when making A Night to Remember. Extras jumping into the water found the blocks of cork rode up and hit them under the jaw. Nobody came to harm. Breaking a neck is an exaggeration.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I read somewhere that the design of the life jackets could actually break your neck when you landed in the water

I am not sure if the life jackets of the time were rated for a maximum safety height for jumping into the water. The boat deck of the Titanic, on which the majority of people were in the final 10 minutes or so, was around 60 feet from the surface when the ship was in its neutral position, higher than most other ships of the day. I am not sure what that actually was that night with the liner about 2/3 full with people and perhaps slightly more with cargo. I am guessing that jumping into from 60 feet in those life vests certainly involved a risk of serious injury, even if not a broken neck.

But we have to consider variables like children, frail individuals, improperly fastened life jackets etc; one would assume that the design was such that if it was properly fastened the injury risk would have been minimal. But above all, there is the fact that a very large number jumped into the icy ocean in the last 10 minutes or so of the sinking, at which time the stern was steadily rising out of the water. That additional height would also have been a factor while considering injury upon hitting the water, even if one excludes the rick of impact of the falling body with parts of the ship itself.

 

[Incony]

worth reading - it suggests that falling from say 60 feet would certainly break your neck if you hit the water at an angle to your neck, head first., because water cannot be compressed, just displaced - and at even lower heights would be like running into a wall with no protection.. if say you were knocked out, you would drown.. when i was about 9 , i pulled the front brake on my bike, maybe only going 10 mph.. and it seize trapped the front wheel... and head first over the handle bars i went, and hit the road head first,,, it knocked me out... concussion, and i have no memory of it, so- for some, falling from height and being hit by something that does not give way... would be lethal, if not by the shock of the brain hitting the skull ( concussion ) then by subsequent drowning by unconsciousness... The Splat Calculator - A Free Fall Calculator - obviously , for hundreds left on the Titanic, hypothermia was what killed them not the fall into the water, but equally for many that fall was the last thing they knew...