What would YOU do?

[Arun Vajpey]

You wake-up in a second class cabin at 23:41 hours on Sunday 14th April 1912 with no idea how you got there but will full realization of what is going to happen in the next 2 hours and 39 minutes. What would you do then?

You are a 30-something man travelling alone by the looks of it.

- Try to tell key people about what is going to happen and how best to avoid it and save as many lives as possible.

- Keep quiet and as inconspicuous as possible, find a place in one of Murdoch's starboard lifeboats and save yourself.

- Remain on-board as long as possible, trying to find out the truth about various controversial issues like Captain Smith's effectiveness as the ship sank, Boatswain Nichol's fate, how long and what music the band played, shots in the dark, the break-up etc and then try to find a place on Collapsible A or B?

- Something else?

 

[Kyle Naber]

- Keep quiet and as inconspicuous as possible, find a place in one of Murdoch's starboard lifeboats and save yourself.

Ding ding ding!!!

 

[Kyle Naber]

You wake-up in a second class cabin at 23:41 hours on Sunday 14th April 1912 with no idea how you got there but will full realization of what is going to happen in the next 2 hours and 39 minutes. What would you do then?

You are a 30-something man travelling alone by the looks of it.

- Try to tell key people about what is going to happen and how best to avoid it and save as many lives as possible.

- Keep quiet and as inconspicuous as possible, find a place in one of Murdoch's starboard lifeboats and save yourself.

- Remain on-board as long as possible, trying to find out the truth about various controversial issues like Captain Smith's effectiveness as the ship sank, Boatswain Nichol's fate, how long and what music the band played, shots in the dark, the break-up etc and then try to find a place on Collapsible A or B?

- Something else?

But you’d probably get the most out of your adventure staying on board until clinging onto one of the collapsibles.

 

[Harland Duzen]

- Keep quiet and as inconspicuous as possible, find a place in one of Murdoch's starboard lifeboats and save yourself.

In my current mindset, also do this, but beforehand, sneak up onto the Officer's quarters and set up the Collapsables so their walls are up and more likely to float normally.

Also if possible, steal the Logbook and Wireless Reports*. (If I can find a crew member outfit lying about...

*While about it, "Borrow" another outfit and give Bride and Phillips their actual position instead of Boxhall's one...

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Ding ding ding!!!

Number me amongst the cowards.
I think I would seek out the quickest way......or any way..... to get off the ship safely.
I say !.........Mr.. Ismay, am I crowding you in this boat ?

But to redeem myself a tiny bit,. I think , being a ham radio operator, once aboard the Carpathia, I would have sought out the Marconi Room to see if I could be of any aid or assistance to Bride and Cottam.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

In my current mindset, also do this, but beforehand, sneak up onto the Officer's quarters and set up the Collapsables so their walls are up and more likely to float normally.

...

That's interesting. Since the man (you, me, anyone) would know what exactly is going to happen, the temptation so stay on board and find out the truth about controversial issues will be there. 'Sneaking up' on to the roof of the Offer's quarters might not have been possible but like you, I'd try to get the Collapsible lifeboats A & B set-up by talking to one of the officers, (perhaps Moody since he got onto the roof at some stage) on some pretext, pretending that I knew a lot about lifeboats and sea travel. If I succeeded, then I'd perhaps wait till 'A' was launched or floated off.

Meanwhile, knowing what was to come later, I'd they to dress-up as warmly as possible, paying particular attention to protecting my feet and lower legs. Even with the sides-up, Collapsible A might get a bit waterlogged.

 

[Kyle Naber]

Number me amongst the cowards.
I think I would seek out the quickest way......or any way..... to get off the ship safely.
I say !.........Mr.. Ismay, am I crowding you in this boat ?

But to redeem myself a tiny bit,. I think , being a ham radio operator, once aboard the Carpathia, I would have sought out the Marconi Room to see if I could be of any aid or assistance to Bride and Cottam.

I don’t think there’s anything cowardly about getting into a boat that isn’t even at full capacity.

 

[Rancor]

Interesting question Arun, have wondered about this in moments of peace and quiet.

Well I take it we all know from Doctor Who and Back to the Future that we can't mess around and change historical events due to the possible butterfly effect, so I think a passive observer role would be most appropriate.

I would make my way to Scotland road and enter boiler room 6 and stay at the top of the ladders out the way and observe the nature and speed of the flooding in this section, and possible movements of fireman Beauchamp and how he escaped.

After that skip over to the forward end of boiler room 5 and wait for Barrett's 'wall of water'. What exactly gave way? The bunker door, the bulkhead, or something entirely different?

Once that is done race the water up the ladders to Scotland road, and make way onto the boat deck. Construct a raft for one using deck chairs and spare life jackets, and quietly cast off and paddle round the stern, making a careful count of the number of blades on both the centre and starboard wing propeller.

After that move to a safe distance while still being as close as possible to the vessel, with an accurate timepiece set to GMT and a notebook gathered from the cabin earlier, to record key events and times.

Skip ahead a few years, and wait for the internet to get invented and join the encyclopedia titanic message board. Post replies as people ask questions using the observed and written knowledge from the sinking, and not get believed by anyone.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

No one, including me, have so far opted to tell a few 'key people' what was going to happen over the next 2 hours and 35 minutes or so. But I did wonder, if the man was going to tell someone, who that would be. Captain Smith and Wilde would have probably not even try to understand and ignore the man and some kind of nut. Murdoch might have listened and wondered fleetingly but given the way he must have been feeling (senior officer on watch and the time of collision etc), probably also ignored the man. Lightoller was too boneheaded to listen to anyone but himself and would probably order the man to be restrained. I would not expected much response and action from Pitman, Boxhall or Lowe either. Moody also might have listened briefly, but like Murdoch, might have decided that it was not worth following upon.

I think the best bet, if the man was going to have go at telling someone, would be Thomas Andrews. AFAIK, he remained in his cabin for around 6 to 7 minutes after the collision before going (or being summoned) to the bridge and if our man had quickly made his way to Andrew's quarters by 23:42 or 23:43, he might have just succeeded in getting the designer interested. If he then managed to outline the early flooding pattern just before Andrews managed to see that for himself, then the latter might have issued more urgent and specific advice to the Captain, including being more forthright in filling lifeboats to capacity. This might have meant announcing over the megaphone that there was a risk of the ship sinking but it might have saved some 500 or more lives.

 

[Rancor]

No one, including me, have so far opted to tell a few 'key people' what was going to happen over the next 2 hours and 35 minutes or so. But I did wonder, if the man was going to tell someone, who that would be. Captain Smith and Wilde would have probably not even try to understand and ignore the man and some kind of nut. Murdoch might have listened and wondered fleetingly but given the way he must have been feeling (senior officer on watch and the time of collision etc), probably also ignored the man. Lightoller was too boneheaded to listen to anyone but himself and would probably order the man to be restrained. I would not expected much response and action from Pitman, Boxhall or Lowe either. Moody also might have listened briefly, but like Murdoch, might have decided that it was not worth following upon.

I think the best bet, if the man was going to have go at telling someone, would be Thomas Andrews. AFAIK, he remained in his cabin for around 6 to 7 minutes after the collision before going (or being summoned) to the bridge and if our man had quickly made his way to Andrew's quarters by 23:42 or 23:43, he might have just succeeded in getting the designer interested. If he then managed to outline the early flooding pattern just before Andrews managed to see that for himself, then the latter might have issued more urgent and specific advice to the Captain, including being more forthright in filling lifeboats to capacity. This might have meant announcing over the megaphone that there was a risk of the ship sinking but it might have saved some 500 or more lives.

"Captain, we have a passenger trying to force his way on to the bridge, he is shouting something about needing to talk to you about the ship sinking"

"We are far to busy to conduct tours of the bridge right now, and the man is clearly panicked after our brush with the iceberg. Have the master at arms take him below and lock him up with the bloke who stole that jacket".

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I don't think it would have been wise to force one's way onto the bridge and try to reason with anyone there. But reaching Thomas Andrews' cabin quietly in the first few minutes after the collision might have just been possible even for a Second Class passenger.

 

[Harland Duzen]

"Captain, we have a passenger trying to force his way on to the bridge, he is shouting something about needing to talk to you about the ship sinking"

"We are far to busy to conduct tours of the bridge right now, and the man is clearly panicked after our brush with the iceberg. Have the master at arms take him below and lock him up with the bloke who stole that jacket".

Hello Arun. (waving while handcuffed to a desk or pipe) What did you do to end up in here? Turns out one of Officer Moody's hobbies is practising karate....
___________________________

On second thoughts I'd rather not end up in the Master-At-Arms and if Phillips and Bride beating up a stoker is true, I'd rather not mess with them...

In terms of getting into one of Murdock's starboard Lifeboats, I would try to either:

• Get into Lifeboat 3 and talk with 1st Class Passengers Hammed Hassab and the Harpers (In T:H&G's Return Voyage I occupy Hassab cabin of D-49.)

• Get into Collsapable C and talk with 3rd Class passenger Sarah Roth.

Also out of interest, how long do we get to stay back in time? Because if possible, once we land in New York, I could buy a camera, travel to Boston and then sail back to Liverpool on the Californian taking as many photos of her interior and the crew as possible (maybe even question them).

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Also out of interest, how long do we get to stay back in time?

The aftermath is an unknown quantity and will have to influence the man's decision about what he's going to do. He only knows that he, a man from the 21st Century and a serious student of the Titanic disaster, somehow ended-up where he was in the hypothetical question. No other clues or possibilities offered.

 

[Rancor]

I don't think it would have been wise to force one's way onto the bridge and try to reason with anyone there. But reaching Thomas Andrews' cabin quietly in the first few minutes after the collision might have just been possible even for a Second Class passenger.

Forgive me Arun, I was being a bit facetious! I agree if you really wanted to speak to someone possibly Mr. Andrews would be good bet.

If I may add an alternate scenario for discussion?

You find yourself in the first class smoking room in the evening the day before the collision. You are having a brandy with some of the other passengers and telling them of your time travelling exploits. Everyone is fascinated and hanging on your every word. You've just finished explaining how the motor car will revolutionize land transport when a gentlemen leans forward and says: "Tell me dear boy, what does the future hold for this wonderful vessel? Would anyone know of her from the year you speak of - 2018?"

You think for a moment, draw a breath, and say to your audience: "Gentlemen, I can say without a doubt that we are currently sailing aboard the most famous vessel in history."

There are gasps of breath and at least one dropped monocole from the assembled passengers. The same person from before asks:

"I say, what excellent news! Can you tell me what happens in her career for her to be so remembered?"

What do you tell them?

 

[Arun Vajpey]

You find yourself in the first class smoking room in the evening the day before the collision. You are having a brandy with some of the other passengers and telling them of your time travelling exploits. Everyone is fascinated and hanging on your every word. You've just finished explaining how the motor car will revolutionize land transport when a gentlemen leans forward and says: "Tell me dear boy, what does the future hold for this wonderful vessel? Would anyone know of her from the year you speak of - 2018?"

You think for a moment, draw a breath, and say to your audience: "Gentlemen, I can say without a doubt that we are currently sailing aboard the most famous vessel in history."

There are gasps of breath and at least one dropped monocole from the assembled passengers. The same person from before asks:

"I say, what excellent news! Can you tell me what happens in her career for her to be so remembered?"

What do you tell them?

Interesting question.

From your question I take it to mean that I was "there" well before the Titanic's collision with the iceberg; otherwise, I would not be sitting chatting in the smoking room (BTW, I don't smoke )! In that case, I'll have to hedge my answer and tell them that something does happen and they'd know sometime before midnight on Sunday 14th April 1912 as to what it was. That way, those who were inclined to believe my earlier statements with put two and two together making four and perhaps try to do something about it. After all, the major concern about any ship travel in those days was whether it would sink.

Mind you, I would have to then hide away somewhere to avoid some officer trying to find me and lock me up for stating a rumour!