Titanic

[Iroquois]

I've noticed that most people talk about military history so I'm going to steer away from that for a sec.

I saw an interesting documentry last night on ABC's 20/20 about the Titanic being robbed. I've always found the story of the Titanic and her two sisters, the Olympic and Brittanic very intersting. The three were perhaps the most elegant steam ships ever built. Only Olympic, first of the three survived to fulfill her full service life.

Apparently now, the sleeping lady has been disturbed in her grave. A lot of people have been doing strange things in her vecinity recently. Everything for stealing coal for auction on eBay to getting married in a sub next to the wreck. The latter being the most disturbing because who the heck get's married in a cemetary. Don't forget that the wreck is a cemetary. Quite a morbid couple.

Another thing is unscientific expodition to the wreck are robbing the dead of all their worldly posessions. Stuff that should be left at the bottom of the sea, or at least put in a museum is being sold or auctioned off. It turns out that the people stealing these items are also damaging the wreck itself. Dr Ballard, who discovered the Titanic is left to watch the pride of his career disintegrate because of the actions of unscrupulous people.

I just wanted to drum up awareness of what people are doing. Please let the sleeping old lady sit in peace. She is not a circus sideshow. Remember the people who lost their lives, not what they had with them when they did so.

[ozzy72]

I have to agree, I saw an interview with Dr. Ballard recently and what he said really did highlight that some people are so low and selfish that the couldn't even be called s**t as that would be insulting excrement.
I remember the day the Titanic was found, I was always interested in it. And my next birthday my parents got me Dr. Ballards book on the Titanic, it had only come out a few days before in the UK, they must have ordered it months in advance, and I still have it and treasure it.
It is tragic that people feel its okay to defile a graveyard to put a couple of bucks in their pocket And whats worse is people are buying this stuff. So much for respect for the dead

Ozzy

[Iroquois]

I think I have the same book. It's hardcover and details the explorations. Excellent photographs of the wreck. There's another excellent book I suggest you get. It's called "Titanic & Her Sisters Olympic and Britannic" by Tom McCluskie, Michael Sharpe, and Leo Marriott. It's the most complete volume on the history of the three ships and the people and companies that made them famous.

Also, if you haven't seen the 1997 movie Titanic (who hasn't), it's a must see. When you put the silly love story aside, it's actually very historically accurate. The film crew did an excellent job.

[eno]

As a quick side note to this ...... Not wanting to detract from the obvious underhand behaviour that has plagued the wreck of the Titanic which is dispicable.
There is a Pub in Northumberland (UK) I think... however once again its a saturday night and alcohol has hold of my system.... which has the original panels and other artifacts  from the Olympic as its dining room and staircase.....


someone remind me in the morning to find more  info

Yours Drunkanly

eno

[Iroquois]

[quote]As a quick side note to this ...... Not wanting to detract from the obvious underhand behaviour that has plagued the wreck of the Titanic which is dispicable.
There is a Pub in Northumberland (UK) I think... however once again its a saturday night and alcohol has hold of my system.... which has the original panels and other artifacts

[Hagar]

I'm afraid this is human nature - it's called avarice. Some people will always want what others cannot have or afford & will do anything to get it. Grave robbing has been going on since we first walked this planet. This just takes it to a new level. It might have been better if Titanic had never been discovered. IMHO

[Woodlouse2002]

So chaps, what of the conspiracy that the ship that went down in April 1912 was infact the Olympic. The theory goes that the Olympic had been in several major accidents before the Titanic set sail so the white star line set up a huge insurance scam, dressed the Olympic up as Titanic (A relatively easy task as all that would have been needed was to change the name plates and some window frames from one of the decks) and intentionally hit an iceberg in the Atlantic. After all, the captain did speed up the vessel after recieving iceberg warnings. Anyway, the Olympic hit an iceberg rather sooner than intended and thats what lead to the huge loss of life. After this Titanic was supposed to finish her service life as Olympic.

[Iroquois]

I've never heard of the Olympic conspiracy but I can say for sure it's not true. Dispite the fact they were of the same class, the Olympic and the Titanic were not exactly alike. The Olympic was a smaller ship. It also had a less extravagant interior than it's famous sister. You'd also be able to see it's old battle scars.

The reason the Olympic never sank was due to the upgrades after it's accidents. It had run aground and was struck by a ram ship. After these, the hull was reinforced. In fact, I believe it was Captain Smith, who had also commanded the Titanic that had ran the Olympic aground.

After the Titanic disaster, the Olympic's watertight compartments were capped off. Originally they were a lot like an ice cube tray. This is what caused the Titanic to sink. You can prove this by tilting up an ice cube tray and pouring water into the first two compartments. Once they're full, water will begin to flow into the next two and so on. This is why the Titanic sank so quickly. Olympic's compartments were capped off to make them truly watertight.

During WWI, the Olympic was converted to an Atlantic troop vessle. This is when it was painted in its famous "Dazzle" livery which broke up the shadow of the ship making it nearly invisible to submarines. After that, it was put into service with Cunard Lines until it was scrapped in the mid 1930s.

I also found some info on Eno's pub. It's the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick Northumberland.

[Wing Nut]

Robert Ballard has been a personal hero of mine for years.

[Iroquois]

I'd like to know exactly whose jurisdiction the wreck falls under. It's just off the grand banks so it's hard to tell if it's in Canadian or international waters. If it was proclaimed a World Historic Site, then it couldn't be touched.

Titanic will eventually rot but the items recovered should be in a museum, not in the hands of private collectors. Some of the artifacts were on tour a few years back on loan from some museum. They had them on display in one of the big halls at the Toronto CNE grounds. I went and saw it. Some fantastic stuff.

[Scottler]

The Titanic/Olympic conspiracy has been laid to rest by the discovery of hull numbers engraved onto various parts of the ship.  These are basically serial numbers which are unique to each ship.  Those found on the Titanic site have been positively linked to those on record as being that of Titanic.

Also, as a long time Titanic buff (the ship, not so much the movie), I've read just about every book there is about this disaster.  (Though interestingly enough, I've never read "A Night To Remember" by Walter Lord, perhaps the most infamous of the Titanic books.)

The best (and most lengthy) I've read were the Congressional Hearing transcripts.  This was an absolutely fascinating read that I'd highly recommend.

[Iroquois]

I've read the transcrips too. They're in that book I recomended to Ozzy. It even has the passenger list and cargo manefest.

[gaztop]

The Titanic belongs to the P&O Shipping company.
the UK has drawn up a deal with the US appropose the rights to salvage ect. It has yet to be rattified

[4_Series_Scania]

The Titanic belongs to the P&O Shipping company.
the UK has drawn up a deal with the US appropose the rights to salvage ect. It has yet to be rattified

Erm yes, except the White Star Line, the initial owners of the R.M.S.Titanic, were absorbed into Cunard some years back.

The Olympic, when scrapped, was found to have torpedo damage!

The Titanic film is indeed accurate, however, the chances of the engines being full reversed when travelling @ full speed is not very likely when you consider no passengers reporting any more than a slight bump.

Ask any naval sailor who's been through a "crash stop & reverse" - its one of the most stressful things you can subject a ship & its driveline to and invariably does cause damage to propellor shafts etc.

Most likely, 2'nd officer murdoch simply let the ship coast past the berg, thus not disturbing the flow of water past the ships (too small) rudder.

The lookouts did'nt have binoculars, she was steaming full tilt into a known icefield, they thought she was "unsinkable" (46,000tonnes of Iron) and we still wonder why she sank!

[Woodlouse2002]

The sad thing is that if the Titanic has simply rammed the iceberg head on she would probably not have sank.