Heros

 

Everyone knows that the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank, taking approximately 1500 lives with it. This week I’m going to reprint a post from April 16, 2012, that looks at it from a slightly different perspective. I have made a few minor changes for formatting and similar purposes.

Heros

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage.¹ Two days later, the unsinkable became the unthinkable.

I’ve always been fascinated by the disaster. This isn’t history told with dry facts and figures. It is primarily a story of real people and how they reacted in a crisis.²                               

While there are some reports of cowardly actions, many more speak of courage. And even most of the actions some call cowardly are at least understandable. For example, 21-year-old Daniel Buckley jumped into a lifeboat with several other men while the crew was loading women and children. The sailors forced the other men out, but a woman threw a shawl over Daniel as he lay sniveling in the bottom of the boat, and he escaped notice. Is that cowardice? Maybe. But I can sympathize with his desire to live.

I can also understand the different reaction from Mrs. Isador Straus, the wife of one of the owners of Macy’s Department Store. When someone suggested that her husband accompany her in a lifeboat because of his advanced age (67), he refused to go before the other men. Mrs. Straus decided to stay with her husband, saying something like, “We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go.” They were last seen sitting side by side in deck chairs.

The Straus children were grown and out on their own. Their mother’s decision would be hard on them, but they could go on. So I can understand her decision.

But I can’t understand why Mrs. Hudson Allison chose to stay. By doing so, she orphaned her 11-month-old son and condemned her 2-year-old daughter to an awful death. The boy entered a boat with his nurse, and the girl was last seen clinging to her mother’s leg—the only first class child who died. (In fairness to Mrs. Allison, there is conflicting testimony on this issue, with one eyewitness saying she was frantically searching for her husband and son until it was too late.)

Mr. Straus was a hero, as were the many other men who stood aside without protest to let the women and children go first. Then there is Edith Evans. When she and a married friend reached one of the last remaining lifeboats, there was only room for one more. So Edith told her friend to go first because she had children who needed their mother. The friend survived, but Edith did not.

Also among the heroes were Captain Smith (died), Second Officer Lightoller (survived), and the many other crew members who remained calm and worked feverishly to save as many lives as possible.

There were many heros that night who willingly gave, or at least risked, their lives for others.

And we should be grateful.

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¹ The picture at the head of this post shows the RMS Titanic at Southampton on April 10, 1912, two days before her maiden voyage. The photo was taken by Francis Godolphin Osbourne Stuart and is in the public domain because of its age.

² Almost 70 years after it was published, Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember is still the best book about the Titanic. Although it does cover the facts, it excels at capturing the spirit of that night and the emotions of the participants.