A Night to Remember

The evening of April 14, 1912 was calm and quiet on the North Atlantic.  Intending to make headlines throughout the world, the RMS Titanic was steaming from Southampton to New York on her maiden voyage.  She was the largest and most luxurious ship of her time.  Full of technological advancements and reflecting the optimism of the period she was deemed to be unsinkable.  And on this inaugural voyage, she carried over 2,200 passengers and crew, many of whom were among Edwardian society's most wealthy and influential individuals.

This particular Sunday night, at 11:40 PM, as the passengers were concluding their day, a lookout spotted a large iceberg in the path of the Titanic.  Despite a desperate attempt to steer clear of the floating, frozen mountain, the Titanic struck the iceberg on her starboard side, opening rivets between hull plates in such a manner as to allow water to leak in along her seams.  This resulted in the flooding of 5 of the 16 watertight compartments in the forward portion of the ship.

Unfortunately, the Titanic was designed to be able to withstand flooding of up to 4 compartments in order to maintain enough buoyancy to remain floating.  As a result of the damage sustained, the Titanic began sinking by the bow, soon resulting in overflowing the bulkheads of the forward watertight compartments into each successive section of the ship.

Over the course of the next several hours, the crew of the Titanic began loading passengers into the inadequate supply of lifeboats and lowering them into the frigid Atlantic.  Their orders were to load "Women and children first" reflecting the code of honor of the day.

Shortly after 2:00 AM, April 15, the boat deck of the Titanic slipped under the ocean surface. Water began rushing into the boat through vents and hatches accelerating the rate of sinking.  And at 2:20 the final portion of the stern of Titanic slipped under the waves, lost forever.

Throughout the night, the radio operators of the Titanic sent out distress signals communicating with other ships and with Newfoundland's Cape Race.  Responding to the call for help, the RMS Carpathia raced to the assistance of Titanic.  Unable to arrive before the Titanic sank, she arrived at the last known location of Titanic around 4:00 AM rescuing those few who were fortunate enough to secure as seat in a lifeboat.  Of the 2,200 passengers and crew aboard the Titanic an estimated 700 survived leaving approximately 1,500 (mostly third class, men and crew) to drown.

The book, A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord was published in 1955 and tells the story of the last few hours of the RMS Titanic.  Though much of the story is shrouded in mystery and legend, the author drew from published sources and interviews with the survivors to tell his story.

I found this book fascinating - largely because of the sense of mystique surrounding the story of the Titanic and images of the wreckage.  One could ask, other than reading a sensational story and adding to general, historical knowledge, why devote time and effort to post a review of a book recounting the Titanic sinking on a forum dedicated to being a physician and excellent living?

There is much that can be learned from the sinking of the RMS Titanic.  As every disaster has a tendency to do, the subsequent investigations exposed safety vulnerabilities and sources of human error that culminated in the fate of the Titanic.  Additionally, the roster of the survivors reflected a code of ethics (prioritizing first class passengers) that would seem foreign to our modern sensibilities.  But as I read this story, the theme that I kept replaying in my mind was one of suffering and resilience, which has been a topic of discussion here. 

As the lifeboats were cast off and the ship became enveloped in cold, Atlantic water, it became evident to many that their fate was sealed - that they would perish with the ship.  And yet, whether by personal code or social code, many did their duty to prioritize the lives of others.  In frigid water, they faced intense hardship and suffering.

As I reflected on the comfort and security of my own existence, I began to ask myself how I would respond to similar hardship.  Are the comforts that I enjoy somehow an impediment to resilience in the face of future suffering.  Then I had the realization that moments before her fateful collision with the iceberg, the people on the Titanic were living much like me - with as much comfort and security as early 20th century amenities and technology provided.  The Titanic was designed to be the pinnacle of luxurious living.  It wasn't until extreme hardship was introduced that resilience became apparent.

Most of us will never face tragedy to the same degree as the passengers and crew of the Titanic.  Like the passengers before April 15, most of us will live with relative ease and comfort.  We learn from their example that when hardship comes, we can face it with grace and resilience.  But the most important lesson that we can take from the Titanic is to view each day as a blessing - to be grateful for the things that we have been given understanding that in a moment, all could be gone.