The Classic Account of the Final Hours of the Titanic
Uploaded by flipboi69 on May 08, 2006
Correct preparation can help ease out problems in times of troubles. The novel A Night to Remember, written by Walter Lord, proves this statement true, by illustrating the Titanic’s great tragedy that happened early morning on April 15, 1912. Through the sinking of the Titanic, three lessons that were to be learned, was that communication between ships had to be better; the Titanic’s design was flawed and people shouldn’t have put all of their hope and faith into a few nuts and bolts; and if the crew and passengers had been serious about this situation. These three lessons could have changed the fate of the Titanic and its passengers lives could have ended in different circumstances.
If proper measures had been taken between the ways the ships communicated, there wouldn’t have been so much loss of life. Messages that another ocean liner, the Californian, had sent, were not taken seriously by the wireless operators of the Titanic. An example of this is, “Only an hour ago - just when he was at last in good contact with Cape Race - The Californian barged in with some messages about icebergs… ‘Shut up, shut up! I am busy; I am working Cape Race!’” (Lord, 23). If First Operator John George Phillips had taken this last message, then maybe the Titanic wouldn’t have hit the iceberg, and many lives would have been spared. An additional example would be that the other ships wouldn’t take the messages of the Titanic very seriously. “Close at hand, the Cunarder Carpathia steamed southward in complete ignorance” (Lord, 44). Another lesson that was to be learned for the communication between the ships, was that 24 hour wireless radio service was to be used. The wireless operator aboard the Californian was bored and did not want to send anymore messages so he left and no one was there to replace him. “Groves didn’t wind it up, and so he heard nothing. Giving up, he put the phones back on the table, and went below to livelier company.” (Lord, 25). If there was 24 hour wireless radio service, then maybe numerous amounts of people could have been saved. “For Captain Smith there was the five ice messages received during the day - the last where to expect the berg. (Lord, 75-76). Captain Smith had received five messages that day, but six were sent. The last one was the one that...