Like me, you probably feel you’re drowning in reminders these days of a certain large vessel that sank exactly a century ago at 41°27’34″N 50°8’22″W. Am I the only one who has never seen the 1997 James Cameron movie? Should I see it? Otherwise, I like Cameron’s work and exploits. The April 16, 2012 issue of The New Yorker has this especially good piece by Daniel Mendelsohn. Click on the foto below to sample the article.
The New Yorker magazine credits the foto below (and above) to “National Museums Northern Ireland/Ulster Folk & Transportation Museum,” but not to its photographer. Hmm.
Mendelsohn’s piece ends with a reference to Morgan Robertson’s 1898 novella . . . Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan. That’s uncanny stuff. 1898.
I’m hoping you’re intrigued by the title of this post. If you haven’t seen the video below (click on the image below to play it), you’ll learn how Titanic, Thresher, and Scorpion are connected through Robert Ballard. Sections of the first 10 minutes of the video are “gushy,” but you’ll be glad you stayed with it. An important strand in the second half of the video is Ballard v. RMS Titanic . . . a salvage company. William J. Broad, science writer, picks up on that dispute in a NYTimes article here, embedded online in this cover. Writer me in on the side of Robert Ballard and James P. Delgado.
In searching for ephemera you might not know about this story, I came across Knorr, the Woods Hole vessel Ballard used for his 1985 search for the three vessels in the title. Here’s another link for Knorr. A search turns her up less than a hundred miles SE of Montauk, obviously surveying, below.
An automobile in the ill-fated hold . . . might once have looked like this. A search on e-ships turned up no vessel called Titanic at work today, but then there is this . . . a yacht named Titanic! Click here for the wikipedia entry for the 1971 launched Titanic.
Yesterday’s NYTimes ran this Q & A on various historical connections between Titanic and New York. A future connection lies with a vessel called Balmoral, over the wreck tonight and due in the sixth boro later next week . .. maybe Thursday.
Two vessels forever connected to the tragedy are the one that responded poorly and the one that saved lives. Within a decade, both were also on the seabed, victims of U-boat attacks.
For a comparison of Titanic with her two sisters, check out the inimitable bowsprite’s post here . . . And for a sense of the “titanics in unlikely places,” check Rick’s Old Salt blog.
Postscript: Thresher, like Squalus, left from here.
17 comments
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April 15, 2012 at 1:48 am
Ken
I actually enjoyed Titanic but I would have enjoyed it more if there weren’t a second rate love story in it. The scenes of the ship sinking and the ship herself are magnificent. The plot…meh.
April 15, 2012 at 4:57 am
eastriver
You mean there really was a ship called Titanic? Wow!
http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2012/04/11/you-mean-the-titanic-was-real-and-not-just-a-movie/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OldSaltBlog+%28Old+Salt+Blog%29
April 15, 2012 at 6:25 am
JED
And we’re just over a month from the 73rd anniversary of sinking and subsequent SALVAGE of SS192 SQUALUS
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq99-1.htm
April 15, 2012 at 7:01 am
Paul B.
Yeah, skip the movie. The sinking scenes have been on tv all week, and the Kate Winslet Nude modeling scene is available at many fine sites on the web. Other than that, you pretty much know the ending, anyways.
April 15, 2012 at 7:31 am
Chris Williams
I liked the movie, not so much for the theatrical aspects, but I thought the scenes of the machinery spaces, and the at sea shots of the ship underway, were really good. At least as accurate as my own understanding of the ship and the times. I read somewhere that the reciprocating engine photos were taken on the Jeremiah O’Brien, one of the last surviving Liberty ships, but to make the engine seem bigger they replaced the standard handrails on the engine with shorter ones. The underway shots were, I also read, employing the bow wave and outward curl created by one of the last surviving Victory ships, also in California – it may have been the Lane Victory in San Pedro. The waves were then patched into the scene by the guys who do “magic” with special effects. I had remind myself that this was a recreation while watching the film, so kudos to James Cameron and his crew for the result. If you haven’t caught James Cameron in a National Geogaphic special on TV discussing the the failure modes of the hull and remaining pieces as the ship broke and sank it’s definitely worth a look, for those interested in some of the implications of the strength of materials and construction techniques used at the time.
April 15, 2012 at 10:50 am
Allen Baker
“She was alright when she left here.”
Oft heard remark when workers at Harland and Wolff (Builder of TITANIC and her 2 sisters) were questioned about the sinking.
April 15, 2012 at 12:13 pm
J. G. Burdette
I agree with Ken. I haven’t seen Titanic, but probably would have if it wasn’t for the entwined love story. Enjoyed the post.
April 15, 2012 at 2:01 pm
tugboathunter
http://www.lightfoot.ca/wreckof.htm
Oh wait, wrong ship. Sorry.
Any Titanic songs?
April 15, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Ken
I would so go see a movie about that ship……
April 16, 2012 at 2:54 am
bowsprite
Leadbelly!
(third link, but does not seem to work)
http://gcaptain.com/maritime-monday-titanic-one-hundred-annivers/?44557
try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe5tcr0yHN4
April 15, 2012 at 2:03 pm
walt
I rode by pier 54, 14h street, you can still make out STAR from the White Star LIne, it was painted over with Cunard LInes.
The PBS special with Leonard Goodman the Dancer on Dancing with the Stars was a Hoot, he was a welder @ Harland Wolf
wss
April 15, 2012 at 2:32 pm
the olympic class liners « Bowsprite: A New York Harbor Sketchbook
[…] information. A thorough site here: The Titanic and Other White Star Line Ships. And weigh in at Tugster’s.s Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged with: Arthur Lismer, Conrad Milster, […]
April 15, 2012 at 2:53 pm
walt
Thanks for the Video, the things that come out of the DoD: Radar (cell phones) Sonar (ultrasound) PBR (jet ski wave runner)
The Thresher and Scorpion (Titanic)
NASA on the other hand: Elastomeric O-rings lose their properties at low temperature (look in any materials handbook duh)
Thx
wss
April 15, 2012 at 5:47 pm
Charles Danko
Never watched the 1997 movie due to the corny love scenes mentioned by others. To me “A Night To Remember” is the only Titanic movie worth seeing.
April 15, 2012 at 6:29 pm
tugster
charles– according to that new yorker story, “A Night To Remember” is also THE book to read.
April 15, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Paul S.
Theres also the sequil to the book, “The night lives on”.
May 12, 2012 at 11:35 pm
combs2jc
I used to be on the side of you, Delgado, and Ballard. My daughter changed my mind about that with something she said to me when she was 5 years old. I’m not siding with RMS Titanic, I spent too much time as a mariner to do that. But I do believe there needs to be a balance though.