Sample file. Chapter 21. Lifeboats, Passengers, and Rockets. Titanic: An Illustrated History By: Don Lynch and Ken Marshall

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1 Polar The Titanic Bear By: Leighton H. Coleman Essay/Discussion Questions: Talk about what you would do if you were on a ship that was huge and considered unsinkable and a steward or stewardess woke you up to say that there was nothing wrong but you had up put on your lifebelts and go up on deck. What would you do? Chapter 21 Lifeboats, Passengers, and Rockets 21a. Rockets To alert other ships of their distress, white distress rockets were shot up. There was a ship that saw them called the Californian, about 6-11 miles away. We get to learn about the Californian later. 21b. Loading and Lowering the Lifeboats Lowering the lifeboats was very tedious and accident-prone. Most of the crew didn t have any experience whatsoever in lowering the lifeboats, especially since they didn t have a lifeboat drill. Lowering the lifeboats which were a few tons and mostly loaded with passengers (even though some 66

2 were under loaded, some were overloaded. Remember when you tried to figure out how a Welin davit worked? Most of these crewmen didn t have experience. The difference is, this was real and with human lives in those lifeboats. Titanic & Her Sisters Olympic & Britannic By: Tom McCuskie Inside the Titanic By: Ken Marschall Eyewitness: Titanic By: Simon Adams Polar The Titanic Bear By: Leighton H. Coleman Finding the Titanic By: Dr. Robert Ballard Discover the Titanic By: Eric Kentley James Cameron s Titanic By: Ed Marsh and Douglas Kirkland 6GYSBlAei6sTAAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f =false 67

3 Titanic: Destination Disaster: The Legends and the Reality By: John P. Eaton, Charles A. Haas Activity: Were there enough lifeboats pg Essay/Discussion Question: Why didn t more people get into the lifeboats, since the lifeboat capacity was more than was in there? Figure out what the name of the book about Sherlock Holmes was that made it off the ship. Where do you think it is today? Read the book and do a book report on the book. Why didn t as many passengers in 3 rd class survive than in the 1 st and 2 nd classes? Was there any discrimination between classes by any of the crew? 21c. Women and Children First When Captain Smith gave the orders for Women and Children First, the officers took it different ways. 2 nd Officer Lightoller on the Port Side took it to mean women and children only and only allowed women and children and then a few crewmen to be in charge of the lifeboat. 1 st Officer Murdoch on the Starboard Side took it to mean women and children first, and then some men and then a few crewmen to be in charge of the lifeboats. Nearly 2/3 of the passengers that survived, were put into a lifeboat by Murdoch. The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters Inside the Titanic By: Ken Marschall The Birkenhead Drill Discover the Titanic By: Eric Kentley 68

4 Titanic: Destination Disaster: The Legends and the Reality By: John P. Eaton, Charles A. Haas Activities: Look up and read about the story of the H.M.S. Birkenhead. Have them write a comparison between the Birkenhead and Titanic. Essay/Discussion Question: Why was the rule Women and Children First? If you were a male on the Titanic and were refused a place in the lifeboats, what would you do? If you were on a modern day cruise ship that was sinking and there was not enough time to get everyone onto the lifeboats safely and there were women, children and elderly people needing to be saved, what would you do? If J.P. Morgan and/or George Vanderbilt (both of whom were scheduled to be on the Titanic but canceled) were on board, what do you think they would have done? Explain your answer(s). 21d. Some Refused Several refused the lifeboats. Some didn t board because of gentlemen-like conduct. Others felt that the warm huge Titanic was much safer than the small lifeboats in the black icy sea. There were other reasons, and some gave their places for others like the Astors, Strauses, and Edith Evans. You ll read about them in the books listed. Inside the Titanic By: Ken Marschall (Part regarding Alfred Rush) Titanic Touchstones of a Tragedy 69

5 Essay/Discussion Questions: Look up the people that refused to get into the lifeboats. Choose one or more of the person(s) that refused. Look up person(s) and write or talk about why you think they refused and what you think happened to them. Chapter 22 Final Moments on Deck/Preparing to Die 22a. Passengers Most passengers headed for the stern as the bow sank deeper into the water. Panic ensued as almost everyone tried to get as far as possible from the icy cold waters. People ran towards the stern, holding onto the railings and walls to keep from slipping on the slippery and increasingly listing decks. Titanic & Her Sisters Olympic & Britannic By: Tom McCuskie Eyewitness: Titanic By: Simon Adams (Read what regards Benjamin Guggenheim, Thomas Byles & Strauses) James Cameron s Titanic By: Ed Marsh and Douglas Kirkland 70