TITANIC TRAGEDY=+
Titanic, the popular film, is being hailed as "unsinkable"--as the original Titanic ship was.  Cameron's Titanic is technically brilliant.  It has painstakingly ensured accuracy on clothing fashions, carpet designs and woodworkings abroad the luxury liner.  The film captures and communicates the doomed majesty of the largest and most glamorous passenger ship ever launched.  Unfortunately, for reasons known only to the producer, it utterly fails to convey the most important facts that history records about this tragedy.=++

James Cameron's epic three hour film, Titanic, has grossed an
unprecedented one Billion dollars and music stores report that
their number one selling disc is the soundtrack of the movie. 
Titanic is also the first film to equal the 11 Academy Awards
record of Ben Hur, (although it did not win the best actor and
actress awards and today there are far more categories of
awards than in 1959).=++

Cameron's Titanic is technically brilliant.  It has
painstakingly ensured accuracy on clothing fashions, carpet
designs and woodworkings abroad the luxury liner.  The film
captures and communicates the doomed majesty of the largest
and most glamorous passenger ship ever launched. 
Unfortunately, the most expensive film ever made (it cost over
$200 million) utterly fails to communicate the deeper
spiritual significance of the tragedy.  Most of the incidents
of heroism and chivalry aboard the Titanic were inexplicably
ignored by the film.=++

Titanic exploits the distinctions between the first and third
class, and completely ignores the second class passengers.  In
emotionally explosive scenes it portrays the third class
passengers locked below decks being prevented from reaching
the decks and lifeboats.  As each class of passengers had
unrestricted access to their own decks and allocated lifeboats
those fictitious scenes were impossible.  The official
inquiries in 1912 by the British Board of Trade and the U.S.
Senate Investigation found that allegations that third class
passengers were locked below decks were false.  In fact 115
men in First Class and 147 men from Second class stood back to
make space available for women and children from Third Class
and as a result died.=++

The best historical account ever written on the Titanic
disaster, "A Night to Remember" (by Walter Lord, 1956--it has
never been out of print since) records many incidents of
diligence and courage not covered by Cameron's film.=++

For example: crew members who struggled to rouse and shepherd
the third class passengers to the boat decks.  Many of these
passengers were Swedish and Finnish emigrants who spoke no
English.  Many Catholic passengers preferred to gather in the
dining room to pray the rosary--and would not move.  Others
stormed the bar and drank themselves into oblivion.  Many
jammed the corridors trying to drag all their luggage--trunks
included--down the passageways up the stairs, to the boat
deck!  Some got lost in the vast ship.  Once on deck, many
passengers flatly refused to climb into the small open wooden
lifeboats to be launched onto the freezing ocean.  Many
preferred the bright lights and warmth of the Titanic and went
back inside!=++

For the first hour, the officers could not persuade enough
women and children to climb into the first several lifeboats
to be launched.  With the ship sinking and time running out,
many boats were launched only half or three quarters full!=++

There were only 16 wooden lifeboats, and four canvas
collapsible lifeboats on the Titanic.  All these boats
together could carry a maximum of 1,178 people.  On the
fateful Sunday night there were 2,207 people on board. 
Although there had been no lifeboat drills, the crew worked
efficiently to quickly equip each boat with lanterns and tins
of biscuits, fit in cranks, uncoil the lines, swing out the
boats, load and lower them.  The crew was disciplined and
seemed to sense where they were needed and how to be useful. 
However, the passengers were not always cooperative and
confusion was inevitable.=++

In the film, Captain Edward Smith silently wanders off, as if
in a trance, and plays no active role in the launching of the
lifeboats and saving of the passengers.  History records him
as vigorously active and involved with the radio room, the
morse lamp and the distress rockets trying to rouse the ship
whose lights they could see 8 to 10 miles away.  Cameron chose
not to deal with the fact that one ship, the Californian, was
close enough to see the sinking ship's lights and their watch
counted 8 distress rockets fired.  Although Captain Lord of
the Californian was repeatedly informed of this he rolled over
and went back to sleep!=++

Far from Captain Smith standing passively on the bridge
waiting fatalistically for the waves, survivors testified of
the Captain swimming with a small child after the Titanic had
sunk.=++

Women and Children First=+
The Captain's orders were: "Women and children first!"  Second
Officer Charles Lightoller, rigorously enforced this order
ensuring that no male passengers boarded any of the 8
lifeboats he lowered on the port side (with the exception of
Major Peuchen, a Toronto yachtsman, who was requested to fill
out the crew on No. 6 which had only one seaman to handle the
boat).=++

On the starboard side, First Officer Murdoch interpreted the
order "Women and children first" to allow men to take any
empty seats after all women and children who could be
persuaded to climb aboard had done so.=++

Dan Marvin loaded his bride into a lifeboat, blew her a kiss
and said "It's all right . . . you go and I'll stay
awhile."=++

Adolf Dyker helped Mrs. Dyker across the gunwale with a cheery
"I'll see you later."=++

Dr. Minahan told his wife, "Be brave; no matter what happens,
be brave", then he stepped back and joined the other men on
the deck.=++

Mr. Turrell Cavendish said nothing to his wife.  Just a kiss
. . . a long look . . . another kiss . . . and he disappeared
into the crowd.=++

Mark Fortune, and his son Charles, placed Mrs. Fortune and
their three daughters onto a lifeboat and waved goodbye.=++

"Walter you must come with me!", begged Mrs. Douglas.  "No,"
Mr. Douglas replied, turning away, "I must be a gentleman."=++

Some wives refused to go.  Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Meyer felt so
self-conscious about arguing in public that they went down to
their cabin.  There, they decided that she should leave on
account of their baby.=++

Arthur Ryerson had to lay down the law to his wife: "You must
obey orders . . . You must go when your turn comes.  I'll stay
here."=++

Mr. Lucien Smith ended a very heated argument with his wife
saying: "I never expected to ask you to obey, but this is one
time you must."  They kissed goodbye and as the boat was
lowered he called out some final advice "Keep your hands in
your pockets, it is very cold weather."=++

Sometimes force was necessary: Mrs. Emil Taussig was clinging
to her husband refusing to go.  Two men tore her loose and
dropped her overboard into the lowering boat.=++

Two seamen yanked Mrs. Charlotte Collyer from her husband
Harvey.  As she was carried, literally kicking and screaming,
she heard her husband's last words to her, "Go Lottie!  For
God's sake, be brave and go!"=++

But no amount of force or persuasion could move Mrs. Hudson
Allison to leave her husband.  She put her baby, Trevor, and
3 year old daughter, Lorraine, into the boat with the nurse
but she stayed on deck with her husband.=++

Mrs. Isidor Strauss also refused to leave her husband. 
Although everyone tried to persuade her husband, in view of
his age, to enter the boat, he refused.  "I will not go before
the other men," he determined.  His wife tightened her grasp
of his arm, patted it and smiled up at him: "I've always
stayed with my husband, so why should I leave him now?  We
have been living together for many years.  Where you go, I
go."  They sat down together on a pair of deck chairs.  Mr.
Strauss was a member of congress and multi-millionaire
banker.=++

But most of the women entered the boats--wives escorted by
their husbands, single ladies by the men who had volunteered
to look after them.  Thomas Andrews, the charming, dynamic,
ship builder worked vigorously to load ladies onto the boats. 
He was seen and heard helping everywhere: "Ladies you must get
in at once!  There is not a moment to lose, you cannot pick
and choose your boat.  Don't hesitate, get in, get in!"  One
lady suddenly cried out, "I've forgotten Jack's photograph and
must get it!"  Everyone protested, but she darted below and
soon reappeared with the prized picture and was rushed into
the boat.=++

What people chose to take with them was quite revealing. 
Adolf Dyker handed his wife a satchel with two gold watches,
two diamond rings, a sapphire necklace and 200 Swedish crowns. 
Edith Russell carried her musical toy pig.  Stewart Collett
placed his Bible in his pocket.  Lawrence Beesley stuffed his
jacket pockets with books.  Norman Chambers pocketed a
revolver and a compass.  Steward Johnson took four oranges. 
Mrs. Dickson Bishop left behind $11,000 in jewellery, then
sent her husband back for her muff.  Major Arthur Peuchen left
behind $200,000 in bonds, $100,000 in stocks and chose warm
clothes instead.  The five mail clerks diligently sweated
their way up the stairs dragging over 200 mail sacks of
correspondence--in the vain hope that the post could be
saved!=++

In the midst of the crisis, some still found time for humour. 
One man told Mrs. Vera Dick as he fastened a life jacket on
her: "Try this on.  They're the very latest thing this season. 
Everyone is wearing them now!"=++

Colonel Gracie found Fred Wright, the squash pro, and
cancelled their 7:30 a.m. squash appointment.  At that time
the squash court on level F and G was under water.=++

One man called out to Mrs. White: "When you get back you'll
need a pass.  You can't get back on without a pass!"  To calm
the people, bandmaster Wallace Hartley led his seven musicians
in playing cheerful music and ultimately the hymn, "Abide with
me," right to the end.  No member of the band survived.=++

Steward John Hart struggled to get third class passengers into
life jackets and shepherded up the boats.  Many still refused
to go.  As fast as he got them into the boats, they would jump
out and go inside where it was warm.=++

One third class passenger, Daniel Buckley, disguised himself
as a woman and succeeded in getting into a boat.  One male
teenager was discovered by Fifth Officer Lowe hiding in one of
the life boats.  Lowe drew his gun ordering the boy out.  When
the stowaway started crying, Lowe told him to be a man.  That
seemed to work because the boy then climbed out and gave his
place to a woman.  Then, as a wave of men tried to rush the
boat, Lowe fired three warning shots to keep them back. 
"Stand back!  Stand back!  It's women and children first!" 
Purser McElroy also had to fire warning shots and drag third
class men out of boats to make room for women.=++

Others were not so frantic.  Rev. Robert Bateman helped his
sister-in-law, Mrs. Ada Balls into a boat.  His last words to
her were: "If I don't meet you again in this world, I will in
the next."=++

One of the wealthiest multi-millionaire bankers on the ship,
Benjamin Guggenheim, worked tirelessly to help the ladies onto
the lifeboats, then sent a last message to his wife: "Tell my
wife I've done my best in doing my duty."  He then went back
to his cabin, dressed up in his evening clothes, with top hat,
and declared that he was "prepared to go down like a
gentleman!"=++

Another famous wealthy passenger, Colonel John Astor, placed
his wife on a boat and stepped back into the crowd.  When
Arthur Ryerson noticed that his French maid, Victorine, had no
lifevest he stripped off his own and buckled it on her.  Then
he placed his wife, son and their maid on the lifeboat.  He
remained on the Titanic.=++

When the last boat was being loaded, Miss Edith Evans gave up
her seat to Mrs. Brown: "You go . . . You have children
waiting at home."  Edith Evans went down with the ship.=++

After the last boat had been launched, a curious calm came
over the Titanic.  Captain Edward Smith walked around telling
his crew: "Well, boys, you've done your duty.  Now every man
for himself."=++

Some passengers prayed with Rev. Thomas Byles.  The band
played "Abide With Me."  Wireless operator Phillips continued
to try to raise the Californian (whose wireless had been
switched off after 11 p.m.), which was within sight, or any
other vessel in the vicinity.  The famous evangelical
journalist and writer, William Stead, sat reading!  The
Assistant Surgeon Simpson, Purser McElroy, Assistant Purser
Barker and Second Officer Lightoller all shook hands and said,
"Goodby."  Most passengers stood waiting or quietly paced the
boat deck.  Some jumped into the water.=++

Then, with the bow plunging steadily deeper into the water and
the stern rising higher out of the water, a tremendous
cacophony erupted of breaking china and glassware, thuds of
furniture, the clatter of sliding deck chairs.  The lights
went out and everything movable in the ship broke loose in a
thundering roar.  Twenty nine boilers, 15,000 bottles of beer
and wine, 30,000 eggs, 5 grand pianos and much more tumbled
and crashed as the Titanic broke in half and disappeared
beneath the waves.=++

Thirty men who had remained with the ship managed to swim to
the two collapsible boats that had floated off the sinking
boat deck, A was swamped and B was upside down.  As they
balanced precariously on, or around, the keel, one seaman
asked "Don't the rest of you think we ought to pray?" 
Everyone agreed.  They prayed the Lord's Prayer out loud
together, in chorus.=++

Of the almost 1,600 people who went down on the Titanic, 30
made it onto the capsized collapsible B and 13 others were
picked up by other boats.  Eight managed to reach boat 4, and
boat B (a collapsible) hauled in one more.  Boat 14 under
Fifth Officer Lowe, rowed back and rescued four more survivors
from the water.=++

The Titanic collided with the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on Sunday
14 April 1912.  Orders were given to uncover the lifeboats and
muster the crew and passengers at 12:05 a.m. on Monday 15
April.  The first boat was lowered at 12:45 a.m.  The last
boat was lowered at 2:05 a.m.  The ship sunk beneath the sea
at 2:20 a.m.  The Carpathia which had raced at top speed from
58 miles away arrived at 4:10 a.m. and began picking up
survivors.  The Californian which was stationary just over 10
miles away only responded to the disaster at 5:45 a.m. when
their wireless radio operator woke up and tuned in to what had
happened during the night.=++

The official British statistics given in the House of Commons
were 1,503 passengers and crew "not saved" and 703 "saved." 
This broke down to 1,347 men, 103 women and 53 children died
in the Titanic disaster.  651 people were lowered into the
lifeboats, 703 survivors (336 women, 52 children, 126 male
passengers and 189 crew members) were picked up by the
Carpathia (therefore 52 who went into the water were
saved).=++

A Turning Point in History=+
The sinking of the Titanic marked a monumental watershed in
human history.  She was the floating embodiment of the new age
of scientific optimism.  "Bigger!  Better!  Faster!"  Many
claimed that the Titanic was yet another proof of the
evolutionary ascent of man--"salvation through technology." 
Man had finally conquered nature and was impenetrable to
natural and supernatural forces--"a modern incarnation of the
Tower of Babel!"  The stunning arrogance of the age was
epitomized by the frequent boasts of Titanic's
indestructibility by builders and promoters: "Not even God
could sink this ship!"=++

It is difficult for us to appreciate just how great an impact
this disaster had.  There are really no modern comparisons. 
In less than 3 hours the dreams and confidence of an entire
generation sank with the great ocean liner.  The human drama
of the Titanic was to foreshadow the horrors of the most
terror ridden century with the greatest death tolls in
history.  The Titanic marked the end of a general feeling of
over-confidence.  Never again would people be quite so sure of
themselves.  For the Titanic--"Man's greatest engineering
achievement"--to go down the first time it sailed was a
devastating blow.  If this supreme achievement was so terribly
fragile--what about everything else?  If wealth meant so
little on this cold April night, what value should we attach
to it the rest of the time?  It marked the beginning of a new
and uneasy era of doubt and disillusionment.=++

Life is uncertain.  The future is unknowable.  The unthinkable
is possible.=++

On another level, in the decades that followed, the effect of
the sinking of the Titanic was to save more lives than had
been lost on that dark, cold April night.  Never again would
men fling a ship at top speed hell bent through an ice field,
heedless of warnings.  From now on Atlantic ships took ice
warnings seriously.  24 hour radio operations on board
passenger ships became the rule.  It was also the last time
that a liner put out to sea without sufficient lifeboats for
everybody on board.  However, all that would have been of
little consolation at the time.=++

The sea, like the air, is a dangerous and powerful medium for
travel.  Time and again it has shown its disrespect for the
best efforts of men.  The largest, most invincible ship yet
built had been defeated by an iceberg.  The man-made had been
sunk by the God-made.=++

Yet, while the Titanic before 14 April 1912 symbolized
elegance, invincibility, unsinkability and arrogance; after
the sinking it became a symbol of duty, chivalry and faith. 
Amidst the widespread shock and bereavement, people world wide
were inspired by the many profoundly moving examples of
courage and self-sacrifice of those men who faithfully
honoured the command: "Women and children first."  With few
exceptions, most of Titanic's men willingly gave up their
seats on lifeboats for others.  Many husbands and fathers put
their wives and children on to the lifeboats, looked into
their eyes, whispered some last words and waved goodbye--with
the full realization that they would never see them again. 
They exemplified the teachings of Jesus Christ in John 15:13:
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life
for his friends."=++

Chivalry, Feminism and Barbarism=+
Tragically, Cameron's film minimizes and ignores the
incredible Christian courage and self-sacrifice of many men
who went down with the Titanic.  By focusing on a fictional,
and far fetched, love relationship of a first class lady with
a young artist in steerage, the film has sidelined the real
heros of the Titanic.  Even more seriously, the film failed to
communicate what motivated so many men to give their lives so
that others could live.  For every woman who died on the
Titanic, 13 men died.=++

In recent years the Titanic's record as the worst peacetime,
maritime disaster has been beaten--by a horrific ferry sinking
in the Philippines in 1987.  Over 4,000 people--mostly women
and children--died in that disaster.  Unlike the Titanic, most
of the survivors of this Philippines disaster were men. 
Similarly, when the ferry Estonia sank in the Baltic sea most
of the survivors were men.  When questioned why they hadn't
helped the women and children to be saved, survivors were
quoted as saying: "Hey, it's survival of the fittest"; "It was
every man for himself" and "If women want equality so much--
they've got it!"  Again, in 1996, a boat sank off the shores
of Indonesia.  Like the Titanic, the ship was inadequately
equipped with lifeboats.  Unlike the Titanic, the men received
preferential lifeboat treatment ahead of women and children. 
Women died that men should live!=++

In fact, feminists and suffragettes of 1912 actually argued
that the Titanic women were wrong to have accepted seats on
the boats from the men.  To them, the philosophy of men being
protectors and defenders of women was offensive and an
obstacle to their cause.  "Boats or Votes?" was the title of
one prominent newspaper article.=++

In an essay in the April 27, 1998 edition of Time, entitled
"The Titanic Riddle", the writer asks the question: "Why
women? . . . is not grouping women with children a raging
anachronism? . . . patronizing and demeaning to women . . .
'Women and children first' attributes to women the same
pitiable dependence and moral simplicity we find in five year
olds . . . But in this day of the most extensive societal
restructuring to grant women equality in education, in
employment, in government, in athletics, in citizenship . . .
what entitles women to the privileges--and reduces them to the
status--of children?"=++

The answer is found in the Bible: "Husbands, love your wives,
just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her .
. ." Ephesians 5:25.  "To this you were called, because Christ
suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should
follow in His steps." 1 Peter 2:21=++

For nearly 2,000 years this principle has guided Christian
civilization.  The groom dies for the bride.  The strong
suffers for the weak.  The highest expression of love is to
give your life for another.  This is the true message of the
Titanic.=++

The U.S. president's wife, Nellie Taft, mounted a national
campaign to raise funds for a monument that would be
inscribed: "To the brave men who gave their lives that women
and children might be saved."  That monument was dedicated by
the First Lady in Washington DC "in gratitude to the chivalry
of American manhood."=++

No doubt such a message is too uncomfortable at the end of the
20th Century, when abortion targets preborn babies,
pornography exploits women for profit, when cowardice is the
norm and when even draft dodgers can be made president and
send women into combat.=++

Facing up to the Inevitability of Death=+
Life is short and uncertain.  According to the designer of the
Titanic, whereas decorations were discussed for many hours,
the lifeboats were only discussed for "five or ten minutes!" 
It is an amazing thing that so often we give most of our time
and attention to the trivial and we give so little attention
to what is most important.  When they set sail very few of the
people on the Titanic could have realized how little time they
had.  We should set our priorities in the light of eternity
and live our lives as those who know that one day we must
stand before Almighty God and give an account.=++

There is nothing more certain than death and nothing as
uncertain as the time of dying.  We should therefore be
prepared at all times for that which may come at any time. 
The Lord Jesus taught of a rich man who was proud and self
satisfied with his achievements and plans to build bigger
barns.  "And I'll say to myself, `You have plenty of good
things laid up for many years.  Take life easy, eat, drink and
be merry!'  But God said to him, `You fool!  This very night
your life will be demanded of you' . . . This will be how it
will be with anyone who stores up things for himself, but is
not rich toward God . . . life is more than food, and the body
more than clothes . . . seek His Kingdom and these things will
be given to you as well." Luke 12:19-31=++

The Lord described this rich man as a fool because he was
unprepared for death.  Self centered, purposeless, obsessed
with his possessions, prosperity and pleasures, he was not
prepared for eternity.  If you are not prepared to die, then
you are not free to truly live.  As Matthew Henry advised: "It
ought to be our business everyday to prepare for our last
day."  George Whitefield declared: "Take care of your life and
God will take care of your death."=++

At death we leave behind all that we have and we take with us
all that we are.  On the Day of Judgement, in the light of
eternity, will any of us regret praying too much?  Or
sacrificing too much for God's Kingdom?  Being too generous? 
Too forgiving?  Too evangelistic?  If you knew that you were
to die next year--what would you do differently this year?=++

Do you know that your sins are forgiven and do you have a
vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior?  If not, please do write to United Christian Action,
or fax, or e-mail, requesting a complimentary copy of the
excellent booklet "Ultimate Questions."  It is free to anyone
who requests it--with no obligations or questions asked.  They
look forward to hearing from you.=++

By Rev. Peter Hammond=++

Sources:=+
A Night to Remember, Walter Lord, Penguin, 1956.=+
Titanic, Leo Merriott, PRC, 1997.=++

Permission to quote from or reproduce any UCANEWS is
encouraged, provided that due acknowledgement is given.=++

UCANEWS, Edition 2/98=++

Used by permission.=++

UNITED CHRISTIAN ACTION=+
P.O. Box 23632=+
Claremont 7735=+
South Africa=++

Tel: (021) 689-4480=+
Fax: (021) 685-5884=+
E-mail: frontfel@gem.co.za=++

OR CONTACT:=+
FRONTLINE FELLOWSHIP=+
P.O. Box 74=+
Newlands 7725=+
South Africa=++

2115 E. Cedar St., #1=+
Tempe, AZ  85281=+
U.S.A.=++

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