Not long after the Titanic catastrophe was made known to the world there were many rumors and half truths that had to be sorted out and recognized as such in order to fully understand the full scope of the catastrophe; the editors of The Nation printed this article which contributed to that effort:
"...two terrible, damning facts stand out: the first, that the ship was speeding through an ice-field of the presence of which its officers were fully aware; the second, is that every life could readily have been saved had there been boats and rafts enough to keep people afloat in a clear, starry night on an exceptionally smooth Atlantic sea. Both these facts are indisputable." "As for the lifeboats, these expensive affairs that could cost the large sum of $425.00 apiece - there were but twenty of them in addition to a few rafts..." A couple of admirals weigh in as to the innocence or guilt of Bruce Ismay (1862 – 1937), Managing Director of the White Star Line. While the PITTSBURGH DISPATCH seemed to think that a debate was simply not necessary:
"...But it cannot be ignored that the man who in the management of the line had sent the great steamer to sea with lifeboats for about one-third of the ship's company, bore a responsibility that might well have been atoned by joining the gallant men who went down with the ship." Four cartoons pertaining to the loss of Titanic; the drawings first appeared in four different newspapers from various parts of the the United States shortly after news of the disaster had spread. A couple of years prior to the sinking of Titanic the president of the International Seaman's Union of America presented a petition before the U.S. Congress declaring that the issue of safety at sea is widely ignored on all levels. In his address he remarked: "There is not sailing today on any ocean any passenger vessel carrying the number of boats needed to take care of the passengers and crew..."
The arctic explorer Admiral Robert Peary (1856 – 1920) was no stranger to icebergs. In this short essay he reminisces about spotting icebergs, the most dangerous types of icebergs, the times when an iceberg can prove helpful to a skipper and the remedies for the future. The attached obituary of Isador Straus (born 1845) as it appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES the day after the news of his death was made known. At the time he had secured passage on board Titanic, Straus was co-owner of the Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. A trusted advisor to U.S. President Grover Cleveland, he was elected to represent the New Yorkers of the fifty-third district and served in that post between 1894 and 1895. He died in the company of his wife Ida; unlike Straus, her body was never recovered.
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