Jim Kalafus
Member
Hey. Regarding the elevators. The lift boys all survived. Whether they were drilled to leave the elevators before power failure, or just had good survival instincts, remains to be seen. For the "trapped in the lifts" canard to work, someone who knew how to run a manual elevator would have had to have dashed in as the boy on duty dashed out. Not likely.
We work only from first week accounts. Most detailed and least exaggerated. Of the dozens of first class survivors who ran up and down the stairs which wrapped around the elevator, and who left accounts in the first week, none described the horrible sight and sounds of people trapped dangling in a cage. lots of horrible things were witnessed, and described, by multiple passengers. For instance, a woman with an infant hurried down the boat deck and fell, hard. Whoever she was, at least six survivors saw fit to mention her accident. It defies credibility that the far worse sight, of people trapped in the lifts, would go unmentioned if it happened!
>everyone panicked
Quite the opposite. For instance, after the three port boats were wrecked within a minute, the remaining loaded boats were ordered unloaded. Everyone got out and stood waiting for orders which never came. Panicked people do not climb out of boats. They keep piling in. There were individuals who lost their nerve but under the circumstances the level of calm achieved was amazing.
>Only 6 float off nice
7. #14, a port boat, was successfully lowered and did manage to save some people!
>nobody knows what happened inside
We can tell you with a fair degree of accuracy.
- Those who saw the torpedo described a single explosion
- Those who didn't see it described a thump, a bump, a piece of furniture falling over, the ship bumping a rock, followed by a massive explosion.
- A severe list which went away in the time it took passengers from the dining room to begin ascending the stairs.
- Power failed within four minutes.
- Heavy smoke in the vicinity of Vanderbilt's suite. Smoke in second class cabin hallway.
- All staircases jammed but not panicked. Within a few minutes everyone had come up, and people who wished to go down had no trouble doing so.
- Water seen entering open portholes on E Deck and D Deck by passengers who risked running deep into the ship.
- Elevator last reliably seen by CT Hill, who took it to the wrong deck and who was immediately called to see the torpedo by a crew member. My guess is that the lift boy, hearing that salient bit of information, probably stayed put.
We work only from first week accounts. Most detailed and least exaggerated. Of the dozens of first class survivors who ran up and down the stairs which wrapped around the elevator, and who left accounts in the first week, none described the horrible sight and sounds of people trapped dangling in a cage. lots of horrible things were witnessed, and described, by multiple passengers. For instance, a woman with an infant hurried down the boat deck and fell, hard. Whoever she was, at least six survivors saw fit to mention her accident. It defies credibility that the far worse sight, of people trapped in the lifts, would go unmentioned if it happened!
>everyone panicked
Quite the opposite. For instance, after the three port boats were wrecked within a minute, the remaining loaded boats were ordered unloaded. Everyone got out and stood waiting for orders which never came. Panicked people do not climb out of boats. They keep piling in. There were individuals who lost their nerve but under the circumstances the level of calm achieved was amazing.
>Only 6 float off nice
7. #14, a port boat, was successfully lowered and did manage to save some people!
>nobody knows what happened inside
We can tell you with a fair degree of accuracy.
- Those who saw the torpedo described a single explosion
- Those who didn't see it described a thump, a bump, a piece of furniture falling over, the ship bumping a rock, followed by a massive explosion.
- A severe list which went away in the time it took passengers from the dining room to begin ascending the stairs.
- Power failed within four minutes.
- Heavy smoke in the vicinity of Vanderbilt's suite. Smoke in second class cabin hallway.
- All staircases jammed but not panicked. Within a few minutes everyone had come up, and people who wished to go down had no trouble doing so.
- Water seen entering open portholes on E Deck and D Deck by passengers who risked running deep into the ship.
- Elevator last reliably seen by CT Hill, who took it to the wrong deck and who was immediately called to see the torpedo by a crew member. My guess is that the lift boy, hearing that salient bit of information, probably stayed put.
