Question Most survivors couldn't hear or feel the collision with iceberg. Why is that?

[Curiosite]

I've read a few accounts, and each one of them stated that there was "no sound" or "just a light sound". Honestly, I'm confused. Why would the ripping of the hull by massive knives of ice not be heard or felt?

 

[Steven Christian]

Got that on my DVR. Guess its time to watch it again. Thought I read it somewhere but that could be the source. Thanks.

 

[Rennette Marston]

She was actually known and called Margaret Brown or Mrs J.J.Brown, never Molly. That name was created after she passed on.

She was also known as "Maggie" Brown until she died. She began being referred to as "Molly" Brown a few decades after her death.

 

[Rennette Marston]

Molly Brown said she was thrown out of her bed when the ship hit the iceberg but I feel like it was an exageration...

If my memory serves me right, her cabin was on E-deck on the starboard side near the 1st class E-deck staircase leading up to D-deck. This would place her near the collision so the vibration would've been more noticeable in that deck than in the upper decks far from the impact, IMO.

 

[Rennette Marston]

Here's a good article on the collision by Dr. Paul Lee. This is what the article has to say about "Molly" Brown's testimony of that event:

E-23 was the cabin of the famous Margaret Brown. In "The Newport Herald" of 28th and 29th May 1912, she says "I gave little thought to the crash that struck at my window overhead and threw me to the floor."

For comparision, here's a graph of the Titanic's damage on her starboard bow. Since Mrs. Brown's cabin was near where the iceberg struck the ship, the impact would've been much more noticable than it was in the upper decks of the Titanic:

Here's a testimony of another survivor who was in a cabin that was on the same deck as Brown's:

E-33 - In "The Cleveland Leader" (9/5/12), Mrs Edith Chibnall was quoted as saying, "I thought the ship had been struck by lightning when we dashed into the iceberg, so loud was the crash." But in "The Hastings and St Leonards Observer" 18/5/12 (via "The New York Herald") there is the following observation: "The impact was no so great as to throw passengers into a panic. "Miss Bowerman, the daughter, says that that neither she nor her mother thought that a serious accident had happened."

Perhaps the sound of the ship's side hitting against a massive floating object, not necessarily the vibration, was what startled Brown and Chibnall during the collision. What do you think?

 

[Robert T. Paige]

I know hollywood movies aren't factual but didn't one of them have her playing cards when they hit the berg?

That is questionable.???
In the 1953 "Titanic" , "Maude Young" ( 'a thinly disguised name' used instead of Margaret Brown in the movie, and played by the actress Thelma Ritter) is shown in a scene playing in a Bridge Game which includes "Richard Ward Sturges" (Clifton Webb) in the party when the Titanic hits the berg. I think they also included Isidor Straus in the Bridge game in the movie . This movie is notorious for its fiction and not fact. The band leader is called "Mr. Mc Dermott" and has some wood winds in it.
And "Maude Young" is a rich "Montana mining millionaire" who declares "I've got so many maids the maids have maids." This was my first "Titanic" movie and the first time I remember seeing the Titanic sinking or evening knowing the story. I was a Petty Officer in the USN at the time, on Liberty, and saw the movie in its first run in a downtown San Diego movie theater .

 

[Rennette Marston]

That is questionable.???
In the 1953 "Titanic" , "Maude Young" ( 'a thinly disguised name' used instead of Margaret Brown in the movie, and played by the actress Thelma Ritter) is shown in a scene playing in a Bridge Game which includes "Richard Ward Sturges" (Clifton Webb) in the party when the Titanic hits the berg. I think they also included Isidor Straus in the Bridge game in the movie . This movie is notorious for its fiction and not fact. The band leader is called "Mr. Mc Dermott" and has some wood winds in it.
And "Maude Young" is a rich "Montana mining millionaire" who declares "I've got so many maids the maids have maids." This was my first "Titanic" movie and the first time I remember seeing the Titanic sinking or evening knowing the story. I was a Petty Officer in the USN at the time, on Liberty, and saw the movie in its first run in a downtown San Diego movie theater .

Oh yes, I remember her. Here's the scene you mentioned from the movie. Start at 1:09:27:

youtube:OL2fmTJU2P4

Here's what this site has to say about the film. It is on p. 238. The emphasis is by me:

My idea—and I knew this would get Zanuck—was for me to go to London and New York and study the old newspapers, and I could come up with 60 percent truth, completely documentary. Clifton Webb would play one of twenty-five multimillionaires who went down on the Titanic —only a multimillionaire could afford to go on that maiden voyage from Southampton. The dialogue of the people was to be drawn almost exactly from life: We took it out of the newspapers. The famous line coined that night—"No cause for alarm"—drew big applause at the [film's] preview at the Academy Theatre because people recognized it [from newspaper accounts].

 

[Rennette Marston]

I should say that the 1953 version is a rather interesting cinematic understatement on its own. Although the 1997 version isn't so different screenplay-wise, what with the cheesy romantic melodrama and such. The Cameron version, as brilliant (and overrated) as it is, is actually lagging a bit behind in character development for its fictional characters than the '53 film. The acting in the '53 version is first-class, though! But overall, I rate Titanic (1953) third behind A Night to Remember (1958) and Titanic (1997).

 

[Robert T. Paige]

[QUatTOTE="Steven Christian, post: 434761, member: 141426"]
Yeah movie making. But I recall reading someone saying that they collected some of the ice on the deck and using some to put in a drink. But I don't remember where that came from. Could have just been fiction too.
[/QUOTE]

Oh yes, I remember her. Here's the scene you mentioned from the movie. Start at 1:09:27:

youtube:OL2fmTJU2P4

Here's what this site has to say about the film. It is on p. 238. The emphasis is by me:

The line about the maids is at about 0:07:00.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

I should say that the 1953 version is a rather interesting cinematic understatement on its own. Although the 1997 version isn't so different screenplay-wise, what with the cheesy romantic melodrama and such. The Cameron version, as brilliant (and overrated) as it is, is actually lagging a bit behind in character development for its fictional characters than the '53 film. The acting in the '53 version is first-class, though! But overall, I rate Titanic (1953) third behind A Night to Remember (1958) and Titanic (1997).

I would agree in your rating.

 

[Rennette Marston]

Yeah movie making. But I recall reading someone saying that they collected some of the ice on the deck and using some to put in a drink. But I don't remember where that came from. Could have just been fiction too.

I think that part of the story is more allegory than fact. Though I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen.

The line about the maids is at about 0:07:00.

Oh, I misspoke too soon! Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Cam Houseman]

I've read a few accounts, and each one of them stated that there was "no sound" or "just a light sound". Honestly, I'm confused. Why would the ripping of the hull by massive knives of ice not be heard or felt?

the farther away from the impact zone, the less noise they heard

 

[Auden G Minor]

I've read a few accounts, and each one of them stated that there was "no sound" or "just a light sound". Honestly, I'm confused. Why would the ripping of the hull by massive knives of ice not be heard or felt?

The damage to the ship happened on the lowest possible level. First class and second class were higher that third class that probably heard the impact and went onto the poop deck.

 

[Cam Houseman]

The damage to the ship happened on the lowest possible level. First class and second class were higher that third class that probably heard the impact and went onto the poop deck.

yes, the farther away, the less they felt. Some didn't feel it at all.

 

[peterpeak362]

I've read a few accounts, and each one of them stated that there was "no sound" or "just a light sound". Honestly, I'm confused. Why would the ripping of the hull by massive knives of ice not be heard or felt?

They felt the port propeller lose it's fan blades when the engines were abruptly put in full reverse, as the blade had been changed twice already -but the 12 foot gash to the starboard side produced by ramming her into the berg would hardly register to a 90,000 ton ship...

 

[peterpeak362]

The damage to the ship happened on the lowest possible level. First class and second class were higher that third class that probably heard the impact and went onto the poop deck.

It's the size of the craft; the holes were small, 12 foot gashes-the point was to get water in...