The experience of the wrecking

[181218]

I have always thought about what the Titanic looked liked as a wreck in 1912. We have seen all the great paintings and photo's of how she looks now. But it would be interesting to see a detailed depiction of how she looked 92 years ago. How did the Grand Staircase area look ? Most I understand broke away but still...

I'd also be interested to see how she looked at an in-between stage. Maybe 1930's,1940's,1950's when she would have been much more intact but still very much a ghostly wreck.

Anyway I'd be Fascinated to see a series of paintings or even models like this.

 

[Sahand Miraminy]

Hey Miles!
I thought I was the only one to wonder this! Imagine all the public rooms right after the sinking. It would be really neat seeing the beautiful rooms under water. Sometimes I also think about the thousands and thousands of light bulbs imploding while she was making her trip to the bottom when the water pressure became more intense.

 

[181218]

Well I imagine most of us want to see something, which is recognisable from the Titanic when we see footage or pictures of the wreck other than other than rust. That is why the Ghosts Of the Abyss footage was good. It showed us better pictures of the Titanic’s interior than we had seen before. But still it is often hard to make things out. That’s why I wonder what the Titanic would have looked liked 50/60 years ago. She still would have been a ghostly wreck but more intact. The further you go back the more intact she would become. It would fascinating to see photo realistic picture’s showing how the Titanic might have looked at various stages of decay.

Talking about light bulbs exploding when the Titanic finally went under author Athur C Clarke (he is also very interested in the Titanic) talks about the air pockets that could have survived once the ship was fully submerged. In one of his books he mentions air pockets surviving in the Titanic refrigerators. I wonder if this would have been possible. Could some people have survived in the ship in some sort of air pocket once she had submerged?

 

[Bryan R. Carroll]

Theoretically, maybe for some short distance down. There is another thread somewhere that speaks to the characteristics of air pockets as the sea's pressure increases with depth- I neglected to bookmark it. Essentially, the air pockets become smaller and more compressed as the depth increases, until the air is forced into the water. A poster named 'Yuri' wrote on another thread, an account of what one could expect trapped in such an air pocket during the fall.

If Titanic's refrigerators were anything like what we know today, they'd likely have imploded at a couple of hundred feet.

There is only one way that I could (even theoretically) imagine (temporarily) surviving the trip- the 'Thank God for Southby' scenario. In Cussler's 'Raise the Titanic', a character seals himself into a vault on board, shortly before the plunge.

I have no idea how well a sealed bank-vault would hold up under the pressure, and of course, I have never heard of anybody ever doing this, outside of literary fiction.

 

[Wesley Burton]

I doubt a vault of that era could withstand the pressure. Even vaults today would have to be very strong to survive. And I would personally rather have the thing implode than suffocate.

I have been thinking about the same thing for a while. I was even wondering what the ship may have looked like had they found her in 1980. I would love to see paintings of the ship of what she may have looked like 60 years agoe. Or thereabouts.

 

[Mike Bull]

I've often wondered what she looked like on the bottom initially too, once the all silt had settled.

 

[monica e. hall]

A grim subject to speculate upon. I've read somewhere that implosion would have caused instantaneous death when it happened, but I can't help thinking ghastly things would have happened first to eyes, nose, ears etc. So I would still much rather have been on deck and gone into the freezing briny, much as I hate cold water (I don't even like the Med, has to be the Caribbean before I plunge in happily). Mind you, with my lack of subcutaneous insulation, I'd have had cardiac arrest the moment I hit the water - hydrocution, I think it's called. One of the few interesting and reliable facts documented by friend Gardiner....d'you know, in the UK there are people who break the ice (if any nowadays) on a lake in Hyde Park and go for a swim on Boxing Day - I expect you have similar lunatics in the States.

 

[181218]

But if people were trapped inside the Titanic as she went under ( and there must have been quite a few ) surly they would have died before the ghastly things you say would have happened. But the question is would there have been compartments in the Titanic where people would have survived once she went under.... Even if it were for a very short period ? Is this more than likely ?

 

[monica e. hall]

That's what we're discussing - air pockets in which people might have survived. Doesn't bear thinking about.

 

[181218]

Why dose it not bear thinking about ? I only got the idea from Athur C Clarke, he's also very interested in the Titanic. I met him a few times in Sri Lanka ( he lived near me at the time in Kandy ) and he thought it was possible.

 

[181218]

He also writes about it in one of his books but I can not remember which one.

 

[Paul Rogers]

Hi Monica!

Mind you, with my lack of subcutaneous insulation, I'd have had cardiac arrest the moment I hit the water - hydrocution, I think it's called.

With my overabundance of subcutaneous insulation, I'd have survived for hours! I was sunbathing on the beach last Summer and a group of kids tried to roll me back into the sea...

 

[David F. Smith]

How about the reverse? We see fish swimming around the ship at that depth. If the pressure would implode a vault down there, then wouldn't these fish explode if brought up to the surface where the was no such pressure on them? A silly thought yes, but it makes you wonder if the same fish could survive swimming near the surface.

As for being trapped in an air pocket when the ship went under, the lights would have been out after the stern separated and the room turned on end making for a very scary, albeit short ride.

David

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Why dose it not bear thinking about ?<<

For some, I'm sure that thinking about something like this would be a wellspring for nightmares. The practical reality is however that the pressure would have collapsed just about anything sort of a very sturdy bank vault with extremely thick walls as soon as the stern section reached about 600 feet or so. Assuming anybody was still alive in any of the effected spaces, the creaking and groaning of metal under the increasing pressure meant that they would have known it was coming befor the space caved in.

Sweet dreams.

 

[181218]

Yeah I can see why some people would not want to think about this.

But imagine being trapped inside once she had gone under ? I suppose these people would not have had much idea what was going on. But they would have surly felt movement of the ship moving very quickly down into the sea.

Also I understand the reason why the stern was so deformed was because of all the air inside trying to get out, so there must have been such compartments with air inside where people could have lasted a short period submerged in a sunken Titanic as she made her way to the bottom.