Was there that much panic on the bridge

[Catherine Ehlers]

Have just finished another viewing of the Cameron film and was caught up in the excitement at the time of the collision. Really gripping, of course, Fleet calling to report the berg, impatient at their slowness to answer, Murdoch running pell-mell, etc. Yet I seem to recall in "A Night to Remember", Lord's book (haven't seen ANTR the movie yet--I plan to soon), the atmosphere on the bridge, even at the time of the collision, was rather cool, calm, business-as-usual, no panic, etc. Which was most likely correct? Did Murdoch actually run across the bridge like they showed in the film in a near panic? Or were things probably more sedate?

Cathy Ehlers

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Yours is a hard question to answer, because no one really knows for sure. Hitchens was the only survivor of the three on the bridge at that particular moment, and he was closeted inside the wheelhouse with shutters raised. Now, if you were to ask my gut feeling, I would say that Murdoch and Moody carried out their duties with the speed and sense of purpose that is instilled by training and experience. Not panicky, not sedate...just quick and lacking in excess emotion.

I don't think the full threat of the berg was understood prior to the collision. The thing was a large growler, a windjammer, whatever...the thing only becomes lethal in hindsight. I think a lot of the panic which seeps into the testimony of those who survived is the result of post-disaster bias. Of course, there was urgency to avoid a collision, but not a panic born of impending doom. At least, that's my opinion.

Parks

 

[Erik Wood]

I would have to agree with the expereience Mr. Stephenson. It is very rare when the bridge crew becomes paniced in a incident like that. They would have just carrried out there duties as training dictated.

Erik

 

[Mike Taylor]

I would tend to believe that those on the bridge weren't "Panicking" At the time the berg hit. These weren't people just stuck on a boat and told to sail they were people who had done their jobs for many years and had been trained to do it well. I would expect there would have been an urgency but I do not think there would have been a panic