From the journal of a 17 year old survivor of The Titanic

[no_hypocrisy]

Forgotten journal reveals how man survived 1912 disaster

-snip-

I wound my watch — it was 11:45 pm — and was just about to step into bed when I seemed to sway slightly. I immediately realized that the ship had veered to port as though she had been gently pushed. If I had had brimful glass of water in my hand, not a drop would have been spilled, the shock was so slight.

Almost instantaneously the engines stopped.

The sudden quiet was startling and disturbing. Like the subdued quiet in a sleeping car, at a stop, after a continuous run. Not a sound except the breeze whistling through the half-open port. Then there was the distant noise of running feet and muffled voices, as several people hurried through the passageway. Very shortly the engines started up again — slowly — not with the bright vibration to which we were accustomed, but as though they were tired. After very few revolutions they again stopped.

-more-


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/forgotten_journal_reveals_pR1m3TIN5sS85dWhTT91HK

[hlthe2b]

1. Fascinating.. More than worth the read...

[longship]

2. A riveting first person account

Recommend that DUers read it all.

[Wind Dancer]

3. Excellent read!

Thanks for sharing.

[hedda_foil]

4. Amazing read.

A moment to moment account of survival from the point of view of a very observant 17- year old who just barely lived to tell about it.

[Generic Other]

5. Interesting survival story

Just amazing.

[PCIntern]

6. Remarkable...

worth reading.

[HiPointDem]

7. Not from his journals at all, though. Recollections years after the fact.

[rgbecker]

8. The sinking of the Titanic: One of the greatest stories from history.

This is an amazing personal account.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Notably, this account of the sinking disputes

the model portrayed in the film, but matches Cameron's new model from his new documentary.

[HiPointDem]

10. The film wasn't historically realistic at all.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. Of course it wasn't

That wasn't the point, though. The model of the sinking portrayed in the film was a working model subscribed to by many historians, at least for a time. The model in Cameron's documentary is more recent, at least in terms of building a computer model based on the physics, but it matches the historical description here pretty closely. To wit, previous versions had the ship, as in the film, going to a 90 degree angle before descending. The newer models based on the physics of the event all have this version of 65-70 degrees and tilting before the hull breaks. I thought it was interesting that this historical account matches the physics-based mathematical model of what must have happened pretty closely.

[Poll_Blind]

11. Man that's a page-turner. I can't imagine what that would have been like. nt

PB

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. I still can't quite picture the overturned vessel they clung to

Or fathom the agony of waiting for the Carpathia to pick up the other passengers as their own meager flotation device gradually lost its bouyancy. Crazy. The wait must have been maddening.

[Rowdyboy]

13. Utterly fascinating and horrifying.....

Thanks so much for posting this