Titanic: Crushing The Past

Titanic - My Heart Will Go On Lyrics Album:

Every night in my dreams

I see you, I feel you

That is how I know you go on.

Far across the distance

and spaces between us

You have come to show you go on.

Near,

Far,

wherever you are,

I believe that the heart does go on.

Once more, you opened the door

And you're here in my heart,

and my heart will go on and on.

Love can touch us one time

and last for a lifetime

And never let go till we're gone.

Love was when I loved you,

one true time to hold on to

In my life we'll always go on.

Near, far, wherever you are,

I believe that the heart does go on.

Once more, you opened the door

And you're here in my heart,

and my heart will go on and on.

You're here, there's nothing I fear

And I know that my heart will go on.

We'll stay, forever this way

You are safe in my heart

and

my heart will go on and on.


First News of the Greatest Marine Disaster in History
THE TITANIC IN COLLISION, BUT EVERYBODY SAFE"-- ANOTHER TRIUMPH SET DOWN TO WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY-- THE WORLD GOES TO SLEEP PEACEFULLY--THE SAD AWAKENING.

LIKE a bolt out of a clear sky came the wireless message on Monday, April 15, 1912, that on Sunday night the great Titanic, on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, had struck a gigantic iceberg, but that all the passengers were saved. The ship had signaled her distress and another victory was set down to wireless. Twenty-one hundred lives saved!
Additional news was soon received that the ship had collided with a mountain of ice in the North Atlantic, off Cape Race, Newfoundland, at 10.25 Sunday evening, April 14th. At 4.15 Monday morning the Canadian Government Marine Agency received a wireless message that the Titanic was sinking and that the steamers towing her were trying to get her into shoal water near Cape Race, for the purpose of beaching her.

Assalamuaalaikum dan selamat sejahtera semua ...

Saya teringat satu peristiwa bersejarah dalam hidup saya .(1997)..antara hari-hari gemilang zaman bujang saya di Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang. Satu hari saya ke Pusat Komputer di kampus induk USM. Masa tu internet baru saja bermula di Malaysia...kekaguman saya terhadap teknologi ini telah membawa saya berjalan sorang-sorang sambil membawa satu beg galas ke pusat komputer tersebut semata-mata untuk membuka satu email untuk dihantar kepada kawan-kawan saya di Universiti Utara Malaysia.

Masa saya di pusat komputer tu ...kebanyakkan skrin komputer (wallpaper) dihiasi dengan poster filem Titanic...siap dengan gambar hero dan heroinnya dengan pakaian yang sesuai dengan latar masa kapal itu tenggelam. Apa yang menarik sangat tentang filem "Titanic" ini..getus saya yang bukan kaki wayang ?...khabarnya filem ini berjaya mencetuskan satu fenomena seluruh dunia yang mana semua orang mula bercakap tentang satu peristiwa sejarah yang sebenarnya sudah berlaku pada 14 April 1912. Di Malaysia...hampir semua akhbar memuatkan forum perbincangan para pembaca tentang pengajaran dari filem ini...hebatkan? jarang berlaku ....jom kita lihat apa yang mencetuskan fenomena ini....

Diarah oleh
James Ca meron
Penerbit
Jon LandauJames Cameron
Pengarang
James Cameron
Lakonan
Leonardo DiCaprioKate WinsletBilly ZaneFrances FisherKathy BatesGloria StuartBill Paxton
Muzik
James Horner
Sinematografi
Russell Carpenter
Suntingan
Conrad Buff IVJames CameronRichard A. Harris
Pengedar
-Antarabangsa-20th Century Fox-As/Kanada-Paramount Pictures
Mula tayangan
31 Oktober 1997 19 Disember 1997 23 Januari 1998
Tempoh tayangan
194 min.
Negara
Amerika Syarikat
Bahasa
Bahasa Inggeris
Perbelanjaan
AS$200,000,000[1]
Pulangan kasar
AS$1,845,034,188(seluruh dunia)

Titanic, kapal penumpang yang menjadi harapan ramai, pernah dianggap sebagai kapal paling selamat di dunia. Badan kapal itu sepanjang 850 kaki dengan 14 buah kompartmen kedap air. Beratnya 46,000 tan. Tiada siapa menyangka ia boleh karam. Kapal Titanic dianggap sangat kukuh dan mampu menghadapi apa jua keadaan di lautan.
Namun, kapal itu telah tenggelam, karam di dasar laut bersama-sama kapten dan 1,513 penumpang yang malang.

Peristiwa kapal Titanic memberi pengajaran tentang perlunya perubahan dalam organisasi, pendekatan perjuangan, hatta kepada pegangan orang perseorangan.

Bagi Victor S.L. Tan, peristiwa Titanic berpunca dari 3 kesilapan besar:
Kesilapan 1: Percaya akan kekebalan - Setelah Titanic melanggar tepi bongkah ais (iceberg) yang tajam bercerancang, Kapten Ernest Smith sedikit pun tidak bimbang, meskipun dia sedar bahagian badan kapal itu telah merekah. Malahan, para pegawainya bersorak dengan gembira kerana kapal itu dapat melepasi iceberg. Apa yang mereka tidak sedar ialah air sedang mengalir masuk melalui rekahan sepanjang 300 kaki. Kesudahannya, kapal itu tenggelam di Lautan Atlantik.

Kesilapan ke 2: Mengambil ringan ancaman persekitaran – Seramai 2,300 orang penumpang berada di dalam kapal, tetapi terdapat hanya 16 buah bot penyelamat untuk 1,250 orang sahaja, walhal kapal itu boleh dilengkapi dengan 48 buah bot penyelamat. Meskipun laporan tentang wujudnya iceberg di sekitar perairan yang akan dilalui diterima, kapten tidak mengarahkan supaya kelajuan kapal dikurangkan atau bertukar haluan. Isyarat wireless yang menunjukkan kapal itu sedang bergerak dengan kelajuan 22 knot sejam menuju ke arah iceberg, sedikitpun tidak dihiraukan.

Kesilapan ke 3: Sudah terhantuk baru tengadah – Menurut laporan, perlanggaran berlaku tepat pada pukul 11.40 malam. Selama 25 minit berikutnya, tiada apa yang dilakukan. Hanya sejurus 5 minit selepas waktu tengah malam, barulah arahan untuk mengeluarkan bot-bot penyelamat diberi. Tetapi ia telah terlambat…

Demikianlah secebis kisah tentang perlunya PERUBAHAN. Kita sebagai individu juga perlu berubah. Apatah lagi Islam mengajar supaya `hari ini lebih baik berbanding semalam dan esok lebih baik berbanding dengan hari ini’. Kerajaan juga boleh berubah. Maka marilah kita bersam-sama melakukan perubahan ke arah sesuatu yang diredhai Allah swt.

Time for Reflection and Reforms

SPEED AND LUXURY OVEREMPHASIZED--SPACE NEEDED FOR LIFE-BOATS DEVOTED TO SWIMMING POOLS AND SQUASH- COURTS--MANIA FOR SPEED RECORDS COMPELS USE OF DANGEROUS ROUTES AND PREVENTS PROPER CAUTION IN FOGGY WEATHER--LIFE MORE VALUABLE THAN LUXURY--SAFETY MORE IMPORTANT THAN SPEED--AN AROUSED PUBLIC OPINION NECESSARY--INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RECOMMENDED-- ADEQUATE LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE COMPULSORY--SPEED REGULATIONS IN BAD WEATHER-- COOPERATION IN ARRANGING SCHEDULES TO KEEP VESSELS WITHIN REACH OF EACH OTHER--LEGAL REGULATIONS

IT is a long time since any modern vessel of importance has gone down under Nature's attack, and in general the floating city of steel laughs at the wind and waves. She is not, however, proof against disaster. The danger lies in her own power--in the tens of thousands of horse power with which she may be driven into another ship or into an iceberg standing cold and unyielding as a wall of granite. In view of this fact it is of the utmost importance that present-day vessels should be thoroughly provided with the most efficient life-saving devices. These would seem more important than fireplaces, squash-courts and many other luxuries with which the Titanic was provided. The comparatively few survivors of the ill-fated Titanic were saved by the life-boats. The hundreds of others who went down with the vessel perished because there were no life-boats to carry them until rescue came.

SURVIVORS URGE REFORM

The survivors urge the need of reform. In a resolution drawn up after the disaster they said:
"We feel it our duty to call the attention of the public to what we consider the inadequate supply of life-saving appliances provided for the modern passenger steamships and recommend that immediate steps be taken to compel passenger steamers to carry sufficient boats to accommodate the maximum number of people carried on board. The following facts were observed and should be considered in this connection: The insufficiency of life-boats, rafts, etc.; lack of trained seamen to man same (stokers, stewards, etc., are not efficient boat handlers); not enough officers to carry out emergency orders on the bridge and superintend the launching and control of life-boats; the absence of search lights.

"The Board of Trade allows for entirely too many people in each boat to permit the same to be properly handled. On the Titanic the boat deck was about seventy-five feet from the water and consequently the passengers were required to embark before lowering the boats, thus endangering the operation and preventing the taking on of the maximum number the boats would hold. Boats at all times should be properly equipped with provisions, water, lamps, compasses, lights, etc. Life-saving boat drills should be more frequent and thoroughly carried out and officers should be armed at both drills. There should be greater reduction of speed in fog and ice, as damage if collision actually occurs is liable to be less.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RECOMMENDED

"In conclusion we suggest that an international conference be called to recommend the passage of identical laws providing for the safety of all at sea, and we urge the United States Government to take the initiative as soon as possible."
That ocean liners take chances with their passengers, though known to the well informed, is newly revealed and comes with a shock of surprise and dismay to most people. If boats are unsinkable as well as fireproof there is no need of any life-boats at all. But no such steamship has ever been constructed.

That it is realized that life-boats may be necessary on the best and newest steamships is proved by the fact that they carry them even beyond the law's requirements. But if life-boats for one-third of those on the ship are necessary, life-boats for all on board are equally necessary. The law of the United States requires this, but the law and trade regulations of England do not, and these controlled the Titanic and caused the death of over sixteen hundred people.

True, a steamship is rarely crowded to her capacity, and ordinarily accommodations in life-boats for a full list would not be needed. But that is no argument against maximum safety facilities, for when disaster comes it comes unexpectedly, and it might come when every berth was occupied. So there must be life-boats for use in every possible emergency. Places must be found for them and methods for handling them promptly.

Suppose a vessel to be thus equipped, would safety be insured? In calm weather such as the Titanic had, yes, for all that would be needed would be to keep the small boats afloat until help came. The Titanic could have saved everyone aboard. In heavy weather, no. As at present arranged, if a vessel has a list, or, in non-nautical language, has tipped over on one side, only the boats upon the lower side can be dropped, for they must be swung clear of the vessel to be lowered from the davits.

So there is a problem which it is the duty of marine designers to solve. They have heretofore turned their attention to the invention of some new contrivance for comfort and luxury. Now let them grasp the far more important question of taking every soul from a sinking ship. They can do it, and while they are about it, it would be well to supplement life-boats with other methods.
We like to think and to say that nothing is impossible in these days of ceaseless and energetic progress. Certainly it is possible for the brains of marine designers to find a better way for rescue work. Lewis Nixon, ship-builder and designer for years, is sure that we can revolutionize safety appliances. He has had a plan for a long time for the construction of a considerable section of deck that could be detached and floated off like an immense raft. He figures that such a deck- raft could be made to carry the bulk of the passengers.

That may seem a bit chimerical to laymen, but Nixon is no layman. His ideas are worthy of every consideration. Certain it is that something radical must be done, and that the maritime nations must get together, not only in the way of providing more life-saving facilities, but in agreeing upon navigation routes and methods.

Captain William S. Sims, of the United States Navy, who is in a position to know what he is talking about, has made some very pointed comments on the subject. He says:
"The truth of the matter is that in case any large passenger steamship sinks, by reason of collision or other fatal damage to her flotability, more than half of her passengers are doomed to death, even in fair weather, and in case there is a bit of a sea running none of the loaded boats can long remain afloat, even if they succeed in getting safely away from the side, and one more will be added to the long list of `the ships that never return.'

"Most people accept this condition as one of the inevitable perils of the sea, but I believe it can be shown that the terrible loss of life occasioned by such disasters as overtook the Bourgogne and the Titanic and many other ships can be avoided or at least greatly minimized. Moreover, it can be shown that the steamship owners are fully aware of the danger to their passengers; that the laws on the subject of life-saving appliances are wholly inadequate; that the steamship companies comply with the law, though they oppose any changes therein, and that they decline to adopt improved appliances; because there is no public demand for them, the demand being for high schedule speed and luxurious conditions of travel.

"In addition to installing efficient life-saving appliances, if the great steamship lines should come to an agreement to fix a maximum speed for their vessels of various classes and fix their dates and hours of steaming so that they would cross the ocean in pairs within supporting distances of each other, on routes clear of ice, all danger of ocean travel would practically be eliminated.
"The shortest course between New York and the English Channel lies across Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Consequently the shortest water route is over seas where navigation is dangerous by reason of fog and ice. It is a notorious fact that the transatlantic steamships are not navigated with due regard to safety; that they steam at practically full speed in the densest fogs. But the companies cannot properly be blamed for this practice, because if the `blue liners' slow down in a fog or take a safe route, clear of ice, the public will take passage on the `green liners,' which take the shortest route, and keep up their schedule time; regardless of the risks indicated."

PROMPT REFORMS

The terrible sacrifice of the Titanic, however, is to have its fruit in safety for the future. The official announcement is
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made by the International Mercantile Marine that all its ships will be equipped with sufficient life-boats and rafts for every passenger and every member of the crew, without regard to the regulations in this country and England or Belgium. One of the German liners already had this complement of life-boats, though the German marine as a whole is sufficiently deficient at this point to induce the Reichstag to order an investigation.

Prompt, immediate and gratifying reform marks this action of the International Mercantile Marine. It is doubtless true that this precaution ought to have been taken without waiting for a loss of life such as makes all previous marine disasters seem trivial. But the public itself has been inert. For thirty years, since Plimsoll's day, every intelligent passenger knew that every British vessel was deficient in life- boats, but neither public opinion nor the public press took this matter up. There were no questions in Parliament and no measures introduced in Congress. Even the legislation by which the United States permitted English vessels reaching American ports to avoid the legal requirements of American statute law (which requires a seat in the life-boats for every passenger and every member of the crew) attracted no public attention, and occasional references to the subject by those better informed did nothing to awake action.

But this is past. Those who died bravely without complaint and with sacrificing regard for others did not lose their lives in vain. The safety of all travelers for all times to come under every civilized flag is to be greater through their sac- rifice. Under modern conditions life can be made as safe at sea as on the land. It is heartrending to stop and think that thirty-two more life-boats, costing only about $16,000, which could have been stowed away without being noticed on the broad decks of the Titanic, would have saved every man, woman and child on the steamer. There has never been so great a disaster in the history of civilization due to the neglect of so small an expenditure.

It would be idle to think that this was due simply to parsimony. It was really due to the false and vicious notion that life at sea must be made showy, sumptuous and magnificent. The absence of life-boats was not due to their cost, but to the demand for a great promenade deck, with ample space to look out on the sea with which a continuous row of life-boats would have interfered, and to the general tendency to lavish money on the luxuries of a voyage instead of first insuring its safety.

Did You Know?

The band played "Nearer My God To Thee" as the ship was sinking. The Titanic cost 7.5 million dollars (1912 dollars) to build.
The Titanic was a monstrous 882.5 feet in length and weighed a whopping 52,310 long tons!
The Titanic's final resting place is 12,500 feet below the ocean surface, 350 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The Titanic was just one of three ships conceived by the White Star Line that would be at the height of comfort and speed. The White Star Line called the other two ships The Olympic and The Britannic.
Because of the immenseness of the ship, the Titanic's maiden voyage was delayed from March 20 to April 10, 1912.
There were three real smokestacks, the fourth being a "dummy" stack to add to its size. The fourth stack also was used to vent smoke from the ships many galleys.
The ship was able to sustain 3,500 passengers. On its maiden voyage it had 2,228 passengers, yet only had lifeboat capacity for 1,178 people.
The third class, or steerage, cabins boasted indoor toilet facilities that some of the steerage passengers had not enjoyed in their own homes!
The ship had not one, but two full musical ensembles, a squash court, swimming pool and gymnasium.
The ship cruised at 22 knots (around 25 miles per hour).
The day the Titanic sunk, it received its sixth ice warning by wireless telegraph.
Out of the 2,228 people on the Titanic, only 710 people survived.
After the ship sank, 337 bodies were found in the wreckage, 128 bodies were buried at sea, and many others were buried in Halifax, Canada.
Sir Arthur Rostron, Captain of the RMS Carpathia, was given a medal of honor for sailing through 58 miles of packed ice to pick up survivors of the Titanic.
As many as 549 out of 1,518 people who died on the Titanic were from Southampton, UK.
The iceberg struck the Titanic on its starboard side (front and right side).
The hull was divided into 16 watertight compartments, making the builders sure that she was "unsinkable."
The Titanic was rediscovered in two pieces on September 1, 1985.
On the night that the Titanic sank the seawater was a frigid -2 degrees celsius.