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Published: April 11th 2012
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A scene from the shipping terminal at Southampton before we boarded.My goal to get through this cruise without barfing came to an end yesterday while attending a lecture ‘The Irish Aboard Titanic’by Senan Molony in the Neptune Lounge.
Apologies to Senan – the lecture was interesting, but with the Balmoral battling rough seas and the lounge being close to the “pointy end” where movements of the ship, and the contents of my stomach, were more pronounced meant my goal was short-lived. Thank God for barf bags.
Strangely, I’ve felt better since then and I think I’m actually finding my sea legs … but I won’t gloat too soon! It could just be the sea is calmer today.
Unfortunately BBC newsman suffered symptoms of a heart attack yesterday and our ship had to back-track for 1.5hrs to reach a point where a rescue helicopter from London could reach us. There is a doctor and other medical staff onboard but the severity of the man’s condition meant he needed to be hospitalised. We lost half a day’s travel time, but this morning (Wednesday) we’re back on course again albeit behind schedule. We're now travelling at 17 knots, up from 12 knots, to
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A dining room display from the Titanic's sister ship the Olympic. make it to the wreck site in time for the memorial service to coincide with the 100
th anniversary of the sinking on Saturday.
There is a benefit to our cabins being centrally located on Deck 4, which is just above the staff quarters. We’re closer to water level and less affected by the strong sways experienced on upper decks and at either end of the ship. I’m watching today’s lectures on TV in the cabin instead!
Today’s speakers are Philip Littlejohn on ‘The story of Alexander Littlejohn, Titanic Steward’, and Commodore Ron Warwick on ‘Researching Officers of Titanic & Carpathia on the Internet’.
Facts from the first lecture:
· Philip Littlejohn’s grandfather Alexander Littlejohn survived but he was so shocked by the event that his hair turned completely white within eight months. He was riddled with guilt about surviving while so many women and children died. However, he had been allowed on to a lifeboat located on the port side when no more women and children answered the call to board. The starboard side's first officer interpreted the captain’s instruction “women and children first”
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A dining room display from the Titanic's sister ship the Olympic. to mean if there were no more, men could board. But the second officer on the port side took the instruction to mean women and children ONLY. Where spaces were available for men, they were not filled. So for many men, being on the port or starboard side meant the difference between life and death.
· The Titanic’s rear stack was a dummy. Movies that show smoke billowing from all four stacks are wrong. The rear dummy stack was built because the builders thought it looked better with four.
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