How Long Would You Last? Part One©

 

 

Just over 114 years ago, on April 15th, 1912, the RMS Titanic sank and of the approximately 2,200 people aboard the ship when it wentdown, only 706 are known to have survived!  Everyone knows that there were too few lifeboats to hold even half of the people onboard, but there were enough life jackets for everyone, so why did so many people die? 

 

The night the Titanic scraped its starboard side along the iceberg, the weather was calm, clear, and colder than average for April in the north Atlantic.  According to Third Officer Herbert J. Pitman, the air temperature “...may have been 40 ... 35 to 40 [degrees Fahrenheit or, 2 to 4 degrees Celsius]”¹.  When the Titanic sank, just two and a half hours later at 2:20 am, plunging the survivors into the icy waters of the north Atlantic, the temperature of the sea was about 28^o F (-2.2^o C).  This is below the freezing point of fresh water, which freezes at 32^o F (0^o C), and was hovering around the freezing point of seawater, since seawater freezes at about 28.4^o F (-2 ^o C), because of the salt in it.

 

According to the testimony of both Second Officer C. H. Lightoller and Third Officer Herbert J. Pitman, all the passengers had access to life vests and most of the people who plunged into the water when the ship went down were wearing one.

 

The only good news for the survivors, whether they were floating or swimming in the icy waters of the north Atlantic, was that since the weather was described as calm, there was no wind and therefore no windchill.

 

But the water was cold, cold, cold, and cold water can kill you quickly!  As Second Officer C. H. Lightoller explained in his book, Titanic and Other Ships, as he rode the stern of the ship into the sea, “Striking the water was like a thousand knives being driven into one’s body, and for a few moments I completely lost grip of myself and no wonder, for I was perspiring freely, whilst the temperature of the water was 28º or 4º below freezing”³.

 

According to the testimony of Third Officer Herbert J. Pitman, who was in Lifeboat No. 5, three to four hundred yards away as the Titanic’s stern slipped below the waves, that a chorus of “Crying, shouting, moaning” began “From the water, after the ship disappeared” and continued “for about an hour” before it “died away gradually”⁴.

 

And an hour after the Titanic had disappeared forever below the surface, all of those still in the water, except for Charles Joughin⁴, were dead, not from drowning, but from the effects of the cold water. 

 

The Titanic was a tragedy but is there anything that we learn from the tragic deaths of all those unfortunate people who died in the cold waters of the north Atlantic on that April night, so long ago, something that could help us if we ever end up in cold water? 

  

Come back next week and read “How Long Would You Last?  Part Two©”, HERE, where we will talk about the lessons the Titanic victims can teach us about surviving cold water.

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Notes

 

¹ “United States Senate Inquiry: Day 4 - Testimony of Herbert J. Pitman”, by the Titanic Inquiry Project and “Weather maps from the night the Titanic sank”, by Jesse Ferrell.

 

² “How weather helped sink the Titanic”, by Blake Mathews and “Weather maps from the night the Titanic sank”, by Jesse Ferrell.

 

³ “Second Officer C.H. Lightoller – Sinking and Collapsible B”, by Titanic’s Officers.

 

⁴ “United States Senate Inquiry: Day 4 - Testimony of Herbert J. Pitman”, by the Titanic Inquiry Project.

 

 

Sources

 

Ferrell, Jesse; “Weather maps from the night the Titanic sank”, AccuWeather, April 12, 2022, https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/weathermatrix/weather-maps-from-the-night-the-titanic-sank/1173542#:~:text=Although%20the%20weather%20itself%20didn,certainly%20contributed%20to%20the%20tragedy, accessed April 27, 2024

 

Joiner, William C. SSGT; “Cold Water Immersion”, Aerospace Safety, United States Air Force, Volumes 34, Number 1, January 1978, page 6 to 7, https://books.google.com/books?id=BDf0AAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=RA12-PA7&dq=water+chill+without+anti+exposure+suit&hl=en#v=onepage&q=water%20chill%20without%20anti%20exposure%20suit&f=false, accessed April 24, 2024

 

Kalkomey Enterprises, LLC; “Stages 1 and 2 of Cold Water Immersion”, [© 1998–2024], https://www.boat-ed.com/canada/studyGuide/Stages-1-and-2-of-Cold-Water-Immersion/10119902_114125/, accessed April 27, 2024

 

Mathews, Blake; “How weather helped sink the Titanic”, April 10, 2018, https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/how-weather-helped-sink-the-titanic/285-537036316#:~:text=The%20lookouts%20along%20with%20the,lethal%20temperature%20for%20any%20person, accessed April 27, 2024

 

Navigation Center; “How Large Was The Iceberg That Sank The Titanic”, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard, https://web.archive.org/web/20140105034754/http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=iipHowLargeWasTheIcebergThatSankTheTITANIC, accessed April 27, 2024

 

Parchman, Greg, Capt.; “So, Let Me Get This Straight-High Body Fat is a Good Thing?”, Approach, Volume 41, Issue 2, March -April, 1996, page 18 to 20, https://books.google.com/books?id=LQNQRzJjOoQC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA20&dq=water+chill+without+anti+exposure+suit&hl=en#v=onepage&q=water%20chill%20without%20anti%20exposure%20suit&f=false, accessed April 24, 2024

 

Titanic Inquiry Project; “United States Senate Inquiry: Day 4 - Testimony of Herbert J. Pitman”, [Copyright © 1998-2017: Titanic Inquiry Project], https://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq04Pitman03.php, accessed April 27, 2024

 

Titanic’s Officers; “Second Officer C.H. Lightoller – Sinking and Collapsible B”, © 2024 TitanicOfficers.com, https://www.titanicofficers.com/titanic_04_lightoller_08.html, accessed April 27, 2024

 

United State Coast Guard; “Cold Water Survival & Hypothermia–You May Not Know As Much As You Think”, https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/CG-5PC/CG-CVC/CVC3/notice/flyers/Cold_Water_Survival_Hypothermia.pdf, accessed April 27, 2024

 

Wikimedia; “Jack Thayers description of the sinking of RMS Titanic”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thayer-Sketch-of-Titanic.png, accessed April 27, 2024

 

Wikimedia; “The iceberg suspected of having sunk the RMS Titanic”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Titanic_iceberg.jpg, accessed April 27, 2024