How the RMS Carpathia saved the survivors

Today I stumbled upon this twitter post, and got lost in history again.

And here are some more stories of awesome human beings.

Carpathia received Titanic’s distress signal at 12:20am, April 15th, 1912. She was 58 miles away, a distance that absolutely could not be covered in less than four hours.

(Californian’s exact position at the time is…controversial. She was close enough to have helped. By all accounts she was close enough to see Titanic’s distress rockets. It’s uncertain to this day why her crew did not respond, or how many might not have been lost if she had been there. This is not the place for what-ifs. This is about what was done.)

Carpathia’s Captain Rostron had, yes, rolled out of bed instantly when woken by his radio operator, ordered his ship to Titanic’s aid and confirmed the signal before he was fully dressed. The man had never in his life responded to an emergency call. His goal tonight was to make sure nobody who heard that fact would ever believe it.

All of Carpathia’s lifeboats were swung out ready for deployment. Oil was set up to be poured off the side of the ship in case the sea turned choppy; oil would coat and calm the water near Carpathia if that happened, making it safer for lifeboats to draw up alongside her. He ordered lights to be rigged along the side of the ship so survivors could see it better, and had nets and ladders rigged along her sides ready to be dropped when they arrived, in order to let as many survivors as possible climb aboard at once.

I don’t know if his making provisions for there still being survivors in the water was optimism or not. I think he knew they were never going to get there in time for that. I think he did it anyway because, god, you have to hope.

Carpathia had three dining rooms, which were immediately converted into triage and first aid stations. Each had a doctor assigned to it. Hot soup, coffee, and tea were prepared in bulk in each dining room, and blankets and warm clothes were collected to be ready to hand out. By this time, many of the passengers were awake–prepping a ship for disaster relief isn’t quiet–and all of them stepped up to help, many donating their own clothes and blankets.

And then he did something I tend to refer to as diverting all power from life support.

Here’s the thing about steamships: They run on steam. Shocking, I know; but that steam powers everything on the ship, and right now, Carpathia needed power. So Rostron turned off hot water and central heating, which bled valuable steam power, to everywhere but the dining rooms–which, of course, were being used to make hot drinks and receive survivors. He woke up all the engineers, all the stokers and firemen, diverted all that steam back into the engines, and asked his ship to go as fast as she possibly could. And when she’d done that, he asked her to go faster.

I need you to understand that you simply can’t push a ship very far past its top speed. Pushing that much sheer tonnage through the water becomes harder with each extra knot past the speed it was designed for. Pushing a ship past its rated speed is not only reckless–it’s difficult to maneuver–but it puts an incredible amount of strain on the engines. Ships are not designed to exceed their top speed by even one knot. They can’t do it. It can’t be done.

Carpathia’s absolute do-or-die, the-engines-can’t-take-this-forever top speed was fourteen knots. Dodging icebergs, in the dark and the cold, surrounded by mist, she sustained a speed of almost seventeen and a half.

No one would have asked this of them. It wasn’t expected. They were almost sixty miles away, with icebergs in their path. They had a responsibility to respond; they did not have a responsibility to do the impossible and do it well. No one would have faulted them for taking more time to confirm the severity of the issue. No one would have blamed them for a slow and cautious approach. No one but themselves.

They damn near broke the laws of physics, galloping north headlong into the dark in the desperate hope that if they could shave an hour, half an hour, five minutes off their arrival time, maybe for one more person those five minutes would make the difference. I say: three people had died by the time they were lifted from the lifeboats. For all we know, in another hour it might have been more. I say they made all the difference in the world.

This ship and her crew received a message from a location they could not hope to reach in under four hours. Just barely over three hours later, they arrived at Titanic’s last known coordinates. Half an hour after that, at 4am, they would finally find the first of the lifeboats. it would take until 8:30 in the morning for the last survivor to be brought onboard. Passengers from Carpathia universally gave up their berths, staterooms, and clothing to the survivors, assisting the crew at every turn and sitting with the sobbing rescuees to offer whatever comfort they could.

In total, 705 people of Titanic’s original 2208 were brought onto Carpathia alive. No other ship would find survivors.

At 12:20am April 15th, 1912, there was a miracle on the North Atlantic. And it happened because a group of humans, some of them strangers, many of them only passengers on a small and unimpressive steam liner, looked at each other and decided: I cannot live with myself if I do anything less.

I think the least we can do is remember them for it.

Annual Appraisal

 

My annual appraisal. Every year.

Ideas that won’t work in India - Free outdoor movies

Sometimes, a little outside perspective works. Specially if it is you are having the perspective change, instead of someone else giving it to you. When one travels to foreign countires, one sees ideas, projects and movements being executed so flawlessly, one wonders how and why didn’t we think of them in our place ?

I saw some Melburnians organizing and executing one such little idea here this summer. The Govt of Victoria, in collaboration with local partners, decided to put on a show for the people .  A real show. A movie. Movies itself is nothing new to Indians, but here are the key words which set the event apart.

Outdoor. And Free.

Instead of charging upfront and limiting entry, they organize the show outdoors under the summer sky. And keep it free. People have to bring their own blankets, food , and whomever they want, and dogs too. Of course there will be popcorn and drinks stall, but the idea is to get people to bring whatever they want to enjoy the evening.

This is another one of those things people here get around easily. People bring in their blankets and picnic boxes, some even bean bags and pillows. The venue is easily reachable via public transport, so most of them just walk in, but lots of cycles and skateboards and scooters were visible. So many ways to get around !

The show would start after sunset, so there  was enough time to get your favourite place. And although the event was free, they were considerate enough to provide portable public restrooms.

The movie I went to was Black Panther. I had seen it. But it was fun seeing it again in a community. All those little families sitting together in circles and groups, with their pets. Everyone brought their favourite food, lots of picnics !

It reminded me of that bioscope cinema scene of that movie, Swades. The act of meeting and attending socially was more fun than the movie itself. I am sure people would not have minded paying for the event. But keeping the venue open and free just made it that much more fun !

Wait a lot more

It is February. The doomsday came, and went. Nothing happened. The Supreme court of India reserved its judgement on the matter of tradition vs constitution. Everyone who waited this far, well, will have to continue to wait for a concrete answer.

But that has not really stopped people. It is hilarious to see all the comments people post on social media to vent their anger. Specially on twitter where people use the same hashtag to debate opposing sides. By the way, why are people on twitter so angry ? Even without the all caps, its clear they are just using the platform to shout, angry at the way things have turned up.

Saving for posterity.

All the time and energy being wasted on these platforms, all for nothing. It does not matter what these individuals think. This is one of those topics only people in power or authority can decide. The timing could not have been worse. Being an election year, political parties are trying to appeal to people's sentiments , and manipulating their own stance for prospective votes.

These are uncharted waters. And no shore in sight.

Australia’s public barbeques

 

In case you missed the signs so far, Australia loves its barbeques. Although the origin of barbequing is credited to other countries, no other country does it better than Australia. These guys love their slow cooked meat, so much that the government provides free outdoor grills for people to use. Well most are free, some are coin operated. They run on electricity, and are easy to use, and very popular with the crowd.

One of those things you don’t see in India. Or in most other countries, for that matter. There are websites to search for public barbeques, and there are lists curating the best places to bbq. Most of them are near beaches on protected forests.

There is something about cooking your own food at a public area. I guess its the earthiness of it all, cooking fresh food with good views to soak in. It is a great way to hangout with family and friends. We went BBQing again this weekend, and though we are seasone experts in the area, the experience continues to surprise me.

The earliest images of public park barbecues (as opposed to those in national parks) in the State Library are from Brush Farm in May 1976, at about the time Warringah council, among others, began investing heavily in its barbecues, creating a competitive asset with relatively little effort, says Caroline Ford, author of Sydney Beaches: A History. Like Randwick's clearing of Coogee beach in 1859, councils have always seen their public spaces as avenues to boost the local economy.

An attachment with a long history, our fondness for a meal cooked outdoors speaks of deep Australian connections between nature and culture. Nineteenth century stock workers, travelling, camping and yarning around a nightly campfire, are oft-touted as the origins of our barbecue culture, but that is a convenient, if romantic, story we like to tell ourselves, says Richard White, historian and author. Still, he says, imagined connections to a bush or even prehistoric past give us all a break from modern living - albeit in safely contained primitive experiences on regulated "fires" in places where our ancestors would never have made camp. Add the outdoor cooking-friendly climate, a fear of bush fires, an awareness of protecting the environment and a deep sense of shared ownership of beaches and their parks - not to mention a palate that has largely been shaped by the abundance of cheap, good meat - and formalised, taxpayer-funded barbecues make reasonable, if privileged, sense. But perhaps the most important factor in their popularity is the very element that makes the idea of the "Australian barbecue" hard to pin down. Post-World War II immigrants, mostly southern European, did more for normalising alfresco cooking and eating than swag men ever did.

So the next time you want to hangout, and have no place to go, head to the nearest public BBQ. Just remember to clean up properly after you are done, for the next guys in line. And thank the country for providing this extra-ordinary service. Its truly a national treasure.