2008 Woodie Awards
What If... The Titanic never crashed and sank
Justin Lindborg, Columnist
Issue date: 12/5/06
Last Updated: 12/29/07
It has become a legend, a tale of the sea that never fails to inspire the imagination. The R.M.S. Titanic has been glorified and romanticized ever since the discovery of its remains two and a half miles beneath the ocean surface in 1985.
More recently the major motion picture "Titanic" has stirred the public to more contemplation of the romantic possibilities and historic merit of the 1912 naval disaster. While the characters of the 1997 Oscar-winning film are fictional, the love story they portray is classic and has sparked much new dialogue about the Titanic.
The death toll of the Titanic is impossible to pinpoint, but is estimated to be between 1,500 and 1,700 people. The magnitude of this disaster has, like many other catastrophic events in history, altered the modern world in a variety of ways.
What if the Titanic never sank? What if the crew had heeded the warnings of icebergs and proceeded unharmed? The ramifications would echo throughout the lives of those who would have lived.
Among those who were killed on April 14, 1912, were many of the most wealthy and powerful industrialists in the world at the turn-of-the-century. Their combined fortunes totaled over $600 million. The effects that these people may have had on the civilized world could have been immense.
An example of a very prestigious casualty of the Titanic disaster is Isidor Straus, co-owner of the Macy's department store and a member of Congress. Another was businessman, writer and inventor Col. John Jacob Astor. Astor authored several science-fiction books and had an unbounded imagination that he applied especially to invention. If Astor, only 48-years-old when he went down with the Titanic, and Strauss had survived the incident, there is no telling what they would have done with the remainder of their lives.
What inventions might they have conceived? What books may they have written? What business ventures might they have engaged in, changing the dynamics of the economic world? What laws may have been written? There may be no way of knowing the ways these men and others like them could have changed the world had they survived.
The Titanic was the ultimate luxury ship, and in many ways was at the cutting edge of all the most advanced technology of the day. For her to sink was a huge blow, similar to the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. If the Titanic had not sunk, the world would, perhaps, not be the same.
Nevertheless, the Titanic is a tribute to the fallibility of technology that continues to capture the imagination nearly a hundred years after its destruction.
More recently the major motion picture "Titanic" has stirred the public to more contemplation of the romantic possibilities and historic merit of the 1912 naval disaster. While the characters of the 1997 Oscar-winning film are fictional, the love story they portray is classic and has sparked much new dialogue about the Titanic.
The death toll of the Titanic is impossible to pinpoint, but is estimated to be between 1,500 and 1,700 people. The magnitude of this disaster has, like many other catastrophic events in history, altered the modern world in a variety of ways.
What if the Titanic never sank? What if the crew had heeded the warnings of icebergs and proceeded unharmed? The ramifications would echo throughout the lives of those who would have lived.
Among those who were killed on April 14, 1912, were many of the most wealthy and powerful industrialists in the world at the turn-of-the-century. Their combined fortunes totaled over $600 million. The effects that these people may have had on the civilized world could have been immense.
An example of a very prestigious casualty of the Titanic disaster is Isidor Straus, co-owner of the Macy's department store and a member of Congress. Another was businessman, writer and inventor Col. John Jacob Astor. Astor authored several science-fiction books and had an unbounded imagination that he applied especially to invention. If Astor, only 48-years-old when he went down with the Titanic, and Strauss had survived the incident, there is no telling what they would have done with the remainder of their lives.
What inventions might they have conceived? What books may they have written? What business ventures might they have engaged in, changing the dynamics of the economic world? What laws may have been written? There may be no way of knowing the ways these men and others like them could have changed the world had they survived.
The Titanic was the ultimate luxury ship, and in many ways was at the cutting edge of all the most advanced technology of the day. For her to sink was a huge blow, similar to the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. If the Titanic had not sunk, the world would, perhaps, not be the same.
Nevertheless, the Titanic is a tribute to the fallibility of technology that continues to capture the imagination nearly a hundred years after its destruction.
For this reason, The Whitworthian asks readers to be responsible and respectful in any comments posted. The responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not the whitworthian.com. Readers are also encouraged to report questionable comments by e-mailing editor@whitworthian.com.
Be the first to comment on this story