97 Anniversary

Today is the 97th Anniversary of the Titanic's last day. According to my clock now, it's around 9:00 P.M. By now, some passengers would have retired to bed while the men in 1st class would have gone to the smoking room playing cards, smoking, drinking brandy, and talking about politics. In 2nd class, men would have been doing the same or in their cabins. Lawrence Beasely was reading in his cabin. In 3rd class, there would have been some dancing, music, and men would have played cards while smoking. The women probably would have sat on the benches talking while the children were dancing and playing. There is one account that says that a mouse ran across the floor which caused the women to scream and stand on the benches while the boys tried to catch it. At 11:40 P.M., Fredrick Fleet (a survivor) spotted an iceberg directly in the Titanic's path. He rang the bell and called the bridge. 6th officer James Moody (who perished) answered the phone and relayed the report to 1st officer Murdoch (who also perished), in charge of the bridge during that time. The ship tried to swing towards port and just as it looked like Titanic would clear it, it struck putting holes in the 6 compartments when it could only take damage to 4 compartments. This meant that the weight of the water would drag the Titanic down, spilling into the next compartment. After they realized the ship was doomed, they ordered the boats swung out. All the boats except for two were lowered. The two collapsibles on top of the officer's quarters. The water swept up as the boats came crashing down on the deck. Collapsible B was overturned and A was swamped. These two boats would save around 25-30. Soon after, the 1st funnel fell on men including the richest man on the ship, John Jacob Astor. After that, the heart of the ship, the Grand Staircase flooded. This was at 2:10 A.M. The 2nd funnel disappears underwater later to fall. The stern rose up, and then the lights went out, flickered, and went out for all eternity. The stern detached between the 3rd and 4th funnel and fell back almost even. The bow still a little attached to the stern, pulled the stern under. The stern was almost perpendicular like a finger pointing to heaven. Then, the stern very slowly disappeared from sight at 2:20 A.M. leaving 1,500 people in pitched dark and in the icy 28 degree waters. 705 people were in the lifeboats listening to the horrific cries as people died and only one came back 20 minutes later to save only 4 people.

Is the Titanic Disappearing?

Sadly, yes. The Titanic is already collapsing even as we are sitting here, and there's nothing we can do about it. The rust covered hull is slowly being eaten away by bacteria, and it eventually it'll be an orange spot on the bottom. The stern will no doubt, be the first to go. A-Deck where the Cafe Veranda once was has already collapsed, and there is increasing pressure on the superstructure. In the bow, the crow's nest that held Fredrick Fleet high above the decks is now gone, probably fallen into the cargo hold over which it fell with the mast. The mast itself is crumpling, and starting to collapse. The walls that were partially collapsed when discovered, are flat on what's left of the deck and you can see into the Captain's living quarters and the few remains of the chart room. The area around the Grand Staircase is mangled and collapsing because there have been too many submersibles landing on the weakening decks, and the decks all over are starting to collapse because of not only the years of lying on the bottom, but because there have been too many submersibles landing on them. We are speeding up the process of the Titanic's destruction, and there must be less visits to the legendary vessel, in order to slow the process. The sediment is fine, but the actual hull is going to be gone if we don't do something. Once the Titanic gone, it's gone and it won't be coming back ever again.

The Lookout

Fredrick Fleet was born on October 15, 1887. He never knew his father nor what happened to him and Fleet's mother abandoned him and went with a boyfriend to Massachusetts. He was raised in foster homes until age 12 when he was sent to sea. in 1903, he was a full fledged seaman. He had a contract with the Oceanic to serve as lookout for 4 years.

Once his contract was up, he was immediately transferred to the TITANIC where he was to be paid 5 pounds per month and an extra 5 shillings for being a lookout. On April 14, 1912, he and Reginald Lee had just relieved the other lookouts at 11:00. Their binoculars had been left at the home of a seaman inside a locked cabinet. The TITANIC was sailing at 22 1/2 knots. Suddenly, a black shape loomed out in the distance; Fleet rang the bell three times which meant "warning" and picked up the telephone. "What do see?" came the voice "Iceberg Right ahead!" said Fleet, "Thank You" came the reply. Fleet kept the phone in his hand and slowly saw the TITANIC turning. And then, he heard a groaning as the ship struck the iceberg. Fleet and Lee stayed in the crow's nest until they were relieved. Fleet went to the boat deck and helped 2nd Officer Lightoller load the passengers into boat No. 6 and then was put in charge of the boat along with Quartermaster Hitchens. He was later rescued by the Carpathia.

He served as lookout on the Olympic for a short time then resigned from the White Star Line because some considered him a coward. He later worked on the Union Castle and sailed on the Olympic on her last voyage before being scrapped. He left sea in 1936 and lived with his wife. His wife died on December 28, 1964 and he was evicted from his brother in-law's home where he was living. His body was found on January 10, 1956 hanging on a noose on his brother in-law's garden post. They concluded that he committed suicide. His body was placed in an unmarked grave until 1993 when they put the headstone (pictured above) on in 1993.