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January 30, 2024 • 85 mins
In this week's episode, Abby brings us back to the story that started it all, The RMS Titanic.
Tune in to hear the tragic first-hand accounts of the passengers who survived the sinking and vivid descriptions of what it was like to be on the ill-fated ship the night it went down.

Credits:
A Night To Remember by Walter Lord
Wikipedia
PBS.org
Buzzfeed.com

Music By:
Brokeforfree.com
Matt Edwards

Edited By:Michael

Website:https://anxiousandafraidthepod.com/

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Everything's falling apart. You need anew mark or Abby, it needs to
be faced down. You need totake care of your marker. Okay,
Mom, you're thank you. Hello, Hey guys, welcome, welcome.

(00:34):
I'm Abby and I'm Shauna and thisis Anxious and Afraid the pod. What's
up? You know we're back again. We're talking about stuff. Second episode
bad, Episode one O four fouramazing. Yes, do you want to
talk about what made us anxious thelast couple of weeks? You guys,

(00:58):
it's been a tough start to theyear us specifically, I don't like twenty
twenty four. I have a badfeeling about this year. M Yeah,
I hate that people are already sayingthat. I'm trying to not say it,
but it's an election year. It'salways a dumpster fire, that's true.
I'm prepared for the end of theyear to be the worst. Yeah.
But also the beginning of the yeardidn't start so hot. So we

(01:19):
were talking about how it was likecold as fuck outside and everything was frozen
and Abby had to come pick meup. It was a thing, and
we still didn't understand the severity ofwhat was going to happen next. No,
I listened to that episode and justthe innocence and in our voice,
not realizing the shit storm we werethe week and a half we were about

(01:42):
to have. Yeah, it gotworse. It got much worse, much
worse, very fast, very quickly. Shawna's power went out that that night,
yeah, after the podcast, andthen our power went out the next
morning. Yeah. And at firstit was like, oh, remember when
we were kids and our power wentout. It's kind of fun, like
what are the candles? What dowe do? Because it was like a
couple hours, sure, sure,exactly. You never thought it was be

(02:06):
for a long time. Yeah,it's like, oh, I get to
burn all my candle, right,I get to like walk around with my
candle that I'm in the seventeen hundred. How fun. I'm the ghost in
this area. Yeah, and so, and it was like it was early
in the evening, so we hadsome few hours to kill and then we
were like, oh, yeah,it's not gonna get fixed to night.
So I guess it's good that it'snighttime we go to sleep, even though

(02:30):
me and chat and my family's sleepswith fans, so that's actually very difficult
for us. Oh yeah, becauseyou don't have the white noise. No,
And we had like the tiniest littlelike charged up or like battery operated
fan that gave us the littlest humto like follow asleep too, and then
it died in the middle of thenight. But yeah, the the power
was still out the next morning,everything was like doubly frozen over. Yeah,

(02:52):
and I didn't know how to feedmy child, so I kind of
started panking, like what do wedo? This is too long without power,
and so we just spent the wholemorning hours melting like one of the
sides of the cars of ice toget to Chad's parents' house, who still
had power. So we had tostay with them for like three nights.

(03:13):
Yeah, because your power just stayedstayed out and it was just getting colder
still and like and then oh yeah, the next day, all the trees
were falling. All the poles werefalling too, but there was more trees.
It's terrifying. I know, we'veexperienced one bad ice storm before,
it wasn't as bad as this one. But I don't think people realized how

(03:34):
much damage an ice storm can dobecause there was no snow, not really
none, none at all. Itwas just because it rained so much here
there was already so much water,and it was like an inch of ice
overnight, an actual inch, likenot actually being dramatic, it was an
inch of ice, right, andthen it continued like the next night it
was another inch. Like our car, like there's picture, like our cars

(03:54):
were so frozen. Oh yeah,it took luckily I had dropped you off
because my car wasn't as frozen asit could have been. So yeah,
that's true. But I mean justso many people fell and injured themselves,
including our friend Jesse's husband who brokehis clavigal not chill. That's very upsetting.

(04:15):
My father in law fell a coupleof times and hurt himself. Like
it was terrible, Like you couldlook outside and see black ice, and
I've never experienced black ice before,I've heard of it, but like our
cul de Sac was literally black ice, and like all the sidewalks it was
very treacherous. Sidewalks were scary andI'm not prepared. I don't have boots,
I don't I'm not prepared for thiskind of stuff, so I'm slipping

(04:38):
and sliding in my sneakers and likedon't have proper clothes yeah. We quickly
realized how unprepared we were because likewe hadn't gone. I was such an
idiot. I was like, I'llgo grocery shopping. It's not going to
be that bad. So I wasn'table to go grocery shopping. So we
were already like low on food.We our power went out. I think
it was out for two full daysand an and we stayed at the house

(05:01):
because we have the dog. Wehave Roscoe, so it's not like we
could just leave him and go somewhereelse and it go. It was miserable.
It's so much worse with a kid, because it's so much worse with
a kid, Like I'm just soworried about her. I mean, yeah,
so much anxiety. Like we wereall sleeping in one room. It
got down into the forties in ourhouse, and we are all trying to

(05:24):
sleep in one room. It wasmiserable. I thought about you guys a
lot. I was like, oh, I can't even imagine. Michael and
I were sleeping on the floor inTheo's room because it was the smallest room,
so we could like close the doorand kind of keep a little bit
more heat with our bodies in there, but I didn't sleep well because I
was just worried about THEO even thoughhe was in like six layers and he
was just hating it. He wasuncomfortable. He was also teething, going

(05:47):
through a sleep aggression. Yeah.It was not rough. Yeah, but
we are very thankful for all ofthe people that worked so hard to get
our power back, because it wasyou guys as the whole. It was
all whole, not just our town, just like a huge area was affected
by this, and it is probablystill affected across the country. I was
still seeing people like saying, okay, eleven days, fifteen days without power

(06:10):
just got back, and I'm like, wow, I can't imagine that long
without power. I wanted to losemy mind after two days. I can't
imagine weeks like that is. Yeah, that is so rough. I feel
so bad for people. And mysister, my sister Hannah, she lives
you know, up in the middleof nowhere, and they lost power and
water sitting Oh my water. Iwas just like, we didn't even talk

(06:31):
about the water thing. Then wecame home. Power's on, but we
don't have internet. So that wasa week full of fun of no internet.
I had to borrow your DVDs.It was such a throw act.
She had to borrow my DVDs fromlike a collection of I don't even know
the last time I bought a DVD, like ten years ago. It was
such a throwback, too hard,but what is in here? But yeah,

(06:51):
and then then all of a sudden, we had to worry about the
pipe. So then we got awarning to boil our water. So then
I spent a whole evening boiling potsof water. And I'm like, what
if I go through this? Yeah, the plant that treats our water lost
power. So then like a hugeit's such a domino effect of like everything

(07:13):
that can get affected and damaged.And yeah, then it's a long time
to clean up and repair everything.And I know people are frustrated, but
the roads are still covered in treebranches. Like Oregon, we are kind
of known for our trees, Likewe're kind of like green with trees everywhere.
It's kind of like our thing.Yeah, and they were all destroyed.
They all fell apart, all ofthe trees, Like the tree in

(07:35):
our backyard is bald, like allof the branches came off. It is
just Pam lost a complete tree.It outrooted it. It was a big
tree too, and it completely outrooted. Yeah, it's just the insane damage
ice can do that you just don'tthink about because it's so heavy. Yeah.
So I got to see a coupleof big ones when I was like
outside, just like looking and hearingthe silence and just I was like,

(07:57):
what is going to happen? Exceptwe're snapping trees and then you hear this
huge break and I was like,oh my god. And transformers blowing.
That was another one, Like thesehuge booms. You're just like, is
this the end of days? Like, is this how it's going to be
when the end of days? Yeah? Here. So then we made a
big list of all the things wewant to get to prepare for survival.
Generator. I'm like, god,damn it. Why are generators so expensive?

(08:20):
Oh I don't even want to know. Oh, you can spend a
couple thousand on a generator. Butwow. We got lucky because Michael's parents
live next door to us and theyalways save us. They are parents still
much. They still had plenty offood. They had a gas fireplace that
was still working, although the fanwas broke, Like the fan was electric,

(08:43):
So we had to like they werehaving to manually fan like blow it
so that it didn't overheat. Butsee, that was a lifesaver. We
went over there and we were ableto get a little warmer, so that
was nice. But yeah, thankgoodness. Yeah, guys, it was
a week and a half. Itwas quite the ordeo though. They're still
fixing power lines or like still amess out there. Traffic lights, Like

(09:03):
the traffic lights weren't even working forlike two weeks. I saw a car
accident because the traffic lights weren't working, Like, yeah, people were having
to take turns and nobody remembers howto do that. So I almost got
t boned by some old lady.She didn't wait he turn. Oh my
gosh. Yeah, so everything hasbeen pretty stressful. Yeah, yeah,
that was fun. Not a funcouple weeks. But everything's kind of getting

(09:26):
back to normal, although there's anotherstorm warning next weekend. Yeah, it's
next weekend, so I'm really hopingwe don't lose power again. I just
because there's so many trees that arestill super damaged and they're just waiting for
the right conditions to fall apart.Even more because they're just like there's branches
hanging on by tree bark basically,so we're supposed to have another there's wind,

(09:48):
those are coming out. It's astorm. It's supposed to be a
ton of rain and high winds andmaybe flooding. What is happening now?
I don't know. Pray for us. Okay, you can be done talking
about the storm. Yeah, thatwas a lot. Sorry we went there.
But you've been working really hard.Did you want to give a little

(10:09):
update on your our website progression.Pop the champagne and take off your hard
hats because the website is live,y'all. I've finished it. It.
The name is a little different thanit was, which was an oopsy accident
of mine, but it's fine.It's now it's Anxious and Afraid thepod dot

(10:30):
com. It used to be justAnxious and Afraid dot com. So just
add the pod on there. That'sour new website. Check it out.
Check it out. It's you know, don't judge me too hard. It's
pretty basic, but I like it, and I'm so grateful for you doing
that. Thank you. I've neverdone a website before, so I was
like pretty proud of myself that we'vethat I finished. You really should like

(10:54):
you pat yourself on the shoulder.Here, I'll pat right now. Good
job the snaps to you, snapsnaps. Okay. So I'm very excited
because I'm not doing an episode.Oh. I just looked at the white
board. I was like, oh, oh, that's pretty much all we
got. Let's talk about I gotto get into I have to do an
episode really quick, Michael. Ithink can we pause? I can't hear
myself. Okay, Okay, We'regood. We're good. Everything's great.

(11:26):
I'm really excited. I'm excited,and I'm so nervous because I know you're
gonna freak out. Oh yes,I think I just remembered. No,
it's something that you we didn't talkabout. Okay. So I'm excited.
But reading is hard and I haven'tdone this. I know how you feel
because I did it last time.But you're gonna be great. Okay,
and I'm excited. Okay, herewe go. So today we will be

(11:50):
revisiting a topic very near and dearto our hearts, a topic that you
could say started it all. Iknew it, Shanna and I. Today
I will be once again going backto our love affair with the iconic RMS
Titanic. Wow, Hobby, doyou see why I'm so nervous now because

(12:18):
it's such a big deal. Firstof all, yes, and I totally
called it in front of your face, and I'm sorry. I was like,
is it the Titanic? And You'relike, I'm not telling you.
I was trying to figure out.I was like, wait, don't act
too defensive, right, But Iwasn't thinking like full on redoing the Titanic.
So I'm doped. I kind ofwish this was the first episode back.

(12:43):
Kind of made me okay. Well, so I had completely written another
episode and then I got I orderedthis the book that I'm going to be
talking about in the mail for thisepisode, and it came and I was
like, I think I have enoughtime to read this and also do the
titan in time for my first episodeback. So I did. Yes,

(13:03):
Yeah, that's amazing. Good foryou. Oh thank god. I'm me
too. I've been wow. Okay, yeah go, I'm ready. Here
we go. So I won't beboring you by rehashing all of the details
that Shawna already shared with us somany years ago on our very first episode
of the podcast. I legit don'teven know what I said, I forced
myself to listen to it. Iwas prepared for cringe city, but I

(13:26):
gotta say it wasn't as bad asI thought it was going to be.
Oh thank you. Yeah, Iwasn't as cringe i as I was expecting
to be. So, if youremember, Cold Titties and the Titanic was
mostly focused on the basic facts aroundthe Titanic's creation and sailing slash sinking,
and then we delved more deeply intothe crazy conspiracies surrounding the ships sinking.

(13:48):
I remember learning quite a bit fromthat episode, especially concerning the conspiracies,
because I didn't even realize that therewas conspiracies about the Titanic. But what
I didn't get from that episode andwhat I will be providing for you today,
are the first hand accounts of whatit was like to actually be on
the ship, from majestic start totragic finish. You're baking me speechless.

(14:16):
I just got like full buddy chillsbecause I'm like, Wow, we're going
to hear perspectives of people crying.My eyes are watering. I'm too emotional.
Like honestly, the book was sohard. It's just it's like the
movie but it's real, and soyou're just like that makes it so much
worse. You just have so muchbecause we've seen that movie so much.

(14:37):
I have so many scenes to justlike directly relate it back to mm hmm.
So okay, okay, okay.I'm going to do my best to
tell you the stories that the passengerstold themselves after surviving the sinking of the
ship and all of the horrors theywitnessed along the way. Now, before
I begin, I must always recognizemy main source for today's episode, which

(14:58):
is a book called A Night toRemember by Walter Lord. Wow. Do
you know that one? Have youheard of it? It's so good.
I highly recommend it to anyone who'sinterested in the Titanic. I loved it.
Yeah, I can see myself actuallyprobably reading that book. It's not
super long, so I think youwould. I think you would. It
was published in nineteen fifty five,which is a little over four decades after

(15:20):
the ship's sinking, but Lord wasstill able to interview sixty three survivors and
detail their accounts in the book.Wow, that's such a good chunk.
Okay, I know it was exactlywhat I was looking for because I was
like I want it from you.Yeah, find that I never even thought
about googling. Wow. I googledthe shit out of it. Wow.

(15:43):
Okay, So A Night to Rememberis considered to be a definitive resource on
the Titanic, so I felt prettycomfortable drawing on the accounts from the book.
Fun fact, Walter Lord consulted onthe iconic movie The Titanic with James
Cameron, so he actually was involvedin them movie. I mean, Jance
Cameron's is also pretty obsessed with that. Yes, he's like the perfect person

(16:04):
to make it, honestly. Yeah, so you might recognize some of these
accounts from scenes in that movie,although some of them were obviously changed for
dramatic effect of course. Yeah.But yeah, it based on like his
book, that's where some of thosescenes came from. So that's kind of
wild. Yeah. I also appreciatethat he did his best to tell stories

(16:26):
from all viewpoints and classes from thetimes. You won't be just hearing about
what first class passengers went through.He also interviewed employees third class all the
way up to first class. Yes, all right, now, like I
said, I won't rehash too muchof the stuff. Shna already went through
in the first episode. But ifyou haven't listened to that one, or

(16:47):
maybe it's been a few years,never fear. I will briefly go over
some Titanic facts, delay the groundworkbefore the nitty gritty first hand accounts,
because I understand that not everyone isas obsessed I know the Titanic as we
are. For some weird reason,We're not the weird one, We're not.
So okay, let's do our beautifulRMS Titanic, which by the way,

(17:10):
RMS stands for Royal Mailship, notreally massive ship, as I had
guessed. Really massive ship was builtfor the White Star Line by the shipbuilding
company Harland and Wolf in Belfast,Ireland. The Titanic was one of three
sister ships, the Olympic, theTitanic and the Britannic. And these girls

(17:30):
were the biggest ships ever built oftheir kind up to that time. Those
sisters were killing it. They werekilling it. They're like the Kardashians of
the sea. No expense was spared. We're talking like hundreds of millions.
They were the top of the top, their top of the tibby top,
lots of doll hairs, and itwasn't just money spent on building the Titanic.

(17:52):
It was also time and lives.The Titanic was ordered to be built
in nineteen oh eight and finished onApril second, nineteen twelve, and during
the course of construction, eight peoplewould die from building accidents, with over
two hundred injuries reported and twenty ofthose being severe like limbs lost severe.

(18:12):
The chief naval architect and future passengerof the Titanic was a name we will
all probably recognize, Thomas Andrews.I should have quizzed you. You probably
know all the answers. Oh,totally quizzy. Okay, I'll try,
and I might not. But theship was captained by the very experienced Captain
Smith, Yes, Edward John Smith, who was rumored to be retiring after

(18:36):
the ship's made in voyage. That'sso fucking shitty. I know, I'm
just so bad that ated detail.You're like, this is my last trip
and it was literally uh okay,So allow me to fire off a few
pertinent stats on this lovely ship.So, in terms of size, not
that I am whole shaming, butTitanic was obviously a sizable gal. She

(19:00):
was eight hundred and eighty two feetlong, which is two hundred and sixty
nine meters and one hundred and seventyfive feet tall, which is fifty three
point three meters. She displaced fiftytwo three hundred and ten tons of water
and had a capacity for about thirtythree hundred people, which that number varies
depending on your source. Sure,she could travel at a max of twenty

(19:22):
six miles per hour or forty threekilometers per hour, which is twenty three
knots ship speak. Okay, asmost of us know, there is a
lot of drama around the lifeboat situationfor obvious reasons, and although it is
fair to say that they weren't filledto capacity during the sinking, a lot

(19:42):
of people gave the Titanic grief fornot having enough lifeboats on board to save
more than half of the passengers.But we can't necessarily blame that on the
people who built the Titanic. Accordingto the regulations of the time, the
Titanic actually had more life boats onboard than as required, right because regulations,

(20:02):
it's like they're there for good reasonsand they were bad. They were
like really outdated regulations. So theTitanic had twenty lifeboats, but they were
actually only required to technically have fourteen. I don't understand, but okay,
I mean, yeah, it's clearlywe learned the horrible way. They had
some insane formula too, for likehow to determine how many lifeboats you had,

(20:25):
and it's so weird it is,And the Titanic had the capacity to
house up to forty eight lifeboats,but they had twenty. So it's just
it would just be an isoi.Yeah, like there's taking up twitch room
for all the rich people. Alsounsinkable. Yeah, they're basically decoration and
really believed that. Yeah. Idon't know why that regulation was in place.

(20:48):
I didn't take the time to researchit, but you can bet that
those regulations were changed after what wouldhappen to the Titanic. As for the
passenger accommodations, we all know itwas famous for its lavishness, especially for
the first class customers. They hadgymnasiums, swimming pools, fancy restaurants,
smoking rooms, and even a Turkishbath. That's right. While the third

(21:11):
class accommodations were certainly more sparse,they were considered quite nice for the times.
Back in the day. The thirdclass passengers would have been in a
more open dormitory type situation, Buton the Titanic, the passengers had their
own private, albeit tiny rooms.Gotcha. It was also customary for the
men in this in that class tobe lodged at one end of the ship

(21:34):
and the single women and families tobe at the other. Okay, just
in case, like anyone gets anysteamy ideas about carnal relations in a car,
steamy Handfrint, good job. TheTitanic had a capacity for eight hundred
and thirty three first class passengers,six hundred and fourteen second class and one

(21:55):
thousand and six third class or steeragepassengers, with an additional capacity of over
nine hundred for crew. For themaiden voyage, there would be eight hundred
and eighty five staff, three hundredand twenty four passengers in the first class,
two hundred and eighty four and secondclass, and seven hundred and nine
in third class. Of these,sixty six percent were male, thirty four

(22:15):
percent female, and there were alsoone hundred and seven children on board,
with the majority being in third class. All those numbers can vary depending on
your source, but okay, that'swhat we're going to go with. Just
okay, Yeah, Because like peopleI guess would cancel the last minute,
or people stowed away, So thenumbers aren't hard and best. Yeah,
like Jack won a card game andwon the ticket last minute, and you

(22:38):
got to get on all the numbers. It's his fault. Okay. So
those are the basic stats out ofthe way. If you really wanted to,
we could probably talk about the insand outs of the Titanic forever,
but that's not why we're here today. Okay, Okay, let's spakin our
journey after. It's a different Titanic. Spice were flavoring with a different spice,

(23:04):
yes, okay. So the Titanicbegins her maiden voyage on April tenth,
nineteen twelve, on a Wednesday.She stopped at a few different ports
to pick up mail and her passengers, and on April eleventh, the Titanic
lifted her anchor for the last timeand left Ireland for her journey across the
Atlantic to New York. The firstthree days of the trip passed without any

(23:27):
trouble. The weather was fairly milduntil April fourteenth, when the ship entered
a cold weather front. During thistime, the Titanic received several warnings of
icebergs in the area, but thesewere ignored by Captain Smith, and the
ship continued full steam ahead up siding. In Smith's defense, this wasn't an

(23:48):
uncommon practice, as it was thebelief at the time that an iceberg could
not take down a ship the sizeof the Titanic. But sadly Hubris rears
It's ugly had more than once inthis story. It was now the evening
of April fourteenth, a Sunday,and it was super chilly outside the fantastically

(24:10):
named lookouts. Frederick Fleet and ReginaldLee had what I imagined to be a
very boring but also stressful job ofstaring out at a black sky and ocean
to try and spot any dangers.Right, You're just doing it with like
a spyglass, like for your eyeballs. Yeah. I don't want to say
the tool. Okay, So binocularokay, binocular. I remember they didn't

(24:37):
have those, And I also believeI remember that it was like a new
moon, so there was no moonlight. Correct. I do you mention that
at some point? You're so smart? Actually, I think I'm going to
mention that really soon here, butyeah, there was no moon. Yeah,
but I can't imagine that job beingso boring and coy and cold.
Yeah, yeah, uh oh mygod, literally the next line for and

(25:00):
what I read there was no moonon this night, so there weren't like
the visibility wasn't great, right,However, the sea was strangely calm that
evening, with many observers remarking thatthe sea was so smooth it looked like
glass. Just so weird to thinkabout the Atlantic being that calm. But
yeah, like, especially way outin the ocean like that, Yeah,
it'd be so weird. Fleet hadalready been warned when he started his shift

(25:23):
at ten PM to be especially onthe lookout for icebergs, but so far
he and Lee hadn't spotted any trouble. It was now eleven forty PM and
the Titanic was cruising along at twentytwo and a half knots when Fleet suddenly
spotted something even darker than the skyon the horizon. At first, he
thought it was rather small, aboutthe size of two tables put together,

(25:45):
but as the ship drew closer,the object increased in size, and Fleet
banged on the crow's nest bell threetimes to warn of danger ahead. He
also quickly picked up the phone andcalled the bridge who answered calmly saying,
what do you see? Fleet responded, iceberg right ahead. The bridge said
thank you and hung up. Allwere very calm and very polite. Fleet

(26:10):
and Lee waited intense silence as theywatched the iceberg draw closer with no change
in course from the ship. Yeah, they just are literally hoping that their
message got through, that it's severeenough. And then it's like silence of
them just watching the ship hopefully missedthe iceberg, and it's just this big

(26:30):
thing. You're just seeing it getbigger and bigger and closer and closer because
the ship was moving way too pastright, Oh my god, chills.
The iceberg continue to grow in sizeas the Titanic approached, and Lee and
Fleet braced themselves for impact. Butright at the last moment, the Titanic
began to swing to port and theiceberg glided along the starboard side of the

(26:53):
ship. The two watchmen breathed asigh of relief. They had narrowly avoided
disaster, or so they thought.And here we're gonna take a break right
here. Banana, yep, banana, what a smooth go back this is

(27:21):
staying in okay, I did eata banana just now, so it's appropriate.
Okay, all right, let's let'scontinue down at the bridge. Quartermaster
George Thomas Rowe had also had anuneventful night until he suddenly felt a disturbance
beneath his feet, a low rumbling, as if they had just scraped to

(27:41):
the side of the dock. Helooked up to see an iceberg towering one
hundred feet above the water, glideby and disappear into the night. In
the galley of the ship, thenight baker Walter Belford was making rolls for
the next day when he felt thejolt and watched as the pan of bread
fell from the oven and rolled allover the floor eerie. In the passenger

(28:04):
cabins, one woman felt as thoughthe ship had rolled over a thousand marbles,
while another said they heard an unpleasantripping sound. Other passengers were more
sure of what they had felt.Jay Bruce is May. Do you remember
who that is? Yeah, misterssMay, I'm just thinking of the movie.

(28:27):
But yes, was he in themovie? Well? I mean that's
how I know the names. Oh, I see, I forgot that he
was in the movie. Uh.He was the managing director of the White
Star Line okay, and he wason the maiden voyage, so he was
sleeping in his deluxe suite when hewoke up from the jolt, sure that
they had just hit something. Otherpassengers felt the jolt and ran to their

(28:51):
portholes, only to see a wallof ice gliding by. Oh my god.
One man named James McGough happened tohave his porthole open and experienced chunks
of ice falling into his cabin asthe iceberg scrape by. Oh speaking of
this is Roscoe scraped by. Justhit my mike, Okay, but that's

(29:15):
eerie, Oh my gosh, likeactual ice coming through the window, just
falling into your room and you're inthe middle of the ocean. That's the
last thing you expect. Men whowere playing cards in the smoking room felt
the jolt and ran out to seeor sorry, ran out to the deck
to see the iceberg passing by.But these men, much like most of
the people on board, assumed ithad just been a close call and returned

(29:37):
to the smoking room to continue theirgame. But one of them noticed that
the engines had stopped right down atthe bridge. Things had definitely become tense.
First Officer William Murdoch had received theiceberg warning from Fleet and had quickly
ordered a hard turn to starboard andfull speed astern to the engine room while

(29:59):
punching the close button for the watertightdoors, and then he waited intense silence.
When the grinding jolt went through theship, he knew he had been
too late. Soon Captain Smith rushedin and was surprised of the situation by
Murdoch. He ordered the emergency doorsclosed, but this had already been done

(30:21):
down below in boiler room number six. The men working down there were already
well aware of the danger they werein. A fireman and an engineer were
talking when the warning bell and flashingred lights began to go off. Seconds
later, an ear splitting crash resoundedas the side of the ship gave way
to a deluge of frigid water.Both men were able to slip beneath the

(30:45):
watertight doors, and that scene inthe movie, because needs so much exciting,
one of the worst scenes in themovie. They're just like sliding under.
It was just like, yeah,OK, So they were able to
get beneath the watertight doors before theyclosed, but they found that the gash
in the side of the ship wasextended about two feet into this compartment as
well, and the ocean water wassteadily jetting through the hole. So even

(31:10):
if you think you're safing it,you're still a lot you know. As
all of this was happening, Floatingonly about ten miles away was the ship
the SS Californian, who had stoppedmoving at ten thirty due to the drifting
ice. Oh. So they werelike just chilling because it was too Jane
Driss, literally chilling. Why not? Okay, all right, that's smart.

(31:30):
So they're just they're like, oh, ice, we'll just hang out
here until until we can see fuckingsea. Oh my goodness. Okay.
Roughly an hour before the Titanic hitthe iceberg, the Californian had attempted to
warn the Titanic wireless operators that therewere icebergs in the area, but the
operators aboard the Titanic had just madecontact with Cape Race and were more than

(31:52):
annoyed at the loud interruption from theCalifornian, who was so close that the
message came through super loud. Oh. The operator on the Titanic responded to
the Californian, saying, shut up, shut up, I am busy,
I'm working on Cape Race. Ohmy god. The Californian's like Jesus,

(32:14):
okay, we'll have fun with theice. So they never actually got to
officially give the ice warning to theTitanic. Wow, because they got cut
off, okay in a very rudeway. Rude. Then the crew of
the Californian had seen a large passengership rapidly pass their position, stop suddenly
and turn off most of its lights. Oh my god, So that's what

(32:37):
they think they saw. But whatthey really saw was the Titanic turn sharply
to avoid that iceberg. So suddenlyshe was now at a different angle and
they couldn't see most of her lights. Oh, so they didn't realize that
she had made the sharp turn.They thought she just stopped and turned off
for lights, which at that timeof night, they're like, well,
that's not that weird, because likemaybe they're turning in and they turn off

(33:00):
the lights to make everyone go tobed. And Okay, they didn't just
hit an iceberg is basically what they'reseeing, I mean hoping not that situation.
So Captain Stanley Lord of the Californiantold his crew to signal the ship
with Morse lamps, which is likeMorse code with lamps, but the Titanic
didn't respond. Okay for the majorityof the passengers aboard the Titanic. After

(33:24):
the jolt of hitting the iceberg,most people assumed it was nothing and went
back to bed or drinking or whateverthey had been up to. But a
few people began to notice something wasoff. A boy who had his port
hole open stopped feeling a breeze asthe ship slowed to a stop. A
woman in her cabin noticed her dresseshad stopped swinging on their hangers. Other

(33:46):
passengers let their curiosity get the betterof them and wandered out in their bathrobes
and fur coats to see what washappening. Bathrobes and fur coats sounds like
a band name, It does looklike a bad Rumors of hitting an iceberg
were floating around, but nobody seemedparticularly alarmed. John jacob Astor, the

(34:07):
wealthiest man aboard, calmly went backto his room to tell his pregnant wife
that they had struck an iceberg,but everything was fine. In the third
class recreation area, a couple ofyoung passengers were playing with chunks of ice,
throwing them at each other and acrossthe deck just like on the movie.
Yeah, like kicking it like soccer. Yeah. At eleven fifty,

(34:29):
ten minutes after the crash, shitstarts to get very ominous, and these
first inclinations of what was to comelike gives me goosebumps. So a crew
member lying in his bunk, whichwas close to the bow of the ship,
began to hear a hissing sound fromthe increased air pressure due to how
quickly water was flooding in below.Ew. I hate that. It's just

(34:52):
like something you wouldn't even think of. And I'm just like, no,
that's disgusting. That's just so eerie. It's so eery. Fireman was oken
up by the sound of water risingup the spiral staircase that led to his
quarters. Spiral, Okay, okay, just the images, man, I
know. Passengers in steerage jumped outof their bunks, only to land in

(35:13):
frigid water up to their ankles.Yep. Mail clerks frantically tried to move
the mail out of the quickly floodingmailroom, but were soon forced to abandon
it. Back at the bridge,bad news was coming in hot for Captain
Smith. He was informed that theywere taking on water fast, and the
captain responded by calling for Thomas Andrews. Soon the pair were touring the ship

(35:35):
to inspect the damage. They noticedthe water had surpassed the flooded mailroom and
was now lapping against the floors ofthe squash court, which is like racketball
right. People who passed them triedto look at their faces for signs of
stress, but the pair were carefulto appear calm. Then Smith and Andrews
stopped their tour to basically do thatscene from the movie. Andrews has his

(35:59):
blueprints out and he explains to CaptainSmith that there is likely a three hundred
foot gash in the side of theship, and the first five compartments were
already flooded. He said, quotethe Titanic could float with any two of
her sixteen watertight compartments flooded. Shecould float with any three of her first

(36:19):
five compartments flooded. She could evenfloat with all of her first four compartments
gone. But no matter how theysliced it, she could not float with
all of her first five compartments full. I know the bulkhead between the fifth
and sixth compartments only went as highas e deck. If the first five
compartments were flooded, the bow wouldsink so low that the water in the

(36:40):
fifth compartment must overflow into the sixth. When this was full, it would
overflow into the seventh and so on. Okay, it was a mathematical certainty,
pure and simple. There was noway out. I know, it's
all. At twelve oh five,Smith gave the order to uncover the life

(37:01):
boats and ordered the wireless operators tosend out a distress call. Ten miles
away sat the Californian, completely obliviousto the dire situation the Titanic was in
because they only had one wireless operator, the one who had been yelled at
by the Titanic for trying to warnthem of icebergs. That operator had hung

(37:22):
up his headset and gone to bedat eleven thirty wow, which was the
end of his shift, and therewas nobody to replace him, and nobody
to hear the distress calls coming fromthe Titanic. I feel like you can't
blame him, but no, it'snot his fault, Like he that was
his shift. He's done. Itwas his shift. He had to go
to bed. He got yelled athe had terrible day. Wow, that's

(37:45):
everything is so unfortunate, and justlike one hair over the possibility of not
being the worst, and it's justright over that. Yeah. So it
is the so many little things thatcould have made such a difference. Yeah,
yeah, that's why it's like justso frustrating. It's very frustrating.
So back aboard the Titanic, therewas an unbalanced reaction to what was happening

(38:07):
on the ship. Many of thepassengers in third class had been closer to
the location where the iceberg struck,so they weren't messing around and had already
begun dressing and gathering their things.This was the same of the employees.
Those who were unaware were soon informed. In one case, a boatswain popped
his head into the cabins and said, quote, turn out, you fellows,

(38:28):
you haven't an hour to live.That is from mister Andrews. Keep
it to yourself and let no oneknow. Okay, okay, there's so
much I'm upset with that quote.First off, you have an hour to
live, Yeah, to live,that's from mister Andrews, just popping in.
And then also tell no one andkeep it to yourself like that,

(38:49):
we're all going to die in anhour. Why Why isn't everyone screaming get
out? Yeah? And therein liesthe problem of why so many people were
unaware of the true danger they werein until it was too late. The
crew didn't want everyone to panic,so the danger was largely downplayed to the
passengers, especially the women, becausewe don't want hysterics, right, of
course not. Stewards began going fromcabin to cabin to order the women and

(39:15):
children on deck and to tell everyoneto put on their life jackets. They
were more polite with the first classpassengers, but the message was the same.
Some people reacted with alarm and gotdressed as quickly as they could,
or just threw a coat on overtheir pajamas while grabbing all valuables. Others
took their time and left their valuablesbehind, assuming they would be back for

(39:36):
them. We're talking hundreds of thousands, I'm sure millions of dollars worth of
like jewelry, cash stocks, bonds, absolutely famous paintings, like all kinds
of shit that went down with thatshit. It's insane, and so the
heart of the ocean, we're assuming, and so the passengers on the Titanic
made their way out to their respectivedecks, all keeping to the class system,

(40:00):
the first class in the center ofthe ship, second class a little
aft of the ship, and thirdclass at the stern or near the bout.
Everyone stood around making nervous jokes asthe crew rushed to their positions at
the lifeboats. A man named ColonelGracie joked to the squash instructor that they
had better cancel their morning appointment,not realizing that the squash court was already

(40:20):
under water. Oh my god.Captain Smith lightly joked to a woman not
wanting to wear her life jacket,saying, even if they didn't have to
use them, at least it wouldkeep her warm. Crew Members began converging
on the lifeboats and pulling off theircovers. Critically, passenger drills had not
yet been done with the lifeboats,and with this being the maiden voyage,

(40:40):
many of the crew members were alsounsure of what they should be doing.
Finally, First Officer Leetoler and ChiefOfficer Wilde had boats lowered, flushed with
the deck ready to board passengers,but the second issue was getting the women
and children into the boats. Manyof them weren't convinced that the ship was
sinking and thought the nice, brightdeck of the Titanic was a far better

(41:04):
option than sitting in a small,dark lifeboat on the ocean. Sure it
just fair. I get the hesitation, yeah, but you also just want
to shake them, like, yeah, you don't know what's about to happen.
Right on the starboard side, FirstOfficer Murdoch was in charge of loading
another lifeboat and quickly loaded as manywomen and children who would willingly go.
Sometimes couples were allowed, and afew single men. At twelve forty five,

(41:28):
Murdoch felt like he couldn't wait anylonger, and he lowered the first
boat into the water. There weretwenty people in the boat, which is
not even a third of the wayfold. Wait, so like he's like they
couldn't get people because they weren't freakingout yet at that point, So that
sight why they didn't fill it.Yeah, but also I don't know this
well, pretty for certain these arefirst class passengers, maybe second class,

(41:52):
third class hasn't even been addressed yet, Like sure of course they're below they're
not being boarded onto these boats,so they're just like looking at all the
rich people, they're like the richerstill, like la la la rab who
had been furthest away. So it'slike they are the least apprised of what's
going on probably and yeah, andnobody wants to get in these boats because
things aren't super diary yet they're like, so I don't want to do that,

(42:14):
Like, yeah, there's like nicedrinks and stuff on this boat.
But then it's like, okay,so if like you, no more rich
people want to get on the boat, then you go to the second class.
If you want to go in orderof class, like, you don't
just leave it empty. You fillout the boat. You're correct, it
just didn't happen. So upset.I know, it's very upsetting. Okay.
All while this was happening, theGrand eight person band was on deck

(42:37):
playing a lively ragtime tune for thepassengers waiting on the deck, which is
I feel like it's just such aspecific detail for the Titanic. Well,
I think that's why it's always mentionedin the story of the Titanic, because
it is such an eerie He's snoring. Oh no, that was yourself,

(42:57):
sorry distracted. Yeah them, yousaid there was eight of them, eight
eight members in the band they're playinglike ragtime music. It's the violins,
right, I think there's I don'tknow all the instruments they play. There's
definitely violince. There's definitely more thanthat, yeah for sure. But yeah,
just the fact that they're deciding toplay to try and keep it like

(43:17):
common normal through like the most horrificthing that's about to happen, and the
fact that they also and less likethis is so real, Like I keep
you keep forgetting it's real that thesethe movie right, these men did that
until they literally couldn't anymore. Thewater was like at their feet and they
all I think, Yeah, it'san actual thing that happened, which is

(43:40):
just and that was like their legacy. It seems like a movie detail like
that wouldn't happen. Yeah, youthink, oh they just said that for
them. No, it actually happenedin real life. It is. It
is honorable and just such a likeyou just like like I don't know,
is it human? I don't itjust it's so eerie. There was definitely,
I mean, this is like youknow, way back when, So

(44:01):
there's I feel like there's more oflike this honor code for the men,
Like sure, especially as time goeson, where they're just like we'll go
down like gentlemen, Like yeah,you know, but I don't know if
it would be that way today,Like I feel like it'd be a little
bit more equal, yeah anyways,but yeah, yeah, yes, it's
it's very eerie. It's very specific. I feel to this Titanic. It

(44:22):
is so down in the boiler room, thanks for growing more desperate, which
I feel like is like the worstspot in the ship. I don't want
to be anywhere near. No,that's the most panic inducing in a way.
When the ship isn't sinking, Idon't want to be shoveling coal and
grimy and hot. Seems terrible.Uh So the men there were operating water

(44:42):
pumps to keep the Titanic afloat andoperational for as long as possible. See,
you got it. You have likeyou literally have to. Yeah,
you literally have to. But thenyou're like, why does my job fucking
matter? I'm about to die?Like you know, yeah, you would
have that conflict I think in yourhead, like like I have to do
this. I could just leave,yeah, because I know I'm going to
die, But you don't. Youwant to save it? Yeah, I

(45:04):
don't wow. So one man hadslipped and broken his leg during the process
of trying to fix everything, andhe was laying off to the side while
the others worked. And just asit seemed that they may be succeeding and
pumping out all the water, thebulkhead behind the boilers collapsed and a wall
of water came rushing into the room. Some escaped, but a man attempting
to rescue the man with a brokenleg was lost to the rising waters.

(45:28):
So gross, I know. Let'sjust take another break real quick. Okay.
It was now twelve forty five insidethe wireless shack, and the operators
were sending out distress calls as fastas they could. Ships were answering them,

(45:50):
but they were all too far awayto make it in time. All
the same, the Carpathia and theOlympic had begun routing their way as fast
as they could to the Titanic's position. Kind of fun fact. The SOS
signal that we're also familiar with wasa brand new call at this time.
Before, they had been making CQDcalls, which stood for calling all Stations

(46:12):
distress, but the Titanic would bethe very first ship. Like in history
to make an SOS call. Ohthat is a fun fact, right,
It's kind of cool. It iskind of cool. I never, yeah,
I ever thought of that, beinglike I just always thought SOS was
a thing, the standard, Yeahit was. I don't I tried to

(46:36):
read into why they changed it.It got too boring and technical. But
yeah, they switched over to SOS, and I think in the book the
operators were like joking to each otherlike, hey, do you want to
make this call? Like it mightbe the last time you ever get to
like, oh my gosh, haha, yikes. So the Titanic was the
first to make the SOS call.They really needed it and then a yank

(46:59):
it. Yeah. And then it'salso like frustrating or like being on the
ships that are coming, like theCarpe Pathia or whatever. They like,
they can't go fast enough, likeif they're cranked up, like you can't
do any more than that, Soyou're painfully waiting for you yourself to arrive.
Yeah, and even once they evenif they do get there quickly,
then they have to slow down becauseof all the fucking eyes berks. Yeah.

(47:22):
So yeah, not good. Okay, So it was also at twelve
forty five that the first rocket wasfired from the Titanic to signal any nearby
ships, and Captain Smith gave theorder to fire one every five minutes.
Mm hmmm. The Californian was closeby, of course and saw the rocket,
but the crew of that ship didn'tunderstand why the nearby ship would be

(47:44):
firing off rockets. Are you serious? Such a fucking forehead slap? Like,
guys, Like, it's not afirework, it's not for entertainment,
that's fun. Look at that doingover there. It just happened a time.
Huh. Let's not mention that.I think they went down to their
captain and he was like, whatcolor are the rockets? And they're like

(48:06):
white, And he's like, huh, well back to bed. Why would
that just be a normal thing.I don't know. Is there a different
color for rockets that means something different? I don't know, Like, why
wouldn't you see that and just assumesomething bad was happening? Yeah, or
like immediately want to check it outbecause you need to know what it is.
Yeah. And I don't know howmany more times they check in.

(48:28):
I can't remember if I check inwith the California and again but like there's
so many signs and they keep goinglike, huh, that's so frustrating to
that that's weird. They just don'tlooks like it's listing. That's kind of
weird. And then then they justdon't see it at all anymore, and
they're like, oh, that's theleft. That's weird. Must sales,
don't I see it go away?But it's it's a way now. Well,

(48:49):
so stupid back to bed. Gosh, the human error and stupidity just
it hurts. It's it's very frustrating. Yeah, after the passenger is on
the Titanic, watch the rockets burstwhite in the sky overhead. They began
to grasp the gravity of the situation, and the anxiety to get into one
of those lifeboats began to rise.The goodbyes are heartbreaking. I'm just warning

(49:09):
you, Oh gosh, really fuckinghard. As more women and children were
loaded on the boats, their husbandsand fathers tried to put on a brave
face, knowing they may not makeit. Doctor W. T. Minihan
told his wife, quote, bebrave, no matter what happens, be
brave. One husband simply said tohis wife, I'll see you later.

(49:30):
Some of the women put up afight to stay with their husbands. Missus
Smith refused to go without her husbandand kept asking Captain Smith if they could
both go. The husband told hiswife the ship was well equipped and everyone
would be saved. The woman askedCaptain Smith if that was true, and
he answered with the firm yes.So she ended up getting on the boat

(49:52):
and her husband wouldn't survive the sinking. It's such a like you think that's
a terrible thing, but then you'realso like the other side of it is
like, well, I'm saving herby lying, right, So he was
like obviously in on it, knowinglike she's not gonna get on unless we

(50:13):
lie to her. And it's justso awful. I would have a hard
time leaving my husband, right.I was trying to like put myself in
their shoes, and I'm like,I'd be too scared. We would I
do? Like, I wouldn't wantto leave. I don't know what would
you do, Michael. Would youshove me into a boat? You push
her off? I want to thinkI would do that, clinging to my

(50:34):
leg, don't leave me. Yeah, It's just an impossible situation to be
in, especially if you have kids. Like that, don't even I mean
you might, but yeah, Ialready say later on, I don't really
go into the kids stuff because I'mtoo soft too honestly. Honestly, Yep,
it's true when they say once youhave kids, things are like different

(50:54):
and absolutely you just can literally nothelp but think of your own kid.
It's just literally impossible, and likeyour your feelings are so intense for your
child that it's just like the emotionsyou can't. Yeah, just reading about
it was making me like cry,and I was just like I cry so
much more. Yeah, I waslike I can't type about it, I
can't think about it, cannot Okay. So there were women who were just

(51:19):
like they were just tossed into theboat against their will when they refuse to
go. There were others, however, who convinced their companions to let them
stay. Missus Isidore Strauss refused toleave her husband's side. They were an
older couple who had been together formany years. Yeah, when he tried
to convince her to go, shetold him, quote, where you go,

(51:39):
I go, and that was it. They plopped down in some deck
chairs and the pair would perish inthe sinking together. Is that the old
couple. That's the bed scene.Yeah, they show them on the bed,
but I don't think they were actuallyon a bed. I think they
were. I can see that beingfor the movie, but yeah, definitely
gets Yeah, but it is yeahright there, based on a true couple

(52:00):
that did that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. The slant of the
deck was becoming more pronounced now,and passengers who had left their valuables behind
started to regret their choice and ranback to retrieve them, only to find
their rooms completely underwater. Oh mygosh. One woman was almost locked into
her room by a steward locking doorsto prevent looting. Another steward yelled,

(52:23):
the priorities are not straight on alot of this looting, my god,
Like, like, what else isThey're just gonna be at the bottom of
the ocean. But it doesn't makeany sense. No. Another steward yelled
at a man trying to bust adoor open that had become jammed also in
the movie, trapping someone inside.The steward scolded them for damaging the ship

(52:46):
and told them they would be chargedfor it. Punched that guy in the
face. Such an asshole. Damagefor the ship that is truly has three
hundred foot cash sinking to the bottomof the ocean. The fact that somebody

(53:07):
still says something a charge, sir, sir, you can't do that.
The audacty Wow yeah wow. Itjust but also it's like maybe they just
really didn't get it. But whatwas happening, you know, women and
children were now being loaded into theboats more frantically, with Thomas Andrews personally
urging them on. Time was passingquickly and anxiety was making people sloppy.

(53:31):
One woman slipped and missed the lifeboat, falling down the side of the ship,
but was amazingly caught by her ankleand holed back up. Wow,
I know, ankle Wow wow?Wow do you think oh do you think
she was in a dress? Skirt? Just honestly at that point, you
don't care my panties. Yeah.So she was like she was saved and

(53:55):
I think she ended up in aboat and probably made it. Wow,
what a journey, I know.The launching of the lifeboats was also getting
more sloppy, as most of thetrained seamen had already launched in the previous
lifeboats. Officer Leetoler continued to overseethe loading of the boats while glancing at
the emergency staircase behind him, whichwent all the way down to edyk.

(54:16):
Every time he checked it he couldsee green sea water crawling up the stairs,
still lit by the electric lights.That's so easy, just the imagery.
It's like. Oh. On theother side of the ship, where
Murdoch was in charge, more menwere allowed on lifeboats. If there was
room, he would allow them on. Well, the first class men anyway,

(54:37):
and a very fucked up turn ofevents that will surprise no one,
the third class passengers were still stuckwaiting below. The stewards would call through
the crowd for women and children,but many of them didn't want to tear
their families apart and stayed, orthey just weren't able to get to the
front of the crush of people.Terrible. The crowds began banging on the

(54:58):
barriers, just like in the movie, to be let out, and then
some of the men began climbing therailing to get to a higher level,
or using different routes to get aroundthe barriers. The ones who stayed stuck
below paced about nervously or prayed togetherin groups. Amazingly, even further below,
men were still at work in theengine rooms that hadn't flooded yet,

(55:19):
trying to keep the steam up andthe pumps going to keep the lights on
and the Titanic afloat for as longas possible. But soon the water began
seeping up through the floors and themen made a run for it. By
now most of the boats had launched, some with as few as twelve people.
The passengers looked at the Titanic fromthe lifeboats and could see and hear

(55:44):
or sorry, just to hear theband playing music. Wow, from the
life you can hear it from thelife I never thought of that. How
eerie would that? You just thinkabout them hearing it on the ship?
Yeah, they're thinking they can hearit from the lifeboats. Eh, why
do I hate? Why do Ihate those? Which? One? You're
just watching it. You're watching itand there's classical music place, and they

(56:07):
can see from their vantage point howbad it's getting. Yeah, they're they
literally have the full view of it. Yeah. I also don't envy that.
That's traumatic. It's so traumatic.Oh my god, no one wins
in this story, no one.So they can hear the music. And
they remarked that the Titanic was beginningto resemble a sagging birthday cake. Sad

(56:29):
I know. Back in the wirelessroom, the operator was still frantically sending
out distress calls until he was informedby Captain Smith that they were losing power
and couldn't last much longer. Atone, he made a desperate call to
the Carpathia, saying, quote,come as quickly as possible. Engine room
filled up to the boilers. Thewireless operator was so enthralled by what he

(56:50):
was doing he hardly noticed his coworkerputting a warm jacket on him and strapping
a life jacket to his body.Oh it is not that sweet. Wow,
what a cutworker. When he wasfinally pulled away from his station,
he looked out at the ship andrealized the dramatic slant the deck had taken,
and it was also now listing toport. He could see water slashing

(57:12):
around the foot of the mast andnoticed the silence of the large funnels no
longer emitting steam. Wow. Solike he was in that room doing the
calls, so he wasn't really outseeing it all being played out, right,
he was just getting like updates fromright. And of course that's still
terrifying. You're the one who's themessenger is asking like may day calls,

(57:36):
which is terrifying, and then theshockingness of walking out seeing what's actually happening.
Yeah, and he was somebody tookover for him after he left,
especially at that stage. Yeah.And I think the guy that took over,
like, wow, he he didit until like the room was almost
like filling, like they were atit into the las second. Yeah,

(57:58):
it was. It was nuts.And I think the second guy, he
got so wrapped up in it.Somebody was literally stealing the life jacket off
of his body and he didn't noticeand like his friend came up and punched
the dude out. Wow, Andhe was able to escape. But like
insane, it's just insane. Wow. All right, So let's see where

(58:19):
it was. I okay, Soit was around this time Officer Wilde ordered
everyone to move to the other sideof the ship to correct the list so
that they could continue launching the remaininglifeboats, which actually worked, which was
really insane. I was like,I was like, they really think that's
gonna work? Is that gonna work? Wow? Fixed? It fixed the
list enough to be able to continuelaunching the lifeboats. Wow. Okay,
smart okay. So the scene aroundthe remaining lifeboats was devastating. People were

(58:45):
no longer fighting to stay out ofthe boats. They were now fighting furiously
to get in them. A groupof men who had broken through the gates
and third class stormed one of theboats and jumped in. Most were hauled
back out, but one man founda woman and was able to disguise himself
to stay. One man who wassurprisingly able to make it into a lifeboat

(59:07):
was Jay Bruce Ismay, the directorof the White Star Lines. He would
survive the sinking, but he wouldretire soon after and become a recluse until
his death. Is May was vilifiedas the highest ranking executive to make it
out alive, even though he didhelp many people into lifeboats. I think
he got on the very last lifeboatout, but people still just tormented him

(59:30):
for the rest of his life.Yeah, he had I mean brutal.
I don't what's the right answer there, Like I'm mad at someone for living
like I can kind of get it, but I don't get the intensive,
consistent badgering of it. It's like, oh, if you don't like it,
okay, you don't like it,then move like move on, like

(59:51):
what are you gonna do? Killhim? Like, I mean, yeah,
and he had bad blood with what'shis name, Hurst will the newspaper
guy Willing. I don't know whyHurst Hurst? Do you want to talking
about super rich? He owned allthe newspapers back in the daytch, but
they had bad blood. So likehe was in control of the news,
so he was able to just likebadger him and badger him and like running

(01:00:14):
through the mud over and over again. Now humans are not kind to other
humans as bad. I yeah,I get the anger towards him because obviously
he had a hand in like howthe ship was built all that stuff,
But like it's messy, it's messy. It's a lot of complex feelings for
sure, But like he also wentthrough so much trauma to be just torture

(01:00:34):
for the rest of your life,is right? That's hard? Another group
or sorry. Another charge by agroup of men was stopped when Officer Lowe
pulled out a handgun and shot itthree times into the side of the ship,
shouting if anyone else tries that,this is what he'll get. But
not all passengers were frantic to leave. Some calmly accepted their fates. William

(01:00:57):
Stead was seen reading alone in thefirst class smoking room. Benjamin Guggenhein had
gone down to his room to puton his finest evening clothes. Along with
his valet. They took off theirlife jackets and said, quote, we've
dressed in our best and are preparedto go down like gentlemen. The Allison
family, along with their young daughter, refused to get in a lifeboat,

(01:01:19):
stating, not on your life.We started this together and if Neebee will
finish together, then the whole familydied. Wow. Can you imagine making
that choice for your kid? Though? Like us, Yeah, that's messy,
messy. The last two boats werenow being loaded. A pregnant missus
Astor was being put on a boatwhen John Jacob Astor asked if he could

(01:01:43):
go with her in her delicate condition, but was told no, he too
would perish in the sinking right,and he was the richest man on board.
Right. It was nearing two amas the last boat was being loaded.
A ring formed around the lifeboat andonly women and children were let through
the crowd. The lights on theTitanic were beginning to glow red, and

(01:02:07):
the passengers could hear glass dishes breakingbelow As the tilt of the ship caused
brand new glasswarar to slide off theshelves. Some male passengers were seen weaving
through the crowds with bottles of boozein their hands, which honestly SeeMe like
I finding what was going down?Like Okay, where's the alcoholic? I
want to be drunk a buck forthis seriously. As the last boat began

(01:02:28):
to lower, two more women rushedforward or Miss Evans told missus Gracie to
go first, as she had childrenat home. Missus Gracie climbed in,
but Miss Evans never got her chance. As she watched the boat leave,
she couldn't help but think about somethinga fortune teller had told her. Once
be aware of the water eww,and she would perish too. Wow,

(01:02:51):
that's eery. After all the boatshad launched, it was said, and
eerie calm settled over the Titanic.As the passengers awaited their fates, they
mostly clustered together on the upper decks, staying away from the rails. There
were two so there actually were twocollapsible lifeboats left, but they were tied
down to the roof of the officersquarters, and the stewards were struggling to

(01:03:15):
get them free in time. Right. It was two oh five when Captain
Smith began doing his rounds releasing employeesfrom their duties. He walked into the
wireless shack, where operators were stillmaking frantic calls with the dying electricity.
He told them, quote, men, you have done your full duty.
You can do no more. Abandonyour cabin. Now it's every man for

(01:03:37):
himself. You look out for yourselves. I release you. That's the way
of it at this kind of time. That's the way of it at this
kind of time. It's it's sovery British. Oh, it's very British.
Wow, that is a line thatgot me. Oh okay. People

(01:03:58):
now began jumping off the same shipin hopes of making it to a lifeboat
before they got too far away.Some of them were lucky enough to make
it and were hauled in. Allthe while, the eight person band still
played their music for those still lefton the ship, which must have been
like, it must have been astrange, so hard and very strange.
Yeah. Inside the grand ship,where only hours before it had been filled

(01:04:20):
with elegantly dressed people having dinner anddrinking, it was now filled with sea
water. The crystal chandeliers were stillbrightly lit, but hanging at an angle.
Glassware rolled around the tilted floor asa few last stragglers dug through the
kitchen for a last quick meal.Oh same for me too, Like give

(01:04:41):
me the booze and a snack.It was two ten when a steward found
mister Thomas Andrews alone in the smokingroom, looking broken and lost. His
life jacket was thrown on an emptytable, and he seemed dazed. The
steward the scene. I know.The steward asked, quote, aren't you
gonna have a try for it,mister Andrews? But he didn't answer,

(01:05:02):
and the steward left him there.I think that's the last time he was
seen, too. Like sad waterbegan washing over the bridge as officers Murdoch
and Lighttoler still worked with each otherto free the collapsible, but the slant
of the deck was making it evenharder. They managed to finally cut one

(01:05:23):
loose, but it fell off theroof and landed upside down. Their only
hope was for the boats to simplyfloat off as the Titanic sank below them.
Wow. It was now two fifteenand the bridge dipped beneath the waves.
The water began racing up the boatdeck, and the band, still
valiantly playing lively ragtime music, switchedto the somber tune of Nearer My God

(01:05:49):
to Thee, which I listened towhile I wrote this, and it was
fucking sad. It's really sad.Uh. And it's the same song that
they play in the movie. Yeah, and they show like the old people
dying and m hm, yep,it's so eerie. James Cameron, it's
an emotional terrorists. He actually dida really good job. Like I mean,

(01:06:09):
I know it's not like fully accurate, but it's pretty they're accurate.
It was weird reading the book.I'm like, oh, like that scene,
and that scene pulled really heavily fromthis, like from actual stuff that
happened. So I mean, Ithink he probably did his research and like
wanted to do like pull like personalstories. You have to make it as
real as possible, and he dida good job. Okay, so hold

(01:06:31):
on your butts because we are solidlyinto the second tape of the movie.
Second VHS tape. Second VHS tape. No one wanted to put it.
It's just terrible. From here onout. It already has been, but
you know, yeah, it doesn'tget better. Yeah. Some of the
passengers were lucky enough to be nearone of the collapsibles that was right side
up and simply jumped in as theboat floated away. Another man found himself

(01:06:54):
trapped beneath the overturned collapsible and remainedthat way for quite some time, surviving
in the air pocket. He actuallymade it out alive. Oh wow.
Yeah. People began to leap offthe ship into the ocean, or washed
off by the large waves washing overthe deck. Many others ran towards the
ever higher and steeper stern as thebough sunk lower and the stern rise higher

(01:07:17):
into the air. Officer Lighttoler watchedas people were engulfed by the waves washing
over the deck and decided to makea jump for it. When he swam
back up to the surface, hewas met with the sight of the crow's
nest, now level with the surfaceof the water. So gross, yeah
it is. He began to swimaway in front of the ship was sucked

(01:07:39):
under against the metal grating of aventilation shaft. He wondered if that's how
he would die, until a burstof hot air from deep inside the ship
blasted through the air shaft and shothim back up to the surface, where
he was able to swim away.I think he survives. WHOA, that's
wild. Yeah. Oh and righthere was gonna say, like, there

(01:08:00):
are accounts of what happened to somekids, but I'm not I'm not gonna
tell those, So you can justuse your imaginations, or you can disassociate
like I did. The slant ofthe Titanic stick had now grown so steep
that people could no longer stand andstarted sliding down it. There was also
a tremendous racket from all of thesnapping and breaking of metal and wood on

(01:08:23):
the ship, mixed with the passengerscreams. Yeah. The people watching from
the lifeboats said that the passengers lookedlike swarms of bees clinging to the parts
of the ship that were still abovewater. Well that's a description, I
know. I can just see it. Incredibly, they could still see this
happening because the lights on the Titanicwere still burning. Wow, I'm really

(01:08:46):
surprised that they didn't go out faster. I know they. It makes it
so much more eerie because because you'reactually seeing it more and you could probably
see them underwater. I didn't eventhink about that, Abbey. It's worse,
like, okay, just crying forthe whole I'm sorry, I apologize

(01:09:08):
for everything. As the stern continuedto rise higher into the air, the
stress became too much for the largeforward funnel, and it toppled over,
crushing many of the swimmers in itspath. That's also terrible, Like you're
in the water, you're swimming away, you're thinking, okay, well,
but then you get smashed by ahuge metal thing, and they do make
They do a good job of that, I think in the movie, just

(01:09:30):
like demonstrating how big those fucking funnelsas are. Yeah. Huge. I
think one of the people who sawit described it. They're like, I
was just stunned by the size ofit when it fell. He's like,
I'm pretty sure you could drive twocars like side by side through one of
them. Like they're just huge.Uh So the bow continued to rise until
it was perpendicular to her and sorry, and her massive propellers were out of

(01:09:54):
the water, just like in theopen air, dripping. Just gross.
The people in the lifeboats either watchedit in silent shock or they buried their
faces unable to bear it. Aftera couple of breathless minutes, the Titanic
began her final ascent, picking upspeed, sliding down into the waves,
and it was said that she wentdown fast enough for there to be an

(01:10:15):
audible gulp when she went completely beneaththe surface. EWW. The sounds,
all of the sound, all ofit. One of the officers in the
lifeboat noted the time and announced itwas now two twenty wow. And I
think we could take another break,okay. After the Titanic was gone,

(01:10:47):
the waters were full of screaming,clamoring people and various debris from the ship.
The water was brutally cold, ata meager twenty eight degrees fahrenheit or
NIE of two degrees celsius. OfficerLighttoler said it felt like a thousand knives
driven into his body. Some panickedand began clinging to other people, and

(01:11:10):
their desperation pulling them under. Someof the strongest swimmers were able to make
it to the collapsible boats, eithercrawling into the boat that was right side
up or crawling on top of theboat that was upside down. Yeah.
There was one boat that stayed upsidedown. Yeah, Yeah, you're totally
right, and there was like someguys standing on it. Okay, yeah,
I think quite a few men managedto make it. They were like
at least a dozen that were upon top of the upside down boat.

(01:11:32):
Oh that's impressive. Yeah, I'mout. One of the men who managed
to make it into the boat wasactually my inspiration for doing this story.
Today I saw a little blurb abouthim, and he had a fascinating life,
including surviving the Titanic. So hisname was Richard Norris Williams, and
he was an American world famous championtennis player. He was on the Titanic

(01:11:56):
with his father, and Williams wasthe guy the steward yelled at for breaking
down a door and damaging White Starlinkproperty. Oh okay, we're back there.
Okay. So that story inspired thescene in the movie. And when
the ship was going down, thefather and son jumped into the water,
but the father was crushed by thatfalling funnel and it missed Williams by mere

(01:12:18):
feet. Whoa So Williams was Actuallyhe made it to the lifeboat, but
his legs became so frostbitten that afterhe got rescued. Spoiler, the doctor
wanted to amputate his legs, buthe flat out refused because of his tennis
career and I'm sure other reasons.So he just NonStop walked until the circulation

(01:12:41):
came back and he fucking healed himself. Whoa. Yeah, so I saw
that little story about him, andI was like, oh, there's actually
like first hand accounts from the Titanic, like what and then that's how I
kind of went down that rabbit hole. Yeah, well that's fascinating. Yeah,
he had a crazy story. Okay, So anyway, the lifeboats that
were barely even half in some cases, floated some distance away for fear of

(01:13:02):
being swarmed and sank by the swimmers. Officer Low, however, decided to
go back for survivors, but ittook him too long to get back,
and instead of being swarmed, theyfound only the dead. In the end,
they only were able to save fivepeople. I know. That's so
upsetting too, because it took themminutes to succumb, like just minutes to

(01:13:24):
die in Yeah. I guess that'strue too. I didn't think about Yeah,
you're right, So I guess alot of them died really fast because
it was freaking freezing from just hypothermia, like yeah yeah. In other boats,
the occupants told the officer rowing notto go back because they didn't want
to risk themselves. One woman said, quote, why should we lose all
of our lives? And in auseless attempt to save others from the ship?

(01:13:46):
Okay, damn one outlook it's nota good one. Some of the
officers in the lifeboats refused to goback even if the occupants demanded it.
That was the case for the lifeboatwith the famous unsinkable Missus Brown. Yes
kueen. She argued with the officerto go back, but he wouldn't listen.
Uh, And the story of whatwent on in her boat is kind

(01:14:10):
of hilarious, like it could probablyget its own show, U But like
long story short, Missus Brown eventuallytook charge of the boat and threatened to
throw the officer overboard if he didn'tshut up. So he hid under a
blanket and said mean things about herwhile he drank whiskey. I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, he's that real.Yeah, the way it was like hysterical,

(01:14:31):
like is he a child? Likewhat is happening? He's just like
under a blanket because you're on afreaking little boat in the middle of the
ocean. You're a bitch. Ohmy god son. Yeah, she like
basically took charge of the boat.She had all the women rowing. She
was like in charge. Wow,that's fascinating. I had no idea.
I know there was always more storyto the unscab missus Molly Brown. Yeah,

(01:14:55):
and I thought about doing an episodeon her, but I didn't know
if it would be enough for anepisode. And I love this little tidbit.
Yeah, they kind of go ona little bit in the book about
what went on in her boat andjust like apparently the men in her boat
were utterly useless and they were like, we're all gonna die. We don't
know where we are, and thewomen are like they're like yeah, they

(01:15:15):
were all like shut up, likethe dark stars right over here. Like
I love them. Wow. Ilove that boat. And Molly Brown is
amazing. I read a little bitabout her because I was like, oh
what, I don't really actually knowmuch about her, and she was like
an advocate. She was cool unlessshe's not. I didn't look that deeply
into it, but it was likea secret thing. On the surface,

(01:15:41):
she seems cool, all right,So yeah, I don't go, I
don't go. They They spent alot of time in the book talking about
what was happening in all the boats, because they all were their own mini
soap operas like I Bet I'm onehundred percent in best. There's a bunch
of rich people for the most part, like trying to figure out to do.
Everyone's scared. Yeah, they don'tknow that some coming for them,
so they had to survive in theselightboats. So drama wow. As for

(01:16:05):
the rest of the people, itdidn't take long in the water before they
succumbed to the cold and they passedaway. Soon The night grew very quiet,
except for the occasional flares being firedfrom lifeboats. By three point thirty
five am, the prayers of thepassengers were answered. They saw a large
steamership firing flares coming right for them. It was the Carpathia, who had

(01:16:29):
raced to get there, but arrivedtoo late to save most of the passengers.
The Carpathia had to carefully navigate aroundlarge ice chunks to get to the
survivors. They were astonished at thelarge icebergs in the area, some as
tall as two hundred feet. Thearea is now known as iceberg alley,
So well, what do you know. Yeah, only five miles away from

(01:16:53):
their location was an unbroken sheet ofice extending past the horizon. It's just
frozen wasteland out there, and they'rejust trucking through as fast as they can.
Like it just makes you wonder andlike how reckless they were. Yeah,
crazy, I'm sorry, but iceis really freaking strong, and I
don't like steel is not, Imean not in comparison when you have a

(01:17:15):
two hundred foot chunk of ice,Like, I mean, it makes you
think, like even if they evenif they had missed that iceberg, another
one probably would have did. Probablyright, Yeah, you're probably how fast
they were going and it was justlike a minefield out there. So the
Carpathia picked up all the survivors inthe boats and this they remarked that,

(01:17:38):
like, the survivors were dressing everythingfrom pajamas to evening gowns, so it's
kind of like a weird mix.Most of them were silent and in shock.
There were some happy reunions, butthe more the sorry. The majority
of the people had lost a lovedone and had just lived through the most
traumatizing experience ever Sadly, more survivorswould pass away from expose even after rescue.

(01:18:00):
Really, yeah, they just couldn'tlike heal from the cold, like
if they had been in the water. At around five point thirty that morning,
the Dangle, Californian finally had awireless operator back on duty and learned
what had happened only ten miles awayin the night. Wow. Can you
imagine they would later be the subjectof an inquiry that found that they had

(01:18:24):
acted improperly, which led to thedeath of many people whom they could have
rescued. Yep, the disaster ofthe Titanic did end up changing a lot
of things for the better. Wirelessoperators on the ships had to be on
duty around the clock, so youhave to have someone to fill in for
the guy who went to bed.Yeah. The insane formula for maritime laws

(01:18:45):
that sorry that maritime laws had forthe number of life boats required changed to
something simpler aka lifeboats for everyone.I sure hope so makes sense. And
International ice Patrol was set up tomonitor ice birds in North America, which
is still used today. Good Andalthough it wasn't a stated rule, it
became pretty obvious with the stories andratio of the dead that there was definitely

(01:19:10):
a class distinction for who was saved. Yes, this was also examined and
sorry examined critically after the accident,and the numbers don't lie. So only
four four first class women died andthree were by choice, fifteen out of
ninety three second class women perished,and eighty one out of one hundred and

(01:19:30):
seventy nine third class. That disparitywas just as grievous for the children.
Almost all first and second class childrenwere saved, but only twenty three out
of seventy six steerage children, soterrible. The total amount of people lost
to the disaster was anywhere from betweenfour hundred and ninety to one thousand,

(01:19:53):
six hundred and thirty five depending onyour sores. So only about a third
of the passengers on the Titanic survived, and you could probably guess Thomas Andrews
didn't make it out, nor didCaptain Smith. There was a lot of
conflicting stories about Captain Smith's death.Lots of people quote unquote saw him something
he committed suicide, other things,he went down with the ship like in

(01:20:14):
the movie. Some claimed they sawhim in the water swimming after the sinking.
Either way, he perished, alongwith over a thousand others and one
of the deadliest accidents in the historyof maritime and the subject of our intense
fascination for the last couple of decades. And that's the end. Wow,
Abby, Wow, brava. Youso bad I'm done reading. What what

(01:20:41):
a way to do the Titanic againin such an intense way. Thank you.
And also I felt so bad whenI was writing all that. I
was like, this is so heavyand sad, and then just had to
listen to the music to make myselfsadder. Yeah, you got to torture
yourself a little, a little maschistic. But yeah, I'm glad that we

(01:21:03):
readd that because I actually did learnquite a bit that I didn't realize before.
So it's really interesting to research.Those are great details. You did
a good job. I am stillfascinated and obsessed. Yay, thank you,
thank you. Well, Aripp,I love all those people. All
right, Well what we we wedo? Let's do City of the Week,

(01:21:27):
Okay, and that goes to oxnerd California. I hope I said
that right, Oxnard Oxnard in California. Hey, hey, thank you.
Mess up. Thank you. Ifthat's you and you're listening, say hi,

(01:21:47):
we love it. We love tohear. How are we doing?
How are you doing? How's CALLIis it warmer? Probably? Probably?
I actually don't know which part ofCalifornia ox nerds in. Yeah, that's
big state a little bit. Anyway, thank you, I love you.
What are we watching? What areyou listening to? I don't have anything?

(01:22:08):
Well what really got us through ourtime without internet? Because you guys
didn't experience that, It was justus. Yeah, we had internet,
so we had to really figure outwhat to do and I had to borrow
your DVDs and we caught onto Firefly. Chad's really a big fan. He
was like gushing about it, andso we're in the middle of it.

(01:22:30):
We're not going to give it back, that's fair. I think we're going
to continue watching it because it isgood, even though it's so outdated.
Yeah, I see why. It'sa classic. I still don't think I've
seen that. People tried to makeme watch it and I couldn't get into
it. It's good. I meanI don't like fully pay attention to it,
but I pay attention to Yeah.I know that there's a cult following

(01:22:50):
for it, like, yeah,yeah, so it must be good.
I think Chad has a little crushon Nathan Filia. I think a lot
of men have crushes on Nathan Filian. I don't blame them. He's a
cutie. Yeah. I don't knowwhat it is about him that men are
like drawn to. Chad said itwas his sharp features, sharp jaw and
sharp notes. It's that jaw line. So that's what we've been watching.

(01:23:14):
Why do you love Nathan Filly andMichael? Those reasons makes visually appealing.
Oh that's funny. Let's see whatelse? What else? Oh? We
were gonna shout out? I keptwe forgot last time. But my sister
has a coworker named Ashley, andapparently she caught onto our podcast while we
were own the break. So hey, shake girl, hey girl, we
see you you. Yeah, Idon't have anything else. Nope, I

(01:23:43):
think we're kind of just tapped out. Cool. I have to pee like
real bad. Yeah. That wasa good one. Thank you so much,
Abby, And that was a goodepisode. Good night, Sorry all

(01:24:08):
right. For my sources, Iread the book A Night to Remember by
Walter Lord. I looked at Wikipedia, PBS dot org, and BuzzFeed dot
com. Our music is by Brokefor Free and Matt Edwards and we are
edited by Michael. All right,should I list our social media please do?

(01:24:34):
We have a lot of our thingsthat Anxious and Afraid Thepod, so
that's our handle for both of ourFacebook page and group, along with our
Instagram and Gmail. We have aTwitter at AA Thepod. You can support
us on Patreon dot com forward slashAnxious and Afraid. If you do that,
you get some pretty nice perks.You get ad free episodes that are

(01:24:56):
released a whole day early, andyou get a free sticker. You can
also support us for free if youcan't do any of that by leaving a
rate review, subscribe to the show. Tell your friends, yeah, we
would appreciate all of it. D
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