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Post by furbaby on Mar 30, 2005 18:12:52 GMT -5
On the night of April 14th, Ismay was trying to take charge on the boat deck giving orders to the crew as they began to make the lifeboats ready for passengers. Many of the crew members did not appreciate this interference and barked back at Ismay (unknown to them) to stand back and not get in the way. At 1:40 a.m. collapsible C was being fitted in the davits. A big mob pushed and shoved trying to climb aboard one of the last lifeboats. Shots were fired into the air and eventually the boat was ready to be lowered. Chief Officer Wilde shouted to know who was in command. Captain Smith turned to Quartermaster George Thomas Rowe and told him to take charge. Rowe got in and the boat was ready to be lowered. Ismay stood nearby and as the boat was being lowered, Ismay jumped in at the last moment joining the other forty-one passengers. He was one of only two men in that boat. The other was Philadelphian, Billy Carter who abandoned his wife and children that night leaving them to fend for themselves. This was Ismay's big mistake. He survived when so many women and children perished. Many in America felt that Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line should have gone down with the ship. Since he did not, he was branded a coward even before he reached the shores of America. Some historians have suggested that he saved himself to be alive to tell the story or perhaps his basic instinct of survival kicked in and he wanted to save himself. Drowning would be easy. Going back to face survivor's families and inquiries would be much harder. He chose to live and face the consequences. Perhaps, he was not a coward after all. Perhaps his 25 year exile was punishment enough. One can only imagine Ismay, alone with his thoughts during the rest of his life, hearing over and over again in his own mind 1,500 people screaming and shrieking for help. One would think Ismay paid his dues.
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Post by furbaby on Mar 30, 2005 18:13:40 GMT -5
I think he should have gone down with her, but not everyone's will is that strong. The human's will power to live is much stronger and I can't really blame him for wanting to get out alive. But it was his responsiblity to stay with her until the end (in my opinion). I think he made a bad choice.
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Post by Paul Daley on Mar 31, 2005 1:09:56 GMT -5
I do not feel he should have went down with the ship, but I DO think he should have stayed in the water. There is NO WAY he should have jumped in the lifeboat. There were many rumours that Mr Ismay disguised himself as a woman to be allowed into the lifeboat.
I think he deserved the right to live just as much as anybody, but the cowardly manner in which he survived and the way he was treated earned him all the punishment he deserved. He even earned himself the nickname J Brute Ismay.
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Post by furbaby on Mar 31, 2005 9:14:31 GMT -5
I really don't think he had the right to live, not when so many women and children died. Of course now days it doesnt matter if the women and children are saved first, but then it was important that they be first!
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Post by Xtapolapocet on Apr 5, 2005 14:05:33 GMT -5
In regards to Mr. Ismay, the poll question was difficult to answer. To sum it up, I feel that Mr. Ismay was wrong in jumping into a lifeboat to ‘save his skin’ when there were so many others on the ship, the one he refused to adequately equip with lifeboats to save all on board. Mr. Ismay doomed over 1,500 souls that night due to negligence or arrogance, how ever you wish to put it. After a recommendation made to him to add extra lifeboats, Ismay declared the ship did not need them. Amongst those onboard, Mr. Ismay was part of an exclusive group that knew Titanic did not have but only space for 1,752 souls. With that knowledge, he chose to take a seat in one of those boats. That is a mark of cowardice; he deserved the treatment disposed to him by society for his cowardly act. Ismay was quoted as saying the deck would look “too cluttered,” so he decided to increase the deck space to accommodate more people, ergo generating more money for the company. Ismay favored greed over life; it cost over 1,500 people and their families dearly. The primary reason Mr. Ismay allowed the four collapsible boats wasn’t to increase Titanic’s safety but to make the passengers feel[/i] safer. After the disaster, Ismay was forced to accommodate the new White Star Line fleet with enough lifeboats for everyone onboard, including the crew. The reason for this order was simple, the public demanded it. After the enormous loss of life in the Titanic disaster, the public reaction forced the British Board of Trade and the members of all steamship companies to examine their own vulnerabilities. Granted it is unfair to say he should have died, socially he did. I mean no intent that he should have expired that night, but he certainly shouldn’t have survived the way he did. Ismay survived by cheating another person from escaping safely in a lifeboat; the right he denied so many from his negligence/arrogance.
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Post by Paul Daley on Apr 5, 2005 15:53:04 GMT -5
My sentiment exactly, I feel Mr Ismay should not have been such a coward by saving his self in the manner he chose, but he had the choice to struggle as most passengers did, and maybe die with dignity. Time does not forgive.
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Post by furbaby on Apr 5, 2005 18:39:43 GMT -5
Well said, both of you!
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Post by Xtapolapocet on Apr 6, 2005 8:09:50 GMT -5
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Post by Paul Daley on Apr 9, 2005 6:45:38 GMT -5
thanks
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Post by lights on Jan 26, 2006 20:36:44 GMT -5
I figure that poor old JBruce was decked no matter what he did. If he hadn't saved himself, sure as anything, there would have been people who would have said he perished so that he wouldn't have to face the consequences of not having enough lifeboats. Because he DID save himself, people said that he was a coward. Like I said, he couldn't win for losing.
Remember, NO steamship line had "boats for all"--that only happened BECAUSE TITANIC SANK. Had she completed her maiden voyage, we might still be mucking about with not enough lifeboats even now. Unfortunately, reforms usually come at a high cost--the lives of innocent people.
Was JBruce Ismay wrong to have not had TITANIC equipped with enough lifeboats? Certainly. Should he have perished? I think each person has to ask himself that question. If he should have died, then so should every male survivor who got into a lifeboat!
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diamond385
Stowaway
It was me, not the iceberg...!
Posts: 11
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Post by diamond385 on Nov 9, 2007 14:25:19 GMT -5
I agree... it was a lose lose situation for him, but really if he had gone down with Titanic... the talk wouldn't have mattered. He would have been dead. And the dead do not care what people alive talk about. At least I think so ;D...
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