As the Titanic Goes Down

Previously in The Sinking of the Titanic. And now William Inglis.

Time: April 15, 1912
Place: Atlantic Ocean, 41.46 N., 50.14 W

The Voyage of the Titanic

GNU image from Wikipedia.

The Virginian and the Parisian, which arrived at the scene of the disaster a few hours later, could find no sign of any living person afloat, though they cruised for a long time among the wreckage before standing away on their courses. The Carpathia at first was headed for Halifax, but upon learning by wireless that that harbor was ice-bound, Mr. J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the Board of Directors of the White Star Line, suggested that the ship head for New York. This was done. The Carpathia, with nine hundred passengers of her own and the seven hundred survivors, reached New York in safety.

Titanic, Iceberg Collides

Previously in The Sinking of the Titanic. And now William Inglis.

Time: April 15, 1912
Place: Atlantic Ocean, 41.46 N., 50.14 W

The Voyage of the Titanic

GNU image from Wikipedia.

Not only were the bergs invisible to the keenest eyes, but the sudden drop in the temperature of the ocean which ordinarily is the warning of the nearness of a berg was now of no avail; for there were so many of the bergs and so widely scattered that the temperature of the sea was uniformly cold. Moreover, the submarine bell, which gives warning to navigators of the neighborhood of shoal water, does not signify the approach of icebergs. The newest ocean giant was in deadly peril, though probably few of her passengers guessed it, so reassuring are the huge bulk, the skilful construction, the watertight compartments, the able captain and crew, to the mind of the landsman. Dinner was long past, and many of the passengers doubtless turned to thoughts of supper after hours of talk or music or cards; for there were not many promenading the cold, foggy decks of the onrushing steamship.

The Titanic Sets Sail

Introduction to our series The Sinking of the Titanic:
While there greater nautical tragedies before and since, the sinking of the Titanic is special in humanity's shared memory. The voyage of the Titanic was one of hubris. It was thought to be unsinkable. Therefore the builders did not provide for enough lifeboats. Therefore the captain steamed on at top speeds heedless of dangers. Therefore the passengers carried on as normal even after the iceberg collided. The sinking of the Titanic reminded civilization of the imperfections of even the most modern technologies.

An early author of this event was William Inglis. This is from his story.

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Time: April 15, 1912
Place: Atlantic Ocean, 41.46 N., 50.14 W

The Voyage of the Titanic

GNU image from Wikipedia.

No other disaster at sea has ever resulted in such loss of human life as did the sinking of the Titanic on the night of April 15, 1912. Moreover, no other disaster has ever included among its victims so many people of high position and repute and real value to the world. The Titanic was on her first voyage, and this voyage had served to draw together many notables. She was advertised as the largest steamer in the world and as the safest; she was called "unsinkable." The ocean thus struck its blow at no mean victim, but at the ship supposedly the queen of all ships.

A Legal Framework for World Peace

Featuring William Howard Taft

Previously on Taft’s Treaties

Time: 1912
Place: The White House

The treaties go further by providing for the creation of a Joint High Commission, to which shall be referred, for impartial and conscientious investigation, any controversy between this Government, on one hand, and Great Britain or France, on the other hand, before such a controversy has been submitted to an arbitral body from which there is no appeal.

A Step Towards World Peace

Featuring William Howard Taft

Introduction on Taft’s Treaties
William Howard Taft is the only man in history who served as both President of United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. This essay by him could have been written by his two great opponents in the 1912 elections, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. World War I was just around the corner; World War II a couple of decades in the future; the Cold War and the other wars further out still. The child-like faith in treaties such as this seems almost quaint now. Also sad. Would that this optimism have been justified by subsequent events. And now, William Howard Taft.

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Time: 1912
Place: The White House

Later generations will doubtless note, as one of the main manifestations of our present age, its progress in international arbitration, in the substitution of justice for force as the means of deciding disputes between nations. On March 7, 1912, the United States Senate, after months of argument, finally agreed to ratify two arbitration treaties which President Taft had arranged with England and France. True, the Senate, before thus establishing the treaties, struck out their most far-reaching article, an agreement that every disagreement whatsoever should be referred to a Joint High Commission. Without this clause the treaties still leave a bare possibility of warfare over questions of "national honor" or "national policy"; but practically they put an end to war forever as between the United States and its two great historic rivals.