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In post #16 I wrote: "I'd be interested in what other freepers feel is the reason the Titanic story never seems to lose its appeal to the imagination or to the heart".

In post #18, Nortex wrote in part, "I think part of the reason why it became such a big story was that mass communications was really starting to reach a global audience. It was THE STORY of that era."

I agree completely with the point Nortex makes. The news of the tragedy reached all continents quickly and continued in real time, something that wouldn't been possible worldwide in previous eras.

Another freeper wrote me: "IMHO, the reason the Titanic wins is because of the romance. Not Jack and Rose, but the whole idea of a ship steaming at night in darkness under the silent stars of a cold sea, wrecking and foundering with no one to hear.

"I mean, there was a monster black ice berg out there in the dark, just waiting.....and the lookouts never could see it.

"Any kid who had an imagination could see that picture in his mind's eye. Years ago, I saw a Titanic exhibit. It had an exhibit room dressed up to look like a lonely deck in the dark. You could stare out over the sea. They even had a cool fan blowing so you could feel the chill. It was eerie."

I think this is another cogent reason that the story of the Titanic is so seductively gripping....the drama, the heroics, the mystery, the darkness, the cold, the unknown, the feeling of fate and doom.....all the things that were going to be found in the ever-popular suspense and horror films of the fledging silent "moving pictures" industry (and later the talkies) of the time.

If you have additional opinions and comments of your own on the reason for the lure of the "Titanic story", let's hear from you.

Leni

Isn’t it true that the lookouts in the crow’s nest (”the eyes of the ship”) had no BINOCULARS!!?

IIRC, there were five pairs of binoculars on board, but none of the ship’s officers could remember where they were stowed.

Captain Smith was no doubt aware of this, but he had orders from Bruce Ismay to push the gigantic ship to its highest speed, on a moonless night, into a known ice field amid a flurry of ice reports from other ships, some of which were forced to stop in mid-ocean, surrounded by ice. Madness!