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WSL's
Stuff Page
If any problems
are found, please notify me at wsleigh@royalflush.zzn.com
This is just my web page of things that I wish to share with you.
1) An article I wrote about Prince William of Wales.
2) An essay I wrote about how Prince Charles isn't
the Duke Of Windsor and people shouldn't be so hard on him. I even made
a webpage with this article on it to show what it would look like in my
notebook,
as if I had handwritten it!
3) A story I wrote about a supernatural event happening to me (it is not
as good at it sounds, it sucks). But, here
it is anyways.
4) An article I liked from "Cats and Kittens" entitled "Where
you a cat in a former life?" By Phil Maggitti.
5) An essay I wrote (seen below) which is entitled "Why The Titanic Sunk."
Also Titanic related is my Books, CD's and Videos
Collection plus my trip to Halifax.
6) An article I wrote which is entitled "When Your
Shadow Isn't Just Your Shadow Anymore."
7) This Pluto Description that is really weird.
I wrote it as if Sailor Pluto is narrating it. It was an odd English assignment.
8) This Anne Boleyn story was origanlly an
English assignment. Now-a-days, people refer to this type of creative leap
as fanfiction. It's really long, but, it has been praised. it's called
"The Last days of Anne Boleyn"
9) This is my modernizd version of an exept from Hamlet.
10) Ever had Amnesia? Here's a poem about it.
11) Aren't cats the best? Here is a nine page wonder of kitties
section plus a page of cat facts you may or
not know.
12) I recently made a radio play, a varition on
"Sorry, Wrong Number".
Why The
S.S. Titanic Sunk.
I know what you are thinking, "I saw TITANIC, it hit an iceberg," sorry,
the iceberg is almost irrelevant from where this topic stands in my opinion.
Sure, it had a lot to do with the death of the 1523 lives. Evidence is
on the ocean floor, it is just that the iceberg was the final problem that
eventually tore the ship in two.
Many people are under the impression that the great colossal ship of all
time sunk just because of a hunk of ice. But who in their
right minds would believe that gilded age malarkey? Newspapers denied
the fact that it even plunged into the North Atlantic for days after she
sank. The world had to see the lifeboats being lowered from the Carpathia
to believe the disaster had really taken place, even then people thought
the lifeboats were the Olympic's not the Titanic's. Heck, it was
the European media in the first place that called her "practically unsinkable"
and therefore created an unholy twilight zone around it. Face it,
when the world thinks a ship is unsinkable and not even God can sink it,
it has to sink to shock the world back into reality. If it had not
have sank, what kind of world would we be living in? The mass population
world would believe that if they create anything nothing can go wrong because
they say so. For example, genetic engineering. What happens
if we create a super bug? Is a higher force going to save us when we have
been undermining this force ever since 1912? Sunday sermons on the
Titanic involved the identical quote of the "necessity of man having a
lifeboat in shape of religious consolation at hand in case of spiritual
shipwreck." Comments were made about how lovely the singing and sermons
were. Passengers said it was to good to be true and it was.
Let's fact the facts. The Titanic idea was doomed before it was even
thought of by Bruce Ismay. Morgan Robertson wrote a story called
"The Wreck of The Titan" (Futility) in 1898. It foreshadowed exactly what
was to happen to the magnificent 20th century ship. He wrote that
a ship called Titan would be the largest ship afloat, with top-notch equipment,
highly qualified crew members and wealthy people on board. The only
problem would be that it would not be equipped with enough lifeboats for
everyone. Just like the Titanic, it struck an iceberg in the North
Atlantic on its side and slid below sea level with a great loss of life.
The comparison of the names of these two great ships is enough to state
that this is a key reason why she went down.
Freaky coincidences are also at fault for the orphaned children that resulted
from the collision. On March 30th, 1912, the Titanic was thrown open and
a press inspection plus official luncheon were held. During the luncheon
a table collapsed. People voiced hopes that no mishaps would befall
the great liner after she left port. This played a huge part in jinxing
the voyage. But this is only one case.
Helen, Susan and John Fitzpatrick decided to draw lots to decide if they
should sail with the White Star Line or the Anchor Line. They put
six pieces of paper into a hat with three saying "WSL" and three saying
"AL". They all chose "AL".
Fred Clark, a bass violin player who had never gone out to sea and usually
optimistic fellow, once said "Well, you know it would be just my luck to
go down with the ship. [I have] kept away from it so long it
might finish me on this trip." It did. On the same day and
time on a sweepstakes pool for the Grand Prix, George Wick selected the
number thirteen to prove he was not superstitious. He won and perished
on the Titanic.
John
Coffey, a stoker, jumped ship at Queenstown. He said later that he
wanted to see his mother, but it was really a premonition of danger he
felt in store for him if he did not leave the Titanic then.
On
the evening of April 9th, 1912, steward Authur Lewis' wife was sewing the
White Star Line insignia on his cap and the star slipped out of her hand
and shattered on the floor. She begged him not to travel on the Titanic
because of the bad omen and he barely survived. Another omen that
happened is that rats on the Titanic fled from the bow because they can
"smell" danger. During a cheerful party in steerage class, on April
14th, a rat darted across the room scaring many womenfolk.
Furthermore,
an uneasy Elizabeth Hocking heard a rooster crow on board during afternoon
tea. Since roosters only crow when it is dawn, this was a serious
omen for someone from Cornwall to have witnessed.
A
model ship of the Titanic was constructed in Europe and transported to
the United States of America. When it arrived for display, the bow
was damaged and lifeboats were missing.
During a trip by the Montmagny to recover bodies from the ocean, the Titanic's
bell began to ring at the Titanic's designated intervals. This phenomenon
was so amazing that the entire crew commented on it when they returned
to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the final resting ground for the Titanic's passengers
that were recovered the following days after.
Stopped
clocks occurrences (when the owner of the clock dies the clock dies too),
are all too familiar to family and friends of passengers on the Titanic.
From favourite paintings falling to the floor, to sudden heightened awareness
of danger, to pets dying mysteriously, an eerie fog was around people even
remotely affected by the present danger occurring in the North Atlantic
at 2:20 am, April 15th, 1912.
The Melkis family were at home on July 8th, 1975. They sat
down in front of television to watch a Titanic film and as the ship on
the small screen was about to strike the iceberg, a large block of ice
fell from sky and smashed through their roof.
Captain
E.J. Smith was noted as saying after he learnt that he would be commanding
the Titanic as his retirement voyage, that "if the largest liner in the
world goes down, I shall go with her." This mere comment resulted
in a widowed woman. He was later found criminally negligible after Titanic
sank due to ignoring the many iceberg warnings and travelling to fast in
a area known for huge kilometre wide icebergs that had caused casualties
before. Wireless operator John George Phillips (a.k.a. Jack Phillips)
had a well founded fear of icebergs and once stated he would rather be
on small vessels than the large ones of the day. He drowned after
honourably transmitting wireless distress calls until the power for his
instrument failed.
The
metal that was used in the constructing of the Titanic was of poor quality.
Such poor quality that the metal would never have been sent out of the
site today. It was brittle due to its chemical make-up and when it
hit the ice cold waters of the North Atlantic, it became very unstable.
When the ship hit the iceberg, The Titanic could not stay afloat with the
water rushing into the hull because the ripped bulkheads let water pour
into the watertight compartments. The hull is a problem by itself.
Besides the strange hammering omen of someone trapped below, that many
Belfast residents commented on during and after her construction, the Titanic's
hull is not double, it is single. The rivets that were used were
made of inadequate metal as well.
The
conditions the Titanic went down in are remarkable. The sea was calm and
not a ripple of water could be seen splashing against the surrounding icebergs.
Indeed the Titanic's lookout fleet were without binoculars, but, many people
speculate that they would not have seen the iceberg if they had binoculars
because icebergs are eight ninths under the ocean and since the iceberg
was partially thawed therefore clear, the fate of the Titanic was sealed.
Granted, the North Atlantic is a dangerous place to be in period, due to
how scary it is to navigate through. Especially hard when the captain
has fifty years of sailing working against him and the builders of the
ship pushing him to break the record for crossing the North Atlantic.
As to how the Titanic hit the iceberg, if the engine was not thrown into
reverse, but actually only steered hard to starboard, she may have got
through the trouble with only a paint job required afterwards in New York.
Technology
progresses and new facts are found relating to the tragedy but as we try
to improve, something will always have us remember that not to look at
what happened last, but to look at what led up to it for answers.
The painful awareness that 1523 people had to sacrifice their lives to
end the gilded age and bring us into this world we live in today, is enough
to make you think twice about the science of today.
(All
coincidences and omens were compiled with the help of "Titanic: Physic
Forewarning of a Tragedy")
WSL's Alcove
