Day 23 Heat, Humidity and Lifeboats

It is 5.00 pm (ship’s time) and we are sailing in a north easterly direction in the North China Sea. The temperature is a constant 30 deg. The sea is very calm (small wavelets). The humidity is 94%. Although the sky is quite clear, you can smell the damp in the air. We are still very close to the equator and the heat is constant, day and night. The climate is a good way to start a holiday, as it has forced us to slow down, almost to a stop.

Our compulsory lifeboat drill yesterday was very well attended. In a new stricter system, undoubtedly brought about by recent events on the Costa Concordia, our cruise cards were scanned on arrival at the drill. There was no escape! We were lectured about  the large fines payable by anyone who broke the new balcony smoking ban as well as the usual demonstration of how to wear a life jacket and jump overboard. Considering the recent events on Concordia, it was quite amazing that some passengers still chose to talk over the safety instructions and put on their life jackets before they were instructed to do so. This seemed particularly relevant as we were setting sail on he 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

The RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton  to New York.  The sinking of the Titanic caused the deaths of 1,514 people.

Her passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as over a thousand emigrants from Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere seeking a new life in North America. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. She also had a powerful wireless telegraph provided for the convenience of passengers as well as for operational use. Though she had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard.

After leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland before heading westwards towards New York. On 14 April 1912. The collision caused Titanic’s  hull plates to buckle  and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly filled. A disproportionate number of men – over 90% of those in Second Class – were left aboard due to a "women and children first" protocol followed by the officers loading the lifeboats. Just before 2:20 am Titanic broke up and sank bow-first with over a thousand people still on board. Those in the water died within minutes from hypothermia caused by immersion in the freezing ocean. The 710 survivors were taken aboard from the lifeboats by the RMS Carpathia a few hours later.

I pay tribute to the brave crew who worked hard 100 years ago to save lives in this momentous maritime tradgedy.

Tomorrow is another sea day, and hopefully our body clocks have fully adjusted. On Wednesday we visit Bangkok.