J. Bruce Ismay

My dad and I had a short discussion last night about Ismay, and about how the choice me made shaped the rest of his life! So I though I would re-post this blog to give everybody something to think about.

Joseph Bruce, Ismay has received a lot of criticism over the past decades. Why? Because he got into a lifeboat when there were still women and children aboard. But is there any just foundation for this serious criticism? We'll look at the two sides of the story, 1. reasons for staying aboard, 2. reasons for getting on a lifeboat! Now this will be rather hard for me, since I already have an opinion of Ismay, but I will try to not let that come through..... you decide for yourself what he should have done!

1. First we'll look at the reasons that J. B. Ismay should have stayed aboard the sinking Titanic!
After the Titanic collided with an iceberg at about 11:45, it did not take long for Captain Smith to figure out there was not enough places for all the men, women and children in the lifeboats. So he gave the well known order, "women and children first." Now, did the Captain mean that there was no men to be allowed in the lifeboats? NO! The lifeboats needed officers, and sailors to make sure they were operated safely, and correctly. It was the spirit of the order that counted, if you did not have a legitimate reason for getting in a lifeboat, you had no place in one. Some fantastic men of measure did get off in a lifeboat, such as Harold Bride the wireless operator, Lightoller the Titanic's Second Officer, Archibald Gracie, Jack Thayer, and the list could go on.
Whats noticeable about these men, is they did not receive the criticism that Bruce, Ismay did, why is that?
Did Ismay have a responsibility to stay with the Titanic till she sank beneath the waves, like the Captain did? Lets look at some things that took place years earlier..... When the Titanic was still on blueprints the planning of how many lifeboats the Titanic would carry came up. The Titanic's designer at the time Andrew, Carlyle was pushing for 48 lifeboats which would have been enough for everyone one on board in case of a disaster. But there was one man standing in his way, John B. Ismay! When the rubber met the road Ismay said no, for various reasons. But when you get to the night of April 14, 1912 its a different story. Because of his choice, it puts him under some obligation to stay aboard and take whatever comes.
Here's possibly another reason that he should have stayed aboard. J. B. Ismay owned the White Star Line, which means he owned the Titanic. If a person owns something that is used for the public, and if fails in some way, and death follows, or injury, it seems that whoever owns it should take whatever other had to take as well. He was responsible for the passengers as well!
I guess one more thing that should have binded him to the Titanic in time of trouble, is the fact that there were still women and children on board, and he owed them all the safety that was in his power as a man. By giving up a spot in a lifeboat, and doing the courteous thing, and not to mention the polite thing!

2. It wouldn't be fair to explain one side of the story, so we'll make an argument for the opposite side. In this kind of situation we have to be fair, because Ismay is no longer around to speak for himself!
J. B. Ismay claims that there were no women in sight, and there are witness to back up the fact. Since that being true why should he stay on a sinking ship and face certain death? And if there was no women sight was he really breaking a rule? I think that if your standing on the side of a sinking ship, and there's an empty spot on a lifeboat, there are no women and children about, would we have the fortitude to remain on the ship? There are a lot of questions that come into play here, and what it comes down to is, was he doing something really out of the ordinary?
Why should he stay on a sinking ship if he could get off, and go back to his family, we can't really say that he had motives of the baser sort. He was the managing director of the White Star Line, he had a lot of responsibly back on shore.
Was there really a need to end his short life, just to make a name for himself?
And after all, you can't blame the entire construction of the ship on him, Thomas, Andrews obviously didn't have a problem with 20 lifeboats!
Just because countless men stayed aboard, doesn't mean that Ismay did if a opportunity presented himself.
To call this man a coward just because he got off a sinking ship, doesn't seem right! What would you have done in his position?

Titanic’s Departure

Sailing day! On Wednesday April 10th, 1912, the Titanic would depart from Southampton to Cherbourg, then from Cherbourg to Queenstown, stopping at these places to pick up passengers and mail. Then from these different places to New York.
We can only imagine the excitement of the owners and the officers about to take the biggest ship in the world across the Atlantic for the first time. Lord Pierre would not be able to make this trip because of poor health. J.B. Ismay would go in his place, with the chief designer, Thomas Andrews.
The passengers were amazed at the size and luxury of the Titanic, one person said “we were just dazzled when we got on this big lovely boat, it seemed like a floating palace.” Third class accommodations were the same as second class aboard other ships, and second class was just as nice, if not nicer than first class on other ships, and first class was equal to the best hotels of the day. It was a class of it’s own, nothing else could compare to it.
Like the Olympic, the Titanic had carpet in most first class rooms, but one passenger who had sailed on the Olympic, and sailed on the Titanic’s first voyage said “the Olympic had fine carpet, but the Titanic ahhh, you sank up to your knees in it.”
Leaving Southampton and rounding a bend, the Titanic was traveling at a slow speed when she went by the New York (a small steamer) tied to her moors. The suction from the Titanic went by the liner and snapped the thick ropes like dry vines, whipping them into the face of the crowed that had gathered for the occasion. As the New York pulled closer, Captain Smith ordered astern all engines hoping to push the smaller liner away, but she was too close. Collision mats were hung over the side of the Titanic to soften any collision that might happen. Two tugs (Samson and Hercules) were able to hold the New York back. This misfortune caused the Titanic’s progress to be pushed back by an hour. This also caused commotion with the passengers. Would these new leviathans be too big to handle? Were they a hazard to other ships? This was the second time that Captain Smith had been on the bridge something like this had occurred.
Some said it was a bad omen for the ship!
When she was sailing down a river in Southampton on her maiden voyage her suction was so powerful that a barge that had sunk a while back, was dragged by the Titanic for 800 yards under the water.
Everything else was uneventful leaving Queenstown with the total number of crew and passengers being 2,340 people.

Unknown to the passengers there was a coalbunker fire raging in No. 6 where hundreds of tons of coal were stored. When the coal was being stored, it was not wetted down properly and thus caught fire. The stokers worked in 4-hour shifts trying to get the fire under control, but to no avail. It was said that when they reached New York that the bunkers would have to be emptied out and have fireboats help put out the fire. Sadly enough, the fire was put out the night it sank.
On leaving Queenstown, the Titanic departed, never to see land again. She bid farewell to the land where she was born. As she sailed away, she would take many to their premature deaths.
Her maiden voyage had begun!

Yet, another dream

The sinking of the Titanic has been a magnet to underwater ship-explorers. Even in 1912, after the Titanic sank, there was talk of trying to find her. They soon found out they really didn’t know where she was when she sank, nor how deep it was where she hit bottom.
But as the years went on, so did technology towards underwater exploration. Many different groups of people set out to find the great wreck, but all still came back empty-handed.
Not until July of 1985 did the American and French research team find the wreck. Once again the Titanic made world news, and once again she was in the spotlight. Now that the ship was found, it raised possibilities of going down in a small submarine that could withstand the deep-sea pressure. Exactly one year later, Bob Ballard and two other undersea explorers went, for the first time, down to the wreck. There was doubt in the minds of those going down to the wreck; they still didn’t know that the ship had broken in two. They didn’t know what to expect, what if all the rigging was intact, that would create a great hazard to maneuvering about the ship. Would the Titanic even be recognizable? Or would she be sitting perfect on the ocean floor?
As Bob Ballard and the other researchers reached the ocean floor, they tried to locate the Titanic. The submersible they were using, the Alvin, sprang a leak in her batteries. Now they only had a couple of minutes on the ocean bed and they had not seen the Titanic. Peering through the small portholes of the Alvin, a massive wall of black steel loomed up right in front of them, that was the only glimpse of the ship they got that time. The leak in the batteries would become critical if they didn’t surface.
Since July 1986, numerous dives have been made to the Titanic. Several people have spent more time with the Titanic underwater, than the Captain spent with her on the seas.
One thing is certain; the Titanic is in a state of complete devastation. The ship broke in two in between the third and fourth funnels; and all of those funnels are gone. In one square mile there are boilers, teacups, beds, tables, engines, wine bottles, suitcases, chairs, and the list could go on.
The beauty of the ship is now gone, her once proud hull glimmering in the bright sunlight, now is encrusted in rusting steel. Where her four behemoth funnels stood are now just gaping holes on top of the ship. Her once proud stern, the beauty of the ship, where at the end of Titanic’s short life, men and women alike met their fate, now lays almost unrecognizable due too the impact that she suffered when she hit the ocean floor.
There she will sit until countless ages have taken their toll on her, and there is nothing left but small piles of dust in the salty water.
Men will probably always go to her to seek just one more fact, something nobody else knows. Titanic may be sitting 2 ½ miles below the surface of the sea, but ask anyone what the most well known and famous shipwreck is, and they’ll tell you, it is the Titanic.
The Titanic will never be forgotten. She will always be alive in history.
Even though the Titanic is one among the many sea wrecks that litter the ocean floor, she still, to this day captivates the minds of underwater explorers, historians, and people like me. What more can be said? Titanic is still truly a great ship.

Titanic's Departure

Sailing day! On Wednesday April 10th, 1912, the Titanic would depart from Southampton to Cherbourg, then from Cherbourg to Queenstown, stopping at these places to pick up passengers and mail. Then from these different places to New York.
We can only imagine the excitement of the owners and the officers about to take the biggest ship in the world across the Atlantic for the first time. Lord Pierre would not be able to make this trip because of poor health. J.B. Ismay would go in his place, with the chief designer, Thomas Andrews.
The passengers were amazed at the size and luxury of the Titanic, one person said “we were just dazzled when we got on this big lovely boat, it seemed like a floating palace.” Third class accommodations were the same as second class aboard other ships, and second class was just as nice, if not nicer than first class on other ships, and first class was equal to the best hotels of the day. It was a class of it’s own, nothing else could compare to it.
Like the Olympic, the Titanic had carpet in most first class rooms, but one passenger who had sailed on the Olympic, and sailed on the Titanic’s first voyage said “the Olympic had fine carpet, but the Titanic ahhh, you sank up to your knees in it.”
Leaving Southampton and rounding a bend, the Titanic was traveling at a slow speed when she went by the New York (a small steamer) tied to her moors. The suction from the Titanic went by the liner and snapped the thick ropes like dry vines, whipping them into the face of the crowed that had gathered for the occasion. As the New York pulled closer, Captain Smith ordered astern all engines hoping to push the smaller liner away, but she was too close. Collision mats were hung over the side of the Titanic to soften any collision that might happen. Two tugs (Samson and Hercules) were able to hold the New York back. This misfortune caused the Titanic’s progress to be pushed back by an hour. This also caused commotion with the passengers. Would these new leviathans be too big to handle? Were they a hazard to other ships? This was the second time that Captain Smith had been on the bridge something like this had occurred.
Some said it was a bad omen for the ship!
When she was sailing down a river in Southampton on her maiden voyage the suction was so powerful that a barge that had sunk a while back, was dragged by the Titanic for 800 yards under the water.
Everything else was uneventful leaving Queenstown with the total number of crew and passengers being 2,340 people.

Unknown to the passengers there was a coalbunker fire raging in No. 6 where hundreds of tons of coal were stored. When the coal was being stored, it was not wetted down properly and thus caught fire. The stokers worked in 4-hour shifts trying to get the fire under control, but to no avail. It was said that when they reached New York that the bunkers would have to be emptied out and have fireboats help put out the fire. Sadly enough, the fire was put out the night it sank.
On leaving Queenstown, the Titanic departed, never to see land again. She bid farewell to the land where she was born. As she sailed away, she would take many to their premature deaths.
Her maiden voyage had begun!

Birth of a Legend

In 1907, a limousine pulled up in front of a mansion. A man of medium height, with a dark mustache steps out of the car. He walked quickly up the walk, and up the steps to the entrance. As he enters, the butler quickly removes his long overcoat, and top hat. This man’s name is Joseph Bruce Ismay; he is the president of the White Star Line.

John Pilkington, and Henry Threlfall Wilson formed the White Star Line in 1845. All of the White Star Line’s business was conducted in Liverpool, England. This Shipping Line was started mainly to be involved in the Australian gold rush. The White Star Line Shipping Company used charted sailing ships from the time the company came into existence. Not until 1863 did the White Star Line acquire a steamer. After the fall of the Australian gold rush, the White Star Line concentrated on the shipping route between Liverpool and New York. In 1867, they invested heavily in new steamers, and at that time the Royal Bank of Liverpool failed. This disaster left the company bankrupt, with the outstanding debt of $527,000.00, and no way to pay it back. Thomas Ismay was the president of the White Star Line at this time [Bruce Ismay’s father] and came into contact with men by the name of Gustavus C. Schaube, and Gustav Wolff. If Thomas Ismay would agree to have Gustav Wolff [Harland & Wolff ship-builders] build his ships, Wolff’s uncle Schaube, would finance the ship-line. Thomas agreed, and a new partnership was formed between the White Star Line shipping company, and the Harland & Wolff, ship-builders. The agreement was this, H&W would build ships at cost, plus a fixed percentage, and they would not build ships for White Star Line’s rivals. So, on July 30^th, 1869 the first orders were arranged with H&W. It was to be a new class of liners, the oceanic class. There would be four ships in this class, the Oceanic, Atlantic, Baltic, and Republic, and by 1871 the shipping company was on route again between New York and Liverpool.

Through the next years, the White Star Line would abound in profits. The shipping company also acquired new ships such as the Germanic, Teutonic, Majestic, Celtic, Cedric, Baltic, and Adriatic, all of these built in between 1875 and 1907. The Teutonic won the Blue Ribbon for being the fastest ship on the seas at the time.

In 1902 the International Mercantile Marine [IMM] took over many ship-lines, and Bruce Ismay wanted no part of it. But! He could not compete with it, so he joined it. So, by 1903 the White Star Line was part of a large American conglomerate, owned and directed by John Pierpont Morgan.

As Joseph Bruce Ismay entered Lord Pierre’s home, he had something on his mind, something very serious. After formal greetings were made all around, Ismay was shown into the dining room. Ismay and Pierre had a long friendship, not just as partners in the struggle to be the best shipping-line and ship-builders, it was deeper than that, they had a true friendship that went beyond the expectations of the shipping world. After the elaborate dinner and dessert, they set around a small table discussing many different things that had been going on. It was then, when they were sitting there smoking cigars and drinking hot tea, that one of the most important discussions of the age took place. Sooner or later shipping came up; there was a major problem.

The Cunard Line, the rival shipping company had built two ships like the world had never seen. Not in size, or luxury, or beauty like the others, but in speed. These new liners, the Lusitania, and Mauritania, had set new speed records, they were faster than any other cruise ship in the world at the time. Pierre and Ismay were not concerned about speed, but these new ships were cutting into their profits. The White Star Line didn’t have a ship to challenge these new queens. Ismay begin to sketch something on a piece of paper, things were running through Ismay’s mind, a new ship! That’s what we need to compete with the Cunard Liners! It would have to be a ship of grand scale, something like the world had never seen, something that would put the Cunard shipping line back in their seats. Something that would overcome the elements, something that would attract the paying eye, something….something…… We will build a ship that has more luxuries than any other ship, we will build a ship that is indestructible, and we will build a ship like the world has ever seen. That was definitely the answer! A new class of ships!

But what will this cost people, it was simple, the same fixed rate. Which was cost +10%, something everybody could afford, from first class, to third class. This would not be unusual for the White Star Line. They had been more concerned with luxury more than speed for the last several years. On the other hand the Cunard Line was definitely more concerned with speed. Ismay didn’t want to compete with the speed of these new ships, he would lose. This was a battle that neither party could afford to lose. As Lord Pierre, and Ismay started discussing this new class of liners, what were they doing? They were planning on building something that would cause men to worship, something that they could make for themselves that they could see, and touch, something almost as big as God himself. We don’t know how spiritually inclined either of these men were, but the fact that when somebody came up with the term later on “no, not even God himself could sink this ship” Ismay didn’t have a problem with it.

As the evening drew on, Ismay took his leave. Back at his house, he must have been more excited than words could tell, it wasn’t every day you get to build and own the biggest ship in the world!

As days grew into weeks, blue prints and plans were being made on a major scale. Finally, the H&W designers brought a small model of the new class of ships for Ismay to inspect. Ismay did not show his emotions as he viewed the ship with satisfaction. The head designer at H&W must have been shaking slightly as the president of the White Star Line inspected the design of the ship. Finally as Ismay stood up from crouching over the model, he said, “I think it’s fabulous!” The ship designer let out a sigh of relief.

This class of liners would need to have names that would fit them properly. Until this moment they were known as ships 400, 401 and 402. The first to be named, was Olympic, after the Greeks. Such a name sounded fitting for such a ship! What would they call ship 401, the second in the group of three? What about the mighty Titans, rivals of the Olympians in the early days, surely this ship must be named TITANIC! Ship 402 would have a simple name, but fitting never the less, Gigantic.

On July 31, 1908, the order was put in at H&W for the new class of ships, R.M.S Olympic, and Titanic. Gigantic was ordered after Titanic and Olympic’s launch. As Joseph Bruce Ismay signed the contract with Harland & Wolff, these ships would be built no matter what happened. When Ismay put his pen to the contract, he had untold joy in his heart, finally these new ships were becoming a reality. For over a year he had dreamed of this moment.

Speed up

There are several contributors to the disaster on April 14th 1912. One was the complete disregard to 7 ice warnings that were received just days before the tragedy! There were only enough binoculars for the crew on the bridge, and not any for the lookouts in the crows nest. There were only lifeboats for half the stated capacity of the Titanic. Captain E.J. Smith was not at the bridge at the most critical part of the voyage. The so called watertight bulkheads only went up to E deck. That is not really water tight, but that's what got Titanic her nickname as unsinkable!
The list could go on and on... unfortunately! But I think the main cause was SPEED!
On the maiden voyage of a ship they usually didn't run the ships at full steam. They would give it a little time to let the engines settle in, let all the machinery get worked in, all this should take place on the maiden voyage! But that was not the case with Titanic. For the first couple of days 4 boilers had not been lit, and the engines were not running to their fullest capacity.
Captain Smith was prepared to make an easy voyage, he was in no hurry. He had crossed the Atlantic hundreds of times with a flawless record. Think about that!!!... This man had been a captain for 40 years, he had spent his whole life at sea... with a perfect safety record! That in and of itself is amazing. That is an incredibly long time doing something, and never mess up. He was a seasoned veteran of the Atlantic Ocean! He knew all the routes, dangers, currents, weather, he knew it all. In fact this was his last crossing as a captain, he had served 40 years with the White Star Line, and was going to retire. It would have been a indescribable career of success! John Edward Smith was the one chosen to captain the Titanic on her maiden voyage. That was an honor beyond comprehension, TITANIC the last word in luxury, the millionaires special, the biggest ship in the world, and he above all else was chosen to captain her on its maiden voyage!
On the other hand we have a man named Joseph Bruce Ismay, the owner of the White Star Line. This man had experience in business, he had made his career of running a fleet of liners across the Atlantic Ocean. Somewhere in the voyage he must have gotten excited and wanted to set a new record. Everybody new of Titanic's size, luxury, magnificence, and grace. But Ismay wanted to see something else in the papers besides how big and impressive she was! He wanted to concentrate on her speed now! The Titanic was scheduled to dock in New York sometime Wednesday morning, but Ismay was pressing Smith hard about lighting the last 4 boilers and getting there Tuesday night, and put the world in shock once more! He wanted to give the papers something new to print, something new to talk about! Well he got his headlines!!!
On Sunday April 14th 1912 he somehow convinced Smith to have the last 4 boilers lit, and put the engines at full speed! Everything I have read which is a considerable amount leads me to believe that captain Smith was not really excited about this change of plans. But he had crossed the Atlantic many times, and what would hurt setting a record on his last voyage, and as Ismay put in "end with a bang eh EJ". Well he got his bang! He must have gone against his gut feeling and ordered the Titanic full ahead, with night approaching!
21 knots equal to 26mph is what doomed the ill fated liner, through a ice-field at night. If you get a Ocean Liner thats weighs over 50,000 tons going 26mph, it takes a whole lot to slow down, much less stop!
Now we can stand back and say how childish is that? They were men! Men like speed! How often do we pull up to a red light, and floor it when it turns green because we can't stand the thought of someone being a little bit ahead of us? The thing is, when we go somewhere we want to get there fast and in style, thats all Ismay wanted. It just turned on him! His passion to offer passengers the best service and speed affected everyone on board! We do things all the time that cause us to speed through life, but when an other man does it, we wonder what was he thinking!? I am quite sure that Ismay was doing nothing that none of us wouldn't have done in his position!

Its something to think about...