WEBVTT - Why Are We So Fascinated by the Titanic? 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.600 I guess what, mango, what's that? Well, you remember a 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:06.640 couple of weeks ago when the artist banks He pulled 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:10.240 that incredible prank on the entire auction world. Yeah, that 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:13.039 was when his painting just self destructed in front of everyone. 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.319 Wasn't it worth over a million dollars? It's actually one 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:18.840 point four million dollars. And the crazy part is they 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.759 say it's probably worth even more now and the person 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:23.560 who had bid on it, you know, has agreed to 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.279 pay that price. That's crazy. I mean, I guess it 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:28.800 does make it more unique, but it's still really weird 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.600 how much people will pay for things. No, it definitely is. 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.559 And actually I find this kind of thing fascinating. I mean, 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.600 it's it's always interesting to see what people will pay 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:41.080 big money for an auction. So I was recently looking 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.120 at this list of the things people have been on 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.360 over the years that are related to the Titanic disaster, 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.239 and one thing that went for even more than that 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.840 banks He painting is the violin played by William Hartley 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.760 as the Titanic sank that many of us have heard 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.960 this legend before, and it's of course impossible to verify, 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:01.960 you know, every piece of it, but the ideas that Hartley, 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.360 who was the band leader, that he asked his seven 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.480 musicians to keep playing as this ship was going down, 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:09.880 And so some tell the story that he led his 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:13.000 crew in playing Near My God to the and you know, 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.720 that may not be completely true. It does appear that 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.760 the musicians did maintain their composure and they continued playing 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.679 something what we don't know exactly what it was, but 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.319 that violin that hardly played sold back in two thousand 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:31.320 thirteen for one point seven million dollars. And I guess 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.360 it's really no surprise because, you know, more than a 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.280 hundred years after the tragic event, we're still fascinated by it. 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.720 So today we'll try to better understand why that is, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.319 you know, and ask some of the questions like what 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.040 did people know about the Titanic before it set sail, 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.840 what was life like on board, and what were some 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.720 of the strange ways people chose to remember the ship 0:01:52.800 --> 0:02:17.640 after the disaster. So let's get started, Hey, their podcast listeners, 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.040 welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:22.480 always I'm joined by my good friend Man Guesh Ticketer 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:25.000 and on the other side of the soundproof glass, wearing 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.920 a button that just says proud member of the Just 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:31.760 Mystic Club. That's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. Now 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.440 a lot of people don't know this, but Tristan very 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.160 nearly booked himself on a trip on the Titanic back 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.840 in nineteen twelve. Thankfully, the plan fell apart at the 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.240 very last minute, you know, on account of his not 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.680 having been born yet, so ultimately he missed the boat, 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.320 which is just such a lucky break. But you know, 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.280 Tristan isn't alone in telling tall tales about how he 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.239 narrowly escaped death on the Titanic. In fact, just five 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.280 days after the sinking, there are already press reports about 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.480 the so called just missed a Club and how it 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.160 already had six thousand, nine four members, And so this 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:07.320 was obviously tongue in cheek, but it was also kind 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.079 of true. Like a suspiciously large number of people had 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.600 come forward claiming they'd missed the boat because they've been 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.200 running late that morning, or they've gotten sick or whatever, 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.480 but everyone knew most of the stories were completely made up. 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.079 Like in one of the press reports I mentioned, they 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.520 had a sarcastic quote from a guy who said quote, 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:25.919 I count it lucky that I didn't have the money 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:27.960 to go abroad this year. If all of us who 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.720 just missed it had got aboard the Titanic, she would 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:35.400 have sunk at the Liverpool Dock from the overload. I'm 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.960 glad the public didn't fall for all these stories. I mean, 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.960 it's such a strange compulsion in the first place, you know, 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.200 to lie like that because I don't know, because you 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.240 want to attach yourself to a tragedy. But I guess 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.000 that goes to show how captivated people were by the 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.120 story of the Titanic. And the really amazing thing is 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.720 that more than a hundred years later, many of us 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.800 are still just as captivated. So at this point the 0:03:57.840 --> 0:03:59.880 disaster it feels like it's taken on kind of a 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.280 mythical status and world culture, and it's become one of 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.800 those stories that everybody seems to know. In fact, I 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.800 read in Smithsonian that Titanic is actually the third most 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:14.600 recognized word in the world, just below God and Coca cola. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:16.599 And you know, while it's true that interest in the 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.679 story has ebbed and flowed over time, it's still something 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.919 that we always seem to come back to. So today 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:25.520 we'll take a look at why that is and why 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.440 Titanic still fascinates us all these years later, and help 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.039 answer that. We'll talk about the impact the tragedy has 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:34.200 had on the world, both in the short term and 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.160 the long term, and we'll also dig a little deeper 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.960 into life aboard the ship, which you know, includes the 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:43.640 surprising stories of a few standout passengers. It's definitely a 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:45.440 lot to cover, so let's get to it. But but 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.520 where do you want to start, Mango, Well, I thought 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.120 we could start with one of the biggest reasons that 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.120 people have stayed invested in the Titanic, and that's just 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.800 the ship itself. So most of us know that at 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.240 the time it was the largest ocean liner ever constructed, 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.480 and more broadly, the large just men made moving object 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.480 in the world. It was about eight feet long and 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.440 a hundred seventy five ft tall, which means the ship 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.680 was as long as three football fields and as tall 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.400 as a seventeen story building. Isn't that insane? Yeah? I mean, 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.520 it was definitely a massive ship for its time, no 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.000 question about that, But it wouldn't really be that impressive 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:21.920 today though, right, I mean, we have cruise ships that 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.039 are more than four times that size now, So it 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:26.919 does make me wonder, like why the size of the 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.880 Titanic still captures people's interest. So I think it's partly 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.640 the perception that the Titanic was kind of tempting fate 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.000 in a way, like the fact that the ship held 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.320 that title as the world's largest and and then it 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.240 ended up sinking on his maiden voyage. It feels like 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.400 this cautionary tale about man's hubris in some people's minds, 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.080 Like it's almost like a Tower of Babble situation or 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:49.560 something where man kind of overreached and then was made 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.400 to suffer for it. And I think that still resonates 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.120 for people, especially since we've heard so many stories now 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:59.000 about how luxurious and decadent the ship was, especially compared 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.159 to others at the time. All right, well, before we 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.640 get to that fateful night with the iceberg, I do 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.080 want to spend a little more time on board and 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.400 and talk about a few of those decadit details that 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.360 you alluded to. So, for example, the Titanic was one 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.040 of the first ships to have electric lights in all 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.880 of its rooms. It also had way more amenities than 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.279 most other ships, and so just looking at the list, 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:23.520 here among those were four elevators, heated swimming pool, two 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:28.560 libraries to barbershops, a squash court, a Turkish bath, and 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:32.719 even it's on onboard newspaper called the Atlantic Daily Bulletin. 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.599 So I hadn't heard about the paper. I'm guessing that 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.880 means that they had a printing press on board. Yeah, 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:39.719 I mean there was a small print shop on the 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:41.880 D deck and and of course this was close to 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.320 the butcher's shop in case you're wondering, now I know 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.880 where I get my pastrom that's right. But I mean, 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.400 it really does feel like they thought about everything. My 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.960 favorite Titanic community, though it is probably the onboard gymnasium, 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.440 Like it had all the best equipment naturally, including old 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.160 standards like rowing machines, weights, punching bags, but it also 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.880 had this cutting edge gear, like they had two static 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.279 bicycles with two foot dials attached to show the distance 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.720 that had been traveled. And there were also a few 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.160 electric horses, which were these big mechanical saddles meant to 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.400 mimic riding a horse. I mean, does that even count 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.440 as exercise? It kind of feels like it would be 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:22.880 less of a workout for the rider than for the horse, 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.040 or I guess the saddle in this case. I mean, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.200 I think it was supposed to strengthen your core or 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:31.960 maybe some leg muscles, but either way, I doubt any 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.240 of the passengers worked up that much of a sweat. Like, 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:36.360 if you look at pictures from floating gyms on the 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.040 Titanic and other ships of the era, most of the 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.280 passengers are exercising while they're wearing their full get up, 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.440 So it's like a bunch of releasedate and calm looking 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.560 people in these three piece suits or or like big 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.000 Edwardian dresses and hats, and they're just kind of halfheartedly 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:56.040 peddling on the bikes or whatever. It's it's pretty lazy looking. Yeah, 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:58.960 I've actually seen some of these pictures, and honestly, my 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:00.920 guess is that it's the first time in a gym 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.240 for most of them, because nobody looks like they know 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.680 what they're doing at all. I mean, it's a good 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.680 thing that they had a personal trainer on board the Titanic. 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.160 This is real. His name was Thomas McCauley, and it 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.520 was this guy's job to show passengers how to use 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.840 the equipment and even to provide one on one training sessions. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.640 And it seems like McCauley took his job super seriously 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:24.680 because the night the ship sank, he actually chose to 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.080 stay at his post in the gym and go down 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.600 with the ship. Wait, seriously, I mean, I don't want 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:32.679 to speak ill of the dead, but that sort of 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.079 seems a little bit unnecessary. I mean, we did talk 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.600 about how the band chose to continue playing as the 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.439 ship sank, and to me though, that makes sense because 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.520 it was a way to sacrifice and to calm the passengers, 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.200 or to give them at least some sense of peace. 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.800 But I mean, why keep the gym open. I can't 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.079 imagine anybody was thinking, like, I think, I'll just get 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.600 in a few more reps before whatever happens here happens. Yeah. 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.440 Probably not. If anyone was trying to burn like a 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.560 few calories for the road, I really wouldn't blame them. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.760 I mean, the meals on board the Titanic were pretty epic, 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.760 at least for the first class passengers, and so the 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.520 dinners were gourmet affairs with up to thirteen courses, each 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:13.719 of which came with its own paired wine. There was 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.080 also a pre dinner cocktail service that was added as 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:20.439 a concession to American passengers. Apparently European passengers weren't fans 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:22.560 of this idea because they thought mixed drinks ruined your 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:26.520 palette before eating. But from start to finish, these elaborate 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:28.680 meals could last as long as four or five hours, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.760 and because the first class menu was actually later recovered, 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.439 we actually know exactly what the wealthiest Titanic passengers had 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.800 for dinner the night the ship went down, and it 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:41.400 was an incredible spread. The feast started with raw oysters 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.200 and a selection of order ivs, followed by a choice 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.480 of two soups. Then came a lightly pushed Atlantic salmon 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.920 topped with a rich moose. For the fourth and fifth courses, 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:55.040 passengers chose from such rich entrees as a filet mignon 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.120 or a lamb with mint sauce. And then at the 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:03.880 halfway point the meal this is on you get a 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.600 palate cleanser. It's it's a punch romain, which I guess 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.880 is a boozy mix and wine, rum and champagne. And 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.920 then once you've regained your appetite, the feasting resumes. There's 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:18.320 a roast squab course, cold asparagus, vinaigrette fois gras, and 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:21.880 then there's dessert, which includes peaches and shark trees, jelly chocolate, 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:25.679 Vanilla Claire's French ice cream, and then to close off 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.280 the meal, there's a variety of fruits, nuts, and cheeses 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:34.280 with coffee, poor cigars and cordials. It's pretty It feels 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.040 like they just accidentally went ahead and cooked everything for 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:38.800 the week for one meal. I don't even know how 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.839 these people would get up and walk after eating all 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:43.439 of this stuff. I don't feel like I could make 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.600 it through a single meal, I know, but if you 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:48.520 did want to try. They're actually places all over the 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.480 world that now offer dinners that recreate that last meal 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:54.280 that the first class passengers eight on the ship. And 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.200 it's kind of a cop but some people claim it's 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.760 a great way to humanize the tragedy or to understand 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.600 the history of it. The ethics acide like. The biggest 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.600 drawback is probably the price of these dinners. So, for instance, 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.959 there's one restaurant in Houston it offers a ten course 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.040 menu for a thousand dollars per person. There's also a 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.760 version of this on a luxury hotel in Hong Kong, 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.960 where um, the prices doubled because it reportedly serves this 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.080 vintage seven bottle of wine that's actually salvage from the 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.000 wreck of the Titanic. I like this idea that it's 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.559 somehow humanizes the tragedy by just sitting there and stuffing 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.440 yourself with all of this and drinking fancy old wine. 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.360 Don't forget. Yeah, well, I guess so. I guess they 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.200 know exactly what it was like to be on the 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.360 Titanic then, But it feels a little too rich for 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.720 my blood. I feel like maybe i'd spring for a 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.800 recreation of maybe like the third class dinner. I mean, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.160 that's got to be a lot cheaper, right, Like I 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.640 imagined there were a bit more down to earth at 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:53.120 the second and third class tables, right, So I think 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.600 that's a really funny idea, But not as much as 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.160 you think, right. Like, so, the first and second class 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:01.240 dining rooms actually shared a galley, so there was probably 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.080 a good bit of crossover when it comes to what 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:05.520 was served, kind of like business of first class on 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:08.000 a plane or something. But the main difference would have 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:09.959 been that second class diners wouldn't have had all the 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.640 crazy wine pairings, a few of the other frills that 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.400 the first class people enjoyed, and honestly, even third class 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:18.720 passengers didn't have it too bad when it came to food. 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:21.240 So there was a lot less lamb with mint sauce 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.839 and a lot more roast beef and boiled potatoes. But 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.800 you actually wouldn't hear that many people complaining about it. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.559 At the time, most ocean liners required third class passengers 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.239 to bring their own food to last the entire voyage, 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.760 which would have made the Titanics prepared meals seemed really 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:39.000 decadent to most people. I mean, the same can't be 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.160 said for the accommodations, though there were actually only two 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:47.640 bathtubs for all seven third class passengers to share. Oh gosh, well, 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.959 let's let maybe let's not dwell on that. But getting 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:52.800 back to the food, it's hard for me to even 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.280 wrap my head around the amount of work that must 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.320 have gone into feating this many people and multiple times 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.520 a day, Like there were need two hundred people aboard 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:07.040 the Titanic. You've got passengers nine crew members, so they're 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:08.719 just doing the math, like three meals a day, that 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.840 sixty meals that the kitchens had to crank out every 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:13.920 twenty four hours, and it must have been a pretty 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.439 colossal effort. It definitely was. So I read this interview 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.000 with Dana McCauley. She co wrote a book called Last 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.280 Dinner on the Titanic, and she says the Titanics kitchen 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:27.640 crew included a hundred thirteen cooks, fifteen first cooks who 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:32.800 supervised things, twelve pastry chefs, six bakers, five butchers, and 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.520 five sous chefs. And you know, you think about that, 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:37.880 that's not even mentioning the dozens of waiters or bus 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.640 boys that each meal required. Yeah, I mean, that's a 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.160 pretty huge staff, but I'm actually a bit surprised it's 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:45.840 not even bigger when you consider how many people they 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.840 were feeding and just the level of sheer variety on 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.520 those menus that you talked about. But you know, since 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.920 you mentioned the Titanics bakers, I want to take a 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.040 second and talk about the ship's chief baker. He was 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.880 a guy named Charles Joffin, and he was a sort 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:02.480 of either of the wreck and live for decades afterward, 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.280 but he was also examined as part of a British 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:09.000 inquiry after the accident, and the picture he paints during 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:13.240 his testimony is really pretty amazing. So after the Titanic 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.800 hits the iceberg, sorry for the spoiler there, but Charles 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.720 immediately gets to work and he starts rounding up all 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.560 the bread he can find to help bolster their provisions 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.360 and all the lifeboats. Now he ends up sending something 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.120 like forty pounds of bread loaves to the upper decks, 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.360 and then he heads back to his cabin where he 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:33.200 proceeds to steal himself with what he called, quote a 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.000 drop of liqueur, and I have a feeling was a 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.080 little more than a drop, And honestly, in that situation, 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.520 who can blame him. But then Charles heads to the 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.520 a deck and he starts helping to load the lifeboats. 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.800 Now this is something I hadn't heard before, but apparently 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.720 many of the passengers were reluctant to leave the ship, 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.640 Like in the first hour or so after the collision, 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:57.440 when only the lower decks were flooding. At that point, 0:14:57.720 --> 0:14:59.600 a lot of the people tried to wave off the 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:03.640 danger and actually refused to get on these lifeboats. So 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.480 Charles knew better in this situation, and so when he 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.680 found women and children just squatting on the deck. Refusing 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.600 to budge, he and other crew members began picking up 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.280 these stubborn passengers and actually throwing them into the lifeboats. 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.600 And then when these last lifeboats were filled and lowered, 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.720 Charles went back down to his cabin, had himself another 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:26.400 drop of liqueur, and went right back on the deck. Now, 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.960 at this point, the ship was sinking in earnest and 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.600 it was clear that the majority of the passengers were 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.720 still on board. So he was helpful to the very 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.000 last minute, and he tossed some fifty odd deck chairs 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.480 into the water so that people would have something to 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.920 cling onto when the ship inevitably went under. That that 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.160 really is inspiring. Also, can I just say how perfect 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.240 an activity he chose given his circumstances, Like checking deck 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.680 chairs into the ocean is exactly the thing you should 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:54.680 do if you're trapped on a sinking chip and you've 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.760 had a few drinks. No, it does seem pretty fitting 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.920 in that scenario. But here's where really achieves legend status 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.640 in my eyes, Like he was actually still aboard the 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:08.479 Titanic when it's split in half. In fact, he reportedly 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:12.120 climbed over the railing rode the ship down as it sank, 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.520 and when asked during his enquiry if he had been 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.800 dragged under with the ship, Charles just replied, I do 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.400 not believe my head went underwater at all. It may 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:24.040 have been wetted, but no more. Okay, so this guy's 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.880 my new hero. Well, and that's really saying something because 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.720 there are a ton of stories about passengers behaving bravely 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.600 while the ship went down. And of course these days 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:35.080 a lot of people say chivalry is dead, but that 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:39.000 definitely wasn't the case aboard the Titanic. Yeah, that's true. 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.880 I think most people know the famous policy about evacuating 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.000 women and children first, and that really was an explicit 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.760 order that Captain Smith gave the night the Titanic sank. 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:50.680 But what I never knew before this week is that 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.440 Titanic actually approved the exception in that regard rather than 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.080 the rule, because it turns out that in most maritime disasters, 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.440 men have had a significantly higher survival rate than women 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.560 and children. Really, I don't think I would have guessed that. 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.960 But all right, we'll have a ton of questions to ask, 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.040 and at some point we do need to talk about 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.520 the crash itself. But before we get to any of that. 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:27.959 Let's take a quick break. You're listening to Part Time 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.480 Genius and we're talking about the enduring legacy of the 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.840 RMS Titanic, all right, Mago. So before the break, you 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.240 were saying that when disaster strikes at sea that men 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.239 generally fair better than women and children. So can you 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.640 explain what you mean by that? Sure? So this comes 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.920 from the sweetest study where researchers looked at eighteen maritime 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:50.399 disasters that happened between eighteen fifty two and two thousand eleven, 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:53.600 and what they found was that women and children survived 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.119 in greater numbers than men in only two of the 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.639 eighteen cases. It was for the HMS Broken Stock in 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:04.280 eight fifty two and the Titanic in In all other cases, 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.440 men came out ahead with an average survival rate of 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.600 compared to scent for women and just fifteen percent for children. 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:13.879 And that was the only surprise to come out of 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.520 the study either, because it turns out the crew members 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.159 actually have the highest survival rate. They come out with 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.639 a whopping sixty. And you know this romantic idea of 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.199 captains choosing to go down with the ships, right, that 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.200 apparently doesn't happen as often as we assume, because even 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.919 captains tend to have a higher survival rate than passengers. 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:34.760 But you're saying that wasn't the case the night the 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:39.199 Titanic sank exactly So with Titanic, women actually had a 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:42.760 seventy survival rate compared to just seventeen percent for men. 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.720 And it's the same with children. Half the kids aboard 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.040 the Titanic survived the ordeal, all right, So do we 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.680 know why that is? Like, what made the Titanic so different? 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.080 Was its crew just like that much better at following 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.719 the correct procedure or what happened there? That's the thing. 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:01.080 The whole women and children first was an explicit and 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.119 it wasn't this like written rule at the time. And 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:05.760 in fact, as we see with those other sixteen cases, 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:08.520 the real policy is closer to first come, first serve, 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.200 or even every man for himself. But that's one way 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:14.800 in which Birkenstock and Titanic stick out from the others, 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.640 because in both those cases, the captains gave this direct 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.640 order that women and children should be evacuated first. So 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.000 if that's the case, then the higher survival rates for 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.480 women and children it's really things more to the captains 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.560 and crew like, not necessarily the passengers of the Titanic 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:33.520 being chivalrous was really more than captain, So that is 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:35.600 one way to look at it. But on the other hand, 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.360 we do have plenty of reports of crew members and 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:40.920 even passengers who chose to remain on board and help 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.720 others rather than take up space and lifeboats. I mean, 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.080 supposedly there were just people on deck just standing and 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.200 smoking cigars, drinking brandy while others fled for their lives. 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:52.919 And while that might sound kind of silly or naive 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.480 to us, I think those guys absolutely knew what they 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:57.440 were doing. They were willing to die in order to 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:00.560 give other people a shot at living, all right, So 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:02.399 then what do we make of this? Like, are we 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:05.680 saying the pastors of Titanic And I guess Birkin Stock 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.560 just happened to be more selfless than you know, people 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:10.200 in these other ship breaks, And I feel like there's 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.640 got to be more to it than that. I read 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.440 the study from an Australian economist. His name's David Savage, 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:20.560 and he actually suggested that Titanics passengers behaved more altruistically 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:23.600 simply because they had the time to do so. Like, 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:26.080 if you think about the wreck of the Lusitania, which 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:28.760 was this other luxury liner from the era, which I'm 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:30.880 sure you've heard of it. It had a similar number 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.040