Friday, May 13, 2016

Time Travel Fantasy: Titanic Hero

     In case you haven't heard, about a century ago, an ocean liner sank on its maiden trip. The name of that ship was the HMS Titanic. About 11 PM on April 14th, 1912 the huge ship sailed up against a large iceberg. The iceberg sheared off rivets along the bottom side of the liner and quickly filled the lower compartments.
     Theories abound stating that had it only tore into and opened four of its air tight, sealed compartments instead of six that were reported, it may have stayed afloat until a full rescue could happen. Alas, it did not. And with the lack of Life Boats for all passengers, its fate as a doomed world famous passenger ship was sealed.
     Now most people fantasize about inventing something that could change the world or maybe just their world. There are also people who dream about going back in time and revisiting (if not changing) history at some historical event. Now, if you could go back in time to any era , when would it be?... What century?... What event?
     I don't imagine I would be able to get close enough to assassinate Hitler, but I would like to travel back to Dealy Plaza and try to figure out the events of John F. Kennedy's final motorcade. Maybe save Martin Luther King or Bobby Kennedy. Stop Mark David Chapman from approaching John Lennon. Watching Jesus on the cross!
     How about warning Pearl Harbor early that Sunday morning on Dec. 7th 1941? Reporting to te FBI about terrorists boarding planes with sharp weapons on the morning of 9-11?
     Hear concerts from Beethoven, Brahms or the Beatles at Shea Stadium. I would travel to Woodstock, Haight-Asburyand Fear & Loathe in Las Vegas!
     But my fantasy is to save the world... change it... and possibly become world reknown. So.. the event I have chosen is the Titanic. I would book passage as the President of a new enterprise called... "Ferruzza's Inflatables!"... yes! Self inflating rafts. (Yes! I know they are available now.. but in 1912?)
     I would have hundreds in crates stored conveniently near emergency doors in compartments near the waterline.. and crates above. These rafts could comfortably hold one or two... all the way to 300.
Yes! 300 saved passengers.
     Let's do the math. 1500 died that night. My super raft holds 300. Five of my super rafts and all those lost at sea had a chance to live. Seven of the super rafts and the whole number of passengers on the ship would have been saved. I could have had 10-15 inflated and ready in less than the 2 1/4 hours it took for the mighty ship to sink! That's room for 3000-4500 passengers. The bells would ring all over the world. I would be the hero of the first half century of the 1900s.
     But I also believe in fate. I suppose that there is a reason for everything... including tragedy and loss of life. What if these great rafts were available, but the water was not calm as glass as it was that fateful night? What if it was stormy with huge rogue waves? What if all this planning (and dreaming in detail) went for naught? The dream just sank.
     I guess that is why we have been characterized as prisoners of our own time. We can't relive history as so much as we would like to re-write it. So, instead of saving the world in 1912, I may think ahead and try to save those of us now! I will follow with my details on that...


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