Blog 158 - TITANIC - Part XVI - Chapter 3 - A Reprieve from the Jaws of Death and News Reports
- ranganathanblog
- Apr 18
- 12 min read
Updated: Apr 23
What had gone on before
With chutes for each raft rigged up, the evacuation started to proceed smoothly.
As each evacuee landed on the raft, an odd looking plastic - glass, more like dark sunglasses was waved in the face of each person and quickly clamped on to the left wrist, like wrist bands.
Even those in the Life Boats of the Titanic were not forgotten. The Sixth Fleet’s Zodiacs were busy distributing these sunglasses look-alike to all.
(They were one of the latest of innovations designed by Google. Multi faceted, they could take photographs and, when worn on the wrist, monitor your health functions. A small pinprick and blood samples are analysed. Using the small pencil attached, one can write on the glass. It could be linked to a computer, lap top or a keyboard. All this information, including the photograph, gets automatically uploaded to a secure satellite from where it flows down to dedicated computers of various governmental agencies. AI is then used to sift and segregate).
As each passenger or crew member landed on the raft, he or she was directed to the other end of the raft to enter one of the 30 man life rafts that had been dropped down previously by helicopter.
As each inflatable liferaft was filled to capacity, it had to be towed away from the exit, so that the next 30 person life raft can be brought alongside.
Several of the battle cruisers that accompanies all Air Craft carriers had sent their Zodiacs to tow away the now-filled life rafts, so that the empty one can come alongside for the next batch of survivors.
Within minutes, people caught on to what was required of them. The able bodied ones helped the lesser abled ones.
The evacuation proceeded smoothly.
A different type of evacuation chute. The ship in the photograph is not the Titanic
A forth type of evacuation chute with raft
Now, to the story:
The evacuation proceeded rather smoothly. It must be remembered that every aspect of the rescue was a new frontier for all the Naval personnel involved. Decisions needed to be made on-the-fly, which is where training and discipline automatically took over.
A quick conference between the vessels in the area demarcated who will do what. As the senior Naval vessel in the area of operations, the USS Gerald R Ford led and others followed. Captain Andy Srinivas, as Officer Commanding of the air craft carrier, was in the thick of it, listening to the suggestions made by numerous parties and issuing firm orders.
One of the decisions - of far reaching importance - was which ship will host the evacuees, about 2000 in number. The logistics of doing so will, likely, be beyond the call of any ship in the vicinity.
Captain Abraham of the Wilhelmsen Car-and-Truck Carrier proposed to host the entire lot, as the vessel had the space. They were near empty, as they were heading for a dry dock in Verolme ShipYard in Rotterdam. Each empty car deck was as big as a couple of football fields and could hold thousands.
The worry was the food, water, medical and toilet facilities for such a large number. The crew of the Tysla were only 22 and they would be swamped by the massive number.
In contrast, the USS Gerald Ford had a crew of more than 4000, with the large logistics that each department needed. With more available from the rest of the Sixth Fleet.
So began the preparation of a helicopter convoy to ferry needed supplies from the Sixth Fleet to the Tysla.
The Captain of the Aircraft Carrier was not really aware of the calibre and experience of the NUMA leader. Commander Ganapathy, who had been on board training an elite corps of deep sea divers / operators. Starting life as a professional Marine Engineer, he went on to become a Lloyds Surveyor, then took an interest in under water activities, which landed him in NUMA, the National Underwater Maritime Agency, a covert quasi government organisation that studied everything to do with Marine Technology and advised the US Government on how to stay ahead of any maritime crisis or possible disasters. To mention just one achievement, much ahead of the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster that ruined the Alaskan ecology for decades, they had been advocating for the US Government to take up with IMO (International Maritime Organisation), the compulsory double hulling of at least oil tankers, if not all ships. Commander Ganapathy was one of the architects of this proposal.
Ganny was now in charge of the evacuation process. The evacuees were purposefully and quickly guided into the sliding chutes. Once they landed on to main raft of the Evacuation System, they were not given any time to pause - they were led across the main raft on to smaller 30 man rafts. As each 30 man raft filled to capacity, the raft was immediately towed away and another empty raft took its place. Time was of the essence, as the Titanic had only minutes to live.
When the Naval divers on board the Titanic gave the information that there were no more personnel on deck, they were ordered to use the slide chutes and drop into the main rafts. As soon as all were accounted for, each of the 6 two hundred man rafts of the Evacuation Slide System were towed away from the sinking Titanic, each raft being pulled away by 2 zodiacs.
Practically all the vessels of the US Sixth Fleet had sent personnel and zodiacs to assist.
In the hurry burry of the evacuation, no one paid heed to the pleas of some of the Engine Crew who had been forced out of the Engine and Boiler Spaces by the Chief Engineer. When three of them forced their way to Ganny to apprise him of the fact that there were at least 70 to 80 odd people still in the Engine and Boiler Spaces, Commander Ganny considered sending team down to the Engine Room to get them to evacuate. But catastrophic events preceded any decision he was about to make.
No sooner had the main rafts, each containing nearly 200 evacuees, pulled away that an explosion was heard deep within the bowels of the Titanic. The ship, now at almost a 45 degree angle with the fore section deep in the water, broke nearly in half.
The fore section went down at practically the same angle.
The aft section broke into more pieces as she went down.
At 02.20 AM, on 15th Aprril 2020, the Titanic sank completely and went down to her laast resting place 3100 metres down in the North Atlantic, about 400 nautical miles from New Foundland.
Her coordinates were
41 deg 43’ 42” N
49 deg 56’ 49” W.
As soon as the Titanic sank, Ganny was back on the Bridge of the USS Gerald Ford, advising Captain Andy. The two quickly formed an inseparable bond and quickly set in motion a series of activities to support the Tysla, knowing fully well the limited resources of the Car Carrier.
One of the first orders was to gather a medical team of twenty, who boarded the Tysla even before the first lifeboat of survivors reached the Tysla. These lifebboats were the Titanic’s own, 7 of the 16 having been lowered before the USS Gerald R Ford took charge of operations.
On the Tysla
Within a minute of the first batch of survivors in the Titanic’s own lifeboats reaching the gangways of the Tysla, it became clear that the gangways were too narrow for the sheer number of expected survivors. It would have taken hours for each boat to come alongside the gangway, discharge its passengers, then get towed away to be replaced by the next one.
The gangways proved to be a bottle neck.
It is at such times that experience comes to the fore to take tough calls, to make decisions based on knowledge of the ship and its capabilities.
The ship was in mid sea. But the decision was made to lower the Stern Ramp close to the water and get the lifeboats and life rafts to off load the evacuees on to the Stern ramp.
Lowering of the Stern Ramp in mid sea can be considered a dangerous decision as the full weight of the main Stern Ramp will be on the hydraulic arms, with only the secondary ramp on the steel wires. All had undergone a statutory Classification test only recently. The 505 ton ramp had been tested to 550 tons, passed successfully. This was at the back of the minds of Capt Abraham and Chief Engineer when they explored the possibility of using the Stern Ramp to expedite the proceedings of bringing the evacuees on board.
The 12 metre wide Stern Ramp proved to be the exact equipment to speed up proceedings.
Image of 12 metre wide stern ramp of the Tysla. (This image shows vessel at a berth). The cavernous hold extends the full length of the ship
The seas were mildly choppy, with small gusts of wind.
As the survivors disembarked the lifeboat or liferaft, several hands steadied them as they boarded the ramp and directed them up the ramp in two streams, one on the port side and one on the starboard side.
Two crew members had been assigned the task of physically counting them, easily done with the help of ‘tally counters’, normally used to keep a tally of the number of cars being driven in or out.
The medical team from the Sixth Fleet had also divided themselves into two groups. First came the standard vaccinations, which had never been in existence 108 years before. Then came the physical checks, with the more needy to be looked into later. Colour coded cable ties were tied on the right wrist of each person, for easy identification later.
The Chief Purser and an Assistant Purser of the Titanic were asked to help in the identification and tally work, once they were identified as such.
Statistics
2,224 on board when they sailed from Southampton
1324 passengers
900 Crew
Engine Room Staff 318
25 engineers
33 Greasers
8 electricians
2 Boilermakers
1 book keeper
13 Leading Firemen
163 Firemen
73 Trimmers
The tally of persons who were rescued from the Titanic, as per the tally Counter came to 2115.
1321 passengers had been rescued. 3 were unaccounted for, 2 of them an elderly couple who, most likely, did not even exit their cabin and one passenger who jumped from the ship, landed on the bulwark of a life boat below and sank without a trace.
Capt Smith, 1st Officer Murdoch, a 4th Officer, 4 Ordinary Seamen and a Quartermaster were missing, presumed drowned.
98 of the Engine Staff died. Nobody had informed them that a massive rescue operation was under way above decks.
According to one of the rescued Leading Firemen, Chief Engineer Bell kept insisting on the engine and boiler staff to leave the Engine Room and save themselves.
Such was his charisma and popularity that no one wanted to leave the Engine and Boiler spaces as long as he was there.
2 Engineers, 1 Electrician, 21 Greasers, 2 Boiler Makers, 1 Book Keeper, 8 Leading Firemen, 128 Firemen and 57 Trimmers had survived the sinking and were now aboard the Tysla.
FURTHER, ON THE TYSLA
The Stern Ramp was down.
2115, rescued from the Titanic, boarded the Tysla through the Stern Ramp.
A small contingent of nearly 60 Naval personnel, the bulk of whom were Sailors, some Petty Officers and a couple of Chief Petty Officers boarded the Tysla to assist. They were designated to do the ‘grunt’ work for the evacuees.
Portable toilets were flown in. 18 of them were immediately installed in the port and starboard gangway spaces, with PVC pipes and ‘super glue’, fabricated to suit for water inlet and discharge overboard. Although, technically, they were flouting MARPOL regulations in the discharge of sewage, the exigencies of the situation needed to be taken into account. The General Service pump was put into use for a continuous discharge of water through the toilets.
More than a thousand mattresses, blankets, bed sheets, pillows, towels, toiletries - much of them donated by the sailors of the Sixth Fleet - were landed on the stern ramp for the use of the survivors. Large supplies of water bottles, medical supplies and other necessities were landed on the stern ramp and taken away by the many forklifts that are part of a Car Carrier’s permanent equipment.
The Stern Ramp had fulfilled the function for which it was - riskily - lowered in mid sea. It was lifted back and stowed, with obvious relief writ on the brows of the Captain, Chief Engineer and Chief Mate.
After a perfunctory medical check, vaccination and, sometimes, a more thorough examination, all had different coloured plastic ties on their right wrist, colour coded as per their medical history. They were guided to the decks above - # 8 deck and # 9 deck. They had landed on # 7 deck.
Practically all the survivors, now tired from the adrenaline-high activities of the night, were nearly falling off to sleep. They were given some refreshments, milk and water bottles. The majority slept.
After a few hours, as they started waking up, they were asked to take cognisance of the sun glasses type of plastic glass on their wrists and were advised to use the attached pencil to write about themselves. They were advised to write their names, their addresses, their kith, their kin, their profession. Many could not write and were illiterate and had to be helped by the US Navy crew. All that was written was automatically transmitted to a dedicated ‘Google’ satellite and downloaded to various computers of different security agencies in the USA and UK.
The Tysla and parts of the Sixth Fleet, including the USS Gerald R Ford, were now sailing for New York, ETA in 56 hours. There were numerous and regular helicopter flights between the Tysla and the USS Gerald R Ford, mostly for logistic purposes and change of roster for US Navy personnel on the Tysla.
But one such helicopter flight had brought in 4 academicians who had been flown in from the mainland by a cargo plane to the Gerald R Ford. They were reputed to be experts in the field of para normal activity and had boarded the Tysla to interrogate the 7 people who had seen the ship Titanic pass through a ring of light.
As the Tysla sped through the darkening night, the hearts and minds of the 2000 odd survivors centred upon what their individual and collective fates would bring them when they finally reached their destination - their New World.
Breaking News Around the World
Two nations were caught up with trying to find the next of kin of 2115 persons after 108 years. The task was monumental.
Although a news black out had been clamped around the Titanic’s sudden appearance and an equally sudden demise, the news could not remain suppressed for long. The search by various governmental agencies and police for 108 year old information triggered a ‘Breaking News’ avalanche, mostly speculative and far from accurate.
In spite of reminders to the Indian staff of the Tysla not to transmit any news about the Titanic, some of the junior officers, engineers and crew were on the Internet e-mail to convey to their families that there will be a delay in their returning home from Rotterdam, stating the reason to be a massive rescue operation mid sea. Some mentioned the name ‘Titanic’. Some mentioned the sudden appearance of the Titanic after 108 years.
It was near evening in India, 9 ½ hours ahead of the rescue operation area.
One of the e-mails that went out from the Tysla went into the ‘gmail in-box’ of the Fourth Engineer’s father who, intrigued, forwarded it to a ‘You Tube’ channel, ‘TMInfotainment’, a respected Tamil channel which factually and intelligently covers the happenings in every part of the world. Without embellishments, the channel’s Chief, sombrely brought out the news that a ship, lost a 108 years ago, resurfaced in the North Atlantic, only to sink in 2 hours. About 2000 were rescued, with search-and-rescue operations still under way. The channel viewership exploded into the millions.
This was the first news of any kind about the Titanic to reach the world.
One such e-mail also reached the father of an engineer, working with ‘Times Now’, a reputed TV Channel out of Delhi. Intrigued, the father sent it to his superior, the Chief Editor. It caught the imagination of everybody at the News Channel.
Getting the addresses of all the Indians working on the Tysla proved an easy task for the News Channel. Contacting the families and getting copies of the e-mails received, a definite picture began to form.
That evening’s news on ‘Times Now’was sensational and viewership off the charts. In spite of the sensationalism that could be spun out of this ‘Breaking News’, the channel stuck to facts and stated that “A ship, believed to be the Titanic, lost at sea with all aboard 108 years ago, resurfaced this early morning, only to sink 2 hours later. More than 2000 passengers and crew were rescued by a US Naval ship in the vicinity - the North Atlantic.” Other subsidiary news content surfaced about the loss of the Titanic 108 years ago.
The news of the Titanic, generated by a Tamil ‘YouTube’ channel and a Delhi TV Channel hit Europe during their lunch hour and the US at breakfast. After that it was a free-for-all, a feeding frenzy.
(To be continued)
AR
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