And The Last LifeBoat Left Without Me!! The North Atlantic, 1912 Hi Folks! Here at last is Number 1: Specifically, R.M.S. Titanic’s coordinates at the time of the accident were reported to be 41o46’N, 50o14’W— about 1000 miles due east of Boston, Massachusetts. This disaster was man-made, and made worse by huge amounts of hubris. In addition to several cost-cutting measures in ship construction that compromised safety, Titanic left England with over 2,200 people on board but only enough lifeboats for half of them. (The builders, crew, and passengers actually believed the ship was unsinkable.) Many of those lifeboats were less than half full when they were lowered into the sea. Titanic had also been traveling at dangerously high speeds, despite numerous warnings that the route was littered with icebergs. J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of White Star Line’s steamships, had persuaded the senior crew to attempt a new transatlantic speed record. During the aftermath of the iceberg encounter, Ismay realized the error of his ways, and made damn sure that he secured a spot in one of the departing lifeboats. As a complement to this image, I have created the James Cameron Award for Titanic’s Most Fascinating Real Life Character. The Dawson Rose (pun intended) goes to Violet Jessup, a stewardess who survived maritime disasters on all three of the White Star Line’s sister cruisers: Titanic, Britannic, and Olympic. The Titanic disaster’s 100th anniversary will be observed in April 2012—the same year the Mayan Calendar expires. Keep an eye on those ravens, Brits!! Thanks, folks, for allowing me to increase your e-mail loads for the past two weeks, and for correcting me in the commentaries when a typo slipped by. I’ve already selected a fresh and provocative theme for the 2011 edition of the series, so I hope you’ll stop by to check out those entries in the Gallery next year!! Thanx to the digital artists at Renderosity.com, 3Dcommune, Daz 3D, or Archive3D.net, whose props were used in the composition of this image. Dr Zik