Is it true that there was no undertow for the Titanic?

-- JEM (foo@bar.com), March 14, 1998

Answers

Response to Titanic undertow

What do you mean by "undertow"? If you mean the suction of a ship sinking, then yes, relatively, there was little. I believe this was due to the angle that she sank and the extended time that she took to finally go under. For the Ships Baker to be able to virtually step off the stern and never get his head wet, I would have to say there was not much suction, at least at that part of the ship.

Regards, Peter

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), March 15, 1998.

Response to Titanic undertow

I should really defer to Kip or Peter on this one, but they might not see your question for a while. In the A&E documentary "Titanic, Death of a Dream", it was stated that there was very little suction when the stern went under. In fact a baker, who was later saved, rode down to the water on the stern rail (this was depicted in the movie) and claimed to let go without even getting his hair wet. I'm sure Peter and Kip can elaborate...

-- Dan Dalton (DDalton2@prodigy.net), March 15, 1998.

Response to Titanic undertow

I should have waited! In the two minutes it took me to write a response, Peter had already beaten me to the punch.

-- Dan Dalton (DDalton2@prodigy.net), March 15, 1998.

Response to Titanic undertow

Hi Dan: Just think, someday James Cameron may make a blockbuster film about e-mails colliding!

Regards, Peter

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), March 15, 1998.

Response to Titanic undertow

Hi:

The amount of suction depended on the part of the ship you were on at the time it went underwater. Both 2nd Officer Charles Lightoller and 1st Class passenger Archibald Gracie testified that they were sucked under water as the bridge went under. Lightoller's experience was particularly harrowing, in that he was drawn into an air intake for the boiler rooms; a metal grate was all that kept him from being sucked into the bowels of the ship. A blast of hot air from below finally freed him. Others were undoubtedly sucked into the ship's interiors through doors or windows, as Cameron's film suggests. But the massive suction of the sinking ship that was so feared by the seamen manning the lifeboats (Quartermaster Robert Hitchens, in particular) never occured.

Cheers!

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), March 15, 1998.

i hate to bring it up but doesn't undertow mean the currents that are on or near the bottom of the ocean. I know that in area's near beaches during storms ect. the undertow can get bad enough that the police don't allow people in the water because they can get sucked under, drown and their bodies get swept out to sea. I don't know about out at sea though. I guess there would be but I've never really thought of heard about it.

-- Miranda Swearingen (Kylen1@hotmail.com), April 06, 1998.