Steven Biel

Down with The Old Canoe

An excerpt

People have been looking for lessons and meanings in the Titanic disaster since the day the ship went down. But they've never been able to agree on what those lessons and meanings are. While we like to think that the disaster's resonance is timeless--that it has to do with universal themes of humans against nature, hubris, false confidence, the mystery of the sea, heroism, and cowardice--the Titanic seared itself into American memory not because it was timeless but because it was timely.

April 1912 was a time of conflict and violence, instability and uncertainty, of intense concern about the 'race problem,' the 'woman problem,' the 'labor problem,' and the 'immigration problem.' Therefore the Titanic disaster seemed to say something about the roles of men and women, about economic equality and inequality, about race and ethnicity, about religion, about technology, about how we should behave. But what exactly did it say? In the words of some contemporaries:

On women's suffrage and equality:

On wealth and class:

On race:

Sermons on the Sunday following the disaster routinely treated it as a 'grave warning' about 'the undue passion for material welfare and mere earthly enjoyments.' The Titanic served as a symbol of conspicuous display, and the fate of its elite clientele--the most conspicuous of consumers--provided a lesson about overvaluing comfort and self-satisfaction.

"It was a huge ocean joy ride, and it ended where joy rides generally stop."
(Reverend James O'May, Park Avenue Methodist Church, Chicago, April 21, 1912)

"Your Titanic sails today
On life's sea you're far away
But Jesus Christ can take you safely through. . . When you think that you are wise
Then you need not be surprised
That the hand of God should stop you on life's seas" (Dixon Brothers, "Down with the Old Canoe," folk song Macintosh or Windows)

The Titanic also served as a warning about technology--about the hubris of a "progressive" age that believed it could subdue nature.

"Man's art came in contact with nature's gigantic forces and was
naught." (George A. Campbell, "The Sinking of the Titanic," Christian Century, April 25, 1912)

"How suddenly, frightfully, overwhelmingly nature mocks the pride and
puny strength of man." ("The Titanic Disaster," Christian Socialist, April 25, 1912)

The disaster still has a tremendous hold on people's imaginations. Hard-core Titanic buffs are may be motivated by a love of beautiful ships, a friendly competition to know as many facts about the Titanic as possible, an urge to participate in a great historical events by trying to solve some of its mysteries, a sense of collegiality that comes from meeting people with the same interests, a feeling of accomplishment that comes from becoming an expert on the subject. But much of the continuing attraction is nostalgic.

Walter Lord's A Night to Remember suggested that the disaster marked a the end of the good old days of stable social roles and codes of behavior, and the beginnings of the uncertain modern world. A sense of loss fuels the fascination; for many buffs the Titanic represents a lost 'golden age' of order, certainty, and authority. Character--the older model of selfhood that Titanic heroism seems to embody--is disappearing, buffs believe, and needs to be recovered.

"This air age, when death commonly comes too swiftly for heroism and with no survivors to record it, can still turn with wonder to an age before yesterday when a thousand deaths at sea seemed the very worst the world must suffer."
(Time review of Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, February 13, 1956)

"By comparing present-day human behavior with the behavior of those men who stood back from the Titanic's lifeboats, we have an excellent and telling way of gauging whether modern man is as worthy of respect as were those men who faced death at sea eighty years ago- -and didn't flinch." (George Behe, Titanic buff)

The Titanic disaster is about "things that don't exist today: honor and heroism and men stepping back from the boats and letting the women and children go. With women's lib today you wouldn't have anything like that." (Edward Kamuda, founder of the Titanic Historical Society)

For all its other meanings, the Titanic functioned in 1912 and functions now as a commodity; it has sold newspapers and books and encouraged a variety of entrepreneurial schemes. In 1912, Travelers Insurance used "Women and Children First" in its advertising; the first of many Titanic movies came out exactly one month after the sinking and featured an actress who had actually survived it. Since Robert Ballard's discovery of the wreck in 1985, it's become impossible to keep track of all the books, videos, video games, CD-ROMs, records, models, posters. "TITANIC BABY FOUND ALIVE!" exclaimed a supermarket tabloid in 1993.

Pieces of authentic Titanica have soared in market value. Buffs dislike the commercialization of the disaster, but they do work with individuals and auction houses to authenticate for sale relics not taken from the wreck. For many buffs, RMS Titanic's mail order sale of Titanic coal and its plan to salvage part of the wreck to create a traveling museum may be a sacrilege, but it will certainly not be the first time the disaster is exploited for commercial purposes.

"At a depth of 2.5 miles below the ocean's surface, where pressure can exceed 6,000 lbs. per square inch, and 350 miles off the coast of Newfoundland lays the RMS Titanic. Built in 1912, this grand vessel was outfitted with the world's finest products--including 12,000 bottles of Bass Ale. For 84 years, those bottles have remained undisturbed with the Titanic. In August, 1996, Bass Ale will join the RMS Titanic Inc. on a history making journey...to search for lost bottles of Bass Ale." (Bass Ale's "Voyage to the Titanic" sweepstakes flier, 1996)

"The first item you will receive free is a limited, special edition, authentic reproduction of the most popular exhibition artifact recovered from the Titanic wreck. This item is a copy of the April 10, 1912 Southampton, England newspaper. After being underwater all these years, this newspaper was in perfect condition and very readable. Your limited edition reproduction would be suitable for framing." (RMS Titanic advertisement, "Announcing the Titanic Expedition Cruise," New York Times, July 29, 1996)