It's cheap and guarded by polar bears !

I'll use this as a jumping off point for a question that's always disturbed
me....

IMHO if Capt. Smith was guilty of anything, it was a clear ability to *not*
think outside the box. So..... could they have offloaded the extra
passengers to "the" iceberg? Or any other berg?

-W

"Hans-Marc Olsen" wrote in message
m...
It's cheap and guarded by polar bears !

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:52:46 GMT, "Clams Canino"
wrote:


I'll use this as a jumping off point for a question that's always disturbed
me....

IMHO if Capt. Smith was guilty of anything, it was a clear ability to *not*
think outside the box. So..... could they have offloaded the extra
passengers to "the" iceberg? Or any other berg?

It is my understanding that of the six nominal types of icebergs, only
one could have been an extra life boat - the wedge shape which has a
sloping "beach" if you will. Those are only associated with the
Antarctic and in particular, the northern most part of the Ross Ice
Shelf.

Most Arctic icebergs are block or tabular type which is not conducive
for boarding. Captain Smith may not have had that option. I also
believe, based on reading the various books and such about the Titanic
incident, the ship moved beyond the contact point, thus the iceberg
was unavailable anyway.

In truth, I'm not an iceberg expert, but the question did come up in a
conversation many years ago with somebody who knew a lot about
icebergs and he pointed that out to me. For some reason, I've never
forgot it. :)

Later,

Tom

"Clams Canino" wrote:
I'll use this as a jumping off point for a question that's always disturbed
me....

IMHO if Capt. Smith was guilty of anything, it was a clear ability to *not*
think outside the box.

That's certainly true. By all accounts he was a solid "company man" and
earned his position mostly by his manners with wealthy passengers.


So..... could they have offloaded the extra
passengers to "the" iceberg? Or any other berg?


Not without a fair amount of specialized equipment such as ice axes &
crampons.

BTW there are actually pictures of two icebergs, each purported to be
"the one"
http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/FAQ/Titanic_1.shtml

Imagine trying to climb onto either of these from the water or from a
small boat.


Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
It is my understanding that of the six nominal types of icebergs, only
one could have been an extra life boat - the wedge shape which has a
sloping "beach" if you will. Those are only associated with the
Antarctic and in particular, the northern most part of the Ross Ice
Shelf.

Most Arctic icebergs are block or tabular type which is not conducive
for boarding. Captain Smith may not have had that option. I also
believe, based on reading the various books and such about the Titanic
incident, the ship moved beyond the contact point, thus the iceberg
was unavailable anyway.

Right. The ship was several miles from the iceberg(s) by the time people
were ready to get off.


In truth, I'm not an iceberg expert, but the question did come up in a
conversation many years ago with somebody who knew a lot about
icebergs and he pointed that out to me. For some reason, I've never
forgot it. :)

A mind is a terrible thing to waste... or so I'm told

Regards
Doug King

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 07:27:06 -0500, DSK wrote:


A mind is a terrible thing to waste... or so I'm told

Yeah - well, in my case.... :)

Later,

Tom

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:52:46 GMT, "Clams Canino"
wrote:


I'll use this as a jumping off point for a question that's always disturbed
me....

IMHO if Capt. Smith was guilty of anything, it was a clear ability to *not*
think outside the box. So..... could they have offloaded the extra
passengers to "the" iceberg? Or any other berg?

It is my understanding that of the six nominal types of icebergs, only
one could have been an extra life boat - the wedge shape which has a
sloping "beach" if you will. Those are only associated with the
Antarctic and in particular, the northern most part of the Ross Ice
Shelf.

Most Arctic icebergs are block or tabular type which is not conducive
for boarding. Captain Smith may not have had that option. I also
believe, based on reading the various books and such about the Titanic
incident, the ship moved beyond the contact point, thus the iceberg
was unavailable anyway.

In truth, I'm not an iceberg expert, but the question did come up in a
conversation many years ago with somebody who knew a lot about
icebergs and he pointed that out to me. For some reason, I've never
forgot it. :)

Later,

Tom

If boarding icebergs was possible they should have shuttled passengers
to the iceberg as they didnt have enough lifeboat space ..

But I think one of the main problems was that once someone was int he
icecold water they were dead after 10 minutes or so .... Even if
pulled from the water they would have died shortly from hypothermia,
unless they would have set up some sort of warming method or even a
fire on the iceberg ...

Matt

I'll use this as a jumping off point for a question that's always disturbed
me....

IMHO if Capt. Smith was guilty of anything, it was a clear ability to *not*
think outside the box. So..... could they have offloaded the extra
passengers to "the" iceberg? Or any other berg?


You wouldn't ask if you understood the nature of icebergs.

Icebergs will "roll" with little or no warning.
The ice mass below the surface is melting faster than the portion of the berg
exposed to subfreezing air. As a berg melts, the COG changes, getting higher as
the lower portions melt away. After enough ice melts below the surface, the
berg just rolls over to restore a "heavy side down" position. This can happen
at any time. The portion of an iceberg that you see above the surface today
could have been underwater yesterday, and may be again tomorrow. Putting
passengers onto an iceberg would tend to stress the precarious balance that
prevents a roll over.

If the ship managed to stay afloat, but all the passengers died because an
iceberg rolled over, Capt. Smith would look pretty lame.

On 18 Nov 2004 00:00:59 -0800, (Hans-Marc
Olsen) wrote:

It's cheap and guarded by polar bears !

Quite a few years ago, I read a great story about this very thing.
Basically, the ice was stabilized using a refrigeration plant and a
nuke power plant for propulsion and power.

There was a whole floating city inside the iceberg - neat tale.

Later,

Tom

On 18 Nov 2004 00:00:59 -0800, (Hans-Marc
Olsen) wrote:

It's cheap and guarded by polar bears !

Perhaps you could post a picture of your berg, use a "Polar"oid
camera.

"James Gemmill" gemmilljim@hotmail,com wrote in message
...
On 18 Nov 2004 00:00:59 -0800, (Hans-Marc
Olsen) wrote:

It's cheap and guarded by polar bears !

Perhaps you could post a picture of your berg, use a "Polar"oid
camera.

Or maybe a "Digit"al one.

Oh, wait. That's not funny.
Carry on.