WEEK 5 FINAL PAPER

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THE JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY AND PARANORMAL STUDIES

Editorial

Our Fascination with the Titanic Story

Michael E. Tymn

April 15th will mark the 100* anniversary of the Titanic disaster. It is a story that fascinates many people, I was intrigued by it long before the 1997 blockbuster movie about the tragic event. My inter- est probably grew out of earlier movies, but I also read every book I could find about it before the 1997 movie was released.

In researching and writing my recently-released book. Tran- scending the Titanic, I wondered what it is about the story that so captivates me and others. After talking with a number of friends and acquaintances about it, I came to the conclusion that the story offers us the opportunity to examine death in a safe haven with the added bonus that, unlike most stories involving death, the parties actually have time to contemplate their deaths, some to escape, some to succumb. More than any other modem story, the Titanic might be viewed as a microcosm of life, a "community" isolated in the vast reaches of the ocean, one offering wealth and poverty, the opulence of first class and the ordinariness of steerage class, with a middle or second class in between. Every type of emotion, mindset, virtue and vice is represented - love and fear, hope and despair, bravery and cowardice, arrogance and humbleness, pomp and shame, selfish- ness and brotherhood. To accent it all, the iceberg impacted by the leviathan was reported as being a rare black berg looming high over the vessel, as if a giant evil predator. More than anything though, the Titanic story represents the struggle between man's inner and outer self, a strug;gle which many people are interested in but prefer to avoid except in books or movies.

One thing that became very clear in my research is that the shortage of lifeboats on the ship was not, as generally thought, a major factor in the number of fatalities. The fact is that most of the early lifeboats left with much less than capacity because the majority of passengers didn't believe the "unsinkable" ship would actually sink. They saw the crew members struggling in their efforts to lower the life boats from some 60 feet above the water, and concluded they were safer on the ship. It was not until 30-45 minutes before the ship actually broke in half that they began to realize that the ship was doomed and that help would not arrive in time. The last lifeboat was lowered just 20 minutes or so before the ship sank. Had there been more lifeboats, it is unlikely that a single one would have been lowered in time.

The individual story that has fascinated me the most was that

Titanic Story

told by Colonel Archibald Grade. It was related in more detail in the March issue of The Searchlight, but I will briefly retell it here. After the ship went down. Gracie climbed aboard an overturned auxiliary raft. In all, 30 men, mostly crew members, ended up on the bottom- up boat. When it was fully occupied, those on board had to push and beat away others who were trying to moiint it. It was during this time that Gracie heard what he called a "transcendent piece of heroism that will remain fixed in my memory as the most sublime and coolest exhibition of courage and cheerful resignation to fate and fearlessness of death." This was when one man in the freezing waters was refused assistance and turned away by others on the raft. In a "deep manly voice of a powerful man," which Grade did not recognize. Gracie heard the swimmer reply: "All right, boys; good luck and God bless you." The man then swam away.

To my knowledge the brave swimmer was never identified. When I first read Grade's book many years ago, I wondered if that swim- mer might have been William T. Stead, a British journalist who was observed by other passengers courageously facing up to his demise as the ship was sinking. But as I did research for my book, I came to the conclusion that the he was more likely Robert J. Bateman, a 51-year-old Baptist minister and physician from Jacksonville, Florida. A second-class passenger, Bateman had been visiting relatives in Bristol, England and taking part in a revival. He was returning to Jacksonville with his sister-in-law, Ada Balls, and other members of the revival group. Ada Balls later recalled: "Brother forced me into the last boat, saying he would follow me later. I believe I was the last person to leave the ship. Brother threw his overcoat over my shoulders as the boat was being lowered away and as we neared the water, he took his black necktie and threw it to me with the words, 'Goodbye, God bless you!'"

As Bateman reportedly said "God bless you!" to his sister-in- law before leaving her, and the rejected man said "God bless you!" before swimming away; Bateman emerges as the best candidate for the heroic swimmer mentioned by Gracie. Moreover, Bateman was a second-class passenger and Gracie a first-class passenger, which might explain why Gracie did not recognize the man's voice.

Whoever that man was, he is my patron saint.

Spirit Presence "You who have seen a beloved being varüsh into the tomb,

do not believe that she has left you. She is always there, closer to you than ever.. .She, whom you mourn, has disappeared, but she is not gone. We no longer see her sweet face; we feel her wings. The dead are invisible, but they are not absent from us."

- Victor Hugo

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