Teaching the lessons of the Titanic

For marine educators like Capt. Christopher Hearn, the lessons of the Titanic have threaded through the decades in a symbolic and practical way.

Hearn is the director of the Centre for Marine Simulation at the Marine Institute in St. John's, one of North America's largest maritime simulators.

It is a hands-on trainer for nautical science and marine engineering students, as well as providing world-class simulation services for commercial shipping, government and oil and gas sectors, to improve safety and efficiency in operations.

Back in 2010, the Centre was asked to recreate the first, and last, voyage of the Titanic for Blink Entertainment - a documentary company.

The idea was to test theories about the ship's speed and maneuverability.

This summer, CMS and the Arts and Culture Centre will recreate Titanic's last hours for the public with actors playing main characters putting a human face on what happened that night. Information about The Centre for Marine Simulation's Titanic re-enactment this summer: Calm Air

While recreating the Titanic initially started out as a project for a client, Hearn says the Marine Institute with its mandate for safety in all operations, is the progeny of the results of that accident.

Mission Bridge: Marine Institutes bridge simulator

Innovations in shipbuilding

The Titanic was unique in its size and opulent in its design. She was built to exceed the best standards of the day by shipbuilders Harland and Wolff who had no fixed price for her construction. The ship was built with 16 compartments on its lower decks. When the Titanic scraped the side of the iceberg, five of those compartments started to flood one after the other. Three hours later, the ship sank.

Kevin Strowbridge, an engineering instructor at the Marine Insitute in St. John's, calls the Titanic an amazing example of how to build ships and how not to build ships all in one vessel that students still study today. He explains in an interview with the CBC's Vik Adhopia how modern ships are built with the Titanic in mind.

The International Ice Patrol

Every year, a flight heads out over the waters off Newfoundland. When it reaches the site of the remains of the Titanic, the back of the C-130 aircraft is opened and a crewmember throws a wreath on the water, commemorating those who lost their lives when the ship went down. The International Ice Patrol was established through SOLAS in 1915, and assigned to the American Coast Guard.

The patrol monitors ice and icebergs off the Grand Banks and provides the ice limit to the shipping community. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, "No vessel that has heeded the Ice Patrol's published iceberg limit has collided with an iceberg."

As you can see in this video, the CBC's Vik Adhopia went out on a flight with the ice patrol earlier this month.

The Newfoundland Connections

Cape Race

Cape Race is Newfoundland and Labrador's most famous Titanic connection. The Cape Race Marconi wireless station was the only land-based location that received distress signals from the Titanic: the C.Q.D, or Come Quick Danger, and later SOS.

The SS Algerine and the SS Florizel

The recovery of bodies continued into mid-May, when the the White Star Line commissioned the SS Algerine as the last vessel to assist with the grim task. The Algerine was a Red Cross Line ship owned by the Bowring Brothers of St. John's. She left St. John's May 16th and recovered the body of 27-year-old James McGrady. The body was then transferred to another Newfoundland ship, the SS Florizel. The Florizel took the body to Halifax for burial in Fairview Lawn Cemetery.

Larry Dohey is the Manager of Collections and Projects, Provincial Archives Division at Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial museum, The Rooms. In this video, he tells the story of the Algerine and the Florizel.

Photo: James McGrady's life vest (Courtesy The Rooms Provincial Archives Division)

The artifacts Dohey talks about in his stories are part of an exhibit on the Titanic at The Rooms in St. John's. You can see some of the artifacts here at TheRooms.ca.

Have we learned our lessons?

"Even with the best of technology, you can still run into trouble really quickly."
Capt. Christopher Hearn, Centre for Marine Simulation, Marine Institute

"Nature will rise up. We saw the Titanic go down, she was invincible. For years, our icon after the Titanic was the Ocean Ranger. It was always said the Ocean Ranger would never sink. We've learned our lesson. Mother Nature is a lot stronger than anything that we can build. She's proven it so far."
Larry Dohey, The Rooms Provincial Archives

cbc.ca/nl would like to thank

• The Centre for Marine Simulation, Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland
• The Rooms Corporation

Credits

• Kathryn King
• Jonathan DeRouchie
• Vik Adhopia
• Eddy Kennedy