03. J. Bruce Ismay - PART TWO

Today we rejoin Ismay aboard Titanic for the collision, sinking and rescue. No Hollywood magic here. This is the Titanic disaster in a survivor's own words.

THIS EPISODE IS AUDIO ONLY!

Welcome to WITNESS TITANIC, a new podcast where we interview witnesses of the infamous Titanic disaster including modern experts, enthusiasts and even the survivors of the sinking. Like the century-old inquiries that came before us, we may never fully determine what really happened on that cold April night but you may be surprised to find how close our efforts will bring us to Titanic herself...

Hosted by James Penca
Presented by RMS Titanic, Inc.

Theme: Songe d'automne - Archibald Joyce

Titanic questions or Titanic corrections?!

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[RickL_was_here]

Appreciate the effort and my opinion of Bruce has been changed. I feel bad for the guy now.

[FMJIRISH]

Keep these up, they're great

Piece of advice though, you might want to put inquiry or something in the title, it's only a trick of the algorithm that I found these at all

[RMSthomasFRANCE]

I think it's a good thing to rehabilitate Ismay. Individuals like me who have already made a serious mistake in their lives will understand (fortunately in my case, there were no serious consequences). We are human, and the instinct for survival exists!

I know very little about Ismay's life after the Titanic tragedy: I ​​know that he lost his post as president, that he withdrew from public life and that he committed himself to good works. The most critical will say that it was just another way of clearing their conscience... but I agree with you in the idea that his place in a boat provided valuable testimony: if he had lost his life, his actions in favor of poor people during the rest of his life would never have been accomplished.

Finally, to conclude, his discretion in my opinion that he carried a heavy burden and that he had certainly lost a great joy of life. Universal forgiveness takes on its full meaning here.

[evilpeep]

Echoing what a lot of people here are saying: thank you for putting some humanity back into Ismay.

I think some people look at these disaster situations and easily come up with an idea of what they would do to somehow both save themselves and others. But the thing about disaster situations is that you don't actually KNOW what you're going to do until it happens. Everything gets thrown about!

Ismay reminds me of another passenger, Masabumi Hosono, who faced similar scrutiny and also had his life ruined, all because he got on a lifeboat. I can't imagine the trauma of survival crushed against the trauma of basically everyone saying you should have stayed behind and died.

Ismay might not have been a cuddly man, his situation on board might have been complicated, but does that condemn him to death? I don’t think so, either.

Anyway, another great episode! Keep 'em comin'!

[WilliamTheMaritimeHistorian]

I'm glad you are making people realize Bruce Ismay is not a horrible mustache twirling villain but a person with feelings.

[andrewemery]

Ismay lies when he says he never looked back at the Titanic, but just rowed away. When you are rowing away from a ship, you are facing rearwards, and therefore Ismay had to be looking at the Titanic as he rowed. An obvious lie. If he lied once about something so trivial, he undoubtedly lied about more important issues.

[turnipgirl]

I'm now wondering why Cameron painted him in such a horrible light?

[SteveHall.Author]

I enjoyed listening to this and the earlier two James.

[James-pxhp]

Is it toxic masculinity that men chose to forego getting into a lifeboat? Or was it because the self sacrificial attitude that men had at the time was exactly what led to there not being a mass panic or violent chaos erupting amongst passengers as seen in other shipwrecks.

It’s because most men did NOT have the attitude you expressed of wanting to get into the first lifeboat they could that those who were saved were able to do so in a relatively calm and dignified manner.

[egm]

Ismay and Smith were callous and reckless with the lives of the people on the Titanic. They did the equivalent of following the road speed limit during a whiteout snowstorm, ignoring the warnings from other ships that conditions were unusually bad.