The Survival of J. Bruce Ismay

[mushroomhead]

He survived because he got trapped in a board game and became Van Pelt!

[stormtroopertheskitmaker]

Ismay : *doesn’t commit suicide*
Everyone : WoW cOwaRd

[raynoraynov]

So many speculations here, so let's cite some facts.

First of all, we have to clear something important: the Olympic class ships were meant to be Wednesday ships.
The plan of the company was to have an Olympic class ship each Wednesday in both directions. Each ship departs on Wednesday and one week later arrives on Wednesday.
For this 2 ships were not enough, because otherwise each ship had to depart back in the same day she arrived. Which was not possible, that's why the White Star Line ordered 3 ships: the Olympic, the Titanic and a third ship, later called Britannic.
The problem is that the ships were too big, and the ship builder Harland & Wolff couldn't build them all together. They were too big, H&W had to destroy 3 old slipways to open space for 2. So H&W built the first 2 (the Olympic and the Titanic), and when the Olympic was done, they started to work on the third ship.

Second, arriving early was not something to be admired. It required higher consumption of coal, and it could create problems for some of the passengers. Because the voyage was meant to finish on Wednesday, and if you arrive earlier on Tuesday, you could find out that nobody is waiting for you in the port.
Off course, it was possible to arrive early on Tuesday, but the plan was these ships to depart and arrive on Wednesday.

Third, captain Smith DID NOT NEED the presence of Ismay to travel with higher speed. He was prone to speeding himself.
One year earlier, when the Olympic made her maiden voyage, Ismay was there, the ship departed on Wednesday and arrived on Wednesday.
On the second voyage of the Olympic, Smith did arrive earlier on Tuesday, but Ismay was not present on that voyage.
Captain Smith was able to do it by himself, he was prone to speeding.

And before somebody put the finger on captain Smith, let's mention some other important facts.
Captain Smith was prone to speeding, but he was not incompetent or reckless. He simply didn't has enough experience with these ships, nobody had that experience. The ships were new and way bigger the any other ship before. The Olympic was more than 40% bigger than the Lusitania and the Maurithania, even more bigger than any other ships of the White Star Line.
That's why Smith wanted on the maiden voyage of the Titanic to have as much as possible people who had experience on the Olympic.
What about the Titanic's maiden voyage, the reason for the high speed was they feared something more than the ice. And that was the fog.
Which was pretty common thing on that time of the year when the ship were passing from the warm Gulf stream current to the cold Labrador current.
They feared the fog, because when there's a fog, the ship could collide on something even with a lower speed.
This time, because of the high atmospheric pressure there was not any fog, the weather was clear, so they wanted to pass the ice region while the weather was still clear. You know when the weather is clear, you can see the iceberg on time and you can avoid it, but when there's a fog, you can't see the iceberg, and you can crash on it.
Unfortunately, when they reached the ice region, it was almost midnight, there was no Moon, no waves, so they collided on the first iceberg they saw.

[jtfamily]

You guys want to hear a crazy story? So this guy Mr. J. Bruce Ismay lived in my home state Connecticut. He moved here at some point in time after the tragic incident that took place the night the Titanic sunk. When news traveled that he didn't go down with the ship like an honorable gentleman would have done, this man lost everything including his reputation. He was a laughing stock and so many people hated this man, was discusted with him even. He couldn't show his face without a room full of people whispering about him, getting starred at, rediculed and picked on. He moved to Berlin Connecticut in an old Victorian house where he had a fence built surrounding the entire property that was taller then the house so nobody could vandalize his property, throw rocks in his windows, stick large signs in his yard, or harass him. The house still stands today with new owners occupying the property. The house itself was updated for a more modern look however, the fence surrounding the house still stands to this day. The new owners wanted to keep a piece of history alive. Now every time I drive by this house all I can think about is Mr Ismay. Small world huh!?

[DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

I really actually see it being a good thing Bruce Ismay survived the sinking. He really helped bring down the rivalry between the White Star Line and the Cunard Line. Those two companies were bitter rivals at first and Ismay initially didn’t like the Cunard Line either, but after the Titanic sank and he and the other survivors of the disaster were rescued by a Cunard Line vessel that was in command of a very generous crew that treated them with selfless hospitality, he began to show a much softer side toward them and even offered to reimburse Cunard for having their Carpathia give up her voyage and weaken her parts to save as many people as possible from the disaster and then return to New York City with them. That turning point was especially crucial for WWI so I really do think Bruce Ismay was a hero for that too.

[DallasJayCook]

Even if the incident happened this day and he somehow managed to survived or escape that shit, he will still be labeled as coward! Come to think of it, you built a ship and bragged about how big and techy it is! Then accident happened, wouldn't you feel ashamed of the "first class" people like you who board and paid a big amount of money to experience your unsinkable ship!? Wouldn't you feel ashamed of the children who had bigger guts to face death than you?? Honestly if I'm the owner I don't think I would be able to carry the guilt for the rest of my life, I would definitely go down with 1500 of my people!!! I'll die with them they're not alone! They have me!!! Also, Ismay just went on to live a good life after the incident.. let's not fool ourselves here it only shows the 1500+ lives that lost wasn't enough to make him feel bad. If I was Ismay I could've just killed myself few days after she sank!!! Let's not make excuses that people saw him helped the passengers get on the life boats, what about those officers and engineers who spare their lives doing their duties just to save people? This man's nothing but a weak, greedy and lameass business man. Heartless and Psychopath!😠

[jimpanza]

Personally I have a feeling he was ordered off the ship. Now I have no evidence to back this but this is my opinion and gut feeling. Now I am not defending Ismay in anyway here. I agree he should have gone down with the ship as well as the Captain and Thomas Andrews did which as is proper. However I am wondering if Bruce Ismay was ordered off the ship by Captain Smith and forced on to the lifeboat so there would be a high ranking member of the White Star Line at the investigation in the sinking of the ship. Perhaps that is why he took the blame and he felt that the entire sinking of the ship was his fault and after the sinking of Titanic that was really the end of Bruce Ismay.

[spectralnighttravel]

I've never heard of the report before where Ismay fought his way through a crowd of men to secure a spot on a lifeboat. What is the source on that? Also, Smith was involved in the Olympic crash, and he was known to speed a bit, so he wasn't exactly a model captain of safety. Ismay pressuring him to show that Titanic could also travel quickly would be pointless, as survivors have described how the entire world was speaking about the Titanic already anyways. The Cameron movie has the most absurd portrayal of Ismay, where he's wanting the press to have something new to print while still on the maiden voyage. The entire world would be paying attention to the Titanic arriving in New York, even if they were late. It's possible that he could have told Smith that it's unacceptable to be late, and thus Smith feared slowing down despite the ice reports, but that would presuppose they were running late, which I haven't seen evidence of. In total, it seems fruitless to speculate over whether Ismay was or was not somehow culpable. He lost his position/company, social standing, and essentially his life after the crash. I think he suffered enough for whatever role he had, which seems like it would be more ill-advised than malicious, if he were in fact involved somehow.

[eternalhalloween]

Being realistic, most people would have made some attempt at survival. In my opinion, it's just a dangerous attitude to dislike someone for surviving. If we're watching the movie, we're probably hoping Jack and Rose will survive. (Assuming we didn't know the history), we're probably hoping Thomas Andrews, Benjamin Guggenheim, and the band members will somehow be saved by returning lifeboats. Can we really in good conscience wish for Ismay to die?

[davidtanycoed]

Its unlikely he tried to urge the captain to increase speed. The Titanic was identical (as good as) to her sister ship the Olympic, which had been in service for a year prior to the Titanic. The Titanic was on the longest designated route (as confirmed by Captain Rostron at the hearing) so could not break any Atlantic Crossing records for that reason. Both the Titanic and the Olympic where not built for speed or to compete for the Blue Ribbon. The Blue Ribbon was held by the Mauretania and held this from 1909 to 1929 - the longest time any Ocean Liner has held the Blue Ribbon till this day (the Olympic only came into service in 1911). The Mauretania had a top speed of 24 knots the Titanic and the Olympic could only achieve 21 knots. Olympic was more famous than the Titanic before she sank. The Titanic, was just another ship to the fleet, she did not have anything to prove as her sister ship The Olympic would of already achieved it if that was the case. .

[masterfarr]

If you think about it, not dying on his own ship is a fate worse than death

[markcurrell]

The answer is simple,
The man didn't want to die
Yes it would have been more noble to stay with the crew and help the women and children,
But just because he's the owner and just because he's a man doesn't make him any more or less human, just like anyone else, fear can overpower you if you let it.
In a life and death situation, you would hope that you will do everything you can to save your love ones over yourself,
But you will still be scared and wanting to save yourself as well

[davidgalyean]

From what I understand is that he survived the accident but some cursed passengers kept on moving everywhere he lives until he suffered a stroke in 1937 and passed away hence

[davidbaker]

People reported that J Bruce Ismay was ordered off the ship

[nealk]

Cameron should be sued for defamation of character for portraying ismay as a criminal.

[daviddavids]

I've never heard his voice Bruce Ismay
Lots of survivor voices and video
Bruce I have never heard nothing of his voice

[Floridacoastwriter]

Near the end of his life, Ismay told his sister-in-law that he had not jumped voluntarily into a boat but had been ordered into one by Chief Officer Wilde, who said that Ismay’s evidence would be needed at the forthcoming inquiry. Perhaps this was true, perhaps not. Ismay died in 1937 after an amputation on his leg. Marian Thayer never remarried and spent the rest of her life trying to contact her husband in the spirit world. She died in her bed on April 14, 1944. Her son Jack cut his throat and wrists the following year. When shame didn’t intrude on the survivors, guilt did. No one really survived the Titanic.

[thegrimreaper]

The people who call him a coward are the people who would be the first ones on the lifeboats

[michaelneel]

I just watched his great, great relative who had nothing to say but how great this man was ! He also said there was know one around when Ismay slipped into the life boat ? Really ? What about the 1500 other people standing on the deck ? I would love a few minutes with his idiot relative ( Just Saying ) I agree with who ever uploaded this video ...PS Thanks ...

[kzeich]

It's a great allegory. I think everybody would do something different in his position. Some would try for a spot, some would attempt bribe, some used their delicate wives as justification, some just sat there until the water consumed them, some panicked, etc... Makes me wonder what people would do today, if everything else was the same except the time period- how would modern Man handle the lifeboat situation. I guarantee women would not have had it as well if titanic hit the iceberg last spring. Men lost honor. Women lost prudence.