The Titanic: It’s still down there, and we got to learn more about why it went down.
Notes from the August 3 meeting of
The Rotary Club of Clover Park
recorded by Tom McClellan
Our meeting was once again expertly set up by our crew of Mike Killen, David Cotant, and Tom Faubion who also served as our greeter. And President Becky Newton continued her unbroken string of on-time meeting starts.
Jeannie Hill got us into the mood of fellowship and service by sharing three inspirational thoughts:
1. As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen. - - - Winnie the Pooh
2. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - - - Lao Tzu
3. Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up. - - - James A. Garfield
We welcomed several guests to this meeting, including Phil Raschke, Wendy Huber, and Dr. Lonnie Lai, all of whom were guests of Bob Lawrence and had come to hear our guest speaker, Peter Cook. We also welcomed Connie Behe, a former Rotarian from Kalispell, Montana who is now in Tacoma, working for the Pierce County Library System, and looking for her new Rotary home.
Future Programs
Aug. 10 Brittany Gautschi, Tacoma Childrens Museum Program on JBLM
Aug. 17 Gretchen Caserotti, Pierce County Library System
Aug. 24 Kyle Crawford, Children’s Feeding Program at St Leo’s
Announcements
Jim Hairston noted that preparations are almost complete for the Aug. 6 Golf Tournament, with 116 golfers signed up, 31 sponsors, and about $22,000 received so far. More is expected to come on the day of the event through raffle ticket sales.
[Late Note: The Tournament went extremely well, and the catering by Pecos BBQ of Federal Way was very well received. Thanks to all of the Rotary volunteers who worked the event. Look for further details and recap at the Aug. 10 club meeting.]
There are 7 Rotarians who still owe their dues for this year. Please get that in ASAP.
President Becky did a check presentation to support the Lakewood Film Art Book Festival, https://lakewoodfestival.org/, which will be held at the McGavick Center Oct. 14-16. Bob Lawrence noted that on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 1300, there will be a screening of “A Night To Remember”, a 1958 film about the sinking of the Titanic, which will also have a longer presentation by today’s guest speaker Peter Cook.
Becky also read us a note from St. Leo’s Food Connection, thanking us for our donation. [ed. note: We will be hearing from Kyle Crawford on Aug. 24 about their childrens’ food program, and from Dawn Whitman on Nov. 2 about the other programs that St. Leo’s operates.]
Becky asked everyone to help out the City of Lakewood by completing a Lakewood Libraries Community Survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LakewoodLibraries22. And she mentioned that the City will host a Saturday Street Festival on Motor Avenue on Saturday, August 13, 4PM to 8:30PM. The theme of the evening is Jazz Night & Car Show. There will be three live performances from the Indigo Jazz band (4-5:30 p.m.), Obe Quarless Steel Plan Music (5:30-6:30 p.m.) and Michael Powers (6:30-8:30 p.m.). Come out for family fun activities, stroll the car show, grab a bite from the food trucks or listen to the music from the beer garden.
Save The Date: Rotary Summer BBQ, August 27, 4 to 8 PM at Tom McClellan’s house. Tom will grill various meats, you will bring side dishes and your preferred beverages. Bring the family, bring a swimsuit for a dip in Lake Louise. Further details coming soon.
Fun And Fines
Ed Trobaugh took heed of the pleadings from our guest speaker for a little bit of extra time for his presentation, and so Ed cut short the proceedings, making note of a Nye Owe You from Marie Barth, who was away and thus did not pay it off. He also reminded all August birthday and anniversary holders to get your celebratory contributions in this month. And just to make sure everyone knew that he is still on his game, he levied a $5 fine to all of Bob Lawrence’s guests.
This Week’s Program
Peter Cook is an historian and retired Army officer who has done extensive research into the history of the HMS Titanic. He presented some fascinating tidbits that were not included in the James Cameron movie.
One of the big reasons why the Titanic was built was the big wave of immigration to the U.S. that was happening in the early 20th century. Ellis Island had opened in 1892, 20 years before the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage.
At that time, the two big ocean liner firms were Cunard and White Star. Cunard had built the Lusitania and the Mauritania. White Star Line wanted a bigger ship to outdo Cunard, and so they built the Olympic, Titanic, and Gigantic (later changed to Brittanic). The Titanic cost $7.5 million to build, which equates to $229 million today. It had many first class amenities never seen on a ship before, including a heated pool, sauna, squash court, tailor shop, and electric lights. But it also had lots of space for passengers below decks.
Fares for the maiden voyage were as follows:
3rd Class: $15-40
2nd Class: $60
1st Class: $150
Suites: $4,420, which equates to $135,000 today
The Titanic departed Southampton on April 10, 1912, stopping in Cherbourg, France, and then another stop in Queenstown, Ireland before heading for New York. It sank 900 miles from its intended destination.
The ship held 2,240 passengers and crew, but only had 1,200 capacity in lifeboats. The designers wanted to have more deck space for the first class passengers to enjoy. 64 lifeboats were originally planned, but that was cut to 32 in the ships design, and then only 20 lifeboats were actually on board. Only 706 were saved, in part because several lifeboats were deployed without being full. Many 3rd class passengers never even made it up onto the decks.
The RMS Carpathia was 58 miles away and turned to respond. Titanic went down in the icy waters while Carpathia was still 2 hours away.
Titanic’s radio operators received 7 iceberg warnings from other ships, including the SS California which halted its engines because of the ice. Word of the icebergs did not get from the radiomen to the bridge.
As noted above, Peter Cook will be giving a more detailed presentation on Oct. 16 at the Lakewood Film Art Book Festival.
Raffle: The pot’s up to $375, with 18 cards and 1 Ace. Gretchen was not lucky enough to draw that ace.
And Finally…
Since we were hearing about a sunken ship, it is perhaps worth noting that many sunken boats are being found at the bottom of Lake Mead on the Colorado River, given how the western states’ drought is causing the water level to fall. And wherever there is a new discovery, sadly there are usually some seedy lawyers seeking to make a buck exploiting that.
