Well, we may as well visit some little known facts. I mean, what the heck. Christmas is over. The stockings are no longer hung by the chimney with care. So. Let’s just kick back, put up our stockingless feet, and open up that last can of Honey-Roasted Almonds.
Yep. It is time for some little known facts.
The Titanic. Most of us know the story. Spoiler Alert if you don’t…. the ship sinks. At any rate, it went down in 1912. It wasn’t until September 1, 1985, that scientists, researchers, and explorers, finally found the ship. There it was, lying at the bottom of the ocean…. …. twitching. Apparently, it was a nervous wreck.
Well. You would be too, don’t you think? I mean, what an ordeal.
But here are some things that were happening, before the big boat went down.
West Virginia, and those who love fossil fuel would have loved the Titanic. The ship burned around 600 tons of coal…. each and every day it was motoring. Of course, all of that was hand shoveled into its really hot furnaces. There was a team of 176 men who took care of this task. I don’t think any women were on this crew. Of course, shoveling that much coal makes that much smoke and dirt into the environment. Almost 100 ton of ash were ejected into the sea each day. That’s some blackened fish, I’ll tell you.
But. A ship that big takes a lot of full-steam-ahead. We all know that the RMS Titanic was the world’s largest passenger ship when it entered service. It measured 882 feet in length, and was the largest man-made moving object on Earth. Three football fields…just about. That’s a lot of running around room for teams like the Dolphins, the Seahawks, and the Buccaneers.
And. Big boats need big anchors. It is said that twenty horses were required to carry the main anchor on land. It is a good thing they could just drop the sucker into the water and let it sink when they were at sea. Otherwise… that would have been a lot of swimming for 20 unlucky horses.
Oh. In case you were wondering… the largest passenger vessel is now the MS Allure of the Seas, at 1,187 feet. It is a Royal Caribbean ship.
For the wealthy, it was a majestic ride. Well… until the 14th of April…. 1912. Anyway… the interiors were loosely inspired by those at the Ritz hotel in London. And…. it had a gym, pool, Turkish bath, a kennel for first class dogs, and a squash court. I do love yellow squash. I eat it like crazy. I would have been on that court all day.
The Grand Staircase on board descended down seven of the ship’s 10 decks. That’s a big stinking staircase. It was all smitten with oak paneling, bronze cherubs and paintings. I bet if I wasn’t eating squash at the squash court, I would have been hanging out on the stairs.
Of course it was a very sad event when it sank. But here are just a couple more things that add to the despondency. There were 40,000 chicken eggs on board. In the ships provisions. This fact….. cut me deep.
There were also 13 couples who were Honeymooning. I think those weddings were… as they say… “Doomed from the Start.”
Finally. Good news. Bad news. There were two dogs who survived (lapdogs taken aboard lifeboats by their owners) One was a Pomeranian. The other was a Pekingese. The good news. Two dogs were saved . The bad news…… One was a Pomeranian. The other was a Pekingese.
Oh dang it. There it is. So as your day begins, I wish for you… a day… a LOT better than the Titanic. May you have smooth sailing, no icebergs… and plenty of chicken eggs. And not necessarily in that order.
“Each good morning we are born again, what we do today is what matters most.” -Buddha