(Contributed by Laurie Smith)
Since Sid broached the subject of time travel and made me the central character of his exposition, I felt it only fair to write a short response.
Everybody wants to be part of something meaningful and grand, and the opportunity to experience a pivotal moment in history would be a huge temptation. Time-wise, the ill-fated journey of the Titanic is a brief event. Would I want to spend four days of my life immersed* in that world? Sure. Being a witness to the Hundred Years War? Not so much.
I figured that being a first class passenger would not only provide one with the best amenities that the White Star line had to offer, but also increase the odds of survival; namely because first class women and children were ushered into the lifeboats sooner rather than later on the night of April 14, 1912. As Sid pointed out though, I might not enjoy the experience – no modern conveniences, no hot stone spa massages and only weird food available (cucumber sandwiches, champagne, candied quail eggs, what have you)….rather than protein powder, chicken wraps and stir fried Chinese vegetables. I wouldn’t have my TRX or laptop with me, and the ship likely did not have a proper gym on board.
Dr. Robert Ballard spearheaded the first successful recovery efforts in 1985. Considering the “twonky” issue, what if I had brought my BlackBerry™ onto the Titanic with me and had kept it hidden, but had lost it when the ship sank? The salvage team in the mid 80s would have been almost as puzzled by it as the passengers from a century ago, had I brought it out at the Captain’s dinner table.
I firmly believe that time travel will forever remain in the realm of fantasy, despite its popularity as a topic in science fiction. H. G. Wells was onto something with his 1895 publication of The Time Machine. Far more possible is the future emergence of a Choose Your Own Adventure trip down memory lane, à la Total Recall. They actually had something like this in the 60s and 70s: back then it was called LSD.
- Laurie
* Mild pun intended
September 1st update: as it turns out, we are guilty of not performing due diligence in our research. The Titanic gym was located on the starboard side of the Boat deck, adjacent to the second funnel. Between the rowing machines, the stationary bikes, and whatever other pieces of steampunk exercise arcana were available, Laurie might be able to get an acceptable workout. In fact, it might be an unexpected bonus for her to have the opportunity to work out in a Victorian gym, just to see what state of the art was like a hundred years ago.
- Sid
Ahhh, but the question is, did the ship have trainers available? Or perhaps just one (single) trainer? If they did I bet it would have been a male trainer.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct: fitness-oriented passengers were trained by one Thomas W. McCawley, shown here:
ReplyDeletehttps://picasaweb.google.com/sid.plested/September32012#5783969455837902930
This picture of the gym shows a piece of cast-iron equipment not included in the one that I've already posted - some sort of early lat machine?
Sadly, Mr. McCawley was not one of the survivors of the voyage.
- Sid
Here is a fuller description of the onboard gym. Note the comment that most passengers probably didn't take it seriously, and the gender segregation.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.titanic-titanic.com/titanic_gymnasium.shtml
Perhaps the female passengers would have preferred a female trainer, although the occupation of "personal trainer" was probably not a female career choice a hundred years ago.
For that matter, I suspect that if Miss Smith had shown up at the gymnasium wearing the costume shown in the photo, Mr. McCawley would have promptly sent her back to her cabin so that she could put on something more appropriate. (ie, without such scandalous décolletage - or trousers, for that matter.)
ReplyDelete- Sid