Followers

Monday, July 11, 2011

Magpie Tales 73: unthinkable, unsinkable

Benton — The People of Chilmar — 1920
Picture provided by Tess as inspiration for Magpie Tales 73.

The sinking of the RMS Titanic, by Henry Reuterdahl,
based on wireless description. (Wikipedia)

There was very little cooperation between passengers and crew, whether man, woman or child. Panic reigned, because the ship was said to be unsinkable. No one had thought of hitting an iceberg. No "iceberg drills" had been in place before the catastrophe. None had been deemed necessary by the White Star Line, or by its captain.
The water, of course, was unbearably cold, and anyone not in a lifeboat died almost immediately as a result of hypothermia.
The unthinkable had happened, as it continues to do today. Unthinkable, unspeakable, unbelievable, unbearable...all the words we throw around so carelessly until it is too late. Much too late.

Posted for Magpie Tales, hosted each week by Willow.
Thanks, Willow!
To see how the prompt picture inspired other writer-bloggers, please click HERE!

19 comments:

Maude Lynn said...

Well done!

sukipoet said...

interesting interpretation. you are the first i've read who acknowledges the boat and the sea.

Laurie Kolp said...

Great take on the prompt... sad situation...

FilipBlog said...

Very special painting from Benton, I like it. Very modern for his time.

Brian Miller said...

thanks for popping in today...and yes it does...but what will we do about it...

Kay said...

Great idea for this prompt, Kay.

Reflections said...

Great take... love the provocative depth to this one.

Lynette Killam said...

An excellent take on the prompt, Kay! When visiting my birth city four years ago, it was interesting to note that while there are over fifty museums/exhibits around the world featuring the Titanic, there was nothing in Belfast but an empty lot at the Harland and Wolff Shipyards from which she was launched....

This is my first time joining in with Magpie Tales. I can definitely be a little slow on the uptake...LOL!

Lynette

kaykuala said...

Yes, who could believe it. Touted as unsinkable the Titanic went down following a wrong turning? Whew!

Liz Rice-Sosne said...

Very interesting take on the painting. I enjoyed it!

Rinkly Rimes said...

It could certainly be a shipwreck; it has a definite feeling of disaster.

SquirrelQueen said...

Such a terrible tragedy. Great take on the prompt Kay.

Words A Day said...

very true.
(I really like the image of the titanic).

Tess Kincaid said...

Unique take on the prompt. Well done!

Isabel said...

love our take... great write

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Terrible tragedy - great write.

Anna :o]

chiccoreal said...

Kay: The "unbearable" words are always said after-the-fact. A disaster which never should have happened! Great read; a real chiller!

Sue J said...

Great Magpie. My godmother had relatives who went down with the Titanic.

Anonymous said...

Nicely written. Kind of makes me think of the Titanic. :o)