31 ms·

How to Escape a Sinking Ship

303 points by portobello 6y ago

secabeen 6y ago
Somewhat tongue in cheek, but still some good advice here: -- Know your surroundings, specifically where your exits are. The nearest exit may be behind you. -- Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it. -- Be where the well-connected people are, and look/act the part. Try to blend into the tribe, be a part of the group that's getting out. Obviously in a modern context, these guidelines don't apply. Ignoring the instructions of flight attendants in a plane evacuation will get you killed. They are trained to evac that plane in 90 seconds. They won't be able to do it if you still have your briefcase, or haven't taken off your shoes as requested.
- paleotrope 6y ago
  "Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it." I would say that in general, when a ship is in danger of sinking, hatches are closed and dogged off for a reason, usually to control flooding, so this is a really bad advice. On the other hand, when a hatch is secured, you usually can't open it from one side, so if you are on the side that can lock, you are probably better off looking for another door.
  - Spooky23 6y ago
    Whats bad for the whole might be better for you. People in the WTC were told to chill out, no worries, all is well. Screw that — if something hits the fan, I will gtfo.
    - s5300 6y ago
      I was in the Ritz-Carlson in DTLA last year for Anime expo. Waiting on the third floor for a convention with atleast 200 people just in that one smaller area, all of the sudden, a live voice came over the intercom with instructions to immediately evacuate the building, all but essential staff. In my mind it seemed as serious as if there was an active shooter somewhere. I was literally the only person in the group to fucking book it to a fire exit. Everybody else was just casually standing in line, like you seriously couldn't make up how serious they made the situation sound and how little just about everybody did to care. It was over in about 5 minutes, I never heard any explanation as to why it had happened aside from a rumour that somebody was vaping in the lobby and did not leave when asked to. And this is like, the biggest hotel in DTLA, during a massive convention. Not entirely relevant... but weird ass experience. People react to things strangely.
      - gear54rus 6y ago
        Don't know about you but in my country they test and test those system relentlessly so you get "boy who cried wolf" situation. Not sure how to avoid that.
        WalterBright 6y ago
        That's when you append "this is not a drill".
        bluGill 6y ago
        In my country they do the drills every year, the day - but not the time is announced in advanced. Everyone knows that they will be checking that everyone gets out, so we all leave and gather in our assigned locations and enjoy a paid break outside. They schedule these for good weather so getting outside is a nice break. This way people take it seriously, but don't panic. We know from experience that someone will be outside with a checklist to make sure we all leave. There are scientific practices behind the above. I suggest you get your country on board with those so that people take the alarm seriously.
      - tdeck 6y ago
        Once I was in the Newark Airport (never again, hopefully) when the fire alarm started going off. As I looked for an exit I noticed nobody was doing anything, and it continued to go off with at high volume with no announcement and no guidance from anyone for a full 20 minutes. I ended up staying because I didn't know what to do and didn't want to miss my flight.
      - 3pt14159 6y ago
        Very few people internalize the OODA loop. I've reacted fast in situations and it saved lives, but I wasn't born that way. I had trained for years as a kid in a program literally called Life Savers[0] which taught swimming in contexts where others are drowning, first aid including CPR, and how to react in situations like burning buildings and downed electrical lines. One of the first things they tell you is that untrained people react to chaos by freezing and that because most people are untrained this collective freeze is enforced by social pressure. So you need to point and yell in order to get people organized and moving. For example, when I was giving mouth-to-mouth to someone I pointed and yelled at one person to get me a medic and they just stared blankly back at me, so I pointed and yelled at the person standing next to them and he jumped into action. It takes focus and leadership, but it's vital during a crisis. [0] https://lifesaverscanada.com/ https://lifesaverscanada.com/
    - gregoriol 6y ago
      People in Grenfell tower in UK were also told to shelter in place, that sadly didn't work very well... Those procedures (plane evacuations, high-rises, ...) are designed for "best" conditions, when an emergency goes by the plan; but when something goes really wrong (plane breaks in two, huge building fire, ...), you better get out of there by any means.
  - JimTheMan 6y ago
    I remember being in Anson, when it was reported a Korean Ferry going to Jeju hit a rock and started taking on water. The captain reported on the radio," everyone stay put." and for the most part they did, even while the captain was escaping the ship. 299 people drowned that day, many of them the local school in Anson. I remember walking past the highschool that very night and seeing the crowd of the bereaved. If more of those people chose to disobey a very strange order on a ship, more would have lived. It's important to know when a situation has really become an emergency and normal rules like, "listen to the captain even if he doesn't make sense" stop applying. The earlier you are able to recognise that shit has hit the fan and enter emergency rule breaking mode the better. In everyday life, I definitely notice that people do not take say, fire alarm seriously and act quickly enough. Don't be a deer caught in the spotlight, forge your own path and take these things seriously your life may depend on it (even if its 1% chance that that alarm is a real one). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_MV_Sewol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_MV_Sewol
    - cyberlurker 6y ago
      I’m glad you brought it up but you are doing a great disservice to this tragedy by saying the ferry simply hit a rock. It was criminally overloaded. There were payoffs for inspections. The CEO had connections to the president and was found dead in a field. There is a lot more to it. And yes the kids stayed inside the ship, following orders until it was far too late. It still makes me sick.
      - JimTheMan 6y ago
        The link has all the detail in it. I probably should have reviewed, but I am remembering details from the day it happened years ago. For the purposes of keeping the lesson brief, I feel justified. If I remember correctly, he also tried took a shortcut too because he was running late...
    - tomc1985 6y ago
      I saw cellphone videos taken inside the ship when this happened. The kids were highspirited and jovial for the circumstances. It was really creepy to watch
- Schweigi 6y ago
  There is a good book [1], which dives into why some people survive while others don't. One of the main takeaways is to break the rules if required. The other takeaway is to follow your instinct (like a child would). [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VVMN5J2 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VVMN5J2
  - DennisP 6y ago
    I've read that book a couple times, it's fantastic. I gave a copy to my brother, a Navy officer, and he agreed.
  - gfxgirl 6y ago
    Follow your instinct like a child would? Every child I know would just freeze and cry for mom.
    - foerbert 6y ago
      I don't think they mean to try to anticipate the instincts of a child and act accordingly, but rather that children will be more likely to just do whatever seems right to them, rather than paying so much attention to social conventions and normal-situation rules.
    - dheera 6y ago
      More like follow your instinct like a cat would.
      - _Microft 6y ago
        You mean ... tensing up and inching closer to the perceived threat? ;)
        tobyhinloopen 6y ago
        Or just sitting down on the middle of the street staring at a car’s bumper while the car is honking. It’s a wonder my cat is still alive.
- bsanr2 6y ago
  When Titanic aired on broadcast TV earlier this year, I was struck by the horror of the situation in a way I hadn't been when it first came out (my being 7-years-old at the time might have something to do with that, of course). I came to similar conclusions at the time: situational awareness (especially listening to what the people around you are saying and reading between the lines), willingness to break rules, willingness to fall in line, humility and thoughtfulness enough to know when to do which. Also, an understanding that rich people will cause catastrophic failure and skate out scot-free; accept that, yes, in their hubris, they did do the unthinkable and now your little corner of the world is headed towards oblivion. Get out. 9/11 also comes to mind. The people who got out were lucky enough to be on lower floors and realized that none of the assurances held water. They ignored shelter-in-place orders and left.
  - hef19898 6y ago
    I wouldn't draw much conclusions from a true disaster over 100 years ago (in which case the evacuation itself wasn't as bad, given the total lack of safety procedures and the timing) and a case in which nobody believed the buildings would go down. In both cases, rules have been revised, e.g. the closed doors between classes on the Titanic are not a thing anymore.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - bsanr2 6y ago
      I think the point is to realize that the unthinkable could be happening to you. We don't know until we know, and by then it may be too late.
  - dan_hawkins 6y ago
    I've read in one of the 9/11 anniversary articles that majority of the people that survived from 2 WTC were the ones occupying offices with the windows facing 1 WTC where you could witness constant barrage of jumpers. Many of them mentioned that when they saw them something instinctively pushed them to get away from the place.
- drdeadringer 6y ago
  Around 2015 or so I audiobook'd the book "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why" by Amanda Ripley [2009]. This book covers similar topics that you do in your comment. One is from a chief security employee in the Twin Towers, along the lines of "Never run to the roof". Which he did to try to save more people, which IIRC he didn't//couldn't. In other related stories, taking note of emergency exists whilst boarding an airplane [and similar for other folks in similar situations] noted out better survival over others. "Triangle crowding" at exits is also mentioned, which is partly why folks in charge scream "single file! walk do not run" at you as everyone rushes for the door to escape. The distinction is also made between "flight" and "fight" and the often left-out "freeze" response to in-time disaster. I found it a worth-while read.
- vmh1928 6y ago
  Like when people in the WTC were told to stay put. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/16/september11.usa3 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/16/september11.us...
- smogcutter 6y ago
  >Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it. I learned this lesson on 9/11, as a high school student in lower Manhattan. We were told to sit in our homerooms and wait, while smoke (and god knows what else) enveloped the building. Eventually we were shuffled out of the building and told to keep going north, left entirely to our own devices. I completely understand their reaction, but that doesn’t make it a good one. The authorities don’t necessarily know any more than you do. Their interest in maintaining order is not necessarily aligned with your interest in your own safety. When the shit hits the fan, don’t wait for permission to protect yourself. [obviously this is situational. I’m not advocating climbing over others to be first out the plane or etc]
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    Someone I knows knows someone who worked in the second WTC building to be hit. After the first strike, their employer's plan was for everyone to stay in place, but they got the heck out of there. Saved their life.
    - mrslave 6y ago
      I saw a man interviewed on TV who was in a very similar situation. He just figured to get out even though there was no real understanding of what had happened to the first tower or knowledge of a threat to the second. The manager gave stay put and calm instructions while we wait for more information, and he just thought to leave via the fire escape stairwell and take the rest of the day off. Amazing.
  - orev 6y ago
    In a situation like that, you only have a choice between really bad options. If everyone ran for the door, people would likely have been hurt or killed due to trampling. If everyone panics, you are guaranteed to have a bad outcome. In your case, staying in place might have allowed the dust to (literally) settle by the time you left the building. Obviously the people in the 2nd tower had a different outcome.
- rapnie 6y ago
  What I found really disturbing is the 'flight or fright' reaction of people that find themselves in these life or death situations. We all think we will act to save our lives, acting rationally, but apparently there's many people that just freeze in shock, unable to move or do anything even when their lives depend on it. Think I first saw this in a sunken ferry disaster movie, based on real events, where the family says to the son something like "You go, boy", while they stayed to drown with the ship. Really scary.
- trhway 6y ago
  That is very well applies to the situation when a a societal ship sinks, like say collapse of USSR and the socialist system. Probably also applies in the context of civil wars, ethnic conflicts, etc.
- rob74 6y ago
  Ignoring the instructions of flight attendants will allow you to get out with your briefcase, but may get others killed. That's the real issue - sacrificing something to help others. As we have seen during the last year, some are not even willing to put up with the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask (which they inflate with horror stories to rationalize it) to help others, so forgive me if I sound cynical...
- kstenerud 6y ago
  The most important guideline is: Know the safety rules better than the staff, and know WHY those safety rules are in place. Staff are people, and people do stupid things all the time. Unless you know why the rules exist, you're likely to make things worse by disregarding them, and you're guaranteed to amplify any staff screw-ups by following their instructions blindly.
- JetSetWilly 6y ago
  > Obviously in a modern context, these guidelines don't apply. That's not always true. Look at the Grenfell Tower fire in London. The official advice was for residents to stay in their flats, not panic, and definitely not rush out the building. But of course that was completely the wrong advice and it was much better to follow your instincts and get out than to stay put.
- Aeolun 6y ago
  > They won't be able to do it if you still have your briefcase, or haven't taken off your shoes as requested. I strongly believe the training to get the plane evacuated in 90 seconds includes a bunch of people doing exactly this.
  - dxdm 6y ago
    Better to train realistic scenarios, and there will always people who do unhelpful things. Doesn't mean you should feel free to add yourself to that list. :)
- raldi 6y ago
  I once read an article about a guy who repeatedly managed to sneak into places at sporting events he shouldn't be: Down on the field to celebrate with the players that just won the championship, onto the press or VIP-suite level, even into locker rooms. He basically just did what you describe above.
vmh1928 6y ago
Too bad the author didn't discuss how to make a raft from deck chairs. Always bring 50' of para cord and a compliant knife. Perhaps a discussion of what sort of non-obvious cutting instrument would be good to bring. Nail clippers? A plastic knife with a ceramic edge? Like one of these: https://www.osograndeknives.com/catalog/fixed-blade-non-detectable-knives-32-1.html https://www.osograndeknives.com/catalog/fixed-blade-non-dete...
- jschwartzi 6y ago
  I would add a marine survival/immersion suit to the list as well.
- hef19898 6y ago
  As ships are now carrying more life boats, life rafts and vests than passengers it would be better to know where these things are. That being said, I prefer being on deck anyway. Not for safety, but for the view.
- bluGill 6y ago
  I'd hate to spend time making a raft from deck chairs that don't float.
neonate 6y ago
https://archive.is/MjX9y https://archive.is/MjX9y
- melling 6y ago
  Failed the “I’m am not a robot” test.
Thrymr 6y ago
I really expected this to be metaphorical from the title. And not just any sinking ship, but the most famous sinking ship in history. Fascinating, but hard to generalize!
hombre_fatal 6y ago
I was about to scroll past this submission when I had a sudden attack of superstition that, if I don't read it, I will eventually find myself on a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean and curse myself for not reading the damn HN article.
- acwan93 6y ago
  It's like when you're studying for a test and fail to study that one topic cause you think it's never gonna show up, only to find that not only did it show up, it ended up being 20% of the entire test.
  - Waterluvian 6y ago
    Oh wow I do not miss school.
- bluGill 6y ago
  There are some things you should study even though you will never need it. Getting out in a fire, first aid/CPR, earthquake procedures... You need to know these well just in case.
moioci 6y ago
"Up and out." Nothing to do with Titanic, but based on reading disaster articles on Wikipedia, my advice is, if a ship you are on takes on a noticeable list, get to the high side immediately. If the list worsens, get outside on the deck. Beyond a certain point, a list has a way of accelerating, and interior corridors become canyons and floors become walls, dooming everyone on the low side.
- chiph 6y ago
  Benji Smith, who used to hang out on Joel's software forum, was on the Costa Concordia with his new wife when it ran aground and sank. Being on the high-side of the ship helped them survive, using a rope they found to climb down the hull. Getting to the deck before the corridors became impassible because of the list was critical. > Then, an empty wine bottle started to move, creeping inch by inch toward the edge of the table as though possessed by a tiny, timid ghost. When it reached the precipice, it hesitated for a moment of contemplation and then tipped over the edge, thumping down on the carpet and rolling under the bed. https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Ship-intimate-Concordia-shipwreck-dp-1481285939/dp/1481285939 https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Ship-intimate-Concordia-shi...
  - Sebguer 6y ago
    Not to diminish the tragedy, but only 27 of the over 3,000 passengers died, so the odds were pretty strongly in their favor.
  - justinclift 6y ago
    From looking at the Wikipedia article on the Costa Concordia, 99% of the people on board survived. That sounds like, in this instance, no special skill(s) nor awareness were really needed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster
- themodelplumber 6y ago
  Moving from the relatively comfortable interior and heading to the high side, out in the elements, can be a pretty terrifying feeling. IMO one wants to resist it. The feeling of moving toward exposure on the outside feels kind of wrong. I only experienced it once but it was enough for a lifetime.
dbt00 6y ago
Seems like the safest thing to do would be to wait until the ship is about to go down, then activate your time machine and return from whence you came...
- jacobush 6y ago
  I can't. Nobody goes home. Nobody else comes through. It's just him - and me.
bra-ket 6y ago
clickbait title, the author only describes how to escape Titanic in 1912 if you happen to have a time machine and a cheap ticket to lower deck. This advice doesn't generalize well.
- nostromo 6y ago
  Does every thread need a complaint about the article title? Titles are supposed to pique your interest. That's about it. And "How to Escape a Sinking Ship" is a much better title than yours.
  - bra-ket 6y ago
    it was a joke.
  - lovehashbrowns 6y ago
    Complaints about click-bait titles have gotten far more annoying than click-bait titles, at least for me. This article was worth a read, regardless of its title.
- TheCoelacanth 6y ago
  God forbid that a title be evocative instead of a 100% literal description of the contents. It's not like title is "11 surprising ways to escape a sinking ship" or "10 things you need to do if you're stuck on a sinking ship" or "You won't believe how this man escaped from a sinking ship".
rational_indian 6y ago
Hair raising. Thoroughly enjoyed reading the article. Now someone needs to make this into a game :)
cmdshiftf4 6y ago
Step 1. Don't be a man Step 2. Don't be poor. 97% of First Class women and 87% of female crew members survived the sinking of the Titanic. https://www.anesi.com/titanic.htm https://www.anesi.com/titanic.htm
- jacobush 6y ago
  Step 1 don’t be poor. (Most poor died by default.) Step 2 don’t be a man.
  - djitz 6y ago
    Step 3 steal a child’s clothing and hope it fits
  - rossdavidh 6y ago
    According to the resource linked to, third class women had a higher survival rate than first class men. Not that it would necessarily turn out that way now.
    - 542354234235 6y ago
      > Not that it would necessarily turn out that way now. I doubt it would, and that is a good thing. The whole “women and children” thing was part of the whole “women are weak creatures that need to be looked after and protected like children” mentality.
      - Igelau 6y ago
        I thought it was more of a "protect the future" sentiment. It's probably shades of both.
      - rossdavidh 6y ago
        I doubt that very many of the women passengers on board the Titanic were objecting to the chauvinism inherent in "women and children first". In time of life-or-death crisis, if you don't have a "women and children first" ethic, you will most likely have an "every man for himself" attitude, in which case you will end up with a very male-favorable survival rate, as bigger and yes physically stronger men shove women and children out of the way to get to the lifeboats.
dredmorbius 6y ago
For a more generalisable solution: - Pick a ship with robust safety measures, procedures, and equipment, sailing in favourable conditions, if at all possible. - Rehearse evacuation. Drilling and mentally noting escape routes and pitfalls makes successful performance during an actual emergency the more likely. - Maintain situational awareness. Things can go pear-shaped remarkably quickly. Numerours modern shipping disasters have transpired in a few minutes, or less. (Edmund Fitzgerald, Costa Concordia, MV Sewol, Estonia, El Faaro, ...) Size alone is no guarantee at all of safety, and can work catastrophically against you if below-decks. - Easier said than done: avoid panicking, and avoid both panicky and oblivious people. If you're good at keeping a clear head and useful goal focus during crisis, so much the better. Even if you do, others panicking or ignoring clear dangeer can kill you (usually along with themselves). The aspect of Titanic dramatisations I've found most compelling is noting who realises when that the ship is in fact doomed, and how they respond. Some early, some late, some never, some quietly, some loudly, some selflessly, some selfishly. Once off the stricken vessel, survival depends on keeping your head above water, literally, and remainung uninjured, warm, dry (generally), hydrated and fed (if rescue is not immediate), healthy, and rescued or returned to hospitable land. Survival even in very cold water is generally not an immediate threat. Drowning, injury from falling debris or flotsam, and hyperthermia are the most immediate risks. Past a day or so, hydration, food, and exposure become more critical. Shipwreck survivors have lasted months on rations, fish, and rainwater, in instances. Signalling your location or attracting attention through orange equipment (many rescue evacuation craft, survival suits, life jackets), flags, flares, beacons, strobes, radio locators, mirrors, or fires (avoid burning your craft), etc., help.
- x3iv130f 6y ago
  "avoid both panicky and oblivious people" That piece of advice can be generalized to any survival situation.
  - dredmorbius 6y ago
    Much of the advice can be. Those around you contribute directly to your own survival, both positively and negatively. The case of the Sewol involved both poor response by crew and possibly excess complaisance by passengers (as reported in media). Footage from onboard. Those shown and recording would be among the 304 souls lost. https://youtube.com/watch?v=MkyFbcnIQV4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=MkyFbcnIQV4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Qq4jVt-U0U https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Qq4jVt-U0U https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Sewol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Sewol
devsatish 6y ago
Sigh. Thought it's an article about getting off from a start-up/business that's sinking; not literally the Titanic itself. Amusing but well written, triggered some flashes of Titanic movie while reading it though.
dsohn0 6y ago
Am I the only person who finds this article written in an annoying way? It's almost like 2 mediocre articles forced into a single one
tartoran 6y ago
How to survive sinking a ship and then freeze to death while watching it sink nearby.
mauvehaus 6y ago
The Atlantic'a piece about the sinking of the ferry Estonia contains some interesting pieces of information for anybody who might like to survive a sinking in the future. It might also put you off getting on ships. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-story/302940/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-s...
- claviska 6y ago
  This was an incredible piece of writing. Thanks for posting the link!
- echelon 6y ago
  I love vivid, harrowing writing like this. Despite seeing James Cameron's Titanic, I never pictured the ships themselves as being such an obstacle to survival. This makes it feel so real. It's haunting. Do you have anything more like this?
  - zaarn 6y ago
    If you can accept Planes instead of Ships, Mayday is a good show that guides on through the accident investigations of plane crashes (from a short video of the crash with details removed, through the investigation process and then finally a short section on the recommendations issued)
    - goodcanadian 6y ago
      It is the same show, but it has different names: Air Crash Investigation Also (according to Wikipedia): Air Emergency (National Geographic Channel, U.S.) Air Disasters (Smithsonian Channel, U.S.) Mayday: Air Disaster (Weather Channel, U.S.)
      - zaarn 6y ago
        My TV Organizer names it Mayday, hence I use that name.
georgiecasey 6y ago
I never plan to be on a ship so I don't need this advice. But I've watched countless videos on how to escape a sinking car.
unnouinceput 6y ago
This reads like a walkthrough for a game. Should be made into one, perhaps having Easter eggs with Leonardo (punching him would be so satisfactory) while you escape to safety.
- tbihl 6y ago
  It actually was one. I remember playing as a young kid on a Windows 95 PC. I never got the grasp of the game mechanics or shuffled the right items to the right places. I always ended up either drowning or getting murdered. There were two guys who would kill you: a Russian named Vlad who would find you in the ship if you stole the diamond necklace, and a guy whose name escapes me, who would kill you with a pipe in the boiler room (can't remember why). I think it had suffered death by incompatibility by the time I tried to revisit in ~Windows 7 days. Edited to add wiki link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic:_Adventure_Out_of_Time https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic:_Adventure_Out_of_Ti...
pabs3 6y ago
That sounded like the description of a game.
flashgordon 6y ago
For some wierd reason I was thinking it would be about escaping a company that was in disarray!
- pfarrell 6y ago
  Step 1: don’t burn bridges. Even in Silicon Valley, you are likely work with these people again. Step 2: make sure you have contact info for the best and brightest and they have yours Step 3: contact any recent people who left. They may be hiring at their new gig Step 4: make sure you have submitted all your reimbursable expenses Step 5: if the company starts to list, get to the high side, fast. (Couldn’t resist :)
  - Scoundreller 6y ago
    Step somewhere: get all your dental work done, a new pair of glasses and as much prescription meds as you can.
    - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
      And vote for the politicians who want to pull the country into this century when it comes to medical expenses and policies. Mind you, my dental work is only covered up until €500 a year, glasses are entirely my own expense (you can get a tiny amount from health insurance, but only once every three years, and you need to take out premium insurance to be eligible), and prescription meds vary; anything off the pre-approved list require you to pay the difference.
aaron695 6y ago
"How to Escape a Sinking Ship and Live" Jump off your small boat. Teach your kids previously to swim well and learn to remove their clothing while in the water and all the other techniques of water safety like treading and floating. Have life jackets and EPIRB etc. For the unlikely chance it's a big ship, it's probably a ferry in a developing country. Again, escape is probably not as important as what to do after jumping off. For the very unlikely chance you are deep in the bowels of a ship. It's normal escape procedure. Follow instructions If you want to beat follow instructions, you are training for a very unlikely event but it would go to other case studies, you need to break with pre-trained ideas. For instance in one fire most people died because they delayed to pay for their meal. But then there's plenty more stories of people doing runners after false alarms. So you might survive that one in 100,000 event, but at what cost.
petkeviciuz 6y ago
For anyone interested in more modern days example, you can check up Kevin Escoffier and his miraculous escape (I think it was ±2 minutes between his boat splitting in a half and him entering rescue craft) during vendee globe race. Link for more info: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/dramatic-rescue-unfolds-after-15ft-wave-sinks-vend%C3%A9e-globe-yachtsman-1.4426855 https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/dramatic-rescu...
dogukanadiguzel 6y ago
There are some stuff to consider for titanic. 97% of female vip class survived. Also 87% of female crew members survived. Don't try to be hero just because you are a male.
os7borne 6y ago
Opened the link thinking the article was about how to move on from a company that's probably going to shut soon. Learned something nonetheless.
- aerosmile 6y ago
  That would actually be a really useful article - most of us have been in that boat at some point in our careers.
- Igelau 6y ago
  I thought it was going to be about cutting ties with a political party.
elric 6y ago
Drowning is not a pleasant way to die. I drowned as a child and lived to tell the tale, but it's not an experience I would not recommend. At all. If you've determined that you won't survive your shipwreck, you might want to consider a faster way to die.
- cambalache 6y ago
  What about burning? is it nice instead?
- elric 6y ago
  > but it's not an experience I would not recommend That was obviously a typo. Too late to edit.
ajnin 6y ago
Should have been titled "How to escape the Titanic using your seer git to know everything that's going to happen down to the minute (in which case you probably wouldn't have boarded the ship at all)". But interesting anyway.
- Igelau 6y ago
  And yet your odds are still pretty bad!
Igelau 6y ago
I would have drowned trying to assemble the tuxedo without internet. It's probably white tie, so that's assuming I don't accidentally smother myself with the bib or get my tails caught in something.
candu 6y ago
I was curious how realistic the advice to dress in your finest would be, so... In the US, at least, union wages would have brought in $20-30 or so per week. [1] Looking through [2], you could get a whole gentleman's outfit for roughly $50 or so. Even still, you'd be spending 2-3 weeks' wages on a single set of clothing - not to mention that you'd need somewhere to store all that, and you'd probably also need additional stuff to maintain it so that it looked half-presentable for your daring escape. It's much more likely that, as someone in steerage, even your "finest" wouldn't have passed muster for the keenly class-conscious Brits on the upper decks. The fabrics and cuts would be different, you'd be missing fashionable accessories and key pieces of the outfit, nothing would be tailored, and everything would be in worse wear. (Not to mention your lower-class accent and diction would likely give you away, unless you'd somehow had the benefit of a pricey elocution tutor.) [1] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/union-scale-wages-hours-labor-3912/union-scale-wages-hours-labor-may-15-1913-476866?start_page=79 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/union-scale-wages-hours-... [2] https://vintagedancer.com/1900s/edwardian-1910s-historical-mens-fashion-and-clothing-an-overview/ https://vintagedancer.com/1900s/edwardian-1910s-historical-m...
- igneo676 6y ago
  Sure, you're not going to look the part of an upper class individual. The important part is to look as little out-of-place in the middle of a rush to the lifeboats as you possibly can. Nobody is watching THAT closely.
ojhughes 6y ago
My initial thought was this was an article about emmigrating from the UK to escape the impending carnage of Brexit

303 points by portobello 6y ago

Somewhat tongue in cheek, but still some good advice here: -- Know your surroundings, specifically where your exits are. The nearest exit may be behind you. -- Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it. -- Be where the well-connected people are, and look/act the part. Try to blend into the tribe, be a part of the group that's getting out. Obviously in a modern context, these guidelines don't apply. Ignoring the instructions of flight attendants in a plane evacuation will get you killed. They are trained to evac that plane in 90 seconds. They won't be able to do it if you still have your briefcase, or haven't taken off your shoes as requested.

paleotrope 6y ago
"Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it." I would say that in general, when a ship is in danger of sinking, hatches are closed and dogged off for a reason, usually to control flooding, so this is a really bad advice. On the other hand, when a hatch is secured, you usually can't open it from one side, so if you are on the side that can lock, you are probably better off looking for another door.
- Spooky23 6y ago
  Whats bad for the whole might be better for you. People in the WTC were told to chill out, no worries, all is well. Screw that — if something hits the fan, I will gtfo.
  - s5300 6y ago
    I was in the Ritz-Carlson in DTLA last year for Anime expo. Waiting on the third floor for a convention with atleast 200 people just in that one smaller area, all of the sudden, a live voice came over the intercom with instructions to immediately evacuate the building, all but essential staff. In my mind it seemed as serious as if there was an active shooter somewhere. I was literally the only person in the group to fucking book it to a fire exit. Everybody else was just casually standing in line, like you seriously couldn't make up how serious they made the situation sound and how little just about everybody did to care. It was over in about 5 minutes, I never heard any explanation as to why it had happened aside from a rumour that somebody was vaping in the lobby and did not leave when asked to. And this is like, the biggest hotel in DTLA, during a massive convention. Not entirely relevant... but weird ass experience. People react to things strangely.
    - gear54rus 6y ago
      Don't know about you but in my country they test and test those system relentlessly so you get "boy who cried wolf" situation. Not sure how to avoid that.
      - WalterBright 6y ago
        That's when you append "this is not a drill".
      - bluGill 6y ago
        In my country they do the drills every year, the day - but not the time is announced in advanced. Everyone knows that they will be checking that everyone gets out, so we all leave and gather in our assigned locations and enjoy a paid break outside. They schedule these for good weather so getting outside is a nice break. This way people take it seriously, but don't panic. We know from experience that someone will be outside with a checklist to make sure we all leave. There are scientific practices behind the above. I suggest you get your country on board with those so that people take the alarm seriously.
    - tdeck 6y ago
      Once I was in the Newark Airport (never again, hopefully) when the fire alarm started going off. As I looked for an exit I noticed nobody was doing anything, and it continued to go off with at high volume with no announcement and no guidance from anyone for a full 20 minutes. I ended up staying because I didn't know what to do and didn't want to miss my flight.
    - 3pt14159 6y ago
      Very few people internalize the OODA loop. I've reacted fast in situations and it saved lives, but I wasn't born that way. I had trained for years as a kid in a program literally called Life Savers[0] which taught swimming in contexts where others are drowning, first aid including CPR, and how to react in situations like burning buildings and downed electrical lines. One of the first things they tell you is that untrained people react to chaos by freezing and that because most people are untrained this collective freeze is enforced by social pressure. So you need to point and yell in order to get people organized and moving. For example, when I was giving mouth-to-mouth to someone I pointed and yelled at one person to get me a medic and they just stared blankly back at me, so I pointed and yelled at the person standing next to them and he jumped into action. It takes focus and leadership, but it's vital during a crisis. [0] https://lifesaverscanada.com/ https://lifesaverscanada.com/
  - gregoriol 6y ago
    People in Grenfell tower in UK were also told to shelter in place, that sadly didn't work very well... Those procedures (plane evacuations, high-rises, ...) are designed for "best" conditions, when an emergency goes by the plan; but when something goes really wrong (plane breaks in two, huge building fire, ...), you better get out of there by any means.
- JimTheMan 6y ago
  I remember being in Anson, when it was reported a Korean Ferry going to Jeju hit a rock and started taking on water. The captain reported on the radio," everyone stay put." and for the most part they did, even while the captain was escaping the ship. 299 people drowned that day, many of them the local school in Anson. I remember walking past the highschool that very night and seeing the crowd of the bereaved. If more of those people chose to disobey a very strange order on a ship, more would have lived. It's important to know when a situation has really become an emergency and normal rules like, "listen to the captain even if he doesn't make sense" stop applying. The earlier you are able to recognise that shit has hit the fan and enter emergency rule breaking mode the better. In everyday life, I definitely notice that people do not take say, fire alarm seriously and act quickly enough. Don't be a deer caught in the spotlight, forge your own path and take these things seriously your life may depend on it (even if its 1% chance that that alarm is a real one). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_MV_Sewol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_MV_Sewol
  - cyberlurker 6y ago
    I’m glad you brought it up but you are doing a great disservice to this tragedy by saying the ferry simply hit a rock. It was criminally overloaded. There were payoffs for inspections. The CEO had connections to the president and was found dead in a field. There is a lot more to it. And yes the kids stayed inside the ship, following orders until it was far too late. It still makes me sick.
    - JimTheMan 6y ago
      The link has all the detail in it. I probably should have reviewed, but I am remembering details from the day it happened years ago. For the purposes of keeping the lesson brief, I feel justified. If I remember correctly, he also tried took a shortcut too because he was running late...
  - tomc1985 6y ago
    I saw cellphone videos taken inside the ship when this happened. The kids were highspirited and jovial for the circumstances. It was really creepy to watch
Schweigi 6y ago
There is a good book [1], which dives into why some people survive while others don't. One of the main takeaways is to break the rules if required. The other takeaway is to follow your instinct (like a child would). [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VVMN5J2 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VVMN5J2
- DennisP 6y ago
  I've read that book a couple times, it's fantastic. I gave a copy to my brother, a Navy officer, and he agreed.
- gfxgirl 6y ago
  Follow your instinct like a child would? Every child I know would just freeze and cry for mom.
  - foerbert 6y ago
    I don't think they mean to try to anticipate the instincts of a child and act accordingly, but rather that children will be more likely to just do whatever seems right to them, rather than paying so much attention to social conventions and normal-situation rules.
  - dheera 6y ago
    More like follow your instinct like a cat would.
    - _Microft 6y ago
      You mean ... tensing up and inching closer to the perceived threat? ;)
      - tobyhinloopen 6y ago
        Or just sitting down on the middle of the street staring at a car’s bumper while the car is honking. It’s a wonder my cat is still alive.
bsanr2 6y ago
When Titanic aired on broadcast TV earlier this year, I was struck by the horror of the situation in a way I hadn't been when it first came out (my being 7-years-old at the time might have something to do with that, of course). I came to similar conclusions at the time: situational awareness (especially listening to what the people around you are saying and reading between the lines), willingness to break rules, willingness to fall in line, humility and thoughtfulness enough to know when to do which. Also, an understanding that rich people will cause catastrophic failure and skate out scot-free; accept that, yes, in their hubris, they did do the unthinkable and now your little corner of the world is headed towards oblivion. Get out. 9/11 also comes to mind. The people who got out were lucky enough to be on lower floors and realized that none of the assurances held water. They ignored shelter-in-place orders and left.
- hef19898 6y ago
  I wouldn't draw much conclusions from a true disaster over 100 years ago (in which case the evacuation itself wasn't as bad, given the total lack of safety procedures and the timing) and a case in which nobody believed the buildings would go down. In both cases, rules have been revised, e.g. the closed doors between classes on the Titanic are not a thing anymore.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - bsanr2 6y ago
    I think the point is to realize that the unthinkable could be happening to you. We don't know until we know, and by then it may be too late.
- dan_hawkins 6y ago
  I've read in one of the 9/11 anniversary articles that majority of the people that survived from 2 WTC were the ones occupying offices with the windows facing 1 WTC where you could witness constant barrage of jumpers. Many of them mentioned that when they saw them something instinctively pushed them to get away from the place.
drdeadringer 6y ago
Around 2015 or so I audiobook'd the book "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why" by Amanda Ripley [2009]. This book covers similar topics that you do in your comment. One is from a chief security employee in the Twin Towers, along the lines of "Never run to the roof". Which he did to try to save more people, which IIRC he didn't//couldn't. In other related stories, taking note of emergency exists whilst boarding an airplane [and similar for other folks in similar situations] noted out better survival over others. "Triangle crowding" at exits is also mentioned, which is partly why folks in charge scream "single file! walk do not run" at you as everyone rushes for the door to escape. The distinction is also made between "flight" and "fight" and the often left-out "freeze" response to in-time disaster. I found it a worth-while read.
vmh1928 6y ago
Like when people in the WTC were told to stay put. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/16/september11.usa3 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/16/september11.us...
smogcutter 6y ago
>Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it. I learned this lesson on 9/11, as a high school student in lower Manhattan. We were told to sit in our homerooms and wait, while smoke (and god knows what else) enveloped the building. Eventually we were shuffled out of the building and told to keep going north, left entirely to our own devices. I completely understand their reaction, but that doesn’t make it a good one. The authorities don’t necessarily know any more than you do. Their interest in maintaining order is not necessarily aligned with your interest in your own safety. When the shit hits the fan, don’t wait for permission to protect yourself. [obviously this is situational. I’m not advocating climbing over others to be first out the plane or etc]
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  Someone I knows knows someone who worked in the second WTC building to be hit. After the first strike, their employer's plan was for everyone to stay in place, but they got the heck out of there. Saved their life.
  - mrslave 6y ago
    I saw a man interviewed on TV who was in a very similar situation. He just figured to get out even though there was no real understanding of what had happened to the first tower or knowledge of a threat to the second. The manager gave stay put and calm instructions while we wait for more information, and he just thought to leave via the fire escape stairwell and take the rest of the day off. Amazing.
- orev 6y ago
  In a situation like that, you only have a choice between really bad options. If everyone ran for the door, people would likely have been hurt or killed due to trampling. If everyone panics, you are guaranteed to have a bad outcome. In your case, staying in place might have allowed the dust to (literally) settle by the time you left the building. Obviously the people in the 2nd tower had a different outcome.
rapnie 6y ago
What I found really disturbing is the 'flight or fright' reaction of people that find themselves in these life or death situations. We all think we will act to save our lives, acting rationally, but apparently there's many people that just freeze in shock, unable to move or do anything even when their lives depend on it. Think I first saw this in a sunken ferry disaster movie, based on real events, where the family says to the son something like "You go, boy", while they stayed to drown with the ship. Really scary.
trhway 6y ago
That is very well applies to the situation when a a societal ship sinks, like say collapse of USSR and the socialist system. Probably also applies in the context of civil wars, ethnic conflicts, etc.
rob74 6y ago
Ignoring the instructions of flight attendants will allow you to get out with your briefcase, but may get others killed. That's the real issue - sacrificing something to help others. As we have seen during the last year, some are not even willing to put up with the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask (which they inflate with horror stories to rationalize it) to help others, so forgive me if I sound cynical...
kstenerud 6y ago
The most important guideline is: Know the safety rules better than the staff, and know WHY those safety rules are in place. Staff are people, and people do stupid things all the time. Unless you know why the rules exist, you're likely to make things worse by disregarding them, and you're guaranteed to amplify any staff screw-ups by following their instructions blindly.
JetSetWilly 6y ago
> Obviously in a modern context, these guidelines don't apply. That's not always true. Look at the Grenfell Tower fire in London. The official advice was for residents to stay in their flats, not panic, and definitely not rush out the building. But of course that was completely the wrong advice and it was much better to follow your instincts and get out than to stay put.
Aeolun 6y ago
> They won't be able to do it if you still have your briefcase, or haven't taken off your shoes as requested. I strongly believe the training to get the plane evacuated in 90 seconds includes a bunch of people doing exactly this.
- dxdm 6y ago
  Better to train realistic scenarios, and there will always people who do unhelpful things. Doesn't mean you should feel free to add yourself to that list. :)
raldi 6y ago
I once read an article about a guy who repeatedly managed to sneak into places at sporting events he shouldn't be: Down on the field to celebrate with the players that just won the championship, onto the press or VIP-suite level, even into locker rooms. He basically just did what you describe above.

vmh1928 6y ago

Too bad the author didn't discuss how to make a raft from deck chairs. Always bring 50' of para cord and a compliant knife. Perhaps a discussion of what sort of non-obvious cutting instrument would be good to bring. Nail clippers? A plastic knife with a ceramic edge? Like one of these: https://www.osograndeknives.com/catalog/fixed-blade-non-detectable-knives-32-1.html https://www.osograndeknives.com/catalog/fixed-blade-non-dete...

jschwartzi 6y ago
I would add a marine survival/immersion suit to the list as well.
hef19898 6y ago
As ships are now carrying more life boats, life rafts and vests than passengers it would be better to know where these things are. That being said, I prefer being on deck anyway. Not for safety, but for the view.
bluGill 6y ago
I'd hate to spend time making a raft from deck chairs that don't float.

neonate 6y ago

https://archive.is/MjX9y https://archive.is/MjX9y

melling 6y ago
Failed the “I’m am not a robot” test.

Thrymr 6y ago

I really expected this to be metaphorical from the title. And not just any sinking ship, but the most famous sinking ship in history. Fascinating, but hard to generalize!

hombre_fatal 6y ago

I was about to scroll past this submission when I had a sudden attack of superstition that, if I don't read it, I will eventually find myself on a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean and curse myself for not reading the damn HN article.

acwan93 6y ago
It's like when you're studying for a test and fail to study that one topic cause you think it's never gonna show up, only to find that not only did it show up, it ended up being 20% of the entire test.
- Waterluvian 6y ago
  Oh wow I do not miss school.
bluGill 6y ago
There are some things you should study even though you will never need it. Getting out in a fire, first aid/CPR, earthquake procedures... You need to know these well just in case.

moioci 6y ago

"Up and out." Nothing to do with Titanic, but based on reading disaster articles on Wikipedia, my advice is, if a ship you are on takes on a noticeable list, get to the high side immediately. If the list worsens, get outside on the deck. Beyond a certain point, a list has a way of accelerating, and interior corridors become canyons and floors become walls, dooming everyone on the low side.

chiph 6y ago
Benji Smith, who used to hang out on Joel's software forum, was on the Costa Concordia with his new wife when it ran aground and sank. Being on the high-side of the ship helped them survive, using a rope they found to climb down the hull. Getting to the deck before the corridors became impassible because of the list was critical. > Then, an empty wine bottle started to move, creeping inch by inch toward the edge of the table as though possessed by a tiny, timid ghost. When it reached the precipice, it hesitated for a moment of contemplation and then tipped over the edge, thumping down on the carpet and rolling under the bed. https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Ship-intimate-Concordia-shipwreck-dp-1481285939/dp/1481285939 https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Ship-intimate-Concordia-shi...
- Sebguer 6y ago
  Not to diminish the tragedy, but only 27 of the over 3,000 passengers died, so the odds were pretty strongly in their favor.
- justinclift 6y ago
  From looking at the Wikipedia article on the Costa Concordia, 99% of the people on board survived. That sounds like, in this instance, no special skill(s) nor awareness were really needed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster
themodelplumber 6y ago
Moving from the relatively comfortable interior and heading to the high side, out in the elements, can be a pretty terrifying feeling. IMO one wants to resist it. The feeling of moving toward exposure on the outside feels kind of wrong. I only experienced it once but it was enough for a lifetime.

dbt00 6y ago

Seems like the safest thing to do would be to wait until the ship is about to go down, then activate your time machine and return from whence you came...

jacobush 6y ago
I can't. Nobody goes home. Nobody else comes through. It's just him - and me.

bra-ket 6y ago

clickbait title, the author only describes how to escape Titanic in 1912 if you happen to have a time machine and a cheap ticket to lower deck. This advice doesn't generalize well.

nostromo 6y ago
Does every thread need a complaint about the article title? Titles are supposed to pique your interest. That's about it. And "How to Escape a Sinking Ship" is a much better title than yours.
- bra-ket 6y ago
  it was a joke.
- lovehashbrowns 6y ago
  Complaints about click-bait titles have gotten far more annoying than click-bait titles, at least for me. This article was worth a read, regardless of its title.
TheCoelacanth 6y ago
God forbid that a title be evocative instead of a 100% literal description of the contents. It's not like title is "11 surprising ways to escape a sinking ship" or "10 things you need to do if you're stuck on a sinking ship" or "You won't believe how this man escaped from a sinking ship".

rational_indian 6y ago

Hair raising. Thoroughly enjoyed reading the article. Now someone needs to make this into a game :)

cmdshiftf4 6y ago

Step 1. Don't be a man Step 2. Don't be poor. 97% of First Class women and 87% of female crew members survived the sinking of the Titanic. https://www.anesi.com/titanic.htm https://www.anesi.com/titanic.htm

jacobush 6y ago
Step 1 don’t be poor. (Most poor died by default.) Step 2 don’t be a man.
- djitz 6y ago
  Step 3 steal a child’s clothing and hope it fits
- rossdavidh 6y ago
  According to the resource linked to, third class women had a higher survival rate than first class men. Not that it would necessarily turn out that way now.
  - 542354234235 6y ago
    > Not that it would necessarily turn out that way now. I doubt it would, and that is a good thing. The whole “women and children” thing was part of the whole “women are weak creatures that need to be looked after and protected like children” mentality.
    - Igelau 6y ago
      I thought it was more of a "protect the future" sentiment. It's probably shades of both.
    - rossdavidh 6y ago
      I doubt that very many of the women passengers on board the Titanic were objecting to the chauvinism inherent in "women and children first". In time of life-or-death crisis, if you don't have a "women and children first" ethic, you will most likely have an "every man for himself" attitude, in which case you will end up with a very male-favorable survival rate, as bigger and yes physically stronger men shove women and children out of the way to get to the lifeboats.

dredmorbius 6y ago

For a more generalisable solution: - Pick a ship with robust safety measures, procedures, and equipment, sailing in favourable conditions, if at all possible. - Rehearse evacuation. Drilling and mentally noting escape routes and pitfalls makes successful performance during an actual emergency the more likely. - Maintain situational awareness. Things can go pear-shaped remarkably quickly. Numerours modern shipping disasters have transpired in a few minutes, or less. (Edmund Fitzgerald, Costa Concordia, MV Sewol, Estonia, El Faaro, ...) Size alone is no guarantee at all of safety, and can work catastrophically against you if below-decks. - Easier said than done: avoid panicking, and avoid both panicky and oblivious people. If you're good at keeping a clear head and useful goal focus during crisis, so much the better. Even if you do, others panicking or ignoring clear dangeer can kill you (usually along with themselves). The aspect of Titanic dramatisations I've found most compelling is noting who realises when that the ship is in fact doomed, and how they respond. Some early, some late, some never, some quietly, some loudly, some selflessly, some selfishly. Once off the stricken vessel, survival depends on keeping your head above water, literally, and remainung uninjured, warm, dry (generally), hydrated and fed (if rescue is not immediate), healthy, and rescued or returned to hospitable land. Survival even in very cold water is generally not an immediate threat. Drowning, injury from falling debris or flotsam, and hyperthermia are the most immediate risks. Past a day or so, hydration, food, and exposure become more critical. Shipwreck survivors have lasted months on rations, fish, and rainwater, in instances. Signalling your location or attracting attention through orange equipment (many rescue evacuation craft, survival suits, life jackets), flags, flares, beacons, strobes, radio locators, mirrors, or fires (avoid burning your craft), etc., help.

x3iv130f 6y ago
"avoid both panicky and oblivious people" That piece of advice can be generalized to any survival situation.
- dredmorbius 6y ago
  Much of the advice can be. Those around you contribute directly to your own survival, both positively and negatively. The case of the Sewol involved both poor response by crew and possibly excess complaisance by passengers (as reported in media). Footage from onboard. Those shown and recording would be among the 304 souls lost. https://youtube.com/watch?v=MkyFbcnIQV4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=MkyFbcnIQV4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Qq4jVt-U0U https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Qq4jVt-U0U https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Sewol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Sewol

devsatish 6y ago

Sigh. Thought it's an article about getting off from a start-up/business that's sinking; not literally the Titanic itself. Amusing but well written, triggered some flashes of Titanic movie while reading it though.

dsohn0 6y ago

Am I the only person who finds this article written in an annoying way? It's almost like 2 mediocre articles forced into a single one

tartoran 6y ago

How to survive sinking a ship and then freeze to death while watching it sink nearby.

mauvehaus 6y ago

The Atlantic'a piece about the sinking of the ferry Estonia contains some interesting pieces of information for anybody who might like to survive a sinking in the future. It might also put you off getting on ships. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-story/302940/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-s...

claviska 6y ago
This was an incredible piece of writing. Thanks for posting the link!
echelon 6y ago
I love vivid, harrowing writing like this. Despite seeing James Cameron's Titanic, I never pictured the ships themselves as being such an obstacle to survival. This makes it feel so real. It's haunting. Do you have anything more like this?
- zaarn 6y ago
  If you can accept Planes instead of Ships, Mayday is a good show that guides on through the accident investigations of plane crashes (from a short video of the crash with details removed, through the investigation process and then finally a short section on the recommendations issued)
  - goodcanadian 6y ago
    It is the same show, but it has different names: Air Crash Investigation Also (according to Wikipedia): Air Emergency (National Geographic Channel, U.S.) Air Disasters (Smithsonian Channel, U.S.) Mayday: Air Disaster (Weather Channel, U.S.)
    - zaarn 6y ago
      My TV Organizer names it Mayday, hence I use that name.

georgiecasey 6y ago

I never plan to be on a ship so I don't need this advice. But I've watched countless videos on how to escape a sinking car.

unnouinceput 6y ago

This reads like a walkthrough for a game. Should be made into one, perhaps having Easter eggs with Leonardo (punching him would be so satisfactory) while you escape to safety.

tbihl 6y ago
It actually was one. I remember playing as a young kid on a Windows 95 PC. I never got the grasp of the game mechanics or shuffled the right items to the right places. I always ended up either drowning or getting murdered. There were two guys who would kill you: a Russian named Vlad who would find you in the ship if you stole the diamond necklace, and a guy whose name escapes me, who would kill you with a pipe in the boiler room (can't remember why). I think it had suffered death by incompatibility by the time I tried to revisit in ~Windows 7 days. Edited to add wiki link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic:_Adventure_Out_of_Time https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic:_Adventure_Out_of_Ti...

pabs3 6y ago

That sounded like the description of a game.

flashgordon 6y ago

For some wierd reason I was thinking it would be about escaping a company that was in disarray!

pfarrell 6y ago
Step 1: don’t burn bridges. Even in Silicon Valley, you are likely work with these people again. Step 2: make sure you have contact info for the best and brightest and they have yours Step 3: contact any recent people who left. They may be hiring at their new gig Step 4: make sure you have submitted all your reimbursable expenses Step 5: if the company starts to list, get to the high side, fast. (Couldn’t resist :)
- Scoundreller 6y ago
  Step somewhere: get all your dental work done, a new pair of glasses and as much prescription meds as you can.
  - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
    And vote for the politicians who want to pull the country into this century when it comes to medical expenses and policies. Mind you, my dental work is only covered up until €500 a year, glasses are entirely my own expense (you can get a tiny amount from health insurance, but only once every three years, and you need to take out premium insurance to be eligible), and prescription meds vary; anything off the pre-approved list require you to pay the difference.

aaron695 6y ago

"How to Escape a Sinking Ship and Live" Jump off your small boat. Teach your kids previously to swim well and learn to remove their clothing while in the water and all the other techniques of water safety like treading and floating. Have life jackets and EPIRB etc. For the unlikely chance it's a big ship, it's probably a ferry in a developing country. Again, escape is probably not as important as what to do after jumping off. For the very unlikely chance you are deep in the bowels of a ship. It's normal escape procedure. Follow instructions If you want to beat follow instructions, you are training for a very unlikely event but it would go to other case studies, you need to break with pre-trained ideas. For instance in one fire most people died because they delayed to pay for their meal. But then there's plenty more stories of people doing runners after false alarms. So you might survive that one in 100,000 event, but at what cost.

petkeviciuz 6y ago

For anyone interested in more modern days example, you can check up Kevin Escoffier and his miraculous escape (I think it was ±2 minutes between his boat splitting in a half and him entering rescue craft) during vendee globe race. Link for more info: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/dramatic-rescue-unfolds-after-15ft-wave-sinks-vend%C3%A9e-globe-yachtsman-1.4426855 https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/dramatic-rescu...

dogukanadiguzel 6y ago

There are some stuff to consider for titanic. 97% of female vip class survived. Also 87% of female crew members survived. Don't try to be hero just because you are a male.

os7borne 6y ago

Opened the link thinking the article was about how to move on from a company that's probably going to shut soon. Learned something nonetheless.

aerosmile 6y ago
That would actually be a really useful article - most of us have been in that boat at some point in our careers.
Igelau 6y ago
I thought it was going to be about cutting ties with a political party.

elric 6y ago

Drowning is not a pleasant way to die. I drowned as a child and lived to tell the tale, but it's not an experience I would not recommend. At all. If you've determined that you won't survive your shipwreck, you might want to consider a faster way to die.

cambalache 6y ago
What about burning? is it nice instead?
elric 6y ago
> but it's not an experience I would not recommend That was obviously a typo. Too late to edit.

ajnin 6y ago

Should have been titled "How to escape the Titanic using your seer git to know everything that's going to happen down to the minute (in which case you probably wouldn't have boarded the ship at all)". But interesting anyway.

Igelau 6y ago
And yet your odds are still pretty bad!

Igelau 6y ago

I would have drowned trying to assemble the tuxedo without internet. It's probably white tie, so that's assuming I don't accidentally smother myself with the bib or get my tails caught in something.

candu 6y ago

I was curious how realistic the advice to dress in your finest would be, so... In the US, at least, union wages would have brought in $20-30 or so per week. [1] Looking through [2], you could get a whole gentleman's outfit for roughly $50 or so. Even still, you'd be spending 2-3 weeks' wages on a single set of clothing - not to mention that you'd need somewhere to store all that, and you'd probably also need additional stuff to maintain it so that it looked half-presentable for your daring escape. It's much more likely that, as someone in steerage, even your "finest" wouldn't have passed muster for the keenly class-conscious Brits on the upper decks. The fabrics and cuts would be different, you'd be missing fashionable accessories and key pieces of the outfit, nothing would be tailored, and everything would be in worse wear. (Not to mention your lower-class accent and diction would likely give you away, unless you'd somehow had the benefit of a pricey elocution tutor.) [1] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/union-scale-wages-hours-labor-3912/union-scale-wages-hours-labor-may-15-1913-476866?start_page=79 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/union-scale-wages-hours-... [2] https://vintagedancer.com/1900s/edwardian-1910s-historical-mens-fashion-and-clothing-an-overview/ https://vintagedancer.com/1900s/edwardian-1910s-historical-m...

igneo676 6y ago
Sure, you're not going to look the part of an upper class individual. The important part is to look as little out-of-place in the middle of a rush to the lifeboats as you possibly can. Nobody is watching THAT closely.

ojhughes 6y ago

My initial thought was this was an article about emmigrating from the UK to escape the impending carnage of Brexit