In 1918, Rita was summoned as a witness for a Limitation of Liability hearing for the Lusitania. She described her last moments aboard the ship and the hours after, in clear, calm detail, including the fact that she clung for hours to an upside-down boat, bearing witness to the death and destruction all around her. How do you think you would have fared in her place? In those frantic minutes after the liner went under, would you have let the panicked people still in the water climb up the lifeboat, even at the risk of capsizing it?
I would hope that I would act in the same way she did, that I would help as many people as I could, but until you go through something like that it is hard to say what you’ll do. I’m not sure she had much say in allowing people to climb on the boat…even if she had protested it probably would have just put herself in danger or scared desperate people who would not be in their right mind.
I hope that I would help as many people as possible. Actually I do not think I would have survived. Too easy to get tired and cold and slip under the water. I do not have strong arms!
I also hope I would help as many people as I could but first instinct under that much pressure would be to take measures to survive but I would at the least encourage people to take those measures to.
There’s no way to know how I would react in a similar situation. I hope I would have been a person to help others. in a time of life or death, it’s hard to imagine how I would react. I pray I would be caring for others.
i would like to think that I would be able share - the idea of watching others drowning would be too much.
I’m fairly confident I would have helped others once off the ship, but I don’t know if I would have made it to the water in the first place. As a first-born, I’m a rule-follower–the person who returns to the cabin or to remain where I am when told to do so, putting me in harms’ way. I also admire the bravery of those who jump into the water. Would I be mentally strong enough to do that? I hope so if my life was on the line.
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Prior to 9/11 I would have been 100% a rule follower and therefore probably I never would have made it to boats because I would be following the leaders in charge. Having had a friend survive being in the Twin Towers, in part she survived because she decided to leave when others stayed at their desks, I now have a more skeptic viewpoint. If I did make it to the lifeboats, I hope that I would help others. I tend not to panic, and I have been able to be helpful in times of emergencies, but I guess we only know when things happen.
I wondered when I read the book why George didn’t encourage Rita to shorten her gown when they knew they were going into the water. It’s miraculous she survived. I think it was luck that she did make it, from the description of George’s body , I think he may have received a blow to the head that rendered him unconscious causing him to drown or one that killed him instantly. I cannot speak to what I would have done in that situation and I hope I never find out.
Another difficult question. Obviously, we all hope we could summon the strength and courage to remain calm, help others, and survive. In reality? The freezing cold water, having to cling to a capsized life boat, trying to keep another woman safe & calm, all while wondering if sharks were on their way, as well as rescuers, and surrounded by hundreds of dead & dying fellow passengers? Especially knowing that your brother-in-law and friends are probably among them? I can only hope that there is enough adrenaline in my body to sustain me through such an ordeal. To be safe, my estate plan is up-to-date. Of course, would I have sailed on the Lusitania? Probably not. But I live in the age of Zoom and would say good-bye to my brother that way.
I would have tried to turn the life boat over or because I’m a good swimmer found a way to swim ashore.