GREATNESS AND ITS ENEMIES
“For a great door and effectual is opened unto me,
and there are many adversaries”
— 1 Cor. 16:9
On
March 31, 1909, about 14,000 labourers began working on a great deal of
metal. They cut, drilled, bolted,
riveted, and fashioned this metal, along with other materials, for nearly three
years. In the process they created the world’s biggest moving object at that
time. This manufactured wonder was 889 feet 9 inches long, 92 feet wide, and
weighed 46,328 tons. It had a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, squash courts, and
a gym. It also boasted of a dining room, a restaurant, a lounge, a reading and
writing room, a smoking room, and various cafes. And it had eight watertight
compartments, making the mighty ocean liner practically unsinkable. This height
of luxury coupled with such unprecedented technology dazzled the world and
triggered a host of boastful assertions such as “Not even God Himself could
sink this ship.”[i]
On
April 10, 1912, this enormous ship floated about 2,200 people, including some
of the world’s richest, as she tore smoothly through the ocean on her maiden
voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City in the United States. During
this maiden voyage, an eleven–man band played various melodious tunes for the
listening pleasure of the passengers. Some people chatted away, while others
laughed raucously as they savoured the aquatic splendor they had dreamt of as
the music softened the atmosphere
No other ship was like the Titanic. It stood in a class of its own.
As
the light gently surrendered its reins to darkness on the 4th day of
sailing, signal warnings of the presence of icebergs came into the ship’s
control room. However, the man in charge of the wheel did not pay much
attention to them.
Then,
about 450 miles from her destination, something disastrous happened. The
wheel man spotted an iceberg. He raised an alarm, but it was too late. The crew
below worked to reverse the engine, to forcefully stop the ship, but the
magnificent vessel was too close to the obstacle. As the captain tried to
compel the ship away from a head-on collision, the iceberg ruthlessly gnawed at
the side of the vessel, allowing ocean water to gush in. Two hours later, the
pride of the ocean—the Titanic—was on
the frigid ocean floor. She failed to make her destination, and she left just
700 survivors out of the original 2,200 on board, some of who were England’s
wealthiest and powerful. Crew and passengers alike froze to death in the dark,
cold ocean.
[i]
Employee of the White Star Line, at the launch of the Titanic, May 31, 1911
