A thread about nothing at all....

[Harry]

 

Nothing to see here, keep moving.

[Rhino]

The sinking of the Lusitania happened 100 years ago this month (May 7, 1915). The captain, William Turner, survived despite being on the bridge when it went down in 18 minutes. He went on to captain another ship, the SS Ivernia. The Ivernia was torpedoed and sunk on new years day, 1917. Captain Turner survived that sinking as well. But one of his sons also became a captain of a ship that was torpedoed and did not survive.

[B.D.F.]

I am reading a book about that right now. Apparently a woman was in the water when the ship went down and she was sucked into one of the funnels. Normally a steam boiler explosion would be considered "a bad thing" but in this particular case, a boiler explosion caused this woman to be forcibly ejected; she was not seriously injured, was picked up by a passing lifeboat and survived the sinking.

In a lot of ways, it is a more interesting incident than the sinking of the Titanic three years earlier. Apparently it never got the 'ink' that the Titanic did though because by 1915, everyone knew a ship that size could be sunk and so it was much less of a surprise.

The last survivor of the sinking of the ship died on 11 Jan., 2011, aged 95 years.

Brian

The sinking of the Lusitania happened 100 years ago this month (May 7, 1915). The captain, William Turner, survived despite being on the bridge when it went down in 18 minutes. He went on to captain another ship, the SS Ivernia. The Ivernia was torpedoed and sunk on new years day, 1917. Captain Turner survived that sinking as well. But one of his sons also became a captain of a ship that was torpedoed and did not survive.

[Rhino]

Would that book be "Dead Wake" by Erik Larson by any chance? Just finished it. Great book! Well researched, accurate documentary that reads like a novel.

That survivor must have been an infant.

I am reading a book about that right now. Apparently a woman was in the water when the ship went down and she was sucked into one of the funnels. Normally a steam boiler explosion would be considered "a bad thing" but in this particular case, a boiler explosion caused this woman to be forcibly ejected; she was not seriously injured, was picked up by a passing lifeboat and survived the sinking.

In a lot of ways, it is a more interesting incident than the sinking of the Titanic three years earlier. Apparently it never got the 'ink' that the Titanic did though because by 1915, everyone knew a ship that size could be sunk and so it was much less of a surprise.

The last survivor of the sinking of the ship died on 11 Jan., 2011, aged 95 years.

Brian

[B.D.F.]

Hey, it is that very book! I am about 3/4 of the way through but don't tell me how it ends.... I want to be surprised. :-)

Agreed, not a bad book but I would love a bit more about the U-boot that sunk the ship. Then again, the title is not "U-20" and it is not about that submarine.

The last survivor of the sinking was three months old when she boarded the ship on its final trip, being born 15 Feb., 1915. Apparently her entire family was on board and while she and her parents survived the sinking but two of her older sisters (both children) did not.

Brian

Would that book be "Dead Wake" by Erik Larson by any chance? Just finished it. Great book! Well researched, accurate documentary that reads like a novel.

That survivor must have been an infant.

[Rhino]

More about Lusitania: Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the "wireless", although being offered free passage on the Titanic, sailed on the Lusitania 3 days before the Titanic. But he was on the Lusitania on the fateful voyage when it was sunk. He survived. I'm surprised that Erik Larson didn't mention this in his book.

[SteveJ.]

Stayed at an inn in Pennsylvania that was built in 1794, it is very nice and swathed in early U.S. history, the area was prominent in the "Whiskey Rebellion" where western PA farmers rebelled against a tax levied in 1791 on distilled spirits by President Washington to help pay for the War of Independence. It cause quite a ruckus and 13,000 troops were dispatched to the area to quell the insurrection. President Thomas Jefferson repealed it in 1801, and pushed forward the ideas of political parties in this country which was already happening but this incident seemed to have helped that movement. Kinda cool sitting in a pub built in 1794, sipping a shot of whiskey with the flag of the rebellion movement on the wall, and the original velum printed deed to the property owner framed above my head.

Where and what's name of this pub? A couple of us are gonna leave Flowriduh a week and a half early to take the scenic route to the RWTW. PA is on the agenda. Having a tap in this tavern/pub sounds way cool.

TIA.

Later.

[B.D.F.]

I think the most amazing thing I read about that sinking was the case of Frances Stephens, a Canadian passenger on the Lusitania who was killed when the ship sank. Now usually, that would severely limit (read: eliminate) the chances of Mr. Stephens and Capt. Schwieger (commander of U-20, and the man who sunk the Lusitania) ever crossing paths again. But not in this particular case! It seems that some four months later, when Mr. Stephens' body was being transported back to Canada via the Hesperian, he would again have an encounter with Schwieger when Schwieger, again in command of a U-boat, sunk the Hesperian. So oddly enough, the same German sank a ship out from under the same Canadian twice and the unusual part is that while of course the Canadian only died during one of those sinkings, it was the first one and not the second.

Brian

More about Lusitania: Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the "wireless", although being offered free passage on the Titanic, sailed on the Lusitania 3 days before the Titanic. But he was on the Lusitania on the fateful voyage when it was sunk. He survived. I'm surprised that Erik Larson didn't mention this in his book.

[B.D.F.]

Even wonder what no- good, dastardly bastich of a human put the letter 'S' in the word "lisp"?

Brian

[Sgt Mac]

Italian police, the carabinieri (carbs), sit on the side of the road and when they want to stop a random car, they hold out a little paddle with a red circle on it people call a lollipop. Italian drivers, not all but in my experience most, tend to follow to closely, they also tend to pass at any given opportunity and are unbelievably impatient.

This all came together today when I saw a traffic stop turn into a motorcycle accident.

Carbs are sitting on the side of the road, pretty common spot. A scooter, followed by 4 cars and 2 motorcycles are coming toward them. Carb steps out, lollipops the scooter as car 1 was passing him. Scooter and car 1 hit the brakes and turn on right signals.

Car 2, seeing his opportunity to pass, makes his move then sees carbs and brakes hard. Car 3 and 4 brake hard cause they're all basically driving right up each others asses.

Motorcycle 1, nice shiny Duc 1198, who is directly on car 4's ass, locks it up and dumps his bike in the road while bike 2 slows just in time not to hit car 4.

[Conrad]

The outside pane of glass in my double paned living room picture window seems to have spontaneously shattered yesterday for no apparent reason. 

I was grilling some ribs in the back yard and came into the house for another beer. I looked out the front window and it didn't look right. I couldn't understand why it looked so 'dirty'. I walked up to the window and heard this strange cracking sound. It took me a moment to realize that the cracking sound was the window. Its tempered glass and it was still in the process of cracking into a million pieces. I couldn't find any reason for the glass to break. I looked on the front porch for some evidence of a rock or something that could have caused the breakage but found nothing. It's VERY strange but fortunately I have a lifetime warranty against breakage. I'll be giving the window company a call this morn and see what they have to say. 

[MrPepsi]

House settling?

[VirginiaJim]

The outside pane of glass in my double paned living room picture window seems to have spontaneously shattered yesterday for no apparent reason. 

I was grilling some ribs in the back yard and came into the house for another beer. I looked out the front window and it didn't look right. I couldn't understand why it looked so 'dirty'. I walked up to the window and heard this strange cracking sound. It took me a moment to realize that the cracking sound was the window. Its tempered glass and it was still in the process of cracking into a million pieces. I couldn't find any reason for the glass to break. I looked on the front porch for some evidence of a rock or something that could have caused the breakage but found nothing. It's VERY strange but fortunately I have a lifetime warranty against breakage. I'll be giving the window company a call this morn and see what they have to say.

Wow, that happened to my beer glass!

Make sure you don't have a sink hole opening up under your house...

[RFH87_Connie]

We live on the water and that happened to one of our sliding glass doors twice in 10 years.  They're 9 foot wide and not 6 foot which may have made it easier to tweak.

[Sgt Mac]

The outside pane of glass in my double paned living room picture window seems to have spontaneously shattered yesterday for no apparent reason. 

I was grilling some ribs in the back yard and came into the house for another beer. I looked out the front window and it didn't look right. I couldn't understand why it looked so 'dirty'. I walked up to the window and heard this strange cracking sound. It took me a moment to realize that the cracking sound was the window. Its tempered glass and it was still in the process of cracking into a million pieces. I couldn't find any reason for the glass to break. I looked on the front porch for some evidence of a rock or something that could have caused the breakage but found nothing. It's VERY strange but fortunately I have a lifetime warranty against breakage. I'll be giving the window company a call this morn and see what they have to say.

[Conrad]

 

[Conrad]

House settling?

I don't think so but who knows? We have a basement and as far as I can tell there are no cracks in the walls. The broken picture window has double hung windows on either side of it and they both open and close just fine, no binding at all.

I'm thinking that maybe a rock was thrown up by the neighbor's lawnmower (he mowed the day before, delayed breakage?) or maybe a car caught a rock just right and sent it into the window? No rocks on the porch though...

I called the window company this morning and the replacement glass pack has been ordered, so she said...   

[tweeter55]

Wow, that happened to my beer glass!

Make sure you don't have a sink hole opening up under your house...

You had a sinkhole under your beer glass, Jim?

[VirginiaJim]

I refuse to answer that question on grounds it may incriminate me..

[gPink]

Ahhh, pleading the fifth?