It was in 1912 when an irresistible force met an immovable object. As it turned out, on this cold April night more than a century ago, the irresistible object was quite resistible when matched against a three billion pound object, which was an iceberg floating in the North Atlantic. The Titanic, the largest ship in the world–built for speed, beauty and comfort, and a proud symbol of all that was advanced and wonderful in this world–suffered a long gash on her starboard side and sank in two hours and forty minutes, killing more than 1500 people.
Anyone with the slightest interest of the event inevitably comes up with the “what would I have done?” scenario if we’d been in charge that fateful night. What if we had not been paralyzed by shock and fear, and instead had the ability to step in and take immediate action? Could we have been heroes? Could we have saved lives?
Let us immediately discuss and dismiss the answers that beg the question and focus on the ship not hitting the iceberg in the first place. Yes, we all know if the ship had been going more slowly, or had been monitoring the wireless more carefully, the tragedy would not have happened. And of course if we all had this gift of 20/20 foresight, no accident would ever happen anywhere at any time. Let’s move on to what we could have done AFTER the Titanic struck the iceberg.
So the iceberg that has torn a gash into the hull is receding in the distance behind the ship, and after a few minutes the engineer tells you the ship is going to sink… now is when the thought experiment starts: What can you do to save as many people as possible? It’s a game you can play with yourself or with friends.
First, there is agreement on the obvious–whatever else you do, whatever actions you take, you fill all the lifeboats to their capacity.
Now the kibitzing begins. With the SS Californian only a few miles away, and stopped because of the icebergs, why not deputize two boats with able seamen to row to the ship, with both boats carrying signal lamps? Even rowing at 3 miles an hour, it would take only 1-2 hours to get to the Californian, and long before reaching the ship, the crew would see the combined signal lamps from both lifeboats. “Not a good idea, you need all the lifeboats for the passengers,” the humanist in me protests. “No,” I answer. “You’re taking a risk for a huge benefit. And besides, it’s not like those boats are going empty. You are still saving lives.”
“What about a floating barge?” another part of my mind volunteers. “They had two hours to do it. Every piece of wood that wasn’t nailed down and all the floatable objects they could find with lots of rope to tie it together. It doesn’t have to be very seaworthy. It’s a calm ocean. All they have to do is keep people out of the water for a few hours.”
The idea is given grudging consideration, but my the problem with this idea is that it would have been started immediately…by the time it became clear the ship was sinking, it was going to be difficult to assemble enough material to matter.
Then it hits me–a variation of this thought experiment: Instead of me being on the deck of this doomed ship, I’d have the crew of Enterprise save the passengers of the Titanic. They are heroes, after all. it’s their job!
Here are My New Rules: The Star Trek crew find themselves on the Titanic, immediately after it’s been hit by the iceberg. They only have their own skills or what they are carrying when they were space & time-transported to the ship. That means they have no ability to call for help on their communicators, no anti-gravity devices or no way of beaming off the boat. How can each of the crew find a way to save the most passengers?
How the Star Trek Crew Would Have Saved the the Passengers of the Titanic.
First up: Spock.
Spock would have understood the ship was sinking fast, seen the SS California in the distance, and realized a desperate act was needed. So in the midship area, perhaps even using one of the smokestacks as the highest point, he would have used gasoline, fuel, anything available–to start a bonfire–a huge, glorious conflagration, a fire so bright it might even be seen from space … an impossible-for-the-California-to-ignore bonfire. Burn the ship in order to save the people. Spock knows this is their best chance of rescue.
Example: In the episode “The Galileo 7,” Spock ignites the rest of what’s left of the shuttle’s precious fuel, taking the chance that the Enterprise would see the burn and rescue them. And his act saves himself and the lives of his shuttle crew.
How the Star Trek Crew Would Have Saved the the Passengers of the Titanic.
Next up: Dr. Leonard McCoy.
Faced with such a dilemma, the first words out of Leonard McCoy’s mouth might be, “I’m a doctor, not a ship captain,” But soon this quick-thinking, resourceful physician would come up with a plan. Reaching into his doctor’s bag, he would line up the passengers and crew for stimulant shots, explaining it would help them deal with the emergency. In reality, he would have slipped them a “neural paralyzer,” putting them into a form of suspended animation. Thus as the ship sank, and everyone fell off into the sea, the cold water would only aid their animated state, and they would wake up, surprised and even refreshed, hours later on the deck of the Carpathia. Dr. McCoy would be there ahead of them, sitting on a deck chair, sipping a mint julep and chiding the passengers for being so uptight about what had just happened.
Example: In the episode “Amok Time,” McCoy gives Kirk a drug that simulates death but he is later able to be revived.
How the Star Trek Crew Would Have Saved the the Passengers of the Titanic.
Scotty
It’s Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott’s turn to save the day. If the Titanic crew needed anyone, it was Scotty, who would have instantly seen what to do: Start the engines, put the ship in reverse and head right toward the California, only five miles away. Yes, the ship might take on even more water but if he can nurse a few more miles out of this once mighty and now ailing ship, almost everyone would be saved.
Example: Scott made a career of nursing damaged ships back to life, such as the USS Constellation in “The Doomsday Machine.” If he could bring the Constellation into service, getting a few miles with the Titanic would be child’s play.
How The Star Trek Crew Could Have Saved the Titanic
Sulu and Chekov
While the ship could already have been saved by the bonfire on the deck and Scotty guiding the ship toward the California, Sulu would have been on the outside hull of the ship, busy trying to plug the holes, perhaps with mattresses. We know Sulu could endure cold “(The Enemy Within”). Chekov would be busy taking the life jackets from the passengers and stuffing them in the bow belowdecks to increase the forward buoyancy. We know he’s good at putting objects in unusual places (“The Trouble With Tribbles”). No need for perfection here, just reducing the water flow by half would have doubled the time before it sank.
How the Star Trek Crew Could Have Saved the Titanic
James T. Kirk
It’s time to see what the Captain of the Enterprise could have done if he’d been in command of the Titanic.
First, let’s consider that the Titanic had an amazing number of celebrities on the ship’s manifest such as Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb…
and even the Admiral himself, Richard Basehart.
No, not THAT Richard Basehart. Call that guy Ishmael. THIS Richard Basehart.
And then there were the time travelers, Tony and Doug.
I’m surprised the Titanic didn’t just sink with from all the freeloaders and stowaways on board.
But despite all this celebrity dead-weight, Kirk, who was always good at finding a meta-solution to a problem (see Kobayashi Maru) finds a way to communicate to The Powers That Be that caused his presence on the ship, and his question to them is: ‘What do I have to do?’
After a moment he receives an answer: “For others to live, Rose must die.”
After going through this already with Edith Keeler, this one’s a no-brainer. Kirk finds out that Jack has a rendezvous with Rose in the cargo hold, and lures Jack into Third Class to have a beer with him and to check out the Irish band, Gaelic Storm-
-allowing the car in the hold to break free of its moorings and run Rose over. The universe is happy and the Titanic chugs on to New York.
Ah, but there’s a spoilsport in every crowd and even in ourselves – a nonbeliever in the cynical part of my mind chirps: “Yes, but only 1,500 perished on the Titanic. After the Star Trek crew has saved the passengers in the Titanic, that’s good but it’s only a start. Wouldn’t it be better next for them to warn people about the millions that died in World War I and from the Spanish Flu epidemic that followed in Titanic’s wake? Or maybe the logic would be to use Titanic as a steppingstone. If they able to save the day in regard to the sinking of the luxury liner, the crew would be hailed as prophets of the 20th Century—they’d be able to prevent WW I and II, the Great Depression, the Spanish Flu and even … Star Trek: The Motion Picture!
Perhaps… but then again… I think in “The City on the Edge of Forever,” Kirk had to trust the Guardian of Time in its pronouncement that in fixing just one problem, making it “all would be as was before” would be the best shot at not making things worse…in other words, he decided to choose a past he knew over a past he would not be able to predict. even if that did include the stillborn ST-TMP. And remember that good can come from bad. From Star Trek-TMP came The Wrath of Kahn, the rebirth of the franchise and the creation of an evergreen meme.
That seemed to quiet down that edgy part of my brain keeping me awake…but not completely. As I tried to sleep and mulled over the cosmic karma that keeps the universe bubbling along I realized that a key point in “The City On The Edge of Forever” had been dropped in the story and never mentioned again. What about the the hobo, the man who picks up McCoy’s dropped phaser and then phasers himself out of existence? Was he the “butterfly effect” that would lead to a cascade of other events? Was earth’s history still changed forever?
But then I realized, if the crew of the Enterprise is going to someday rescue the passengers of the Titanic, maybe he was a Titanic survivor and so had to die in a Star Trek episode to “square things” with the karmic cosmological constant that The Powers That Be are always wrestling with. That had to be it!
After all, aren’t we all in some kind of story, (maybe a story that doesn’t have all the boring parts taken out like it’s supposed to, but never mind that) … isn’t life just a story where we muddle along and try not to make things worse?
