I came across this article on the 1994 sinking of the ferry Estonia in the Baltic Sea very late last night and was completely riveted for the next hour or so it took to finish it. Apparently...
I came across this article on the 1994 sinking of the ferry Estonia in the Baltic Sea very late last night and was completely riveted for the next hour or so it took to finish it. Apparently there's new evidence that indicates the official accepted cause (that quite literally "the front fell off," the visor for the fore car loading ramp sheared off and started allowing water in) might not actually be the whole story.
Survival that night was a very tight race, and savagely simple. People who started early and moved fast had some chance of winning. People who started late or hesitated for any reason had no chance at all. Action paid. Contemplation did not. The mere act of getting dressed was enough to condemn people to death, and although many of those who escaped to the water succumbed to the cold, most of the ultimate winners endured the ordeal completely naked or in their underwear. The survivors all seem to have grasped the nature of this race, the first stage of which involved getting outside to the Deck 7 promenade without delay. There was no God to turn to for mercy. There was no government to provide order. Civilization was ancient history, Europe a faint and faraway place. Inside the ship, as the heel increased, even the most primitive social organization, the human chain, crumbled apart. Love only slowed people down. A pitiless clock was running. The ocean was completely in control.
I came across this article on the 1994 sinking of the ferry Estonia in the Baltic Sea very late last night and was completely riveted for the next hour or so it took to finish it. Apparently there's new evidence that indicates the official accepted cause (that quite literally "the front fell off," the visor for the fore car loading ramp sheared off and started allowing water in) might not actually be the whole story.