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Taking the Kids: Learning about the origins of the Titanic in Belfast, Northern Ireland

By Eileen Ogintz, Tribune Content Agency on

Not only weren't there enough lifeboats on Titanic but the life vests were useless in the freezing water. More than two-thirds aboard died, mostly from hypothermia, not drowning, and, the disaster changed shipboard rules forever from having enough lifeboats and safety drills to making sure ships kept their communications open 24 hours.

More than a century later, the cruise industry again is facing great change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 9, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the extension of a No Sail Order for all cruise ships.

"The measures we are taking to stop the spread of COVID-19 are necessary to protect Americans, and we will continue to provide critical public health guidance to the industry to limit the impacts of COVID-19 on its workforce throughout the remainder of this pandemic," said CDC Director Robert Redfield. (For more information about COVID-19 and cruise ships, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/cruise-ship/what-cdc-is-doing.html. To view the no sail order, go to https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/index.html.

No one is quite sure what the cruise industry will look like when ships -- large and small -- can sail again. Before the pandemic, demand for cruising had never been higher -- some 30 million guests were expected to sail with 19 new ships expected this year. The industry supported more than 1.1 million jobs and had a $150 billion economic impact around the world.

What has happened so quickly to the cruise industry is hard to comprehend -- just as it was when the "unsinkable ship" did, indeed, sink.

Some 15,000 people worked on the Titanic -- architects and draftsmen, ironwork workers and woodworkers. It took 3,000 men 10 months to fit out the luxury liner after the superstructure was complete. Nine galleries enable you to walk in the footsteps of those who designed and built the ship, as well as experience the launch, the maiden voyage and the horrific aftermath. You'll feel as if you are standing on the famous main staircase. There are special effects, dark rides, full-scale reconstructions and plenty of artifacts.

I especially liked the stories of Mary Sloan, who was a stewardess; Frank Brownlee, a 30-year-old textile salesman returning to Boston, and 26-year-old Brigit Nilson, immigrating to Quebec with her husband and three children.

 

Two young French brothers, Michel and Edmond Navratil, were called "The Titanic Orphans" until their mother in France recognized them from newspaper photos. Their father had snatched them from their home and had sailed with them under assumed names.

There were more than 900 crew members aboard Titanic. I've been thinking a lot about the unfailingly polite and friendly cruise ship crew members I've met around the world who are away from their families for much of the year. Currently, there are approximately 100 cruise ships remaining at sea off the East Coast, West Coast, and Gulf Coast, with nearly 80,000 crew onboard. Additionally, CDC is aware of 20 cruise ships at port or anchorage in the United States with known or suspected COVID-19 infection among the crew.

Let's hope they get home safe. Let's hope the cruise industry rebounds. Today, the company that built the Titanic, Harland and Wolff, is working on renewable energy and wind turbines.

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The Kid's Guide to Philadelphia, the 13th in the kid's guide series, will be out this spring.)


(c) 2020 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

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