Page 28 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • April 10. 2013 sion through overconfidence or, to put it more bluntly, sheer negligence. Icebergs were not an isolated occurrence in 1912. Lowry runs through a list of ships that were damaged or sunk by icebergs in the North Atlantic before 1912. The list contains more than 100 names. In 1893, two steamers, the “Horn Head” and the “Naronic,” disappeared. Both ships vanished entirely, but months later, notes that were tucked into bottles as the ships went down described collisions with icebergs. The ship known as “Vaillant” lost 74 crewman out of 78 in an iceberg collision. The danger was well known, but the size of “Titanic” may have insulated Captain Smith against the fear of iceberg damage. However, given the mass and speed of “Titanic,” the force of the collisions was subsequently estimated as having the power to lift 10 Washington Monuments from their pedestals. Cut to the fatal day, April 14, 1912: Ten iceberg warnings had been sent out by wireless and “Titanic” had the best wireless system afloat. At 11:45, the steamer “Amerika” reported ice in a message that was addressed to “Titanic” by name. At 1 p.m., Captain Smith had an ice warning from the steamer “Baltic” in his hand. “We will speed through the ice,” Captain Smith decided. Then he posted the ice warning on the board in the officers’ chart room. No one at dinner saw him take a drink, and the urban legend that he was drunk is entirely bogus -- but he did not reduce speed. At 10 p.m., a passenger named C.E.M. Stengel, experienced in mechanical matters, remembered that “the engines were running faster than ever before.” About that time, Captain Smith went to bed. At 11:45 p.m., he was awakened by the bump and returned to the bridge. Appalled by the deaths of so many prominent Americans -- and many British and other foreign passengers -- the U.S. Senate convened extensive hearings. “No general discussion took place among the officers; no conference was called to consider these warnings; no heed was given to them; speed was not relaxed,” they concluded. In short, an experienced captain actually increased speed, which continued after darkness, despite iceberg warnings. Once the spotted the iceberg, the crew on the bridge was unable to reduce speed, reduce the impact, or steer clear. When they attempted to swing away from the iceberg, “Titanic” struck the mass diagonally and opened seven compartments below the waterline. The watertight compartments were not watertight on top. Water that flooded the first seven compartments spilled over the tops, one after the other, until the water and the angle knocked out the engines and pumps. The ship sank with an inadequate number of lifeboats. Of the 2,223 souls aboard there were only 706 survivors, predominantly women and children from first class. Most of the crew drowned -- as did most of the immigrants in third class, which Dr. Lowry, in a rare error, calls “steerage.” There was no “steerage” on the “Titanic” and even third class passengers had decent accommodations and meat at every meal. What they did not have was enough lifeboats. Arrogance has always been the principal theory in the huge loss of life. The inadequate number of lifeboats, in hindsight, is appalling, but at the time it was entirely legal. No one appears to have been killed in the first impact, and evacuation of the passengers was rather orderly until the lifeboat seats ran out. The failure of other ships -- one of them with lights visible in the distance -- to respond to wireless calls for help and the “Titanic’s” distress rockets probably doubled the number of fatalities. But the reason for the collision has never been explained better than Dr. Lowry explained it: Early Alzheimer’s impacting on habitual self-confidence and the habit of absolute authority. Yet some people will not have it. Perhaps nobody in his mature years wants to think about Alzheimer’s disease, or perhaps the other theories -- human vanity and arrogance of nation, race, or class -- are grounded in personal psychology or politics. There are theories, and there are facts -- and there are opinions that will never allow the theories to be examined to find out whether they may be facts. Max Planck used to say the problem with new physics was old physicists. Once physicists got to a certain age, they simply could not alter what they had been taught or had discovered in order to deal with new information. Einstein flabbergasted a number of the old-timers in 1906. Planck and his contemporaries later put more old-timers on the shelf. You do not need to be a physicist to experience the phenomenon. History also has its examples. If a writer who has the facts straight offers any version of what happened, or might have happened, which does not comport with the prejudices or politics of what the readers believe, want to believe, or desperately need to believe, he or she has big troubles. Dr. Thomas Lowry was a licensed psychiatrist before his voluntary retirement. He was an experienced yachtsman and, as a young man, had shipped on tankers and other merchant vessels on the high seas. He is also the author of more than 30 books on topics where medicine interfaces with military or social history. The one expert review I have seen on his latest book, “Titanic Madness: What Really Sank the Great Ship,” suffered a hatchet job with a very blunt ax. The reviewer dragged in references to Marc Antony and Cleopatra and Shakespeare’s Queen Elizabeth to savage Dr. Lowry for using psychology in history – something almost all modern historians do to some extent. The hostile reviewer tipped his hand when he mentioned that his own father died of Alzheimer’s disease at 88. This was not a reference to Dr. Lowry, but to Captain Edward Smith, the 62-year-old master of “Titanic.” Daniel Bernoulli, one of a family of brilliant Swiss mathematicians, published his description of Bernoulli’s Hydraulic Principle as early as 1738. Bernoulli said that as a ship under way moves past a moored ship, the water rushing between the two hulls creates a suction that, instead of pushing the water aside, pulls the two ships together, sometimes violently. The bigger the ships, the worse the bump. Captain Smith was on the bridge of the “Olympic” when that ship inexplicably collided with the British cruiser “HMA Hawke” in 1911. The British Admiralty and the White Star Line sued each other, and the protracted trial included evidence for the fact that something akin to Bernoulli’s Hydraulic Principle had led to suction between the huge liner and the large cruiser, throwing their navigation into disarray and leading to a collision at sea. A year later, as the “Titanic” was setting out for her maiden voyage, she passed the moored American liner “New York” and the suction of water flowing between the ships pulled the “New York” loose from her moorings, snapped the hawsers like threads, and almost led to another collision. Ships of this size had not existed when Captain Smith first went to sea, and Dr. Lowry believes that, at least on a subconscious level, Captain Smith had never absorbed the idea that suction between ships led to a danger that had not existed in earlier generations. This does not explain the physics of the collision between the “Titanic” and the fatal iceberg -- it explains the psychology that led to the colli- A titanic problem Ho-Ho-Kus Jottings Library trustees plan meeting The Worth-Pinkham Memorial Library Board of Trustees will meet on Monday, April 15. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the library located at 91 Warren Avenue, Ho-Ho-Kus. Knights host Pasta Dinner The Saint Luke’s Knights of Columbus will host a Pasta Dinner on Saturday, April 13. The event will be held at 6 p.m. in the Knights of Columbus Hall at the corner of Smith and Prospect streets in Waldwick. The membership will provide a menu that includes all-you-can-eat pasta, meatballs, garlic bread, salad, soda, coffee, and dessert. Beverages will be available in the lounge for an additional cost. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children under age 12. To purchase tickets, contact Grand Knight Jack DeWitt at (201) 888-8621 or KofC5257@gmail.com. Learn to create a backyard habitat Marty Oostveen will address the Ho-Ho-Kus Garden Club on April 15. This 7:30 p.m. meeting will be held at the Ho-Ho-Kus Community Church at 400 Warren Avenue. Oostveen will present tips for creating a backyard habitat for birds, butterflies, beneficial insects, and hummingbirds. Born and raised in the Netherlands, Oostveen studied gardening at Rutgers and has her own garden design business. Her program will include information on how to deter deer, groundhogs, rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks. Club hosts Bridge Party benefit The Woman’s Club of Ho-Ho-Kus will host its annual Bridge Party fundraiser on Friday, April 12. This event will be held at 12:30 p.m. at the Waldwick United Methodist Church at 25 Franklin Turnpike. The party will feature homemade desserts, coffee, tea, a prize basket fundraiser, and door prizes. Tickets are $15. Call (201) 444-9389. Ho-Ho-Kus HSA Scholarships available The Ho-Ho-Kus Home and School Association will accept applications for three HSA scholarships through April 19. The scholarships, up to the amount of $1,500, will be awarded on the basis of scholarship, leadership, and community service. Graduating high school seniors who reside in Ho-HoKus and who have attended the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School for at least one year are eligible to apply. Applications are available at Ho-Ho-Kus Borough Hall at 333 Warren Avenue, the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School office on Lloyd Road, and the Northern Highlands Regional High School office on Hillside Avenue in Allendale. For more information, call Margie Wilderotter at (201) 739-5030. Foundation announces fundraiser The Ho-Ho-Kus Education Foundation will hold its annual Dinner Dance and Auction on Saturday, April 20 at the Ridgewood Country Club. The event celebrates the 20th year of the organization, which has awarded over $1 million in grants to enhance the educational experience of children at the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School. The foundation is currently seeking donations of auction items. For more information, or to donate an auction item, contact Nan Norbitz Kelly at cnkelly@aol.com. Club seeks candidates for scholarship The Contemporary Club of Ho-Ho-Kus will award one $2,000 scholarship to a high school senior from Ho-HoKus who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement, noteworthy extracurricular involvement, and meaningful community service. Candidates must have lived in HoHo-Kus for at least one year prior to the application date. Applications, along with a high school transcript, personal statement, a guidance counselor’s statement, and two references must be submitted by April 17. Applications are available at Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, all local private school guidance departments, and at www.ccofhhk.com. For more information, contact Nicole Christensen at daveandnicole@aol.com. Police accept Reverse 911 updates Ho-Ho-Kus Police Chief John Wanamaker reminds residents who are not currently on the borough’s Reverse 911 list to call the police desk at (201) 652-1700 to have their contact information added. Anyone with a change of information or a new phone number is invited to call.