Chairman Escapes While 1,500 Drown

Murder In Canterbury Cathedral.
On the evening of December 29, 1170, four heavily armed knights forced their way into Canterbury Cathedral.
They had already turned up at the Cathedral once that day, unarmed, to demand the surrender of Archbishop Thomas Becket, whom they had accused of treason.
When Becket refused to accompany them, they went back outside for their weapons and returned determined on murder.
Mindful of the sanctity of their surroundings, the knights first tried to drag him outside, but he clung to a pillar and could not be budged.
Drawing their swords, they then hacked and stabbed him to death.
It was one of the most infamous murders in English history.

Chairman Escapes While 1,500 Drown.
Little is certain of what happened to Edward J Smith, captain of the Titanic, except that he went down with the ship.
It is clear he was ultimately responsible for the failed command structure and never issued a general “abandon ship” order.
He had no plan for an orderly evacuation and there was neither a public address system nor a drill, even for the inadequate number of life boats that were on board.
Joseph Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, was on board at the time and was criticised in the press for escaping in a lifeboat while 1,500 people drowned.
His career was ruined and when he died on October 17, 1937, he was buried at Putney Vale cemetery, next to Wimbledon Common.

Eight Years Before Titanic Sank.
July 5, 1904.
Out of 765 crew and passengers on the Norge, a US-bound passenger ship from Copenhagen, just 128 survived when it struck a reef 180 miles west of Scotland.
“Women and children were drowned literally by the hundred,” said the report, which told of pandemonium on board, lack of lifeboats and a mad rush to escape as the vessel sank in just 12 minutes.
Survivors said those on lifeboats had to beat off ‘drowning wretches’ clinging to the side and capsizing the vessels.
But among the tragedy there were stories of heroism.
A 17-year-old boy sacrificed his own life to save his sister after realising there was no space for them both.
And an officer of the ship, finding the boat he was in overladen with women and children, leapt overboard to give them a better chance of escaping.

Flood Killed 1,800 People In Holland.
In 1953, a major flood killed around 1,800 people in Holland and authorities realised a sea defence had to be built.
The answer was to block certain estuaries leading to Antwerp and Rotterdam.
The basic premise was very simple – minimise the exposure of the dykes to the sea.
But the execution was amazing, and the scale of it enormous – the whole coastline had to change.
In the Odense area, the sea defence is designed for a one-in-10,000 year surge.
In England, the only comparable construction, The Thames Barrier, is designed for a one-in-1,000 year surge.
With sea levels expected to keep rising, work to broaden coastal dunes and strengthen sea and river dykes is estimated to continue for another 100 years.