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[ghostlyforest]

Please make a post about the story of the RMS Carpathia, because it's something that's almost beyond belief and more people should know about it.

Carpathia received Titanic’s distress signal at 12:20am, April 15th, 1912. She was 58 miles away, a distance that absolutely could not be covered in less than four hours.

(Californian’s exact position at the time is…controversial. She was close enough to have helped. By all accounts she was close enough to see Titanic’s distress rockets. It’s uncertain to this day why her crew did not respond, or how many might not have been lost if she had been there. This is not the place for what-ifs. This is about what was done.)

Carpathia’s Captain Rostron had, yes, rolled out of bed instantly when woken by his radio operator, ordered his ship to Titanic’s aid and confirmed the signal before he was fully dressed. The man had never in his life responded to an emergency call. His goal tonight was to make sure nobody who heard that fact would ever believe it.

All of Carpathia’s lifeboats were swung out ready for deployment. Oil was set up to be poured off the side of the ship in case the sea turned choppy; oil would coat and calm the water near Carpathia if that happened, making it safer for lifeboats to draw up alongside her. He ordered lights to be rigged along the side of the ship so survivors could see it better, and had nets and ladders rigged along her sides ready to be dropped when they arrived, in order to let as many survivors as possible climb aboard at once.

I don’t know if his making provisions for there still being survivors in the water was optimism or not. I think he knew they were never going to get there in time for that. I think he did it anyway because, god, you have to hope.

Carpathia had three dining rooms, which were immediately converted into triage and first aid stations. Each had a doctor assigned to it. Hot soup, coffee, and tea were prepared in bulk in each dining room, and blankets and warm clothes were collected to be ready to hand out. By this time, many of the passengers were awake–prepping a ship for disaster relief isn’t quiet–and all of them stepped up to help, many donating their own clothes and blankets.

And then he did something I tend to refer to as diverting all power from life support.

Here’s the thing about steamships: They run on steam. Shocking, I know; but that steam powers everything on the ship, and right now, Carpathia needed power. So Rostron turned off hot water and central heating, which bled valuable steam power, to everywhere but the dining rooms–which, of course, were being used to make hot drinks and receive survivors. He woke up all the engineers, all the stokers and firemen, diverted all that steam back into the engines, and asked his ship to go as fast as she possibly could. And when she’d done that, he asked her to go faster.

I need you to understand that you simply can’t push a ship very far past its top speed. Pushing that much sheer tonnage through the water becomes harder with each extra knot past the speed it was designed for. Pushing a ship past its rated speed is not only reckless–it’s difficult to maneuver–but it puts an incredible amount of strain on the engines. Ships are not designed to exceed their top speed by even one knot. They can’t do it. It can’t be done.

Carpathia’s absolute do-or-die, the-engines-can’t-take-this-forever top speed was fourteen knots. Dodging icebergs, in the dark and the cold, surrounded by mist, she sustained a speed of almost seventeen and a half.

No one would have asked this of them. It wasn’t expected. They were almost sixty miles away, with icebergs in their path. They had a respondibility to respond; they did not have a responsibility to do the impossible and do it well. No one would have faulted them for taking more time to confirm the severity of the issue. No one would have blamed them for a slow and cautious approach. No one but themselves.

They damn near broke the laws of physics, galloping north headlong into the dark in the desperate hope that if they could shave an hour, half an hour, five minutes off their arrival time, maybe for one more person those five minutes would make the difference. I say: three people had died by the time they were lifted from the lifeboats. For all we know, in another hour it might have been more. I say they made all the difference in the world.

This ship and her crew received a message from a location they could not hope to reach in under four hours. Just barely over three hours later, they arrived at Titanic’s last known coordinates. Half an hour after that, at 4am, they would finally find the first of the lifeboats. it would take until 8:30 in the morning for the last survivor to be brought onboard. Passengers from Carpathia universally gave up their berths, staterooms, and clothing to the survivors, assisting the crew at every turn and sitting with the sobbing rescuees to offer whatever comfort they could.

In total, 705 people of Titanic’s original 2208 were brought onto Carpathia alive. No other ship would find survivors.

At 12:20am April 15th, 1912, there was a miracle on the North Atlantic. And it happened because a group of humans, some of them strangers, many of them only passengers on a small and unimpressive steam liner, looked at each other and decided: I cannot live with myself if I do anything less.

I think the least we can do is remember them for it.

[ghostlyforest]

Dumping this here because I need to vent and there’s nothing else I can do so…

I have a full time job that doesn’t schedule me the full 40 hours. A full time job but I don’t qualify for an apartment lease because I don’t earn 2.5 times the cost of rent. I need to move out by the end of this month because my ex-boyfriend turned roommate is moving on with his life. I have nowhere to go. Working full time yet most likely homeless next month. I am scared.

Is life worth living? I’m a 44 year old undiagnosed autistic with diagnosed ADHD. It seems like I was a mistake in this world. I shouldn’t have been born. But here I am. And life doesn’t seem worth living anymore.

[ghostlyforest]

via

[ghostlyforest]

Holding on to hope.

I just need one commission to be able to pay my cellphone bill this Friday. Just one. Hoping someone commissions me soon!

[ghostlyforest]

When cats lie on their backs and look at you upside down with their little vampire tooth sticking out reblog if you agree

[ghostlyforest]

This might not be important but my unread emails went from 25k down to zero. I was determined.

[ghostlyforest]

A year ago I was diagnosed with ADHD and OCD but there's something more... I'm very suspicious that I am also autistic.

Childhood memories (what I can recall because my memory is crap):

stimming (counting up to 7 with my fingers but in a specific pattern) and my dad making me stop every time so I eventually repressed stimming in his presence

struggling to make friends in general

other stuff I can't remember due to masking my whole life

Present day:

always wearing the same comfy t-shirt and sweats, so much so that I hand wash them often

100% cotton clothing is my favorite

intense dislike of heat, it's horrible

absolutely love the cold and wrapping myself up in my favorite 100% cotton throw with bats on it

due to anxiety disorder I tend to sweat even sitting still and I HATE sweat so I wear cotton socks all the time to help keep my feet dry

speaking of socks, I also wear them to avoid walking on the carpet because it feels ick and I don't like getting my feet dirty

I don't talk much in general and enjoy solitude

when I do want to talk I honestly don't know how to start a conversation

I don't like being touched (although I do like being hugged by my loved ones)

stimming (although this is something also present in ADHD)

plus some other stuff that I can't recall at the moment

Having major depression has dampened my creative side (my mind is a lot more fuzzy; fuzzy noise) so I can't comment on having a special interest. I just can't remember right now. But it could be art. It's the one constant since childhood.

An online quiz gave me a high score so it's very likely that I am autistic. So it's something I'll bring up once I find a new psychiatrist.

[ghostlyforest]

Had a 3 day long burst of let's-clean-and-reorganize-the-kitchen-and-bedroom thanks to my ADHD brain. My hands are in pain and I'm exhausted but it looks so clean and tidy now! Heck, I even baked a pumpkin pie and put up the Christmas tree and hoping my young cats don't destroy it. >u<

[ghostlyforest]

Hungry but cannot be bothered to cook.

Want to order online but don't feel like driving.

Would order delivery but PEOPLE.

[ghostlyforest]

My. Hands. Hurt.

Between opening boxes at work 5 hours straight and packing 42 Kickstarter orders (consisting of enamel pins) from 1 to 11pm yesterday... might have to soak my hands in warm water with Epsom salts tonight. >u<;

But I'm happy to have finished shipping them all and making customers' day brighter when they receive their rewards.

Oh! I also packed my shop orders! Yay!

[ghostlyforest]

[ghostlyforest]

1 year, 1k hours, and 200k Nook miles later my island finally looks decent. And we're so ready for the update!

[ghostlyforest]

[ghostlyforest]

All I wanna do is snuggle up into a burrito and play Animal Crossing for a living >3>

[ghostlyforest]

Uh oh.

After watching the Animal Crossing New Horizons Direct live on Friday morning and freaking out I have once again been consumed by the game.

My island doesn't need to be "finished" but I've been redoing areas and making it visually pleasing to me. What's my theme? Cozy. And easy to navigate since I have yet to complete my museum. But I'm in no hurry. Although I do want to have my island decorated before Halloween comes around!

[ghostlyforest]

Packing the Kickstarter pledges is going to be so much fun! I am looking forward to it. Just gotta fight this lack of motivation.

[ghostlyforest]

Had planned to start packing Kickstarter pledges today. But I woke up with barely any motivation, as opposed to yesterday when I was feeling quite pumped about it. I. Hate. Having. ADHD.