Apparently such procedures did not apply in the Maritime World back in 1912. I say this because with vast sheets of ice lying along major sea routes in the North Atlantic every year, few sea captain reported near misses.

Probably the reason for this is such reports would detract from the captains’ reputations as careful and responsible ship’s masters. So how many times ships like the Titanic actually had near misses with ice bergs is anyone’s guess, but I expect it was far more frequent than people in those days thought.

I read again with interest that the Titanic received no fewer than six radio’d warnings she would be running into sea ice, some of which would be studded with large ice bergs. Those messages came from the SS Amerika at 11-20am that fateful day day, whilst two days before the French liner Touraine had sent a similar warning. The SS Coronia, the SS Noordam and SS Baltic, also sent messages the final one coming from the SS Mesaba, and none had the effect of slowing that great ship down. Now, when you consider that an iceberg is as solid as a concrete object and that some weighed in excess of three millions tons one can only wonder at the foolhardiness of some of those old sea captains.

Some wonderful books have been published on the Titanic. Coming up to the main event in Blacktown on 13th April 2012 you are invited to  post info about  a  book you recommend.

Moreover, as we proceed it is as we expected, more and more people are becoming enthused and wishing to join us in our endveavours. Still, it does remain a big project. But with nine months work behind us and only a little over two to go, we know we will sail on time.

Tom Ware Prince of Storytellers

I have already published quite a bit of information on how, in my opinion, one can become a good storyteller.   You will find some of this information on my Hubpages site.  That is by going into http://tusitalatom.hubpages.com and, once in the site, going to the search box and typing in Storytelling Tips or any of those Hubs which pertain to storytelling.

There are also many Hubs there on public speaking generally.  These can be accessed by typing: Speaking Tips, into the search box.

That’s one way to do it.   Another is go visit the District 70 website: http://d70toastmasters.org and, once in there, to go into Resources for Speakers.  I have a book in there called, The Raconteur - Speaking to Entertain.   You are free to download this for your own use.

To actually start a blog which deals only with storytelling on this site would involve ongoing posts.   If readers want same, then I will certainly give that consideration.

Keep smiling and remember, if it starts with, “Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a land far away,” you can rest assured, what comes next will be a story.

Tom Ware Prince of Storytellers

Comments welcome

Introduction

Prince of Storytellers Tom Ware presents Titanic – A Night to Remember on Friday, 13th April 2012 at Blacktown Workers Club.

April the 13th 2012 marks the Eve of the Centenary of that greatest of all sea stories, the sinking of the RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage.    Tom has told this story to many audiences over many years. So it was only natural for Tom to jump at the opportunity to present this exciting story a 100 years after the event to an audience of Toastmasters and the wider community. Tom is coordinating this event as part of his High Performance Leadership Project (HPLP) with a guidance committee and an action team.  In many ways this is a HIGHER Performance Leadership Project.

What is a High Performance Leadership Project?

A High Performance Leadership Project (HPLP) is a requirement to achieve the highest communication and leadership level in Toastmasters International  – DISTINGUISHED TOASTMASTER (DTM)

More info is available at http://www.toastmasters.org/262