Similarities Between Attack At Sea And Into Dark Water

The selections, “Attack at Sea” and “Into Dark Water” both gave an illustration of the drastic occurrence on ships where lives of passengers were taken away; major people to these ships were partially responsible for some of these tragic deaths because of their illogical actions. The Titanic passage described millionaire and President of White Star, Bruce Ismay and the Lusitania passage introduced the captain, William Turner and their similar contact with the ships. Both of these men were placed in similar situations but executed them in a different manner. While they may have been presented with an alike problem, they ultimately had distant intentions during their experiences on the ship.

While Captain William Turner and J. Bruce Ismay attained

entirely different intentions, they encountered quite similar complications.

To start off with, they were both large contributors to their ships. In fact, the article, “Into Dark Water”, says,“J. Bruce Ismay, president of the White Star Line, which owned the Titanic.”. Because White Star owned the Titanic and he was the president himself, it simply emphasizes that he was an important role to the Titanic ship. Turner was also one whom provided much involvement to the Lusitania ship as he was the captain. The text even highlights his importance as it states, “...Most experienced and respected captains employed by the Cunard Steamship Company, which owned and operated the Lusitania.” This focuses the point that he was undoubtedly a valued figure. All of these points conclusively are to show that these leaders share similarities in the position of their profession, placing them in an a relatable environment, leading it to be even more likely for them to make similar mistakes. For example, they did not follow the code of sea. Based on the selection, “Into Dark Water” written in the section, “The Coward of the Titanic”, it says that “Ismay was

branded “the coward of the Titanic” for having taken a seat on a lifeboat. According to the“code of the sea,”all men were to step aside until every woman and child had been saved.” Clearly, he paid no consideration to the code which was permitted to be followed. Similarly, in the passage, “Attack at Sea”, located in the caption at the bottom of page 8, Captain William, who had survived the event of the Lusitania ship sinking also did not follow the code of sea as the passage states, “Captains at the time were expected to go down with their ships.” These gesture that both disregarded this rule and would be thought of as similar.

Overall, it is obvious to one’s eye that these men are much alike.

Captain William Turner and J. Bruce Ismay differ immensely. On one hand, Captain William was an honest man and admitted to his mistake. As said in the text, “He felt deep shame for having survived when so many had not.” This shows that he was apologetic about it because if one feels shame or guilt, it is known that they feel sorry. On the other hand, Ismay made the attempt the deny what he did. For a visual, the selection states,“Ismay swore that he helped women and children onto boats until moments before the sinking...But others, including Jack Thayer, said they saw Ismay forcing his way onto a boat...Later, these accusations were largely dismissed.” This proves that he explicitly lied because he claimed to help women and children but eventually he did not even create the urge

to. Rather, he did nothing but now construct an image of a liar. Without a doubt, William was more honest and mature in a way, whereas Bruce was deceptive and irresponsible. Secondly,Turner was respected and strong unlike Bruce. According to the passage,“(He once escaped a swarm of hungry sharks by punching them.)”... He was also a decorated war hero and one of the most experienced and respected…” This expresses that he was respected and strong because it directly conveys that he was respected and due to the fact that he was a war hero and he punched a swarm of hungry sharks (which would be assumed to involve a great deal of strength), it can be inferred that he was brave. To contrast, Bruce demonstrated a selfish character. For one, as the article says, “Only 19% of the Titanic’s men survived...they saw Ismay forcing his way onto a boat.” This provides the understanding that he was selfish because it describes that almost all of Titanic’s men died, and he thought of only himself at that moment by not sacrificing his life for others. Generally, this shows that Turner and Bruce have a very diverse personality which was an atribute to how they handled certain situations. Additionally, the captain had good intentions however resulted in a dreadful ending. The text states, “Captain William Turner was one tough guy. (He once escaped a swarm of hungry sharks by punching them.)...After the Lusitania disaster, though, Turner’s life changed. He felt deep shame for having survived when so many had not. Captains at that time were expected to go down with their ships.” The author mentions that he got away from a swarm of hungry sharks by punching them to describe his bravery. Adding to that, the passage says, in the section, “Unsinkable” of the selection “Attack at Sea that, “Even Captain William Turner—who had received notices about U-boat sightings from the British navy throughout the voyage—seemed unconcerned.” Because of he got over confident with his bravery, it did not come to his attention that he should be alarmed by this warning by the German embassy; this lead to the Lusitania ship sinking but he did not mean to escape without saving others because the passage said that he felt deep shame for surviving while others did not. Therefore, it was unintentional for him to escape and put other peoples’ lives at burden. As a contradiction, Ismay deliberately took the seats of passengers. In the article, “Into Dark Water”,“...Ismay forcing his way onto a boat. Some claimed that despite reports of icebergs, Ismay had urged Captain E. J. Smith to run the Titanic as fast as possible in
order to break speed records.“ This shows that his actions were not accidental because he forced his way onto the boat and even wanted to run the ship as fast as possible. If it were to be unintentional, he would not force his way onto the boat and obviously neither would impel the ship to go faster. These were two completely different intentions and it would difficult to confuse them. Lastly, overall Captain turner was brave and strong and J. Bruce Ismay was cowardly.For example, “Attack at Sea” says“Captain William Turner was one tough guy. (He once escaped a swarm of hungry sharks by punching them.)” Bruce ismay was a coward. “Into Dark Water” even explains, “Ismay was branded “the coward of the Titanic” for having taken a seat on a lifeboat.” “Ismay never recovered from the shame. He retired from White Star the next year and lived in seclusion. He never spoke about the Titanic again. This shows that he was cowardly because he took the seats of passengers and at the end, it did not help because he lived with shame for the rest of his life and never even confronted himself afterwards”. First off, it says in the quote that he was titled as the coward of the Titanic for taking a seat on a lifeboat, but what made him even more cowardly was that he never spoke about this incident again because someone who is a coward is one who lacks facing a fear, which Bruce displayed by not speaking about this topic afterwards. It is plain to see that Bruce was a coward and William was courageous. In the end, Turner and Ismay remained people whom were presented in the problem but worked with it with different attitudes.
J. Bruce Ismay and Captain William Turner shared a great deal of similarities along with differences yet concluded with stronger differences. Bruce, who rose controversial issues, displayed a more cowardly figure whereas William achieved a respected and brave image. I do not think any of them did right action. I believe Bruce should have listened to the code because he pledged to obey it; the ship sinking was bound to happen someday, so it must’ve been something he was aware of. Turner, although he was genuinely sorry, it was wrong to escape without allowing others to. If I were them, I would listen to the code of sea, and make the effort the save others because it is a promise therefore am committed to do it. Undoubtedly, both of these men made the same mistake, but had entirely different personalities or intentions.