As the group is settling, you could show a small clip from the film Titanic - perhaps the part where Leonardo and Kate are up on the prow of the ship with the wind in their hair. (Alternatively, the clip in Love Actually which reminds us of this). The song by Céline Dion is part of the background music - this enables you to start with a question or two.
| LEADER: |
I'm sure there can't be many of you present today who haven't seen this film, and certainly few if not any, who have not heard this song (like it or not!). A simple question then: what is the film? And then some other questions. When was the disaster? How many people died in the disaster? Why did the disaster happen? Today, we will be looking at the problems associated with sea disasters, and looking a little bit deeper at what this might mean for us all.
(Wait for responses)
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| READER 1: |
Just before midnight on the 15th day of April 1912, RMS Titanic, on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, hit an iceberg. Three hours later, she sank. Nearly 1,600 people died in the disaster, many dying because there were too few lifeboats to rescue them from the sea. The cause of the disaster was an iceberg which should have been seen, but was not.
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| READER 2: |
Over the centuries, many hundreds, if not thousands, of ships have been lost at sea, with resulting loss of life. Just recently, the storms and gales that have lashed the shores of the United Kingdom have resulted in some spectacular shoreline scenes and rescues. A ship called the River Dance was one very unexpected visitor to the beaches of Blackpool. Following storms in the Irish Sea, a huge wave smashed into the ship and left her stranded on the beach.
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| READER 3: |
And just off the Scilly Isles, the Horncliff, carrying a cargo of watermelons in huge containers, lost power and was dashed from wave to wave injuring the crew and passengers. The passengers spoke highly of the bravery of the captain, who though injured in the bridge by collapsing pieces of furniture, commanded an SOS to be sent. His German passengers thought their time had come.
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| READER 4: |
These are the lucky ones. Others, like the passengers and crew of the Titanic, did not do so well. Two hundred years ago this year, on 29th December 1807, HMS Anson was caught in the worst gale in decades off the Cornish coast. A sailing vessel with too many guns on top that made the ship top-heavy, she overturned on a large shingle bank just one hundred metres from the shore. Forty men were able to scramble ashore, but the captain and more than one hundred of his men were swept to their deaths.
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| READER 5: |
Tragic disasters sometimes have good results coming out of them, though. From the disaster of the Titanic came better life-boat provision. From the disaster of HMS Anson a rocket-powered life-line was invented by a witness to the wrecking. In 1987 the Herald of Free Enterprise, a ferry which sank in the English Channel killing 193 passengers and crew led to new safety regulations for these car ferries, The running down by a dredger of the Marchioness, a Thames pleasure boat which sank in 1989 resulting in the deaths of 51 people of the 135 on board, led to greater safety measures on the Thames.
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| READER 6: |
But it is not only human life that is threatened by the wrecks the sea has cause to create. The environmental impact of ship disasters is also well known. In 1967 the Torrey Canyon was the first of the huge supertankers to be wrecked off the shores of Britain. Carrying 120,000 tons of crude oil, the impact on the wildlife and birds of south-west England was catastrophic. In 1989 the Exxon Valdez deposited 215,000 barrels of crude oil on the Alaskan shores in North America. Ten million sea birds, porpoises, otters, sea lions, even whales were all threatened and many did in fact die. It made us humans realize what could happen to our environment if we did not take measures to protect it.
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| READER 7: |
In the Bible there are two or three very famous stories about ships and storms. These stories allow us the chance to recognize that there are forces beyond ourselves at work in our lives and that we ought to consider the impact of these forces. One story in the Old Testament is to be found in the book of Jonah, two others in the New Testament. One is in the Acts of the Apostles and involves the great missionary St Paul, the other is in the gospel of Mark and involves Jesus on the Sea of Galilee.
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| READER 8: |
Jonah is a short story. You might know it from his encounter with a whale - or rather a large fish, as it says in the Bible. Anyway, Jonah is on board a ship and it is hit by a huge storm. As is the way amongst sailors, they all cry out to their gods to be saved. Jonah however, has gone below decks for a nap and is sleeping through the storm. He is caught out by the captain who orders him to pray to his god for safety. The crew, though, think he is out of favour with God, who is the one bringing the storm to them. Jonah volunteers to be thrown overboard so that the storm can quieten down and he can show his faith in God. This he does, the storm ceases and you know the rest - gobbled up by the big fish which eventually vomits him out alive on dry land. God has saved him but phew, I wonder if he smelt!
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| READER 9: |
For Paul, a passenger on a ship going to Italy from the island of Crete, a huge storm lasting days and nights, meant that all hands on board feared for their lives. Paul, though, reassured them that God would save them as he had been told by God that he and all on board would be saved.
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| READER 10: |
Jesus, as you know, directly commands the storm that is swamping his boat. He says, 'Peace, be still', and so it is. The fear his disciples felt is also calmed - just like the storm.
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