Wave (ocean)

A wave is the formation of a ridge or swell in a fluid surface by wind or other causes.

Pixiebay

LARGE WIND WAVES

Large waves form under certain weather conditions at certain times of the year, travelling big distances in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. They become dangerous when they reach the shallow waters of the continental shelves at 200 metres/100 fathoms, especially when they meet currents, for example the Agulhas current to the east of South Africa and the Gulf Stream.

By Shalom Jacobovitz 

The highest wave ever recorded was 91ft (27m) — as tall as six double-decker buses — in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Ivan in September, 2004.

The highest wave ever detected by a buoy was 62.3 feet (19m) high and happened on February 4, 2013, in the  North Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and the United Kingdom at coordinates 59° N, 11° W.

ROGUE WAVES 

Rogue or monster waves appear without warning and are extremely huge and often steep (cliff like) with very deep troughs.

Rogue waves are distinct from tides, caused by the Moon and Sun's gravitational pull, waves generated by underwater explosions or the fall of meteorites or tsunamis that are caused by underwater earthquakes, landslides or volcanic eruptions—all having far longer wavelengths than wind waves.

A widely reported phenomenon among sailors for centuries the first rogue wave documented and witnessed with measurable equipment was recorded at the Draupner platform in the North Sea off the coast of Norway on January 1, 1995 and was 25.6m (84ft) tall.

Merchant ship labouring in heavy seas as a huge wave looms ahead, ca. 1940.

The Agulhas Current, off the coast of Durban, in South Africa, produces some of the biggest waves in the world. In this busy shipping area, rogue waves can reach heights of over 100 feet (30 meters).

Rogue waves are considered responsible for the sudden disappearance, without distress calls of many sound ships.

TSUNAMI

A tsunami is a series of fast-moving waves in the ocean caused by powerful earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

The typical length of tsunami waves is about 100 times the depth. As a result, the speed of travel of a wave in the ocean with an average depth of approximately 13,200 feet (4,000 meters) is of around 440 miles per hour (700 kilometers per hour), which means the speed of a jet aircraft.

The largest wave ever recorded by humans measured 1,720 feet (524 meters). It occurred on July 9, 1958 when Alaska's Lituya Bay was hit by a megatsunami triggered by an earthquake. The force of the wave removed all trees and vegetation from elevations as high as 1720 feet above sea level. Two occupants of a small fishing boat that was in the area surfed that wave and survived to tell the story.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in human history, with at least 230,000 people killed or missing in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

One of the few coastal areas to evacuate ahead of the 2004 tsunami was on the island of Simeulue. Due to island folklore recounting an earthquake/tsunami in 1907, the islanders fled inland following the initial shaking. Generational folklore saving the lives of the islanders 97 years later.

WAVE POWER

Wave power is power obtained by harnessing the power of the waves.

The idea of turning wave energy into electricity first took place in Paris in 1799 when Monsieur Girard and his son patented a mechanism to drive wave power to activate pumps, mills, saws and heavy machinery.

Various schemes to harness the power of the waves were advanced in the mid-1970s when oil prices rose dramatically and the prospects of an energy shortage became serious.

Pelamis Wave Energy Converter on site at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), in 2008

The world's first wave energy farm was installed in September 2008. Three Pelamis wave-following attenuation devices were installed offshore near Póvoa de Varzim north of Porto in Portugal.

In theory, the wave energy potential of the United States is estimated to be of 2.64 trillion kWh, which means around 65 percent of all the electricity in the country in 2016.

FUN WAVE FACTS

Most waves we see coming in from the horizon are a product of wind that blows over large areas of the ocean. Length, height, period and speed are the main characteristics of a typical sea wave.

In the Southern Hemisphere, there is less difference in wave height between the warm and cold seasons, resulting in more consistent surfing conditions throughout the year.

The sound of a wave breaking is actually that of hundreds of millions of air bubbles bursting at the shoreline.

Sources Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Surfertoday

Volcano

A volcano is a vent on the Earth or another celestial body’s surface from which hot gases, ash and magma (molten rock) are ejected. Magma emerges as lava.

The word “volcano” comes from the name of the Roman God of Fire, Vulcan.

New Zealand volcano Pixiebay

VOLCANIC FEATURES

A volcano has enough power to shoot ash as high as 50 kilometers (31 miles) into the atmosphere.

Volcanoes are needed to constantly replenish the atmosphere with nitrogen and carbon dioxide. They also create wonderfully fertile soil, which is why so many people choose to live next to sleeping volcanoes.

Supervolcanos usually have a large caldera and can produce devastation on an enormous, sometimes continental, scale.  Examples include Yellowstone Caldera in Yellowstone National Park, USA, Lake Taupo in New Zealand and  Mount Tambor in Indonesia. The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambor was the last eruption of a supervolcano.

Stratovolcanoes or composite volcanoes are tall conical mountains composed of lava flows and other ejecta in alternate layers, The Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala is a stratovolcano, mountainous with a towering peak. The gases in a stratovolcano build up to exert massive pressure and violent eruption.

October 1974 eruption of Volcán de Fuego

Shield volcanoes, so named for their broad, shield-like profiles generally do not explode.  catastrophically. Kilauea volcano in Hawaii is a "shield volcano" flat and wide like a huge shield lying on the ground. The lava from shield volcanoes move more slowly than from a stratovolcano.

FAMOUS VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

Volcanoes were much more volatile and dangerous before humans populated this planet. They had to be violent in order to kick start our atmosphere and soil for plants and animals to thrive on.

Mount Vesuvius is a volcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. An eruption in AD 79 destroyed the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum killing over 1,000 people.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was described in such accurate and useful detail by Pliny The Younger, that vulcanologists now call eruptions of its kind "Plinian eruptions."

Vesuvius erupting. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection

The 1257 Samalas eruption was a major volcanic eruption of the Samalas volcano, next to Mount Rinjani on the island of Lombok, Indonesia. It may have triggered the Little Ice Age and famines in Europe. Geologists rank it as the most powerful eruption of the last 7,000 years. 

The largest  volcanic eruption in recent history in South America was recorded on February 19, 1600 when Peru’s Huaynaputina exploded. It belched 12 cubic kilometres of ash in the air for two weeks. This had a global impact, causing some of Europe’s coldest winters and a devastating famine in Russia.

Mount Tambora, a volcano located on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia, began one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in recorded history on April 10, 1815, killing at least 71,000 people. The eruption continued for several days, with the most explosive phase occurring on April 15, 1815. The eruption sent huge plumes of ash, gas, and debris into the atmosphere, which caused global climate anomalies and led to a "year without a summer" in many parts of the world in 1816. 

Another of the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history happened on August 26, 1883 on Krakatoa, a small, volcanic island west of Sumatra in Indonesia. Heard 3,000 miles (4,828 kms) away, the explosions threw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles (80 kns) into the air, created 120-foot tsunamis and killed 36,000 people.

The sound made by the eruption of Krakatoa was so loud that if it was to happen in Ireland, it would sound like cannon fire in New York City.

An 1888 lithograph of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.

Martinique's Mount Pelée begun the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century on May 7, 1902. It completely destroyed St. Pierre, killing 30,000 people, wiping the city off the map.

Ludger Sylbaris, a man thrown into solitary confinement after a bar brawl, survived the Mount Pelée eruption because his cell was bombproof and poorly ventilated. He became one of only three known survivors of the event, and his prison cell still stands today.

1902 eruption

The largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century took place on June 6, 1912 on the Alaska Peninsula. The 60-hour-long Novarupta eruption expelled 3.1 to 3.6 cubic miles (13 to 15 km3) of ash, thirty times as much as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and created the Novarupta lava dome.

On May 18, 1980, a major volcanic eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens, a volcano located in Skamania County, in the U.S. state of Washington. It was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. The eruptions lasted nine hours, leaving a one-mile-wide crater where its peak had been. 57 people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. More than 6 million trees were uprooted or flattened by the blast.

The volcanologist David Johnson had fought to keep the summit Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake visitor-free for two months before the cataclysm. Instead of 1000 deaths there was 57; him among them. Johnson radioed "...Vancouver, this is it" seconds before he was incinerated.

Harry Glicken was devastated when his mentor David Johnson died during the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980. Glicken met the same fate 11 years later during the eruption of Mt Unzen in Japan. Glicken and Johnson are the only American volcanologists to have died in volcanic eruptions.

LOCATIONS 

Of the world's volcanic activity, 90 per cent takes place in its oceans. The South Pacific has the largest concentration of active volcanoes, with 1,133 volcanic cones identified in an area the size of New York State.

The chief volcanic regions on land are the central Andes (Chile): New Zealand's North Island: Hawaii: Japan and Antarctica.

Around five per cent of the world’s population live within the danger zones of active volcanoes.

The 25 tallest volcanoes in the world are all in South America.

Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano in the world. Located on Ross Island it spews metallic, crystallized gold into the atmosphere every single day.  

Mount Erebus By Ehquionest - Own work

The only continent without an active volcano is Australia.

The last volcanic eruption in Britain was in the Scottish Highlands around 55 million years ago.

Ben Nevis is an extinct volcano.

VOLCANOES ON OTHER CELESTIAL BODIES

Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system with hundreds of volcanoes and volcanic geysers. Active volcanoes constantly spew material onto Io's surface. Its volcanic eruptions are so powerful that they can be seen with large telescopes on Earth.

The highest volcanic eruption detected in our solar system was a 310-mile (500 km) plume emerging from Io, in 2001 by NASA's Galileo spacecraft.

Picture below is active lava flows in the Io volcanic region Tvashtar Paterae (blank region represents saturated areas in the original data). Images taken by Galileo in November 1999 and February 2000.

The largest known volcano in the Solar System, at 88,000ft (26,822 metres) is Olympus Mons on Mars. At 16 miles high (26 kms) and 374 miles (602 kms) wide, is so heavy that it sits in a depression caused by the volcano's weight pressing down on the crust in the area.

Olympus Mons has such a gradual slope that someone standing at the base wouldn't be able to see the summit because it's beyond the horizon.

FUN VOLCANO FACTS 

The Stromboli Volcano in Italy is the world's most active volcano and has been in a near-constant state of eruption for around 2,000 years.

In 1935 the U.S. 23rd Bomb Squadron dropped twenty 600-pound bombs in the path of a volcano's lava flow, thus saving the city of Hilo, Hawaii by diverting the lava away from the city.

On April 1, 1974 a local prankster Oliver "Porky" Bickar took 70 tires to the top of Mt. Edgecumbe, a volcano located at the southern end of Kruzof Island, Alaska. and lit them on fire. The locals thought the 400-year dormant volcano was erupting and a helicopter was sent up to check it out. When the helicopter arrived, the pilot found the words "APRIL FOOL" spray painted on the snow.

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had a volcano built at his 148 acre estate in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, in 2006. With fireworks and a small earthquake, it was intended as a surprise at a party. Neighbors, unaware, rang the fire brigade.

Fine-grained volcanic ash can be found as an ingredient in some toothpastes.

Source Daily Express

Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius is a 1,281 metres (4,203 ft) volcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 5.6 miles (9 km) east of Naples.

A massive volcanic explosion of Mount Vesuvius destroyed The Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy in AD 79.

Before Mount Vesuvius exploded in 79 AD, people who lived nearby did not even know that it was a volcano, because it had not erupted for 600 years.

Pompeii, with Vesuvius towering above By Qfl247,

The eruption buried Pompeii and Herculaneum beneath mud, lava and ash until they were rediscovered and excavated in the 18th century.

Over 1,000 people died in the eruption, but exact numbers are unknown.

The AD 79 eruption released 100,000 times the energy of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The eruption changed the way the Sarno River flowed, and raised the sea beach. Because of this, Pompeii ceased to be on the river nor next to the coast.

Vesuvius erupting. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection

Pliny the Younger described in two letters to to the historian Tacitus the mushroom cloud from the volcano as being in the shape of umbrella pine, a tree commonly found in the region. The eruption killed his uncle.

Such explosive eruptions, sending molten rock 15 to 20 miles high are known as Plinian.

Vesuvius has erupted more than 30 times since AD 79 but the richness of the soil after an eruption always led to new settlements around its base.

The eruption in 512 was so severe that people living on its slopes were granted tax exemption by Theodoric the Great, the Gothic king of Italy.

An eruption of Vesuvius on April 5, 1906 killed over 100 people and ejected the most lava ever recorded from a Vesuvian eruption. It ended plans for Italy to hold the Olympics in 1908, which were moved to London.

The most recent eruption was on March 18, 1944, which destroyed the villages of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, Massa di Somma, and Ottaviano.

Vesuvius is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted in the last hundred years.

The entire mountain of Vesuvius was named an Italian National Park in 1995.

Daily Express

Tornado

A tornado is an extremely violent revolving storm, caused by a rising column of warm air propelled by strong wind.

Pixiebay

The United States is the global epicenter of tornado formation with an average of 1,200 each year. It’s the result of a unique geography that allows hot, dry air from the Southwest to flow atop moist, warm, unstable surface air east of the Rocky Mountains, with cold air at the jet-stream level overtopping it all.

Tornadoes moving at speeds of up to 400 kilometers per hour/250 mph are common in the Mississippi basin of the USA and cause great destruction.

FAMOUS TORNADOES IN HISTORY

On October 17, 1091 a tornado hit London, demolishing 600 houses and William the Conqueror's newly built bridge. The tornado is mentioned in chronicles by Florence of Worcester and William of Malmesbury, the latter describing it as "a great spectacle for those watching from afar, but a terrifying experience for those standing near". Wind speeds of up to 240 mph are thought to have hit the city, causing widespread damage.

After the British set fire to Washington D.C. during the War Of 1812, a tornado appeared out of nowhere and put out the fire our saving the city.

The Tri-State Tornado of Wednesday, March 18, 1925 was the deadliest tornado in United States history inflicting 695 fatalities. The 151 to 235 mi (243 to 378 km) track left by the tornado was the longest ever recorded in the world as it crossed from southeastern Missouri, through southern Illinois, then into southwestern Indiana. 

Track of the Tri-state tornado

When the deadliest tornado touched down in Missouri, people were taken by surprise. This was because the word 'tornado' had been banned from US weather forecasts since the late 19th century due to hysteria. This mentality shifted after the tornado killed 695 ill-prepared residents.

In 1948, meteorologists at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City issued the world's first tornado forecast after noticing conditions similar to another tornado that had struck five days earlier.

One of the worst recorded tornado outbreaks in U.S. history was the April 3–4, 1974 Super Outbreak. It produced 148 tornadoes in 13 states and Canada, including 30 "violent" tornadoes, rated F5 on the Fujita scale. The outbreak killed 315 people and injured 5,484. The most destructive tornado was an F5 that struck Xenia, Ohio, killing 34 people and injuring 1,150. The outbreak also caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damage.

During the tornado outbreak of 1974, forecasters in Indiana, frustrated because they could not keep up with all of the simultaneous tornado activity, put the entire state under a blanket tornado warning. This was the only time in U.S. history that an entire state was under a tornado warning. 

The 1974 Super Outbreak was the result of a combination of factors, including a strong jet stream, warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, and cold air from Canada. 

The deadliest tornado in world history struck the Manikganj district in Central Bangladesh on April 26, 1989. The tornado was estimated to be an EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with winds of up to 200 mph. 

The tornado touched down near Daulatpur and traveled east, eventually striking the town of Saturia. It caused widespread destruction, killing an estimated 1,300 people and injuring more than 12,000. The tornado also destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 homes and left an estimated 80,000 people homeless. 

The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City was devastated by an F5 tornado on May 3, 1999, killing 36 people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado was one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produced the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h). 

A tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma, on May 3

Britain's costliest tornado struck Birmingham on July 28, 2005, injuring 39 people and causing £40 million of damage across the city.

American Matt Suter holds the record for surviving the longest distance in a tornado. Knocked unconscious by a twister in 2006, he came to 1,307ft (398m) away — the length of four football pitches — with only minor injuries.

The 2011 Super Outbreak was the worst recorded tornado outbreak in U.S. history. Between April 25–28, 2011 a record 208 tornadoes touched down in the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States killing 346 people and leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake. 

On April 27, 2011, a powerful storm system swept across the southeastern United States, spawning a massive outbreak of tornadoes that caused widespread destruction. In total, 317 people were killed in the storms, making it the deadliest single day for tornadoes in U.S. history since the "Tri-State" outbreak in 1925, which killed at least 747 people. 

The official record for the widest tornado is 2.6 miles (4.2 km), which was set by the El Reno tornado on May 31, 2013, in Oklahoma. For perspective, a tornado 2.6 miles wide is roughly the distance of 46 football fields placed side by side. The tornado was part of a larger supercell thunderstorm that produced several other tornadoes, including one that was rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The El Reno tornado was responsible for the deaths of 10 people, including three storm chasers.

FUN TORNADO FACTS

If you see a tornado and it is not moving side to side, this is a strong indication that it is moving directly towards you.

The inside of a tornado is filled with blue lightning, and many little tornadoes. The air is smooth, not turbulent, but hard to breath.

An hour-long, 8-mile-high tornado could produce nearly enough electricity from wind to power 20 American households for a year.

Three out of every four tornadoes in the world happen in the United States. It averaged 1,274 per year in the last decade while Canada reports nearly 100 annually.

The Netherlands has the highest average number of recorded tornadoes per area of any country (more than 20 annually), but most are small and cause minor damage.

Superheated plasma tornadoes near the sun's surface hit speeds of up to 190.000 miles per hour.

Titanic

RMS Titanic was a British luxury passenger liner which was built by Harland and Wolff ship builders, in Belfast, for the White Star Line company. Before she sailed, many people thought it would be almost impossible for ships of this design to sink.

RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912

FEATURES  

RMS Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches (269.06 m) long with a maximum breadth of 92 feet 6 inches (28.19 m). Her total height, measured from the base of the keel to the top of the bridge, was 104 feet (32 m).

At 78 feet 8 inches (23.98 m) high and 15 feet 3 inches (4.65 m) long, weighing over 100 tons, RMS Titanic's rudder was so large that it required steering engines to move it.

The Belfast slipway from which the Titanic was launched in May 1911 — 11 months before the liner sank — was smothered in 22 tons of soap and tallow to ensure a smooth passage. The launch took just 62 seconds.

The Titanic actually started off having enough lifeboats – they removed a bunch to make the ship look less cluttered.

The most expensive first class tickets on the Titanic were $4350 (or £870) in 1912 money. That's over $100,000 today.

Provisions for the 2,229 passengers and crew on board RMS Titanic when she sailed in April 1912 included 200 barrels of flour, 40,000 fresh eggs, 2.75 tons of tomatoes and 100,000lb of fresh meat, poultry and game. Those in 1st and 2nd Class ate their main meal in the evening; 3rd Class passengers, were served their ‘dinner' at midday.

The famous Grand Staircase, which connected Boat Deck and E Deck

MAIDEN VOYAGE 

Titanic's maiden voyage began at noon on Wednesday, April 10, 1912 when the liner left Southampton on the south coast of England. It called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland before heading west to New York.

The life boat drill planned for April 14, 1912, was cancelled.

The Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean at 11.40 PM on April 14, 1912 and began to sink. 

The route of Titanic's maiden voyage. By Prioryman

The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal. It had been adopted as the international signal for distress earlier in 1912. 

At 12:50 a.m. EST on April 15, 1912, junior wireless operators at Cape Race, Newfoundland, received a report from the Virginian that they were trying to reach Titanic, but had lost communication. Titanic's last signals at 12:27 a.m. were "blurred and ended abruptly."

There were an estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, and an estimated 1,517 died - only 306 bodies were recovered.

"Untergang der Titanic", as conceived by Willy Stöwer, 1912

Of the estimated 1,517 people who died on the sinking of RMS Titanic more than a third were from Southampton.

As the Titanic went under, the band played ragtime until the ship's bridge dipped underwater, then the bandmaster led his men in the Episcopal hymn, "Autumn". The male passengers formed up on deck and under the leadership of New York real estate tycoon Colonel John Jacob Astor sung the Welsh hymn "Nearer thy God to Thee". 

John Jacob Astor IV in 1909. 

A priest on the Titanic refused a lifeboat and instead, stayed behind to hear confessions and give absolution to those on the ship.

Colonel John Jacob Astor (1864-1912) was the richest person to die when the Titanic sank: he was worth an estimated $ 90 million (around $2 billion, or £1.5 billion, today). The year before he had caused a scandal when, as a 47-year-old divorced man, he married a teenage socialite. She survived the disaster at sea and four months later gave birth to their son.

Irish Titanic passenger Jeremiah Burke sent a good bye message in a bottle during the sinking. It subsequently washed up near his home, where his handwriting was recognized by his mother.

According to models, Titanic should have tipped over about an hour into the sinking, killing practically everyone. Miraculously a rare coal fire during the voyage required coal to be shifted to the opposite side of the ship, creating a list that offset the incoming water during the sinking.

The first pictures of the wreck of the Titanic were released on September 4, 1985, 73 years after it sank. The American-French expedition used a submarine 2.5 miles beneath the surface.

The bow of the wrecked RMS Titanic, photographed in June 2004

The 1985 discovery of the Titanic stemmed from a secret United States Navy investigation of two wrecked nuclear submarines, according to Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who found the infamous ocean liner. When Ballard announced a mission to find the Titanic, it was a cover story for a classified mission to search for the lost nuclear submarines. They finished before they were due back, so the team spent the extra time looking for the Titanic and actually found it. 

SURVIVORS

There are many remarkable stories of various victims and survivors including a man called John Harper who journeying on the Titanic to preach at the Moody Church in Chicago. When it sunk he found himself amongst 1500 others swimming frantically in the water. As he did so he drifted towards a young man who had climbed up on a piece of debris. Harper asked him between breaths, "young man, are you saved?" the man replied that he was not. The men drifted apart in the darkness before a wave brought them within speaking distance of each other and again a quickly weakening Harper yelled to him "Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." At that John Harper slipped into his watery grave but the young man was rescued by the S.S. Carpathia.

Four years later the young man stood up in a Christian Endeavor meeting in New York and proclaimed in tears, "I am John Harper's last convert." 

Arrival of Titanic's survivors at New York (artist concept)

Charles Lightoller, the second officer of the Titanic, who survived by swimming from the sinking ship to a capsized raft, later in life sailed his civilian craft to Dunkirk and helped evacuate over 130 men.

Richard Norris Williams survived the Titanic sinking, but spent over 6 hours waist deep in freezing water and the rescue doctor recommended amputation of both his legs. He refused and proceeded to win his first tennis tournament a few months later and became Wimbledon doubles champion in 1920. 

Frank Goldsmith, Jr., a Titanic survivor who later lived near Navin Field (Tiger Stadium) in Detroit, never took his children to baseball games because the roar of the crowd reminded him of the screams of people dying in the freezing water.

Charles Joughin, Chief Baker on the RMS Titanic, helped passengers board lifeboats (forcibly boarding those who thought it safer to stay on the ship), drank half a bottle of liqueur, then threw chairs overboard for use as flotation devices, rode the side of the ship down while it sunk. He spent 3 hours in the -2°c waters before he was rescued alive and survived. 

The occupants of the lifeboats of the RMS Titanic included a musical toy pig, two mysterious "orphans" and a Pekingese dog called Sun Yat Sen.

The chairman and MD of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay (1862-1937), was the highest-ranking official to survive the Titanic disaster. The 1997 Titanic movie depicted him as a coward and, in 2012, his descendants spoke out for the first time to clear his name and reject claims that he had escaped on the first lifeboat and even dressed as a woman to secure his rescue.

The last remaining survivor of the Titanic went on to live to 97. At two months old, Millvina Dean was the youngest aboard the liner when it sank in 1912. Her mother and brother also survived, but not her father.

MOVIES 

The earliest Titanic-based movie,  Saved from the Titanic, was released just 29 days after the sinking. It featured an actress who was actually on the Titanic and survived. For her role, she wore the actual outfit she had on the night it sank. The actress suffered a mental breakdown shortly after its completion. No copies of this film remain.

The 1958 British film A Night to Remember is still widely regarded as the most historically accurate movie portrayal of the sinking.

The biggest budget movie portrayal of the sinking was James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic, which was released in the US on December 19, 1997. It became the highest-grossing film in history up to that time, as well as the winner of 11 Oscars at the 70th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Cameron.

Wikipedia

Five weeks into the 1997 Titanic movie's run, 7% of all American teenage girls had seen the film twice.

Even when adjusted for inflation, the 1997 movie Titanic cost 50 per cent more than the original ship.

The 1997 movie Titanic goes on longer than the actual sinking of the RMS Titanic.

The collision scene of the Titanic hitting the iceberg in the 1997 Titanic movie is the same length as it took for the actual collision- 37 seconds.

When filming the 1997 movie Titanic they only built the port side of the ship. Scenes showing the starboard side were flipped in post production. As a result of this everything on the starboard side of the ship, from lettering to the buttons on costumes, had to be backwards during filming.

Kate Winslet, who played Rose in the 1997 Titanic movie, hates the song "My Heart Will Go On," and said it makes her feel "like throwing up."

FUN TITANIC FACTS 

Futility: or The Wreck of the Titan, a novella about an ‘unsinkable' ocean liner called Titan that crashed into an iceberg and sank without enough lifeboats was written by Morgan Robertson in 1898 — 14 years before the Titanic sank.

'The Just Missed It Club' was for people who almost sailed on the Titanic. Two weeks after it sank, it had 118,337 members.

On April 15, 1912, a steward who hadn't yet heard about the Titanic sinking spotted an iceberg smeared with red paint and snapped a photo.

There are still over 100 unidentified victims from the Titanic.

The underwater wreckage of Titanic will disappear by 2030. It's being 'eaten away' by a microorganism "Halomonas titanicae". Also known as the "steel-munching bacteria', they have a special liking towards metals.

Sources Daily Mail, Daily Express

Thunderstorm

Thunder is the sound we hear from the sonic wave caused by the expansion of air that has been rapidly heated by lightning.

Pixiebay New York

The Norse God of Thunder, Thor, was also god of strength, agriculture, farmers, free men, rain and fertility. Thunder was supposedly created by the rolling wheels of his chariot, which was drawn by two goats called Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder.

In France in 1033 there was a mass panic that the one thousandth anniversary of the death and resurrection of Christ would result in the end of the world. Fears were heightened when terrific thunderstorms destroyed the crops in the spring resulting in widespread famine. Many people made public spectacles of repentance and many more embarked on pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

One hot July day in 1505, returning from his parents' home during a thunderstorm, Martin Luther was nearly struck by lightning. Frightened, he cried "help me St Anne and I will become a monk." To the surprise of his friends Luther joined the Augustian Hermits. He went on to study theology and ancient languages before starting the Protestant Reformation.

Benjamin Franklin's groundbreaking explorations of electricity included flying a kite with a metal key tied to the end of the string in a thunderstorm and collecting a charge in a Leyden jar when it was struck by lightning. From this he invented the pointed lightning rod conductor.

Benjamin West, English (born America) - Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity From the Sky

The hymn "Rock of Ages" was written by the Anglican curate, Reverend Augustus Toplady, after taking a walk at Burrington Combe, a steep limestone valley with many caves. A mighty thunderstorm blew up and the curate found an opening in an immense granite rock, in which he sheltered from the storm. This inspired the imagery of Christ in the hymn as a sheltering rock.

On July 26, 1959, Lt. Col William Rankin was on a high-altitude flight along the Carolina Coast with his wingman, Navy Lt. Herbert Nolan when he was forced to eject from his F-8 Crusader at 40,000 feet, into a thunderstorm. Rankin encountered very low temperatures, frostbite, massive wind and lightning, severe decompression, and nearly drowned from breathing in rain water, but survived. Overall, he was in the cloud for more than 40 minutes.

The Canadian city of Montreal was hit by a series of thunderstorms between the noon hour and 2:30 pm on July 14, 1987. Over 100 millimeters (3.9 in) of rain fell during this very short period of time, resulting in The Montreal Flood of 1987.

An average of 44,000 thunderstorms take place every day on our planet — with an around 1,800 thunderstorms in progress over the earth's atmosphere at any one moment.

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The most thundery place on Earth is said to be Tororo, Uganda, where it thunders 251 days a year.

The sound of thunder travels about 1,100 feet per second.

Fear of thunder is called 'brontophobia.' 

Thunderstorms have been known to curdle milk.

Source Daily Express

September 11 attacks

The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by 19 members of the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

Two hijacked aircraft crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, while a third smashed into The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The north face of World Trade Center immediately after being struck  By Robert 

MOTIVATION

The terrorists believed that they were Holy Warriors. Their absolute revulsion towards America caused them to believe that they were carrying out God's will. Many Americans had previously been unaware of the hatred many Moslems haves towards the decadent Christian Western world.

THE ATTACKS 

American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, was the first hijacked airplane of the September 11, 2001 attacks. It crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Flight paths of the four planes used on September 11

The American Airlines airplane was scheduled to fly from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles International Airport. Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the hijackers forced their way into the cockpit. One of the hijackers was a trained pilot. He took the controls of the aircraft and flew it into the North Tower.

92 people died in the Flight 11 crash—five hijackers, 76 other passengers, and 11 crew members. The time of the crash was 08:46 Eastern Daylight Time.

The crash, and the fire that started right after the crash, made the North Tower collapse. The attack both killed and injured thousands of people.

The only clear footage of Flight 11 hitting the World Trade Center was filmed by French filmmakers who were making a documentary on a Manhattan firehouse.

United Airlines Flight 175 was also scheduled to fly from Boston to Los Angeles. The Boeing 767-200 operating the route was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists and crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center 17 minutes after the American Airlines Flight 11 flew into the North Tower.

American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked by Islam terrorists and flown into the western side of the Pentagon, killing 189 people.

The attack on the Pentagon took place exactly 60 years after its construction began.

It was the first significant foreign attack on Washington's governmental facilities since the city was burned by the British and Canadians during the War of 1812.

The Pentagon was damaged by fire and partly collapsed

The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was initially steered toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.

91,4 % of the 9/11 survivors put off evacuation to go to the bathroom or shut down computers before evacuating.

There was only one airplane allowed to fly in the US on 9/11 after the attacks. It was a flight from California to Florida that was carrying anti-venom for a man that was bitten by a venomous snake. The plane was accompanied by two fighter jets.

When the US Airspace was shutdown following the attacks, Canada took in 255 flights bound for the USA making this known as Operation Yellow Ribbon. There were over 30,000 people on all 200 flights. Many Canadians hosted the passengers at home for several days.

Many of the passenger planes were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland. The community hosted 7,000 people until it was safe for them to re-enter America. The town has been awarded a piece of steel from the buildings to commemorate their efforts.

CASUALTIES 

The attacks killed 2,996 people directly. Another three have since died of causes related to smoke inhalation. Eleven unborn babies also died.

6,000 others were injured, and there was at least $10 billion worth of damage in infrastructure and property damage.

An injured victim of the Pentagon attack is evacuated

Works by Pablo Picasso and David Hockney were among the estimated $100 million of art lost in the attacks.

The first recorded casualty was Father Mychal Judge the Franciscan chaplain of the New York City Fire Department who was among the first on the scene at Ground Zero. While helping out and delivering last rites, he was struck on the head by falling debris.

Joseph Trombino was a Brinks security guard who, after being shot multiple times in the famed armored vehicle robbery of 1981, was almost killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He eventually lost his life during the 9/11 attacks while making a delivery in the North Tower.

FBI agent John O’Neill left his federal position because his attempts to warn of an imminent al-Qaeda attack on US soil in early 2001 were ignored. He got hired as the World Trade Center chief of security three weeks before 9/11 and was killed in the attack.

Rather than try to save himself, computer programmer Abraham Zelmanowitz chose to stay in the tower and accompany his quadriplegic friend who had no way of getting out.

A guide dog, Roselle, led her blind owner and a woman blinded by debris from the World Trade Centre during the attacks of 9/11.

American financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 employees on 9/11; every employee that had reported for work that morning. The CEO, who was taking his child to that day, later distributed $180 million to the families and offered jobs to all children of the victims. 57 of those children were employed by Cantor Fitzgerald as of 2016.

The 911 jumpers' death certificates state the cause of death as "blunt trauma" due to homicide and not suicide. They didn't wanna kill themselves but were forced to.

Over 500,000 people were evacuated from Manhattan by boat on 9/11 in just nine hours, surpassing the 330,000 rescued at Dunkirk during World War II, making it the largest marine evacuation in history.

The TV show Big Brother had a policy of keeping the contestants in total information isolation. This included not informing the cast about the September 11 attacks. They had to change the policy after one of the cast's family members was lost at Ground Zero.

THE AFTERMATH

On the morning of September 12, 2001, the New York Times ran a headline: "America's Emergency Line: 9/11". That was the first use in print of the nine-eleven name by which the attacks became known. 911 is, of course, the emergency phone number in the US as well as the way Americans write the date of September 11.

The day after 9-11, Queen Elizabeth II broke a 200 year old tradition and ordered the US National Anthem to be played during the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Its the only ever time a foreign anthem has ever been played at the palace.

The three days without civilian aircraft above the US following 9/11 provided useful data to climatologists about how climate is altered by the high altitude exhaust of planes.

Church and synagogue attendance in Manhattan rose in the week after 9/11 by 20 per cent compared to the same period the year before. However alcohol consumption increased by 25 per cent, tobacco by 10 per cent and marijuana consumption by 3.2 per cent.

It took firefighters 100 days to put out all the fires ignited by the 9/11 attacks in New York.  Every time a large chunk of debris was moved a rush of oxygen would severely intensify the flames.

The cost of cleaning up the 1.8 million tons of debris after 9/11 is estimated as $750 million.

The phrase 'Ground zero', used for the site of the World Trade Center, was originally used to refer to the site of the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima in 1945.

A fireman looks up at the remains of the South Tower.

In 2002, a high school student 'inspired by 9/11' flew a stolen Cessna plane into the Bank of America building. He was the only casualty.

The September 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center released a dust cloud of toxic asbestos fibers across Manhattan, with an estimated 410,000 people exposed. The death toll due to 9/11 continues to rise. Cases of "life-threatening illnesses such as mesothelioma and asbestosis" are being newly reported years after the incident. It is believed lung cancer and mesothelioma cases in the city will reach a peak in the year 2041.

In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush proclaimed September 14, 2001, as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001.

September 11 is now remembered as Patriot Day in the US in memory of those killed.

The staff of the 9/11 memorial place white roses on the names of any victims who would have been celebrating a birthday.

MEDIA

The New York Times researched and published biographies for every victim of 9/11 they could find.

In the 1999 movie The Matrix, Neo's passport expires on September 11, 2001.

Martin Scorsese ends his 2002 film Gangs of New York with a shot of the New York skyline including the World Trade Center Towers even though the shooting of the movie was finished after the buildings were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11. Scorsese chose to end with that shot rather than continue with a skyline without the World Trade Center because the movie is supposed to be about the people who built New York not those who tried to destroy it.

Here are some songs inspired by the September 11 attacks.

Source Daily Express