# MythBusters Proved This? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507 "2017-08-24T01:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/21 "2017-08-24T22:38:40Z")
Grease would help, but I wouldn’t consider my efforts done at that point by any means. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/22 "2017-08-24T22:43:53Z")
Well, what else is available on a cruise ship in the 1910s? Not a lot of (preferably foam) rubber products to utilize, I’d imagine. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If I went to the galley, I’d grab one of those giant stockpots to use as a makeshift boat rather than trying to coat myself in cooking fat. To each his own. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/23 "2017-08-25T00:15:55Z")
After the titanic hit the iceberg, the crew did as good as could be expected considering the situation. It hit the iceberg in the middle of the night and the collision was not anything noticeable (Even the experienced crew barely noticed it) and many passengers would have slept through it. It took about 30 - 45 minutes before the captain and the crew were aware that they were definitely going to sink and only when the second officer (Lightoller, who had been in a shipwreck before, strongly suggested it) The first few boats were not filled to capacity but at the time, they could not find any additional passengers to fill the boats and as they only had a limited crew to launch these boats, it was not possible to hold them back for more passengers. There was also the thought that the boats could come back for more passengers. Even though they were launching the boats as fast as they could (and got all 20 regular boats off), they were still trying to get the last 2 collapsible boats uncovered when the ship finally sank Only one lifeboat,(Officer Lowe’s boat) came back to look for stragglers in the water and he only did this after unloading most of his passengers onto other boats and I think he got 6 passengers from the water onto his boat. His was also the only boat that managed to get its sail up as well. The passengers in the other boats reported the water being really cold (28 F) and even though they were mostly women in the boats, they rowed these lifeboats as well as the guys but they were too scared to go back to recover other passengers in the water as it was taking everything they had physically just to row the boats. One can not understand just how cold 28 F water is unless they experience it. One has to get out of the water to avoid hypothermia rather quickly. Interestingly enough, one person that officer Lowe encountered in the water he though to be dead and was going to leave him behind but he then got a burst of energy (or woke up) and was among the of the best of the rowers in Lowe’s boat. The cook was a big burly guy and he was not in the water that long before he came up upon one of the collapsible lifeboats that was not loaded but floated off when the ship sunk. A lot of this (and more) is covered in > **[Encyclopedia Titanica](https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/)** > > Titanic facts, true stories, passenger and crew biographies, victim and survivor lists - Complete deckplans and detailed information about the disaster. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/24 "2017-08-25T00:29:43Z")
This is the baker’s biography. Interesting reading for an example of a crew member. > **[Charles John Joughin : Titanic Survivor](https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/charles-john-joughin.html)** > > During the sinking Charles Joughin fortified himself with a drink and then swam for some time before finally reaching a lifeboat and was saved. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/25 "2017-08-25T00:36:18Z")
5th Officer Lowe’s biography > **[Harold Godfrey Lowe : Titanic Fifth Officer](https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/harold-godfrey-lowe.html)** > > 5th Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe was instrumental in loading lifeboats and later returned to the scene of the sinking to pick up survivors from the water. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/26 "2017-08-25T04:41:52Z")
> [@ssgenius](#): > > Interestingly enough, one person that officer Lowe encountered in the water he though to be dead and was going to leave him behind but he then got a burst of energy (or woke up) and was among the of the best of the rowers in Lowe’s boat. He was Asian, probably Japanese or Chinese; I don’t think they ever established which, since he couldn’t speak English. He commenced rowing immediately after he warmed up by doing some traditional exercises, and Lowe later admitted he was ashamed for having made some racist remarks about him. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/27 "2017-08-25T23:36:10Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I own all the seasons and I used to put them on in the background, so I’ve seen all of them at least 3 times. > > As the others have noted, the only related episode is the Titanic episode, with James Cameron. > > Effectively, what they test is how quickly hypothermia takes effect, in water and in air, which they have tuned to match what the conditions would have been that night. > > To do this, they build a ballistics gelatin figure of a human with a circulatory system inside of it, with fluid (water - taking the place of blood) running through the pipes, that comes out the top of the head. A small heater attempts to keeps the circulating fluid warm, at about the same ability as the human body has to keep itself warm, before recirculating it back into and through the body. > > They cloth the body and put it into a bath of icy water and time how long it takes for the body’s core temperature to drop to fatal levels. > > They warm the body back up, dunk it into the ice water, then raise it onto a plank above the icy water into the chill air and again time how long it takes for the core temperature to drop to fatal levels. > > Using historic research, they know how long the people had to be able to survive to be discovered and determine that it’s plausible that a person on a plank above the water could have been discovered just before they would have died. > > A person in the water for the whole duration, no such luck. (I don’t remember this bit, but I believe that to be the case.) > > Overall, not a bad test. Among their better, in a sense. > > Some aspects where I think we could say that the test is only grossly applicable: > > 1. The body they molded was a large, beefcake sort of guy. A smaller woman or a skinny lad like Leonardo di Caprio would, presumably, get cold faster. > 2. The average depth of the pipes in the body would be different from a human body. > 3. The overall materials and layering of materials between a human body and the figure would be very different (layers of fat over the body in some places vs. bone backing in others, etc.) > 4. When the body gets cold, it is able to restrict bloodflow to the limbs. The dummy figure is incapable of such a thing (though, the piping was probably not as extensive as the total human circulatory system, so it might not be so completely far off for the conditions it was modeling). > 5. The dummy was 100% out of the water while in Titanic the headboard that the girl was lying on was floating on had water coming up onto part of it, coming into contact with her legs and feet. This would have sapped heat out of her more quickly. > > On the whole, I’d say that if you’re a large fellow and you can find something large enough to get you completely out of the water, then your chances of surviving would have been improved. But I think we can safely say that anyone who was able to move well in enough in the icy water, calmly-headed enough, would have certainly tried to make use of anything they could. I doubt that there’s anyone who, given sufficient presence of mind, wouldn’t have made the attempt to utilize whatever the boat was spitting out, so it’s a bit silly to say that “if the people had only tried getting on the flotsam…” > > On the other hand, it may be conceivable that if the crew and captain had been more organized and creative, they could have lead construction of make-shift boats from tables and tarpaulin or who-knows-what. It looks like they had two hours. > > Of course, this is before bungee cord and duct tape. Throwing something together may have been a lot more difficult back then. Excellent points. However, I will add that the crew was doing everything they could just to get the lifeboats launched which required 10 men to manually lower them and except for Lowe and Moody, none of the crew had ever deployed these lifeboats on this ship. Also, the survivors in the water did go for the most obvious and largest pieces of debris, namely the 2 collapsible lifeboats that were not launched in time. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/28 "2017-08-26T06:51:52Z")
> [@ssgenius](#): > > However, I will add that the crew was doing everything they could just to get the lifeboats launched which required 10 men to manually lower them and except for Lowe and Moody, none of the crew had ever deployed these lifeboats on this ship. It only takes 15 seconds to point at 5 random people and tell them to form teams and start working to build floatable craft on the bow and stern decks. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/29 "2017-08-26T08:22:09Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > What if a passenger coated themselves in cooking fat from the galley? Wouldn’t that keep them both insulated and buoyant? Cooking fat is a terrible insulator and buoyant - it is much too dense (close to water’s density). ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/30 "2017-08-26T13:02:51Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > It only takes 15 seconds to point at 5 random people and tell them to form teams and start working to build floatable craft on the bow and stern decks. In the dark in the middle of the night, with no power tools (and limited hand tools), with the relief valves going off making communication difficult, with a mixture of languages spoken and in 0 degree weather Then these have to be lowered 80 ft unless waiting until the ship is level with the water and then the timing has to be perfect Easy for a keyboard warrior to speculate, a lot harder in reality:D ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/31 "2017-08-26T13:08:48Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > Cooking fat is a terrible insulator and buoyant - it is much too dense (close to water’s density). I can grow my own fat at home. Not only is it cheaper and better, it’s both buoyant and insulating. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/32 "2017-08-27T04:30:25Z")
> [@ssgenius](#): > > In the dark in the middle of the night, with no power tools (and limited hand tools), with the relief valves going off making communication difficult, with a mixture of languages spoken and in 0 degree weather > > Then these have to be lowered 80 ft unless waiting until the ship is level with the water and then the timing has to be perfect > > Easy for a keyboard warrior to speculate, a lot harder in reality:D No, you would have to keep them on the deck, wait for the ship to sink, and hope that they stayed afloat. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/33 "2017-08-27T04:46:07Z")
In the last minutes, once people realized the ship was indeed sinking, all sorts of things were being tossed overboard—anything that would float. They had to break the windows that enclosed the First Class promenade to start chucking deck chairs, mattresses, steamer trunks, and so on into the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/34 "2017-08-27T04:53:32Z")
Also, the lights stayed on until the ship broke in two—the wiring was then sundered, and the generators tore loose from their mountings and fell forward through the bow. Until then, \*Titanic \*was brightly lit, inside and out. The ship’s whistles were blowing continuously, though—both to vent off steam, and to act as a distress signal. Must have made it hard to hear the orchestra playing. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/35 "2017-08-27T18:37:43Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Imagine how many lives would have been saved if a large number of jet skis were being transported on deck for the trip You want a bunch of people who have never ridden one before motoring around in the dark? At sea? They’ll all be running into each other, and floating people. And some hot dogger will be looking for wakes to jump. Plus the fact they wouldn’t be available for 60 years.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/36 "2017-08-27T20:31:15Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > As I recall, the tested specifically whether Leo’s character could have fit on the floating door with Kate’s character. Whether they’d survive hypothermia is a different matter. Surely two people cuddling together would last longer before succumbing to hypothermia than one alone? If they could stay out of the water, of course, the extra weight may be too much, even if there was space. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2017, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/37 "2017-08-28T00:34:34Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Surely two people cuddling together would last longer before succumbing to hypothermia than one alone? If they could stay out of the water, of course, the extra weight may be too much, even if there was space. Probably not, they dont exactly suddenly enhance the insulation or slow the heat loss in 28 degree water, they just freeze to death together. If they had a dry sleeping bag maybe ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/38 "2017-10-24T01:06:33Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > 1. Mythbusters don’t prove anything, their trials are not rigorous enough to stand up definitively… I totally agree! Caution: Not for deep thinkers! Scary thing is I think they do more damage than good. Supposedly, they “proved” a lit cigarette and/or a running engine will not start a fire while pumping gasoline. As such, I see more and more people doing this at the pump. Truth is there is a higher and lower flammability limit, I believe it is called. The fumes of an organic will ignite if the air-fuel mixture is right. I don;t know what crap Mythbusters demonstrated. I wish I would have seen their concrete, air-tight “proof”…ha! ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/39 "2017-10-24T01:07:36Z")
Sorry it took me awhile to circle back to this post, folks! Always good to read your thoughts! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507/40 "2017-10-24T02:16:22Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In _ **A Night to Remember** _, Walter Lord tells the tale of a chef who got bombed on whiskey as the ship was going down. He then donned a fur coat, stuffed a bottle into his pocket, and made his way to the stern. (I believe there was a brief shot of this happening in _ **Titanic** _.) IIRC, he was the last person to leave the ship (he just stepped off the rail as it disappeared below the water; there was no suction) and, bouyed by his fur coat and insulated by his whiskey, miraculously survived. He was recovered by one of the lifeboats sometime later. > > Believe it or not! I can believe it. A large wool overcoat might act like an impromptu wet suit. Wet suits don’t keep you dry (hence the name). What they do is trap a layer of water between you and the suit. The water is warmed by your body, and acts as an insulator. A woolen coat could easily do the same thing. If the soaking fur closest to your body warms up, it might protect you somewhat. As for the whiskey - it won’t help keep you alive, but it might make the cold more bearable. (: The big problem is that when people are dumped into freezing water, they very rapidly lose the ability to think clearly, and they quickly lose muscle strength and feeling. Panic often sets in fast. Once you are dumped in that kind of water, you aren’t going to be calmly swimming around collecting flotsam. You’ll be hyperventilating and shaking and your brain will be yammering at you until you finally just succumb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-proved-this/794507.md?page=3)