"Hello again viewers...
Sorry Keiko here...
So sorry to be breaking the fourth wall on all of you again...and completely out of the blue like this I might add...*I say this while traditionally bowing to the viewers, before bringing my head, my attention, and my eyesight, back up again, to once again continue to address the viewers*...
Now, remember, when I, in just the previous chapter before this one, wound up doing a chapter, that wasn't action packed viewers, hmm?...*I say this while smiling with both eyes closed, and my head, tilted to one side, in a cute manner*...
Now, this chapter, will in fact be, yet another, one of those chapters...As I feel as though, that I need to mention this...
So viewers, like the previous chapter of this kind...or the last chapter to be more precise...And keep in mind viewers, that this...is now going to be...yet another one...of one of the only other times...that I am going to be giving this sort of complete permission to all of you viewers, in letting you skip this particular chapter...in the exact same manner...As you viewers, as of now, do once again, have my absolutely full permission, to skip this chapter...But just so you know viewers...You will, like the last chapter in which I wound up giving this exact same permission...Will not be missing much...if anything...*I say this, while smiling, with both eyes closed, and my head, tilted to one side, in a cute manner*...
Oh and also, if you have some sort of problem, with me doing these non-action packed chapters...So in other words viewers...if the way that I go about such, offends you?...Then I highly suggest, that you keep it to yourself...or, just don't bother reading...simple as that...I will not take unecessary, and quite unwarranted hate...from those...who think that being immensely arrogant, and yelling loudly...like Gregory House did sometimes, in the show House M.D...somehow think that that is supposed to intimidate me...or will make you more likely to be heard...
As that, will only seek to do the opposite, of what you think that it will accomplish...okay?...*I say this while knowingly smiling with both eyes closed, and my head, tilted to one side, in a cute manner*...
Now then, will all of this now in mind, let's proceed forward so to speak...with this chapter...
And we shall start, with a sort of...*ahem*...discretionary advisory...so to speak...As in, I am not showing any sort of disrespect, to anyone, who was killed, or otherwise injured, in such horrific, and very preventable tragedies...My heart, goes out, to those whose lives were cut short...
Now then, as I am sure you all have noticed, from this chapters title...I will be talking about...what is without a doubt, one of the most well known maritime tragedies, in history...
I am of course talking, about the sinking of the Titanic...
Now, I will not be going into immensely deep detail...regarding any conspiracy theories...as that...is not what I am looking too do here...
I am just not...And in fact viewers...I am more going to be going into detail, into what had actually caused the sinking...
But also, I will also be explaining, of a much more horrid maritime tragedy...one, that seems to have been lost to the pages of history...so to speak...a maritime accident...that while the sinking of the Titanic, killed 1,514 people...the horrible tragedy of the MV Doña Paz...is far worse...how much worse?...
Well the tragedy of the MV Doña Paz...killed over 4,300 people...or roughly 4,385 were killed...which is nearly three times, the number of fatalities, in the sinking of the Titanic...and while 705 people survived the sinking of the Titanic...the tragedy of the MV Doña Paz...
Which took place on December 20, 1987, and at 06:30, Philippine Standard Time, Doña Paz had departed from Tacloban, Leyte, for Manila, with a stopover at Catbalogan, Samar. Commanded by Captain Eusebio Nazareno, the vessel was due in Manila at 04:00 the next day. It was reported that it last made radio contact at about 20:00. However, subsequent reports indicated that Doña Paz did not have a radio...
And at about 22:30, the ferry was at Dumali Point, along the Tablas Strait, near Marinduque. A survivor later said that the weather at sea that night was clear, but the sea was choppy. While most of the passengers slept, Doña Paz collided with MT Vector, a Philippine-owned oil tanker en route from Bataan to Masbate. At the time of the collision. Vector was carrying 1.05 million L, or 8,800 US bbl, or 1,041 tonnes, or 1,148 short tons, of gasoline and other petroleum products owned by Caltex Philippines...
Upon collision, Vector's cargo ignited and caused a fire on the ship that spread onto Doña Paz. Survivors recalled sensing the crash and an explosion, causing panic on the vessel. One of them, Paquito Osabel, recounted that the flames spread rapidly throughout the ship, and that the sea all around the ship was itself afire...
Another survivor, Philippine Constabulary corporal Luthgardo Niedo, claimed that the lights aboard had gone out minutes after the collision, that there were not any life vests to be found on Doña Paz, and that the crewmen were running around in panic with the other passengers, and none of the crew gave any orders or made any attempt to organize the passengers. It was said later that the life jacket lockers had been locked...
The survivors were forced to jump off the ship and swim among charred bodies in flaming waters around the ship, with some using suitcases as makeshift flotation devices. Doña Paz sank within two hours of the collision. Vector sank within four hours. Both ships sank in about 545 meters, or 1,788 ft of water, in the shark-infested Tablas Strait...
As a result of the collision, and subsequent fire...4,385 passengers, and crew, were killed, which included the 11 crew that were killed aboard MT Vector.
In total, only 26 people, survived the tragedy...26...
And as for the Titanic?...Well, while she was being constructed in Belfast...and they were putting her hull together, through the use of both steel based, and wrought iron rivets...via a gigantic rivet gun...which by the way viewers...was far too large, and unwieldy, to get to the front end of Titanic...
So...they were forced to use wrought iron rivets instead to put together Titanic's hull at her front end...as they were less expensive, and easier to work with...and to compensate for the lack of strength in the wrought iron rivets, they used a type of molten mixture, known as Slag...and no viewers, I am not talking about the sort of British slang, that one would call somebody for being a bell-end...so to speak...
I am of course, talking about the nonmetallic material, that is a byproduct of smelting, welding, and other metallurgical processes...
Yes viewers, that kind of Slag...
Now then, you may all now be asking yourselves...'But Keiko, just what does Slag have to do with the inevitable sinking of the Titanic?'...
Well, I am so glad that you asked...
As per the properties, of mixing slag into anything...if you used too much, then it seeks to compromise the overall strength, and integrity of the wrought iron rivets...And if you used too little?...Then the rivet itself, wouldn't be as strong, as its steel based brethren...
Moreover viewers...one Brian Penoyer...who was featured on the Titanic episode...of the series Seconds From Disaster...did do a test, with similarly constructed, and slag mixed, wrought iron rivets...in order to simulate, the lap joint based design, of Titanic's hull...
More to the point here viewers...experts calculated, that at the moment, that Titanic had struck the fatal iceberg...the rivets on her starboard side, were put under, at least 14,000 pounds of pressure...or 14,000 PSI...for those who are interested in the more properly termed measurement...
Which, as it would wind up demonstrating in the rivet pressure test in question...and just to spoil you all with the inevitable result...the lap joint in question..failed, at just under 10,000 PSI...
Which definitively proved, beyond any sort of doubt, that improperly slag mixed wrought iron rivet failure, led to the loss of Titanic, and to the deaths, of 1,514 people...
And...there was one line that Brian Penoyer himself, had said in the episode in question...'It is impossible to go through the record...about the sinking of the Titanic, and be unmoved by the human tragedy that occurred, it's just a waste...'...and to be honest, he was right...
As no matter what people may think, about the strength of ones vessel...nature, and all that it possesses...should never be underestimated...
*I now start to tear up*...And for those...who have been involved, in either these tragedies, or those like them...you have my sincerest sympathy, and my condolences as well...as no one, deserves to go through such things...whether it be the loss of a loved one...or something equivalent...
Furthermore, for those, who did take their time, to read through this chapter...you have my thanks...as we all, must be willing too look to the past, in an effort, to better our future...*I now proceed to wipe the currently streaming tears from my face*...
And so viewers, with all of this now in mind...I will see you lot...in the next chapter...where finally, we will get back into the action...okay?...*I say this, while smiling with both eyes closed, and my head, tilted to one side, in a cute manner*"