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The most expensive pair of binoculars in history (1 Viewer)

woodhornbirder

Well-known member
"Another star of the sale was a set of keys belonging to an officer transferred from the Titanic at the last minute, which fetched £54,000.

The keys - bearing a brass tag engraved with the words "binocular box" - were kept by officer David Blair and would have been stored in a teak box on the bulwark of the bridge.

Mr Blair sailed with the ship from Belfast to Southampton, but was moved onto another ship at short notice, taking the bunch of keys with him - a move which may well have saved him.

Mr Aldridge said: "Mr Blair was without doubt one of the luckiest men alive because this decision almost certainly saved his life."

from:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100418/twl-intimate-titanic-letter-fetches-new-3fd0ae9.html


It may have saved his bloody life, but cost the lives of everbody else!

As you may recall the lookout crew spotted the iceberg too late to stear aroudn it.

SO this pair of bins(locked in the box) would have been worth the lives of 1000 people= priceless!
 
I thought that one of the lookouts survived and testified to the inquiry that if they'd had access to the binoculars they may very well have been able to see the iceberg early enough to avoid it.

There were binoculars on the bridge but no-one thought to give a pair to the lookouts and the lookouts didn't ask. |8(|
 
I thought that one of the lookouts survived and testified to the inquiry that if they'd had access to the binoculars they may very well have been able to see the iceberg early enough to avoid it.

There were binoculars on the bridge but no-one thought to give a pair to the lookouts and the lookouts didn't ask. |8(|

Seriously? Bloody hell. That I didn´t know. (I was only joking about the night-vision binos, I assume one would have seen the iceberg on a clear starry night, given that they´re huge white shiny things and all....)
 
From what I saw on a tv documentary/re-enactment apparently there are a lot of low bergs (growlers) that are difficult to spot and the conditions that night made spotting even large icebergs even more difficult. That they kept steaming at high speed to meet their arrival time really didn't help, they had very limited time to see anything and give warning but the disaster was caused by a combination of many factors - no binoculars for the lookouts, light conditions, icebergs further south than expected (they'd gone to the south to avoid the main iceberg area but cold water and bergs had extended into their path), design of the compartments, radio reports of icebergs in the area were not forwarded to the bridge, poor quality iron rivets holding the steel plates, not enough lifeboats and the ship closest to them (SS Californian I think) had turned off their radio after a complaint from the Titanic radio operator (when trying to warn them of ice in the vicinity) so didn't hear the SOS...

the Californian was close enough that it could have reached them in time to save the majority of the passengers and crew. |=(|

The irony is that the Titanic had a reinforced bow and could have withstood a direct collision... the ship was doomed when they turned aside and scraped along the berg.
 
Human folly on a number of fronts, then. I seem to remember seeing something about a bizarre book claiming the whole event was an insurance-scam conspiracy by the White Star Line, involving a deliberate scuppering of the previously (accidentally) damaged sister ship (name eludes me...Caledonian?), bearing the name-plate of the Titanic. It said it wasn´t really supposed to sink so fast, and that the "real" Titanic continued to sail happily around the world bearing its sister-ship´s name for years afterwards. I could go and "google" it but life is too short.;)

Second-most expensive pair of binoculars in the world? Any pair that nearly causes a divorce....
 
You sound like you talk from too much experience there Sancho :)

"What's that parcel?". "Oh nothing dear". "Nothing? It says 'Swaroptihawkleickon' on the label like that last one. You know, the one that pushed the card limit over £10,000... again". "No, no. no. This is just, er, you know, er, brochures and stuff and... ". "And...?". "And its just anotherpairofbinsididntmeantobuythemtheyjusttookmymoneyhonest,, cough". "Why you lazy, good for nothing, I oughta...." etc etc

Sheesh. Life's tough being a binoholic right? :)
 
From what I saw on a tv documentary/re-enactment apparently there are a lot of low bergs (growlers) that are difficult to spot and the conditions that night made spotting even large icebergs even more difficult. That they kept steaming at high speed to meet their arrival time really didn't help, they had very limited time to see anything and give warning but the disaster was caused by a combination of many factors - no binoculars for the lookouts, light conditions, icebergs further south than expected (they'd gone to the south to avoid the main iceberg area but cold water and bergs had extended into their path), design of the compartments, radio reports of icebergs in the area were not forwarded to the bridge, poor quality iron rivets holding the steel plates, not enough lifeboats and the ship closest to them (SS Californian I think) had turned off their radio after a complaint from the Titanic radio operator (when trying to warn them of ice in the vicinity) so didn't hear the SOS...

the Californian was close enough that it could have reached them in time to save the majority of the passengers and crew. |=(|

The irony is that the Titanic had a reinforced bow and could have withstood a direct collision... the ship was doomed when they turned aside and scraped along the berg.

And you forget bad manoeuver from the main officer on bridge. He called for an emergency stop (full reverse) so the water in front of the rudder lost his consistency. That prevent the ship to turn properly. I remember on an documentary where thay said that the way to deal with an iceberg is full reverse but not to turn. The frontal collision will hit hard but the energy of the impact will be transmitted toward all the ship.

I live in Québec and we had a major naval disaster here long ago: Express of ireland. A coal ship much smaller than the Express hit his side. The Express sinked in 14 minutes killing "1 012 victimes parmi les 1 477 personnes embarquées (68%)".
 
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You sound like you talk from too much experience there Sancho :)

"What's that parcel?". "Oh nothing dear". "Nothing? It says 'Swaroptihawkleickon' on the label like that last one. You know, the one that pushed the card limit over £10,000... again". "No, no. no. This is just, er, you know, er, brochures and stuff and... ". "And...?". "And its just anotherpairofbinsididntmeantobuythemtheyjusttookmymoneyhonest,, cough". "Why you lazy, good for nothing, I oughta...." etc etc

Sheesh. Life's tough being a binoholic right? :)


LOL! Not so much experience as fear, Pete! What about "I didn´t mean to buy them, I just accidentally clicked the Buy it Now button and I don´t know how to cancel!" Or, "Honest, it won´t cost a penny, I´m selling all my other binos.....(eventually)";)
 
Sancho,
A "cold turkey" approach is recommended. Sell them all (except for one or two irreplaceables ).

That gives you the moral high ground, plus enough cash to check out the ones you've missed.
 
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