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Junior
Third Officer John Bigalow - A
Question of Survival |
 Cover of my copy of the book |
| The Book (1976) Clive Cussler's novel Raise the Titanic! (1976) is very much a product of its time: The story is a strongly influenced by the Cold War, the attitude towards women is - from my perspective - shockingly sexist. It shares this aspect, naturally, with many books and films of this time. Very often hardly any women appear as major characters. Just think of the original Star Wars film (1977), with only one woman in a significant role, Princess Leia. One other woman appears but only for a few minutes, Aunt Beru. Raise the Titanic! has only one woman with an active role to play. The other woman who appear are judged solely be what they wear and how big their breasts are etc. Another aspect that is startling from today's perspective is the constant smoking and drinking that goes on. Again, typical for the time. The plot of the story centres around a missile defence system code-named 'the Sicilian Project' that would create an unbreachable shield around the territory of the USA. The key to this anti-missile shield, a radioactive element called ‘byzanium’, was apparently on its way to the US aboard the Titanic. Its presence on board is the reason why the wreck is to be raised. The Sowjets (naturally) try to either acquire the byzanium for themselves or, if this should prove to be impossible, prevent the Americans from getting it, not only because the byzanium was originally mined on Russian territory, but also because the Sicilian Project would make their nuclear missiles obsolete. At least as far the territory of the continental USA is concerned. (Exactly how or if the states Hawaii and Alaska or its overseas territories, would be protected is never discussed.) The Sowjets would of course still be able to bomb the US's allies in Europe and other parts of the globe, but that is a consideration that apparently didn't enter Clive Cussler's mind. |
| Cussler seems to be genuinely
fascinated by the Titanic and with the
development of deep-sea submarines devised a story
that would allow him, at least in fiction, to do
what many a Titanic enthusiast would have
liked to do: raise the Titanic and allow the ship to
complete its maiden voyage decades after it sank.
After the wreck was discovered in 1985 it became
clear to all but the most optimistic that there was
no chance of bringing it back to the surface. Considering that Cussler does know his facts about the Titanic (he does credit Geoffrey Marcus as his main source) the presence of a fictional officer has to have a different reason than mere ignorance. The book is set in 1987/88 but even at the time Cussler was writing all the real Officers of the Titanic were dead. To be able to include an eyewitness to the story, Cussler created Officer John L. Bigalow. His exact rank is not mentioned in the novel, only that he was a junior officer. Bigalow seems to be partly based on Lightoller and partly on Boxhall, not least of all because Bigalow is buried at the site of the Titanic's sinking. Like Lightoller Bigalow ended up on the upturned lifeboat and, like Lightoller, managed to reach the boat by grabbing a rope trailing away from the boat. However, Bigalow's wartime record easily puts Lightoller's to shame. Bigalow was torpedoed both in World War I and II. He also became a Commodore and was knighted, a distinction neither Lightoller nor any of the Titanic's other officer achieved. Lightoller retired as a Commander. Next to Officer Bigalow, Cussler also invents a solo cornetist called Graham Farley. The first sign that the search team is on the right track to find the Titanic is the discovery of Graham Farley's cornet. The discovery of the virtually perfectly preserved cornet is a necessary plot point both for pinpointing the location of the wreck and to show that the Titanic will be in a condition good enough to be raised to the surface. The reason for this is phenomenon is said to be the cold, lack of oxygen and absence of any life in the deep. However, we know now that even in the deepest depth of the ocean life can be found. Whoever expected the Titanic to be in such a good condition was out for a big disappointment when the wreck was discovered in 1985. While organic material like wood is well preserved under these conditions, metal is corroding. Recent expeditions to the Titanic have revealed how badly the wreck’s condition has deteriorated since it was discovered in 1985. I cannot refrain from commenting on the element that is at the heart of this story, and which is eventually retrieved and used to power the ultimate defence system: byzanium. It is (of course) as fictional as kryptonite. |
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According to Clive Cussler, byzanium was
discovered by Alexander Beesley, presumably an homage
to Lawrence Beesley, in 1902, the year Marie Curie and
her assistant A. Debierne, isolated radium.
One aspect that I
thought was rather odd is that when a huge
quantity of byzanium, an element described
as very radioactive, is finally discovered
at the end of the book, it doesn't make
everybody back away hastily or at least cry
for protective clothing, and, unlike in
1912, in 1976 the health risks posed of
radioactivity was well known.
Another strange aspect is
the contradictory nature of this
fictional radioactive element as
described. On the one hand we are told
artificially created byzanium is
extremely unstable and breaks down
within minutes, on the other, that the
huge cache of byzanium the story
revolves around is still intact 75
years after it was mined. If an
element is highly unstable, it breaks
down at the same speed whether it was
synthesized or found in nature.
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 Cover of my video tape |
| The Film (1980) The film Raise the
Titanic was released in 1980. While
the plot of the film remains essentially
the same as in the book, considerable
changes were made when adapting it to the
big screen. Partly, these changes are
caused by the fact that a film can convey
only a considerably less complex story
than a novel. But the story is not only
streamlined there are also other changes
that must have different causes. Most
surprising is probably that unlike in the
book the Sicilian Project is not built,
even though the byzanium is discovered.
Was it a change in the attitude to nuclear
weapons? At the time the film came into
the cinemas, the relationship between the
USA and the USSR were rather strained,
after the Soviets had intervened in the
Second Yemenite war and Soviet troops had
invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. But
only six-month earlier President Jimmy
Carter and General Secretary Leonid
Brezhnev had signed the SALT II agreement
limiting the two superpowers nuclear
weapons arsenals. Was it the hope of
reducing or even destroying nuclear
weapons that the drawn-out negotiations
raised that influenced the script writers?
Fictional
Officer
Bigalow also makes an appearance in
the film, though here he is a
sprightly old gentleman, not bed
bound as in the book. Played by no
less actor than Alec Guiness, we now
learn that he was the 'junior third
officer' of the Titanic
and that he was shipwrecked six
times (two times more than
Lightoller). The reason for
Bigalow's presence is of course the
same as it is in the book: to have
an eye-witness account that puts the
byzanium on the Titanic. The script writer seems
to have taken less care to get his
facts right than Cussler. Though why
the ship is shown with the second
instead of the first funnel broken
off, is a mystery to me. The entire
raising sequence in the film is also
even less credible than it is in the
book. At least, I found myself
wondering why the ship doesn't capsize
on its way to the surface with the
lower decks being filled with buoyant
material and the upper decks are still
full of water. The water flows in
great picturesque streams out of every
possible opening when the Titanic
emerges from the water. Presumably
this impressiveness was the reason why
the raising is depicted like this,
never mind that a ship whose bottom
half is full of buoyant material and
the top half full of water would
emerge keel first.
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| A Question of Survival As stated before, the presence of fictional officer Bigalow, both in the film and in the book, was required to allow a surviving eyewitness to be present. Bigalow's actual age is never mentioned, if he was the same age as the youngest officer of the Titanic, he would be 99 when the story takes place, an age not out of the realm of the possible. (Though Alec Guiness looks extremely well preserved for a 99-year-old man.) It makes him several years younger than Cameron's fictional survivor Rose Dewitt Bukater. Comparing Raise the Titanic! with Cameron's film also demonstrates how quickly the political landscape sometimes changes. Who would have thought it possible when Cussler wrote his book or even when the plot of the story takes place that ten years later American two expeditions to the Titanic led by James Cameron would be conducted from a Russian ship? On the first expediction in 1996 scenes for Cameron's film were shot. - Since then times have changed again and at present such a cooperation is unthinkable again - except (so far) on the ISS. |
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