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Originally Posted by Snowman999
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I was just reflecting on the poem on my way home from work. It struck me then that it captures the mood of someone gradually choking to death in a sinking steel tube miles down the sea with no hope of escape.
The poor man sees his mates drop off one by one, all around is darkness and silence. But there is a resigned, yet heroic, embrace of the approaching Death, knowing that God is waiting for him 'on the other side'.
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Nice imagery, but complete bollocks. Sinking to collapse depth wasn't going to be this peaceful. Very loud, lots of screaming and frantic action.
And death? Well, a major think-tank in the 1970s did a modeling study about what would happen inside a pressure hull in the seconds between collapse and death of the crew. For you scientific types out there they figured that there would be a dismembering phase as metal moving past other pieces sliced and diced the crew, then a "dieseling" phase as the pressure spiked to cause the bodies to combust, probably while still conscious. But not to worry--the fires would soon be extinguished. |
On the other hand if you're sitting on the bottom at 200 feet with no power, batteries failing, flooded compartments on either side of you, and the CO2 building up you might tend to think that way.