View Single Post
Old 10-31-07, 12:51 AM   #123
iambecomelife
Silent Hunter
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 4,624
Downloads: 297
Uploads: 0


Default

I think that at most only a handful of the ship's crew should bleed. Maybe 2 or 3 of the total number of bodies. In most of the merchant sinkings I have read about, death resulted from one of four things:

-Drowning
-Exposure
-Crushing injuries from falling machinery & metal
-Scalding from damaged boilers, steam pipes, & oil lines.

For instance, when I read the case of the "Hartlebury", which lost 37 of 57 crewmembers, I noticed that practically all of the men who died drowned because of capsizing lifeboats or froze to death before rescue. Only 1 fatality (the captain) was described as having a particularly bloody injury.

My main point is that none of the four causes above would have been very likely to produce much blood. Based on your pictures I would also prefer for the blood spots to be more diffuse and/or smaller. It would take an amputation or an injury directly to a major artery for someone to bleed out on that scale. A much darker shade of red wouldn't hurt either. No negativity is intended BTW - just my $0.02.
iambecomelife is offline   Reply With Quote