And in the whole tone of
his insistent statement there was suggested the regret that the officer
in charge (who is dead now, and mercifully outside the comic scope of
this inquiry) was so ill-advised as to try to pass clear of the ice. Thus
my sarcastic prophecy, that such a suggestion was sure to turn up,
receives an unexpected fulfilment. You will see yet that in deference to
the demands of "progress" the theory of the new seamanship will become
established: "Whatever you see in front of you--ram it fair. . ." The
new seamanship! Looks simple, doesn't it? But it will be a very exact
art indeed. The proper handling of an unsinkable ship, you see, will
demand that she should be made to hit the iceberg very accurately with
her nose, because should you perchance scrape the bluff of the bow
instead, she may, without ceasing to be as unsinkable as before, find her
way to the bottom. I congratulate the future Transatlantic passengers on
the new and vigorous sensations in store for them. They shall go
bounding across from iceberg to iceberg at twenty-five knots with
precision and safety, and a "cheerful bumpy sound"--as the immortal poem
has it.
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