What Superpower Would Help You Survive on the Titanic

You remember those heartbreaking scenes from the Titanic, either from books or movies, right? You know, the ones where the boat was sinking and there’s nothing anyone could have done about it? Well, it turns out that that story isn’t entirely true. At least according to a historian, and author of a book detailing events from the unlucky ship.

If what he claims is true, every soul on the Titanic could have been saved! He wrote that the SS Californian and the SS Mount Temple were close enough to technically see the Titanic go down into the ocean, but they failed to act because they were afraid. Or because they too had no idea what they were doing.

Nobody thought the Titanic could ever sink back then, and it had everything you could imagine, from luxury lounges to a Turkish bath and even a squash court. But as it was racing through the ocean, ready to break the Atlantic crossing record, it hit an iceberg and everything went downhill from there.

A lot of ships wanted to help the sinking vessel and shifted their direction toward the Titanic after hearing the distress calls, but the two closest ships held back. The SS Mount Temple, for starters, was really close. It was a mere 50 miles away and could have reached the Titanic in just a couple of hours, potentially saving every passenger. However, its captain believed such a journey would be too risky — I mean it did involve icebergs, right?

There’s nothing we can do about it these days. But we can use our imagination, and at least save the day theoretically. Your average Joe might have had a difficult time helping people out on the Titanic, but what if we could ask for the help of superheroes?

Well, for starters, it would be useful to have someone with time-traveling skills, right? They could go back in time and alert the crew that an iceberg is pretty close, and they should move the ship away from its path as soon as possible. Or, even better, go even further back in time and alert the captain of the ship not to proceed with the journey to begin with. Let me tell you, there were a lot of things that could have been done better with the Titanic.

First of all, the crew had no access to binoculars! If they could have had this crucial piece of equipment, they might have spotted the iceberg in due course, at least limiting the damage or avoiding the collision altogether.

And don’t get me started on the lifeboats! Because they wanted the ship to look as luxurious as possible, there was little space left for those much-needed lifeboats that could have saved so many lives. Although there were 2,200 people on board, the lifeboats could only save 1,200 people.

What about flight? Would a flying superhero have been able to help avoid this tragedy? I’d bet it would have! This superhero could have surveyed the area, especially during the night when there’s low visibility, to begin with.

More so, the hero might have helped with alerting nearby ships faster that something went wrong with the Titanic, and that help is needed to make sure no one gets hurt. If someone on board might have been able to fly, maybe they could have airlifted a bunch of passengers to safety too.

Laser vision? Now that would have been cool. A person with laser vision would have pulverized that iceberg in no time. Instead of shivering in the dark that fateful night in April 1912, people would have enjoyed a nice, chilled drink on the deck the next morning, courtesy of some harmless leftover ice still hanging around on the ship.

Ok, ok, maybe this person with laser vision wouldn’t have been powerful enough to split the iceberg in half so that the Titanic could pass safely. Well, they could have at least helped open the locked room containing the binoculars, that’s for sure.

Someone with superhuman strength? Yeah, that might have surely helped, too. They could have placed themselves between the ship and the iceberg, preventing the collision from happening. If, say, they just happened to be snoozing when the Titanic hit the huge block of ice, no biggie! They would have simply kept the Titanic afloat until nearby ships came around to rescue all the people on board.

If you’d have had underwater breathing abilities, you’d have at least been able to save yourself on the Titanic. I mean, technically, there’s nothing much you could have done differently on the boat. Maybe you could have saved a bunch of other passengers, but only if you were strong enough to keep them afloat, while you comfortably swam completely underwater.

If a person on board had been able to control the elements, that would have been amazing. Not only would it have saved a lot — if not all — of the passengers, it would have been fascinating to watch. Such a superhero would have been able to keep water away from the Titanic’s “injuries” after it hit the Iceberg. If they were agile enough and had seen the iceberg before it hit the ship, they could have transformed the big block of ice into water with just the snap of a finger!

If we look at the records from that night, everything happened very fast with the Titanic. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have someone on board who could slow down time? For the sake of the story, let’s also imagine this person had a finely tuned intuition. They could have sensed something was wrong by the way the air smelled, or by the reaction of the crew when the iceberg was first spotted.

With a simple gesture of their hands, they would have slowed down time, almost to the point of stillness. They could have checked the records from the ship, its unusually fast speed, and could have alerted the captain to decide in time. The Titanic could have been stopped, or it could have been diverted away from the iceberg.

A superhero with night vision would have been useful, too. At least the superhero would have spotted the iceberg sooner than everyone else. Given that the hero could have seen a lot better in low light conditions, that hero would have probably better managed the rescue efforts that disastrous night.

Invisibility? Would this superpower have saved the Titanic from sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic? I could think of a possible scenario or two. Anyone with the power to become invisible whenever they want to would have probably gone snooping around the ship. I mean, you have to remember: the Titanic had some of the most important members of society on board, it wasn’t just any regular boat. It was probably buzzing with the latest gossip!

In between all that mundane information, this superhero could have overheard the captain saying they were going faster than they should have. Or that there weren’t enough lifeboats to save everyone in case there was a major problem. Who knows what this curious superhero might have done with all this information?

Some sort of sorcerer would have saved the Titanic if they were on board, I’m sure. There has to be some sort of magic spell in a book out there that’s useful for sinking ships, right? Maybe one that could have helped weld the metal back together after it got hit by the iceberg. Or maybe one that could have airlifted the entire vessel to safety after it got hit.

How about a spell that would have transformed the Titanic into a submarine, creating a protective layer around it, so it could comfortably move under the sea? That surely would have been cool and would have offered passengers a truly unique experience.

The ability to speak to animals — or fish — would have certainly been useful too. Even if all else failed, so the Titanic would have still struck the iceberg, it would have still been filled with water and ended up near the seabed, people could have still been saved!

That’s because you’d have had someone on board who could have instructed dolphins to carry people to safety. I’m sure those intelligent creatures would have been happy to help.