Relative of cruise ship passenger 'survived Titanic'

[malaise]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-18/cruise-ship-passenger-says-grandmother-survived-titanic/3779552
<snip>
A woman who was on board the Italian cruise ship which hit rocks off the Tuscan coast on Friday says she feared history was repeating itself - because her grandmother had been a passenger on the ill-fated Titanic 100 years ago.

"It was like re-living history, it was horrible, I was really shocked," Valentine Capuano said.

She said her grandmother survived when the Titanic passenger liner sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912. Her grandmother's brother Giovanni did not.

Giovanni, who had been working as a waiter on the Titanic and hoped to begin a new life in America, was one of the 1,517 people who died in the disaster.

"I am still shaken up and get very upset when I think about what I've been through, I have heart palpitations," said Ms Capuana, who escaped the sinking Concordia along with her fiance, her brother and his girlfriend.

[HopeHoops]

1. Weird, but I suspect the Titanic was far worse. The cruise ship was in swimming distance..

... of the shore. Sinking in the middle of an ocean is never going to end well.

My great grandfather and his daughter (my grandmother) were booked for the Titanic but had to change their plans. He lived into his nineties and she into her 70's. I wonder if I'd even be here if they had stuck to the original plan.

[undeterred]

2. I heard this cruise ship was bigger than the Titanic...

How stupid do you have to be to sink a cruise ship? This captain wasn't even drunk, he was just an idiot and a coward. And people died.

[HopeHoops]

3. Stupid. Good word. Yes, it is a bigger ship.

They're floating disease factories to begin with, but if one runs afoul at sea, it will not be pretty. I'm amazed there were so few casualties on this one.

[MiniMe]

4. Not to mention the water temperature around the Titanic.

I'm sure the water was cold around that island, but I doubt there were icebergs.

[malaise]

6. Best change of plans ever

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. And a singer had a relative who was a violinist on the Titanic

A British singer who escaped the ship disclosed that she was related to a musician on the Titanic.

Amelia Leon, 22, from Birmingham, said her ancestor had been one of the violinists who carried on playing as the vessel sank in the Atlantic.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/life+husband+sacrifice+says+survivor+given+last+life+jacket/6002331/story.html#ixzz1jloViKkb

[Joe Shlabotnik]

7. message to Giovanni: get over yourself. n/t