ok first of all he never said " when can we move damn it!" when the titanic hit an iceberg and the compartments were flooding. it wasnt his fault the titanic sank. he helped people in the lifeboats (something the movie failed to mention) and when there were no more people around he climed in a lifeboat, which he believed was the last one! what would you have done people!?

Yes, his instinct of survival came into play. The movie didn't exactly point it out, but in several scenes he is shown in the background helping passengers into the lifeboats.

#1.) When Cal puts the money in 1st Officer Murdoch's pocket, look in the background. You can see Ismay go after a woman who was standing nearby, as if comtemplating weather or not to approach the boat, he grabs her arm and helps her to get in.

#2.) Also when 1st Officer Murdoch looks at Cal and Lovejoy and says "anyone else" you can see Ismay helping passengers get into the lifeboat.

Then after that comes the part where Ismay himself climbs into the lifeboat.

I do believe that many of us, given Bruce's choice at the point where he got into Collapsible C, would have done the exact same thing. Edith Russell always felt that he saved her life (and probably others) before he took to C. There was a limit to what the man could do under the circumstances. Most people point out that TITANIC did not have enough lifeboats, but they do not take into accounts that basically neither did everyone else (the Germans were the best at this at about 90%). Sure, his decision not to have more lifeboats were wrong, but like so many things about TITANIC, this is the result of hindsight.

Bruce Ismay was responsible for those people on board the ship and decided to sneak off. I think Bruce Ismay was a jerk for doing that.



When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose.
-Jack Dawson

He was responsible the ship and its passengers considering he was the owner. But he was not the only one who was responsible in one way or another for the ship and its passengers. <br />I cannot fault him for the instinct to survive, especially since he knew the Titanic was going to sink. But at the same time, I don't know if climbing into the lifeboat as he did was the best course of action. Yes, it was there and there was a seat for him...but when he decided not to add extra lifeboats, he had to know that the Titanic did not have enough seats for everyone. So although there was no one around to get in, he could have found someone. Third class passengers didn't make it because some of them just did not know how to get to the boat deck. There were also other passengers on the other side of the ship, attempting to get into different lifeboats. Maybe more of the men passengers could have been saved and there would have been enough room for some of the couples to stay together.
I do not fault him for wanting to live, because I am sure that Captain Smith and Mr. Andrews did not want to end their lives either. But you have to decide, as the owner of the White Star Line, which is more important- your own life or the passengers on your ship? I would have tried to save myself, but I would also have made sure I saved as many people I could...He saved some, but he could have saved more.

I can honestly say that if I were Bruce Ismay I would feel so guilty that I would not of gotten on the lifeboat regardless if he didn't see anymore women or children. I also agree that with him surviving it was a lot worse. He went down in history known as a coward. I would of known at the time of the sinking that I wouldn't of been able to enjoy the rest of my life without feeling the huge weight of guilt.

TOO true. What would you want to be. a coward for the rest of your life filled with guilt or died and never had to worry about it. Then look at it like this. What would of you have done.

"What if's" are some times irrelevent, but, what if the disaster happened today.

Would we still think of Ismay as a coward without the solid male Edwardian mentality ( that it was better to die than to be viewed as a coward?)


Do we really see him as a coward, or are we viewing him through the lense of a past time?

I said this once in a similar thread on this site,

I wonder how many of you lot, judging his actions would actually see through and meet your cold horrible death as he would of done. We all like to say yeah I would do this that and the next thing, tell me, how many of you can hand on heart say

Yep when i passed that life boat, I would say to the officer, 'NO'?

Would Ismay have survived if he had been on the port side of the ship when he decided to leave?

Would Charles Lightoller have allowed the owner of the company to get into a boat? I've started to wonder about this.