With the current ‘credit crunch’ crisis, I tend to read Peston’s Picks (mainly for the comments).  Recently, one of the comments was very well done and I show it here.  It is from someone called Whistling_Neil

As efforts to save the Titanic continued the captain updated the passengers on progress.

“We have installed a lot of extra pumps to pump water from the flooded sections. Some of these pumps have not been switched on because the Chief engineer informs us that we haven’t the power to run them. Some have been found to be discharging the flood water back into the flooded sections and they are now underwater and we cannot relocate them.

The capacity of the ones which are correctly installed appears to be insufficient to stem the flooding and the ship continues to sink.
However we think we know where some more are stored and are looking for them now – we however understand that these operate on a different current and we may need to change the electrics to use them.

The decision to take back on board a large amount of passengers luggage which they had relocated to the iceberg has not helped but the passengers affected seem to have calmed down. The extra weight is causing some additional flooding which we are ignoring for the moment.

The designer of the engines has said that he believes they are fundamentally faulty and are no longer safe to operate. The purser has found some paddles, sticky tape and a wind powered generator and is attempting to construct a replacement – thus far it has produced a lot of hot air but failed to make a significant difference to the efforts to save the ship.

On a lighter note the remaining stores on the shopping deck that have not flooded are offering a special 2.5% discount deal to passengers. Please take advantage of this special offer as due to a shortage of currency (the safe is now flooded) charges for all meals will be increased from the next sitting. First Class passengers will now have to pay for their meals and the all you can eat buffet service is withdrawn until further notice.

Due to the increased charges some customers may find they can no longer afford their cabins – as all crew cabins have been flooded we will now no longer throw these passengers overboard immediately. Instead we will let them stay for an extra 6 months without paying then throw them overboard.

The engineering team met yesterday to review the ships situation and decided that due to the ship’s continued settling in the water they would throw some further ballast overboard. We are sorry that a number of elderly passengers where unfortunately hurt during the operation.

The patron of the ship came on a flying visit earlier this week – due to circumstances we were unable to offer a full menu.

We are very sorry for breaking into the cabin of a leading member of the passengers action committee but we had information from a kitchen porter that his cabin might be the source of some additional leaks which could put the ship in danger. The washer in the tap has been replaced though the sledgehammer used for the job has caused some collateral damage.

We understand that the Passenger Action Committee has a plan to repair the damage to the ship which can save us.
Their 5 minute presentation yesterday was most enlightening as I was not aware that the ship had struck an iceberg previously and that people in the forward compartments had been affected by the flooding of their cabins and workspaces.

I am a little concerned that their proposal to share the plan is dependent on them taking control of the ship and the current officers leaving the vessel. Let me be clear – the only way I’m leaving is if the ship sinks or the other senior officers make it clear they have lost confidence in me. My compliments to their families at their home addresses.

The PAC’s initial suggestion of throwing a significant number of the crew and passengers overboard to lighten the load whilst scientifically sound may leave the crew at risk of unpopularity. We have taken on some new crew members to discuss this in more detail and see how we can lose some weight without throwing too many people overboard.

I would add finally that despite it being clear that there are indeed 4 compartments which have been holed in the collision we remain in considerably better condition to recover from this than many of the other ships in the area most notably the Ragnarok which appears to have sunk with few survivors.”