Did Scott commit suicide?
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glennh69 — 9 years ago(June 30, 2016 10:36 AM)
Scott is clearly not Catholic, he's more likely an Episcopalian because he's called "Reverend" not "Father" as a Catholic priest was (and doesn't wear a clerical collar).
Clergy in the Episcopal Church USA are called "Priests" (rather than "Ministers"), wear a collar, and (more often than not) are referred to as "Father" or "Mother", although their official title is
Reverend
____. Episcopal (Anglo-Catholic) congregations are similar to Roman Catholic in that some parishes practice a higher Church ("smells & bells") liturgy than others. However, in general, the Episcopal Church rarely adopted the "contemporary/ folk mass" in the 60s/70s, as the Roman church in the US did. Even today, it has retained many more of the traditional elements of the Eucharist than the Roman church has.
My take on Scott is that he was from a more low-church Protestant denomination: Methodist, Presbyterian, perhaps even Lutheran. I get the impression he was of the same denomination/colleague of the Arthur O'Connell character. O'Connell represented the previous generation of the church (staid, traditional, ritualistic), whereas Scott was the hip, "non-conformist" rebelhe even wore a turtleneck & long sideburns! -
masterjedi-2 — 14 years ago(December 27, 2011 01:40 PM)
Even though it looks like he could have made it back with some help, there are some things to note. The wheel valve was extremely hot from the steam. He probably couldn't hold on any longer, due to the burning of his hands and exhaustion. And his will was spent. I don't think he denounced God, but I do think that he was angry with their situation and the lack of "help" that God could have provided throughout their journey. He was convinced that if somebody else was going to die, it was going to be him.
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Mr_Blonde3 — 14 years ago(January 12, 2012 07:45 PM)
He sacrificed himself. Technically, it was suicide, but he didn't off himself out of depression. He offed himself as a "sacrifice" to grant the other safe passage to the propeller room.
I love to love my Lisa. -
westal_sage — 11 years ago(July 05, 2014 12:33 AM)
Right - he was doomed and wouldn't have been able to make it back over and didn't just let go. However, he knew that when he went to the wheel in the first place, so in that sense he did ultimately sacrifice himself for the others.
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richard.fuller1 — 9 years ago(June 25, 2016 06:10 PM)
My brother actually did feel this way; that Scott took the coward's way out, as he put it.
I saw it as Scott didn't want them to waste time trying to rescue him from the wheel, so he took himself out of the equation, so to speak. -
wallacesawyer — 9 years ago(October 13, 2016 11:54 AM)
I think he knew the wheel valve was hot, but it had to be turned in order to switch off the steam system. So he probably knew he could have died, but was doing it to help the others. His hands looked like they were peeling, so he was probably fighting through great pain until he finally let go. He landed in the water below, and I'm actually a little surprised he didn't survive, just with wounded hands.
http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/ -
ronaldt49 — 9 years ago(November 08, 2016 12:23 PM)
As it took them several hours to get to the ship's hull, you might think that the steam system might have bled off by then thus little pressure would be left in the system. Remember that the ship flipped at midnight and it was well after daylight (I'm guessing 9 a.m. at least) when they reached the hull. Also with the stress on the various systems throughout the ship, that was probably not the only leak in the system.
Did none of the others have a belt, bra, dress, shirt, pants, etc. that might have been usable to fashion a rope of sorts to reach out to the preacher to at least attempt a rescue?