Mike this account of a ship in my local waters sunk in the second world war might help folk understand. If I want to leave my island home i travel by boat it has nice wide stairsand floor level emergency lighting to guide us if anything should happen but If we went down out in the Pentland Firth I still wouldnt be willing to bet on great numbers surviving unless they could get the lifeboats launched.

The Royal Oak was sunk in what was considered a safe anchorage it took her something like 15 minutes to go down. I worked in the sound archives of the local library for a year and transcribed old reel to reel recording from one of the survivors it was harrowing to listen to and could only be described as hell to live through. I remember little of it now thankfully for it was the stuff of nightmares but one part has always stuck in my memory he told of an older man a petty officer who rather than try and save himself stood down there in the darkness calming the young lads as much as he could encouraging them to keep moving who knows how many his brave action got to the deck with some chance of survival that day.

Sinking of the Royal Oak