LH - A personal instance of reaction to a maritime disaster.
In 1964 I was 16 and the youngest sailor at sea in the Australian Navy. I'd been at sea for about 2 weeks when the aircraft carrier I was on collided with one of our destroyers at night. The destroyer sank with the loss of 82 sailors. It was our Navy's worst peacetime disaster.
Whilst our engines had been put to full astern there was no "hands to collision stations" announcement over the PA system so we had no warning of impact. It leaves me with the impression that our bridge officers ( captain, exec, navigator, lieut & sub-lieut ) must have stood there like stunned mullet.
Anyway, having no directions over the PA, I picked myself up, went to my locker, and took out my total wealth - 2 ten pound notes, and safety-pinned them to my underpants under my overalls.
My thinking was ; that if this bloody ship sinks, and I have to swim for it, then sure as hell I'll need to buy a beer when I get ashore.
We got into Sydney a couple of days later there was no such thing as Grief or Trauma Counsellors waiting to assist us. We went to the pub and got pissed. ( Once us 16 year-olds put on a uniform we were never questioned on our age in pubs )

JG/FME