A GEOFF CRENSHAW BOOK REVIEW
A few days after the Titanic struck ice in the mid Atlantic on April 14th, 1912, a United States Senate committee lead by senator William Alden Smith summoned as many passengers and crew as they were able, and had them testify about the wreck of the Titanic, and why, exactly this once thought "unsinkable" ship foundered. Back then, audio recording equipment was still in the experimental stages, and certainly didn't have the stamina to record an entire senate investigation. So the proceedings were furiously written down by stenographer- and published nearly a century later as: The Titanic Disaster Hearings: The Official Transcripts of the 1912 Senate Investigation. While I will not give a formal review of this book today, and probably won't in the future- I will say it is worth a read. All of the survivors of the Titanic seem to come to life out of the pages and the effect is quite haunting. There are probably more stories in the actual testimony of those who were fortunate enough to make it out than that of James Cameron's slightly fictionalized (though fantastic) multimillion dollar blockbuster.
The transcripts- were instrumental in Walter Lord's Research when he wrote A Night To Remember in 1955. Lord takes the testimony from the 1912 senate investigation, and includes elements he conducted with real survivors, and paints a stark, realistic picture of what it was like the night Titanic went down. There are many stories from the point of view of the crew, and passengers from all 3 of the classes that truly paint the complete picture.
Lord's book was the first publication where all walks of life aboard the ship recieved equal representation. Even in the senate hearings, only two third class passengers testified, because as Lord did everything but say outright in his book- Nobody cared about the third class passengers. They didn't have the mystique of John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man aboard Titanic and part of the prominent American Astor familym Benjamin Guggenheim who declined passage on a life boat and a life jacked (refered to as life belts then) because he was "dressed in his best and prepared to go down like a gentleman." or Thomas Andrews, the man who designed Titanic and felt so responsible for her sinking that he didn't seek escape. Third class was not as interesting as first class, and they didn't have the liability of the crew members. They were simply non-entities.
Almost every detail of the ship going down is explained- the book starts with the two crewmen in the crows nest looking for icebergs- and finding one a little too late. Then it proceeds to weave a tapestry through the accounts of the passengers and crew- right through the Titanic's dramatic finish to when the survivors were picked up by the R.M.S Carpathia.
All in all, I have to say the book is worth reading. Anymore, it is a little hard to find. If you can find a copy- (which I know you can, since I posted a link to Amazon.com) I suggest you grab at the chance to read it. You won't be disapointed.
The transcripts- were instrumental in Walter Lord's Research when he wrote A Night To Remember in 1955. Lord takes the testimony from the 1912 senate investigation, and includes elements he conducted with real survivors, and paints a stark, realistic picture of what it was like the night Titanic went down. There are many stories from the point of view of the crew, and passengers from all 3 of the classes that truly paint the complete picture.
Lord's book was the first publication where all walks of life aboard the ship recieved equal representation. Even in the senate hearings, only two third class passengers testified, because as Lord did everything but say outright in his book- Nobody cared about the third class passengers. They didn't have the mystique of John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man aboard Titanic and part of the prominent American Astor familym Benjamin Guggenheim who declined passage on a life boat and a life jacked (refered to as life belts then) because he was "dressed in his best and prepared to go down like a gentleman." or Thomas Andrews, the man who designed Titanic and felt so responsible for her sinking that he didn't seek escape. Third class was not as interesting as first class, and they didn't have the liability of the crew members. They were simply non-entities.
Almost every detail of the ship going down is explained- the book starts with the two crewmen in the crows nest looking for icebergs- and finding one a little too late. Then it proceeds to weave a tapestry through the accounts of the passengers and crew- right through the Titanic's dramatic finish to when the survivors were picked up by the R.M.S Carpathia.
All in all, I have to say the book is worth reading. Anymore, it is a little hard to find. If you can find a copy- (which I know you can, since I posted a link to Amazon.com) I suggest you grab at the chance to read it. You won't be disapointed.
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