Titanic On Trial

Capturing the disbelief, the chaos and the terror of the fateful night the Titanic sank 100 years ago, Titanic on Trial brings to life the tragedy through the voices of those who survived it. Stories about the sinking have become legendary - how the band played to the end, how lifeboats were lowered half-empty - but amongst the films, novels and academic arguments, only those who were there can separate truth from fiction. This book gives the story back to those people. After the sinking, inquiries into the loss of 1,517 lives were held in both the UK and US. The 1,000 or more pages of transcripts represent the most thorough and complete account of the sinking, told in the voices of those who were there. For the first time, these transcripts of the courtroom questions and answers have been specially edited and arranged chronologically, uncovering and drawing out the real drama of the Titanic's final night. The witnesses are transformed into characters in a much bigger story, and the events are described from the perspectives of people in every part of the ship, from a stoker in the boiler room escaping just before the watertight doors sealed behind him, to first class passengers trying to buy their way onto lifeboats. This compelling book provides a unique insight into what really happened on the night, and the terrible, courageous, cowardly and tragic choices individuals had to make.

As Titanic sank, a ‘mystery’ ship was spotted some distance away. Rockets were fired but the ship ignored them. The Californian was blamed but was the mystery ship really the Mount Temple?

Merely a day afterTitanicsurvivors arrived in port in New York City, a United States Senate committee began an investigation into the wreck of the great "unsinkable" ship. For the first time in book form, here is the dramatic testimony of crew and passengers from all walks of life, as they recall the sights and sounds of the night of April 14, 1912.From the manners of the day to the conduct fo those boarding the lifeboats, from acts of kindness to palpable greed, here is an unforgettable portrait of human nature in the face of theTitanictragedy, in the words of the men and women who survived....J. Bruce Ismay,British officer of the White Star Line, who hopped into a lifeboat to save himself and never looked back to see her go down....Second officerCharles Lightoller'sharrowing plunge as the sinking ship's force of suction pulled him under water....On-duty lookoutFrederick Fleet'sadmission that the iceberg might have been avoided if the crew had been equipped with binoculars....PassengerDaisy Minahan,who recalled the refusal of an officer in her lifeboat to aid those adrift in the frigid waters...and many more witnesses to one of the most shattering events of our century. Illustrated with historical photographs, TheTitanic Disaster Hearingsis a vital piece of the puzzle that has sparked worldwide fascination.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! "Iceberg, Right Ahead!" Only 160 minutes passed between the time a sailor on lookout duty uttered these chilling words and the moment when the mighty ocean liner Titanic totally disappeared into the cold, dark waters of the North Atlantic. This century-old tragedy, which took more than 1,500 lives, still captivates people in the twenty-first century. Seventy-three years separate the two major Titanic events—the 1912 sinking of the vessel and the dramatic 1985 discovery of the wreck by Robert Ballard. But additional stories about the victims, survivors, rescuers, reporters, investigators, and many others show the far-reaching effects this tragedy had on society. Award-winning author Stephanie Sammartino McPherson has collected numerous personal accounts of the event, including the knighted man who spent the rest of his life in seclusion because he was accused of dishonorable behavior in a lifeboat, the stewardess who survived two shipwrecks and a mid-ocean collision, and the New York Times executive who sent multiple reporters to meet the rescue ship, thus earning a national reputation for his newspaper. She also links the Titanic tragedy to changes in regulations worldwide. After a Senate Inquiry and a British trial attempted to assign blame for the disaster, new laws on ship safety were put in place. A group of nations also banded together to form an ice patrol, eventually leading to the formation of the U.S. Coast Guard. Even the most avid Titanic fans will learn something new as McPherson brings the reader up to date on the politics and intrigue still surrounding the wreck—including what modern science can reveal about what really happened to the ship and who was at fault. Prepare to follow the never-ending story of the Titanic into its second century.

This unique work challenges the familiar narrative of the Titanic disaster and the conduct of the official British Inquiry. Many are unaware that during the British Inquiry into the loss of the Titanic, prominent witnesses testified in defence of past decisions made by various Government committees and officials. Decisions which, among other things, resulted in too few lifeboats for hundreds of passengers and crew, not just for those on the Titanic. Who were these people? And why was so much credibility attached to their answers? Why was there no challenge made to their claims? The significance of this part of the Inquiry has largely been forgotten or overlooked by historians and authors, presumably dismissed as irrelevant. Only now is this damning evidence brought to a wider readership. During the author's investigations into the Inquiry proceedings, documents were uncovered in the National Archives which revealed discrepancies in the evidence brought before Lord Mersey. These papers show the shipping casualties documented by Lloyd's Shipping Register were inconsistent with figures stated by these witnesses during the Inquiry. These records indicated many more passenger and cargo vessels came to grief during the perilous North Atlantic passage and even more across the world's oceans and seas. For over five years, the author has researched archived material to establish the credibility of this claim. This is a remarkable account, more enthralling than any work of fiction, of an Inquiry that took place 111 years ago, and the controversial decisions reached by Lord Mersey still resonate to this day. Interested readers, historical researchers and Titanic enthusiasts who have sought to find an explanation for the widely held belief that the outcome of the British Inquiry was a 'whitewash' need only read this fascinating presentation of the evidence contained within this book. *A donation from each purchase will be made to the RNLI. Thank you.

Based on the survivors' own stories, this dramatic history stands as the most authoritative account, ranging from the Titanic's construction to the tragic aftermath of its sinking. 43 illustrations.

In this dramatic real-life tale Lawrence Beesley tells first-hand what it was like to be on the Titanic as it plunged into the icy waters of the North Atlantic on that fateful night in April 1912.Beesley wrote this book and it was published just nine weeks after the disaster.Could the Titanic sinking have been averted? Was there a fundamental design flaw? Did Titanic break in two as it sank? Why did so many people die in the disaster?Its a story of what went wrong, of human endeavour and what lessons were learned.First published 1912 and now republished in 2010 by InfoTech Communications, UK.

Wasn’t That a Mighty Day: African American Blues and Gospel Songs on Disaster takes a comprehensive look at sacred and secular disaster songs, shining a spotlight on their historical and cultural importance. Featuring newly transcribed lyrics, the book offers sustained attention to how both Black and white communities responded to many of the tragic events that occurred before the mid-1950s. Through detailed textual analysis, Luigi Monge explores songs on natural disasters (hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes); accidental disasters (sinkings, fires, train wrecks, explosions, and air disasters); and infestations, epidemics, and diseases (the boll weevil, the jake leg, and influenza). Analyzed songs cover some of the most well-known disasters of the time period from the sinking of the Titanic and the 1930 drought to the Hindenburg accident, and more. Thirty previously unreleased African American disaster songs appear in this volume for the first time, revealing their pertinence to the relevant disasters. By comparing the song lyrics to critical moments in history, Monge is able to explore how deeply and directly these catastrophes affected Black communities; how African Americans in general, and blues and gospel singers in particular, faced and reacted to disaster; whether these collective tragedies prompted different reactions among white people and, if so, why; and more broadly, how the role of memory in recounting and commenting on historical and cultural facts shaped African American society from 1879 to 1955.