Key Figures Aboard RMS Titanic

Key Figures Aboard RMS Titanic written by Anthony Nicholas and published

by Pen & Sword Books - £20.00 - Hardback - Pages 208

Titanic. The Marilyn Monroe of ocean liners. A sleek, sultry beauty, taken out way before her time. A kind of 21st century Flying Dutchman, with interiors by Cesar Ritz, still striving to achieve the waters of a port she can never reach.

Titanic is a brilliantly lit stage, carrying her cast of exotic, terminally endangered extras toward an abyss at once both unfathomable and inconceivable.

Here’s where any similarity with any other tome about the Titanic ends.

For the first time ever, a succession of key characters and groups of individuals come to the fore. Centre stage, over seventeen chapters, we meet the men whose decisions, actions and omissions combined like some slow burning powder trail to trigger a final, cataclysmic conclusion; the foundering, in mid-Atlantic, of the biggest moving object ever seen on the face of the planet.

One by one, a series of individuals take a bow. Seemingly omnipotent owners and hugely experienced ship’s officers. Engineers and designers. Would be rescuers and embattled wireless operators.

We meet them as individuals, not supermen. Their histories, backgrounds and life experiences are assessed for the first time ever, putting their actions on the night that Titanic sank into a context, a light as stark as that of the distress rockets, arcing into the sky…

This book to me is about the writing and the stories of those involved in the events that happened that fateful night in 1912. We all know that the Titanic was one of the biggest cruise liners in the world and through a number of mistakes, it would hit an iceberg and would slowly sink to the bottom of the ocean. As I said firstly was the excellent writing by the author Anthony Nicholas, the book is split into 17 chapters but each one looks at a figure in the building, commissioning and working on the liner. Some of the figures and stories you have a lot less sympathy for and some of them show a great deal of fortitude and bravery. But the writing conveyed by the author is great and really had me engrossed in the book which I spent a long evening reading. I would definitely recommend this book to others for its great detail and writing.

Why the Titanic was Doomed

Why the Titanic was Doomed written by Bryan Jackson and published by Pen & Sword Books - £20.00 - Hardback - Pages 176

Titanic – the most magnificent ocean liner of her time – was doomed and destined for disaster before she ever left the docks at Southampton. Doomed by her owner, doomed by her designers, doomed by the men who sailed her -- doomed even by her sister ship.

Author Bryan Jackson presents a new and unique look at the many circumstances that came together the night of April 14, 1912 to claim over 1,500 lives and leave Titanic lying in 12,000 feet of water on the bottom of the North Atlantic.

Each chapter details how seemingly disconnected pieces served to create a tragedy that remains as significant today as it was over a century ago. They include flawed design decisions, outdated regulations, substandard materials, weather conditions, lookouts left blinded and warnings never acted upon. Perhaps the most fascinating piece is a look at how events involving sister ship Olympic would result in Titanic being placed directly on course to meet the iceberg which would sink her.

In addition, Jackson offers a look at the circumstances that saved some from perishing in the tragedy. They range from the rich and famous -- to family members travelling in third-class who managed to escape the sinking while the majority of the passengers sailing in those accommodations would not survive.

Also provided is a comprehensive Titanic timeline which details the events which lead to her construction -- and eventual destruction.

I have to say right from the start, I thought this book was brilliant. I loved the writing, the format and the amount of research and work gone into it is enormous. I really enjoyed the way the book had been split into 14 important reasons why the Titanic was doomed, and doomed from the start. The book looks at how the ship was built, the materials used, the lack of staff training, cheap equipment and how aesthetics was put over safety and comfort. Oh and there was a big iceberg too.

The reasons or possible reasons for the sinking were in some cases just staggering. Although I am not a huge fan of Titanic history, I must say that I learnt so much from reading this book. But to think the owner of the company managed to survive the sinking by getting into a lifeboat sticks in the throat, as it was some of his decisions that doomed the ship. I loved reading this book and I can honestly say it is already in my top 3 books of the year. A book I would wholeheartedly recommend to others.