Titanic is not just an ideal book to dip in and out of, writes Donal Byrne, it's also a valuable resource in the extensive Titanic canon which includes almost 200 books on the sinking of the great ship.
Getting through yet another book on the Titanic was, frankly, a chore in prospect. There are, after all, almost 200 books on the sinking of the great ship and the loss of over 1500 lives, almost 70 per cent of the total number of people on board. It’s a story that for myriad reasons has fascinated the world, and its legacy in the form of the Titanic Centre and the numbers who visit it every year still resonate.
Thus did Nicola Pierce’s Titanic - whose subtitle is 'True stories of her Passengers, Crew and Legacy' - go straight into the middle of a pile on my desk. It was a mistake on my part. When I did get around to a frankly unenthusiastic dip into the book, it soon revealed itself as a delight. As Pierce herself explains, her publishers (O’Brien Press) wanted "an accessible, affordable history book"
Sticking to that formula, lesser-skilled hands could have undermined the project from the start. Instead, we have a book that delivers stories – stories that are very well written and, more importantly, very well researched. Pierce spent six years trying to piece together the life threads of people on the ship – threads that are as diverse as they are interesting – and the threads of other stories about the ship.
The author takes us through the ship’s building process and the reasons for the expenditure lavished upon its construction. Transatlantic crossings - especially those that could be sailed the fastest - were a source of enormous revenues for shipping companies in the pre-aircraft age. Firstly - and impressively - she devotes chapter one to Edward John Smith, the Titanic’s tragic captain who was later vilified for having committed suicide during the evacuation. Pierce clarifies that he was seen by many survivors still standing on the bridge as his ship sank beneath the Atlantic waves.
There are many theories about whether the Titanic could have been saved, whether she could have easily avoided the iceberg and whether hubris was the ultimate cause of the tragedy. A recent documentary by journalist Senan Moloney details how the ship was doomed even before she sailed into the Atlantic because of a fire in a boiler room that weakened her irretrievably. The two achievements of Nicola Pierce’s excellent book are providing an accessible and factual overview of what happened the great Titanic project and her bringing together the stories of men like Edward Smith. His is complemented by those of the ships’ avaricious owners, that of Wallace Hartley, the violinist who very likely played Nearer My God to Thee as the ship’s bow dipped into the sea.
Richard 'Dick' Norris Williams ii broke open a cabin door to free a distressed passenger only to be threatened with legal action by a steward who witnessed the damage. Three clergymen refused the exhortations to take to the lifeboats, staying instead to save others and praying with them. Their bodies were never found.
There are also stories of lost treasure, from diamonds to rare orchids, and the approximately twelve dogs who travelled in first class – three of them survived. There is much more in this delightful book and it’s not just an ideal book to dip in and out of, it’s also a valuable resource in the Titanic canon and a pleasure to go back to.
Special mention should be made of the appropriate and graceful illustrations by artist Emma Byrne. First impressions of the book were indeed entirely undeserved.
