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Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend
Newly updated on the hundredth anniversary of the tragedy by Titanic expert Dave Gittins to reflect the latest facts and theories about the ship's sinking, Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend will fascinate Titanic experts, amateurs, and newcomers alike.
In this gripping, deeply researched exploration of the Titanic's tragic sinking, journalist Michael Davie investigates the events, controversies, and legends that have surrounded the disaster. Sifting through historical documents and survivors' accounts, Davie details the nineteenth-century origins of the White Star Line, narrates the story of the unsinkable ship's deadly voyage, and describes the dramatic discovery of the Titanic's wreckage in 1985. Davie offers insightful portraits of the protagonists and dramatizes the confusing and terrifying hours that passed from the moment the ship hit the iceberg until its survivors were picked up by the USS Carpathia a full day later.
In this gripping, deeply researched exploration of the Titanic's tragic sinking, journalist Michael Davie investigates the events, controversies, and legends that have surrounded the disaster. Sifting through historical documents and survivors' accounts, Davie details the nineteenth-century origins of the White Star Line, narrates the story of the unsinkable ship's deadly voyage, and describes the dramatic discovery of the Titanic's wreckage in 1985. Davie offers insightful portraits of the protagonists and dramatizes the confusing and terrifying hours that passed from the moment the ship hit the iceberg until its survivors were picked up by the USS Carpathia a full day later.
340 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
58 people are currently reading
297 people want to read
About the author
Michael Davie
17 books5 followersWhile Michael Davie has lived in South Korea, it was his years spent in the Rocky Mountain towns of Waterton, Banff, Canmore, and Jasper, living immersed in an often eccentric resort subculture, that most influenced his creative output, first in publishing a cartoon series, The Last Resort, then in literature with his first novel, Fishing for Bacon.
Davie graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor of Management and studied Creative Writing at the University of Calgary and the Victoria School of Writing. He now lives in Calgary with his wife, Shantael, and son, Samuell.
For more information on Michael Davie and his first novel, visit www.fishingforbacon.com.
Davie graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor of Management and studied Creative Writing at the University of Calgary and the Victoria School of Writing. He now lives in Calgary with his wife, Shantael, and son, Samuell.
For more information on Michael Davie and his first novel, visit www.fishingforbacon.com.
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December 16, 2024
“Even at the time, and certainly ever since, the Titanic has been seen as a prime example of man tempting fate, or technological hubris, the event that made people wonder for the first time whether man’s ingenuity would necessarily produce the beneficent results he hoped and expected it would. Some thought that the disaster, because it was so plainly the result of overweening pride, would teach the world a lesson. As the Bishop of Winchester said, preaching a sermon on the Sunday after the disaster, the iceberg had the right to be there; the Titanic did not. But her begetters’ spiritual successors, not only in shipbuilding, continued on their merry way. Nevertheless, the Titanic is still lodged in people’s minds as a warning, even though unheeded, of the dangers of human presumption…”
- Michael Davie, Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend
Many years ago, I worked in an old state courthouse, filled with dark corners, dingy corridors, dim lighting, and the ghosts of the past. Undoubtedly, it also had asbestos, but best not to dwell. One day, while striding along and looking purposeful, I was tapped to lead a summer tour for fourth graders. As a natural pedagogue, I jumped at this opportunity, as there is no audience quite so captive as fourth graders on a courthouse tour. Indeed, when handed a script, I just smiled and shook my head. “I got this,” I said, as I lit the script on fire and dropped it in a trash can.
That, at least, is how I recall it.
Towards the end of the tour – after my extemporaneous 45-minute speech titled You Will Find No Justice Here – I told the kids that the courthouse had been built in 1912. Because the year 1912 means only one thing to me, I added that it was the same year the Titanic had sunk.
Though my tour group resembled a British horror film – the children all doll-eyed and half-mute – this finally garnered a response. One of the kids raised his hand. “Did you know that the Titanic was the largest moving object in the world?” he asked.
Always ready to get into an argument with someone smaller than me, I responded at once.
“Only for about ten minutes,” I answered. “If she hadn’t sunk she would’ve been surpassed in size by the new German liners.”
“The Titanic was 900 feet long,” the boy insisted, ignoring the historical reality of the Hamburg-Amerika Line’s Imperator, a larger vessel forgotten today because she floated.
On the verge of correcting him – the Titanic being 882.5 feet long – our colloquy suddenly ended when the teacher decided it was time to return from whence they came, though to this day I know not whether that was a haunted cornfield or a school.
Anyway, if there’s a point to this recollection – and I’m not entirely sure there is – it’s that the Titanic endures, with each successive generation learning of – and embracing – its tragic arc. There have been bigger ships and far bigger disasters, but it’s the Titanic and not – for instance – the Wilhelm Gustloff that is able to capture the hearts of a fourth grader.
Given the ship’s remarkable afterlife, especially when compared to the brevity of her functional existence, there are an uncountable number of books on the Titanic. I highlight here one that has fallen under the radar, published right around the time when the vessel was located by Dr. Robert D. Ballard.
Michael Davie’s Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend is not a straightforward chronological narrative; it is not comprehensive; and it is certainly not the first or last word on the lost liner. That said, it’s quite compelling, and a reminder of all the reasons that the long-dead ocean liner continues to fascinate.
***
Titanic’s eleven chapters are really eleven separate essays, each tackling a different topic in a different way. Sometimes Davie writes in the detached tone of a historian; at other times, he writes more like a journalist, reverting to the first-person in order to trace his own journey as he interviews various people or makes various discoveries.
The chapter-essays here cover the building of the ship; the sighting of the iceberg; the question as to whether First Class received preferential treatment; the behavior of passengers/crew in the lifeboats; the enigma of Captain Stanley Lord, master of the Californian, which failed to render aid; the behavior of J. Bruce Ismay, the White Star Managing Director who escaped on Collapsible C; the role of Marconi in the disaster; the two Titanic inquiries; the discovery of the wreck (which had just occurred when this went to print); and finally the remembrances of the tragedy (focusing on Halifax, where the bodies were returned).
***
With a structure like this, in which the various elements stand segregated from the whole, it is unsurprising that certain sections work better than others. For instance, I did not really love Davie’s chapter criticizing the behavior of Marconi Company operator Harold Bride, who withheld information from the public until he could sell his story. Maybe Bride acted in less-than-perfect taste. Yet it seems a bit churlish to disparage a man who stood his post till water rushed over his feet; who spent an Atlantic night on an overturned collapsible lifeboat, while his partner froze to death; and who – not coincidentally – received a wage far less than that to which he was entitled. Meanwhile, the chapter on Captain Stanley Lord – master of the rescue ship-that-never-was – just felt tired and already done. Entire books have been devoting to dissecting Lord’s behavior and psychological makeup, and this sequence added little of note.
But there are also some real gems inside.
My personal favorite is Davie’s piece on First Class, and whether they received preferential treatment. While his ultimate conclusion – that First Class was treated the same as the rest – cannot withstand serious scrutiny, he includes a moving passage consisting of an interview with John Thayer, whose grandfather – a different John Thayer – died on the Titanic, and whose father – yet another John Thayer, known as Jack – survived. Thayer provided Davie with a remarkable letter written by Jack when he was seventeen years old. The letter was addressed to the family of Milton Long. Jack and Milton had been together at the end of their longest night, and jumped into the sea at roughly the same time. Only Jack survived:
This is an incredible, beautiful, poignant letter, written – once again – by a seventeen year old who had just lost his own father. Jack Thayer has always been one of the most remarkable survivors to make it off the Titanic. Waiting till the ship left him for her new ocean-floor home, he swam to the overturned Collapsible B, where he had a front-row seat to the most Greek of all seafaring tragedies. From the start, young Jack contended that the ship broke apart on the surface. Unfortunately for the historical record, Second Officer Charles Lightoller happened to be on the same overturned lifeboat. A company man to the core, Lightoller lied and elided throughout a series of post-sinking inquiries, contending that his proud ship went down in one piece. Seventy-three years later, though, Bob Ballard’s submersible proved that the teenager was a far better witness than the brave-yet-calculating Lightoller. Thus, being able to read – at length – his letter to the Long family, which I had not seen before, was cool.
Davie’s final chapter – on Halifax’s role – is also moving. At one point, he talks about a local named George Wright, who boarded the Titanic but never got off. Rich, well-traveled, and a yachtsman, Davie notes that he was “the sort of man that strangers noticed.” Nevertheless, as Davie narrates, “none of the survivors mentioned meeting him or seeing him, and he was not among those brought back to Halifax” by the ships hired to retrieve Titanic’s corpses. “A friend of his,” Davie writes, “said he could only think that, as a heavy sleeper, [Wright] had never woken up.”
***
I’ve read a lot about the Titanic. Not just books, but articles, technical monographs, the transcripts of the hearings, and the message boards on Encyclopedia Titanica. When I was in high school, I wrote a six-hundred page novel about the sinking. And no – in case you were wondering – I was not the prom king.
With that somewhat dubious resume, I feel qualified in saying that Davie’s Titanic is not anywhere near the best of what’s out there. That said, it doesn’t deserve to be forgotten either. It’s high points are pretty high, it’s low points are not that low – certainly not as low as the ship itself – and it just so happens to deal with the most interesting thing – in my humble opinion – that ever happened on the ocean.
- Michael Davie, Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend
Many years ago, I worked in an old state courthouse, filled with dark corners, dingy corridors, dim lighting, and the ghosts of the past. Undoubtedly, it also had asbestos, but best not to dwell. One day, while striding along and looking purposeful, I was tapped to lead a summer tour for fourth graders. As a natural pedagogue, I jumped at this opportunity, as there is no audience quite so captive as fourth graders on a courthouse tour. Indeed, when handed a script, I just smiled and shook my head. “I got this,” I said, as I lit the script on fire and dropped it in a trash can.
That, at least, is how I recall it.
Towards the end of the tour – after my extemporaneous 45-minute speech titled You Will Find No Justice Here – I told the kids that the courthouse had been built in 1912. Because the year 1912 means only one thing to me, I added that it was the same year the Titanic had sunk.
Though my tour group resembled a British horror film – the children all doll-eyed and half-mute – this finally garnered a response. One of the kids raised his hand. “Did you know that the Titanic was the largest moving object in the world?” he asked.
Always ready to get into an argument with someone smaller than me, I responded at once.
“Only for about ten minutes,” I answered. “If she hadn’t sunk she would’ve been surpassed in size by the new German liners.”
“The Titanic was 900 feet long,” the boy insisted, ignoring the historical reality of the Hamburg-Amerika Line’s Imperator, a larger vessel forgotten today because she floated.
On the verge of correcting him – the Titanic being 882.5 feet long – our colloquy suddenly ended when the teacher decided it was time to return from whence they came, though to this day I know not whether that was a haunted cornfield or a school.
Anyway, if there’s a point to this recollection – and I’m not entirely sure there is – it’s that the Titanic endures, with each successive generation learning of – and embracing – its tragic arc. There have been bigger ships and far bigger disasters, but it’s the Titanic and not – for instance – the Wilhelm Gustloff that is able to capture the hearts of a fourth grader.
Given the ship’s remarkable afterlife, especially when compared to the brevity of her functional existence, there are an uncountable number of books on the Titanic. I highlight here one that has fallen under the radar, published right around the time when the vessel was located by Dr. Robert D. Ballard.
Michael Davie’s Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend is not a straightforward chronological narrative; it is not comprehensive; and it is certainly not the first or last word on the lost liner. That said, it’s quite compelling, and a reminder of all the reasons that the long-dead ocean liner continues to fascinate.
***
Titanic’s eleven chapters are really eleven separate essays, each tackling a different topic in a different way. Sometimes Davie writes in the detached tone of a historian; at other times, he writes more like a journalist, reverting to the first-person in order to trace his own journey as he interviews various people or makes various discoveries.
The chapter-essays here cover the building of the ship; the sighting of the iceberg; the question as to whether First Class received preferential treatment; the behavior of passengers/crew in the lifeboats; the enigma of Captain Stanley Lord, master of the Californian, which failed to render aid; the behavior of J. Bruce Ismay, the White Star Managing Director who escaped on Collapsible C; the role of Marconi in the disaster; the two Titanic inquiries; the discovery of the wreck (which had just occurred when this went to print); and finally the remembrances of the tragedy (focusing on Halifax, where the bodies were returned).
***
With a structure like this, in which the various elements stand segregated from the whole, it is unsurprising that certain sections work better than others. For instance, I did not really love Davie’s chapter criticizing the behavior of Marconi Company operator Harold Bride, who withheld information from the public until he could sell his story. Maybe Bride acted in less-than-perfect taste. Yet it seems a bit churlish to disparage a man who stood his post till water rushed over his feet; who spent an Atlantic night on an overturned collapsible lifeboat, while his partner froze to death; and who – not coincidentally – received a wage far less than that to which he was entitled. Meanwhile, the chapter on Captain Stanley Lord – master of the rescue ship-that-never-was – just felt tired and already done. Entire books have been devoting to dissecting Lord’s behavior and psychological makeup, and this sequence added little of note.
But there are also some real gems inside.
My personal favorite is Davie’s piece on First Class, and whether they received preferential treatment. While his ultimate conclusion – that First Class was treated the same as the rest – cannot withstand serious scrutiny, he includes a moving passage consisting of an interview with John Thayer, whose grandfather – a different John Thayer – died on the Titanic, and whose father – yet another John Thayer, known as Jack – survived. Thayer provided Davie with a remarkable letter written by Jack when he was seventeen years old. The letter was addressed to the family of Milton Long. Jack and Milton had been together at the end of their longest night, and jumped into the sea at roughly the same time. Only Jack survived:
“[Milton] let go and slid down the side and I never saw him again. Almost immediately after he jumped I jumped…Your son was perfectly calm all the time and kept his nerve, even to the very end. I wish I had more to tell you, but I hope this will be of some comfort to you…I am sending you my picture, thinking you might like to see who was with him at the end. I would treasure it very much if you could spare me one of his...”
This is an incredible, beautiful, poignant letter, written – once again – by a seventeen year old who had just lost his own father. Jack Thayer has always been one of the most remarkable survivors to make it off the Titanic. Waiting till the ship left him for her new ocean-floor home, he swam to the overturned Collapsible B, where he had a front-row seat to the most Greek of all seafaring tragedies. From the start, young Jack contended that the ship broke apart on the surface. Unfortunately for the historical record, Second Officer Charles Lightoller happened to be on the same overturned lifeboat. A company man to the core, Lightoller lied and elided throughout a series of post-sinking inquiries, contending that his proud ship went down in one piece. Seventy-three years later, though, Bob Ballard’s submersible proved that the teenager was a far better witness than the brave-yet-calculating Lightoller. Thus, being able to read – at length – his letter to the Long family, which I had not seen before, was cool.
Davie’s final chapter – on Halifax’s role – is also moving. At one point, he talks about a local named George Wright, who boarded the Titanic but never got off. Rich, well-traveled, and a yachtsman, Davie notes that he was “the sort of man that strangers noticed.” Nevertheless, as Davie narrates, “none of the survivors mentioned meeting him or seeing him, and he was not among those brought back to Halifax” by the ships hired to retrieve Titanic’s corpses. “A friend of his,” Davie writes, “said he could only think that, as a heavy sleeper, [Wright] had never woken up.”
***
I’ve read a lot about the Titanic. Not just books, but articles, technical monographs, the transcripts of the hearings, and the message boards on Encyclopedia Titanica. When I was in high school, I wrote a six-hundred page novel about the sinking. And no – in case you were wondering – I was not the prom king.
With that somewhat dubious resume, I feel qualified in saying that Davie’s Titanic is not anywhere near the best of what’s out there. That said, it doesn’t deserve to be forgotten either. It’s high points are pretty high, it’s low points are not that low – certainly not as low as the ship itself – and it just so happens to deal with the most interesting thing – in my humble opinion – that ever happened on the ocean.
November 11, 2012
Do I need to tag this review as a spoiler if I mention that the ship sinks?
Everything I knew about the Titanic prior to reading this book had been gleaned from a picture-heavy kids book I had when I was little and Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie was atrocious ("I'll never let go, Jack!"), but that kids book? I pored over that with equal parts horror and fascination many, many times, but then I apparently forgot how much the ship interested me because I never read anything else about it.
Until now, that is! Dun-dun-dunnn.
This book studies, as the title succinctly suggests, the "life and death" of the Titanic. There is no mention of Jack and Rose. Rather, it tackles the question of what happened---not just in the hours after the ship struck the iceberg, but before the collision (e.g., to what extent did the battle for transatlantic passenger-line dominance impact the boat's questionable design? What circumstances led Captain Smith to forge full-speed ahead through a known ice field? Did the ship's owners apply pressure to risk safety for speed? Did anyone legitimately believe that a ship, floating on water, could be unsinkable?) and after she went down (e.g., why did the crew seem entirely unprepared to respond to an emergency? Did they wait too long to admit that the strike had been fatal? Why were there 20 people in some lifeboats designed to hold 65? Was there really another ship nearby that failed to come to her rescue? Why was the owner, J. Bruce Ismay, such a pansy? What was discussed at the hearings that followed, and why don't we have anyone to blame* when so many things went wrong?)
Fascinating stuff. It makes me grateful that we live in a day where travel is done in the sky. At least if shit goes wrong there it's over in like 30 seconds, whereas these poor people suffered for hours and hours. A slow-motion plane crash, that's the Titanic.
*I'm not typically a blame-game kind of gal. Sometimes things just go wrong. The sinking of the Titanic, however, does not appear to be one of those things, in my expert (amateur) opinion.
Everything I knew about the Titanic prior to reading this book had been gleaned from a picture-heavy kids book I had when I was little and Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie was atrocious ("I'll never let go, Jack!"), but that kids book? I pored over that with equal parts horror and fascination many, many times, but then I apparently forgot how much the ship interested me because I never read anything else about it.
Until now, that is! Dun-dun-dunnn.
This book studies, as the title succinctly suggests, the "life and death" of the Titanic. There is no mention of Jack and Rose. Rather, it tackles the question of what happened---not just in the hours after the ship struck the iceberg, but before the collision (e.g., to what extent did the battle for transatlantic passenger-line dominance impact the boat's questionable design? What circumstances led Captain Smith to forge full-speed ahead through a known ice field? Did the ship's owners apply pressure to risk safety for speed? Did anyone legitimately believe that a ship, floating on water, could be unsinkable?) and after she went down (e.g., why did the crew seem entirely unprepared to respond to an emergency? Did they wait too long to admit that the strike had been fatal? Why were there 20 people in some lifeboats designed to hold 65? Was there really another ship nearby that failed to come to her rescue? Why was the owner, J. Bruce Ismay, such a pansy? What was discussed at the hearings that followed, and why don't we have anyone to blame* when so many things went wrong?)
Fascinating stuff. It makes me grateful that we live in a day where travel is done in the sky. At least if shit goes wrong there it's over in like 30 seconds, whereas these poor people suffered for hours and hours. A slow-motion plane crash, that's the Titanic.
*I'm not typically a blame-game kind of gal. Sometimes things just go wrong. The sinking of the Titanic, however, does not appear to be one of those things, in my expert (amateur) opinion.
May 7, 2015
It's got to be hard to write a good Titanic book these days. My last Titanic reading experience, Daniel Allen Butler's Unsinkable, was a good example of why: beyond the transcripts of the American and British inquiries--which were mined with great effect by Walter Lord, whose A Night to Remember still stands as the definitive story of the sinking--there is a real paucity of information that makes it difficult to bring anything new to our understanding of the disaster. So Butler simply poached large chunks of Lord's book and tried to pass it off as a modern retelling. Unsinkable? No: Unreadable.
Michael Davie's book is much better. Instead of taking an approach that comes perilously close to plagiarism, Davie had the decency to explore, in chapter-length treatment, new angles on some of the older issues and controversies surrounding the disaster.
It didn't start out that way. At the beginning of the book, I often found myself saying (as I did constantly with Butler's book) "We already know this!" But Davie was a good journalist, and he seems to know when to move beyond well-trodden historical ground and take us some place new. His visit to the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast, for example, brings much life to his examination of the Titanic's creation. So also does his visit to the Titanic graveyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia bring us the starkness of the victims' fate. In fact, this book is at its strongest when Davie gets away from his desk and piles of documents to take his readers somewhere. I just wish there had been more of this.
For new information, at least to me, his chapter on J. Bruce Ismay is a thorough examination of the life of that unhappy survivor, and his history of the Titanic Historical Society sheds new light on an aspect of the Titanic cosmos that few might have considered narration-worthy. There is of course a tedious chapter on the tedious Californian controversy--they saw the rockets and did not act! Enough already!--but also an excellent chapter on the lifeboats that makes up for that bone tossed to the Lordites. It would have been great if Davie had given the same attention to Captain Rostron of the Carpathia, who acted decisively while the Hamlet of the Seas Captain Lord snoozed away within eyesight of the Titanic's distress signals, but really, who's going to outdo Wyn Craig Wade's chapter on Rostron, "The Electric Spark"?
Which brings me back to my original point. In Titanic literature, nothing I've read beats Walter Lord's A Night to Remember or Wyn Craig Wade's Titanic: End of a Dream. There are still important stories to tell that may yet get book-length treatment: the band, the officers, the third class experience. But the gold fields of primary information are almost empty, mined out, and the rest are searching about for any stray nugget--a new survivor letter, a rediscovered relic, a DNA identification of one of the victims--which might lead to some new, important addition to the canon. I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect that Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend, is a worthy example of the best that can be done in the shadow of those two definitive volumes.
Michael Davie's book is much better. Instead of taking an approach that comes perilously close to plagiarism, Davie had the decency to explore, in chapter-length treatment, new angles on some of the older issues and controversies surrounding the disaster.
It didn't start out that way. At the beginning of the book, I often found myself saying (as I did constantly with Butler's book) "We already know this!" But Davie was a good journalist, and he seems to know when to move beyond well-trodden historical ground and take us some place new. His visit to the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast, for example, brings much life to his examination of the Titanic's creation. So also does his visit to the Titanic graveyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia bring us the starkness of the victims' fate. In fact, this book is at its strongest when Davie gets away from his desk and piles of documents to take his readers somewhere. I just wish there had been more of this.
For new information, at least to me, his chapter on J. Bruce Ismay is a thorough examination of the life of that unhappy survivor, and his history of the Titanic Historical Society sheds new light on an aspect of the Titanic cosmos that few might have considered narration-worthy. There is of course a tedious chapter on the tedious Californian controversy--they saw the rockets and did not act! Enough already!--but also an excellent chapter on the lifeboats that makes up for that bone tossed to the Lordites. It would have been great if Davie had given the same attention to Captain Rostron of the Carpathia, who acted decisively while the Hamlet of the Seas Captain Lord snoozed away within eyesight of the Titanic's distress signals, but really, who's going to outdo Wyn Craig Wade's chapter on Rostron, "The Electric Spark"?
Which brings me back to my original point. In Titanic literature, nothing I've read beats Walter Lord's A Night to Remember or Wyn Craig Wade's Titanic: End of a Dream. There are still important stories to tell that may yet get book-length treatment: the band, the officers, the third class experience. But the gold fields of primary information are almost empty, mined out, and the rest are searching about for any stray nugget--a new survivor letter, a rediscovered relic, a DNA identification of one of the victims--which might lead to some new, important addition to the canon. I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect that Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend, is a worthy example of the best that can be done in the shadow of those two definitive volumes.
May 26, 2022
I was a Titanic fan, but now, knowing even more trivia, I will crush any one who dares to out nerd me.
March 19, 2013
The only problem I had with it was that it was outdated because it was published shortly after the discovery of the wreck, but that's my fault for getting an older book. Although, the "100th Anniversary" slapped on the top of the cover does lend you to believe it is a newer book, which doesn't help. But still, it provided very good insight to both sides of many of the questions.
August 26, 2014
I've been reading and studying the Titanic since I was 8 years old. it has been my ultimate fascination. Davies takes many points I already knew and sheds well researched and documented light on them as well as bringing to light new issues and controversies I had never known. If you're interested in learning about the Titanic, this book is an excellent starting point.
September 14, 2019
I just bought Davie's incredible book, Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend recently - as in summer 2019 recently - and the first thing my husband said to me? "Another Titanic book? Why? Has the story changed?"
He was teasing me because I am an avowed Titanic buff, and I already own an entire wall of books on the topic. I have been obsessed with this tragedy since grade school, and although I wouldn't call myself an expert historian on the topic, I can hold my own on a trivia night. How long was the ship? 882 feet. How long did it take her to sink? 2 hours and 40 minutes. Which lifeboat did Bruce Ismay board, a decision that both saved his life and destroyed it at the same time? Collapsible C. So, yeah, why would I need another book about an historic event I can already talk ad nauseam about for hours?
Well, let's just say there is always something to learn, even about a tragedy I know so well. Especially in a book like The Death and Life of a Legend, which focused more on the people and events around the Titanic tragedy and less on the sinking itself. Davie opens with a history of the White Star Line and the political machinations in play with transatlantic shipping in the early 20th century. He does cover the dramatic events of April 14 - 15, 1912, but he organizes them around themes as opposed to telling them in a chronological order (for example, he dedicates an entire chapter to the hours the survivors spent in the lifeboats before the Carpathia arrived, with much of the text coming from published testimony). And then Davie really hits his stride by going into the aftermath of the tragedy, with chapters on the persecution of the aforementioned Bruce Ismay, Captain Stanley Lord and the Californian scandal, the American Senate inquiry, and the British Board of Trade inquiry.
It was in these chapters I did actually find myself learning new tidbits of information, and I became better acquainted with Titanic players I hadn't given much thought to before (such as the overseer of the British Inquiry, Lord Mersey). And I loved every word of it.
So yes, I would say to my husband the story has changed. In fact, I could even argue that the story Davie himself tells has changed. The Death and Life of a Legend was originally published in 1986, shortly after the Titanic wreck was discovered. This edition was updated in 2012 by Dave Gittins (Davie himself had died in 2005) in time for the centennial anniversary, and the scattering of footnotes Gittins includes correcting information Davie had put forth as fact in his original work, is proof the story will always change.
And it is proof I will continue to buy Titanic books.
He was teasing me because I am an avowed Titanic buff, and I already own an entire wall of books on the topic. I have been obsessed with this tragedy since grade school, and although I wouldn't call myself an expert historian on the topic, I can hold my own on a trivia night. How long was the ship? 882 feet. How long did it take her to sink? 2 hours and 40 minutes. Which lifeboat did Bruce Ismay board, a decision that both saved his life and destroyed it at the same time? Collapsible C. So, yeah, why would I need another book about an historic event I can already talk ad nauseam about for hours?
Well, let's just say there is always something to learn, even about a tragedy I know so well. Especially in a book like The Death and Life of a Legend, which focused more on the people and events around the Titanic tragedy and less on the sinking itself. Davie opens with a history of the White Star Line and the political machinations in play with transatlantic shipping in the early 20th century. He does cover the dramatic events of April 14 - 15, 1912, but he organizes them around themes as opposed to telling them in a chronological order (for example, he dedicates an entire chapter to the hours the survivors spent in the lifeboats before the Carpathia arrived, with much of the text coming from published testimony). And then Davie really hits his stride by going into the aftermath of the tragedy, with chapters on the persecution of the aforementioned Bruce Ismay, Captain Stanley Lord and the Californian scandal, the American Senate inquiry, and the British Board of Trade inquiry.
It was in these chapters I did actually find myself learning new tidbits of information, and I became better acquainted with Titanic players I hadn't given much thought to before (such as the overseer of the British Inquiry, Lord Mersey). And I loved every word of it.
So yes, I would say to my husband the story has changed. In fact, I could even argue that the story Davie himself tells has changed. The Death and Life of a Legend was originally published in 1986, shortly after the Titanic wreck was discovered. This edition was updated in 2012 by Dave Gittins (Davie himself had died in 2005) in time for the centennial anniversary, and the scattering of footnotes Gittins includes correcting information Davie had put forth as fact in his original work, is proof the story will always change.
And it is proof I will continue to buy Titanic books.
January 11, 2019
I wanted to finish this before I made it to Belfast... unfortunately it took me a little longer than that, but the experience of reading this before and after my trip to where it all began has been pretty cool.
What I like about this book is what I said in one of my progress comments: I like that Davie (and Gittins, in his updates and notes) has taken great care to present a nuanced view of the facets of the sinking he explores, giving the reader the opportunity to come to their own conclusions. He doesn't tell the reader how to feel; he tells the reader how other people felt and essentially asks, "What do you think?"
I especially liked hearing more about the inquiries (and about the differences in their approaches and goals). I think when I was younger and initially developing my interest in the Titanic, I was most focused on the disaster itself, and to a lesser extent on the discovery of the wreck. The decisions that led to the creation of the ship and the immediate legal aftermath of the sinking didn't really occur to me. Now that I'm older and have a better understanding of the fact that there was a massive human cost that needed to be accounted for, stuff like this is right up my alley.
Definitely recommend to anyone else who is interested in learning more about the Titanic... definitely going to be taking a closer look at the bibliography.
What I like about this book is what I said in one of my progress comments: I like that Davie (and Gittins, in his updates and notes) has taken great care to present a nuanced view of the facets of the sinking he explores, giving the reader the opportunity to come to their own conclusions. He doesn't tell the reader how to feel; he tells the reader how other people felt and essentially asks, "What do you think?"
I especially liked hearing more about the inquiries (and about the differences in their approaches and goals). I think when I was younger and initially developing my interest in the Titanic, I was most focused on the disaster itself, and to a lesser extent on the discovery of the wreck. The decisions that led to the creation of the ship and the immediate legal aftermath of the sinking didn't really occur to me. Now that I'm older and have a better understanding of the fact that there was a massive human cost that needed to be accounted for, stuff like this is right up my alley.
Definitely recommend to anyone else who is interested in learning more about the Titanic... definitely going to be taking a closer look at the bibliography.
November 8, 2018
A solid book that was primarily written just after the discovery of the Titanic, but with some updates to account for the 100th anniversary of the sinking. Davie covers various aspects of the Titanic, from the founding of its company and its construction, to its first (and only) voyage, to the various events and aftermath of the sinking. It is well-documented and makes great use of the available research and resources of the time. It tends to be critical of just about everyone and everything associated with the ship, from the performance of the crew and key passengers to the various inquiries after the sinking. It did offer some insight that I hadn't previously seen in other texts about the sinking. For the update, it might have been stronger if it incorporated more of the discoveries associated with the various dives to the wreck since the 1985/1986 expeditions (how the ship broke up, its final disposition, etc) as well as offer some insight into the 1997 movie, which took the tale and brought it to a whole other level of immortality. Still, for a Titanic buff, this book is worth the time to read.
May 27, 2021
I would give this book 3.5 stars. Really fascinating accounts of various angles about the Titanic disaster, but some of it gets a bit long-winded and redundant. I appreciate the updated version with footnotes by Dave Gittins seeing as how the original book was published in 1986, thus some of the information is a bit outdated.
Still a great read for anyone who is interested in the Titanic disaster or some of the more intricate stories surrounding the ship!
Still a great read for anyone who is interested in the Titanic disaster or some of the more intricate stories surrounding the ship!
April 5, 2018
4.5
When I found this book tucked away in a corner of my school library, I had to pick it up. I have to say, I wasn't let down. Some points may have dragged a little bit, but overall the book was very informational and I (being the nerd I proudly am) enjoyed nerding out over it. Highly recommend to people who want to read an informational book that discusses many topics.
When I found this book tucked away in a corner of my school library, I had to pick it up. I have to say, I wasn't let down. Some points may have dragged a little bit, but overall the book was very informational and I (being the nerd I proudly am) enjoyed nerding out over it. Highly recommend to people who want to read an informational book that discusses many topics.
February 9, 2018
This was my first book on the Titanic that wasn't a book meant for children. I can say if this book is good compared to other books on this subject. For me it was good over view of the Titanic but it was a bit dry in some areas.
July 19, 2023
This wasn't my favorite Titanic book I've read - Davie takes the approach of focusing each chapter on a different topic (for example, the British inquiry or Bruce Ismay). I personally prefer a more comprehensive approach and narrative, but this was well-researched and interesting.
December 10, 2017
Super dry reading, but some interesting transcripts from primary documents.
December 23, 2019
I wish there had been more first hand testimony but otherwise it was a pretty good read
October 5, 2022
if i go too long without reading a titanic book i will spontaneously combust so here's that book
November 17, 2023
very good!
August 7, 2016
This was a very interesting book that goes beyond the story of the tragic sinking of the Titanic.
The book starts by discussing the background of British shipbuilding and how certain people in control of the industry started to expand the size of the luxury liners in an effort to make money. It was by carrying passengers, especially rich 1st class passengers, that brought in a great deal of profit. The decision to keep getting bigger eventually brought about the designs for the Titanic and her two sister ships, the Oceanic and the Olympic, which were over 100 feet longer than the Mauritania and the Lusitania that were in service at the time.
From there, the reader finds himself/herself on board the Titanic as she leaves England. One interesting note was that she came close to a collision even before going out into the open sea. The author reviews a number of details, including how areas of the ship were decorated to give the feel of a hotel, some background on some of the passengers, how the lookouts did not have any binoculars, all the while intermixing testimony that was taken after the accident. Some of the controversies that are covered in the pages include whether the rich received preferential treatment and therefore had more surviving members of that class, was J. Bruce Ismay really in control, telling Captain Smith how fast the Titanic should be going, whether Captain Smith was negligent in not heeding the iceberg warnings, how much responsibility did Marconi have in the accident because of his wireless operators, and whether the Californian was close enough to help the endangered passengers of the Titanic and ignored them. Additionally, the readers gets to get a view of the American and British inquiries into the accident, the way they were run, and what effect they had on the Maritime industry, as well as some of the responses when she was finally found in 1985.
I enjoyed this book a lot. The author provided much detail, and using those details wove it into an interesting story that was much more than just the sinking of this ship. The book was originally written in 1986. This version of the book was updated for the 100th anniversary of the sinking, and has an appendix that reviews information not known at the time of the original publishing. I would recommend the book to people who love history, especially behind the scenes details that are not always discussed. It reads like a historical novel, even though it is non-fiction, and I would also recommend the book to people who enjoy those types of books.
The book starts by discussing the background of British shipbuilding and how certain people in control of the industry started to expand the size of the luxury liners in an effort to make money. It was by carrying passengers, especially rich 1st class passengers, that brought in a great deal of profit. The decision to keep getting bigger eventually brought about the designs for the Titanic and her two sister ships, the Oceanic and the Olympic, which were over 100 feet longer than the Mauritania and the Lusitania that were in service at the time.
From there, the reader finds himself/herself on board the Titanic as she leaves England. One interesting note was that she came close to a collision even before going out into the open sea. The author reviews a number of details, including how areas of the ship were decorated to give the feel of a hotel, some background on some of the passengers, how the lookouts did not have any binoculars, all the while intermixing testimony that was taken after the accident. Some of the controversies that are covered in the pages include whether the rich received preferential treatment and therefore had more surviving members of that class, was J. Bruce Ismay really in control, telling Captain Smith how fast the Titanic should be going, whether Captain Smith was negligent in not heeding the iceberg warnings, how much responsibility did Marconi have in the accident because of his wireless operators, and whether the Californian was close enough to help the endangered passengers of the Titanic and ignored them. Additionally, the readers gets to get a view of the American and British inquiries into the accident, the way they were run, and what effect they had on the Maritime industry, as well as some of the responses when she was finally found in 1985.
I enjoyed this book a lot. The author provided much detail, and using those details wove it into an interesting story that was much more than just the sinking of this ship. The book was originally written in 1986. This version of the book was updated for the 100th anniversary of the sinking, and has an appendix that reviews information not known at the time of the original publishing. I would recommend the book to people who love history, especially behind the scenes details that are not always discussed. It reads like a historical novel, even though it is non-fiction, and I would also recommend the book to people who enjoy those types of books.
September 16, 2015
This was an amazing book. I learned so many things that I had not previously not known about the Titanic. The construction, the eye-witness accounts, and the whitewash by Mersey were all new information to me. This poor ship seemed doomed from the start, with men's arrogance, insufficient planning, and coincidence not in her favor. It is unfortunate for such a tragedy like this to have to occur before such a huge amount of changes were made- the bulkhead and double hull heights raised, binoculars required, Marconi translators trained differently, the number of lifeboats increased, and shipping practices completely changed. Absolutely fascinating stuff. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the Titanic- it reads well and quickly too.
May 16, 2012
While Walter Lord's books focus on what happened on board the Titanic, Davie spends more time on the aftermath. The parts about the British and American hearings are particularly fascinating, as are his analyses of Captain Lord and Bruce Ismay. The "updating" is a bit lazy. Several times I would read a few pages only to see a footnote that explained everything I'd just read was false.
January 19, 2016
Pretty interesting considering this topic of mystery never gets old. Enjoyed the various perspectives and numerous stories describing what took place that night and the investigation that tried to provide answers to something so horrific in time.
Read
October 3, 2012It was good research.
Read
February 4, 2015I just want to know why the ship sank and about the people on board.
May 3, 2017
Nice thoughtfully researched overview of the famous sinking with enough of the compelling, chronological narrative to interest a budding Titanic historian and enough technical detail and interesting new theories (such as the possibility that the sinking triggered a mental breakdown to explain the oft-maligned behavior of the otherwise reserved J. Bruce Ismay) to hook a more knowledgeable Titanic enthusiast.
Also, this guy has a knack for starting chapters with hella good thesis statements like this gem from Chapter 7: "One of the fascinations of the Titanic disaster is that more clearly than any other event, it reveals the modern world just starting to burst out of its Victorian chrysalis so that the old world and the new can be seen almost simultaneously."
Also, this guy has a knack for starting chapters with hella good thesis statements like this gem from Chapter 7: "One of the fascinations of the Titanic disaster is that more clearly than any other event, it reveals the modern world just starting to burst out of its Victorian chrysalis so that the old world and the new can be seen almost simultaneously."
November 11, 2017
The beginning of the book seems disorganized, but the rest of it is fine. Also, a lot of information is thrown at you, and it can be difficult at times to keep it straight in your head or remember it all.
Occasionally, the writer has an arrogant tone. He also assumes the reader has some pre-existing knowledge of the time period beyond just a basic understanding.
I like how he presents alternative views for the "villains" of the Titanic. The media is so quick to judge, and it's easy to forget that Ismay et. al. were traumatized just like the other survivors.
I also like how the author wrote the section on the Marconi operators. He leads the reader right up to the conclusion that they withheld information for personal profit, but he never explicitly states it.
All in all, this book is infomative and interesting, but it could have been written a smidge better. 3/5 stars
Occasionally, the writer has an arrogant tone. He also assumes the reader has some pre-existing knowledge of the time period beyond just a basic understanding.
I like how he presents alternative views for the "villains" of the Titanic. The media is so quick to judge, and it's easy to forget that Ismay et. al. were traumatized just like the other survivors.
I also like how the author wrote the section on the Marconi operators. He leads the reader right up to the conclusion that they withheld information for personal profit, but he never explicitly states it.
All in all, this book is infomative and interesting, but it could have been written a smidge better. 3/5 stars
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