In Titanic's Shadow: Merchant Ships Lost with Greater Fatalities

by David L. Williams

While the near 1,500 victims of Titanic accounted for a huge loss of life, each of the ships here had a greater number of casualties, in some cases more than five times as many. In total, these 27 merchant ship sinkings resulted in a staggering loss of life at sea – more than 96,000 in total, 3,840 per ship. While the circumstances were different to Titanic, the outcome in each case was no less tragic. Yet, despite the fact that Titanic ranks behind so many other losses, so powerful has her name become that it was the inevitable choice to describe some of these other events, ‘Germany’s Titanic’ and ‘The Titanic of Japan’ being two examples. Ships include the Lancastria, Britain’s worst maritime disaster with 3,000 lost; the Ryusei Maru, a Japanese ‘Hellship’ loaded with 6,000 Allied POWs, torpedoed by a US submarine; and the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German liner packed with 7,800 civilians, sunk by a Russian submarine. There were no survivors and this tragedy was the worst maritime disaster of all time.

Genres: Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Katia M. Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very thorough accounting of 40 shipping disasters that have been overshadowed in popular memory by a focus on the Titanic. I had heard of quite a few of them to be honest, so I must be an odd one. I found out rather dry, but I don't suppose there is another way to write about the disasters. I also wondered about the comparison of wartime sinkings with the Titanic as the circumstances were so different. However this was an extensive look at death on the sea. It would be a good starting point if someone wanted to research one of the incidents