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Key Figures Aboard RMS Titanic
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.
Fuelled by a subtle mixture of horror, fascination and sheer, fatal glamour, she surges heedlessly across the still, starlit calm of our collective subconscious, hell bent on achieving her chilling, near midnight rendezvous with her killer.
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
Fuelled by a subtle mixture of horror, fascination and sheer, fatal glamour, she surges heedlessly across the still, starlit calm of our collective subconscious, hell bent on achieving her chilling, near midnight rendezvous with her killer.
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
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
208 pages, Hardcover
Published April 30, 2022
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26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 11, 2022
Really interesting non-fiction book about some of the Key Figures of the RMS Titanic. I am obsessed with the Titanic and I love everything about it so I was super excited to have my wish granted on this one.
I would really love to see the hardcover book as I think it would be presented in a really lovely fashion. I loved the prologue and the comparison of the Titanic to the battle of Sparta.
What a beauty of a ship and what an interesting dive into some of the people and groups that were key to the stories behind that fateful night.
Thank you to Pen & Sword, NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.
I would really love to see the hardcover book as I think it would be presented in a really lovely fashion. I loved the prologue and the comparison of the Titanic to the battle of Sparta.
What a beauty of a ship and what an interesting dive into some of the people and groups that were key to the stories behind that fateful night.
Thank you to Pen & Sword, NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.
April 10, 2022
It occurred to me that even the most famous 'extras' in the cast of this story have long since been massively eclipsed by the main actress in the drama; the Titanic herself.
Many books have been written about the ship herself but Anthony Nicholas decided to shine a light on actual people who were there. We get a deep dive into life stories of the famous protagonists and antagonists of the tragedy but also of some people that don't necessarily cross people's minds when Titanic gets mentioned (Violet Jessop or Wallace Hartley for example).
I like how detailed the author got with these people's stories because we now get a different perspective on say Captain Smith, Thomas Andrews, Bruce Ismay, even the officers and the musicians. They all had their backgrounds and lives outside of the ship and outside of that doomed night of the sinking and the author did a good job researching and providing us with information.
Huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Pen & Sword for granting me my wish and sending me the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
Many books have been written about the ship herself but Anthony Nicholas decided to shine a light on actual people who were there. We get a deep dive into life stories of the famous protagonists and antagonists of the tragedy but also of some people that don't necessarily cross people's minds when Titanic gets mentioned (Violet Jessop or Wallace Hartley for example).
I like how detailed the author got with these people's stories because we now get a different perspective on say Captain Smith, Thomas Andrews, Bruce Ismay, even the officers and the musicians. They all had their backgrounds and lives outside of the ship and outside of that doomed night of the sinking and the author did a good job researching and providing us with information.
Huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Pen & Sword for granting me my wish and sending me the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
March 29, 2022
On Sunday 14th April 1912 as the unsinkable RMS Titanic cruised the north Atlantic everything proceeded with an almost dreamlike charm. All of this was suddenly interrupted by an abrupt ‘full astern’ order from Captain Edward J Smith.
It was too late. At 2340 that evening, the starboard bow of the Titanic glanced against a half-submerged iceberg lying in her path. The vessel carried 2207 passengers and crew with lifeboat places for only 1178 of them and she was suddenly sinking 400 miles from any land.
The book is written from the interesting viewpoint of the people on board as opposed to the vessel. This it does very well. There were many heroes on that fateful night, many of them crew members. The book brings to light so many simple acts of valour performed by ordinary men and women. These were regular people who at that moment acted heroically in the face of adversity.
If I have a criticism it's that the writer repeats quite a lot of the events as he relates individual stories but that is a minor complaint as many of those events are intertwined with human stories.
The whole story of that night and the lives affected in later years are brought to life by some fascinating facts.
I would recommend this book to those, like me, who are interested in the history of this and other disasters.
My thanks to #NetGalley, #PenandSwordHistory and #AnthonyNicholas for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
It was too late. At 2340 that evening, the starboard bow of the Titanic glanced against a half-submerged iceberg lying in her path. The vessel carried 2207 passengers and crew with lifeboat places for only 1178 of them and she was suddenly sinking 400 miles from any land.
The book is written from the interesting viewpoint of the people on board as opposed to the vessel. This it does very well. There were many heroes on that fateful night, many of them crew members. The book brings to light so many simple acts of valour performed by ordinary men and women. These were regular people who at that moment acted heroically in the face of adversity.
If I have a criticism it's that the writer repeats quite a lot of the events as he relates individual stories but that is a minor complaint as many of those events are intertwined with human stories.
The whole story of that night and the lives affected in later years are brought to life by some fascinating facts.
I would recommend this book to those, like me, who are interested in the history of this and other disasters.
My thanks to #NetGalley, #PenandSwordHistory and #AnthonyNicholas for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 31, 2022
We’ve all heard the story of the RMS Titanic and her sinking. Anyone interested in the ship has memorized the names of her crew and passengers. Until now, the life stories of the people responsible have not been written in one volume of a book. Short biographies were included in some books but if you wanted to learn more, you had to research on your own. Anthony Nichols has.gathered information on each of the men responsible for Titanic from when she was just a thought until the night she slipped under the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. These are beautifully written accounts of the lives of J.P. Morgan, Bruce Ismay, Captain Smith, the wireless operators and so on. This book will be one I will reread and keep on hand for reference. Such a wonderful read for all Titanic buffs.
May 5, 2022
This book was amazing!!! Anthony Nicholas did a fabulous job, and once again, those who perished on the Titanic are brought to life through the pages of a book.
We learn more about the crew, and their heroic efforts to save as many as possible, mistakes that were made, and the band that played as the ship slipped beneath the waves. It is in many ways a profound read that is going to take readers back in time, with a fascinating look on those who were on board, rather than the sinking of the vessel itself.
Highly recommend this book!
We learn more about the crew, and their heroic efforts to save as many as possible, mistakes that were made, and the band that played as the ship slipped beneath the waves. It is in many ways a profound read that is going to take readers back in time, with a fascinating look on those who were on board, rather than the sinking of the vessel itself.
Highly recommend this book!
May 7, 2022
If you put all the books written about the Titanic on one humongous shelf, it would most undoubtedly cover the distance between the sea level and where she lies at the bottom of the cold north Atlantic. Therefore they'd get quite unreadably wet, so that's not something to recommend. But what about this latest addition to the pile? It aims to give a biographical note or two to the boat as usual, but wants to concentrate on the people on board, the saints and sinners alike, lauding the workers who would never have been able to survive and making sure respect is sustained where respect is due.
But boy it does it in such fruity language. Right from the off the White Star staff are credited as being the second coming (well, the third if you include the Alamo) of the 300 at Thermopylae, and just when you think such over-egged enthusiasm for them is going to be constrained to the foreword it appears in chapter one, too. For we begin in the engine room, where the boilers were having to steam their way to maintain power to the lights (to prevent panic amongst the passengers) and the radio house. "The acute mental stress that those men laboured under defies any adequate contemporary level of comprehension", we're told. They're actually switching the lights off in the squash court, so I don't see why we need denigrate countless modern emergency workers with sentences that on even the first thought are just piffle.
Which is a shame, as the author can clearly also deliver history. Chapter Two starts devoted to the few female staff members on board – those stewardesses on beck and call for the ladies in first class, and on shift for said women to use the sauna and steam baths. Violet Jessop had a remarkable career afloat, while the people on a similar level to her – the post room staff and lift boys – should not be ignored in the great reckoning. Much has been written, I'm sure, about the band members who played on til the end – I would never have known they were an early example of victims of P&O style fire-and-rehire scams, where a company bought their contracts from White Star (and Cunard), and sacked them, only to rehire them as not staff but second class passengers, and on half the proper pay.
Common to all books are the instances of serendipity and the like, with the Captain on his last two-way voyage before retirement, people fluking their way on and off the roster, etc. But this does do what it set out to do, highlighting individual officers and radio operators and what is known of their activity, and reminding us that just like a theatre needs audiences and casts, so the grand drama of the Titanic needed people at all corners and in all corridors to complete her story.
But... not once but twice the SOS flares "claw in vain at the starlit sky/heavens". Something is in a conga line in three of the first four chapters, out of six ungainly instances of the phrase, second only to the author's unfortunate habit of referencing Mars and Martians. "Bruce Ismay's jaw hit his slippers like an elevator in freefall." The man's style allows for far too much repetition in his choice of phrasing, and the chaptered structure demands a lot of covering of the same ground in very similar ways.
The intent and content are just what I expected and wanted from such a book, and it pays fruitful (if fruity) homage where possible. I still think, however, the author's personal style of floridly over-writing is very ill-considered for such a project, to a quite off-putting level.
But boy it does it in such fruity language. Right from the off the White Star staff are credited as being the second coming (well, the third if you include the Alamo) of the 300 at Thermopylae, and just when you think such over-egged enthusiasm for them is going to be constrained to the foreword it appears in chapter one, too. For we begin in the engine room, where the boilers were having to steam their way to maintain power to the lights (to prevent panic amongst the passengers) and the radio house. "The acute mental stress that those men laboured under defies any adequate contemporary level of comprehension", we're told. They're actually switching the lights off in the squash court, so I don't see why we need denigrate countless modern emergency workers with sentences that on even the first thought are just piffle.
Which is a shame, as the author can clearly also deliver history. Chapter Two starts devoted to the few female staff members on board – those stewardesses on beck and call for the ladies in first class, and on shift for said women to use the sauna and steam baths. Violet Jessop had a remarkable career afloat, while the people on a similar level to her – the post room staff and lift boys – should not be ignored in the great reckoning. Much has been written, I'm sure, about the band members who played on til the end – I would never have known they were an early example of victims of P&O style fire-and-rehire scams, where a company bought their contracts from White Star (and Cunard), and sacked them, only to rehire them as not staff but second class passengers, and on half the proper pay.
Common to all books are the instances of serendipity and the like, with the Captain on his last two-way voyage before retirement, people fluking their way on and off the roster, etc. But this does do what it set out to do, highlighting individual officers and radio operators and what is known of their activity, and reminding us that just like a theatre needs audiences and casts, so the grand drama of the Titanic needed people at all corners and in all corridors to complete her story.
But... not once but twice the SOS flares "claw in vain at the starlit sky/heavens". Something is in a conga line in three of the first four chapters, out of six ungainly instances of the phrase, second only to the author's unfortunate habit of referencing Mars and Martians. "Bruce Ismay's jaw hit his slippers like an elevator in freefall." The man's style allows for far too much repetition in his choice of phrasing, and the chaptered structure demands a lot of covering of the same ground in very similar ways.
The intent and content are just what I expected and wanted from such a book, and it pays fruitful (if fruity) homage where possible. I still think, however, the author's personal style of floridly over-writing is very ill-considered for such a project, to a quite off-putting level.
August 24, 2022
Key Figures Aboard RMS Titanic is a great read for anyone fascinated by the disaster. Nicholas tells the story of people aboard the doomed cruiser who we don't usually hear about. The book sets out to honour those lost at sea in 1912, and it definitely does that. It's an interesting and accessible read. Very good!
Many thanks to Anthony Nicholas, NetGalley, and Pen and Sword for this copy.
Many thanks to Anthony Nicholas, NetGalley, and Pen and Sword for this copy.
April 19, 2022
Princess Fuzzypants here: I have read innumerable books on the Titanic. Just as it does so many others, the tragic story fascinates me. I can honestly say this book is quite different from most of the others I have read. It states the facts just as they all do but rather than put all the emphasis on a couple of the main characters and then either deifying or denouncing them, it attempts, by trying to imagine what it would have been like had the author been in the shoes of that person, to give a reasoned accounting.. It is eloquent and evocative and educational. But above all else, it is fair.
There are very few people or organizations that are pilloried. Even the most popular villain in most, Ismay, is treated with equanimity. He is not let off the hook for the decisions made prior to the sailing that guaranteed a disaster. White Star itself is also called to task as were the bureaucrats whose job it was to ensure that things were done as they should be. Perhaps the only group universally condemned was the agency that bought the musicians contracts from White Star and in a series of events proved to be unfeeling cads.
It compares the crew to Spartans. Once the iceberg hit, none of them had any delusion of what the final outcome would be. Too few lifeboats and too many passengers and crew put paid to that account. Yet, knowing the end, they laboured bravely to do what they could to save as many as possible, often at the cost of their own lives. Most responded admirably. The only one who fell apart was Smith. And it was he who could have orchestrated a much larger number of survivors but could not solve the simple mathematical problem. But even his breakdown was handled compassionately. His experience and his hubris all worked against him and when the unthinkable happened, he shattered.
Beautifully written and extremely compelling, I give this five glowing stars and two paws up.
There are very few people or organizations that are pilloried. Even the most popular villain in most, Ismay, is treated with equanimity. He is not let off the hook for the decisions made prior to the sailing that guaranteed a disaster. White Star itself is also called to task as were the bureaucrats whose job it was to ensure that things were done as they should be. Perhaps the only group universally condemned was the agency that bought the musicians contracts from White Star and in a series of events proved to be unfeeling cads.
It compares the crew to Spartans. Once the iceberg hit, none of them had any delusion of what the final outcome would be. Too few lifeboats and too many passengers and crew put paid to that account. Yet, knowing the end, they laboured bravely to do what they could to save as many as possible, often at the cost of their own lives. Most responded admirably. The only one who fell apart was Smith. And it was he who could have orchestrated a much larger number of survivors but could not solve the simple mathematical problem. But even his breakdown was handled compassionately. His experience and his hubris all worked against him and when the unthinkable happened, he shattered.
Beautifully written and extremely compelling, I give this five glowing stars and two paws up.
April 29, 2022
This is a beautifully written vivid and empathetic account of the unbelievable bravery of most of the crew on the Titanic, who the author compares with Spartans. He puts himself into their shoes and tries to imagine how they must have felt as the 'unsinkable' ship quickly began to sink. There is the band who bravely played the music of the day to soothe the passengers while chaos raged around them, the radio operators who desperately tried to contact nearby ships as the lights sputtered and flickered, the ship's officers who had to put people into the lifeboats and cope with surging crowds, the stewards and stewardesses and many others.
Nicholas doesn't shy away from the controversial characters like J. Bruce Ismay and Captain Smith, but deals with them compassionately. He understandably hammers the mean Blacks, the agency responsible for treating the band and the band members' families abominably, but they're about the only ones who he criticises severely. This is a must-read for anyone interested in this fascinating, doomed ship.
I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781399086004
PRICE £20.00 (GBP)
Nicholas doesn't shy away from the controversial characters like J. Bruce Ismay and Captain Smith, but deals with them compassionately. He understandably hammers the mean Blacks, the agency responsible for treating the band and the band members' families abominably, but they're about the only ones who he criticises severely. This is a must-read for anyone interested in this fascinating, doomed ship.
I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781399086004
PRICE £20.00 (GBP)
April 4, 2022
I am obsessed with everything to do with Titanic and her story and this book just added to my interest. I found this fascinating and there were some characters included in here I knew nothing about as well as learning more about some of the well known passengers and staff. This is a fascinating read and it’s nice to focus on the people rather than the incident for a change.
May 17, 2022
A great novel containing short stories of the unsung heroes from the Titanic disaster. The stories are compelling and sure to grab your attention. The courage displayed and sacrifices made by the individuals are inspirational and heartwarming. A great read on the disaster.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
April 20, 2022
I really enjoyed this book by Anthony Nicholas. It was very well done and would definitely recommend this book to anyone.
July 20, 2023
‘Against this, a small band of men stood their ground in an attempt to buy as much time as possible for the masses that huddled in the Boat Deck on that silent scream of a night. Able seamen, bandsmen, and engineers. Firemen and ship’s officers. Passenger stewards and wireless operators.’
Oh this book was fascinating! It was nice to read about the people on board who helped when it came to the titanic disaster.
We learn about people such as Joseph Bell (chief Engineer) to William Gwinn, John March, Oscar Woody, Clifton Virginia and James Williamson (Postal Clerks) and Harold Lowe (Fifth Officer) plus many more!
I learned a lot of new information in this book and discovered new and known characters who I see in a different light now.
Truly compulsive and the perfect read for any titanic and history reader!
‘A torrent of icy seawater surged into the shattered hull, and it began to steadily devour her innards. Within twenty minutes, some 14ft of frigid water was sloshing around the fatally ruptured hull.’
Oh this book was fascinating! It was nice to read about the people on board who helped when it came to the titanic disaster.
We learn about people such as Joseph Bell (chief Engineer) to William Gwinn, John March, Oscar Woody, Clifton Virginia and James Williamson (Postal Clerks) and Harold Lowe (Fifth Officer) plus many more!
I learned a lot of new information in this book and discovered new and known characters who I see in a different light now.
Truly compulsive and the perfect read for any titanic and history reader!
‘A torrent of icy seawater surged into the shattered hull, and it began to steadily devour her innards. Within twenty minutes, some 14ft of frigid water was sloshing around the fatally ruptured hull.’
December 26, 2023
Interesting but quiet repeptive
February 3, 2023
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I decided in 2022 to focus some of my non-fiction reading on Titanic with it being the 110th year since it sunk and it was also the year that we visited the Titanic Exhibition in Devon and got to see some of the objects that had been brought up from the bottom of the Ocean.
I am a huge fan of the mystery and majesty of the Titanic as it is and I will admit that I have watched a lot of documentaries on it and read a lot of books too but something about this book caught my eye and I knew that I wanted to read it and find out more.
I thought that the book was well written and I liked the layout, the chapter length and the author’s writing style. It was a book that covered things I knew before and new to which make it a great one to read.
The mix of characters was great and it was good to get a different view from a new author to me and I loved the approach that the author took – what would you have done if you were them – very good and definitely one to make you think it also shows how much things can be twisted and spun overtime with the media, etc too. Even back then over 110 years ago they were twisting the stories told to sell the papers which did ruin the careers of some involved when the decision and accident was nothing they could have prevented.
It is 4.5 stars from me for this one, rounded up to 5 stars for Goodreads and Amazon – a must read for Titanic fans out there, always good to get a new perspective too – highly recommended!
I decided in 2022 to focus some of my non-fiction reading on Titanic with it being the 110th year since it sunk and it was also the year that we visited the Titanic Exhibition in Devon and got to see some of the objects that had been brought up from the bottom of the Ocean.
I am a huge fan of the mystery and majesty of the Titanic as it is and I will admit that I have watched a lot of documentaries on it and read a lot of books too but something about this book caught my eye and I knew that I wanted to read it and find out more.
I thought that the book was well written and I liked the layout, the chapter length and the author’s writing style. It was a book that covered things I knew before and new to which make it a great one to read.
The mix of characters was great and it was good to get a different view from a new author to me and I loved the approach that the author took – what would you have done if you were them – very good and definitely one to make you think it also shows how much things can be twisted and spun overtime with the media, etc too. Even back then over 110 years ago they were twisting the stories told to sell the papers which did ruin the careers of some involved when the decision and accident was nothing they could have prevented.
It is 4.5 stars from me for this one, rounded up to 5 stars for Goodreads and Amazon – a must read for Titanic fans out there, always good to get a new perspective too – highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews