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Young Indiana Jones #9
Young Indiana Jones and the Titanic Adventure
In April 1912, young Indiana Jones finds himself aboard the world's greatest ocean liner, the Titanic, when the ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink. Original.
139 pages, Paperback
First published September 21, 1993
156 people want to read
About the author
Les Martin
58 books8 followersLes Martin has written dozens of books for young readers, including the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM movie storybooks, and many Young Indiana Jones middle-grade novels. He has also adapted many classic works of fiction for young readers, including THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, EDGAR ALLAN POE'S TALES OF TERROR, and THE VAMPIRE. Mr. Martin is a resident of New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 2, 2017
A very solidly written adventure for kids. Characters are not completely flat as I usually expect from children's books, plot and presented mistery are interesting, many historical facts concerning Titanic voyage are accurate... The only downfall is that the actual sinking was handled on 2 last pages in the most brief way possible, possibly not to scare the children and to keep them safe in their bubbles. To hell with that, nowday's kids desperatly need some harsh realities in their lives. Besides that, this was enjoyable and good children's book.
August 12, 2020
Young Indiana Jones and the Titanic Adventure is the first book that takes place chronologically after the Corrie Carrier episodes of the Young Indiana Jones series. The last episode took place in May 1910 in Greece.
This book picks up Indy's story in the spring of 1912. Indy was close with Mrs. Seymour when they toured the world on his father's lecture tours, but in this point in his life Mrs. Seymour is back home in England. She has sent for the Jones family to pay her a visit, on her dime. Mrs. Seymour has come into a large sum of money. Her distant cousin had made his fortune in India and part of that fortune was the Shalimar Diamond, an Indian national treasure. (As far as I can tell this is a made up artifact invented for the story). Since she had come into wealth, she wanted to repay the Jones family for her travels with them. However, Anna and Henry Sr. could not make the journey and Indy had to talk them into letting him go alone.
After convincing them, He takes the fastest transatlantic ship at the time The United States to England, along with a stack of books that Henry Sr. sent with him. Henry also sent a telegraph to Helen to ensure they are not neglected. Indy arrives in England and walks to the most expensive hotel in the world at the time, The Clarion Hotel, compliments of Mrs. Seymour. On the way he comes across a mailbox that explodes. This was explained away by a nearby man that it must be the suffragettes. This is a subject that Indy will learn more about in 1916 in the episode Love's Sweet Song. As he walks further he stumbles on another bit of vandalism in the form of a shattered window, but this time a nearby police officer speculates that it's the Irish Rebellion. This revolution will also show up in Love's Sweet Song. (Indiana witnessed many revolutions in 1916)
Indy meets with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who he admires greatly for his Sherlock Holmes books. He has a conversation with him and it's there that he discusses his interest in the detective strategy that Sherlock displays in the stories. He also sees connective themes and methods that could tie into archeology. Many of Indy's adventures in the Young Indiana Jones series are nothing more than mysteries in need of solving and Indy always happens to get in the mix. They talk a bit about the supernatural, as Doyle was famous for dabbling into, and even had their fortune told by a fortune teller who warns of a catastrophe on a big ship. Indy sides with what Sherlock's thoughts would be on fortune telling, that it's a fraud. Anyway, he will be on The Titanic and it's unsinkable!
After leaving Doyle, Indy then leaves to meet up with Mrs. Seymour and notices that her wealth had gone to her head and that she was different. She also dressed differently than' before, now donning fancy clothing. Mrs. Seymour's new found wealth knows no bounds as she has secured a spot for her and Indy on The Titanic for passage back to the States, the diamond worn around her neck.
Once on board "The Unsinkable Ship" they settle in and it doesn't take too long for Mrs. Seymour to gain the notice of a gentleman by the name of Colonel Osmond Gilbert. Indy and Mrs. Seymour occupied first class on the Titanic and already Mrs. Seymour was enjoying her new status, as well as the attention it garnered. The Colonel was swooning Mrs. Seymour and immediately takes to calling him Junior.
Indiana Jones explores the ship and learns quite a bit about what makes the ship so unsinkable, like the closing compartments and the walls being reinforced. Later, he meets back up with Mrs. Seymour and the Colonel. The diamond seems to get some notice and they meet a gentleman who works for Scotland Yard who warns her of thieves that could be on the ship who might be tempted to steal from her. At dinner, she also meets Professor Khan, from Calcutta University who learns of her possession of it and has issues with a national treasure, a holy treasure, being in an individual's possession. (It belongs in a museum!)
Indy is sent away by the Colonel, no doubt wanting some alone time with Mrs. Seymour, and comes across a stowaway Irish girl named Molly under a tarp on a lifeboat, hoping to make it to America. She was a servant in a house in England and she left to stowaway onboard The Titanic, until they arrive in Ireland so she could mix into 3rd class. Indy gets a lesson in class when he thinks women and children would be the priority on the lifeboats. This met with a laugh from Molly. Indy promises to bring her food in the meantime.
The Titanic finally leaves for open sea after they leave Ireland and during a visit to see Molly, she pulls him into the lifeboat to avoid approaching men. They listen carefully to what the men are talking about, only it's in German. Indy speaks German however and he discovers that the men plan to use the very lifeboat they are hiding in to get away from the ship when it goes down!
After uncovering a conspiracy to sink the ship, Indy helps smuggle Molly into 3rd class. Indy then goes into Sherlock mode and decides the best person to bounce things off of is Roger Sampson, the detective from Scotland Yard. He explains the exchange that he hears, sparing details like Molly and the lifeboat. He begins to contemplate the details the way Sherlock would and wonders what he could do to uncover it. Sampson, after learning that they spoke German, says he will comb the list of passengersm but he already had one in mind; Otto Dietrich, a famous Opera Singer.
Indy begins to follow Dietrich until he is noticed. Dietrich begins to wonder who sent him to spy on him and Indy is made to explain himself. Indy plays innocent and Dietrich tells him that he has been hounded since his dinner with a countess. Indy tries to pass as a fan and fails to really know any of his music. After they part, he tries to keep and eye on Dietrich's cabin and stumbles into a wrong wroom only to be attacked my Molly, both unaware of who is in the struggle. Indy catches her up on everything. He also suspects that Molly might have been the one who did BOTH vandalisation incidents in England as she had been slipping pro-suffragette flyers under the doors of 1st class passengers.
The next morning he meets Mrs. Seymour for breakfast and she makes it well know her opinions of the suffragette movement. Professor Khan was in attendance as well as the inspector and the Colonel. Mrs. Seymour implored the inspector to pursue the "criminals". After breakfast Indy and the inspector discuss updates on Dietrich and he spills the beans about Molly, leaving out the vandalism back in England. He is told to continue shadowing Dietrich, even though Indy thinks he's clean. Indy continues exercising with him, taking in clues but coming up empty. He did score tickets to his show though. Indy meets back up with Molly later and meets Charlie, an acquaintance of Molly's from Ireland who works in the ship's engine room and another friend Pat O'Leary, who is part of the Irish Rebellion. Indy discovers that he is getting support from Germany for the cause.
As things start to get closer to the historic sinking of The Titanic, Mrs. Seymour is proposed to by the Colonel and accepts. They are to be married the next day on the ship! That evening Indy passes the deck of the ship where ice comes crashing down and people are using it in their drinks, laughing, and feeling invincible.
Indiana then incovers that Dietrich was innocent, Inspector Simon was under a false name, and was also part of the German conspiracy to sink the Titanic! Just when this is found out, the water had come rushing in. Indy and Molly make a break for it. He struggles to make it to first class and find Mrs. Seymour.
Indy is held at knifepoint by Kahn to get India's diamond back and Helen decides to give it to him to take back on his honor after a scuffle where she lands a solid punch. Eventually, Colonel Gilbert is found out as a gold digger when he shows up mustache shaved and in women's clothing in order to get loaded on the lifeboats first.
They obviously survive The Titanic and Indy discovers that Mrs. Seymour had invested in White Star stocks to preserve her wealth.
This is my first Young Indiana Jones book that I have read since the 90's. I chose to start with book 9 because it was the first in the series chronologically. This book came out after the series was already in syndication and was able to blend this story with that of the series. I thought that this could have easily been a lost episode of the series and I am hopeful that the rest of the books lend themselves to that too. This book was in the vein of the Nancy Drew books or Hardy Boys, which were meant to be Sherlock Holmes for youth. That is kind of a full circle revelation as Indy does meet the author of Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys in the episode Spring Break Adventure and in the book Race to Danger. I thought that the characters were written pretty accurately, but I did have a hard time seeing Mrs. Seymour acting so "pinky up", but I liked that it gave her character some struggle. The historic moment of the ship sinking was only featured in the last chapters and went by rather quick, but perhaps could be read with the Titanic soundtrack of the violinists (who didn't even get a bloody mention). In the Colonel we get the Billy Zane character archetype that we see in the James Cameron film, Titanic. Only he is much more two dimensional. This is a kid book and it's the perfect pacing for a kid. I honestly found it quite enjoyable, even if a bit silly at times. The idea of a conspiracy was a really fun thing to throw in there too. The cover is action packed, even though it doesn't really depict an event in the story. Another thing that I noticed is that he is wearing a fedora. It never mentions this in the book, but does show him wearing it on the cover. Indy has always worn hats, but we tend to think of him in the fedora. We also tend to think of him wearing the fedora style hat only after he dons it in the flashback at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. However, those events happen after the events of this novel, in the late summer of 1912.
I am looking forward to reading the next book Young Indiana Jones and the Pirates' Loot, which is book #14, taking place in June 1912.
I will have a video review up on my Youtube channel where you can follow these Young Indiana Jones book reviews as well as some Star Wars content! Thanks for liking and subscribing!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPX5...
This book picks up Indy's story in the spring of 1912. Indy was close with Mrs. Seymour when they toured the world on his father's lecture tours, but in this point in his life Mrs. Seymour is back home in England. She has sent for the Jones family to pay her a visit, on her dime. Mrs. Seymour has come into a large sum of money. Her distant cousin had made his fortune in India and part of that fortune was the Shalimar Diamond, an Indian national treasure. (As far as I can tell this is a made up artifact invented for the story). Since she had come into wealth, she wanted to repay the Jones family for her travels with them. However, Anna and Henry Sr. could not make the journey and Indy had to talk them into letting him go alone.
After convincing them, He takes the fastest transatlantic ship at the time The United States to England, along with a stack of books that Henry Sr. sent with him. Henry also sent a telegraph to Helen to ensure they are not neglected. Indy arrives in England and walks to the most expensive hotel in the world at the time, The Clarion Hotel, compliments of Mrs. Seymour. On the way he comes across a mailbox that explodes. This was explained away by a nearby man that it must be the suffragettes. This is a subject that Indy will learn more about in 1916 in the episode Love's Sweet Song. As he walks further he stumbles on another bit of vandalism in the form of a shattered window, but this time a nearby police officer speculates that it's the Irish Rebellion. This revolution will also show up in Love's Sweet Song. (Indiana witnessed many revolutions in 1916)
Indy meets with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who he admires greatly for his Sherlock Holmes books. He has a conversation with him and it's there that he discusses his interest in the detective strategy that Sherlock displays in the stories. He also sees connective themes and methods that could tie into archeology. Many of Indy's adventures in the Young Indiana Jones series are nothing more than mysteries in need of solving and Indy always happens to get in the mix. They talk a bit about the supernatural, as Doyle was famous for dabbling into, and even had their fortune told by a fortune teller who warns of a catastrophe on a big ship. Indy sides with what Sherlock's thoughts would be on fortune telling, that it's a fraud. Anyway, he will be on The Titanic and it's unsinkable!
After leaving Doyle, Indy then leaves to meet up with Mrs. Seymour and notices that her wealth had gone to her head and that she was different. She also dressed differently than' before, now donning fancy clothing. Mrs. Seymour's new found wealth knows no bounds as she has secured a spot for her and Indy on The Titanic for passage back to the States, the diamond worn around her neck.
Once on board "The Unsinkable Ship" they settle in and it doesn't take too long for Mrs. Seymour to gain the notice of a gentleman by the name of Colonel Osmond Gilbert. Indy and Mrs. Seymour occupied first class on the Titanic and already Mrs. Seymour was enjoying her new status, as well as the attention it garnered. The Colonel was swooning Mrs. Seymour and immediately takes to calling him Junior.
Indiana Jones explores the ship and learns quite a bit about what makes the ship so unsinkable, like the closing compartments and the walls being reinforced. Later, he meets back up with Mrs. Seymour and the Colonel. The diamond seems to get some notice and they meet a gentleman who works for Scotland Yard who warns her of thieves that could be on the ship who might be tempted to steal from her. At dinner, she also meets Professor Khan, from Calcutta University who learns of her possession of it and has issues with a national treasure, a holy treasure, being in an individual's possession. (It belongs in a museum!)
Indy is sent away by the Colonel, no doubt wanting some alone time with Mrs. Seymour, and comes across a stowaway Irish girl named Molly under a tarp on a lifeboat, hoping to make it to America. She was a servant in a house in England and she left to stowaway onboard The Titanic, until they arrive in Ireland so she could mix into 3rd class. Indy gets a lesson in class when he thinks women and children would be the priority on the lifeboats. This met with a laugh from Molly. Indy promises to bring her food in the meantime.
The Titanic finally leaves for open sea after they leave Ireland and during a visit to see Molly, she pulls him into the lifeboat to avoid approaching men. They listen carefully to what the men are talking about, only it's in German. Indy speaks German however and he discovers that the men plan to use the very lifeboat they are hiding in to get away from the ship when it goes down!
After uncovering a conspiracy to sink the ship, Indy helps smuggle Molly into 3rd class. Indy then goes into Sherlock mode and decides the best person to bounce things off of is Roger Sampson, the detective from Scotland Yard. He explains the exchange that he hears, sparing details like Molly and the lifeboat. He begins to contemplate the details the way Sherlock would and wonders what he could do to uncover it. Sampson, after learning that they spoke German, says he will comb the list of passengersm but he already had one in mind; Otto Dietrich, a famous Opera Singer.
Indy begins to follow Dietrich until he is noticed. Dietrich begins to wonder who sent him to spy on him and Indy is made to explain himself. Indy plays innocent and Dietrich tells him that he has been hounded since his dinner with a countess. Indy tries to pass as a fan and fails to really know any of his music. After they part, he tries to keep and eye on Dietrich's cabin and stumbles into a wrong wroom only to be attacked my Molly, both unaware of who is in the struggle. Indy catches her up on everything. He also suspects that Molly might have been the one who did BOTH vandalisation incidents in England as she had been slipping pro-suffragette flyers under the doors of 1st class passengers.
The next morning he meets Mrs. Seymour for breakfast and she makes it well know her opinions of the suffragette movement. Professor Khan was in attendance as well as the inspector and the Colonel. Mrs. Seymour implored the inspector to pursue the "criminals". After breakfast Indy and the inspector discuss updates on Dietrich and he spills the beans about Molly, leaving out the vandalism back in England. He is told to continue shadowing Dietrich, even though Indy thinks he's clean. Indy continues exercising with him, taking in clues but coming up empty. He did score tickets to his show though. Indy meets back up with Molly later and meets Charlie, an acquaintance of Molly's from Ireland who works in the ship's engine room and another friend Pat O'Leary, who is part of the Irish Rebellion. Indy discovers that he is getting support from Germany for the cause.
As things start to get closer to the historic sinking of The Titanic, Mrs. Seymour is proposed to by the Colonel and accepts. They are to be married the next day on the ship! That evening Indy passes the deck of the ship where ice comes crashing down and people are using it in their drinks, laughing, and feeling invincible.
Indiana then incovers that Dietrich was innocent, Inspector Simon was under a false name, and was also part of the German conspiracy to sink the Titanic! Just when this is found out, the water had come rushing in. Indy and Molly make a break for it. He struggles to make it to first class and find Mrs. Seymour.
Indy is held at knifepoint by Kahn to get India's diamond back and Helen decides to give it to him to take back on his honor after a scuffle where she lands a solid punch. Eventually, Colonel Gilbert is found out as a gold digger when he shows up mustache shaved and in women's clothing in order to get loaded on the lifeboats first.
They obviously survive The Titanic and Indy discovers that Mrs. Seymour had invested in White Star stocks to preserve her wealth.
This is my first Young Indiana Jones book that I have read since the 90's. I chose to start with book 9 because it was the first in the series chronologically. This book came out after the series was already in syndication and was able to blend this story with that of the series. I thought that this could have easily been a lost episode of the series and I am hopeful that the rest of the books lend themselves to that too. This book was in the vein of the Nancy Drew books or Hardy Boys, which were meant to be Sherlock Holmes for youth. That is kind of a full circle revelation as Indy does meet the author of Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys in the episode Spring Break Adventure and in the book Race to Danger. I thought that the characters were written pretty accurately, but I did have a hard time seeing Mrs. Seymour acting so "pinky up", but I liked that it gave her character some struggle. The historic moment of the ship sinking was only featured in the last chapters and went by rather quick, but perhaps could be read with the Titanic soundtrack of the violinists (who didn't even get a bloody mention). In the Colonel we get the Billy Zane character archetype that we see in the James Cameron film, Titanic. Only he is much more two dimensional. This is a kid book and it's the perfect pacing for a kid. I honestly found it quite enjoyable, even if a bit silly at times. The idea of a conspiracy was a really fun thing to throw in there too. The cover is action packed, even though it doesn't really depict an event in the story. Another thing that I noticed is that he is wearing a fedora. It never mentions this in the book, but does show him wearing it on the cover. Indy has always worn hats, but we tend to think of him in the fedora. We also tend to think of him wearing the fedora style hat only after he dons it in the flashback at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. However, those events happen after the events of this novel, in the late summer of 1912.
I am looking forward to reading the next book Young Indiana Jones and the Pirates' Loot, which is book #14, taking place in June 1912.
I will have a video review up on my Youtube channel where you can follow these Young Indiana Jones book reviews as well as some Star Wars content! Thanks for liking and subscribing!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPX5...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2016
An enjoyable old-school-style adventure!
April 6, 2023
When I was growing up, I enjoyed the Young Indiana Jones series on TV. I'm always interested in reading about the Titanic, so when I found out about this book, I was eager to read it. It's well done, with an interesting fictional plot twist I haven't seen in other stories about Titanic.
I was very interested in how it managed to cover several different cultural and social issues of the era in which it was set -- from women's rights to tensions between Germany and England, and the strife between Ireland and England. The copy I bought was a library discard. I think it's important to keep stories like this in libraries, since sometimes these topics aren't well covered in today's curriculum options, particularly not in middle school.
Very nice. I do think I am going to seek out more of these books.
I was very interested in how it managed to cover several different cultural and social issues of the era in which it was set -- from women's rights to tensions between Germany and England, and the strife between Ireland and England. The copy I bought was a library discard. I think it's important to keep stories like this in libraries, since sometimes these topics aren't well covered in today's curriculum options, particularly not in middle school.
Very nice. I do think I am going to seek out more of these books.
June 29, 2023
I opened the OpenLibrary the other day and right at the front page, this book was there, maybe because the new movie is coming out, maybe because of current events, but promise of Indiana Jones is enough for me to pick it up!!!
This is such a light kids book and it was an excellent time, such a fun time!!! It has the classic Indiana meeting famous people, and being thrown into big world events, and I'll say besides the background of the Titanic, I really loved and appreciated the women' voting rights fight and the Irish fight - the characters were really good and fun!!!
I just really loved this!!! This is made for Indiana Jones fans and children!!!
This is such a light kids book and it was an excellent time, such a fun time!!! It has the classic Indiana meeting famous people, and being thrown into big world events, and I'll say besides the background of the Titanic, I really loved and appreciated the women' voting rights fight and the Irish fight - the characters were really good and fun!!!
I just really loved this!!! This is made for Indiana Jones fans and children!!!
December 8, 2025
Six years after this book came out, James Cameron’s movie about the the Titanic disaster came out, including a subplot about a first class passenger meeting up with a steerage passenger, a bit of Irish shenanigans, some cameos from the Captain and designer of the ship, and a jewelled necklace. Oh wait - that’s what this book is about!
Cameron was obviously a fan.
Pity he didn’t include the German saboteurs, too.
Was good to see Indy hang with Miss Seymour a bit, as a post-Corey-Carrier-Indy (it’s set in “Spring 1912” - a few days either side of 15 April 2012 to be more specific).
Cameron was obviously a fan.
Pity he didn’t include the German saboteurs, too.
Was good to see Indy hang with Miss Seymour a bit, as a post-Corey-Carrier-Indy (it’s set in “Spring 1912” - a few days either side of 15 April 2012 to be more specific).
December 30, 2024
I've never read the Young Indiana Jones books before, but came across a copy and figured I'd zip through it for fun. I can see how kids would enjoy this, especially if they're into history. The book tries to sidestep the more tragic elements, which I suppose is appropriate for the age of the intended readers, but I think it could have been handled better.
August 2, 2022
Enjoyed book quite a lot, felt like one of the better episodes on "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles".
Slight nitpick, Indy did not get signature hat until 1912, two years after the events in this book. The prose do not mention the hat, so a complaint based only on cover. 😀
Slight nitpick, Indy did not get signature hat until 1912, two years after the events in this book. The prose do not mention the hat, so a complaint based only on cover. 😀
January 5, 2025
This novel had plenty of action. It was surprising to encounter such action such as a bomb, Germans with guns, and Irish revolutionists. Young Indiana Jones certainly went through a lot and who knew that he was on the Titanic the night it sank.
May 2, 2016
Though this was the 9th book of the Young Indiana Jones series I decided not to start from book one and read this one. My friend recommended me this book and I have no regrets reading it. The protagonist and antagonist in this book really spiced things up for me. My favorite part of the story was when the antagonist is identified by Indy. This was my favorite part because it got me wondering who the terrorist really was since the start of the book. You cannot judge a book by its cover because from the really beginning I never expected the detective that was supposed to protect the ship to be the terrorist. Throughout the book he was known as a nice detective from England but he was actually a German terrorist. A detective wanting to sink a ship, who would’ve expected that? This was the most significant part of the story because all the mysteries begin to reveal. The author Les Martin did not write all the books of the Indiana Jones series but I will continue reading the ones that he wrote. I truly enjoyed reading this book and I am looking forward to reading more from him. There were many reasons why I enjoyed reading this book. For example, the book always kept me guessing and it was filled with clues and mysteries to be solved. The author did a really good job for keeping me hooked on to this book because I did not want to put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys mysteries and excitement throughout the entire book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2016
This one is one of the weakest ones I've read. The last book mentioned that someone had been on the Titanic and Indy said nothing about being on it himself. The silliness about Miss Seymour completely changing into some silly vapid thing was also badly done.
If you're going to read them all, then read this one too, but it's just not as good as the others.
If you're going to read them all, then read this one too, but it's just not as good as the others.
September 24, 2013
Another awesome book in the series! Short and quick - but more thrilling than any 400-pages-long adventure novel!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews