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That Fateful Night: True Stories of Titanic Survivors, in Their Own Words
Titanic. The name invokes startling images of man's ill-conceived notion of invincibility and the consequences which occur when these ideas are proven mortally wrong. It was the Edwardian Era, a time buzzing with the excitement and innocence of the new century. Titanic, the luxurious miracle of technology, set sail from Southampton, England with 2,207 passengers and crew on board. They could never have envisioned the disaster which lay ahead. On the starry night of April 14, 1912, when the great ship rushed almost headlong into an iceberg, the powerful behemoth was brought down and one of history's most tragic tales was born.
That Fateful Night tells the story of what happened in the words of those who lived it. It is a collection of first person accounts, many exclusive, from the survivors of the legendary disaster who would never forget the events of those brief hours, their own experiences and the many hundreds who perished. Recorded over the course of the last two decades, many of these personal stories would be lost to time had these recordings not been made. These personal accounts recreate with unparalled immediacy and poignancy man at his best and worst.
Listeners will be moved by the words of passengers and crew members, including Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, Lady Duff Gordon, Eva Hart, Millvina Dean, Fourth Officer Boxhall, Second Officer Charles H. Lightoller, and others. Also included are interviews with Sir Arthur H. Rostron, Captain of the Carpathia, scientist and author Dr. Robert Ballard, and Oscar-winning director of the film Titanic, James Cameron. That Fateful Night adds a unique and compelling dimension to the astounding body of work documenting this historic tragedy.
That Fateful Night tells the story of what happened in the words of those who lived it. It is a collection of first person accounts, many exclusive, from the survivors of the legendary disaster who would never forget the events of those brief hours, their own experiences and the many hundreds who perished. Recorded over the course of the last two decades, many of these personal stories would be lost to time had these recordings not been made. These personal accounts recreate with unparalled immediacy and poignancy man at his best and worst.
Listeners will be moved by the words of passengers and crew members, including Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, Lady Duff Gordon, Eva Hart, Millvina Dean, Fourth Officer Boxhall, Second Officer Charles H. Lightoller, and others. Also included are interviews with Sir Arthur H. Rostron, Captain of the Carpathia, scientist and author Dr. Robert Ballard, and Oscar-winning director of the film Titanic, James Cameron. That Fateful Night adds a unique and compelling dimension to the astounding body of work documenting this historic tragedy.
- GenresHistory
Audio CD
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 19, 2013
Relatively quick story with chilling audio recordings of interviews with survivors.
Audio recording begins with one of the survivors talking about how they saw the ice on the ship deck and had a snowball fight before asking one of the ship's crew if anything was wrong. He replied "No. We just hit an iceberg. That's all."
Although Captain Smith was considered one of the best captains of the age, he had the misfortune of being quoted in this book as saying "Ships just don't sink anymore." Lot of the survivors loved him and lay off the blame game with him versus others, such as J Bruce Ismay (referred to in the press after as J Brute Ismay) who various biographies wish had gone down with the ship. (One survivor interviewed said it would be silly, as might as well get on the lifeboat if there is a space available.)
As fades from memory (and I certainly had a fascination with the ship between the ages of 11-13) there were no binoculars to spot icebergs, communications equipment ("wireless") operators on other ships had left for the night (so much for high-tech) and it was sheer luck the Carpathia's operators had decided to stick around longer, even if they were about 4 hours away after receiving the distress signal. (As the story in there goes, the crew behaved very professionally, some reporting to their post without getting dressed, and the ship's own passengers were not to be alerted on what was going on.. easy enough as they had retired for the night.) As for among the great villains of the story, the RMS Californian was able to see Titanic's flares being fired into the night sky and one of the crew members even suggested it was Titanic, but the Californian's captain refused to think much of it. (Their communications operators had apparently just left for the night.) Some accounts have them being anywhere from only a mile and a half to nine miles away when the flares were being fired into the air and certainly the death toll would have been much smaller had Californian made course for the Titanic then and there.
There are some contradictory accounts in the smaller details among survivors. On one hand, some of them think many people never learned the ship had struck an iceberg and were still in bed and perished. While towards the end of this story another survivor had figured not a single person would have perished if they had enough lifeboats. (Probably a slight exaggeration, unless you knew where everyone on the ship was at the time and that nobody had been killed/drowned on impact.)
Among the initial impressions were that this sounded like my grandparents could have been telling the story even if more accurately it would have been great-grandparents. (Both my grandfathers died some years before I was born, so never knew them but seems like grandfathers are somewhat similar in respect to how they talk especially on serious matters.)
Unlike the 1997 film which I recall the scene as "Iceberg dead ahead" (have not watched it in its entirety since I saw it in theaters), the line apparently was "iceberg right ahead." Apparently many of the survivors were unable to bring themselves to watch the movie due to the scenes of screaming. Should seem funny the relatively brief interview with 1997 Leonardo DiCaprio where he talks of how the bourgeois (always ironic when Hollywood types use that word) got in the under-filled lifeboats (20 in some that could fit up to like 65) and about our "blind faith in technology." (Lot like Hollywood's blind faith in big government, but that is getting off-topic.)
On the controversial subject of lifeboats not being filled to capacity, seems an odd topic where apparently they had to be partially filled at the time they were lowered and then somehow topped out. During the initial attempts to get people on the lifeboat, it was also believed that it was just a precaution and everyone would be back on board the ship for breakfast. (So why bother leaving a warm ship for the cold?) The crew never went through practice drills on preparing the lifeboats, as, remember, the ship was unsinkable!
One of the interviewees would also talk of how her (I think) aunt was a 19-year-old coming to America to work as a secretary and when she got on the lifeboat (and she was unsure how true the story was), someone tossed her a baby to look after until they reached safety. Both of the baby's parents had perished and apparently the child was set to inherit a fortune, which was said to have annoyed the relatives who apparently might have been distraught at the family loss but otherwise thought they were in the situation to inherit. Also around the point to mention the mostly vain hopes of passengers who had hoped to find their loved ones (usually husbands, as women and children first on the lifeboats) safe aboard the Carpathia.
Here might be a great point to mention the story of this one man who was accused as dressing like a woman to get on board a lifeboat. (Other versions say he bribed the crew to get on the lifeboat.) At least for the specific man in question, the ultimate conclusion was it was unlikely he was the one who did it as he was 6'3 and those women ("real" or not) tend to be quite noticeable.
As noted in the book and elsewhere, it was a relatively minor scrape the ship had suffered (seemingly breaking off a ton of rivets) which penetrated in six compartments. (Sounds like many of the ships decades later might still have sunk under those conditions.) The ship is steadily disintegrating (20% eroded away at time of book's publishing) at the bottom of the ocean and will eventually be no more than a memory. Some of the survivors wish it and the artifacts will stay down there.
Audio recording begins with one of the survivors talking about how they saw the ice on the ship deck and had a snowball fight before asking one of the ship's crew if anything was wrong. He replied "No. We just hit an iceberg. That's all."
Although Captain Smith was considered one of the best captains of the age, he had the misfortune of being quoted in this book as saying "Ships just don't sink anymore." Lot of the survivors loved him and lay off the blame game with him versus others, such as J Bruce Ismay (referred to in the press after as J Brute Ismay) who various biographies wish had gone down with the ship. (One survivor interviewed said it would be silly, as might as well get on the lifeboat if there is a space available.)
As fades from memory (and I certainly had a fascination with the ship between the ages of 11-13) there were no binoculars to spot icebergs, communications equipment ("wireless") operators on other ships had left for the night (so much for high-tech) and it was sheer luck the Carpathia's operators had decided to stick around longer, even if they were about 4 hours away after receiving the distress signal. (As the story in there goes, the crew behaved very professionally, some reporting to their post without getting dressed, and the ship's own passengers were not to be alerted on what was going on.. easy enough as they had retired for the night.) As for among the great villains of the story, the RMS Californian was able to see Titanic's flares being fired into the night sky and one of the crew members even suggested it was Titanic, but the Californian's captain refused to think much of it. (Their communications operators had apparently just left for the night.) Some accounts have them being anywhere from only a mile and a half to nine miles away when the flares were being fired into the air and certainly the death toll would have been much smaller had Californian made course for the Titanic then and there.
There are some contradictory accounts in the smaller details among survivors. On one hand, some of them think many people never learned the ship had struck an iceberg and were still in bed and perished. While towards the end of this story another survivor had figured not a single person would have perished if they had enough lifeboats. (Probably a slight exaggeration, unless you knew where everyone on the ship was at the time and that nobody had been killed/drowned on impact.)
Among the initial impressions were that this sounded like my grandparents could have been telling the story even if more accurately it would have been great-grandparents. (Both my grandfathers died some years before I was born, so never knew them but seems like grandfathers are somewhat similar in respect to how they talk especially on serious matters.)
Unlike the 1997 film which I recall the scene as "Iceberg dead ahead" (have not watched it in its entirety since I saw it in theaters), the line apparently was "iceberg right ahead." Apparently many of the survivors were unable to bring themselves to watch the movie due to the scenes of screaming. Should seem funny the relatively brief interview with 1997 Leonardo DiCaprio where he talks of how the bourgeois (always ironic when Hollywood types use that word) got in the under-filled lifeboats (20 in some that could fit up to like 65) and about our "blind faith in technology." (Lot like Hollywood's blind faith in big government, but that is getting off-topic.)
On the controversial subject of lifeboats not being filled to capacity, seems an odd topic where apparently they had to be partially filled at the time they were lowered and then somehow topped out. During the initial attempts to get people on the lifeboat, it was also believed that it was just a precaution and everyone would be back on board the ship for breakfast. (So why bother leaving a warm ship for the cold?) The crew never went through practice drills on preparing the lifeboats, as, remember, the ship was unsinkable!
One of the interviewees would also talk of how her (I think) aunt was a 19-year-old coming to America to work as a secretary and when she got on the lifeboat (and she was unsure how true the story was), someone tossed her a baby to look after until they reached safety. Both of the baby's parents had perished and apparently the child was set to inherit a fortune, which was said to have annoyed the relatives who apparently might have been distraught at the family loss but otherwise thought they were in the situation to inherit. Also around the point to mention the mostly vain hopes of passengers who had hoped to find their loved ones (usually husbands, as women and children first on the lifeboats) safe aboard the Carpathia.
Here might be a great point to mention the story of this one man who was accused as dressing like a woman to get on board a lifeboat. (Other versions say he bribed the crew to get on the lifeboat.) At least for the specific man in question, the ultimate conclusion was it was unlikely he was the one who did it as he was 6'3 and those women ("real" or not) tend to be quite noticeable.
As noted in the book and elsewhere, it was a relatively minor scrape the ship had suffered (seemingly breaking off a ton of rivets) which penetrated in six compartments. (Sounds like many of the ships decades later might still have sunk under those conditions.) The ship is steadily disintegrating (20% eroded away at time of book's publishing) at the bottom of the ocean and will eventually be no more than a memory. Some of the survivors wish it and the artifacts will stay down there.
July 27, 2017
This is a short audiobook with recordings of survivors of the Titanic, relatives of passengers or crew, people involved in the rescue of the passengers, and others.
It's very interesting to hear a first hand account of what had occurred on that fateful night, and in their voices. The part I found most interesting was that of the captain of the Carpathia.
This was a really good book, but quite short. I would have loved to hear more tales.
It's very interesting to hear a first hand account of what had occurred on that fateful night, and in their voices. The part I found most interesting was that of the captain of the Carpathia.
This was a really good book, but quite short. I would have loved to hear more tales.
April 20, 2012
Would have been five stars if the interviews hadn't been so abridged. Usually, just when one was getting interesting, they would cut and go to someone else. I would much rather have had *just* the interviews, rather than all the blather by the narrator.
But it's awesome to hear the Titanic's story told by the actual survivors, in their own voices and words.
But it's awesome to hear the Titanic's story told by the actual survivors, in their own voices and words.
April 7, 2016
Giuliano's narrative is sparse in his attempt to cover both the event of Titanic's sinking and it's implications. BUT the interviews with survivors, descendants, and scholars closely related to Titanic (in their original recordings) was worth every moment!
January 7, 2015
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews