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The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian and the Night the Titanic Was Lost / Daniel Allen Butler
4.25 stars

This is a book about the sinking of the Titanic, but more from the points of view of two of the closest ships that night. In fact, one of them – the Californian – was within sight distance and saw the distress rockets go up… and the captain, Stanley Lord, didn’t do anything. He was a very authoritarian captain and his subordinates didn’t feel that they could go against him. Further away (unfortunately a full 4 hours or so), was another ship – the Carpathia – whose captain, Arthur Rostron, immediately set sail as fast as the Carpathia had ever gone in her life to get to the Titanic as soon as possible. It was the Carpathia who plucked as many survivors as she could out of the lifeboats to safety.

This was really good. I’m sure I must have read snippets about these other ships in the other Titanic books I’ve read, but I don’t recall details from those books, though I knew the names of the ships. This was very detailed from those points of view. Leading up to the disaster, this also looked at brief biographies of the captains and a bit of history of the ship/cruise and wireless industries. There was also a close look at the inquiries afterward, both in the US and in Britain to get to the bottom of what happened that night.

I enjoyed this book too. I always knew that the Californian was the closest ship to the Titanic, but never quite understood why they did not help. This book answers the question.

I have added it Cindy-I love a good non-fiction, and the story of the Titanic always grabs me

Joy D wrote: "I enjoyed this book too. I always knew that the Californian was the closest ship to the Titanic, but never quite understood why they did not help. This book answers the question."

That it does.

Joanne wrote: "I have added it Cindy-I love a good non-fiction, and the story of the Titanic always grabs me"

Hope you like it!