11:39am Monday 14th June 2010
By Keith Hamilton
A Titanic literary feastIt was 98 years ago when a brand new liner left Southampton on her maiden voyage, only to meet a disastrous end in the deadly cold waters of the Atlantic.
Ever since that ill-fated day in 1912, the name, Titanic, has not only been forever linked to one of the most terrible tragedies in Britain’s maritime history but the White Star liner has been at the centre of an enduring, global fascination.
The loss of Titanic, as shocking to the world, at that time, as the destruction of New York’s Twin Towers in 2001, arguably triggered the first media storm in the history of communication.
Over the decades, especially in more recent years, an industry of films, books, tourism, exhibitions, conferences, auctions, and television documentaries has grown up around the incredibly short life of Titanic and the wreck now laying at the bottom of the ocean.
Interest in the ship’s design, construction, passenger list and crew has never waned, thousands upon thousands of words have been written about the sinking, conspiracy theories have blossomed, while arguments and discussions on every aspect of the liner continue to this day.
Three new books published Underlining the phenomena that is Titanic, three more books have recently been published which join the countless other works which have pored over, and examined, what seems like every nut, bolt and rivet used in building the ship.
Titanic Scandal, The Trial of the Mount Temple by Senan Molony, a prolific author on the subject, examines the truth about a “mystery ship’’ which was said to be just a few miles away from the sinking liner, but which did nothing to help.
The ship, SS Californian, has been blamed, but was she really the mystery ship, the one that ignored the distress rockets sent up by Titanic’s officers? The ship that was so close that she could have saved the lives of almost all on board the doomed liner? Was there another ship in the vicinity?
The author says there were many ships close by that night, including ones not fitted with radio, but the most likely candidate, using the circumstantial evidence available at the time, is Canadian Pacific’s, SS Mount Temple.
Molony, a Titanic enthusiast, gives the evidence for and against this proposition, including cryptic clues given by passengers on that fateful voyage, as well as information about the many officers on Mount Temple, who left the ship at her first port of call after the sinking.
The second book, first published in 1912 barely weeks after the liner foundered, is a new edition of “The Illustrated Sinking of the Titanic’’ by L.T. Myers, and features accounts of survivors, who arrived in New York on the Cunard ship, Carpathia.
With journalists waiting on the dockside, as Carpathia came alongside her berth, every Titanic passenger was asked every detail about their experience, which were then used in the original publication.
When the book first appeared all those years ago it was one of the first to tell of the disaster and the tales of tragedy and of rescue from those who had experienced the collision with the iceberg and its aftermath.
101 things you thought you knew The final book of this Titanic trio is unlike the previous publications in that the author, Tim Maltin, has compiled exactly what it says on the cover; 101 things you thought you knew about the Titanic, but didn’t!
In this book all the key elements surrounding the disaster have been brought together aimed at presenting a fascinating account of what really happened on that April night all those years ago.
Taking as his lead, 101 often quoted theories about the loss of Titanic, the author uses eye-witness testimony to take a close look at each one, in chronological order, as he builds up the story that still intrigues so many around the world.
l Titanic Scandal, The Trial of the Mount Temple by Senan Molony is published by Amberley Publishing and costs £19.99.
The Illustrated Sinking of the Titanic by L.T. Myers is published by Amberley Publishing and costs £17.99.
101 things you thought you knew about the Titanic…but didn’t by Tim Maltin is published by Beautiful Books and costs £12.99.
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