Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Loss of the S.S. Titantic is Lawrence Beesley’s compelling first-person account of the tragic sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic on its maiden voyage in April 1912. Published amid the continued media frenzy a scant nine weeks following the tragedy, The Loss of the S.S. Titanic draws on Beesley’s experience as a second-class passenger and survivor, and, because of its rich detail and unique perspective, continues to be considered to be one of the most authoritative books about the disaster.

The sinking of the Titanic in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic in the early hours of April 15, 1912, is arguably the most famous maritime disaster of modern history, and one that continues to capture popular imagination a century later.


First published in 1912, just two short months after the sinking of the TITANIC, this hauntingly immediate account opens with Lawrence Beesley's story of arriving onshore and soon after walking through the doors of Messrs. Houghton and Mifflin to tell his tale.

 THE LOSS OF THE S.S. TITANIC represents Beesley's attempt not just to record the events of the sinking but to set the record straight. In so doing, he captures both the majesty and the tragedy of this legendary voyage -- the view from the lifeboat as well as that from the deck. Full of wonderful nautical detail and written with a hair-raising clarity, THE LOSS OF THE S.S. TITANIC is an altogether spellbinding tale of that fateful night -- one you won't soon forget.

My Thoughts....

There's really not much I can add to this review. It was a survivors account of things as he remembered them about 9 weeks after the accident. I found it an interesting read from his viewpoint. He kind of told us to try to put what we now know about the accident and look at it from the people on the Titanic. They remained very calm, there was no hysteria like the newspapers were reporting. Most just thought it would be over in the morning and all would be safe. It wasn't until the end that they finally realized it was really sinking. He explained why some of the lifeboats weren't full. It seems they were the first boats left down and most still thought the ship wouldn't sink, so chose not to get in the lifeboats until later. So many things from his point of view was so different from what was reported. 

This book is part of my Kindle library.

1 comment:

  1. This sounds like an interesting account. Have a good weekend, Gigi Ann!

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