Author Description
On that fatal April night in 1912, the world's largest moving object disappeared beneath the waters of the North Atlantic in less than three hours. Why was the ship sailing through waters well known to be a "mass of floating ice"? Why were there too few lifeboats, so that 1,522 people were left to perish at sea? Why were a third of the survivors members of the crew? Based on the sensational evidence of the U.S. Senate hearings, eyewitness accounts of survivors, and the results of the 1985 Woods Hole expedition that located and photographed the ship, this electrifying account vividly recreates the doomed vessel's last desperate hours afloat and fully addresses the questions that have continued to haunt the tragedy of the Titanic.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the systemic failures and human decisions that transformed the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic into a maritime catastrophe. Author Wyn Craig Wade synthesizes archival evidence from the 1912 U.S. Senate hearings with survivor testimonies to reconstruct the timeline of the sinking. By integrating these historical records with findings from the 1985 Woods Hole expedition, the text provides a comprehensive analysis of the technical and social factors that contributed to the high casualty rate.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Detailed analysis of the U.S. Senate inquiry transcripts
- Examination of maritime safety regulations and lifeboat protocols of the early 20th century
- Comparative study of survivor accounts versus official testimony
- Integration of underwater photographic evidence from the 1985 discovery
Scope Limits
- The text does not provide a comprehensive biography of every passenger on board
- It focuses primarily on the events surrounding the sinking rather than the long-term post-disaster legal aftermath
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Historians and maritime enthusiasts frequently cite this work for its rigorous use of primary source documentation regarding the Senate hearings. The prose is noted for its accessibility while maintaining a high level of factual density regarding the ship's final hours.
Page Count:
489
Publication Date:
1980-11-20
Publisher:
Penguin Books
ISBN-10:
0140055622
ISBN-13:
9780140055627
History
Non-Fiction
Maritime history
Disaster
Titanic
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