Ghosts of the Titanic

[Bill Wormstedt]

Randy:

Thanks for the extra details re: the Francatelli letter. What I do have, as my website says, came from George and Pat Behe, several years ago.

I didn't realize that this was only an excerpt, but glad to hear that George has a longer version now.

Looking forward to seeing the complete publication!

 

[Logan Geen]

Pellegrano seems to dramatize much of his work...
while I enjoyed Her Name Titanic even I could tell he played fast and loose with the facts. I have not read Ghosts of the Titanic. As for The Titanic Conspiracy I found parts of it to be very well written but other parts were not so good. I was amazed at how remarkably little was dedicated to their own theory. About Pellegrino (grano? grino?) taking advantage of Walter Lord, I surely hope that is not the case. He has no more right than anyone else to his (Lord's) files.

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

I'm a bit late joining the party, but since this thread has been recently updated I thought I might add a few words m'self.

Like Randy, I would presume to have more than average knowledge of a certain subject. That subject being cabins. I have been told that Pellegrino made a mess of the cabin allocations in his book, so I found the book in a library to have a look at this mess ... and boy was it a mess!!

Several passengers have more than one cabin, some are in the wrong cabins. He gives Edith Rosenbaum E63 for her luggage! There was another passenger in that cabin originally, although he supposedly moved to an outer cabin with a porthole. In any case, it is not clear whether Edith did have a second cabin, possibly not, but even if she did, it would have been nearby, a vacant cabin on A deck.

He has Candee and Rheims on B deck. However, according to the supposedly never before seen Candee account (which is on his web site - and about which I have many, many doubts) she was on A deck. I have no idea where she was, but I have a feeling both decks are wrong (however that is just that, a feeling).

However as for some proof, Rheims was on A deck and he was continuously interrogated about that and went so far as to draw a diagram of where he was and where he was standing when he saw the iceberg. There is no doubt Rheims was on A deck and not B deck.

There are plenty of other sources, such as the "Cave list" which would prove much of Pellegrino's mess to be wrong.

Daniel.

 

[Ben Holme]

Hi Daniel,

He gives Edith Rosenbaum E-63 for her luggage!

Yes, and this is condradicted later. On the website, Pellegrino mentions that E-63 had been allocted for her luggage, but later in her account "she" says:

"I then mounted to A-deck where my room was located, and found that a very luxurious cabin had been assigned to me and a vacant cabin *opposite* for my luggage".

I can't imagine Clinch Smith or George Goldschmidt would have been too happy with that arrangememt!

Regards,
Ben

 

[Kyrila Scully]

I don't know if what I'm about to say has any relevancy to why there are inaccuracies in books by Pellegrino and Butler, but in my writing career, I have been advised by editors and other writers not to waste my time writing an entire book before shopping it around. "Just write a couple sample chapters to accompany the query letter...why write for free?" For one, I write out of pure enjoyment of the craft. But really, I write in freedom to produce the kind of book I want to read. When I write historicals, I want the freedom of time to explore the facts so that my books feel honest and real. I don't want some editor breathing deadlines down my neck. When the pressure of deadlines is added to the mix, the accuracy of the book suffers, and the heart and soul of the book diminishes. I've read some well known authors' latest works who succumbed to the deadline disease and their books were poorly written.
Then there are those writers who should stick to fiction, as they are better storytellers than historians.

As an aside, Dan Butler has been a guest in my home, and he is a charming and compelling storyteller.

All the best,
Kyrila

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

All,

I went into the inaccuracies re: the Duff Gordons in Pellegrino's text in some detail. My opinion is that these mistakes are due to sloppy research, not some impending deadline. At any rate, a publisher is supposed to check facts and sources. In Pellegrino's case, it looks like his editors threw the book on the press without so much as looking at it. He could have written it in hyroglyphics for all they knew, the way that travesty was sent to press.

Had Pellegrino cared at all about his work, he could have gotten his facts straight on a lot of those points in a fairly reasonable amount of time without having to worry about passing up any deadline.

In the romance genre, the formula of writing only sample chapters before soliciting is quite correct. However an historical subject requires a great deal of research and precision reporting and really a manuscript, particularly for a novice writer, had best be complete.

When one is dealing with actual persons in actual situations and dates of actual events, I think one would be well-advised to make doubly certain one's work is as accurate as possible before submitting even a snippet for publication. Every researcher and writer makes mistakes occasionally, everyone has a source once in a while that may not be sound, etc., but when a book is chock-full of inaccuracies like Pellegrino's is, it really boggles the mind as to why he should be regarded as an authority.

I personally feel he is the least informed and therefore least qualified researcher to write on Titanic. His book "Ghosts of the Titanic" is the shoddiest bundle of words on the market that I've ever read on any subject recently. I hope it will be his last book on Titanic.

Randy

 

[Tracy Smith]

Very good post, Randy. I agree completely.

 

[Tracy Smith]

Very good post, Randy. I agree completely.

 

[Michael Tennaro]

no such luck, Randy. Pellegrino promises (threatens?) a third book to come, printed in time for the 100 anniversary of the disaster. now that he has made such a pot of money on his first two books, maybe he can afford a competent editor? naaaaaaaah.

Michael (TheManInBlack) T
p.s. Tracy you are repeating yourself.
p.s. Tracy you are repeating yourself.

 

[Tracy Smith]

The computer hiccuped

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Tracy,

Its better to have a hicupping computer instead of some old rag like I've got. I sometimes get booted offline twice in an hour!

Michael,

O, no!!! Play a dirge with that news, will ya!?! The up-side to it, I guess, is that maybe Pellegrino will have read a book or two about Titanic by the time he starts writing his next one!

Randy

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Well, if Pelligrino publishes, I suppose I'll buy it if only for the sake of having a slightly more complete collection...and perhaps something to critique.

However, I draw the line at any of Gardiner's work. Even my stomach is not that strong!

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

All,

In my personal opinion, I'd rather buy the Gardiner books than Pellegrino's. I know G's switch theory was a bit bogus, but some of his other stuff seemed ok, whilst Pellegrino's book is chockers full of bogus theories and “facts”. He seems to even make up accounts just to support the stuff that falls into his head.

I loved Randy's post. Tracy agreed with it 2 times ... I'd agree 3 times but ...

We all probably know of Candee's account on his web site. I say it's all fake, and if not, there's a great deal of fabrication. I still say there is NO possible way she could have EVER found her way to the very front of the ship and did a Jack and Rose ... only by herself.

Daniel.

 

[Tammy Markwick]

I'm currently reading Ghosts Of The Titanic. I'm really enjoying the book but I've noticed from some other threads that a lot of people don't agree with the authors theories. I would like some more opinions on the book and why or why not you agree with most of it.
Thanks
Tammy

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Jeremy - here is the thread about the Pellegrino books. Sorry for misdirecting you!