Ghosts of Titanic by Charles Pellegrano

[Michael Tennaro]

Randy,
thanks for the checklist of faults on the Duff Gordons in this book. Pellegrino has always suffered from an excess of enthusiasm. I'm surprised he doesn't have a competent research assistant double-check his facts for him. as far as his purposefully fabricating a letter though, I may be naive, but I find that difficult to swallow.

Tracy,
I knew Pellegrino's assault on Captain Lord was going to rile feathers. I consider myself to have an open mind on the Californian issue, yet even I found his attack on Lord unusually harsh.

I wonder why Pellegrino is such a media success? whether we approve of it or not, the one thing he does achieve is to get a tremendous number of people reading about Titanic. Someone like David Brown, who has written an infinitely better book, does not have his book on shelves in every corner drugstore, or at airport bookstores (where I picked up 'Ghosts'). what is Pellegrino bringing to the market that Brown, and other 'serious' researchers are not???

curiously, Michael (TheManInBlack) T

 

[David G. Brown]

Michael -- Thanks for the vote of confidence in my work. The publishing world is sort of big business gone through a looking glass. There is no explaining the way it works. You have touched on something that rankles me as a writer. I could vent my frustration, but it would do little good. All I can do is thank the thousands of people who have purchased my book...and go on to another project.

-- David G. Brown

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Bill,

Thanks for the link to your great site but the Laura Mabel Francatelli letter featured there is actually a very small excerpt from the original addressed to Marion Taylor. The original, on Ritz Carlton stationary and dated 28 April 1912, is about 16 pages long and is in private hands. The owner has allowed only certain passages to be quoted over the years, such as yours which appears to be pretty close to the same excerpt used in the Michael Davie book as well as The "It" Girls (both published at the time of the Sotheby's auction of the original letter in 1986).

However the Francatelli family, whom both myself and Phillip Gowan have been in touch with since early this year, has recently located a complete mimeographic-style copy made well before the Sotheby's sale. This makes it legally possible for the letter to be published in full for the first time, which will probably be pretty soon.

Moreover, I was careful to word the excerpt I used in my earlier post exactly as it appears in my full copy of the original document, including the idiosyncracies of punctuation; I must, by the way, thank George Behe for sharing this copy which he recently came into. (I am still waiting to see the mimeographic copy owned by the Francatellis.)


Michael,

I find it hard to imagine as well that a researcher would fabricate a document but I have been assured that this is probably the case with the Sam Collins letter. Whether or not this happened and that Pellegrino is the one who did it may never be proven but what is certain is that the collection of letters of Frank Goldsmith's mother apparently NEVER included the one he cites. All I know is that the powers-that-be in THS refused to include it in my articles as it was declared fraudulent, even after receiving a copy of the letter from the author who passed on the excerpt to me. I am only going by what people far higher on the rung of Titanica than myself believe has happened.

Randy

 

[Michael Tennaro]

David,
I share your frustration. your explanations of the hoops and hurdles you went through to get your book published were chilling. whenever I talk to someone who is curious about Titanic, I always bring up your book as one of the very best in the area of modern research.

Randy,
I didn't mean to suggest that the letter is not fraudulent. goodness knows, there are enough scam artists out there in all walks of life. like you, I will defer to those much more knowledgeable than myself on this issue.

I prefer to believe, until proven otherwise, that authors are genuine in their efforts. I have never met Pellegrino, he could be crooked as they come, or honest as the day is long. my take on the man, from reading his books, is that his enthusiasm outweighs his good sense. he is strong in getting very fired up about what he is writing, but doesn't have the patience to go back, double-check his facts and document all his assertions. it makes for a lot of unnecessary mistakes. your corrections about the Duff Gordons really brought this point home to me.

all the best, Michael (TheManInBlack) T

 

[Mike Poirier]

RE: pellegrino. I don't find it hard at all that he could fabricate a letter. If you read his book, there is enough fabricated dialogue to choke a horse. And it is very evident that he twists facts to support his own theories.
Staircases, looting, etc.... And other than the Lord/Pellegrino files, he does not provide a definite source for where he gets his information.
Also I find it a bit dubious for him to lay claim to Walter Lord's files. Walter Lord really isn't in the condition to protest and hasn't been for some time. Latching onto a historian's files is not what I call research.
And as for his book selling many copies. His first book has been a cheap $5.99 paper back for quite a few years. Not a stretch to believe Titanic enthusiasts would gravitate towards a handy $5.99 paper back versus a $26.99 hardcover.