The sinking of the Titanic and Other Great Sea Disasters

[Michael F. Koch]

Hi all! I am now reading this book and noticed a bunch of non-believable stories. Anyone else find that the case when reading this book? It seems more a collection of tall-tales than most Titanic books which is alarming because it was written in 1912 based on survivor accounts. One account I believe by the ships barber says he was struggling in the water for 4 hours before being picked up by a lifeboat. I believe there were other stories of some of the lifeboats picking up several survivors out of the water when I've always read there were only about 6 picked out of the water not counting the ones on the overturned collapsable. Also, Lady Duff Gordon claims to have seen numerous icebergs in the half hour prior to the incident when in most any other book, it has been writen that there were few or no people on the boat deck due to the cold. These are just a few of the stories that I had never seen before and have a hard time believing. Anybody else that read this book feel the same way?

Take care!

Michael.

 

[Elaine R Barnes]

Hi Michael,
I haven't read that particular book, but I have read others that also published these stories as fact.
I prefer to come to this site and get better information from the very knowledgeable Titanic researchers that frequent this message board. If you question the authenticity of a story, all you have to do is put the question on the board and you will get " just the facts".
Unfortunately, I think there are many people out there who are tying to cash in on the resurgent Titanic interest and really just regurgitate the same stories.
On this site is also a section devoted to Titanic books ( I'm sure you've seen it ) that will give you an idea of how reliable, accurate and well-written a Titanic book is, as vetted by Titanic researchers and people with a great interest in the ship and not in the movie romance.
Hope this helps,
Elaine

 

[Michael F. Koch]

Thanks so much Elaine! I had never browsed the books site before, so you really helped!

Michael.