Books Beyond Titanic.
There are, believe it or not, some perfectly good maritime books that contain little to no mention of Titanic at all. There are even a few books that, dare I say it, have nothing in any way to do with Titanic that are actually worth reading anyway! The truth is that I actually read quite a number of books far outside the scope of this website. It seemed like a fun idea to review some of these off-topic books; the logic being that if I enjoyed them, you might get pleasure out of reading them as well.
The focus will remain on ocean liner books for the most part, but be forewarned, I intend on straying as far away as possible from that subject from time to time. There are only two rules for the books that are listed on this page. They won't usually have anything to do with Titanic, and they are books I enjoyed reading - either a lot, or a whole lot.
July, 2004. David Brown. White Hurricane. The author once again uses his unique talents to bring another powerful nautical drama to life. The time is November, 1913, just 19 months after the Titanic disaster. The place is the Great Lakes region of the United States, five great bodies of water that represent the largest accumulation of fresh water in the world. The event was a sequence of freak weather patterns that conspired to create the single most severe storm to ever hit the region.
June, 2004. Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. Dune, House Atreides. June begins the summer reading season, when the emphasis shifts more towards light, entertaining fair. Here at Titanic Book Site.com, we just can’t break away completely from serious Titanic and ocean liner books, but we do manage to squeeze in some good, solid novels, purely for entertainment value. If you have read and enjoyed Frank Herbert's epic science fiction novel, Dune, prepare yourself for a special treat.
May, 2004. Mark Warren. Distinguished Liners from the Shipbuilder series. The original Shipbuilder magazine has long been known as one of the most prestigious journals covering the science of shipbuilding. It was first issued in 1906, and chronicled the building, launching and outfitting of the latest ships of the time in exquisite detail. The original articles were predominantly about ocean liners, and Warren keeps this focus in the selection of ships covered in these two books.
April, 2004. Karl Baarslag. SOS to the Rescue. A history of wireless at sea, with emphasis on its use in maritime disasters, written by a former wireless operator. The Titanic is covered, as is a diverse group of other ships from the well known to those that have largely been forgotten by history.
March, 2004. Frank O. Braynard & William H. Miller. The Fifty Famous Liners Series. This superb trilogy of books covers fifty famous ocean liners in each volume. The coverage is cosmopolitan, including liners from many of the major seafaring nations. Each ship rates anywhere from two to five pages of description, which includes a short, but detailed history highlighting notable events in each ship’s career.
February, 2004. V.S. Fellowes Wilson. The Largest Ships of the World. This classic work from the 1920's is a fascinating volume on what was then the state of the art in shipbuilding and nautical engineering. The focus from beginning to end is on ocean liners, covering in exquisite detail the greatest passenger liners of the day. In ten chapters, the author covers just about every detail that went into the construction and operation of these massive ships. This wonderful old book is a pure joy to anyone interested in this important period in the design and operation of the great liners.
January, 2004. Peter Padfield. An Agony of Collisions. Padfield is best known in Titanic circles for his book in defense of Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian. But just a year later, in 1966, he published Agony, a book on why ships collided as often as they did. His conclusion, that the Rules of the Road written to prevent collisions were so vaguely written that they were as often as not a factor in causing them. He also discussed the limitations of radar on ships, showing how misuse and lack of experience with the new tool often lead to collisions that might not have happened otherwise. There is some minor Titanic content in this book, and there is a major chapter on the Olympic/Hawke collision, as well as information about many other incidents, both pre and post radar.
December, 2003. David Shaw. The Sea Shall Embrace Them. The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic. The tragedy of the shipweck of the paddle wheel steamer Arctic in 1854 has been mostly forgotten. But it was one of the saddest and most horrible maritime disasters, rivaling and even succeeding the Titanic, if not in the number of lives lost, in the manner of those deaths. David Shaw brings to a modern audience the story of one of the darkest days in American maritime history.
November, 2003. William Flayhart. Perils of the Atlantic: Steamship Disasters, 1850 to the Present. An anthology of accidents at sea ranging from the wreck of the paddlewheeler Arctic in 1854 to the loss of the cruiseship Seabreeze I in December of 2000. The selection of events include many of the standard wrecks you will be familiar with, but also includes quite a number of lesser known mishaps. Unless you really know your maritime history, there is every good chance that at least some of these stories will be completely new to you. Not every maritime accident ended in disaster, and in this book you will also read about some amazing triumphs in the face of incredible adversity. One of the better shipwrecks anthologies I have read in quite a while. With thanks to Mark Baber for recommending this one.
October, 2003. Matthew Reilly. Ice Station. And now, as the saying goes, for something completely different. Meet Australian action/thriller author Matt Reilly, whose lightning fast novels almost make the books of Cussler, Crichton and Grisham seem pokey by comparison. Like a good summer blockbuster movie, Reilly's novels are nonstop action from beginning to end. If you are looking for deep character studies, Reilly is definitely not the man for you. But if you love a rousing adventure story that will keep you turning the pages long after you should have gone to sleep, this is escapist fiction at its best.
September, 2003. Algot Mattsson. Out of the Fog: The Sinking of Andrea Doria. After Titanic, the maritime disaster that most intrigues me is the loss of the Andrea Doria during the 1950's. It is the extraordinary story of the Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria and the Swedish liner Stockholm, two ships equipped with all the modern navigation equipment the 1950s could offer, including radar, who still managed to collide with each other despite attempts by both bridge officers to avoid the collision.
Out of the Fog gets mixed reviews from my point of view.The author was at one time the information officer for the Swedish-American line, the owners of the Stockholm, with the result that this is one of the most skewed, pro-Stockholm portrayals of the event to ever be printed. On the other hand, the author had the opportunity of having extended discussions with Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen, the sole officer on the bridge of the Stockholm at the time of the collision. Carstens’ views of the event, told in his own words, are extensively quoted throughout this book, and add significant new insight to the event.
August, 2003. Stephen Fox. Transatlantic: Samuel Cunard, Isambard Brunel and the Great Atlantic Steamships. Starting off this new page on the website is the best maritime book I have read this summer. It is a massive history of American and British steamship travel on the North Atlantic, covering the period between 1820 and 1910. Written in a breezy, fluid style, it will educate and entertain in equal measure. Highly recommended.
|