Contents at a Glance Introduction ................................................................ 1 Part I: The Titanic: A Century of Legend ........................7 Chapter 1: Why the Titanic Endures ................................................................................9 Chapter 2: Building the Ship of Dreams ........................................................................19 Chapter 3: From Royalty to Rats: Who Sailed on the Titanic .....................................33 Chapter 4: Life Onboard: From Breakfast and Lunch to Steerage and Bunks ..........55 Part II: Tragedy at Sea: The Titanic Sinks on Its Maiden Voyage .................................................71 Chapter 5: Four Days of Smooth Sailing ........................................................................73 Chapter 6: The Collision and Sinking ............................................................................83 Chapter 7: Surviving the Sinking of the Titanic ............................................................99 Chapter 8: “I Was There”: Firsthand Accounts of the Sinking ..................................121 Chapter 9: How the World Learned about the Titanic’s Loss ...................................149 Chapter 10: Investigating the Titanic’s Demise ..........................................................163 Part III: Exploring Enduring Titanic Mysteries ............187 Chapter 11: Doomed from the Start? Studying What Went Wrong .........................189 Chapter 12: Lingering Questions about the Titanic’s Final Hours ...........................201 Chapter 13: Foreshadowing the Tragedy? The 1898 Novella The Wreck of the Titan ....................................................................................................................213 Part IV: The Quest to Recover the Titanic ......................219 Chapter 14: Looking at Early Attempts to Raise the Titanic ....................................221 Chapter 15: The Quest of the Century: The 1985 Discovery of the Wreck .............233 Part V: TheCOPYRIGHTED Titanic in Popular Culture MATERIAL ....................... 247 Chapter 16: Salvaging the Titanic and Its Artifacts ....................................................249 Chapter 17: Presenting the Titanic Story on Screen and on Stage ..........................265 Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................... 275 Chapter 18: Ten Fascinating Titanic Artifacts ............................................................277 Chapter 19: Ten Titanic Myths Debunked ..................................................................285 Chapter 20: Ten Terrifi c Titanic Documentaries ........................................................293 Appendix: A Titanic Timeline .................................... 301 Index ...................................................................... 309 002_9781118177662-ftoc.indd2_9781118177662-ftoc.indd viivii 112/20/112/20/11 66:42:42 PPMM 002_9781118177662-ftoc.indd2_9781118177662-ftoc.indd viiiviii 112/20/112/20/11 66:42:42 PPMM Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................. 1 About This Book ..............................................................................................2 Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2 What You’re Not to Read ................................................................................3 Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................3 How This Book Is Organized ..........................................................................4 Part I: The Titanic: A Century of Legend .............................................4 Part II: Tragedy at Sea: The Titanic Sinks on Its Maiden Voyage .....4 Part III: Exploring Enduring Titanic Mysteries....................................4 Part IV: The Quest to Recover the Titanic ..........................................5 Part V: The Titanic in Popular Culture ................................................5 Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................................................5 Icons Used in This Book .................................................................................5 Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................6 Part I: The Titanic: A Century of Legend .........................7 Chapter 1: Why the Titanic Endures . .9 Examining Why We Still Care .........................................................................9 Everyone knows about it ....................................................................10 The story is irresistible .......................................................................10 The world took notice .........................................................................11 The disaster changed sea travel ........................................................12 Tempting Fate with the Word “Unsinkable” ...............................................12 Considering Social Arrogance and Class Structure ..................................13 Coming to America: The Immigrant Story ..................................................14 Discovering the Titanic Wreck in 1985 ........................................................15 Watching Titanic, the Movie .........................................................................16 Chapter 2: Building the Ship of Dreams . .19 Deciding to Build the Titanic ........................................................................19 Competing with the Cunard Line .......................................................20 Accommodating wealthy passengers ................................................20 Making more room for steerage passengers ....................................21 Lining up funding for the construction of the ship .........................21 Building the Ships at Harland and Wolff .....................................................22 Taking a Titanic Tour ....................................................................................24 Titanic Milestones: From Launch to Loading .............................................27 Taking a Look at the Olympic, the Titanic’s Sister Ship ............................29 Refi tting the Olympic ...........................................................................29 Retiring the Olympic ............................................................................30 002_9781118177662-ftoc.indd2_9781118177662-ftoc.indd ixix 112/20/112/20/11 66:42:42 PPMM x The Titanic For Dummies Building a New Titanic ...................................................................................30 Introducing the SS Titan ......................................................................31 Getting Harland and Wolff onboard ..................................................32 Chapter 3: From Royalty to Rats: Who Sailed on the Titanic . .33 Riding in Steerage with the Third-Class Passengers .................................33 What does steerage mean? .................................................................34 Looking at steerage accommodations ..............................................35 Sharing steerage with rats ..................................................................36 Meeting the Famous Onboard the Titanic ..................................................36 Colonel John Jacob Astor IV ...............................................................38 Madeleine Astor ...................................................................................38 J. Bruce Ismay ......................................................................................38 Francis Davis Millet .............................................................................39 Isidor and Ida Straus............................................................................40 Lucy Noël Martha Leslie, Countess of Rothes ..................................41 Margaret Tobin (Molly) Brown ..........................................................41 Major Archibald W. Butt .....................................................................42 Dorothy Gibson ....................................................................................42 Colonel Archibald Gracie IV ...............................................................42 Benjamin Guggenheim.........................................................................43 Getting to Know the Crew of the Ship of Dreams ......................................44 Edward J. Smith: Captain on the verge of retirement .....................44 Harold Godfrey Lowe ..........................................................................45 Frederick Fleet ......................................................................................47 Charles H. Lightoller ............................................................................47 Joseph Boxhall .....................................................................................48 Thomas Andrews .................................................................................49 Harold Bride .........................................................................................50 Robert Hichens.....................................................................................50 Wallace Hartley ....................................................................................52 The 50 bell boys ...................................................................................52