Finished: April 18
Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From by Richard Davenport-Hines
This book was a suggestion from RO . I have to say that although it wasn’t on the edge of my seat, hold my interest for hours kind of book, I still really enjoyed it. This book is purely non-fictional, it is made up of what I assume is strictly factual information. I was fascinated to hear about how the Titanic tradgedy really went down, compared to Mr. Cameron’s dramatized move of it.
Her post on it can be found here .
I was shocked at some of the stats that was thrown around in this book. I mean to learn that almost none of the life boats were filled to capacity, that just shocked me. Also to know that even though most women that wanted a spot in a life boat were accounted for, men weren’t allowed to join their wives… or that teenage boys weren’t allowed to accompany their mothers!
Of course, you have to know that there was no mention of a Jack and Rose type love story here… I commended those men that stood back to allow women and children to be saved… dressed in their evening wear they went down like gentlemen. I will say that I felt very sick to my stomach at the thought of people floating in the ocean by their life jackets and dieing of exposure before drowning. That made me incredibly sad. This book has sparked an interest for me that I don’t think I knew I had before. I now want to see about finding a book about that military ship that sunk… maybe it was the Indianapolis? I’ll have to double check by Taylor. As morbid as it sounds, I am amazed by these horrible tragedies. I really just found myself saying “wow” at the amount of people that were diverted to the Titanic because of a coal strike going on at the time of the Titanic’s sailing. Think of the amount of people that could’ve lived if that coal strike weren’t going on?
That is just more string theory I guess. Some of the survivors accounts of different scenarios is really heart wrenching. The amount of people that died on the various anniversaries of the sinking is oddly creepy. I found myself asking if I would have been one of the women who chose to stay behind with her husband, rather than be saved without him. That is a harder decision than you might think. I have to say that if I were faced with that situation, I think that I would have probably stayed behind. The survivors guilt would have eaten me alive and I would have been one of the countless survivors that took my own life over guilt. Anyways, if you like disasters, history, and a little bit of heart wrenching truth, go check out this book. It was really good. Thanks RO for the suggestion!
TaTa,
Amanda Ellen
Tags: Book Suggestion, RO, Titanic, Tradgedy