Titanic

COVER

FRONTISPIECE

TITLE PAGE

DEDICATION

FOREWORD

DIAGRAM OF THE SHIP

CHAPTER ONE — Setting Sail

CHAPTER TWO — A Floating Palace

CHAPTER THREE — A Peaceful Sunday

CHAPTER FOUR — “Iceberg Right Ahead.”

CHAPTER FIVE — Impact!

CHAPTER SIX — In the Radio Room: “It’s a CQD OM.”

CHAPTER SEVEN — A Light in the Distance

CHAPTER EIGHT — Women and Children First

CHAPTER NINE — The Last Boats

CHAPTER TEN — In the Water

CHAPTER ELEVEN — “She’s Gone.”

CHAPTER TWELVE — A Long, Cold Night

CHAPTER THIRTEEN — Rescue at Dawn

CHAPTER FOURTEEN — Aftermath: The End of All Hope

EPILOGUE — Discovering the
Titanic

GLOSSARY

PEOPLE IN THIS BOOK

OTHER FAMOUS
TITANIC
FIGURES

SURVIVOR LETTERS FROM THE
CARPATHIA

TITANIC
TIMELINE

BE A
TITANIC
RESEARCHER: FIND OUT MORE

TITANIC
FACTS AND FIGURES

FROM THE BRITISH WRECK COMMISSIONER’S FINAL REPORT, 1912

TITANIC
: THE LIFEBOAT LAUNCHING SEQUENCE REEXAMINED

TITANIC
Statistics: Who Lived and Who Died

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

SOURCE NOTES

PHOTO CREDITS

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR

COPYRIGHT

(Preceding image)
The wreck of the
Titanic
.

At 2:20 a.m. on Monday, April 15, 1912, the RMS
Titanic
, on her glorious maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic, killing 1,496 men, women, and children. A total of 712 survivors escaped with their lives on twenty lifeboats that had room for 1,178 people. There were 2,208 on board.

The loss of life was heartbreaking. It seems unbelievable even today. How did this magnificent ship, the largest and most luxurious in the world, simply disappear in a matter of hours?

Now, in the twenty-first century, the
Titanic
— the ship itself, as well as her passengers and crew, the wreck, and every last detail of the sinking — continues to fascinate us. Perhaps no other disaster in history has been so closely examined, studied by scientists, mariners, and those who research social behavior. It is the subject of websites, articles, discussion boards, films, scientific expeditions, and yes, books like this.

Maybe the
Titanic
makes us all historians. We can’t help being curious: What happened? Why? Who said what and when? What did it mean? And, of course, what if?

This book is an introduction to the disaster and to just a few of the people who survived — a stewardess, a nine-year-old boy, a science teacher, a wealthy gentleman, a brave seaman, an American high school senior, a young mother on her way to start a new life, and more.

I hope their stories and voices remind you, as they do me, that our lives are fragile and precious. And I hope they make you wonder, as I do, what it would have been like to be on the
Titanic
that night so long ago. . . .