Voyagers of the Titanic
Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, And The Worlds They Came From
Richard Davenport-Hines

William Morrow
March 6, 2012 / ISBN: 978-0-06-187684-4
Nonfiction / History / Ships
Amazon

Reviewed by Sylvia McClain

In Voyagers of the Titanic by Richard Davenport-Hines, he separates the book into three sections: On Land, At Sea,and Life and Death.

On Land explains boarding (passengers), speed (how fast the ship can sail) and the roles of Shipowners, Shipbuilders, and Sailors. The section titled At Sea includes an explanation of the different classes of passengers: first class, second class, third class, as well as the officers and crew. The Life and Death section explains the collision. It was the fifth night of the Titanic's maiden voyage when suddenly everyone on board began to get real cold. Captain Smith became concerned. The two men in the crow's nest sounded the alarm, warning an iceberg was dead ahead, their names were Fleet and Lee. And, in a section he calls, "The Meaning Shows in the Defeated Thing," He quotes this poem: :

Over the water came the lifted song-
Blind pieces in a mighty game we sing;
Life's battle is a conquest for the strong;
The meaning shows in the defeated thing
John Masefield, "The Wanderer"

To learn more about the book, you will have to read it yourself. It does tell a lot, and some of it is not pleasant. But I do highly recommend it.

Reviewer Sylvia McClain is the author of the upcoming 3rd edition of The Write Life: A Beginning Writers Writing Guide, and Skipping Through Life: The Reason I Am. She is also editor of the Scribal News Calendar, a newsletter of writer events and happenings.