Titanic: First Accounts

by Tim Maltin (Editor, Introduction), Nicholas Wade (Afterword), Max Ellis (Illustrator )

Fascinating firsthand accounts of the Titanic--in a deluxe package with gorgeous graphic cover art.
Historic firsthand accounts and testimonies by survivors and eye- witnesses including Lawrence Beesley, Margaret Brown, Archibald Gracie, Carlos F. Hurd and many more.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Classics, Historical, American History, Travel

375 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2012

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

TITANIC First Accounts is filled with amazing acts of bravery and conflicting accounts of what actually happened on the disastrous night of April 15, 1912.

Was music playing or not? Did the ship break in two? Were there shootings?

"Many misunderstandings arose in the public mind because of the ignorance of the size of the ship and inability to understand that the same conditions did not prevail at every point and that the same scenes were not witnessed by every one of us."

"Consideration must also be taken of the fact that the accident occurred near midnight, and although it was a bright, starlit night, and the ship's electric lights shone almost to the last, it was possible to recognize only one's intimates at close quarters."

While there is much repetition in the telling from the various points of view, the U. S. Senate, British inquiries, Marconi reports and Newspaper First Accounts, in particular, kept me glued to the pages.

OMGOSH there are some chilling and heartbreaking stories here, one so unbearably awful, I will never forget, and others which were actually used in the blockbuster movie TITANIC. I was quite surprised to find how little panic occurred, and disheartened to learn how many bodies taken aboard the Carpathia were buried at sea unidentified rather than being sent home to their families.

Informative and detailed, a must read for Titanic enthusiasts!

[Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

My interest and obsession with the "Titanic" began at a very early age and still I am fascinated with every little tidbit I discover! I own many books on the "Titanic", most are from the 1997 movie, but this is the first book I have read that gives actual stories from survivors. This book contains an overwhelming amount of information and I found myself rereading the same passages frequently to try to digest it all. I think maybe I was trying to get through it too fast and it is meant to be savored. I marvel at the differing views described of this tragic and horrific event. In the end I treasure each story as it is written and the whole experience makes me wish I could go back in time and fix what was wrong and save all of the souls that were lost.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is interesting to read the first hand accounts, but longest part of the book, Archibald Gracie's The Truth About the Titanic, was difficult to read and largely boring. It was due to this piece of the book that I took a year to read it. Putting it down for more than a day or two necessitated having to go back and re-read previous parts and re-orient myself again. The editors excuse Gracie's piece as requiring close reading and attention to his description of his feelings. That's true enough, and it was helpful to keep that in mind, but my conclusion is that, even doing that, Gracie is a poor writer and his work was edited badly. Making it 138 pages of a 375 page book, and putting it at the very beginning, was a poor editing choice. I did not find Gracie's personal story so compelling to warrant such a large part of this book.

The best parts were the contemporaneous newspaper articles and the testimony before the American and British governments. Had the editors put more of those accounts into the book, it would have given a fuller picture of what occurred.

It would have helped to have had a map of the ship and a glossary to keep track of all the lingo and to visualize what he was describing.

[Circa Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This, acting as a kind of cross-checked companion or resource to A Night to Remember by Walter Lord, will fill in any blanks left for the Titanic fan, but Archibald's breakdown of every individual and crew member present per boat and their clashing or corroborating testimony gets a little tedious to read. The best sections are the Senate inquiries, the press first accounts, and Lawrence Beasley's story and follow-up analysis of the Titanic's failure.

[Nick Guzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

is it coincidence that the four Titanic survivors (Lawrence Beesley, Harold Bride, Archibald Gracie, Jack Thayer) who provided the most authoritative, observant, and detail-oriented first-hand accounts of the disaster are all Capricorns?

[Luis Fernandes · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolute colossal of a book, i loved the first accounts of every single lifeboat and seeing where stories matched and differed. the only thing is the way it’s edited, there’s loads of accounts that keep popping up and regurgitated which makes it a bit of a snooze. nonetheless i will eat up anything titanic related so it’s a solid 4 stars!

[Adrienne Dillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, of course.

[Carrie Brownell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved.it.

[Brandi Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has multiple first accounts from Titanic Survivors (taken from other books) that are interesting.

There are also some transcripts from inquiries into the accident that will interest people who enjoy reading legal proceedings.

A bulk of the book is an account from every single lifeboat. Some of the stories are more robust than others, and that part was hard to stay engaged with.

Overall, this is a good reference book, but it doesn't have an overarching story.

[Ashlyn Trimble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable book, getting a variety of first hand accounts. It does get slightly repetitive since people are explaining their experience of the same incident. What I enjoyed most was how intelligently written each passage was. Between the vocabulary, and the descriptions of the account you really got a sense of the time period, the morals and values held by these individuals. So many incredibly calm, brave people aboard the Titanic.

[Paul Pessolano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Titanic, First Accounts” edited by Tim Maltin, published by Penguin Books.

Category – History/Ships

This year is the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. There have been many books written, fiction and non-fiction, concerning this event but few will have the authenticity of this one.

This book contains first hand accounts of that tragic night told by the survivors. It also contains excerpts from the U.S. Senate and British Inquiries into the sinking, the actions that the Carpathia took and how it cared for the survivors, and the preparations made by New York to receive the survivors.

The book also takes each lifeboat and tells when it was launched and who was on it.

I have read several books on the sinking of the Titanic and found this one to be truly fascinating. When reading the book the reader must keep in mind that the accounts were written in the prose of the day. One must also bear in mind that many instances will be repeated and some discrepancies are inherent due to the different survivor’s perspective of their situation.

An absolute must for anyone interested in one of the most tragic events in history.

[Darjeeling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wouldn't make a good movie (not that a good book would necessarily translate to a good movie). It's too dry and factual by a long-shot to work on the screen. But there's something about reading people's experiences in their own words that makes this book special nonetheless. That the people left the boats so calmly, that there was little rush and no pandemonium as people got on the lifeboats, that people doubted the ship would sink till the very end, it's all remarkable. I can only imagine how heart rending it must have been to the survivors to watch and listen for that terrible half hour while those in the water slowly died of hypothermia, knowing there was no hope, fearing that their boats might be swamped if they returned to try to save them. What a collosal tragedy. Even 100 years later--even in a book this dry--the story of the Titanic has lost none of it's power to inspire terror and sympathy.

[Benj. Imker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong. This was an interesting read. But, it wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be. I thought I would find some sort of secret by reading the first accounts -- something that others had overlooked. An antecdote or detail that would let me view this tragedy in another light. My expectations, in that regards, were admittedly too high. Still, there were stories I hadn't heard, and the account of the men who survived by climbing on top of the capsized lifeboat is perhaps the most harrowing tale of survival from that night I've read.

In the end, this book was satsfying in its ability to allow me to get lost in Titanic again.

Are you ready to go back...to Titanic?

[Michelle]

Very good book, but oh so depressing. I have seen alot of documentaries on the Titanic, but this book just really thrusts you right into the tragic events of that night. I feel like I am experiencing it on a whole new level and it is so sad - damn near every page makes me want to cry for those people. Alot of the stories I had heard about the sinking actually weren't true, kind of eye-opening. I also never knew the extent to which people CHOSE to go down with the ship, giving up their spot on a lifeboat to someone else. Makes you feel better about humanity.

[Thalarctos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few stories were OK, but after that things got repetitive really quickly, as you might imagine when interviewing people about the same event. Some editing would have been good, I don't really care to read the list of exactly who was on each boat. Some of the stories are compelling, but some are just rote recitation of who got into which boat. I'd skim this book for the good stuff. Maybe borrow it from the library.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting read that's both flawed as a book and endlessly fascinating as a collection of first-hand accounts. I didn't quite know what I was getting into, other than a (hopefully) well-curated selection of first-hand stories of the Titanic disaster. I was surprised that almost a third of the book came straight out of Archibald Gracie's The Truth about the Titanic, which was a bad decision, in my opinion. Gracie's story is interesting, but if I had wanted to read his whole book... I would've just gotten his book. His exhaustive research into every lifeboat is fascinating, but Titanic, First Accounts should have focused on gathering its own first accounts, not piggy-backing off of his. Gracie was also fascinatingly classist, as evidenced by his immense efforts to list per lifeboat: the names of every 1st class survivor on the lifeboat, the husbands of every 1st class passenger who died, all the 2nd class passengers, the crew & their positions, and the number of steerage passengers per boat. This classism is reflected in the list of survivors at the end of the book that only had 1st and 2nd class passengers listed, as it was seen as pointless to try to track down all them and verify names.

There was one particular incident in lifeboat 6 (the one with Margaret Brown and quartermaster Robert Hichens) where a crew member shocked at the way Hichens spoke to Brown asked, "Don't you know you're talking to a lady?" It caught my particular attention because it's referenced multiple times - once, the way I just referenced it, and 2-4 times in a sort of cockney written accent (usually with a note about just how thick that accent was). This whole book is an exercise in the human mind and memory, and how a 100 people can witness a single event and recall it in a 100 different ways.

Given the classism of the era and the classism inherent in many of the survivors who wrote about the disaster, I appreciate the editorial decision to include some of the interviews conducted with crew and steerage passengers during the official inquiries. (I noticed that many survivors noted the survival rates between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class, but none of them seem to have actually corresponded or spoken to 3rd class survivors. I mean, at least they were cognizant of the fact that it was wrong for one set of lives to be valued over others?)

I kinda wish we saw a little more of the decision process behind editing this book, and the lack of explanatory text would not make this a good book for readers not intimately familiar with what went down on the Titanic. Nonetheless, this was a really powerful book. Some of these descriptions are truly bone-chilling - I just can't imagine what it was like for those passengers and crew who had to face the realization that there were no more lifeboats left.

In the month of May, I've managed to read three books about ship-related disasters (the Halifax disaster of 1917, the Civil War-era Sultana disaster, and now the Titanic). It's been... unexpectedly heavy. Lessons learned: be really careful when piloting boats carrying explosives, don't overload boats, and carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board a ship. Also, don't read about three disasters back-to-back, because it gets real depressing real fast.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of newspaper articles and various reports written by people who were on the Titanic during her maiden voyage and survived the sinking. This book does not cover the history of the Titanic, the shipbuilding or the parts of the voyage before the events pertaining directly to the sinking.

This is an atypical book in that it has no characters, no plot, no tension. Half of the book is occupied by a lengthy report written by a first-class passenger named Gracie. He described his own experiences with trying to figure out what was going on, and then his escape from the ship. He also has a long section in which he writes about which people were on which lifeboat and incidents specific to each lifeboat. For example, he wrote that White Star Line President J. Ismay got on a lifeboat while many other people were left behind, an event which caused a Congressional investigation. There are also reports by the famous Molly Brown and the Marconi operators who tried to notify other ships in the area that the Titanic was in mortal danger.

I thought this was an interesting take on the Titanic. I've never seen reports of the survivors all in one place before. It was interesting to note how many left in lightweight pajamas or other clothing, fully expecting to return to the Titanic after "she steadied herself" to quote one passenger. Also interesting to note how many people heard the crash of large things moving in the ship as she sank vs. how many said there would be an explosion. There were a few crackpot theories about what would happen to her boilers when the ocean waters hit them. I will not list them here as they are the closest this book has to spoilers. There is no alcohol or substance use, no sex, and no violence.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize how dry and factual the whole thing was going to be. I was wooed by Lawrence Beesley's very visual retelling of the sinking and enjoyed Archibald Gracie's own account of being on top of the overturned lifeboat. But after that, it was just this endless sea of tiny accounts from various lifeboats. This makes up the majority of the book. Each account was headed by what boat the passenger was in, but the accounts for each boat aren't grouped together so I felt very disoriented most of the time in trying to picture which survivors were together. This part should have been edited instead of just doing a copy and paste from Gracie's book. I got kind of tired of reading them because I expected something a little more, well, like what Lawrence Beesley wrote. At the end, there is a good bit about what happened when the Carpathia came back with the survivors, especially since not much is ever said about that part. All in all, it was good to read for myself what the survivors said and try to separate fact from myth. It's worth doing, but it was kind of a difficult book to finish. I skimmed the summary by Lawrence Beesley at the end. He plays devil's advocate and gives some interesting arguments against jumping to conclusions by saying that how fast the ship was going wasn't that unusual, that binoculars wouldn't have helped, that the Carpathia didn't have enough lifeboats, either, etc. He's basically saying no one is really to blame, but I still think it changed history in a good way because all those unsafe practices had to be revised.

[E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I think this would be a great introductory text for someone looking into survivor accounts of the Titanic’s sinking, but as someone who has read at least a few first hand narratives, this was just kind of meh. The shining point was the second half of the book with the transcripts from the investigations in America and Britain and I wish that more of those had been included. However, a large part of the first half was sections of Archibald Gracie’s account of the accident, and as I’ve already read his book, I ended up skipping over it. I think the book would have been stronger if the portions of Gracie’s book that are included had been scaled down and then just have a note included that if you want a more extensive account to read his book in full. I particularly wasn’t also super interested in the breakdown of who all was in which different lifeboat and when and in what order each of them was launched, but that’s just personal preference. I also wish that more of an effort had been made to gather accounts from the second and third class/ steerage passengers who survived instead of being largely skewed toward the first class passengers (and yes, I know that that’s mainly who survived, but it gets really repetitious to read all the first class survivor accounts since they’re basically all the same but with a few minor detail differences). All in all, it was odd to me that most of the accounts lack emotion and are very dry. Like, I wanted to be able to feel their fear and I just didn’t. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay. It was interesting to read so many firsthand accounts and that's really the strength of this book. The fact that so many survivors thought the boat splitting in two was some mysterious explosion and provided so many different explanations EXCEPT "hey maybe the boat split in two because it couldn't stand the weight of being upright like that" is fascinating.

There was mostly a focus on first class, which isn't surprising when it comes to this disaster because 1) most of the survivors were first class and 2) Archibald Gracie, whose account we spend the most time with, is obviously biased against the steerage passengers; this isn't distracting but it is noticeable. I appreciated the inclusion of Lawrence Beesley's acknowledgment that the only reason we don't talk about steerage passengers more is because the first class passengers undoubtedly got to shape the narrative after the ship sank.

On this note, I think so many of the survivors' assertion that there was no violence or discrimination when it came to getting in the lifeboats would be very different if more steerage passengers had lived to tell the tale. You can't say everyone had an equal opportunity to get into the boats when the survival rates tell an entirely different story.

Overall this was a good read. Any Titanic fanatic will enjoy it. I'm glad I read a nonfiction book this month because so far my goal for the year has been one nonfiction book a month and last month I completely forgot.

[Sean Vaughn McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has always had great interest in all things Titanic, I found this book to be very thorough and I appreciated that everything in it was from painstaking first hand accounts, which over a hundred years later is no easy feat. This book compiles the printed works mainly of second class passenger Lawrence Beesley and first class passenger Col Archibald Gracie.

I think I found this a little boring to read at times because in an effort to hear all points of view during and after the disaster, a lot of information gets repeated and being human testimony, it is flawed and inconsistent. I have been reading about Titanic since I was a child and watched every movie and documentary I could find. Having scientific facts about the sinking as well as other first hand accounts beyond 1912, I felt that some of the stuff presented here was more than I ever needed to know.

I would recommend this book to anyone fascinated by the Titanic but I do add the warning that it can drag a bit.

[Adam Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. I always wondered why so few were saved on the lifeboats. Several things were at play: 1. They were not allowed to board. Women and children first, became Women and children only. 2. The crew didn't know the capabilities of the lifeboat or equipment. 3. The builders of the Era were convinced the ship WAS the lifeboat so why would people want to leave. 4. When the lifeboat was lowered they rowed pretty far away from the Titanic to avoid suction went it sank, because they were far away they couldn't row back to take people in. 5. Survival time in the water was 15 minutes, the lifeboats were too far away. 6. Most feared being swamped by too many people trying to get in.
The book does an excellent job of giving voice to the people actually there.

[Cascade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating collection of first accounts of the Titanic disaster. I was interested to understand what it was like for an individual, and I was really struck by the individual responses. For example, one man tried to pull himself from the water onto a lifeboat, and the occupants would not let him aboard fearing that it would cause the boat to capsize. His response was to tell the people in the boat "God bless and good luck" -- a story corroborated by multiple witnesses. The compilation includes a longer multi-chapter account by one person as well as multiple accounts from each individual life boat.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed this book, so I can't say much about it. It is interesting to read first-hand accounts that have information that we now know to be false, to to see the cultural bias in certain accounts. I did find out that Sir Duff sent money to the people who had been in his lifeboat, presumably to reward them for not returning to pick up more people after the ship sank. Not that everyone agreed with his motive. I also found it telling that the author did not even try to list 3rd-class (steerage) survivors or victims and that his list of first-class survivors starts with John Jacob Astor even though all the other names are in alphabetical order.

[Erika Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like everyone has said, Gracie’s account is much too long for this book. While there is merit to his story, it takes space away from others and their story. I enjoyed Beesley’s account so much, however, that I ordered his book so I could read the full story. Overall, I really enjoyed hearing the different accounts via different medium such as press, hearings, letters, or publication. I thought it was interesting that such minute details were so conflicting throughout the accounts. This really showed how the human memory is imperfect but still retains its function in times of crisis. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate Molly Brown?!

[teleri · Rating 3 out of 5]

[ 2.5 rounded up. ]

i was a little worried this book would get repetitive fast, because it’s just survivors stories, and it did near the end but not near enough to stop me reading. the repetition came because the stories all seemed to be told during lawrence beesley’s accounts, so when it came to the newspaper accounts and the inquiries, it because a little repetitive.

i also noted that there was passing racism, and this was obviously because the time period it was written in but still think a warning is needed.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing read - wonderful to have so many first hand accounts in one spot. What I loved about this book was that it did not place blame but presented the stories in a logical way and let the survivors speak for the themselves. I believe part of the afterword summarizes the book and the obsession with Titanic: " The Titanic keeps resurfacing to haunt our memories because its loss was a perfect monument to human folly. ...Even now, a century later, the story of Titanic continues to resonate. It was not just lives that were lost in the tragedy but a way of life" (pg. 373-374)

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

First hand accounts from survivors of the Titanic disaster. There's quite a lot of repetition of various parts even with the differing perspectives from different life boats etc. As others have said I found the latter part of the book with the different testimonies and newspaper articles more interesting than some of the first part which is devoted to Archibald Gracie's somewhat rambling account. Overall though I found it very interesting and moving, reading the words of people who were actually there.

[taten bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

had some really phenomenal first-hand accounts that have helped piece together everything we know about the disaster today (molly brown’s was especially interesting, she would’ve been quite the woman to meet)! the section including the stories of each lifeboat is a bit dense, but since this book functions as an all-encompassing resource the inclusion makes sense. as someone reading only for the first-hand accounts given directly from survivors (about themselves and their experiences, not assuming or guessing at that of others) it took a large push to make it through the lifeboat sequence

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this as a history junkie and someone who has always been fascinated by the Titanic. I loved reading what people experienced on the ship in their own words. I rated it 3 stars because the set up of the book was a little odd and patchy. It also repeated whole sentences and ideas a lot which after 2 times could be bothering. Overall would suggest this to anyone who is interested in the Titanic!