The Midnight Watch in Aussie Readers

Mar 15, 2016 PattyMacDotComma rated it really liked it

Shelves: aa, australian-author, historical-fiction, kindle, arc-netgalley-done

4.5★
Who knew? Who knew that there was another ship nearby that might have been able to warn the Titanic or save her passengers? In fact, it seems likely they may have been saved.

The movies of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic focus on the flawed magnificence of the ship, the wealthy passengers on the ship’s maiden voyage, and the iceberg that caused the disaster. But the missed communications were the real cause.

Not miscommunications. Missed. Overlooked. Overruled.

The Californian’s wireless opera ...more

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Feb 23, 2016 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-release, historical-fiction, own-read, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, reviewing-by-request, debut

The midnight watch: a time of loneliness, demons and trances. P215

As the Californian sailed through the ice, the decision was made to stop – it was 14th April 1912 and not far before midnight. The ice was thick and in the darkness the risk of running into an iceberg was high. Captain Lord decided it would be prudent to wait until morning before taking the steamer through the ice. Second Officer Herbert Stone took over for the midnight watch and at the beginning and during his watch he saw eight ...more

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Sep 05, 2016 Kathryn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 4-stars, australian-authors, reading-list-2016, released-2016, bookclub, related-to-time

I found this book a little slow to start, and a list of characters including who was in which position on the Californian would have been very helpful - I kept getting mixed up in the beginning.

But I could sympathise with the officer on the Californian who saw the rockets fired from the Titanic when he realised the next day the magnitude of what had happened and what his ship’s role had been (and what it could have been) in the disaster.

I’m not sure I totally bought the explanation by David Dyer ...more

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Mar 07, 2017 Kate Forsyth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical

Like many people, I have always been interested in the story of the Titanic. But my interest never reached the obsessive proportions of David Dyer, who first wrote a story about it when he was in primary school and used to prop up two of the legs of his bed so that he slept at a tilt, as if he was on board a sinking ship.

The Midnight Watch is the result of this lifelong fascination, and it illuminates the tragedy in an entirely new and original way. It is not so much the story of the ill-fated T ...more

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Nov 16, 2023 Tien rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-author, historical-fiction, giveaway, subdue-the-shelf

An interesting premise, I thought, of a book that is about the Titanic disaster and yet, from an angle of a ship that did not come to the rescue. I can't say I know very much about the Titanic disaster except that Leonardo DiCaprio didn't have to die (jk!!). All I know what that it was a very costly disaster in terms of life.

There a number of POVs in The Midnight Watch with the most prominent being a journalist for the Boston American who was terribly curious as to the reason behind the SS Calif ...more

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Mar 28, 2016 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle-version, netgalley, arc, history

I’d been hearing about this book and seeing it around lately so I was very pleased to be able to score the opportunity to read it. Everyone knows the story of the Titanic – the ship that was supposed to be unsinkable, which hit an iceberg and then proceeded to sink rapidly on its maiden voyage. There were a number of problems – the ship was not carrying anywhere near enough lifeboats for the passengers and the number of crew, families were separated due to the women and children first rule. The I’d been hearing about this book and seeing it around lately so I was very pleased to be able to score the opportunity to read it. Everyone knows the story of the Titanic – the ship that was supposed to be unsinkable, which hit an iceberg and then proceeded to sink rapidly on its maiden voyage. There were a number of problems – the ship was not carrying anywhere near enough lifeboats for the passengers and the number of crew, families were separated due to the women and children first rule. The Titanic had a number of very high profile passengers on board, some of the cream of society as well as people from all walks of life looking to make a change or take a holiday. Only 705 survivors of the ship’s 2200+ passengers and crew were rescued by the arriving RMS Carpathia, after the Titanic sank.

What I never knew until this book was that there was another ship in the vicinity when the Titanic struck the iceberg – the SS Californian. I don’t know how I’ve never heard of this before but the SS Californian was some 20-30 miles away from the Titanic when she sank and several crew members aboard saw the flares the Titanic were sending. White flares, which mean one thing only – a ship in distress. However despite the fact that the captain of the California was informed of the flares and of the strange angle of the ship in the water, he chose not to go to the ship’s aid and investigate what was happening. He told the crew to attempt to contact via Morse and when contact could not be established, seemed to believe the ship was signalling in some other way or putting on a show for the passengers despite the fact that the flares were emphatically not coloured and that they were “all white”, the colour fired when a vessel is in distress.

There’s something horrific about the idea of that, let alone the fact that it’s truth. The fact that another ship was within easy distance of the Titanic, spotted not only her flares but the uneasy way she was sitting in the water and then the fact that she vanished entirely. If the captain had gone to her aid immediately it’s likely that they could’ve saved a large number of people, probably not all but many, many more than did survive. The Midnight Watch is a fictional retelling of the story of the SS Californian and an examination of just why the ship’s captain chose not to take the warnings of the flares seriously from his officer on the midnight watch and declined to investigate further. There are many things he could’ve done – arranged to have woken the ship’s communication officer to attempt to establish contact with the ship would’ve been a good first option but given that white flares mean an SOS call, every captain that sees them should respond immediately. It’s possible that because the Californian had already struck ice earlier that night (and had in fact attempted to warn the ships in the area, including the Titanic about it which led to a sharp dismissal from the Titanic’s communications officer) that the captain was reluctant to put the ship on a course that he believed might endanger them. However, in all of the excuses and half truths and outright lies, he didn’t really mention that as a strong reason. He seemed to stick to the belief that he believed it was a much smaller ship and that the flares were either celebratory or an attempt at company signalling, despite the fact that they were white, perhaps the most important fact.

This book uses the viewpoint of a journalist who specialises in bringing life to the victims of tragedy to tell its tale and the way in which he chooses to tell it ends up being utterly remarkable. It really highlights the unevenness of the survivors – a large portion of the women and children in first and second class survived, whereas a very high number of the women and children in the third class perished. There was also a high percentage of men who perished, many from the lower classes on the ships because they were herded down when the ship began to sink, not up towards the decks. It shone a light on the lack of equality as well as the lack or organisation and order. Lifeboats were loaded with room still left in them, people (men) being shot for trying to secure a position on a boat. Dyer was able to weave in the suffragettes and feminist movement as women pushed for the vote as well using a heavily flawed character of a journalist known for ‘chasing the bodies’ when something terrible happens.

This book was fabulous – it took a fascinating and devastating event with some little known facts and built a story out of it with characters that feel frighteningly real. Scary (in a good way), thoroughly researched, very well written and the sort of book that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to just about everyone. ...more

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May 09, 2018 Amber rated it it was amazing

At first, I thought this book would be a disjointed telling of the Titanic's sinking; in a way it is, and yet it works. It took me a few pages to really get in to it, but once I did I couldn't put it down. While the narrative jumps almost chapter-by-chapter, it is done neatly and cleverly and never fails to keep the reader's attention.

Without giving away spoilers, I highly recommend this book whether you are a Californian apologist or a Titanic buff. It made me consider what happened aboard the ...more

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Feb 25, 2018 Tango rated it really liked it

This novel was clearly well researched and I enjoyed the writing style. He is able to spin what is, essentially, a story of inaction into a novel, which is to be admired. But I will admit that the final third lacked urgency.

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Jan 19, 2016 Tianne Shaw rated it it was amazing

Delve deeper into the Titanic and more on the incident and aftermath. This well written book will bring to life events so well described it will be like you are sitting beside each charater. If there is 1 book you read this year let this be the one.

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