Titanic on Trial

Book excerpt: Capturing the disbelief, the chaos and the terror of the fateful night the Titanic sank 100 years ago, Titanic on Trial brings to life the tragedy through the voices of those who survived it. Stories about the sinking have become legendary - how the band played to the end, how lifeboats were lowered half-empty - but amongst the films, novels and academic arguments, only those who were there can separate truth from fiction. This book gives the story back to those people. After the sinking, inquiries into the loss of 1,517 lives were held in both the UK and US. The 1,000 or more pages of transcripts represent the most thorough and complete account of the sinking, told in the voices of those who were there. For the first time, these transcripts of the courtroom questions and answers have been specially edited and arranged chronologically, uncovering and drawing out the real drama of the Titanic's final night. The witnesses are transformed into characters in a much bigger story, and the events are described from the perspectives of people in every part of the ship, from a stoker in the boiler room escaping just before the watertight doors sealed behind him, to first class passengers trying to buy their way onto lifeboats. This compelling book provides a unique insight into what really happened on the night, and the terrible, courageous, cowardly and tragic choices individuals had to make.