Michael Tennaro
Member
referring back to William Sloper's account, I would give it very little credence. it is a strange little chapter in a strange book. as someone else pointed out, although purportedly a biography of the author's father Andrew Jackson, it is more about the author himself.
the Titanic chapter itself appears out of sequence with the rest of the biography's chronology. as a matter of fact it is the very last chapter in the book, it was a last minute addition, tacked onto the end of the book just prior to the book being published.
it is a very rambling, disjointed account, the entire chapter is just 23 pages long, yet it takes Sloper over six pages just to explain how he ended up on the ship in the first place! and although it is based on Sloper's original 1912 New Britain Herald report, it was expanded and updated by Sloper sometime during the late 1940s.
this is a classic example of how dangerous it can be to depend too much on accounts remembered long after the event has passed. Sloper claims claims to remember the night Titanic sank ‘as if it were 30 days ago', yet there are several bizarre errors in his 1949 account. the most glaring by far is his pronouncement that Californian steamed right past his lifeboat in the middle of the night. a perfect example of the mind playing tricks with what he remembered and what he read in the weeks that followed.
there are not many facts about the Californian that cannot be debated, but one of the few I think even most anti-Californian authorities would agree with is that Californian was stopped for the night and never moved till the following morning.
all the best, Michael (TheManInBlack)
the Titanic chapter itself appears out of sequence with the rest of the biography's chronology. as a matter of fact it is the very last chapter in the book, it was a last minute addition, tacked onto the end of the book just prior to the book being published.
it is a very rambling, disjointed account, the entire chapter is just 23 pages long, yet it takes Sloper over six pages just to explain how he ended up on the ship in the first place! and although it is based on Sloper's original 1912 New Britain Herald report, it was expanded and updated by Sloper sometime during the late 1940s.
this is a classic example of how dangerous it can be to depend too much on accounts remembered long after the event has passed. Sloper claims claims to remember the night Titanic sank ‘as if it were 30 days ago', yet there are several bizarre errors in his 1949 account. the most glaring by far is his pronouncement that Californian steamed right past his lifeboat in the middle of the night. a perfect example of the mind playing tricks with what he remembered and what he read in the weeks that followed.
there are not many facts about the Californian that cannot be debated, but one of the few I think even most anti-Californian authorities would agree with is that Californian was stopped for the night and never moved till the following morning.
all the best, Michael (TheManInBlack)
