Collection of survivors' accounts

[Jon_dalbyball]

Hello

I am re-posting this as my topic's seem to be deleted or do not appear even though it says I am the last poster in a topic.

I hope this is the correct part of the forum.

I would be very grateful if someone could tell me what the best book is (if there is one)for Titanic survivor accounts old and new. For example is there a book which has a large or rather most amount of survivor accounts old and new including accounts from survivors which died in the past 20 or so years ? What's the best book for the largest amount of accounts ?

I have been looking on amazon but am not sure of the best book ?

Many thanks

Jon.

 

[Fiona Nitschke]

Hi Jon,

If you're after survivor accounts by those who died in the past twenty years or so, they'll mostly be by people who were quite young at the time of the sinking. I know you've already got Eva Hart's book.

I've always thought a good 'value for money' book is the cheap Dover paperback edited by Jack Winocour that collects four accounts by survivors:

* the complete text of first class passenger and amateur historian Colonel Archibald Gracie's The Truth About the Titanic (1913)
* the complete text of second class passenger and science teacher Lawrence Beesley's The Loss of the SS Titanic (1912)
* relevant excerpts from the senior surviving officer Second Officer Charles Lightoller's autobiography Titanic and Other Ships (1935) (also somewhat unreliable, committed to paper years after the sinking)
* the account the surviving wireless operator, Harold Bride, from his interview in the New York Times (1912).}

The book has been through several reprints over the years and should still be readily available new and second hand.

There are a lot of other survivor accounts collected in various books or published as stand alone works - many covered in detail in other threads. If you have posted the same question a few times, it's possible a moderator has moved it to one of those threads too. Just a thought.

 

[Jon_dalbyball]

Thanks for the info Fiona. I suppose it's very much a case of buying various books and searching online for accounts. Don't know why someone has not complied a book with all (or a lot) of eye witness accounts in rather than books that just have a few accounts like the ones mentioned above, as interesting as they may be! A book with just survivor accounts seems a bit long over due.

I did read an interesting account of the only black people on the Titanic on the THS website just now!

I've also obtained the book by David Haisman about Edith hence I wonder what it's like - its waiting for me when I get home.

Anyway thanks.

Jon.

 

[Lester Mitcham]

Jon, for "Contemporary accounts" see here: http://www.amazon.com/Mammoth-Book-Titanic-Contemporary-Survivors/dp/0786710055/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250129932&sr=8-5

 

[Jon_dalbyball]

Many thanks Lestor

I will obtain the book second hand. Should be a good read. Does it have a lot of survivor accounts in ?

What would make a good book is one where you can go to the index look up a survivor and then go to a page with there accounts - a book covering almost every documented account would be very cool.

Cheers.

 

[Lester Mitcham]

Hello Jon,

There seem to be a large number, but as with much published at the time [and since] you need to read with an open [and questioning] mind.

Unfortunately the book does not have an index.