Book review: Lost Voices From The Titanic – The Definitive Oral History

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 10:19

Lost Voices From The Titanic – The Definitive Oral History by Nick Barratt is published by Preface Publishing, priced £20.

This new book about the world's most famous shipwreck confirms unpleasant truths about the 1912 tragedy.

Nick Barratt focuses almost entirely on the words of those who designed and built the ship, and on accounts from passengers who survived the sinking.

The material from the survivors is riveting, although the first part of the book is too heavily laden with statistical material.

Believed to be "practically unsinkable", Titanic sank on her maiden voyage within a few hours of scraping an iceberg in the north Atlantic. There were insufficient lifeboats and only 706 of the 2,223 people on-board survived.

Contrary to "stiff upper lip" legend about Titanic, there was hysteria on board once it was realised the ship was doomed and there were no more lifeboats. The captain, whose carelessness caused the disaster, made no effort to save himself.

7/10 Review by Anthony Looch