A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
by Walter Lord
*****
Published by Allen lane
ISBN: 0-7139-0989-7 (1976 EDITION)
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 232
Ask anyone who has a more than passing interest in Titanic to recommend a
book and they will all tell you Walter Lord's masterpiece: "A Night To Remember"
In his Acknowledgement Lord says that the book is "really about the last
night of a small town" and I can think of no better way to describe the last hours
of the leviathan.
Mr Lord had an enthusiasm for the Titanic since being a small child, and had
finished writing a book about the American Civil War when his publisher suggested
a book about the ship. In effect Walter knew all of the details that could be
gleaned by reading survivor testimony, and so needed to round up and interview some
survivors of the disaster. He did this by writing to newspapers based in the areas
where passengers were known to be destined for, asking them to place a short advertisement
in their letters section. In this way he located numerous survivors on both sides of the Atlantic.
The book was published in 1956, The British distributors were worried that there
was no mention of Titanic on the cover, and so placed a picture of a slanted deck
and life ring bearing the ships name on the frontispiece. It was an immediate success.
I am in possession of the 1976 illustrated edition, and can describe it as
nothing less than a masterpiece. The book starts with the sighting of the iceberg
by Frederick Fleet and concludes with the survivors on board the Carpathia, with an additional
section on facts, as well as a passenger list.
The modern versions are extremely well illustrated, and the text is from the pen of a master,
As far as the last hours of Titanic are concerned, this book is the Bible. However, as Walter Lord
is famously quoted "It is a rash man indeed who would set himself up as final arbiter
on all that happened the incredible night the Titanic went down"
