The Last Log Of The Titanic

THE LAST LOG OF THE TITANIC
by David G. Brown
****

Published by McGraw Hill
ISBN: 0-07-136447-1
Binding: Cloth
Pages: 234
Price: Ł14.99/$19.95US

This is one of the many alternative theory books that have been thrown up over the past couple of years, but unlike such offerings as Gardner's "Riddle of the Titanic", this one has some sound reasoning and compelling evidence behind it.

Captain Brown holds a US Coastguard Masters certificate 100 tons, and is an experienced mariner, the first I can recall to write a Titanic book with such experience. I would not say that I am clueless as to marine terminology, but for those of you who are, Brown explains clearly various concepts, such as Bernoulli's principle, and how they integrate into his theory of the sinking.

His main argument is that rather than Titanic hitting the iceberg whilst turning away from it, the collision occurred when Titanic swung her bow back to starboard, in an attempt to swing her stern clear. This is argued very convincingly, along with the claim that the engines were not run full astern.

Brown is very critical of Bruce Ismay, and makes some wild claims, such as Titanic dodging icebergs for several hours before the collision, and that the ship almost ran into an icepack beyond the iceberg. There is no eyewitness evidence to support those claims, although he does pin his dodging icebergs statement on George Behe, another Titanic author and historian. To me this is the easy way out.

This aside, I though the book was very well written (although the Log entries seem a little unconvincing. Having some experience of ship's logs at the turn of the century I have never seen such entries, although I will bow down to Brown's superior knowledge) I can recommend it as a worthwhile addition to your library.