THE RIDDLE OF THE TITANIC
by Robin Gardnert & Dan Van Der Vat
*
Published by Orion
ISBN: 0-75280-167-8
Binding: Softback
Pages: 400
Price: £6.99/$10US
N.B. This book can be found in bargain bookstores for considerably less.
This book has nothing going for it in that it is a rehash of the now familiar story of what
happened on the night the Titanic went down. I do not normally mind different peoples interpretations
of the disaster as they usually bring new ideas. This does not, and is not at
all thought provoking or interesting throughout it's majority.
At the end of the book there are a few pages on what did hurl this book into the headlines; the claim that Olympic had been swapped with Titanic
after a collision with HMS Hawke, and had been deliberately sunk. In a later book Robin Gradner goes on to press this theme,
but presumably Dan van Der Vat realised how ridiculous the idea was.
I am not about to argue that the swap did not take place as this would be like arguing
that snow is white, all I will say on the subject is that the author shows a distinct lack of knowledge
on the running of a Liner at the turn of the last century.
If you have everything else ever printed on the ship, then buy this book for the
sake of completeness, if you do not have everything ever printed, steer well clear.
DO NOT TOUCH WITH A BARGE POLE!
