A Night to Remember
by Walter Lord 1955  / 164 pgs. History

A Night to Remember is the narrative of the sinking of the most famous ocean liner in history.  It is considered the holy grail of the sinking of the Titanic.  Mr. Lord interviewed 63 survivors, utilized maps, newspaper articles, and memoirs to retell that infamous night of 14 April 1912.  A Night to Remember (1958) and Titanic (1997) used Walter Lord as a consultant and the book as guide for the narrative.

The story the moment, 11:40 p.m., when Lookout Fleet spots the Iceberg and radio’s the bridge of the infamous words “Iceberg right ahead.” From there, the narrative plays out, as many have seen in the movies.  A 300-foot gash is torn through the hull of the ship and starts flooding the first five compartments.  Mr. Andrews, the ship’s designer, is summoned and, after inspecting the damage, states the Titanic will flounder.  The truth then comes to light, the Titanic only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178 people, and there were 2,207 on board. 

From this moment, the narrative of the events starts with passengers being loaded into the lifeboats, the infamous women and children first.  Also, the story of the Californian and why she didn’t respond.  The CQD sent from Titanic via morse code and changed to S.O.S, telling all available ships to come to her aid.  From the moment the Iceberg hit the boat to her going under is half of the book.  The other half is the survival of those on the lifeboats and the rescue by the Carpathia.  The narrative of what the Carpathia did to come to the aid of the survivors is thrilling to devoir.  Finally, the story ends with the arrival in New York and the truth of the disaster being told.

This book is a fast read as I finished it in about 4.5 hours. It’s a grand narrative of what happened including the thoughts of many of the passengers and how they believed events played out that night, bringing a different perspective of the sinking.

I would recommend this for anyone to enjoy reading about A Night to Remember.                     

Enjoy a good cup of coffee and get lost in an excellent book,

Lopaka

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