How to Survive the Titanic or The Sinking of J. Bruce IsmayA&C Black, 2011 M08 15 - 352 pages **WINNER OF THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY 2012** The strange and fascinating story of the owner of the Titanic, J. Bruce Ismay, the man who jumped ship 'Beautifully written, and beautifully deconstructed' Sunday Times 'Wonderfully rich and multi-layered . . . Full of fascinating details . . . Every sentence crackles with intelligence' Mail on Sunday As the Titanic sinks on that fateful day in April 1912, a thousand men prepared to die. J. Bruce Ismay, the ship's owner and inheritor of the White Star fortune, however, jumps into a lifeboat with the women and children and rows away to safety. Publicly reviled as a coward, Ismay became, according to one headline, 'The Most Talked-of Man in the World' and the first victim of a press hate campaign. His reputation never recovered and while other survivors were piecing together their accounts, Ismay never spoke of his beloved ship again. With the help of that great narrator of the sea, Joseph Conrad, whose Lord Jim so uncannily foretold Ismay's fate, Frances Wilson explores the reasons behind Ismay's jump, his desperate need to make sense of the horror of it all, and to find a way of living with ignominy. Wilson's biography of Ismay depicts the indelible stain of public disrepute and a life led in the aftermath of seismic disaster. |
Contents
Luckless Yamsi | 27 |
Youth | 61 |
These Bumblelike Proceedings | 109 |
On Land | 167 |
The Secret Sharer | 197 |
The Super Captain | 229 |
Ismays Unrest | 259 |
Afterword | 285 |
Bibliography | 299 |
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Common terms and phrases
American April asked Astor Atlantic British Board British inquiry Bruce Ismay Captain Smith Carpathia Collapsible collision crew deck described dining disaster Elstree father feel first-class Florence Franklin Galsworthy Harland & Wolff Harold Sanderson honour husband iceberg Isaacs Ismay Line Ismay replied Ismay’s Jack Thayer Jim’s John Galsworthy Joseph Conrad jump Karain knew later Lawrence Beesley letter lifeboat Lightoller Lightoller’s liner Liverpool lives London look Lord Mersey LordJim Marconigram Margaret Marian Thayer Marlow Morgan never night Officer ofthe Oldham Olympic passengers Pirrie reported returned Rostron Ryerson sailing Senate inquiry Senator Smith sent ship ship’s side sinking speed stand starboard story survivors talk thing Thomas Ismay thought Titanic Titanic’s told took voyage Walter Lord White Star Line wife William Alden Smith wireless women and children words wreck wrote Yamsi York