The Titanic: Disaster of the Century

By: Wyn Craig Wade

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this centennial edition of the definitive book on the Titanic, new findings and interviews shed light on the world’s most famous marine disaster for its 100th anniversary.

On that fatal night in 1912, the world’s largest moving object disappeared beneath the waters of the North Atlantic in less than three hours. Why was the ship sailing through waters well known to be a "mass of floating ice"? Why were there too few lifeboats? Why were a third of the survivors crew members? Based on the sensational evidence of the U.S. Senate hearings, eyewitness accounts, and the results of the 1985 Woods Hole expedition that photographed the ship, this electrifying account vividly re-creates the vessel’s last desperate hours afloat and fully addresses the questions that have continued to haunt the tragedy of the Titanic.

©2012 Wyn Craig Wade (P)2012 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"A thorough, argumentative work." (John Updike, The New Yorker)

The disaster and the disaster hearings

Wyn Craig Wade's "Titanic" is my third favorite account of the tragedy (the other two were written by Walter Lord). He describes the US Senate hearings into the disaster, held within days of the event, and combines that with powerful flashbacks of the sinking itself. For example, when he recounts the testimony of Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, who was actively involved in filling the lifeboats, Wade interweaves a number of anecdotes about the lifeboats, some of them episodes that Lowe himself could not have seen but which help to fill out the story and increase the sense of impending doom.

The chairman of the Senate hearings, William Alden Smith, has come in for considerable ridicule over the years for his sometimes repetitive and often obtuse questions. Wade draws a very different picture. Smith's admittedly idiosyncratic way of questioning witnesses was actually a well-honed skill, one that elicited a great deal of information that might have otherwise been missed. (Some of it was also the result of lousy acoustics and background noise, which forced Smith to ask the same question more than once.) Smith almost single-handedly wrote the committee's report and introduced it to the Senate with a masterful speech that very effectively summed up what was then known about the sinking.

Because of Smith's efforts, many details of the story that would otherwise have been lost became a matter of public record; and the legislation that followed went a long way toward improving the chances of future travelers to survive a similar disaster. It was Smith who zeroed in on the lack of adequate lifeboats, the perfunctory and inadequate lifeboat drills, the terrible risks Captain Smith was taking by sailing at top speed in waters that were known to be dangerous (and with no additional lookouts); Smith who brought out the facts about steerage passengers' ignorance of their real danger until it was too late, about the "laissez faire" attitude taken toward their ability to reach the boat deck, about the huge discrepancy in survival rates between the classes. It was Smith who exploded the myth of the "stiff upper lip" on the part of the cultured English gentlemen: true enough early in the night of the sinking before it was clear to everyone that the ship really was going down; after that it was every man for himself, regardless of class. (In other words, James Cameron's depiction of people's behavior during the sinking is much more accurate than that of either the 1953 film or the 1958 film version of Lord's book.)

The book was originally published about 25 years ago and has since been reissued with a new foreword and a new afterword, which are included in this audiobook.

Robertson Dean gives a wonderful reading of this deeply moving book. There's one exception to this, something I found distracting at times: Dean has a very deep, very North American voice, and his attempts at a variety of British accents are hit and miss. The accents themselves would be all over the map in the best of hands: testimony was taken from people of all social classes, and Dean tries to reflect that in his reading, but the results are only occasionally convincing. Even so, as I said, this remains one of my favorite books on the subject, and it's a great and brooding listen.

18 people found this helpful

Is there anything new to learn in this story?

I thought that I knew everything there was to know about the Titanic. I was wrong. I also thought that I must have read this book before; as I thought that I must have read all there is to read....wrong again!
This book, told from the point of view of the American Senate hearings, sheds new light on the events, the personalities, and the reactions of all those involved.
The reading is masterful. On many occasions, I would return to re-listen to a extract; not because it was garbled, but because the details were so good; that I needed to re-listen, and re-think my supposed knowledge of a fact. Simply an excellent listen.
I recommend, that if you haven't read anything about the Titanic, (is there anyone left in the world who hasn't?) that Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember" is a good starting point. A background to most of the story will enhance this telling; but then, listen to this, and become further enlightened.
I am putting Robertson Dean on my list of readers to take note of. He did a great job, apart from trying to mimic some speech patterns of Brits, a teeny word or two just marginally wonky in places; but; absolutely forgiven, as those moments only briefly ached the ear of this fussy Brit. But Dean's pacing was superb. His voice good to listen to.

11 people found this helpful

Very informative book

This book is more than the standard info about the Titanic. It centers on the investigation after the wreck and is very thorough and very interesting. I really enjoyed the listen although it could have been a little shorter without damaging the experience.

5 people found this helpful

Not What I Expected and A Major Disappointment

I was really looking for something that exclusively covered the Titanic disaster as a moment by moment account, with technical details and some of the ship, line, and industry history to enhance it. Although this is a good book about the hearing it's a disappointment for someone just wanting what I wanted.
Wade spent more time establishing the life story of the main senator (whatever his name was) than on background info on the ship or it's passengers.
Didn't like it. Don't waist your time unless you want to know about the hearing only.

2 people found this helpful

Unexpectedly fresh and informative - compelling.

What did you love best about The Titanic: Disaster of the Century?

The detail and research of the subject was well assembled and made listenable by the authors. Considering the actual investigation 100+ years ago was all done by hand without technology to record the hearings, this was really great listening.

What other book might you compare The Titanic: Disaster of the Century to and why?

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Have you listened to any of Robertson Dean’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

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Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened over a period of a week on a recent cruise.

2 people found this helpful

Everything you did not know about Titanic.

Loved this accounts depth, details, and incredible descriptions of the most famous lost ship ever.

1 person found this helpful

An excellent overview of the disaster and it’s aftermath

Using witness testimony the author puts together the disaster. The book also goes over the US investigation into the sinking and the rescue of some of the passengers,

Well written and well narrated

A beautiful executed retelling of a fascinating story. Who knew that the inquiry after the disaster was more interesting than the disaster itself!

Fascinating Nuggets Imbedded Within Tedium

I wanted Titanic info, and this book has lots of stuff that I had never known. OTOH, the interesting info - of which there is much - is surrounded by long, uninteresting (to me) sections about the politicians conducting the subsequent investigations, and about the intrigues that surrounded them. To be sure, the politicians and companies and newspapers and survivors DID have their positions, which needed sorting out, and that is done nicely here.
But I wanted more about the ship and the sinking. To wit: I just watched a convincing TV doc describing a factor that I now am convinced did cause Titanic to sink more quickly than it otherwise would have - a factor which received extremely little mention in this book. (I am talking about the enormous heat from smoldering coal inside coal bunker No. 6, whose weakened wall allowed the sea to burst through where it otherwise would not have. Look it up.)
A worthy book, but not one I will run to tell others about.

Amazing and fascinating.

The sinking of the Titanic changed or touched society on so many levels: psychological, political, economic, and regarding race and gender relations. The loss of Wyn Craig Wade at such a young age is as important if not equal in actual magnitude.