Includes Index

Unsinkable subject -- What's in a name? -- Legendary from the start -- Had ships gotten too big for Captain Smith? -- Our coterie -- Everything was against us -- Gash -- I was very soft the day I signed that -- What happened to the Goodwins? -- Shots in the dark -- Sound of music -- She's gone -- Electric spark -- Certain amount of slackness -- Second-guessing -- Why was craganour disqualified? -- Unlocking the ocean's secret -- Gleanings from the testimony -- Acknowledgments and selected sources -- Index.

Overview: The most awesome ocean-going vessel the world had ever seen, the mighty TITANIC struck an iceberg and sank on the night of April 14, 1912, carrying more than 1500 souls-and uncountable secrets-to the icy bottom of the mid-Atlantic. Why did the crew steam full speed ahead into dangerous waters despite six wireless warnings? How able was the doomed behemoth's superb seaman Captain Smith? Why did the nearby ship Californian ignore Titanic's distress signals? How could such a disaster ever have occurred? Author Walter Lord's acclaimed classic A Night to Remember is considered the definitive written work on the TITANIC tragedy. And now he returns to the scene of chaos and horror to explore-and answer-the untold mysteries behind the twentieth century's greatest catastrophe at sea.