Review of Titanic and Other Ships

[sharoma]

This was one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. Charles Lightoller has been a hero of mine since I first saw A Night To Remember (1958) as a seven year old. What he managed to achieve and survive in his life is incredible and highly entertaining. His writing style is enjoyable if a little 'Victorian' with the grammar, by which I mean many commas where perhaps there shouldn't be. I must criticize whoever transcribed and published this edition, as the quality is substandard. There are at least two to three errors per page at times, such as missing periods, the same word printed twice or the wrong word altogether (for example, 'or' instead of 'of'). Fortunately you can work out what the word is supposed to be and it doesn't detract from the overall experience too much, other than to make you think that this is such a wonderful account that it deserves a professional issue. I was a bit disappointed that his account ends before his Dunkirk adventure, but he states a couple of times that his intention was to only write about certain ships and perhaps the Dunkirk experience was still considered 'classified' when he was writing. I'd like to know when the book was first published. My issue doesn't even list the 'first published year' which is rare and curious. There's also a few minor errors, such as him declaring Titanic to be the first triple propeller screw ship, when Olympic was already active and also had three screws. The subtitle itself is wrong, as it claims Lightoller was the only surviving officer. He was the most senior to survive, but three others also survived (Pitman, Boxhall and Lowe). In conclusion, I cannot recommend this book highly enough, especially if you have any interest at all in the Titanic, life at sea or history.

Edit: I found out that Lightoller wrote this book in 1935 which is why his Dunkirk experience is missing. The confusion around Jack Phillips is also worthy of note since it's now assumed Phillips was not on board Collapsible B with Lightoller, despite the latter saying he was.

Rating: 5/5