The Loss of the S.S. Titanic

First published in 1912, just two short months after the sinking of the TITANIC, this hauntingly immediate account opens with Lawrence Beesley's story of arriving onshore and soon after walking through the doors of Messrs. Houghton and Mifflin to tell his tale. THE LOSS OF THE S.S. TITANIC represents Beesley's attempt not just to record the events of the sinking but to set the record straight. In so doing, he captures both the majesty and the tragedy of this legendary voyage -- the view from the lifeboat as well as that from the deck. Full of wonderful nautical detail and written with a hair-raising clarity, THE LOSS OF THE S.S. TITANIC is an altogether spellbinding tale of that fateful night -- one you won't soon forget.

Lawrence Beesley (1878-1967) retired from his position as a science teacher in England when, at age thirty-four, he boarded the S.S. Titanic to go for a holiday in the States. He had been recently widowed and left at home his young son. His account of the epic disaster is widely regarded as one of the fairest and most comprehensive of its kind. Beesley was later portrayed in the classic Titanic film A NIGHT TO REMEMBER.