Ghosts of the Titanic

by Charles Pellegrino and Charles R. Pellegrino

Book Overview

What really happened on that unforgettable April night in 1912?Even after nearly a century, many facts about the sinking of the "unsinkable" ship, Titanic, remain a mystery, as potent and perplexing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688139558
• ISBN13: 9780688139551
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 293 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Book was great, condition of book was miserable

Please don't sell used books from smokers! This copy reeked of cigarette smoke. The book was fantastic. Just not pleased with the condition.

Science, lies, and the Titanic

Did the N.Y. Times give a scientist a raw deal? I think so. First off, Pellegrino really does his homework, and that is a fact, not a fantasy. In the Discovery Channel Expeditions he is listed, aboard the Research Vessels at the wreck site, as "Underwater Archaeologist" and "Scientist at large." Simply go to Robert D. Ballard's book, "Discovery of the Titanic," and you will see that Dr. Ballard himself credits Pellegrino with the archaeological analysis that produced the "downblast theory." This analysis (still on-going) was begun during the winter 1985 expedition to the hydrothermal vents on the Galapagos Rift (A famous Ballard expedition in its own right! See Pellegrino's "Her Name, Titanic.") As for the reality of survivor's quotes, just a random flip-through reveals: Page 220, "Excerpt from a letter to Walter Lord... March 29, 1956..." Page 196: "Leading fireman Charles Hendrickson testified...Oiler Fred Scott told... Examiner Hharbinson [at the British Inquiry]..." Throughout the book, the author specifically cites who said what to whom and when - (eg: Captain Smith's and Mr. Strauss' last words to Mrs Henry Harris, as recorded in Mrs. Harris' diary) - hardly worthy of an accusation of "circus barking and fantasy." See also for example, Pellegrino's careful, point-by-point analysis of the evidence supporting James Cameron's theory that the entire five story, solid oak structure of the Titanic's grand stairway developed many tons of positive buoyancy and broke free of its mountings as the bow went underwater (which the NY Times calls a "flimsy idea" - as if the notion that wood floats is a "wild assertion"). Anyone who assumes that the N.Y. Times actually put Mr. Parfit's "book review" through a legal review prior to publication needs to be enlightened: Book reviews are allowed, by the law, almost total freedom to get the facts wrong because strict deadlines are automatically assumed. Moreover, a reading of the N.Y. Times review will reveal from the very first paragraph that the author, Parfit, was writing at an almost hysterical, vengeful pitch. You cannot read this without finding the thrashing itself entertaining, and wondering, "What did Pelligrino do to get the Times so mad at him?" A reading of the recently published decision by the N.Y. State Supreme Court. Appellate Division (June 27, 2000, Index No. 100423/99) might - just might - shed some light on this. A writer for the N.Y. Times had, in 1998, accused Pellegrino, in his book "Unearthing Atlantis" of falsely associating himself with the family of the famous Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos, and even stealing credit for Marinatos's "Thera theory." (Sound familiar?) All the way up through the appellate court, the accusation was ruled unanimously as "patently false and susceptible to defamatory meaning." People who win libel cases can often be heard to complain about the original lie, the original accusation, being literally shouted

A Titanic Undertaking

This is one of the most chilling true stories I have ever read. While at least half of this "new" material has been reported elsewhere (chiefly in the British Inquiry, May 2 - July 1, 1912), Pellegrino's synthesis feels so fresh and is so vivid that one is tempted to believe he must actually have been there, not just on the expeditions to Titanic as archaeological ruin, but actually there on the slanting decks in a past life. He illustrates the ship's evolution (or devolution) from something strong and beautiful to mounds of twisted steel with such loving detail that for the first time, we can understand the strange sights and sounds reported by Colonel Gracie, Jack Thayer, Charles Joughin, and Alfred White - even though the witnesses themselves eventually died without ever knowing what happened to them, or why.One more strange thing: In "Her Name, Titanic" Pellegrino morphed back and forth in time from the Ballard expeditions, to the night of the sinking, to the expeditions again... and again... and not always effectively. (Unless the intended effect was to make the reader dizzy. But James Cameron did pick up on this, and ran with it, and managed to transcend Pellegrino's flaws.) This time out, in keeping with the realities of an archaeological dig, wherein one begins by peeling away the most recent events buried in the topmost layer, Pellegrino plays an even stranger game with time. But this time he is much more effective. This book is so engrossing that you can get all the way to the last chapter without noticing that he has been telling the story backwards!By the way, the drawings were amazingly creepy yet beautiful.

Magificent book

I've read many books on the Titanic but never one quite like "Ghosts of the Titanic". Dr Charles Pellegrini's magnificent book had me spellbound from the very first chapter as the author presents the events of the night of April 14th/15th 1912 in a totally fresh and compelling manner.Be warned: This book grips the reader like a steel trap!In "Ghosts of the Titanic" you will learn of:The very first victims of the Titanic's collision with the iceberg.The steward who set a new world record for the high dive.How Major Peuchen's wallet came to be lying where it was in Titanic's debris field and the importance of finding the wallet.Why Thomas Andrews, Titanic's designer, stayed on board the stricken liner and made no attempt to leave the ship.What damage the iceberg inflicted on the Titanic and then what Titanic did to the iceberg.The words whispered by Captain Smith when he saw the flooded mail room.How close the iceberg was to Titanic when it was first sighted.Where the California really was in relation to the Titanic.The meaning of the very last message transmitted from Titanic's radio room.This list is only a portion of the startling revelations to be found in this book.There have been many fine books written on the Titanic distaster. In this writers humble opinion "Ghosts of the Titanic" is the best, the winner in a photo-finish from the excellent works of Walter Lord. A "must read" for any lover of history and science and an "absolute must read" for those fascinated by the Titanic disaster.

Titanic still has many lessons to teach

James Cameron asks in the Foreward to this book,"...Titanic ranks third on the list of events about which the mosthas been written, behind the life of Christ and the death of JFK...as I gaze over the rows of shelves stuffed full of my own research materials, what is there to say that hasn't been said? Plenty. And this book is proof."Pellegrino takes the reader through the Titanic expeditions since his previous book, "Her Name, Titanic," including the 1996 RMS Titanic expedition the author participated in as biopaleontologist and marine archaeologist. He also introduces readers to more never before published survivor accounts, including Chief Baker Charles Joughin (whose survival despite more time spent in the water than any other survivor is still a mystery), Michel Navatril ("The Titanic Waif") and stoker Jim Mulolland (who reports on the fate of the ship's cat).The reader is also treated to detailed pencil sketches of the wreck as he saw it, an archaeological map of the Stern debris field, the diagrams of the new consortial life form dubbed "Rusticalus Titanics" by Pellegrino and Cullimore on the '96 expedition, and for the first time anywhere, annotated drawings of the actual deck plans of the Titanic drawn in India ink (one of the many Titanic myths debunked by Pellegrino in this book is that the plans went down with Andrews - at the advice of their lawyers the White Star Line led authorities to believe that in order to shut down the design defect argument). Among the forensic reconstructions in the book are a complete reconstruction on the sequence of events on the the Titanic and the Californian from eyewitness accounts, showing at each stage how the Californian was viewing the lights and distress rockets of the Titanic, and likewise the lifeboats on the Titanic were viewing the lights of the Californian. Pellegrino notes that even Captain Stanley Lord of The Californian finally admitted during his libel law suit against the account of his ship in "A Night To Remember," that it was the lights of the Titanic his crew saw that night of April 12th (its amazing that some authors *still* refer to the "mystery ship"). But Pellegrino further damns Captain Lord by showing that under the atmospheric conditions and due to the immutable laws of curvature of the earth, the lights observed on both sides bracket the distance between the ships as between 5 and 7.5 miles (instead of the 20 miles the captain claimed to american investigators or the 30 miles he later claimed to british investigators or the 40 miles he claimed to reporters after that), which meant the Californian could have reached the titanic, allowing for caution, less than one hour after seeing the first distress rockets, a time when lifeboats were still lowering, well in time to save hundreds at least from freezing to death in the cold waters, possibly all 1500! Pellegrino even adds a new indictment from Third Officer Groves of the Californian, during the brief search the California

Ghosts and reality

Before you are through with chapter 1 you are hit with uncomfortable details, facts that other authors (and filmmakers) politely left out, realisms of human existence, examples of human frailty in action - and it is continued throughout. Although the bulk of Pellegrino's experience is with the technology of the "final frontier," his complete honesty serves this subject no less. Never having heard of him before, I am - as of now - an avid fan. This author is unflinchingly honest, too honest for comfort, but authentic. This version of what happened is not for kids, but this is a book like no other, and WELL worth the price. This is the best book on Titanic, ever, for anyone who can deal with humanity on its own level.