Stanley Phillip Lord was the British captain of the SS Californian, the nearest ship to the Titanic on the night she sank on 15 April 1912, and, depending on which sources are believed, likely the only ship to see the Titanic, or at least her rockets, during the sinking.
A Night to Remember is a 1955 non-fiction book by Walter Lord that tells the story of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. The book was hugely successful, and is still considered a definitive resource about the Titanic. Lord interviewed 63 survivors of the disaster and drew on books, memoirs, and articles that they had written. In 1986, Lord authored his follow-up book, The Night Lives On, following renewed interest in the story after the wreck of the Titanic was discovered by Robert Ballard.
SS Californian was a British Leyland Line steamship. She is thought to have been the only ship in sight of the Titanic, or at least her rockets, during that ship's sinking. The crew took no action to assist.
Commander Charles Herbert Lightoller, was a British mariner and naval officer who was the second officer on board the RMS Titanic. During the ship's sinking, and as the officer in charge of loading passengers into lifeboats on the port side, Lightoller strictly enforced the women and children only protocol, not allowing any male passengers to board the lifeboats unless they were needed as auxiliary seamen. He was the most senior officer to survive the disaster. Lightoller served as a commanding officer in the Royal Navy during World War I and, despite ordering an alleged war crime while engaged in anti-submarine warfare, he was twice decorated for gallantry. During World War II, in retirement, he voluntarily provided his personal yacht, the Sundowner, and sailed her as one of the "little ships" in the Dunkirk evacuation.
Joseph Bruce Ismay was an English businessman who served as chairman and managing director of the White Star Line. He was the highest-ranking White Star official to survive the 1912 sinking of the company's flagship RMS Titanic, for which he was widely criticized.
Wallace Henry Hartley was an English violinist and bandleader on the Titanic during its maiden voyage. He became famous for leading the eight-member band as the ship sank on 15 April 1912. He and the rest of the band did not survive the sinking.
Frederick Fleet was a British sailor, crewman and a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Fleet, along with fellow lookout Reginald Lee, was on duty when the ship struck the iceberg; Fleet first sighted the iceberg, ringing the bridge to proclaim: "Iceberg, right ahead!" Both Fleet and Lee survived the sinking, Fleet was the last surviving lookout, out of six in total, on the Titanic.
Futility is a novella written by Morgan Robertson, first published in 1898. It was revised as The Wreck of the Titan in 1912. It features a fictional British ocean liner named Titan that sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg. The Titan and its sinking are famous for their similarities to the real-life passenger ship RMS Titanic and its sinking 14 years later. Following the sinking of the Titanic the novel was reissued with some changes, particularly to the ship's displacement.
The Unknown Child was the initially unidentified body of Sidney Leslie Goodwin, a 19-month-old British toddler who was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett after the sinking of the RMS Titanic. For almost a century, Goodwin's gravestone in the Fairview Cemetery read "Erected to the memory of an unknown child whose remains were recovered after the disaster to the Titanic April 15th 1912".
A Night to Remember is a 1958 British historical disaster docudrama film based on the eponymous 1955 book by Walter Lord, depicting the final night of RMS Titanic, which sank on her maiden voyage after she struck an iceberg in 1912. Adapted by Eric Ambler and directed by Roy Ward Baker, the film stars Kenneth More as the ship's Second Officer Charles Lightoller and features Michael Goodliffe, Laurence Naismith, Kenneth Griffith, David McCallum and Tucker McGuire. It was filmed in the United Kingdom and tells the story of the sinking, portraying main incidents and players in a documentary-style fashion with considerable attention to detail. The production team, supervised by producer William MacQuitty used blueprints of the ship to create authentic sets, while Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall and ex-Cunard Commodore Harry Grattidge worked as technical advisors on the film. Its estimated budget of up to £600,000 was exceptional and made it the most expensive film ever made in Britain up to that time. The film's score was written by William Alwyn.
The Titanic has played a prominent role in popular culture since her sinking in 1912, with the loss of almost 1,500 of the 2,224 lives on board. The disaster and the Titanic herself have been objects of public fascination for many years. They have inspired numerous books, plays, films, songs, poems, and works of art. The story has been interpreted in many overlapping ways, including as a symbol of technological hubris, as basis for fail-safe improvements, as a classic disaster tale, as an indictment of the class divisions of the time, and as romantic tragedies with personal heroism. It has inspired many moral, social and political metaphors and is regularly invoked as a cautionary tale of the limitations of modernity and ambition.
Lawrence Beesley was an English science teacher, journalist and author who was a survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic.
Titanic: The Complete Story is a 1994 American two-part documentary chronicling the story of the ocean liner RMS Titanic which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. It is a compilation of a four-hour documentary special produced by A&E Television Networks in 1994. A&E Home Video originally sold the entire documentary in a 4-tape VHS set and later a DVD release. It is considered by many critics and historians to be the definitive documentary regarding the Titanic. It is most famous for being one of the few Titanic documentaries to feature survivors.
Frank John William Goldsmith, was a young third-class passenger of the RMS Titanic and a survivor of the sinking in 1912. He later wrote a book about his experiences on the ship, published posthumously as Echoes in the Night: Memories of a Titanic Survivor (1991), which featured in the documentary, Titanic: The Complete Story (1994).
Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche was a Haitian engineer. He was one of only three passengers of known Haitian ancestry on the ill-fated voyage of RMS Titanic.
Titanic Lifeboat No. 1 was a lifeboat from the steamship Titanic. It was the fifth boat launched to sea, over an hour after the liner collided with an iceberg and began sinking on 14 April 1912. With a capacity of 40 people, it was launched with only 12 aboard, the fewest to escape in any one boat that night.
Polar the Titanic Bear is a children's book written by Margaretta "Daisy" Corning Spedden and released in 1994. Spedden was an American heiress who survived the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, and her account of her family's trip and the eventual disaster, written as a tale to amuse her seven-year-old son, was published about 45 years after her death. The story is told from the point of view of a Teddy Bear.
The ocean liner Titanic has been extensively portrayed in films, books, memorials and museums.
Edith Louise Rosenbaum Russell was an American fashion buyer, stylist and correspondent for Women's Wear Daily, best remembered for surviving the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic with a music box in the shape of a pig. The papier-mâché toy, covered in pigskin and playing a tune known as "The Maxixe" when its tail was twisted, was used by Edith Russell to calm frightened children in the lifeboat in which she escaped. Her story became widely known in the press at the time and was later included in the best-selling account of the disaster A Night to Remember by Walter Lord. Russell was also portrayed in the award-winning British film produced by William MacQuitty that was based on Lord's book.
The Dawn's Early Light is a 1972 non-fiction book by Walter Lord about the War of 1812 Battle of Baltimore and the events leading up to it. Lord said he wrote the book because of the event's significance in American history. It is one of his 13 bestsellers.
