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THE SHIP OF DREAMS
The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era
Gareth Russell
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019 as The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World
Copyright © Gareth Russell 2019
Cover Image © Universal History Archive/UIG/Bridgeman Images
Gareth Russell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins
Source ISBN: 9780008263201
Ebook Edition © March 2020 ISBN: 9780008263171
Version: 2020-02-03
‘[The Ship of Dreams] installs a fresh lens onto a drama that most of us first heard as children … As Mr Russell moves to the fateful Sunday of the voyage, the suspense becomes terrifying.’
Roger Lowenstein, The Wall Street Journal
‘The Titanic sinking does offer a metaphor for its era … Many authors have referenced this, but Gareth Russell is the first I am aware of who has comprehensively explored these and charted in detail the context … Russell does this deftly and intriguingly.’
Irish Independent
‘A fascinating look at life during a doomed era … Russell’s observations are sharp and witty … The wider history he presents is packed with interesting details.’
The Times, Book of the Week
‘Russell relates this drama in thrilling, vivid detail – an extraordinary story of human courage.’
Times Literary Supplement
‘Russell explores the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic both as a human reality and a metaphor … to sketch the world beyond the ship in this engrossing history … The detail richly evokes the scale and texture of Titanic life … This masterly reconstruction renders the Titanic story vital again.’
Mail on Sunday
‘Brilliantly narrates the story of the Titanic … with admirable research and rhetoric … Anyone fascinated by Erik Larson’s Dead Wake or by James Cameron’s Titanic will be drawn in by Russell’s well-crafted wit and reportage.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Russell tells these stories in gripping detail … The attention to detail is astonishing, if you’ve ever wondered how passengers booked a hot bath, look no further.’
Sunday Times
‘Gareth Russell has chosen a handful of passengers on the doomed liner and by training a spotlight on every detail of their lives, he has given us a meticulous, sensitive, and at times harsh picture of the early 20th century in Britain and America. A marvellous piece of work.’
Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey
‘Deeply researched and lushly detailed, the book shines new light on both the bygone Golden Age and the iconic tragedy that marked the beginning of its end.’
Lynn Vincent, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Indianapolis
‘This absorbing account proves that there are many levels to the endless fascination of the Titanic story … Gareth Russell skilfully constructs an eloquent and gripping narrative that is essentially a microcosm of the moribund Edwardian class system that would go down with the Titanic and finally be obliterated by war in 1914.’
Helen Rappaport, author of Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses
‘A meticulously researched retelling of history’s most infamous voyage … Through the eyes of this select group of privileged individuals, we are witness to the end of a glamorous crossing and an era, neither of which could be sustained or remain afloat.’
Denise Kiernan, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Castle and The Girls of Atomic City
For my great-grandparents,
Thomas Hutton and Elizabeth Johnston-Clarke,
The first to tell me stories of the Titanic,
And my father,
Who encouraged me to write them.
And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.
Alien they seemed to be;
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history,
Or sign that they were bent
By paths coincident
On being anon two halves of one august event,
Till the Spinner of the Years
Said ‘Now!’ And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.
Thomas Hardy, The Convergence of the Twain
(Lines on the loss of the ‘Titanic’) (1912)
CONTENTS