The Loss of the Titanic: I Survived the Titanic

Although he survived the sinking by seven months, it was the Titanic that killed Colonel Archibald Gracie. His struggles in the icy waters of the North Atlantic had shattered his constitution, and the awful things he had seen on that fateful night left him a haunted man. One observer said he had the look of someone “who had descended as distinctly into hell as any human being would care to acknowledge, and had risen again from the dead.” Nevertheless he tried to make sense of his experiences, and this book was published soon after his death. The first half is his own account of the sinking, and shows how he had to be both lucky and strong just to live through the night. In the second half he tells the individual stories of each of the Titanic’s lifeboats, summarizing the bare facts and then providing dramatic survivor accounts, from personal interviews and from testimony given to the British and American inquiries into the disaster. In its author’s desperate search for the truth, this book remains one of the most powerful works on the sinking of the Titanic.

Lawrence Beesley was one of the luckiest men on the Titanic. Although the word had been given, “women and children first,” he was nevertheless ordered into a lifeboat to make up the numbers. At the end of that fateful night he stepped, dry and physically unharmed, onto the deck of the rescuing ship Carpathia. We are also fortunate in that, as a science teacher, Beesley was an intensely curious man. During the journey he had been paying careful attention to every aspect of shipboard life, from how seagulls were able to keep pace with the liner, to why the vibrations from the great engines were most noticeable when taking a bath. He put these observational skills to good use in his description of the sinking, and of how the passengers, the crew, and later the public reacted, providing us one of the most complete and thoughtful eyewitness accounts of the disaster.

This ebook edition features:
 • 5 photographs and illustrations from the first edition
 • Active table of contents and reflowable text
 • Part of the Titanic Landmark Series – republishing eyewitness accounts of the Titanic

Table of Contents:
 • I. Construction and Preparations for the First Voyage
 • II. From Southampton to the Night of the Collision
 • III. The Collision and Embarkation in Lifeboats
 • IV. The Sinking of the Titanic, seen from a Lifeboat
 • V. The Rescue
 • VI. The Sinking of the Titanic, seen from her Deck
 • VII. The Carpathia’s Return to New York
 • VIII. The Lessons taught by the Loss of the Titanic
 • IX. Some Impressions

April 15, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, arguably the 20th century’s most famous peacetime sea disaster. Titanic at 100 commemorates the anniversary by bringing together news stories, opinions, tributes, survivor accounts, and more, giving a glimpse into the aftermath of the loss of the “unsinkable” ship.

Included are original articles from The New York Times, widely regarded as the first newspaper to correctly report the severity of the disaster, spanning the period from Titanic’s launch to the days immediately following the catastrophe; comments and criticism about Titanic from noted literary figures of the day, including George Bernard Shaw, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and H. G. Wells; poetic tributes released in the weeks following the sinking; and two full accounts of that harrowing night penned by survivors Lawrence Beesley and Col. Archibald Gracie. Also included are three fictional works many feel predicted the Titanic’s untimely end: two stories written by Titanic passenger W. T. Stead, who went down with the ship, and Morgan Robertson’s complete Futility, Or The Wreck of the Titan, published in 1898.

HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.