Ghosts of the Titanic

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Summary: Forensic Study of Titanic Sinking
Review: "Ghosts of the Titanic" is the second book in what Charles Pellegrino promises will be a trilogy about the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. It is primarily a much-needed thorough forensic analysis of the ship's sinking, based on data from recent expeditions to the site, never before published or analyzed journals, letters and interviews with witnesses, and information from the original investigations of the disaster. What physically happened to the ship at every moment from just before its impact with the iceberg until it hit the ocean floor is spelled out in detail. Some helpful diagrams are included as well. I was amazed and fascinated by how much of the activities on board the Titanic during its final hours could be reconstructed when all eyewitness accounts are considered. Among other things, new information may exonerate Captain Smith of much of the blame for the tragedy, while thrusting Bruce Ismay of the White Star Line and Captain Lord of the Californian into even harsher light than previously imagined. As is typical of Charles Pellegrino's books, "Ghosts of the Titanic" is written in the order in which the information came to light instead of being organized by topic. This creates a sense of anticipation and allows the reader to understand the Titanic in ever-increasing depth, little by little, just as Dr. Pellegrino and his colleagues did. But the lack of conventional organization may frustrate some readers, and it means you don't find out about some crucial details until the end of the book. All in all, a fascinating account of what people did to sink a ship in 1912 and what goes on at the bottom of the ocean today as a result.

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Summary: EERIE: The Titanic and Mars?
Review: "Ghosts of the Titanic" might be one of the best, if not the best book ever written about archaeological adventure on (and under) the high seas. There is nothing in the world quite so eerie as the ancient, antibiotic-spewing lifeform (Rusticalus titanicus) that is turning the metal hull of the Titanic into its own tissues. No wonder that Pellegrino's colleague in rusticle exploration, when he looked up from the microscope, remarked, "Welcome to Mars."

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Summary: Titanic archaeology update
Review: Author Charles Pellegrino provides a very gripping and insightful update on the sinking of the "Titanic" and its current condition based on the numerous undersea explorations performed in the last 16 years. His explanations of the actual events taking place from hitting the iceberg through the ship's impace with the bottom of the ocean are very enlightening. He has personally conversed with Walter Lord (previous Titanic historian) and several survivors of the disaster. He was also present "topside" during some of the most recent American/French joint explorations.

Where the author diminishes the value of this book is his attempts to explain the "rusticles" and other deterioration of the ship due to its being in the deep ocean for nine decades. Some of his metaphysical musings on these formations and "the origin of all life form" are really fodder for some other article or book, not this one.

The book is recommended but it's not nearly as well written and informative as it could have been given Mr. Pellegrino's first-hand observations and experiences with the remains of the Titanic.

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Summary: lying and flouting the principles of science
Review: Before reading Pellegrino, you might want to look at Michael Parfit's review in the N.Y. times of Aug. 27th. I suppose that lawyers at the Times would not allow Parfit to come right out and call Pellegrino a liar. So Parfit simply documents the lies: Pellegrino did not go on the Titanic expeditions, was never invited to work with Robert Ballard, and so forth. Worse than lying is that fact that Pellegrino concocts a sensationalist amalgam of fantasy and random facts based on shoddy research, then passes it off as non-fiction list. If a writer wishes to fantasize about an historical event, or in this case, two historical events, the tragic sinking of the Titanic and the fascinating work of the men and women who found the wreckage, that is fine, as long as the work is called fiction. Perhsps instead of merely running the review the Times should move the title to the fiction list.

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Summary: Ghosts and reality
Review: 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.

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Summary: Titanic Bomb
Review: Being a historian who has researched the ship and her passengers and crew for many years, I have several comments to make. First of all. Dr. Pelligrino does not cross check his information. William Carter never had a mistress aboard. Edwina Troutt travelled 2nd class ( he lists her as 1st and 3rd on separate pages ),cabin numbers are erroneously listed. Lifeboat assignments are confused, names are wrong ( it is Virginia Clark- not Ada ) Mrs. Cardeza- not Lady Cardeza. I could go on and on about his factual errors. He also has a habit of inventing up whole paragraphs of dialogue that never was spoken or interviews that never took place. He tells how Walter Lord interviewed Lightoller in 1956. Lightoller had been long dead and Lord has always lamented the fact that he had never met or spoken with Lightoller. He says Marjorie Robb never spoke of the Titanic until the discovery. Wrong- she wrote a Readers Digest article in 1981. The conversations between Virginia Clark and her husband never existed. The exchange between Olive Earnshaw and Alfred Nournay- purely fictional! They were in the first boat where men were encouraged to get in. Not women and children only. And since this book lacks any bibliography- the reader has to assume he is telling the truth. But those of us in the Titanic organizations, know his books are purely products of his imagination. Never havem I been so disgusted by a book described as non fiction- when in truth it is just the opposite. i suggest the readers challenger Pellegrino's findings by reading the real accounts of the people he mentions. You'll find them more interesting.

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Summary: Pellegrino returns to the Titanic
Review: Charles Pellegrino's earlier book about the Titanic, "Her Name, Titanic," remains one of the better books on the subject. Instead of rewriting that book, Pellegrino chose to write what he suspects will be the second book of a Titanic trilogy (with a third volume planned for 10 to 12 years hence). Pellegrino has the advantage of knowing almost everyone involved in the discovery of and expeditions to the Titanic, including Robert Ballard and George Tulloch, formerly of Titanic International, and he actually accompanied the 1996 expedition. He also is close to Walter Lord and has interviewed a number of Titanic survivors. This puts Pellegrino in a particularly useful position to portray the Titanic disaster in 3 dimensions while banging no particular drum. Pellegrino is also something of a polymath. He's interested in everything, as readers of his previous books can attest. He's probably the closest thing going to Isaac Asimov since the late Dr. A passed away. Given this, there are some real irritants here. I'd like to see all of Pellegrino's quotations and information cited. At the very least I'd like his assurance that none of the dialogue, particularly dialogue supposed to have taken place aboard the Titanic, is invented. It's also startling to see him consistently misspelling the name of Lord Mersey, the jurist in charge of the British inquiry, and of the Leyland Line, owners of the Californian, throughout the book. I find it a little difficult to believe that Pellegrino apparently buys into James Cameron's line that the ship would have been even more badly damaged had it hit the iceberg headon. Frankly, I can't think of a case in which the rammer came off worse than the rammee. Also, Pellegrino's interest in everything occasionally detracts as he flits from subject to subject without, sometimes, completing his original thought. But these are minor irritants, and I only mention them with the hope that Pellegrino will see them and make corrections in future editions. This book is extremely valuable and brings absolutely new information to the public attention. Especially useful is Pellegrino's careful forensic analysis of the Californian controversy, and his similar treatment of the iceberg sighting. According to this new information, the iceberg was sighted when so close to the Titanic that the ship actually collided with it almost as soon as the officers began to react, rendering unimportant earlier arguments about the size of the ship's rudder. Also very interesting are the results of studies into the rusticle formations that are speedily consuming the ship. It's fascinating to learn that new insights into biology are coming from these studies. There's a lot of really good new data here, and I recommend this book with only the minor reservations noted above. Needless to say, I'll be waiting eagerly, in ten or so years, for Pellegrino's next book on this seemingly inexhaustable topic.

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Summary: The Fascinating Story of the Titanic Strays
Review: Charles Pellegrino's follow-up to the wonderful Her Name, Titanic is Ghosts of the Titanic, an enjoyable and informative look at little-known and new facts concerning the Titanic. The lure of this downed ship is undeniable and this book is a must-have for all those devoted to seizing and squeezing out as much information about the glorious ship and the wreck it became. The book goes a little astray at times, though, as the author moves, far too often, from the Titanic's story to his own as we learn such tidbits as his wife left because she fell in love with another man and that the author was considered by some to be autistic as a child. When he is on topic, he is quite good. This book has much to recommend it to the Titanic reader. For the beginner, Her Name, Titanic and Walter Lord's The Night to Remember are the places to begin and then, if still not satisfied, they can move on to this book.

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Summary: Science, lies, and the Titanic
Review: 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 by the media while the vindication, coming years later, gets a barely whispered "only kidding" somewhere behind page 74 of the classifieds in the times. Pellegrino's deal seems a little more raw than that. In his case, only days or weeks after the matter was settled, the Times came out with a "book review" reiterating similar charges (we read that Pellegrino falsely associated himself with the famed oceanographer Robert Ballard, and now even tries to steal some credit for Ballard's discovery of the Titanic). Book reviews, as I have indicated above and as any lawyer can tell you, are virtually sue-proof. Translation? Legally, anyone who wants to couch character assassination in a book review can get away with it. Coincidence? Maybe. But does it not have the disturbing stench of pay-back?

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Summary: Beyond fascinating
Review: I found this book extremely fascinatng in that it combined personal accounts of Titanic survivors with scientific explinations of what happened in the last hours of the voyage. I found it hard to put down and am going to send it to my daughter-in- law to read.