Customer Reviews

Ghosts of the Titanic

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3 star:		(3)
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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 Californian did that morning, Groves saw moving figures on the ice which he believed to be human beings, only to have this dismissed by the Captain as Seals as he ordered the ship to turn around and head for Boston!

Pellegrio also describes the scientific discoveries Pellegrino participated in on the '96 RMS Titanic expedition. He and microbiologist Roy Cullimore discovered that Bob Ballard's "Rusticles" are a new consortial life form, Rusticalus Titanicus, a 3.5 billion year evolutionary throwback that could provide new antibiotics and other medicines. Pellegrino and Cullimore also noted a tremendous increase in deep-ocean "sea snow" between Titanic expeditions which is evidence of "The Zooplankton Crisis," a massive bloom of animal plankton caused by reductions in the North Atlantic fish population, which threatens the phytoplankton population in the top few inches of the ocean, which are responsible for converting more far carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than rain forests. The reader is reminded of the warning Titanic survivor Eva Hart gives to Pellegrino in this book, "...if you scientists, engineers and industrial geniuses don't learn to temper arrogance with wisdom, and to pay very close attention, then I'm afraid there will be an even bigger Titanic in your future - for the whole world, maybe. And next time there may be no lifeboats - for anybody."

I'd rate this book as a great read for any reader interested in history or science, and a must-have for any true Titanic enthusiast, no matter how many books you own!

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

The first book concerned with archeology that ever caught my interest was the classic `The Source" by James A. Mitchener. What drew me to this book was a potentially dry subject such as archeology was tempered with a touch of humanity. The same holds true for Charles Pelligrino's latest work on the Titanic, Ghosts of the Titanic. Dr. Pelligrino brings out not only the most recent scientific discoveries concerning this tragedy but also reveals the human toll the events surrounding this massive ship had upon the survivors and families of the ship's compliment. Much of Pelligrino's work on the subject of the Titanic is surrounded by controversy. Just go to any of the computer news groups concerned with the Titanic and you cannot help but to notice the huge among of space devoted to debates of Dr. Pelligrino's work. One thing that is difficult to deny is Charles Pelligrino is first and foremost a scientist. Sure he can write an excellent story but this does not detract from the facts, Dr. Pelligrino knows what he is doing. While the conclusions may inspire discussion his techniques are impeccable. He has journeyed to the resting-place of the Titanic, interviewed the few remaining survivors and the families of the unfortunate passengers no longer alive. This research is the basis for his conclusions but what sets this book apart form so many others on the topic is Pelligrino's care in factoring in the human side of the equations.

As Pelligrino points out in the book it is far easier for an archeologist to dissociate himself when the events took place hundreds or thousands of years ago. It is altogether another matter when you actually had an opportunity to speak with first hand witnesses to the events. Some of the official records made during the inquest of the sinking where biased, sometimes to cover up actions and promises of the White Star line. For example some accounts where discounted because survivors stated the ship broke in two. This is now known to be fact. The legend of the Titanic is steeped in erroneous conclusions that this work helps to shed new light. Pelligrino details his trips to the Titanic with the care of a scientific journal while preserving the dignity deserved by its victims. One case is the emotional toll in finding a small piece of cloth had upon Pelligrino. When he realized that this was part of a tiny tee shirt that most likely belonged to one of the youngest victims of the sinking he was moved in a way that any of us would be. This work treads the line between scientific detachment with human concern.

One of the most exciting discoveries that Pelligrino was part of was a new type of life, the rustlicle. This is basically a group of single cell organisms that form various layers that serve the colony almost as organs do in higher forms of life. They digest iron and are slowing eating away at the remains of this once great ship. A side note to this is these rusticles appear to posses a means to fight infections that affect those of us on the surface. This book heralds a new avenue for genetic, zoological and microbiologic research.

Much of Ghosts is told through accounts based upon the known records and personal interviews with the survivors. Each story helps to weave a tapestry that helps the reader gain a very personal perspective of this tragic night. The stories help the reader to understand the motives and consequences of incredible acts of bravery and cowardice displayed by the passengers and crew. Such events as a boat full of society matrons refusal to allow a man on board due to his race. The separation of extremely young fraternal twins, permitting only the girl to survive. Men placing their wives and children in the relative safety of a life boat knowing that they were soon to face a cold and dark fate. Each story will burn itself into your consciousness and forever change what you imagined occurred that fateful night.

Ghosts of the Titanic is a work that will appeal to both those interested in a scientific work detailing the events of this ship and those interested in a humanized view of those same events. Pelligrino moves backward in time as he tells what happened. This reverse chronology comes across as the way many people talk about a horrible event they have lived through, remembering first the most recent events and moving steadily back to the causes. Without a doubt this work will and has inspired controversy but it should rapidly become one of the must read volumes on the subject.

I hate to disagree with the New York Times, but I found this book to be utterly fascinating. It is a remarkable mix of history, archeology, and even biology. Pellegrino brings the night of the sinking to life in a remarkable way.

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.

Let's be frank. I am the publisher of another excellent Titanic book, "1912 Facts About Titanic," by Lee Merideth, and have read about everything that is readily available on the subject. So I know a little something about it. Pellegrino has penned what is in my opinion the most compelling, fresh, and thought-provoking account of the great liner I have ever read. His careful analysis and reasoned speculation opens new doors for serious study; his gleaning of the various inquiry records and other firsthand accounts that have surfaced recently, when utilized with archaeological and scientific discoveries, damn near definitively solves many of the mysteries that have lingered since 1912. Pellegrino's treatment of the role played by the Californian and Captain Lord is the best I have ever seen in print. His use of witness accounts of the ship's lights, the curvature of the earth, and other factors resolves conclusively that Lord's command was within a seven-mile radius when Titanic sank. There is also evidence that a handful of survivors may have been sighted on an ice flow by officers of the Californian--and left there by Lord.

The author also has raised enough significant doubt to revitalize (perhaps "rehabilitate" is not too strong of a description) Captain Smith's reputation. Like the fiasco of a movie "Gettysburg," which depicted Martin Sheen as a General Lee on valium, previous authors and movie directors have portrayed the Titanic's Captain Smith as a confused and benumbed fool once the ship's designer, Andrews, told him Titanic was doomed. In fact, every one of Smith's critical decisions--including sending out half empty lifeboats--were the correct ones. (My hat is off to you Captain, and I apologize for the unkind words I have spread about you. tps)

Other compelling issues include learned speculation that the Grand Staircase broke loose and shot to the surface (the evidence for this is very strong); Officer Murdoch did indeed shoot himself (there were several witnesses who did not know each other who wrote the same thing); and Bruce Ismay and his company worked overtime to slander many survivors who did tow the company line (the Duff Gordons were among this select group). Even more interesting is the fact that the "rusticles" adorning the deteriorating ship are actually ALIVE. Yes, they are bacterial colonies in a life form previously unknown. And they are being utilized for medical research that might, ultimately, save more people than Titanic took to the bottom.

The only section of the book that caused me to roll my eyes and audibly groan was the very end of the main narrative, where Pellegrino makes a silly over-the-top reference to the political baloney we know today as "Global Warming," accented with a metaphor that the earth is the Titanic and we are steaming toward our own ice field. Sorry, Charlie, but hundreds of qualified scientists think the evidence for Global Warming (and a human connection) is tenuous or nonexistent at best. Politicians anxious to weaken the U.S. at the expense of Third World countries, however, in the name of global Socialism, see it as a terrific opportunity to achieve their goals. These are the same yahoos who argued 25 years ago that TODAY we would be all covered with ice, so our lifestyles had to change radically--or else. (How many of your are now skiing in July? Hmmm?)

I borrowed this book, read it, and then bought it. Everyone who enjoys reading about Titanic must own this book. Ignore the silly review that appeared in Kirkus and the hatchet job that was penned in the New York Times. Buy Ghosts of the Titanic, enjoy it, and then share it with another buff.