"Unsinkable": The Full Story of the RMS Titanic [Paperback]

Daniel Allen Butler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2002

This passionate yet balanced narrative explores every facet of the Titanic's history, including her spectacular conception in an Irish shipyard and the ambitious modern-day attempts to salvage her. The familiar story of the RMS Titanic—from her encounter with an iceberg to her demise some three hours later, taking with her more than fifteen hundred people—still looms large in the popular imagination, and in Daniel Butler's as well. He studied the Titanic's history for thirty years, intensively compiling facts about the disaster and the players involved (from Captain Smith and his crew to the ill-fated third-class passengers). He even made the startling discovery of a nearby ship that ignored the Titanic's distress call because the shipmates were afraid to awaken their captain. Drawn from primary sources and period accounts, this new narrative puts the disaster into historical context and serves as an essential resource for scholars of Titanic lore.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The familiar story of the RMS Titanic--from her tragic 10-second encounter with an iceberg to her descent to the bottom of the ocean some three hours later, taking with her more than 1,500 lives--still looms large in the popular imagination. Daniel Butler, a researcher and archivist, worked on this book for 30 years, intensively compiling facts not only about the event, but also about the characters who played an important role, from the actions of Captain Smith and his crew to the inescapable fate of the third-class passengers. He also offers the startling revelation of a nearby ship which ignored the Titanic's distress call because the shipmates were afraid to awaken their captain.

Unsinkable explores every facet of the Titanic's history, from its conception to a modern-day researcher's attempts to salvage the ship. The author presents a contemporary view of the crew and the passengers aboard, creating a better understanding of the time and the social psyche that played a role in the disaster. Also of note is Butler's enlistment of a clinical psychologist to analyze Captain Smith's mental state as the drama unfolded before him. Butler's passionate yet balanced narrative permits readers to conclude for themselves who or what was ultimately responsible for sinking the unsinkable ship. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Because the story is so dramatic, this retelling of the sinking of the Titanic is a page-turner, even though Butler, a Florida-based veteran of the U.S. Army and a Titanic buff, has little to add to what is already well known. He presents interesting information on the first four days of the voyage but otherwise recounts the mishaps that contributed to the tragedy: the failure of the ship's officers to heed the iceberg warnings; the tacit refusal of a nearby ship to come to the Titanic's aid; and the fact that the few lifeboats that fled the ship were only half full, leaving behind 1500 passengers to perish. Although Butler notes that a greater proportion of first-class male passengers were saved than third-class women, he theorizes foolishly that this was due more to a conditioned lack of initiative on the part of steerage passengers than to class discrimination. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306811103
• ISBN-13: 978-0306811104
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Questionable, June 8, 2008

By 

Stanwyck "Stanwyck" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unsinkable: The Full Story of RMS Titanic (Hardcover)

I have also spent a good part of my life researching the Titanic disaster, and I wonder about Butler's sources. Much of the book seems to be the product of a fertile imagination rather than research, or at the least, some serious extrapolation with known facts. I have examined practically everything I have found regarding the disaster and have yet to discover some of Butler's information.

A few years ago Butler virtually took over a USENET newsgroup concerning the Titanic, insulting some of the members and setting himself up as an undisputed authority on the disaster. Eventually he ran off many of the members, including myself.

Before that occurred, I corresponded with him about one minor item I had found in the book, a notation that the USS Scorpion had collided with a Soviet submarine and this led to her loss. I wrote to him and asked him about his source, and if he had any more details. He told me that he had "heard" about it when he was in Army Intelligence, and could discuss it no further. However, in the book it is stated as a fact.

This book has a great deal of information in it, but when you are required to question almost everything contained in it, then its value as a historical document is severly diminished.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not perfect; but not bad, March 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Unsinkable: The Full Story of RMS Titanic (Hardcover)

Overall it's an interesting and thorough comprehensive rehashing of the Titanic sinking. I think he did go overboard in several of his assumptions. e.g. There is no indication from other sources that Major Arthur Peuchen cut a poor figure socially. I've read all the Toronto papers published during that week from the sinking to after the Carpathia docked and though his name was not mentioned as frequently as Mr. Charles Hays, it was near the top of every list of Canadians who were known to be on the ship, usually without explanation of who he was - so he was certainly well known in his home city, which was even then a substantial place. So, if the author assumes unsubstaniated things about one passenger's social standing, can I trust him fully when he discusses the disaster?

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Is Walter Lord the author???, August 4, 2007

By 

Gary (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: "Unsinkable": The Full Story of the RMS Titanic (Paperback)

Historically accurate, and well researched. The book goes into far more detail about the ship, the passengers and the aftermath of this tragedy than any book I've read. However, I found the far too many direct quotes from Walter Lord's classic "A Night To Remember" annoying. Which in my opinion ,made "Unsinkable" a book to forget.