Titanic Captain: The Life of Edward John Smith - Tapa blanda

Still making waves after 100 years, Titanic Captain, The Life of Edward John Smith by Gary Cooper. The finest of this year's crop.Plainly the result of years of research, it is astutely written, and a significant contribution. It also has a poignant postscript. Of all those linked to Titanic, Smith's daughter, Melville, was one of the more ill-fated. Father went down with his ship; mother was knocked down and killed by a London taxi; her husband died in a freak shooting accident; her son was killed on war service with the RAF; and her daughter died of polio at 24. One wonders if the cause of the disaster was not the usual human failings but simply that the fates had it in for the Smith family. --The Independent on Sunday

Gary Cooper has taken on a rather challenging project. From sometimes conflicting accounts, controversies, gaps in the evidence and the patina of legend, he has attempted to reconstruct the life of an Edwardian merchant officer and his role in a notorious disaster. Overwhelmingly, he has succeeded. While at times we see through a glass dimly, we still see, and what is probably the most clearly delineated portrait of Smith we are ever likely to have emerges....Titanic Captain represents a substantial contribution to our knowledge of Smith the individual, and gives us an invaluable, clear narrative of his role in the Titanic's brief life and tragic fate. --Encyclopedia Titanica

Commander Edward John Smith's career had been a remarkable example of how a man from a humble background could get far in the world. Born to a working-class family in the landlocked Staffordshire Potteries, he went to sea at the age of 17 and rose rapidly through the ranks of the merchant navy, serving first in sailing vessels and later in the new steamships of the White Star Line. By 1912, he was White Star's senior commander and regarded by many in the shipping world as the 'millionaire's captain'. In 1912, Smith was given command of the new Rms Titanic for her maiden voyage, but what should have been among the crowning moments of his long career at sea turned rapidly into a nightmare following the Titanic's collision with an iceberg. In a matter of hours the supposedly unsinkable ship sank, taking over 1,500 people with her, including Captain Smith.