Reviews
The great port city of Liverpool, a 'Maritime Mercantile City'and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, has come forward to claim ownership of the ship whose very name conjures up the hubris of man's relation with the sea. Titanic was built in Belfast, set sail on her fateful maiden voyage from Southampton, but, on her stern was inscribed the single word 'Liverpool'. Why? Because she was registered in Liverpool where her owner, the White Star line, was based. And with the city's long seafaring tradition, many of the crew who went down on the night of April 15th, 1912 were Liverpudlians, as were a fair sprinkling of the passengers. This exercise in rightful reclaim, Titanic and Liverpool, is written by Dr Alan Scarth, a Liverpool-born historian and a curator at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and published by Liverpool University Press. But this is no parochial exercise in misplaced local pride: it is a carefully researched, appealingly written, beautifully designed and illustrated short book that brings a new perspective to a very oft-told story. History Today 20100129 ' A delightful and insightful read that asks and answers why the Titanic was built and lays the foundation with a thumbnail sketch of Liverpool, the British Empire's foremost international seaport at the begiining of the twentieth century, the White Star Line, the disater and its aftermath. ... This author is fairly jaded with 'Titanic books' yet enjoyed the author's perspective and recommends it.' -- Karen Kamuda Titanic Commutator 20100215
a carefully researched, appealingly written, beautifully designed and illustrated short book that brings a new perspective to a very oft-told story. History Today 20100129 The great port city of Liverpool, a 'Maritime Mercantile City'and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, has come forward to claim ownership of the ship whose very name conjures up the hubris of man's relation with the sea. Titanic was built in Belfast, set sail on her fateful maiden voyage from Southampton, but, on her stern was inscribed the single word 'Liverpool'. Why? Because she was registered in Liverpool where her owner, the White Star line, was based. And with the city's long seafaring tradition, many of the crew who went down on the night of April 15th, 1912 were Liverpudlians, as were a fair sprinkling of the passengers. This exercise in rightful reclaim, Titanic and Liverpool, is written by Dr Alan Scarth, a Liverpool-born historian and a curator at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and published by Liverpool University Press. But this is no parochial exercise in misplaced local pride: it is a carefully researched, appealingly written, beautifully designed and illustrated short book that brings a new perspective to a very oft-told story. History Today 20100129 ' A delightful and insightful read that asks and answers why the Titanic was built and lays the foundation with a thumbnail sketch of Liverpool, the British Empire's foremost international seaport at the begiining of the twentieth century, the White Star Line, the disater and its aftermath. ... This author is fairly jaded with 'Titanic books' yet enjoyed the author's perspective and recommends it.' -- Karen Kamuda Titanic Commutator 20100215
"a carefully researched, appealingly written, beautifully designed and illustrated short book that brings a new perspective to a very oft-told story. The great port city of Liverpool, a 'Maritime Mercantile City'and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, has come forward to claim ownership of the ship whose very name conjures up the hubris of man's relation with the sea. Titanic was built in Belfast, set sail on her fateful maiden voyage from Southampton, but, on her stern was inscribed the single word 'Liverpool'. Why? Because she was registered in Liverpool where her owner, the White Star line, was based. And with the city's long seafaring tradition, many of the crew who went down on the night of April 15th, 1912 were Liverpudlians, as were a fair sprinkling of the passengers. This exercise in rightful reclaim, Titanic and Liverpool, is written by Dr Alan Scarth, a Liverpool-born historian and a curator at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and published by Liverpool University Press. But this is no parochial exercise in misplaced local pride: it is a carefully researched, appealingly written, beautifully designed and illustrated short book that brings a new perspective to a very oft-told story. A delightful and insightful read that asks and answers why the Titanic was built and lays the foundation with a thumbnail sketch of Liverpool, the British Empire's foremost international seaport at the begiining of the twentieth century, the White Star Line, the disater and its aftermath. ... This author is fairly jaded with 'Titanic books' yet enjoyed the author's perspective and recommends it. The fact that Titanic never visited Liverpool has often served to disguise the port's important role in the ill-fated ship's history. Alan Scarth's lavishly illustrated volume successfully redresses this imbalance. He demonstrates that much of the recent 'Titanic Literature' has largely relegated Liverpool's role in RMS Titanic's history by concentrating on Belfast where she was built and Southampton from where she made her maiden voyage. The book is the culmination of detailed archival research at Liverpool's Maritime Archives and Library, Merseyside Maritime Museum and the Liverpool Records Office. It is richly illustrated throughout with photographs of many members of the crew and passengers as well as many relevant museum artefacts related to the ship's construction. In the first three chapters, Scarth carefully documents Titanic's prehistory. This provides a valuable insight into Liverpool's mercantilist class in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This was a period in which the growing power of New York financiers like John Pierpont Morgan, who bought the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (White Star) in 1902, were starting to compete with Liverpool's dominance of transatlantic travel and mail services. The fact that the White Star Line continued to be based in Liverpool under the management of J. Bruce Ismay is central to Titanic's strong connection to the city. It was largely due to rivalry with the Cunard Line, also based in the city, which led to the building of White Star's Olympic class liners. The Titanic (along with the Olympic and Britannic) was built by Harland and Wolff Ltd in Belfast. Scarth shows us how elements of her design and construction were also closely associated with Liverpool as some of the chief designers were born in the city and a large amount of the ship's fittings were also produced or procured there. Going beyond the obvious mercantilist connections, Scarth also gives testament to the ship's place in the lives of ordinary Liverpudlians. This is most poignantly demonstrated with a detailed list of Liverpool-born crew members who died in the tragedy. Many of these men and women had moved to Southampton to remain working for the White Star Line after the company switched four of its biggest liners to the southern port in 1907. The chapters dealing with Titanic's crew before and after the tragedy demonstrate the author's ability to combine a factual history of the famous ship with the real life personal histories of those involved in her 'story'. The detailed descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of the ship's crew, from 'greasers' to the First Class stewards, are particularly well covered and serve to remind us of the huge amount of manpower required to operate 'the largest and most magnificent ship in the world'. As for the passengers aboard Titanic on her maiden voyage from Southampton, Scarth admits it would have been surprising for many to have hailed from Liverpool as there were still plenty of services from the city provided by both Cunard and White Star. Of the 954 passengers that boarded at Southampton, only sixteen had Liverpool connections. These included most famously J. Bruce Ismay and his valet and secretary. While the testimonies of surviving crew and passengers have been reproduced in numerous publications, by concentrating on those associated with Liverpool, Scarth is able to recount the doomed ship's story through the eyes of the city. This is particularly effective when the book deals with the immediate aftershock of the tragedy. One man's recollection of a police officer coming to his primary school in Bootle and asking the assembled children if any of them had fathers on the Titanic and the resulting show of hands is particularly moving. Scarth describes the various enquiries into the disaster, concentrating most prominently upon Bruce Ismay and the 'long shadow' that the tragedy cast over him and his family. Ismay's immediate vilification by the American press (which painted him as a coward who should have chosen to go down with his ship) was mainly due to the personal enmity felt towards him by the newspaper baron William Randolf Hearst. This foreshadowed the United States Senate Inquiry which commenced the day after the ship's survivors arrived in New York aboard the Cunard liner Carpathia. One of the key issues raised by the enquiries was that Ismay had urged that the speed of the ship be increased so as to arrive in New York early - a claim he repeatedly denied. Documents obtained by Merseyside Maritime Museum in the 1980s have gone some way towards exonerating Ismay on this issue. In conclusion, this is an enjoyable read. It is clear, well written and holds the reader's attention throughout. It is reasonably priced and makes a very welcome addition to the more scholarly contributions to the Titanic story. All those who are interested in Liverpool's maritime history will have much cause to thank Alan Scarth for this beautifully produced and well-researched book. ... this is an enjoyable read. It is clear, well written and holds the reader's attention throughout. It is reasonably priced and makes a very welcome addition to the more scholarly contributions to the Titanic story. All those who are interested in Liverpool's maritime history will have much cause to thank Alan Scarth for this beautifully produced and well-researched book. With the Titanic centenary fast approaching, Alan Scarth proposes a voyage of historical revision. Thus, he notes a growing race among Atlantic communities to claim a share of the ship's fateful story. Liverpool, however, has escaped serious attention, despite its official status as the port of registry. Scarth, therefore, sets out to fill a gap in the literature. As a curator at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, he is certainly well placed to do so. Moreover, had he restricted himself to this relatively modest goal, all might have been plain sailing. Unfortunately, the author rams an iceberg of his own devising when he avers that a look at Titanic's history from the purportedly ""crucial"" Liverpool perspective ""transforms our understanding of the whole subject."" [9] To be sure, Scarth succeeds in establishing sundry links that bound Liverpool to Titanic from the latter's inception to its mournful wake. He first describes an Edwardian Liverpool facing serious challenges to its once pre-eminent position in the North Atlantic passenger trade. While far from entirely new, Scarth 's analysis provides helpful contextual detail for understanding the myriad financial, commercial, and other motivations that led to the birth of the ""Olympic-class"" ships, of which Titanic was one. In all this, Liverpool shipping magnate, J. Bruce Ismay, is presented as a rather more astute, more formidable person than either Hollywood or Pinewood Studios have traditionally portrayed. No simpering pawn of l.P. Morgan, Ismay sold the White Star Line at a highly inflated price to the American baron, while soon becoming the dynamic president of the very conglomerate that bought him out. Meanwhile, although Titanic never actually visited the port, she was in good measure a brain-child of Liverpool interests. In similar fashion, Scarth demonstrates the many bonds between Liverpool and several of Titanic's crew. Per capita ties were strongest on the bridge. Indeed, the captain, chief, first, and second officers had each lived many years near the Mersey. Among the seamen, deckhands, stewards, and ""black gang,"" roughly an eighth of the steamer's complement had Liverpool connections of some kind. Documenting this, Scarth provides a four-page appendix listing the name, gender, age, department, rank, birthplace, address, and fate of the people in question. While only thirteen passengers hailed from Liverpool, Scarth's basic case is unassailable. The city's Titanic investment was heavy, and in far more than corporate terms. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the author sometimes strains needlessly for linkages in pressing his argument. Thus, one questions the wisdom of including Major Archibald W. Butt among the ""connected."" As President Taft's aide-de-camp, Butt had toured Europe before stopping briefly near Chester to visit his brother, who had interests in the Liverpool cotton trade. Apparently, the dashing major made a fine impression on all assembled for a house party. Still, to rank him with the Mersey-mourned seems a bit of a stretch. Then there is the case of Wall ace Hartley, leader of Titanic's orchestra. The heroic last stand of his ensemble aboard Titanic quickly became the stuff of legend. Indeed, thirty thousand folk were said to have lined the route as Hartley's body was returned to his beloved Colne for burial. The problem here is that Colne lies deep in the heart of Lancashire, about a hundred kilometres from Liverpool. Thus, devoting almost two pages to Hartley in a book designed to sharpen our understanding of the Liverpool--Titanic tie seems rather forced. Other tenuous connections can be found in the book. Fortunately, they do not abound, and Scarth succeeds in drawing Liverpool into the Titanic saga. He does not, however, transform ""our understanding of the whole subject,"" because he does not deal with the whole. Matters of design and strength of materials are largely left alone. Questions regarding the treatment of steerage passengers during the crisis are unexplored. Captain Lord of the Californian is excused, but his failure to respond to rocket and wireless signals, even if he could do little, is unexplained. On cardinal issues of ship handling, Scarth does offer interesting evidence that Captain Smith and Ismay were only following proven company protocols regarding speed and navigation throughout the voyage, rather than racing headlong for New York. This, however, creates some tension when the author later hints that the Mersey Commission into the disaster was little better than a whitewash. All told, this interesting and sumptuously illustrated book promises more than it can deliver. Even so, Titanic buffs will find their growing collections incomplete without it. On the fateful night of April 14, 1912, if you could have stood behind the ""unsinkable"" RMS TItanic as she went down in the frigid waters off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the last sight to flash before your eyes would have been the word Liverpool. In 1912, Liverpool, England, was the world's foremost liner port and the 'supreme example of a commercial port at a time of Britain's greatest global influence"". So the loss of such a storied liner, a national and international tragedy, was also a tragedy for its home port. This fascinating, first of its kind volume explores the history and myths surrounding the sinking in terms of the extraordinary stories that link Europe's preeminent port city of Liverpool and its most famous maritime loss. This fascinating, first of its kind volume explores the history and myths surrounding the sinking in terms of the extraordinary stories that link Europe's preeminent port city of Liverpool and its most famous maritime loss. In the hundreds of books on the Titanic that have been written, it seems there isn't anything about the ship that hasn't been included in some aspect. With that said, the premise of this book is still a good one. Alan Scarth, who was born and educated in Liverpool, is uniquely qualified and wrote about the ship from his Liverpool perspective. The city is often overlooked by historians writing about locations with a Titanic connection. Easily identified-Belfast, Southampton, Queenstown, Cherbourg come to mind but seldom is Titanic's port of registry included. ""As the reader will soon realise, far from being a parochial excursion into local history, this approach transforms our understanding of the whole subject. The message on the great liner's stern was clear and direct; Titanic was a Liverpool ship."" By taking this tack and emphasizing Liverpool's prominence, the result is a delightful and insightful read that asks and answers why the Titanic was built and lays the foundation with a thumbnail sketch of Liverpool, the British Empire's foremost international seaport at the beginning of the twentieth century, the White Star Line, the disaster and its aftermath. The White Star Line was founded in Liverpool in 1869 by Thomas lsmay and Scarth gives a short version of the company's history and its very important relationship with the port city. Joseph Bruce Ismay plays a large part in shaping the company's fortunes after his father's death in 1899. As Chairman of the White Star Line a few years later and President of the International Mercantile Marine Company in 1904, after the Morgan combine purchased White Star in 1902, it was a position he was hesitant to accept. Too many people have concentrated only on the Titanic disaster and Ismay's role, thus have a narrow impression of the man and this book gives a more rounded picture, the dilemmas he encountered and the enormous responsibilities he faced. White Star's change from Liverpool to Southampton for their big liners and the proposal of the Olympic-class ship is explained along with the financial arrangements to build them, since IMMC had a serious shortage of working capital. Normally, numbers and figures makes one's eyes glaze over but Scarth's conversational style makes it easily understandable. What may come as a surprise to the reader is how much Liverpool, because of its extensive port infrastructure and White Star's long presence there, provided materials and fittings for Olympic and Titanic. Thomas Utley and Co. made the three main bells and over three hundred sidelights (portholes) and the '-"" Gothic -style windows; the evaporating plant that produced 60 tons of distilled water every 24 hours from sea water for the boilers was supplied by the Liverpool Engineering and Condenser Co.; Messrs. Hutchison and Pollok, Ltd. supplied the ""White Star"" brand of ropes and hawsers to both ships; stoves and a vast array of culinary equipment were made by Henry Wilson and Co.; vast quantities of chinaware were supplied by Stonier and Co. of Liverpool; the bridge and engine room telegraphs designed J.W. Ray and manufactured Chadburn's Telegraph Co. also made the steam whistles. Chadburn had a long association with White Star that began in the late nineteenth century when William Chadburn lived two doors away from Thomas Ismay. The list is long and similar details are fascinating in the overall scheme the author unfolds. The influence of Liverpool continues in each chapter of Titanic's life including biographical sketches of officers, crew and passengers with Liverpool ties. An interesting vignette about one particular passenger is Rev. J. Stuart Holden, who ""missed the boat."" The name may be recognizable because of his ""Titanic ticket"" that has been reproduced in postcard form and is familiar to many. Rev. Holden was planning to attend the Christian Conservation Conference in New York and speak, the same one that William Stead had been invite',: to address, when his plans were interrupted by his wife's sudden illness. On April 9th, he cancelled his voyage and returned his first class contract ticket but kept his receipt/boarding pass which he framed to remind him of God's mercy in saving him from almost certain death. The sinking and aftermath affected many Liverpool families since many of the experienced seamen came from the city and/or district. There are heart-rendering personal stories that initially seemed to have escaped the attention of the local press which was taken by surprise by the extent of the impact of the disaster on the inhabitants. Mr. Albert Thompson, a retired ship's carpenter with Royal Mail recalled as a young child in Bootle, near Liverpool's north docks, when a policeman came into the classroom with the headmaster and asked if any of the boys had fathers on the Titanic. As he recalled, a good number of hands went up. The headmaster then said for them to go home to their mothers. The Titanic disaster was a bitter blow to the port and people of Liverpool. Although she sailed from Southampton where most of her crew lived, she was owned and managed by White Star of Liverpool and the connection between the company and its base was strong. This reviewer is fairly jaded with ""Titanic books"" yet enjoyed the author's perspective of Titanic and Liverpool and recommends it."
a carefully researched, appealingly written, beautifully designed and illustrated short book that brings a new perspective to a very oft-told story. History Today 20100129 The great port city of Liverpool, a 'Maritime Mercantile City'and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, has come forward to claim ownership of the ship whose very name conjures up the hubris of man's relation with the sea. Titanic was built in Belfast, set sail on her fateful maiden voyage from Southampton, but, on her stern was inscribed the single word 'Liverpool'. Why? Because she was registered in Liverpool where her owner, the White Star line, was based. And with the city's long seafaring tradition, many of the crew who went down on the night of April 15th, 1912 were Liverpudlians, as were a fair sprinkling of the passengers. This exercise in rightful reclaim, Titanic and Liverpool, is written by Dr Alan Scarth, a Liverpool-born historian and a curator at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and published by Liverpool University Press. But this is no parochial exercise in misplaced local pride: it is a carefully researched, appealingly written, beautifully designed and illustrated short book that brings a new perspective to a very oft-told story. History Today 20100129 ' A delightful and insightful read that asks and answers why the Titanic was built and lays the foundation with a thumbnail sketch of Liverpool, the British Empire's foremost international seaport at the begiining of the twentieth century, the White Star Line, the disater and its aftermath. ... This author is fairly jaded with 'Titanic books' yet enjoyed the author's perspective and recommends it.' -- Karen Kamuda Titanic Commutator 20100215 The fact that Titanic never visited Liverpool has often served to disguise the port's important role in the ill-fated ship's history. Alan Scarth's lavishly illustrated volume successfully redresses this imbalance. He demonstrates that much of the recent 'Titanic Literature' has largely relegated Liverpool's role in RMS Titanic's history by concentrating on Belfast where she was built and Southampton from where she made her maiden voyage. The book is the culmination of detailed archival research at Liverpool's Maritime Archives and Library, Merseyside Maritime Museum and the Liverpool Records Office. It is richly illustrated throughout with photographs of many members of the crew and passengers as well as many relevant museum artefacts related to the ship's construction. In the first three chapters, Scarth carefully documents Titanic's prehistory. This provides a valuable insight into Liverpool's mercantilist class in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This was a period in which the growing power of New York financiers like John Pierpont Morgan, who bought the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (White Star) in 1902, were starting to compete with Liverpool's dominance of transatlantic travel and mail services. The fact that the White Star Line continued to be based in Liverpool under the management of J. Bruce Ismay is central to Titanic's strong connection to the city. It was largely due to rivalry with the Cunard Line, also based in the city, which led to the building of White Star's Olympic class liners. The Titanic (along with the Olympic and Britannic) was built by Harland and Wolff Ltd in Belfast. Scarth shows us how elements of her design and construction were also closely associated with Liverpool as some of the chief designers were born in the city and a large amount of the ship's fittings were also produced or procured there. Going beyond the obvious mercantilist connections, Scarth also gives testament to the ship's place in the lives of ordinary Liverpudlians. This is most poignantly demonstrated with a detailed list of Liverpool-born crew members who died in the tragedy. Many of these men and women had moved to Southampton to remain working for the White Star Line after the company switched four of its biggest liners to the southern port in 1907. The chapters dealing with Titanic's crew before and after the tragedy demonstrate the author's ability to combine a factual history of the famous ship with the real life personal histories of those involved in her 'story'. The detailed descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of the ship's crew, from 'greasers' to the First Class stewards, are particularly well covered and serve to remind us of the huge amount of manpower required to operate 'the largest and most magnificent ship in the world'. As for the passengers aboard Titanic on her maiden voyage from Southampton, Scarth admits it would have been surprising for many to have hailed from Liverpool as there were still plenty of services from the city provided by both Cunard and White Star. Of the 954 passengers that boarded at Southampton, only sixteen had Liverpool connections. These included most famously J. Bruce Ismay and his valet and secretary. While the testimonies of surviving crew and passengers have been reproduced in numerous publications, by concentrating on those associated with Liverpool, Scarth is able to recount the doomed ship's story through the eyes of the city. This is particularly effective when the book deals with the immediate aftershock of the tragedy. One man's recollection of a police officer coming to his primary school in Bootle and asking the assembled children if any of them had fathers on the Titanic and the resulting show of hands is particularly moving. Scarth describes the various enquiries into the disaster, concentrating most prominently upon Bruce Ismay and the 'long shadow' that the tragedy cast over him and his family. Ismay's immediate vilification by the American press (which painted him as a coward who should have chosen to go down with his ship) was mainly due to the personal enmity felt towards him by the newspaper baron William Randolf Hearst. This foreshadowed the United States Senate Inquiry which commenced the day after the ship's survivors arrived in New York aboard the Cunard liner Carpathia. One of the key issues raised by the enquiries was that Ismay had urged that the speed of the ship be increased so as to arrive in New York early - a claim he repeatedly denied. Documents obtained by Merseyside Maritime Museum in the 1980s have gone some way towards exonerating Ismay on this issue. In conclusion, this is an enjoyable read. It is clear, well written and holds the reader's attention throughout. It is reasonably priced and makes a very welcome addition to the more scholarly contributions to the Titanic story. All those who are interested in Liverpool's maritime history will have much cause to thank Alan Scarth for this beautifully produced and well-researched book. -- Billy Frank, University of Central Lancashire HSLC Transactions, Vol 159 2010 ... this is an enjoyable read. It is clear, well written and holds the reader's attention throughout. It is reasonably priced and makes a very welcome addition to the more scholarly contributions to the Titanic story. All those who are interested in Liverpool's maritime history will have much cause to thank Alan Scarth for this beautifully produced and well-researched book. -- Billy Frank, University of Central Lancashire HSLC Transactions, Vol 159 2010 With the Titanic centenary fast approaching, Alan Scarth proposes a voyage of historical revision. Thus, he notes a growing race among Atlantic communities to claim a share of the ship's fateful story. Liverpool, however, has escaped serious attention, despite its official status as the port of registry. Scarth, therefore, sets out to fill a gap in the literature. As a curator at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, he is certainly well placed to do so. Moreover, had he restricted himself to this relatively modest goal, all might have been plain sailing. Unfortunately, the author rams an iceberg of his own devising when he avers that a look at Titanic's history from the purportedly crucial Liverpool perspective transforms our understanding of the whole subject. [9] To be sure, Scarth succeeds in establishing sundry links that bound Liverpool to Titanic from the latter's inception to its mournful wake. He first describes an Edwardian Liverpool facing serious challenges to its once pre-eminent position in the North Atlantic passenger trade. While far from entirely new, Scarth 's analysis provides helpful contextual detail for understanding the myriad financial, commercial, and other motivations that led to the birth of the Olympic-class ships, of which Titanic was one. In all this, Liverpool shipping magnate, J. Bruce Ismay, is presented as a rather more astute, more formidable person than either Hollywood or Pinewood Studios have traditionally portrayed. No simpering pawn of l.P. Morgan, Ismay sold the White Star Line at a highly inflated price to the American baron, while soon becoming the dynamic president of the very conglomerate that bought him out. Meanwhile, although Titanic never actually visited the port, she was in good measure a brain-child of Liverpool interests. In similar fashion, Scarth demonstrates the many bonds between Liverpool and several of Titanic's crew. Per capita ties were strongest on the bridge. Indeed, the captain, chief, first, and second officers had each lived many years near the Mersey. Among the seamen, deckhands, stewards, and black gang, roughly an eighth of the steamer's complement had Liverpool connections of some kind. Documenting this, Scarth provides a four-page appendix listing the name, gender, age, department, rank, birthplace, address, and fate of the people in question. While only thirteen passengers hailed from Liverpool, Scarth's basic case is unassailable. The city's Titanic investment was heavy, and in far more than corporate terms. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the author sometimes strains needlessly for linkages in pressing his argument. Thus, one questions the wisdom of including Major Archibald W. Butt among the connected. As President Taft's aide-de-camp, Butt had toured Europe before stopping briefly near Chester to visit his brother, who had interests in the Liverpool cotton trade. Apparently, the dashing major made a fine impression on all assembled for a house party. Still, to rank him with the Mersey-mourned seems a bit of a stretch. Then there is the case of Wall ace Hartley, leader of Titanic's orchestra. The heroic last stand of his ensemble aboard Titanic quickly became the stuff of legend. Indeed, thirty thousand folk were said to have lined the route as Hartley's body was returned to his beloved Colne for burial. The problem here is that Colne lies deep in the heart of Lancashire, about a hundred kilometres from Liverpool. Thus, devoting almost two pages to Hartley in a book designed to sharpen our understanding of the LiverpoolTitanic tie seems rather forced. Other tenuous connections can be found in the book. Fortunately, they do not abound, and Scarth succeeds in drawing Liverpool into the Titanic saga. He does not, however, transform our understanding of the whole subject, because he does not deal with the whole. Matters of design and strength of materials are largely left alone. Questions regarding the treatment of steerage passengers during the crisis are unexplored. Captain Lord of the Californian is excused, but his failure to respond to rocket and wireless signals, even if he could do little, is unexplained. On cardinal issues of ship handling, Scarth does offer interesting evidence that Captain Smith and Ismay were only following proven company protocols regarding speed and navigation throughout the voyage, rather than racing headlong for New York. This, however, creates some tension when the author later hints that the Mersey Commission into the disaster was little better than a whitewash. All told, this interesting and sumptuously illustrated book promises more than it can deliver. Even so, Titanic buffs will find their growing collections incomplete without it. International Journal of Maritime History, Volume XXIII, No. 1 201106
