On 14th April 1912, the biggest passenger ship ever built, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. In the early hours of 15th April, the ‘unsinkable’ RMS Titanic sank. Of the 2,224 passengers on board, more than 1,500 died making it the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.
The most famous tale of the sinking of the RMS Titanic is the 1997 movie by James Cameron, and while there’s no doubting that it’s a blockbuster movie and a fantastic tale, it’s also grossly inaccurate to the events, and mostly fiction. So today, we’re bringing you five fascinating nonfiction books about the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

The Loss of the S.S Titanic – Lawrence Beesley
If you want a first hand account of the disaster, untainted by history, this is it! Astonishingly, The Loss of the S.S Titanic was published just months after the disaster, Lawrence Beesley was one of the survivors. He was in his second-class cabin when the ship hit the iceberg and gives a harrowing and terrifying first hand account.
The Loss of the S.S Titanic US
The Loss of the S.S Titanic UK
Voyagers of the Titanic – Richard Davenport-Hines
Taking a different approach is Voyagers of the Titanic, an investigation into the history of the people connected to the ship, the industry giants like J.P Morgan who built it, the aristocrats in first class and the third-class passengers below deck voyaging to America for a better life they would never reach.


A Night to Remember – Walter Lord
It’s more than one hundred years since the Titanic sank, but this minute-by-minute account of the sinking, from the hitting of the iceberg to the moment the ship went down is so riveting you’ll feel like you’re right there in the moment
The Night Lives on – Walter Lord
This account of the untold stories of the Titanic, plus an investigation into how things went wrong is essential reading. Walter Lord was expert consultant on the 1997 movie, he knows his stuff!


And the Band Played On – Christopher Ward
The idea that the band continued to play as the Titanic sank is maybe one of the most romanticised ideas in the entire disaster. This is a nonfiction and detailed count of the life of Jock Hume, the 21-yr old violinist who went down with the ship, leaving his fiancée pregnant with their first child. That child was Christopher Ward’s mother.

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