Today is the 107th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The story of the “unsinkable” liner hitting the iceberg is so famous it hardly seems worth retelling for the umpteenth time, except perhaps for the producers of Entertainment Tonight, who reported on the sinking of the Costa Concordia with this headline
So, here’s a pack of materials suitable for immersing yourself in Titanic lore for a day or so, if such a mood has taken you.
Stuff You Missed In History – How The Titanic Worked
A good primer on the facts of the story, with the usual provisos about “why so many adverts?” etc.
National Archives – Titanic: the official story
A more comprehensive, if less flashy, recounting of the story, with some surprising twists in the days after the ship sunk.
Titanic – The New Evidence
A BBC documentary from a couple of years ago which puts forward a very different theory about the causes of the sinking.
National Archives – Titanic Lives
Another angle on the story (an often neglected one) is the stories of some of the people aboard.
The History Chicks – Molly Brown
A podcast about one of the most interesting Titanic survivors, Molly Brown’s life story is absolutely stranger than fiction.
Thomas Hardy – The Convergence of The Twain
A contemporary poem by Thomas Hardy, expressing the fairly original idea that the ship and the iceberg were destined to meet each-other and foolish humans could do nothing to prevent it.