RMS Titanic Book Reviews: “It is impossible to stand. The music’s sounds are lost in an increasingly thunderous roar … “

With the arrival of the sinking of the RMS Titanic’s 100th anniversary on April 15, the shelves are flooding with new books and reprints on every topic related to Titanic.  Here are reviews of some of the entries, courtesy of the Titanic International Society.

— Reviews by John P. Eaton*

And the Band Played On by Christopher Ward, Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 274 pp, illus., ©2012 ISBN 978 1 444 70794 6. Available from Amazon.com (US: Hardbound $17.20; paperback $10.25 (plus shipping); Kindle edition $8.66 (Amazon.co.uk: £12.40; £5.43; £4.99)

Songe d’Titanic

Of all acts of heroism and valor realized during the hours of Titanic’s loss, none is so well defined or so often recalled as the audacity of the courageous bandsmen:

… High on the boat deck, in a space adjacent to the second funnel, the bandsmen paused in their music making. Earlier they had played rags, gay pieces from musical theatre, brave marches. The deck beneath them began a slow, almost imperceptible slant forward. Cold hands gripped instruments tightly, chilled fingers groped for taught strings. Bandmaster Wallace Hartley tapped his bow and spoke a title. The strains of the well-loved Londonderry Air (Danny Boy to many) drifted across the calm waters now dotted with drifting lifeboats.

The slanting decks grew steeper, more slippery. The music ceased, then began again, thinly, as Hartley, perhaps in reverie, pulled his bow across the strings for the final time. He was joined as, one by one, the other players picked up the familiar tune — the hymn played at gravesides for brother musicians departed, and Hartley’s own favorite. Nearer, My God, To Thee.

It is impossible to stand. The music’s sounds are lost in an increasingly thunderous roar … (Eaton & Haas, Falling Star, Patrick Stephens, Ltd., 1989, p. 162)