Part I: The Titanic: A Century of Legend 7

Chapter 1: Why the Titanic Endures 9

Chapter 2: Building the Ship of Dreams 19

Chapter 3: From Royalty to Rats: Who Sailed on the Titanic 33

Chapter 4: Life Onboard: From Breakfast and Lunch to Steerage and Bunks 55

Part II: Tragedy at Sea: The Titanic Sinks on Its Maiden Voyage 71

Chapter 5: Four Days of Smooth Sailing 73

Chapter 6: The Collision and Sinking 83

Chapter 7: Surviving the Sinking of the Titanic 99

Chapter 8: “I Was There”: Firsthand Accounts of the Sinking 121

Chapter 9: How the World Learned about the Titanic’s Loss 149

Chapter 10: Investigating the Titanic’s Demise 163

Part III: Exploring Enduring Titanic Mysteries 187

Chapter 11: Doomed from the Start? Studying What Went Wrong 189

Chapter 12: Lingering Questions about the Titanic’s Final Hours 201

Chapter 13: Foreshadowing the Tragedy? The 1898 Novella The Wreck of the Titan 213

Part IV: The Quest to Recover the Titanic 219

Chapter 14: Looking at Early Attempts to Raise the Titanic 221

Chapter 15: The Quest of the Century: The 1985 Discovery of the Wreck 233

Part V: The Titanic in Popular Culture 247

Chapter 16: Salvaging the Titanic and Its Artifacts 249

Chapter 17: Presenting the Titanic Story on Screen and on Stage 265

Part VI: The Part of Tens 275

Chapter 18: Ten Fascinating Titanic Artifacts 277

Chapter 19: Ten Titanic Myths Debunked 285

Chapter 20: Ten Terrifi c Titanic Documentaries 293

Appendix: A Titanic Timeline 301

Index 309