PREFACE

THE disastrous collision, with an iceberg in mid-ocean, of the mighty ocean liner-the Titanic-the finest example of modern ship building—and the awful loss of 1,595 of the 2,340 passengers aboard, goes down easily in history as the greatest of ocean catastrophes.

The Titanic, a floating palace of luxury, the largest and finest steamship ever built, set forth on her maiden trip with the avowed purpose of following the shortest course at the highest possible speed. Her 2,340 passen-gers, for the most part on pleasure bent, among whom were some of the wealthiest and most distinguished people of both sides of the Atlantic, felt such perfect confidence in the liner that, even after she was struck and when she was sinking, they could not believe her destruction possible.

But the "largest and finest steamship ever built" as she ploughed her way swiftly through the quiet Atlantic, plunged against a monster iceberg which lay stretched out for miles over the sea. Her side was ripped open, her boilers exposed to the icy waters, yet the people were not alarmed.

Not until the twenty lifeboats were put off with their protesting cargoes and the decks were tilted up