In Titanic's Shadow: The World's Worst Merchant Ship Disasters - Softcover

Williams, David L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752471228 ISBN 13: 9780752471228

Publisher: The History Press, 2012

While the near 1,500 victims of Titanic accounted for a huge loss of life, each of the ships here had a greater number of casualties, in some cases more than five times as many. In total, these 27 merchant ship sinkings resulted in a staggering loss of life at sea – more than 96,000 in total, 3,840 per ship. While the circumstances were different to Titanic, the outcome in each case was no less tragic. Yet, despite the fact that Titanic ranks behind so many other losses, so powerful has her name become that it was the inevitable choice to describe some of these other events, ‘Germany’s Titanic’ and ‘The Titanic of Japan’ being two examples. Ships include the Lancastria, Britain’s worst maritime disaster with 3,000 lost; the Ryusei Maru, a Japanese ‘Hellship’ loaded with 6,000 Allied POWs, torpedoed by a US submarine; and the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German liner packed with 7,800 civilians, sunk by a Russian submarine. There were no survivors and this tragedy was the worst maritime disaster of all time.

About the Author:

David L. Williams has a background in professional photography and technical publications. He has written more than 30 books on shipping and related subjects.

• Publisher: The History Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0752471228
• ISBN 13: 9780752471228
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200