“Then it is I drown again, with all those dim lost faces I never understood… Include me in your lamentations.”
The aftermath of the Titanic’s sinking saw different reactions erupt across the Atlantic, and the responses of both mourners and onlookers were visceral. Guilt-ridden survivors were both ostracised and lauded. Heroes became legends – the unsinkable Molly Brown and the band that played on till the frozen end – while villains were condemned forever more. Reputations were splintered and characters blackened as the investigation went on. None more so than J. Bruce Ismay, the head of White Star, whose survival was viewed as a weakness of character. But the key question needed answering: was anyone really to blame, and if yes, who?
Join Dominic and Tom, as they discuss the terrible aftershocks of the sinking of the Titanic, as they unpick truth from legend, and analyse James Cameron’s 1995 film, which famously immortalised this extraordinary story.
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com
Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
source
The Titanic tragedy is an example of a Black Swan event..
You left out the other contemporary "heroic failure" the Scott Expedition had died less than a month before, it would be 6 more months till the bodies were found and a bit longer for the news to get out.
Never has a man been so wrong about an histroical figure. Dominic, I love you, but Captain Smith, despite being a Central Casting Captain, did just about everything wrong. The Titanic was a Golden Parachute assignment to cap off a great career. Yet, he was past his prime and his inadequacy ended up killing hundreds of people who might otherwise have survived. Indeed, another Captain may have saved the ship herself.
Bruce Ismay lived in Costelloe Lodge, near Casla in Connemara, County Galway. My Great-Grandad built a couple of fishing boats for him in the 1920s.
Obviously the loss of life is most important, but also the loss of a big ship which would have been a troop/hospital ship in WWI, like Olympic and Britannic.
Sadly Olympic was scrapped in the 30s because Cunard wanted to cull White Star’s popular ships. Again Olympic would have been a troop ship in WWII, and this could have led to it being preserved like the Cunard Queens.
What happened to the iceberg?
cant wait for the series on history's 2nd most famous antisemite
I live in the Maritimes, N.B. Canada our neighbour province is Nova Scotia 209 bodies are brought to Halifax ,59 bodies are claimed by families, the remaining 150 are buried in 3 cemeteries in the city. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic web site has more information on these people.
When do you get back to the good stuff? Cathage and Rome etc…?
I live in Halifax Nova Scotia. The bodies of the dead were brought here, and many are buried here. Some of the filming of Titanic happened here, and one of the best legends of the city is the time someone spiked the clam chowder at the wrap party with PCP, landing many people in hospital.
It was owned by an American. IMM, no?
Wonderful. Thank you.
To my mind all Ismay had to do was get wet. Lightoller did it, he was a smart guy. He could have worked it out to quickly jump in the water near a life boat. He was around them all night. So he didn’t want to get wet and that to me is cowardly considering…
A TITANIC podcast indeed! Marvelous series, gentleman! Hoo-rah!
Absolutely brilliant podcast, and a great telling of this remarkable story.
My absolute favourite podcast! I was always a mathematician and the humanities took a back seat, but as I approach the 40th year I start enjoying history more and more, especially presented with such humour.
A really excellent series. So much detail and so much compassion. It’s an amazing listen.
The Titanic has been a metaphor for Ulster Unionism for over a century …continually trying to avoid the iceberg of Irish Home Rule … continually being holed by it … continually sinking by the head… continually taking to an ever decreasing number of lifeboats … over and over again.
The British report is said to be the template for Peter Cook's epic sketch satirizing the Thorpe murder trial
One thing about Churchill’s comment, ‘race’ meant something different back then, it just meant ‘the people of land/country’ regardless of colour etc.
Also, is he not right? Men willing to die to let women and children survive? I wouldn’t want to live in a society that thought differently
I once arrived in Belfast with a couple of Norwegians to work on an oil rig at Harland and Wolff. We got a taxi to the shipyard, and the taxi driver was talking about the Titanic. He was talking about sectarianism at Harland and Wolff, and how Catholics like his forefathers found it very difficult to find employment there. One of the Norwegians said 'how awful!', and the taxi driver retorted 'oh we didn't mind, we were busy building the iceberg!'
Wow
Did you see the warning from Youtube?
Yeah, I really enjoyed the movie. It was an impressive scale and a great story with great actors.
Dominic's wedding band moves from his ring finger to his thumb (43:45) and back. Now I can't stop watching for it. 😟
My favourite quote from Cameron's 'Titanic' is when Roy Scheider says, on seeing the iceberg, "You're gonna need a bigger boat!"…..or have I got the right movie?
Superb series
A little surprised you didn’t site Hardy’s poem Convergence of the Twain or the curse the disaster heaped on the Boston Red Sox. They would never win another championship for 100 years.
Surprised at the low number of likes this has got. Love this podcast, always provokes deep conversations with my other half.
It melted, eventually. Good riddance.