The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian and the Night the Titanic Was Lost
By: Daniel Allen Butler / Narrated By: Paul Heitsch
Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
Thanks to y’all for voting this one in cuz it’s a great Listen!
It’s terrible and unfathomable, I know, that often in my Tell Me What’s Next section, I offer as listening possibilities audiobooks which turn out to be total dogs (No offense to dogs!), either through poor narration or through underwhelming Publishers’ Summaries. I often wind up turning in somewhat less than stellar reviews (cough cough) of audiobooks which I PERSONALLY curated as possibilities. What IS my problem?
And even tho’ I was reeeeally hoping The Other Side of the Night would garner the most votes (Cuz I kinda sorta like disaster tales!), the Publisher’s Summary made it sounds as though the book would be a dry account of events, heavy on the research, light on the human drama. And there’s nothing I love so much as humans flailing and making choices and trying to do the right thing especially under horrific circumstances. I was a tad worried.
So imagine how thrilled I am to say that this was a really good audiobook. Sure, it’s meTICulously researched, has details galore, and provides a lengthy history of luxury liner companies at the time. But it also shows us just how much human sweat and tears were necessary to get these steaming palaces across an ocean (Think men stripped to their waists in the unbearable heat, black from coal, carting coal, shoveling it into blazing furnaces… 24/7…). Think about all the individuals cramming themselves in as not First Class passengers, but Second Class, Third (And interestingly, author Daniel Allen Butler disabuses us of the notion that they were ALL the huddled and unwashed masses, clinging to each other amidst the chaos of the hustle and bustle of the ships).
Mostly, however, the book gives us the AWEsome stories of two Captains, Rostron of the Carpathia, and Lord of the Californian. Who were they, and how could they come to make such different, different choices when it all hit the fan and daring was called for? Maybe because Rostron led by respecting his crew, and Lord led by dominating his own staff. When the chips were down, when the crew of the Californian saw the distress flares (EIGHT of them!) and were told by Lord that it was nothing, none had the courage to speak truth to his face but kept their misgivings to themselves.
But when the word came via wireless that the Titanic was in trouble, Rostron respected his wireless operator and moved heaven and earth to go the many, many miles to the sinking ship, navigating through waters that were fields of ice. And tell me if you can listen to how the stokers rose to the occasion, exhausted as they already were, some taken from their beds and working in only union suits, all in a desperate frenzy to “get there” and NOT feel moved, NOT feel an incredible sense of pride in being part of the human race! Butler delivers some dazzling writing throughout the book, and drama comes through loud and clear.
After such excitement, the troubles with icebergs, the SOSs sent out to ships, ANY ship, please! the sinking, and the race to come to aid, I expected my interest to drop accordingly. After all, the inquests into just what happened… and into why the Californian, which was LESS THAN 10 MILES AWAY, cruised on by might seem to be a bit dull after drama and trauma. Not so; it was a fascinating study of finger pointing, naysaying, cooking the books, and lies lies lies.
What’s not to like with all THAT?!? Paul Heitsch does an admirable job in conveying the staid then going on to convey the dramatic. He captures the fears of the crewmen, the personalities of the captains as told, and the emotions of the inquests.
Therefore, lemme take this moment to thank y’all most heartily for choosing this as my Next Listen. It was engaging; it was enlightening. And both the seas and the courtroom were painted vividly.
Yes yes yes. Shameful that the tragic should be entertainment…
…but it was…!
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