Now reading...

"Ghosts of the Titanic" by Charles Pellegrino

From BarnesandNoble.com:

In 1996, Charles Pellegrino published Her Name, Titanic, a riveting account of the most famous disaster in American history. The book became a New York Times bestseller, garnering superb praise from both readers and the pres. Now Pellegrino, expert oceanographer and a member of the original team that discovered the wreck two-and-one-half miles below the surface of the sea, has written the ultimate book on the sinking of the Titanic. Using the latest technology to penetrate the ship's watery grave—where low oxygen levels and a water temperature only two degrees above freezing have kept many of the ship's artifacts from even mild decay—Ghosts of the Titanic recreates those last, horrifying moments on board the doomed ship, and uncovers fascinating secrets about ocean life. Filled with new discoveries about the ship's fate and history, it reveals:

• The surprising fate of the Grand Stairway
• Why the lookout never saw the iceberg before it was too late, and why the Titanic was much closer to the iceberg than previously thought
• Who was looting cabins as the ship went down
• Diaries and letters from passengers, perfectly preserved at the bottom of the ocean