Hal Burton (1908–1992)

This is the serious one.

I've now read three books about the Morro Castle fire, a 1934 shipwreck that cost many dozens of lives due to incompetence at sea: This one, Thomas and Witts's Shipwreck, and Gallagher's Fire at Sea. Both Thomas/Witts and Gallagher are sensationalistic -- Gallagher because he is presenting a dramatic new hypothesis (he was the first to suggest that George White Rogers, the ship's lead radio operator who heroically broadcast her distress calls, was also the one who started the fire). This book attempts to actually look at the facts and report what happens. It mentions the Rogers theory, but says it is not proven. It mentions the hypothesis that the ship's captain, who died shortly before the fire, was poisoned -- but gives strong evidence that this is wrong. And it tries to gather as much testimony as possible.

Possibly too much testimony. I got bored by all the stories of people lost and looking for loved ones. Without wanting to sound callous, every shipwreck has those stories; there is nothing new to be learned from them. What I wanted and needed was details about the wreck itself. The good news is, they're in here, if you wade deeply enough.

It's not the book I would like to see. There is no index. Sources are not properly noted and so cannot be checked. It is full of those human interest stories. The Morro Castle story is fascinating and could use a good reference like Walter Lord's two books on the Titanic. But until that comes along, this is certainly the best of the available options.… (meer)