Titanic - Destination Disaster : The Legends and the Reality

Born, raised and educated at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, John P. Eaton worked for more than 35 years in a large, busy hospital emergency room in New York City. He now lives 55 miles north but a world away from New York, in a small, quiet village on the Hudson River. He first encountered Titanic in a painting that illustrated a story in Esquire magazine. "Why did the big ship sink?" he wondered. It took 52 years for someone to answer that question to his satisfaction. Meanwhile, in libraries and archives in cities on three continents, he has conducted a love affair with the world's most famous ship. The advent of the Internet has expanded his search even further, supplying, literally, an archive without walls. In 1973, a fortuitous meeting in the New York Public Library's main catalogue room (then unknown to one another, both simultaneously reached for the same card catalogue drawer marked "Titan-Titap") with Charles Haas has since resulted in their completion of five full-length books and countless articles and lectures, all relating to Titanic. The ship itself; its people - builders, passengers and assessors; its place in history: all contribute to an ongoing fascination with a subject whose many facets and dimensions never cease to fascinate. Mr. Eaton's specific interests within the subject include the more than 200 ships related to the disaster; and a study of night signals, whose usefulness to navigation ceased on the morning of April 15, 1912. Mr. Eaton is a co-founder of the Titanic International Society. He has dived to the wreck. He has appeared - more often than not with Mr. Haas - on many radio and television programs; together they have served as advisers to many significant projects and exhibits. Who would have thought that a chance encounter with a magazine illustration could lead to a life of research, study and adventure? Charles A. Haas, born in 1947, credits his Titanic interest to his grandfather, who introduced him to ocean liners through his office windows overlooking New York Harbor, and lent him the bestseller A Night to Remember. Charlie did his first Titanic research in high school; his researching continues to the present day. "Titanic's story never ends," he says. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rider University and a Master of Arts degree from William Paterson University, and enjoyed a distinguished 36-year career teaching English and journalism at Randolph High School in New Jersey before his 2005 retirement. In 1986, with writing partner John P. Eaton, he wrote the critically acclaimed Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy, whose previously unpublished details rewrote key parts of Titanic's story, followed by Titanic: Destination Disaster, Falling Star: Misadventures of White Star Line Ships, and Titanic: A Journey Through Time. In 1993, Charlie became the world's first teacher and historian to dive to Titanic's wreck aboard the submersible Nautile. His second dive in 1996 inspired the Discovery Channel program, Titanic: Untold Stories, and he was present in 1998 as the 22-ton "Big Piece," the largest Titanic artifact, was recovered. Since 2006, Haas has served as president of the New Jersey-based Titanic International Society. He has lectured frequently on both sides of the Atlantic, been interviewed for countless radio and television programs, and served as consultant to Titanic-related projects on three continents. In his spare time, Charlie enjoys reading, digging through online newspaper archives, tutoring young people, working at his church's food pantry, and visiting with family and friends. He lives in northern New Jersey.