How to survive the Titanic, or, The sinking of J. Bruce Ismay / Frances Wilson.

The story of J. Bruce Ismay (1862-1937), managing director and chairman of the White Star Line, the company that commissioned the building of the Titanic. The author focuses on Ismay's life leading up to the sinking of the Titanic, his actions on the night of the sinking and the impact of this event on his later life. The author considers the evidence given by Ismay and others to both the American and British inquiries into the disaster, and draws on the correspondence between Ismay and a fellow survivor Marian Thayer, as well as the work of author Joseph Conrad. Ismay was villifed in the press for taking to a lifeboat shortly before the ship sank, accused of cowardice and of dictating the Titanic's speed, and held responsible for the lack of lifeboats. Although cleared of blame by the British inquiry, Ismay never recovered and retired from shipping in 1913 spending much of his life in Ireland at his home Costelloe Lodge in Connemara.