The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian

by David Dyer

As the "Titanic" and her passengers sank slowly into the Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg late in the evening of April 14, 1912, a nearby ship looked on. Second Officer Herbert Stone, in charge of the midnight watch on the "SS Californian" sitting idly a few miles north, saw the distress rockets that the "Titanic" fired. The next morning, the "Titanic" was at the bottom of the sea and more than 1,500 people were dead. When they learned the extent of the tragedy, they did everything they could to hide their role in the disaster, but pursued by newspapermen, lawyers, and political leaders in America and England, their terrible secret was eventually revealed. "The Midnight Watch" is a fictional telling of what may have occurred that night on the "SS Californian," and the resulting desperation of Officer Stone and Captain Lord in the aftermath of their inaction.

As the Titanic and her passengers sank slowly into the Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg late in the evening of April 14, 1912, a nearby ship looked on. Eight distress rockets were fired during the dark hours of the midnight watch, and eight rockets were ignored. The next morning, the Titanic was at the bottom of the sea and more than 1,500 people were dead. Told not only from the perspective of the SS Californian crew, but also through the eyes of a family of third-class passengers who perished in the disaster, the narrative is drawn together by Steadman, a tenacious Boston journalist who does not rest until the truth is found.

• ISBN10: 1250080932
• ISBN13: 9781250080936
• Publish Date: 5 April 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 6 July 2021
• Imprint: St. Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Beth C.]

The Titanic. Her name, and the tragedy that eclipsed her, are unmistakable. Hundreds of people - mostly third class passengers - died when she sank after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage. But what if many of those passengers could have been saved? "The Midnight Watch" discusses the lesser-known fact that there WAS ship in the vicinity, and it is thought that she could not only see the Titanic on the horizon, but could have possibly changed the outcome of the tragedy. That ship was the Californian.

David Dyer takes us through the fictionalized account of the two ships through two main people - Officer Stone, the second officer on the Californian, and John Steadman, an alcoholic reporter for the Boston American. With alternating chapters, Dyer shows the reader not only the facts behind the story, but attempts to show the whys and hows.

The story itself was quite well written. Knowing the ending of the Titanic did nothing to take away from the looming tragedy. Learning about the Californian helped me to see the tragedy with new eyes. It would have been nice to have a brief afterward to explain what was fact, what was fiction (I can't seem to figure out if that particular reporter actually existed, though I'm guessing not.), and some of the sources Dyer used in his research. For inquiring minds, it would have been interesting as follow up. Overall, however, the story was interesting to read and well worth the time invested. It's a new look at an old, though never forgotten, unnecessary tragedy.