Part 1: All Aboard!

1 Full Steam Ahead Back around 1912, people were putting a lot of faith in progress, for better or worse.

2 Sinking Fortunes The Titanic passenger list included a millionaire's who's who.

3 Folks Against Fate Aside from the millionaires, many notable figures embarked on the doomed ship.

4 Leaks in Leadership? The captain and the officers had their hands full, with the biggest ship in history under their care.

5 Salt-Water Staffers Hundreds of employees helped keep the floating city running in ship-shape fashion.

Part 2: Liner Notes

6 Big Boats, Big Business There was a lot of money to be made in passenger steam-ships, and a lot of powerful people scheming to get every penny.

7 Building a Legend Big ships don't just grow on trees; the Titanic was a labor-intensive proposition.

8 A Sea Full of Shipwrecks The special importance of the Titanic shouldn't cloud the fact that disasters at sea have been all to common.

Part 3: Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

9 The Tip of the Iceberg The captain and officers knew the ice was out there; they couldn't imagine what it would do.

10 A Bad Scrape The Titanic was mortally wounded and only recently has there been a good autopsy.

11 Going Under Titanic lingered for over 2 (1/2) hours of drama and tragedy before finally sinking into the ocean.

12 In the Wake of Disaster Slowly, people picked up the pieces and sorted them out, held services, and built monuments to those who were lost.

13 Life Goes On Survivors' lives were changed forever by the disaster, but they carried on.

Part 4: Lowering the Boom

14 Making Waves The newspapers were all over the Titanic story--though they didn't always get it right!

15 Burning Questions The U.S. Senate took it upon itself to find out what everyone wanted to know.

16 Holes in the System The British Board of Trade conducted an inquiry that observers accused of being a whitewash.

17 Cold Judgments Despite the efforts of historians to cut through the controversies, some Titanic questions won't go away.

18 Charting New Courses The Titanic disaster gave rise to new legislation intended to prevent anything like it from happening again.

Part 5: Hard to Fathom

19 Salvage Schemes Ideas for finding and bringing the wreck back to the surface have ranged from goofy to ingenious.

20 High Tech Meets Low Wreck It took come of the most sophisticated scientific and military deep-sea technology in the world to find and explore the wreck.

21 Coming Up with the Goods Despite objections from those who oppose salvaging, Titanic artifact recovery is an ongoing enterprise.

Part 6: Titanimania

22 Deep Prophecies The Titanic has played a central role in much of this century's occult activity.

23 Myth Making Many of the spins put on the disaster and the actions of the people involved need to be taken with a grain of salt.

24 Classic Catastrophes It didn't take long for writers and movie directors to realize the Titanic was excellent subject matter.

25 More Big Splashes The Titanic sails on in the late 1990s with a record-breaking Broadway show and the biggest international movie block-buster ever.

A Titanic Terms A glossary of specialized terms that should come in handy as you explore the Titanic.

B Historic Ships An annotated list of ships and subs, including many whose fate had a bearing on the Titanic.

C Names to Know A list describing famous people who have figured in to the Titanic story, including well-known passengers, crew, and Titanic artists and historians.

D Titanic Passengers The complete list of all those who took the fateful journey.

E Cargo Hold A list of goods that went down with the ship

F Titanic Reading and Viewing A list of sources to help you explore the Titanic further.

Index