I had a sneak preview of this book while at a publisher's premises
this week.
The title is somewhat pompous, and IMHO, none of the images can be
described as "Great". The pictures are obviously digitally sourced, as
they are from HD images taken during Ballard's last voyage, and the
amount of "blow-up" of the images reveal the pixels and a lack of
detail. Some of the photos are so murky that the detail is completely
lost, and the pixels make the background a murky wash of green, blue
and red. There are two photos which clearly show this: a shot of the
bow, taken from 20-30 feet away, so illumination is poor; another
photo is the A deck starboard-side promenade, looking aft. A lot of
the
pictures have been seen in the National Geographic and Return to the
Titanic.
The text leaves something to be desired, and demonstrates Ballard's
continued anti-salvage stance. Also, in his description of the crow's
nest, showing a 1985 Angus picture, Ballard says that the photo shows
"The crow's nest as it looked when I discovered the ****p in 1985."
Thats right, "I", no mentioned of "we".
Ballard says of the foremast; "The sad part is the missing crow's
nest. Someone knocked it off. I wont say who, but in one of those
expeditions to the wreck, at one point, if you watch their
do***entary, they show the crow's nest intact, and then later on they
show it missing. They don't say anything but isn't it odd that during
one dive it's there, and then its not?"
He later on notes that "since [his first trips to the wreck], the
crow's nest has been torn away , and salvagers have taken both the
masthead light and the telephone."
Of Captain Smith's quarters, Ballard writes: "That bulkhead was
upright in 1986. Some people would say that its natural decay. Is it?
Its almost impossible to say for sure, but to me its clear that the
damage has been accelerated by human activity." He also places the
blames on a lot of the alleged damage squarely with submarines.
He also brings up the story of his original plaque: "Someone took the
plaque we left on the bow [sic] back in 1986, so we left a replacement
=2E. I don't want to say exactly where because someone will take it."
All of the above comments have generated great debate, and some are
highly dubious. One story (the salvage of the telephone from the crows
nest) is a 100% falsehood.
My opinion? One for completists only. There are better books out
there.
Publisher: Haynes/Madison
Cost =A325
ISBN: 978 1 85260 615 2
Cheers
Paul
--
Pre-order my Titanic ebook at http://www.paullee.com/book_details.php
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