Cigar Society of Chicago
presents

"The Race to Save the
                              Titanic," William Hazelgrove

One hundred and sixty minutes.

That is all the time rescuers would have before the largest ship in the world slipped beneath the icy Atlantic. There was amazing heroism and astounding incompetence against the backdrop of the most advanced ship in history sinking by inches with luminaries from all over the world. It is a story of a network of wireless operators on land and sea who desperately sent messages back and forth across the dark frozen North Atlantic to mount a rescue mission. More than twenty-eight ships would be involved in the rescue of Titanic survivors along with four different countries.

At the heart of the rescue are two young Marconi operators, Jack Phillips 25 and Harold Bride 22, tapping furiously and sending electromagnetic waves into the black night as the room they sat in slanted toward the icy depths and not stopping until the bone numbing water was around their ankles. Then they plunged into the water after coordinating the largest rescue operation the maritime world had ever seen and thereby saving 710 people by their efforts. The race to save the largest ship in the world from certain death would reveal both heroes and villains. It would begin at 11:40 PM on April 14, when the iceberg was struck and would end at 2:20 AM April 15, when her lights blinked out and left 1500 people thrashing in 25-degree water. Although the race to save Titanic survivors would stretch on beyond this, most people in the water would die, but the amazing thing is that of the 2229 people, 710 did not and this was the success of the Titanic rescue effort.

We see the Titanic as a great tragedy but a third of the people were rescued and the only reason every man, woman, and child did not succumb to the cold depths is due to Jack Phillips and Harold Bride in an insulated telegraph room known as the Silent Room. These two men tapping out CQD and SOS distress codes while the ship took on water at the rate of 400 tons per minute from a three-hundred-foot gash would inaugurate the most extensive rescue operation in maritime history using the cutting-edge technology of the time, wireless.

Rick Kogan, in his lengthy review of the book in the Chicago Tribune, wrote: "Hazelgrove is a sociable historian, writing in a style closer to breezy conversation than droning academia, and not at all reluctant to share his enthusiasm for his subjects. He has done this in previous books about such colorful characters as Teddy Roosevelt, Al Capone, Edith Wilson, the Wright Brothers and Sally Rand.

"One might think that we know all there is to know about that April 14, 1912 story, but Hazelgrove, an energetically curious man, has unearthed a compelling and exciting story and effectively pokes holes in some of the persistent myths surrounding the tragedy.

"This book was born of his own fascination with the Titanic and after diving deep into the history and the myths, he writes, 'And if we are in the business of breaking up myths surrounding the night the Titanic sunk then we might as well put this out there. It was a success. This goes against all the known thought, theory, extrapolation, judgment, revisionism, books, testimonials, movies and dreams.'”

William Hazelgrove is well known to the Cigar Society for his talks about Sally Rand: American Sex SymbolHenry Knox's Noble TrainWright Brothers, Wrong Story: How Wilbur Wright Solved the Problem of Manned FlightForging a President: How the Wild West Created Teddy RooseveltAl Capone and the 1933 World's Fair;  and Madame President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson.

Mr. Hazelgrove is the national bestselling author of ten novels and ten nonfiction titles. His books have received starred reviews in Publisher Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, Book of the Month Selections, ALA Editors Choice Awards Junior Library Guild Selections, Literary Guild Selections, History Book Club Selections and optioned for the movies. He was the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence where he wrote in the attic of Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace. He has written articles and reviews for USA Today, The Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications and has been featured on NPR All Things Considered. The New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, CSPAN, USA Today have all covered his books with features.

FREE and ONLINE
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
5:30-7:00 pm CST

Sign in 5:00-5:30 pm Central Time for informal cigar and cocktail chatter.
The event will be called to order at 5:30.
There will be a Q&A session following the lecture. Audience participation is invited.
The event will be adjourned 7 pm.
An optional cocktail party and discussion will continue after the event.
Be sure to have your cocktails and cigars at ready hand.


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About the Cigar Society of Chicago

ONE OF THE OLDEST AND greatest traditions of the city clubs of Chicago is the discussion of intellectual, social, legal, artistic, historical, scientific, musical, theatrical, and philosophical issues in the company of educated, bright, and appropriately provocative individuals, all under the beneficent influence of substantial amounts of tobacco and spirits.  The Cigar Society of Chicago embraces this tradition and extends it with its Informal Smokers, University Series lectures, and Cigar Society Dinners, in which cigars, and from time to time pipes and cigarettes, appear as an important component of our version of the classical symposium. To be included in the Cigar Society's mailing list, write to the secretary at curtis.tuckey@logicophilosophicus.org