Published in 1972, this book is narrative non-fiction about the SS Morro Castle, a ship that was returning from a pleasure cruise to Havana, containing over 500 passengers and crew, when it caught fire and ran aground in New Jersey, killing 134 people. This book attempts to prove it was arson by one of the radio operators. The authors also highlight contributing factors, such as untrained crew, lack of lifeboat drills, and other negligence. The story is based on interviews of many survivors and experts. There are a few questionable structural issues – the last part of the book basically recounts news articles. The details of this tragic shipwreck are vividly described. Much is based on circumstantial evidence, but the authors do make a plausible case for arson. It held my interest and has led me to further research this disaster. Recommended to those interested in history’s mysteries. ( )

Not a success. Decent info on a subject I don't find all that interesting, but the story is pretty much a mess. We learn _what_ happened, with heavy foreshadowing and hinting and so on (the ship had less than 24 hours to live!...less than 5 hours to live!..less than...). Why...that's another question. Lots of plots going on, most of which seem unrelated. The authors have decided who did it and bring in a lot of info as to why - but it's all second- or third-hand stuff, and their theories leave out a lot of stuff. They also spend a lot of time being puzzled about why this person didn't report, and that jury didn't condemn, and...No answers, just questions. I had never heard of the Morro Castle or her wreck before; the authors claim the ship was second only to the Titanic, in her time, but it seems unlikely. So I've read it, that's fine, I won't ever reread this book and I won't seek out better info - though I might notice if I come across some. Yawn. ( )

OK, you've had your fun; now it's time to grow up.

The fate of the cruise ship Morrow Castle, which was lost in 1934, was tragic: The captain died, then the ship caught fire, and many people died because the ship was badly mishandled in its last hours. On this all would agree.

But why did the captain die, and why was the ship mishandled? These are valid and difficult questions which this book attempts to answer. But the results are, at best, puzzling. The book is full of things that sound like conspiracy theories: Someone wanted a shipwreck at Asbury Park to draw tourists. The captain thought someone was out to get him. The ship was smuggling weapons to Cuba.

But -- the Asbury Park suggestion had come fifty years earlier. The captain's actions are presented as paranoid, but the book gives little evidence as to why, and offers no suggestion as to who was out to get him. The weapons-smuggling may have happened, but it wasn't part of anything that happened to the ship. In the end, all the book suggests is that a radio operator set a fire. And its evidence for that contains a lot of Freudian psychology that we know is bunk. The radio operator involved may have been a psychopath -- but I'd need a lot more evidence than this.

Especially since the book has neither footnotes nor index. There is a bibliography, but it doesn't reveal what parts of the book are sourced and what is just conspiracy theory. Frankly, this book feels more like an historical novel than a history.

Having read this book, I am quite interested in learning more about the Morro Castle. But I'll be reading other sources to try to find out what I can trust. ( )