title: The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian
author: David Dyer
description: Debut author Dyer elucidates formerly restricted evidence in his recreation of the confounding evening that the SS Californian watched on while the nearby Titanic sent up eight distress rockets before slowly sinking into the sea. The story itself is bizarre, rife with miscommunications. When Capt. Stanley Lord brings the Californian to a halt, his radio operator warns nearby ships that "We are stopped and surrounded by ice," but the steaming Titanic's operator responds, "shut up shut up shut up keep out" only moments before that passenger vessel's lights go out all at once. Meek second officer Herbert Stone sees the rockets go up, bursting "silently into a delicate shower of stars" one after another, during his graveyard watch, but is fatefully told only to monitor. When Captain Lord and Officer Stone later offer their official accounts, Boston reporter Steadman senses an incomplete truth, and through his pleasantly filigreed voice, their failure to act is exposed during the second half of the novel. Dyer's elegant, imaginative renderings captivate, and his expansive researchincluding exclusive access to legal documentsmakes this colossal disaster newly enthralling. (Apr.)\n
zlib_text: DEEP SIX
  
  
  BY CLIVE CUSSLER
  
  
  Other Books BY CLIVE CUSSLER
  
  
  THE MEDITERRANEAN CAPER
  
  
  ICEBERG
  
  
  RAISE THE TITANIC!
  
  
  VIXEN
  
  
  NIGHT PROBE!
  
  
  PACIFIC VORTEX!
  
  
  DEEP SIX
  
  
  SIMON AND SCHUSTER NEW YORK
  
  
  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
  either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
  resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is
  entirely coincinental.
  
  
  
  
  
  COPYRIGHT @ 1984 BY CLIVE CUSSLER ENTERPRISES, INC.
  
  
  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART
  
  
  IN ANY FORM
  
  
  PUBLISHED BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER A DIVISION OF SIMON & SCHUSTER, INC.
  
  
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  NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10020
  
  
  SIMON AND SCHUSTER AND COLOPHON ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF SIMON & SCHUSTER,
  INC.
  
  
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  MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  
  
  To Tubby's Bar & Grill in Alhambra, Rand's Roundup on Wilshire Boulevard