And the Band Played On...: The Enthralling Account of What Happened After the Titanic Sank

 

On April 14, 1912, when the Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank, 1,500 passengers and crew lost their lives. As the order to abandon ship was given, the orchestra took their instruments on deck and continued to play as the ship went down. The violinist, 21 year-old Jock Hume, knew that his fiancée, Mary, was expecting their first child, the author's mother. A century later, Christopher Ward reveals a dramatic story of love, loss, and betrayal, and the catastrophic impact of Jock's death on two very different Scottish families. He paints a vivid portrait of an age in which class determined the way people lived—and died. This outstanding piece of historical detective work is also a moving account of how the author's quest to learn more about his grandfather revealed the shocking truth about a family he thought he knew, a truth that had been hidden for nearly 100 years.

Christopher Ward is the grandson of Jock Hume, who at 21 was the youngest member of the Titanic's orchestra. He is a former columnist for the Daily Mirror, former editor of the Daily Express, and the chairman and cofounder of Redwood Publishing, Europe's first customer magazine agency.