Unsinkable: The Titanic and Tennis  

With the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, we’re seeing renewed interest in re-publishing or re-telling the stories behind that famous ship. If you are going to read anything, read this excellent article in Sports Illustrated.

The whole story, which is about tennis as much as it is Titanic, is utterly fascinating, but this part really got me:

Dick and Charles Williams walked the deck. They tried to stay warm by riding stationary bikes in the exercise room. Finally, as the letters of the ship’s name on the bow were about to slip underwater, they decided to abandon ship. They stood near the rail, an infirm man and his only child, and said their goodbyes. As they were speaking, one of the ship’s enormous smokestacks came crashing down. Dick darted out of the way. Charles was crushed, instantly killed. At that point Dick jumped into the ocean. In 28º water, swathed in a raccoon coat, he began to swim for his life.

Seriously, Instapaper this shit.

Also, check out this video that James Cameron and National Geographic put together to show how the Titanic sank: