While the world has remained fascinated by the Titanic tragedy, the most amazing drama of those fateful hours was not played out aboard the doomed White Star liner, it took place on the decks of two other ships, one fifty-eight miles distant and the other barely ten miles away.

Prologue: "For those in peril on the sea..." -- The cruelest ocean -- The Carpathia and Arthur Rostron -- The Californian and Stanley Lord -- S O S: Titanic -- By the rockets' white glare -- Rescue at dawn -- New York and Boston -- The American investigation -- The British inquiry -- The undelivered verdict -- Epilogue: Flotsam and jetsam.