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Although both men came from families whose various members were highly distinguished for their military service and for their service to the church, they became reluctant heroes after being awarded Britain's highest decoration for valour, the Victoria Cross.  During the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879, a British invasion force was massacred at iSandlwana, after which a wing of the Zulu army about 3,000 strong attacked the outpost at Rorke's Drift. Lieutenants Bromhead and Chard commanded the post, and after supervising the construction of barricades they led their men in defensive actions throughout the night until the Zulus lost heart and returned to their kraals. For their gallantry  under most trying circumstances', both Bromhead and Chard, along with nine of their comrades, were subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross.  In 1964 the defence of Rorke's Drift was brought back to public attention with the producing of the epic motion picture Zulu! 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On 10 April 1912, people from all walks of life began embarking on Titanic, then the largest ship afloat, for what was to be the trip of a lifetime on the ship's maiden voyage across the north Atlantic. Many were looking forward to starting new lives in the United States.  However, just before midnight on Sunday, 14 April 1912, Titanic's crew began to send out distress signals stating,  We have struck an iceberg'. The liner had been steaming at speed when it collided with an enormous iceberg which stripped off her bilge under the waterline for more than 100 yards, opened up five of the front compartments and flooded the coal bunker servicing one of the boilers.  The damage was fatal, and some three hours after the disaster began to unfold the last visible part of Titanic slipped beneath the waves. There were only sixteen lifeboats and four collapsible dinghies - which was completely insufficient for the number of passengers making the crossing. As a consequence, more than 1,500 passengers and crew died: two out of every three people onboard perished.  Much has been written about the Titanic disaster, and it has been the subject matter for several films. The author is well-known for his depth of research and his attention to detail, and in a new style of format, he has selected fifty people involved in the disaster, and by using their specific eyewitness accounts he has managed to make the confusing situation much clearer, making it possible for the reader to experience the dreadful events as they unfolded. 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By all accounts, the liner was at the time the largest man-made object ever to move on water. The space her decks created allowed her designers to introduce previously unseen levels of luxury. In first class, for example, there were many new features such as squash courts, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, a barber shop and even the first swimming pool built on board a ship. There was also the bold claim by its builders that Titanic was  practically unsinkable'. Sadly, just four days later, this assertion was found wanting. At 23.40 hours on the evening of 14 April, Titanic struck an iceberg. In less than three hours she had slipped beneath the waves.  While the liner's loss has been the subject of numerous films, documentaries and publications in the years that followed, in this book the author James W. Bancroft asks if the RMS Titanic had been doomed to a watery grave even before it sailed? Certainly, many people experienced feelings of foreboding about the ship, and there were many strange omens and unexplained events surrounding its construction and maiden voyage.  A novel written many years before Titanic was built mirrored almost exactly the details of the disaster, and the well-known spiritualist, W.T. Stead, wrote a story of a similar nature. As a passenger on the ship, he seemed to have accepted his fate and did not try to save himself. Even animals seem to have sensed danger, such as the dog which tried to stop its owner from travelling to board the vessel, and Titanic's cat had kittens and was seen taking them all off the liner before it sailed. The voyage was fatefully delayed for three weeks, and at least fifty travellers had forebodings about the  Ghost Ship', some of whom missed the sailing or refused to board.  Following years of research, James has uncovered some 100 fascinating stories concerning omens and premonitions of people who sailed - or in fact decided not to - on the ill-fated liner. This is the first time that all of these incidents have been brought together. Together they provide an unusual insight into the Titanic disaster.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49747199820049,"sku":"NGR9781399048958","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51438470856977,"sku":"GOR013541326","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1399048953.jpg?v=1751051156"},{"product_id":"titanic-s-unlucky-seven-book-james-w-bancroft-9781036102517","title":"Titanic's Unlucky Seven","description":"The disaster which befell RMS _Titanic_ has become one of the most investigated and analysed maritime tragedies of all time. Yet there is much still to be untangled from the web of mystery which still surrounds this confused, catastrophic event.  The people on board were proud to be part of the ship’s highly-publicised first voyage, but as the first batch of officers reported for duty in Belfast to prepare her for her trial trip to Southampton and beyond, they could not have imagined the fate which awaited them. _Titanic_ was, after all, ‘unsinkable’.  It is exclusively through the eyes of seven unlucky men – the small group of officers onboard for that doomed voyage – that the author reveals the tragedy as it unfolded that night in April 1912\\. From their assignment to the White Star liner through to their eventual fates.  Each one of these seven men behaved with great courage and discipline in a situation beyond anything they had previously experienced and some of the officers left accounts of the horrors they witnessed. Of this small group, four were members of the Royal Naval Reserve; this included Charles Lightoller, who was the Second Officer and in charge of loading passengers into lifeboats on the port side. He was noted for strictly enforcing the ‘women and children only’ principle, allowing only those men needed for manning the boats to join them.  Four of the seven officers survived the ordeal. As the author reveals, one of them had only been formally appointed to the crew the day before _Titanic_ sailed on its climatic maiden voyage. This was Henry Tingle Wilde, who was scheduled to sail with _Titanic_’s sister ship, _Olympic_, but who was switched to _Titanic_ as the Chief Officer. He reported for duty on the very day the ship departed Southampton. This move meant a reshuffle of the officers and, as only seven officers were deemed necessary, Second Officer David Blair was removed from the crew list and sent ashore. He was certainly the luckiest of all. The unfortunate Wilde went down to the bottom with his ship.  Of the many questions asked about that night is that of the fate of Captain Edward Smith. His body was never recovered and it had naturally been assumed that he too had been lost. In _Titanic’s Unlucky Seven_, James Bancroft questions if this might not actually be the case. There is evidence that Smith may have survived the sinking, and was seen and spoken to months after the event by a man who had sailed with him, and who had known him personally for most of his life. Certainly, Smith had good reason to disappear into obscurity.  For the first time, a clear picture of the incidents, actions and events leading up to and during the sinking of _Titanic_ can be seen through the stories of the seven men in charge that night.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49748899004689,"sku":"NGR9781036102517","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51202673410321,"sku":"NIN9781036102517","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51356387803409,"sku":"GOR014236191","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1036102513.jpg?v=1751438029"},{"product_id":"great-redan-at-sebastopol-book-james-w-bancroft-9781399060523","title":"The Great Redan at Sebastopol","description":"On 18 June 1855, the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, British assault troops moved out of their trenches before Sebastopol in the Crimea, and attacked the formidable Russian bastion known as the Great Redan. They came under such a murderous fire from the Russian defenders that the attack faltered, and the British were eventually forced to fall back. As they did so, they left over 1,000 comrades dead and dying out in the open and at the mercy of enemy snipers.  The Siege of Sebastopol saw the development of trench warfare for the first time. Using eyewitness accounts and unpublished letters, the author tells the story of how the men coped with the terrible conditions as they prepared for the assault - as well as the events during and after the fighting. Among the anecdotes is an officer who had the ingenious idea of warming up cannon balls in the camp fires and taking them into the tents at night to keep warm; and he went on to live for over a hundred years!  Well-known for his depth of research, the author questions a number of points regarding the Great Redan that are commonly believed to be historical fact. Quoting the father of Alexander the Great, it was the Russians who, soon after the assault on the Great Redan, first referred to the British as,  An army of lions led on by donkeys'. For over 100 years it was stated in many publications that the most Victoria Crosses awarded for a single action was the eleven presented for actions during the Defence of Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War in 1879. However, as the author reveals, twenty of the lions who fought at the Great Redan received Britain's highest gallantry award, in whole, or in part, for their actions on 18 June 1855.  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After a siege lasting thirteen days, the Mexicans assaulted the fortification during the early hours of Sunday, 6 March 1836\\. Except for a few women and children, and one male slave, everyone inside was killed.  All this is well known, and to this day the Alamo Mission is an American national monument sacred to the people of Texas. The Battle of Alamo sits alongside such dramatic last stands as Little Big Horn and Rorke’s Drift as one of the most heroic and sacrificial battles against the odds in military history. But what few realise is that a large number of those who fought and died for Texas at the Alamo were British.  For the first time, the stories of these men, their lives and their deaths at the Alamo, are revealed. 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Between them, these individuals had been involved in twenty-two major spectator sports, including the Olympic Games, and several national championships of Great Britain and the United States. Many of them perished in the disaster.  Some of those among the members of the aristocracy, businessmen and ordinary folk onboard the ship had already made their names in the world of sports, in disciplines such as boxing, swimming, motor-racing, baseball and American Football. There were people such as Karl Howell Behr. A lawn tennis player, he had been a member of the United States Davis Cup squad and was a Wimbledon finalist. Among the female passengers was Lucile Carter, who was the first woman to play polo while riding astride the horse instead of side-saddle; she also raced coach-and-four teams.  Others who survived the disaster went on to have successful careers in sports like golf, lawn tennis and equestrianism. 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