A Very Deceiving Night

A few months ago I received an E-mail from a reader who had seen one of my beach posts containing a mirage photo (at right):

The Beach, 2/27/11 Edition 

He asked if he could use the photo in a book he was writing about mirages, and offered to pay for it.  Of course, I was so flattered to have anyone read it and appreciate it, that I offered it to him for free, and even offered to send him the "original" unshrunken version if it would help.

Oh, and he told me that I had misidentified it when I changed my mind and called it an "inferior" type mirage.  Oh well...

A few days ago, he sent me a link to a free copy of the E-book "A Very Deceiving Night" by Tim Maltin.  Here is a link to the site to buy it (it wouldn't be very gracious to give away the free link he sent me, would it).

It is a book about the sinking of the Titanic, and the role that mirages and unusual atmospheric conditions at the site of the wreck may have helped cause the collision with the iceberg (a mirage like the one above may have concealed the iceberg until it was too late to change course), and made the tragedy worse by preventing the California, a nearby ship from recognizing the Titanic and coming to her aid.  I believe he has made a very convincing case that the mirages played a critical role in the events of that night.

The book draws extensively on the testimony of the survivors of the Titanic, and of the officers and crew of the rescue ships, as well as the ships records to show how the miraging conditions arose, and how they likely affected both the conditions that led to the collision with the iceberg and the rescue.  It also has many pictures of wild and wonderful mirages.

If you are at all interested in the Titanic, or mirages and similar phenomena, you should take a look at this.

Anyway, this was a very pleasant result of blogging.  Thanks Tim!