Haynes Manuals are well known as practical guides aimed at automobile enthusiastic and mechanics.  They have also branched out into manuals for domestic appliances, personal computers, digital photography, model railways, men,  babies, sex, and women. Reportedly the last four categories are tongue in cheek but have been popular sellers, nevertheless.  A new Haynes Manual has just been released  for the RMS Titanic, being perhaps the first manual ever published for a sunken ship.

100 years too late: Somerset firm’s guide to the Titanic

The RMS Titanic manual was written by shipping engineer David Hutchings and lecturer in Mechanical and Production Engineering, Richard de Kerbrech.

A spokeswoman for Haynes said: “As the centenary of the Titanic’s loss approaches, we thought it fitting that the world’s most famous passenger ship should finally get the Haynes treatment.

“We wanted to take people right in to the heart of the ship – behind every nut, bolt and rivet.”

The manual includes illustrations which reveal everything from the opulence of the first class accommodation that made her the talk of Edwardian Britain, to the squalor of the engine rooms, where 48 firemen stoked the fires at any one time.

It also describes daily life for the crew on board the White Star Line’s flagship vessel.

This includes the Captain’s many responsibilities, how the Chief Engineer kept the mighty ship and its systems running and how an army of staff toiled below deck from the engine rooms to the kitchens.

Thanks to  Alaric Bond for passing the article along.