The Book, 1976
Clive Cussler's novel Raise the Titanic (1976) is very much a product of its time. The story is a product of the Cold War just as much as the attitude towards women is from a 2006 (and female) perspective distinctly sexist. I know there are people who disagree with the last statement, but I regard a book sexist in which the description of women consists mainly of what they wear and how big their breasts are.The plot of the story centres around a missile defence system code-named 'the Sicilian Project' that would create an unbreachable shield around the territory of the USA. The key to this anti-missile shield, a radioactive element called byzanium, was apparently on its way to the US aboard the Titanic, the reason why the wreck is to be raised.
The Sowjets try to either acquire the byzanium for themselves or, if this should prove to be impossible, prevent the Americans from getting it, not only because the byzanium was originally mined on Russian territory, but also because the Sicilian Project would make their nuclear missiles obsolete. At least as far the territory of the USA is concerned (exactly how the more exposed areas like Hawaii and Alaska would be protected is not mentioned). The Sowjets would of course still be able to bomb the US's allies in Europe and other parts of the globe, but that is a consideration that apparently didn't enter Clive Cussler's mind.
Cussler seems to be genuinely fascinated by the Titanic and with the development of deep sea submarines devised a story that would allow him, at least in fiction, to do what many a Titanic enthusiast would have liked to do: raise the Titanic and allow the ship to complete its maiden voyage decades after she sank. After the wreck was discovered in 1985 it became clear to all but the most optimistic that there was no chance of bringing it back to the surface.
Considering that Cussler does know the facts about the Titanic (he does credit Geoffrey Marcus as his main source) the presence of a fictional officer has to have a different reason than mere ignorance. The book is set in 1987/88 but even at the time Cussler was writing all the real Officers of the Titanic were dead. To be able to include a eyewitness to the story, Cussler created Officer John L. Bigalow. His exact rank is not mentioned in the novel, only that he was a junior officer. Bigalow seems to be partly based on Boxhall, not least of all because he is buried at the site of the Titanic's sinking, partly on Lightoller
Like Lightoller Bigalow ended up on the upturned lifeboat and, like Lightoller, managed to reach the boat by grabbing a rope trailing away from the boat. However, Bigalow's wartime record easily puts Lightoller's in the shadow. Bigalow was torpedoed both in World War I and II. He also became a Commodore and was knighted, a feat neither Lightoller nor any of the Titanic's other Officer managed.
Next to Officer Bigalow, Cussler also invents a solo cornetist called Graham Farley. The first sign that the search team is on the right track to find the Titanic is the discovery of Graham Farley's cornet. Presumably the discovery of the virtually perfectly preserved cornet was used to indicate that the Titanic would also be in a good condition made the invention necessary.
I cannot refrain from making some comments on the element that is at the heart of this story, and which is eventually retrieved (though not from the Titanic) and used to power the ultimate defence system: byzanium. Byzanium is (of course) as fictional as kryptonite.
According to Clive Cussler, byzanium was discovered by Alexander Beesley, presumably an homage to Lawrence Beesley, in 1902, the year Marie Curie and her assistant A. Debierne, isolated radium. So far, so good. What strikes me as somewhat unbelievable is that already in 1912 the American government was aware of the potential use of byzanium as a weapon. I am no expert on the history of radiochemistry but according to my encyclopaedia the development of nuclear weapons began only in 1939. 1912 was a time when Marie Curie still tried to convince herself that radioactivity was not harmful and that her health problems were caused by over-work. Another fact that I thought was slightly odd is that when a huge quantity of byzanium, an element described as very radioactive, is finally discovered at the end of the book, it doesn't make everybody scurry for cover or at least cry for protective clothing, and, unlike in 1912, in 1976 the health risks posed of radioactivity was well known.
The Film, 1980
The film Raise the Titanic was released in 1980. While the plot of the film remains essentially the same as in the book, considerable changes were made when adapting it to the big screen. Partly, these changes are caused by the fact that a film can convey only a considerably less complex story than a novel. But the story is not only streamlined there are also other changes that must have different causes. Most surprising is probably that unlike in the book the Sicilian Project is not built, even though the byzanium is discovered. Was it a change in the atmosphere? After all, in 1981 the USA and the USSR signed the (whatever it is called).
Fictional Officer Bigalow also makes an appearance in the film, though here he is a sprightly old gentleman, not bed-bound as in the book. Played by no less actor than Alec Guiness, we now learn that he was the 'junior third officer' of the Titanic and that he was shipwrecked six times (two times more than Lightoller). The reason for Bigalow's presence is of course the same as it is in the book: to have a eye-witness account that puts the byzanium on the Titanic.
The script writer seems to have taken less care to get his facts right than Cussler. Though why the ship is shown with the second instead of the first funnel broken off, is a mystery to me. The entire raising sequence in the film is also even less credible than it is in the book. I at least found myself wondering why the ship doesn't capsize on its way to the surface when it was filled with the lower decks being filled with buoyant material and the upper decks still full of water that flows in great picturesque streams out of every possible opening when the Titanic emerges from the water. Presumably the picturesqueness was the reason why the raising is depicted like this, never mind that a ship whose bottom half is full of buoyant material and the top half full of water would emerge keel first.
As stated before, the presence of fictional officer Bigalow, both in the film and in the book, was required to allow a surviving eye-witness to be present. Bigalow's actual age is never mentioned, if he was the same age as the youngest officer of the Titanic, he would be 99 when the story takes place, which is unlikely but not impossible. It makes him several years younger than Cameron's fictional survivor. The comparison between the two, Raise the Titanic and Cameron's Titanic, also shows how much the world has changed. Who would have thought it possible when Cussler wrote his book or even when the plot of the story takes place that ten years later American expeditions to the Titanic would be conducted from Russian ships?
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