Books: A Fire to Remember

FIRE AT SEA (280 pp.)—Thomas Gallagher—Rinehart ($4).

On the night of Sept. 7, 1934, the fast, modern cruise ship Mono Castle of the Ward Line was bucking into a stiff northeaster off the New Jersey coast. It was the last night out before docking in New York, but a pall had fallen on the ship. At suppertime, Captain Robert Wilmott had been found in his bathtub, dead. Festivities were canceled, and by 2:50 a.m., only a few diehards among the 321 passengers were still drinking in the smoking room and in the lounge when someone...