The Case of Cabin 13 by Sam McCarver seems to belong to those books that were published in the wake of the huge success of Cameron's Titanic. It is, of course, possible that Sam McCarver had been working on the story before, but it may be that he found it easier to find a publisher at this time when people tried to cash in on the enormous interest in all things Titanic created by the film.
While the name Titanic does not occur in the title, the prospective reader is informed where the story is set, both by the blurb on the back and the picture on the cover showing a life belt inscribed with Titanic.
Like several other novels (Sherlock Holmes and the Titanic Tragedy or Murder on the Titanic) The Case of Cabin 13 is a murder mystery set on the doomed ship. In this case John Darnell, investigator of the paranormal, is employed by the White Star Line, in the shape of J. Bruce Ismay and Captain Smith, to find out whether there really is a curse on Cabin 13. On three different ships of the White Star Line, the occupants of Cabin 13 committed suicide. Darnell agrees to make the next trip travelling in the allegedly cursed cabin, and this of course takes him on the Titanic. (A nitpicky person of my ilk first wonders which Cabin 13 is the one in question since there ought to have been several, one on each deck. In fact, according to the deck plans printed in Eaton and Haas, Titanic. Triumph and Tragedy there was no cabin 13 on any of the decks of the Titanic)
It is interesting to read the novel from the perspective of trying to find out what kind of research the author has done for this story. He is quite conversant in the subject: He rightly mentions the near collision with the New York in Southampton, though the New York was not moored to the wharf as described in the novel but alongside another ship. However, the books McCarver consulted either had no illustrations or, if they did, he did not feel inclined to pay attention to them. His description of Ismay is a case in point: In real life, Bruce Ismay did not sport greying brown muttonchops but a neat moustache, nor does he look to be 6'4".
Another error will only be noticed by a Titanic officers officionado: Among several wireless messages Captain Smith looks at is a greeting from Chief Officer Wilde's wife. While it is reported that Wilde had a bad feeling about the Titanic this had certainly more to do with the fact that his transfer there was rather sudden than with his receiving messages from his wife, who had died a few years before.
This mistake is very typical for McCarver's knowledge on the subject: on the one hand, he has obviously read quite a bit about the Titanic, on the other, he makes some really bizarre mistakes. For example, he lets Captain Smith think this about Chief Officer Wilde: 'Since Wilde's transfer from the Olympic, he [Captain Smith] had become quite fond of the junior officer.' 1) Wilde was only transferred to the Titanic because Smith insisted on retaining the Chief Officer with whom he had, as Captain of the Olympic, made the Atlantic crossing several times. 2) Smith would not refer to the Chief Officer as 'junior officer'. While Wilde was obviously junior in rank to Smith, he was a senior, i.e. watch-keeping officer. The junior officers were third to sixth who did their watch under a senior officer.
As John Darnell seeks to find out the reason behind the mysterious deaths in Cabin 13, he has a chance to explore the ship and meet with several real and fictitious persons aboard. Among the first is John Jacob Astor and his wife Madeleine, the wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride and several officers including 2nd officer Charles Herbert Lightoller. Since McCarver obviously tries to create an authentic 1912 atmosphere, it is rather strange that he seems to have no idea that in 1912 one did not call people one hardly new by the first names, unless they were lower ranking servants, definitely not ship's officers. For Darnell to address Lightoller as 'Herbert' would have been rude in the extreme.
Among the fictional characters Darnell encounters is also the ship's surgeon, Gareth Burton. The Titanic had indeed two surgeons, the senior surgeon Dr. William O'Laughlin, and the junior surgeon Dr. Edward Simpson (both died). Considering Mr McCarver's generally good knowledge of the ship's personnel the renaming of the surgeon was no mistake.
The reason for the presence of fictional Dr Gareth Burton becomes clear as the story progresses: he is the villain of the tale, having murdered the three hapless passengers travelling in Cabin 13 to revenge the rape and murder of his daughter when she travelled to American in another White Star Ship in (obviously) Cabin 13. Burton, an increasingly deranged drunk, also attempts to kill the John Darnell, but is - naturally - foiled in his attempt. However, since the capture of the villain occurs almost immediately before the Titanic's disastrous encounter with the iceberg, there are other matters more pressing to attend.
While Darnell heroically helps saving passengers, putting his love interest in a life-boat and fetching steerage passengers to the boat deck, Burton escapes and can board a boat dressed as a woman. Darnell, as the hero of this story, survives the disaster the only way any self-respecting hero can: on top of the upturned life-boat, taking his long-suffering Chinese servant Sung along.
Reaching the last part of the tale set on the Carpathia, McCarver obviously ran out of time or energy for further research. The Captain, Arthur Henry Rostron, is the only person whose name he has right here. None of the Carpathia's officers in the story have their real names. It is also mentioned that Harold Bride was helping the Carpathia's wireless operators, while, in fact, the Carpathia only had one, Harold Cottam.
Needless to say, John Darnell dispatches off the villainous doctor, hindered by his love interest and assisted by the surviving officers of the Titanic and a few oddly named officers of the Carpathia.
The reason for the fictional doctor's existence in The Case of Cabin 13 is obvious: rather than turning one of the real ship's surgeons into a lunatic murderer, Sam McCarver decided to invent a new one. A course that can only be recommended, rather than picking a historic person and blacken their names (the fate suffered by J. B. Crafton in The Titanic Murders). Altogether, The Case of Cabin 13is an entertaining enough novel, though, in my opinion, to much time is spent on the rather bland romantic side show.
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