The Best Traditions of the Sea? : Contested Heroism in the Manchester Guardian\u27s Reporting on the RMS Titanic

Opening the academic field to the more popular realm of traditional Titanic histories, this paper studies the discussion of English manliness elicited by the ship\u27s sinking in April, 1912. An examination of the disaster\u27s coverage in the under-researched Manchester Guardian reveals that the tragedy sparked an unusually frank conversation about the meanings and practicalities of English masculinity. Celebratory reports of the sinking suggest a reinvigorated Edwardian faith in the Englishman as a man, while more critical articles indicate Edwardian England\u27s highly contested understanding of manliness and its role in contemporary English society. This paper places the dialogue of masculinity in its broader context by examining other news events of April 1912 as they relate to English manliness. It then delves into the reaction to the tragedy with an examination of the Manchester Guardian\u27s reports in the weeks immediately after the sinking