Nelson and Alexandra spend an intriguing and revealing conversation with Dan Parkes, cinematographer and the author of a fascinating and meticulously researched book he wrote about Captain Smith of Titanic and the legacy his daughter lived with throughout her storied life - a pilot, a politician and married to a spy who died in suspicious circumstances...

This conversation could have spanned two Titanic Talk Episodes.  The telling of Helen Melville Russell Cooke's life (1898-1973) in Dan's book takes the shape of an edge-of-your-seat thriller. This book is a must-read for all Titanic enthusiasts looking for new and as yet uncovered human stories of the individuals effected by the Titanic tragedy.

BUY Dan's Book TITANIC LEGACY: The Captain, The Daughter and The Spy

FOLLOW @parkesproductions

LEARN more about Dan on his WEBSITE

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

In this episode, Nelson and Alexandra talk Titanic's rescue with Kelly Skwarcan. She is an author, speaker and researcher weaving in the stories of three ship's captains in her book - The Full Tale of the Titanic: Iron and Ice  and into her interactive case study presentation “Leadership in Crisis: The Titanic, Carpathia, & Californian”.

Two ships were close to Titanic as she sank. The Carpathian and the Californian. Captain Lord ignored Titanic's SOS signals despite being only ten miles away and during the official enquiry he tried to cover up his failings. In an opposite demonstration of leadership, Captain Rostrun of the Californian turned his ship around and steered through a field of icebergs to help pick up survivors. Hear about how Kelly uses the stories of the two captains' different responses to train military cadets in the art of leadership combining her research and passion for the Titanic with the HEXACO personality test.

LINKS ~
Kelly's Book IRON & ICE: The Full Tale of the Titanic on Amazon
Kelly's website ~ kellyskwarcan.com
Instagram ~ @kellyskwarcan

Listen to Kelly's Narativ Leadership Story Talks podcast episode HERE

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

Find out all about the workings and origin of the British Titanic Society from their chairman David Scott-Beddard, who also owns White Star Memories, one of the premiere Titanic exhibition companies in the world. He was also a key player in finding, raising awareness, raising funds and restoring one of Titanic's tender ships -  the Nomadic.

Listen to this fascinating new episode where Nelson and Alexandra hear also about David's new venture restoring two train carriages that travelled Titanic passengers from Waterloo to Southampton.

LINKS for this episode ~

Nomadic is dry docked at Titanic Belfast

TitanicBelfast.com/explore/ss-Nomadic

David's collection of memorabilia White Star Memories

Exhibition Hub, the immersive Titanic exhibition: www.exhibitionhub.com

Sculpter Allen St Geroge: alanstgeorge.com

Titanic Boat Train Heritage: titanicboattrainheretagetrust.org 

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

This is a solemn and unusual episode, Nelson and Alexandra speak with Clinton Bonelli. They met their new Titaniac friend on the Queen Mary over Titanic Weekend 2025 and immediately found each other to be kindred spirits.

Clinton's is a mortuary science specialist and death care professor, so Nelson had the idea to invite him on to Titanic Talk to tell us about the recovery of the bodies of Titanic's victims and how they were treated in 1912. It's well known that only one lifeboat returned to pick up survivors in the water, many passengers would have gone down with the ship and many didn't survive longer than fifteen minutes in the freezing water of the Atlantic.

Clinton's background in funeral arrangement and embalming and his research on who was buried at sea, who was laid to rest in Halifax in the cemetery and whose bodies were returned to their families outlines, even in death, the unbalanced distinction of the classes.

Follow Clinton on Instagram @clintonb1979 and @pedantictitanic

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

So this Titanic Talk episode is a little different. Nelson and Alexandra wanted to pose the question of what exactly happened to Rose after she disembarked the Carpathia. Who did she marry and have children with and why oh why didn't she sell The Heart of the Ocean!?

These questions and many more, along with "WHO is your Titanic Crush?", are posed and answered with return guests - and fellow stars of Ship of Dreams: Titanic Movie Diaries, Brittany Butler, of the wonderful James Cameron's Titanic Scene by Scene podcast and uber, super fan Zach Douglas.

Be sure to write to us on Instagram with your thoughts on Rose's life after Jack and also do tell us who is your Titanic crush?

LINKS

@Titanic_Talk_podcast

Zach @zachdouglasdoggrooming

Brittany @ibrittanybutler

Titanic Scene by Scene @titanicbyscene

Phaze Y2K @y2kphaze

WATCH Alexandra's short film Boxer on the Wilderness

Learn more about Titanic Survivor Celiney Alexander Yasbeck. HERE

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

Nelson and Alexandra share an animated and nostalgic conversation with the charmingly French Fannie Brett. All three of them are 'ex-pat' Angelenos so they reminisce about Los Angeles life and work in the 90s and their dinners at El Coyote - and you though they only drank margaritas in Rosarito Beach, Mexico! 

Fannie is still acting but she is also a renown voice actor/teacher, casting director and producer. She has a successful dubbing studio which she runs from Las Vegas. In 1996, however, she'd not long been in America when she was cast in Titanic as Benjamin Guggenheim's mistress Madame Aubert. 

She describes in detail her audition process with Mali Fin on what was her first American film. If you are just starting out, you will learn a lot about the business of acting and see that the world of Titanic really was populated by people from all over the world. Titanic was a floating city of the rich and the poor and a myriad of nations were represented. Madame Aubert's part in the tragedy is particularly interesting...

FYI - for you die-hard Titanic fans the etiquette coach/choreographer was Lynne Hockney and the onset photographer we were talking about is Merie Wallace

Fannie's dubbing and voice actor training company is 7HM (Seven Holdings Media)

For more information on her one-on-one training email her at [email protected]

Fannie's Website 

Instagram @fannie_brett

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

Nelson and Alexandra had the pleasure of spending Titanic Weekend  (April 12th & 13th) on The Queen Mary in Long Beach CA presenting their book (Kindred Spirits: A Titanic Tale) and film (Ship of Dreams: Titanic Movie Diaries) respectively and joining the Titanic podcast triumvirate of Paul Carganilla and his Titanic Legacy podcast, and James Penca and his Witness Titanic podcast, in a roundtable recording made in front of a live audience in the Mauritania Room.

LISTEN to a fascinating collection of origin stories, anecdotes and advice on how to deal with 'those critics' as these three podcasters cross-pollinate and agree that they are all connected by Titanic.

LISTEN to Alexandra on Titanic Legacy

LISTEN to Nelson on Titanic Legacy

LISTEN to Witness Titanic

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

Nelson and Alexandra spent a wonderful second podcast conversation with returning author and documentarian Steven Schwankert.

In Season Two Steven was on the podcast talking about his extraordinary and groundbreaking film THE SIX about the surviving Chines passengers on Titanic who very few people had heard of since they disembarked at New York in 1912.

Steven has expanded the story and his research into his new book The Six: The Untold Story of the Titanic's Chinese Survivors. He delves more deeply into the history of the Chinese sailors with more details that couldn't fit into a 100 minute feature film.

LISTEN and you will learn a lot about this little known piece of Titanic survivor history.

Learn about the documentary HERE

Buy Steven's book HERE

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

In this episode, Nelson and Alexandra learn a bit about the business of Titanic from Joe Gold of The Gold Group, the promotional company behind the Titanic Artefact Exhibition in Boston.

Joe talks about some of the fascinating artefacts they have on display including a toilet from third class and a perfectly preserved wool suit retrieved from a leather suitcase in the debris field. 

They discuss the importance of preservation and education. The Boston exhibition is one of more than forty around world. Retrieving dishes, eye glasses and every day objects tells up about the people who used those things and brings their lives a little closer to our understanding of life - if all too briefly - aboard the ship of dreams.

Extended by popular demand, the exhibition in Boston continues at the Castle at Park Plaza until June 1st 2025. Be sure to catch Nelson's book signing there on Wednesday May 14th.

Go to titanicboston.us for tickets

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...

Welcome to the 50th episode of Titanic Talk.
That's something to celebrate along with Nelson's new book!
Kindred Spirits: A Titanic Tale is a historical fantasy set on the ill-fated maiden voyage of Titanic and present day Manhattan.

Nelson and Alexandra talk about his book, their upcoming presenting appearances on the Queen Mary in Long Beach on April 12th & 13th for the Titanic Anniversary Weekend and their hopes and expectations for events and guests in Season Three.

Buy Kindred Spirits: A Titanic Tale on Amazon.com

TITANIC ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND TICKETS
www.titanicweekend.com

We'll see you there!

SHIP OF DREAMS: TITANIC MOVIE DIARIES is on Amazon Prime, Apple TV etc

DVD available on Amazon

LINKS ~
shipofdreamsfilm.com Facebook TikTok @titanic_talk_podcast

YouTube
...