LIVERPOOL.- The first book to deal explicitly with the relationship between Titanic and her home port of Liverpool goes on sale this week.

Titanic and Liverpool includes a number of sources and illustrations never published before. The 192-page volume by Dr Alan Scarth of Merseyside Maritime Museum puts the legendary White Star liner in the context of transatlantic migration from Liverpool to North America.

If you had been behind the Titanic on that fateful night in 1912, the last word that flashed before your eyes as the great ship was lost to the sea would have been ‘Liverpool’. The ship’s loss, a national and international tragedy, was also a tragedy for its home port and this fascinating book explores the history and myths surrounding the sinking, highlighting for the first time new and extraordinary stories that link Europe’s pre-eminent port and its most famous maritime loss.

Using material from the White Star line archives, the extensive holdings of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, new illustrations and a variety of historical sources, Alan unearths the full back story of key characters and companies: many of her key officers and crew were either from Liverpool or had strong links with the port, the ship’s owners were based in the City, many of the most colourful tales emerging from the disaster relate to Liverpool people and here, where appropriate, we find out what happened to them after the sinking.

Titanic and Liverpool will be compulsory reading for anyone interested in the Titanic and also for anyone hoping to understand Liverpool’s role as the great processing port of Europe and gateway to the US and Canada.

Titanic and Liverpool is published on 26 November 2009 by Liverpool University Press, price £9.95.