In his privately published 1940 account of the sinking, Thayer recalled what life was like before the Titanic sank, "There was peace and the world had an even tenor to its way. Nothing was revealed in the morning the trend of which was not known the night before.
Thayer's personal account of the Titanic's sinking portrayed life prior to the disaster as peaceful and orderly, where each day unfolded in a predictable manner: "There was calmness and the world moved at a steady pace. The next day's events were always in line with what had been expected the night before.