The Californian
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rebel60 — 18 years ago(November 27, 2007 11:12 PM)
At the web site "The Great Ocean Liners" : (www.greatoceanliners.net/index2.html) there is an article on the Californian - it's history and its role in the Titanic disaster. Several points are brought up which I find interesting (although I'm still not sure if I buy all of them).
- The rockets used by the Titanic were white. This article states the standard color for distress rockets were red. Is this true? And, if so, did the Titanic carry any? Further, if they did, why weren't they used instead of the white ones.
- The article includes the "Samson" argument; i.e., the ship seen by the Californian was a Norwegian fishing barque. The ship was fishing illegally in the area and left the area (I assume because of the arrival of the Titanic) so as not to be caught. The first mate of the Samson stated on his deathbed that he saw the Titanic nearby. I have been in the desert on a very dark night. Distance and size of objects can be hard to determine. I'm sure it's similar at sea. Even the lookouts on the Titanic didn't see a good-sized iceberg until it was too late.
- Another argument states that the Californian was too far away to be of any help to the Titanic. The ice field would have slowed the ship down too much. This may be true, but, assuming Lord knew the Titanic was going down, it does not excuse him from trying.
- One point has always bothered me - why didn't the Titanic see the Californian Morse signals? And why didn't the Californian see the Titanic signals? I have heard that the Californian log was "doctored" after the fact. Could Lord have changed any references to the Morse signals in order to make it look like his crew tried to signal the "mysterious" other ship?
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markrob-3 — 18 years ago(December 06, 2007 06:47 PM)
I would think that it would be very difficult to read morse from a low powered lamp over such a distance. Lights from a distance at night tend to appear to flicker anyway making the reading of morse difficult.
When all is said and done the most obvious thing was to wake the sparks (radio operator) on the Californina and get him to listen. The rocket firing ship (Titanic) had been identified as a large ship which would most certainly would carried wireless equipment. -
medic249a2 — 18 years ago(December 22, 2007 11:37 PM)
I can't address the first 3 questions, but as to the 4th - the Titanic did see the Californian's morse signals, but because of the small light the Californian's crew was using, Fourth Officer Boxhall & Quartermaster Rowe attributed it to a masthead light flickering. In any case, Boxhall said he was unable to make any sense of it.
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anthonyjenkins2001 — 15 years ago(April 20, 2010 06:43 PM)
UPDATE
website revision http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/californian.html
YoungAdult Novels. Sci-Fi/Horror/Suspense/Poetry:
www.thenewvoice.info -
nelliebell-1 — 14 years ago(December 18, 2011 11:06 AM)
A Red Light or Red Flare is a recognized maritime distress signal,however the Laws of the Sea prohibit the use of flares for a purpose other than for the use of signalling distress.That seemed to be the jist of the body of laws that I read.It does not preclude any assumption that if a flare is a color other than Red it is not a recognized distress.If in fact any conduct should of been forthcoming The Flares being white should of compelled a need to know.Though the Red Flare is indeed a recognized maritime distress signal, the signal itself may very well be sufficent to compel a warrant that is a need to know if in fact there was cause to assist.Though Red is right it need not be only Red to signal distress.
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TheGuyWithTheFeet — 10 years ago(July 14, 2015 09:11 AM)
They found rockets on the wreck and they're multi-colored.
http://www.titanic-titanic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1413 -
arbilab — 17 years ago(May 30, 2008 02:48 PM)
Not 'studied' on the issue. But from the little I know:
The bulk of Titanic survivors would not have overloaded Californian. Even if they had to stand shoulder to shoulder on the deck, that's better than freezing to death in the water. And other rescue ships could have taken the burden off Californian within hours.
Californian was a commercial ship on a schedule. Cold as it sounds, I think Californian's command felt they had plausible deniability not to get involved, and elected not to as it would interfere with their mission.
We all see and hear what we want to. That includes Morse, Marconi, and rockets. Californian could have interpreted what little they knew as distress. It seemssuperficiallythey chose not to. -
nelliebell-1 — 14 years ago(December 17, 2011 08:31 AM)
This area of interest,that is the area of interest whereby the Californian should of responded is full of what not to do.There was so much information that placed the Californian as a legitmate problem rather than the source of a possible rescue that one dares not to wonder.One of those contentious areas was when the one of the ships crewmembers entered the cabin of the wireless operator and litterally connect the reciever to the broadcasting with the wires coming alive.There was so much noise and even crackling as it were that if the noise did not wake the wireless operator the electricity would of as the very environment echoes its presence.Iam unable to accept this premise as it certainly feels as if this was a wilful denial as much as it may very well have been a unmistakable ability to deny its presence.Iam not able at this point to excuse the conduct of the Californian,It the Californian should of most definetly been noted as willful in its neglect and equally as it were upsetting deliberate in its attempt upon the travelers of the sea.
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jaybird7-2 — 17 years ago(July 04, 2008 01:30 PM)
There's been a lot of argument that the Californian wasn't really as close to the Titanic as the film made out. Firstly, the captain gave his position as nearly 20 miles away in which case he could have seen the Titanic or her rockets. That was disputed at first but then the Titanic was found to be off course. Second, lets say the Titanic was 20 miles away, unless the officers woke the captain up immediately they saw the other ship stop there still wouldn't have been time to reach her before she sunk. oh and survivors reported seeing another ship in the area that sailed away from them. Its often been proposed that there was another ship between the Titanic and Californian, remember the captain and senior officers said the ship they saw couldn't be the Titanic because it wasn't a liner. It was only at the investigation that the junior officers said it was. So the whole titanic story isn't as simple as it seems.
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rwsmith29456 — 17 years ago(September 19, 2008 10:51 PM)
I've read some stuff too and though his actions were not criminal, it does seem that he did everything he could to avoid going out of his way to help another vessel. The official board of inquiry concluded that Californian should have investigated.
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Willie12345678 — 17 years ago(January 18, 2009 07:58 AM)
I thought those two men on the bridge of the Californian were possibly two of the biggest dumbasses in history. There's a ship in sight, that appears to have stopped, is firing rockets and at a weird angle.
How could the penny not have dropped? -
deeveed — 16 years ago(October 13, 2009 10:14 AM)
I'm sure after the Titanic hearings that Lord was vilified. Now I'd think if he wanted to clear his name wouldn't he have tried to right himself and put his version of the story out?? To my knowledge, he didn't write anything after the disaster. Perhaps he knew in his heart that he didn't do the 'right" thing during those fateful hours and couldn't back up a defense? Anyway,I can see when people go over his 'actions" all they see is a sailor snoozing soundly in his bunk while a ship goes down into the depths. That's a powerful image in the court of public opinion for sure.
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chimaera1249 — 16 years ago(October 14, 2009 04:48 PM)
Who said that the rockets were other colors? I've only ever heard of them refered to as white, and definitely not red. Boxhall even made point of emphasisizing that they weren't red at the US Inquiry. Stone and Lord of the
Californian
also said they were white and the BOT Inquiry. -
Traianus — 16 years ago(November 01, 2009 01:30 PM)
"Now I'd think if he wanted to clear his name wouldn't he have tried to right himself and put his version of the story out?? To my knowledge, he didn't write anything after the disaster."<<<
Seriously? The guy was haunted the last 50 years of his life by what had happened. As the other poster mentioned, he spent the last 4 years of his life - after this film came out - trying desperately to set the record straight as he saw it.
If he didn't do more before then, I can think of a couple reasons. For one, there was no internet during the early 20th century; radio was not the force it is now, there was no TV. It's not like TMZ and other gossip websites were all after him. If anything, he was trying to forget what had happened, and it was common for most people of that time and culture to not talk about their troubles. He wasn't going to go complaining about what was bothering him.
Late in his life, he felt obligated to say something, it's clear. He tried to clear his name with the Mercantile Marine Service Association and petitioned the Board of Trade (which rejected his request).
Personally, I can't imagine the kind of hell that his life was and the kind of guilt that he felt for the last 50 years of his life. I doubt any of us on here can.