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Titanic. He tried to get his case reviewed several times in the following years, but to no avail. IN THE TITANIC DISASTER It was not long before World War W A S HE VILLAIN OR VICTIM? I broke out and the Titanic disaster faded into history. When peace came, BY I S H M A E L On April 14, 1912, the handsome Captain Lord, who had spent the war British liner Titanic struck an iceberg. years at sea, found little difficulty in As a result, she sank and 1500 persons continuing his career in the merchant marine. lost their lives. He let the Titanic affair drop. AlPrior to the sinking a vessel was though there were growing volumes sighted from the Titanic at a distance estimated to be betwcen 5 and 6 miles. of literature on the subject, he did not T h e Titanic, in those desperate last read them, and by 1927 ill health minutes, signalled the possible savior. forced Captain Lord into retirement. But there was no response and the His memory of the Titanic might Fourth Officer of the Titanic later have retired also, had it not been for testified: She turned round very the publication of a new book slowly, until at last I only saw her A Night to Remember published in 1956 and a subsequent film of the stern light . same name. T h e steamer Californian1was in an T h e movie, in particular, cast the icefield somewhere north of the Titanic Californian and Captain Lord in a during this period. She too had seen the lights of another vessel and had critical light for the failure to respond been watching them for some time. to the distress signals of the Titanic. Flares1 were also noticed but discounted T h e aging Captain Lord read reports as probably being the signals some- of the films implications and in his times used by liners to identify them- final years renewed his efforts to clear his name. He appealed to the Merselves. cantile Marine Service Association, an The Californian did not go to the aid of the Titanics survivors until organization of British shipmaaters, the next morning, when she received for assistance. T h e MMSAs General Secretary, Leslie Harrison, took conword by radio of the sinking. When these facts became known, a siderable interest in the matter and led loose n o w of circumstantial evidence a still-continuing effort to get the case fell around the neck of the Califor- reviewed by both English and Amernians commanding officer, Captain ican officials in order to remove cenStanley Lord. He came to the subse- sure of Captain Lord from the public quent court of inquiry only as a wit- record. T h e Californians master died ness, but left relieved of his command in 1962, confident that he eventually and forced out of the employ of his would be vindicated. There seems little doubt that, if the company. T h e court had drawn the case were to be formally reopened nqose taut: The ice by which the Californian was today, the conclusions drawn would surrounded was loose ice extending for be quite different from those reached a distance of not mare than two on by the original coilrt of inquiry. three miles in the direction of the For one thing, the court proceeded Titanic. The night w s clear and the a in a dubious manner. Captain Lord sea was smooth. When she f i t saw the rockets the Californian could have had been told that he was to appear pushed through the ice to the open as a witness but found instead that he water without any serious risk and so was among the accused. We did not haver come to the & i h c e of the have an opportunity to prepare an Titanic. Hzd she done so, she might have saved many if not all of the lives that adequate defense and he was impropwere lost. erly represented. Captain Lord firmly maintained Then there is relevant evidencethat the vessel spotted from the Cali- some of it available at the time and fornian could not have been the more available now-that makes it

CAPTAIN STANLEY LORD

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SCENE OF THE TITANIC SINKING

Chart shows area in which the sixiking of the Titanic occurred, and illustrate8
the facts in dispute concerning the role of steamer Cafifornian. P O I N T A indicates the Californian's estimated position at 6:30 p.m. the evening of the disaster. This position is confirmed by the Californian having sighted three icebergs observed and plotted earlier by another vessel. The positions of the bergs separately sighted (to the south of point A) were within four miles of each other. POINT B indicates the Californian's estimated position at 10:21 p.m. on the edge of an ice belt that prevented her further movement to the west. The course she had steered from point A was due west and her speed had beep 1 1.6 kts. POINT C is the spot where the Court said the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank. It w,ill be noted that other evidence points to the existence o an ice belt east o this point and chat the Titanic, which h d been steaming f f at a fast 22 knots, would have had to pass through tbis entire belt before colliding with the iceberg. P O I N T D is where the C a l i f o m h would have been if the ship she had seen ten miles to the southeast at 11 :50 p.m. had actually been the Titanic. In order to have sailed from Point A to Point D in the required amount of time, the Californian would have had to do three things there is no evidence she did. 1, She would have had to have steered at least ten degrees to the left of her course. 2. She would have had to cruist z 14.7 knots, or 3.1 knots over the t speed she believed herself to be travelling. 3. She would have had to pass completely through the icebelt. In fact, $he stopped w h n she came to the edge of it. W I N T E is where the Titanic's survivors were picked up by rescue vesseh Though she had radioed her position as being at point C, the Californian, other vessels in the area all proceeded to point E and found no wreckage or survivors. T h e Titanic's remains were found on the other side of the ice belt -at Point E. It is apparent that the Titanic's reported position, the one a ro. nccepted by the G m r t , w s in e r r Thus, at the time the Califarnian sighted a vessel to the southeast the Titanic was not five to ten miles away, but f h ' c l m r to thirty, well beyond the range o visibilixy. Te C a f i f w n i m could hcit haw seen the Titanic and the Tirmic codld nor have seen the Culif0tniar;r.
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doubtful that the Californian ever sighted the Titanic or vice versa.
The Navigational Evidence

T h e chart indicates the situation during the hours before and after the sinking of the Titanic. Examination of the chart alone, based on one that appeared in the Merchant Navy Journal, raises grave doubts that the Californian could have seen the Titanic after the collision or been seen by the stricken vessel.
The Matter of the Flares

Much of the criticism of Captain Lord centered on the fact that the Californian had seen white rockets coming from the vessel they were watching and failed to take action upon them. T h e Californian did, in fact, try to make contact with the other ship through the use of a flashing light, but the ship did not respond. She slowly turned and moved away from the Californian, hardly the action of a vessel in distress. T h e meaning of the rockets seen by the Californian has never been established. If they were not the Titanics distress flares what were they? According t o Captain Alec Kane, a contemorary mariner, the argument by the CaZifot-nicns Second Officer that he took them for private signals of a slteampship company had merit. Said Kane in a recent interview: $Everybody knows that in those days firing of rockets was a practice among merchant seamen. All the A t lantic shipping lines had rockets of their own to identify themselves by sea. They used to say two liners passing in the Atlantic could only recognize each other if these rockets were fired, Lord himself offered another explanation. He noted in his testimony to the Court that a good many steamers did not carry lights for flashing Morse code. He suggested that the other vezsel might have been answering the Culifornianss signals. I have recently received a letter from Leslie Harrison suggesting still another possibility. Mr. Harrison suggests that the unknown vescel saw the Titanics signals and was firing her

own flares to indicate that she was on her way to investigate. In any case, the fact that these rockets were not the Titanics is almost as,sured by the fact that the Tiranic used explosive signals that make a loud noise like gunfire. T h e rockets seen by the Californian made no noise. It also appears that these rockets were fired a time different from those sent up by the Titanic. The primary reason the Californian did not investigate the signals was that the vessel turned and moved away. If she had been a vessel in distress it is not likely that she would have avoided a rescuer so near. And if she had been the Titanic. she would not have been seen to move at all, and certainly not two hours after hitting the iceberg.
The Matter o Timing f

the Catifornim and the Titanic were keeping careful lookout watches. And yet the Californian first saw the unidentified vessel to the south two hours before the Titanic observed any ship in the area. If the Titanic had seen the Culifornian it is most probable that shi w.x!d f:rst observe her before the Californian saw her as her lookouts and watchkecphg officers were locatnd a t a much great height than those of the Californiari. Further the 7iranic was steaming a t 22 knot. through an area known to have ice while the Californian was stopped in an icefield. Surely the Titanics lookont watch would be expected to have been tauter than that of the Californian. In any event the discrepancy cf two hours in the time of sightings cannot be adequately explai:iec! u:ilecs one assumes that the two vessels did not see each other. It is apparent that, actually, two pairs cf vessels must have been involved. Other evidence confirms this. The ship seen by the Californian turned away after firing the rockets. This could not have been the Titanic. She had struck an iceberg and was sinking, dead in the water.

It is important t o note that both

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PACE

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T h e ship Seen by the Titanic turned away also. This could not have been the Calrfornian. Her engines were completely stopped from 10:21 p.m. until 6 a.m. the next morning, as she sat surrounded by ice.

His report concludes: We now understood the meaning of the lights and rockets we had seen. We had been ten nautical miles away when the 7itanic went down. There we were, with our big excellent ship and eight boats in calm, excellent weather. Big Break What might we not have done, if we In the end, exoneration of Captain had known? Alas, we had no radio Lord could only come through posi- on board. tive identification of the vessels sighted It was the most convincing vindiby the Titanic and the CaZifornian, cation of Captain Lord that had for if Captain Lords position was come to light in a half-century. But correct, if he had been victimized by the aged mariner knew nothing about a strange series of coincidences, the it. He died three months before the answer must lie with two mystery report was made public. ships seen but unknown. History can be cruel. Once it has Exactly fifty years after the Titanic branded its villains the mark is not disaster, in April 1962, Captain Lord easily lost. Today, official British got the biggest break in his favor. and American records still cast CapA confidential report, filed by the tain Lord as one of the villains of first officer of the Norwegian sealing the Titanic disaster, a fact that permits vessel Samson in April 19 12, with the sensationalistic writers to pen copy .like Norwegian consul in Iceland, was re- that which appeared in an Amerlcan leased. This report stated that on the trash magazine in 1958: Add to the 1 rtdnics last night, the Samson was list of seaborne murderers the name operating in the Newfoundland area. of Captain John (sic) Lord, master First CRicer Henrik Naess sighted of the steamship Californian. two big stars to the south which There are questions unanswered. he thought had a peculiar position. Through dogged research of the type According to a recent report: H e already conducted by the Mercantile instructed the masthead lookout to Marine Service Association and Leslie study them through binoculars, and Ilarrison, some day the vessel seen by received a report that they were not the Californianmay be positively idenstars, but lanterns and a Ict of lights. tified. A few moments later, several rockets There are still questions t o be were seen and shortly afterwards all answered and mysteries to be unthe lights suddenly disappeared. Mr. ravelled. Some ask: why bother? For Naess report continues:Leslie Harrison it is an unfulfilled The Samsons position was such personal obligation to Captain Lord. that it was feared that we might be For others it may be simply a desire taken for violating territorial borders, to avoid giving credence to Henry and the lights1 out there meant that Fords rule that history is bunk. here were Americans in the neighbour-e---hood. When the lights went out this As part of their campaign publicity probably meant that we had been prior to the GOP convention, the Goldobserved, the rockets being, maybe, water people handed out some attractive signals to other ships. We therefore matchbooks with a slogan on them. On changed course and hurried north- the back was another notation: Made wards. When dawn came, there was in Sweden. And we thought, listening to Eisenno sign of ships anywhere. hower and others, that everyone in After the ships arrival in Iceland, Sweden was busy committing suicide Mr. Naezs learned from a newspaper because of all that socialism. Seems like few there were of the Titanic disaster. From the enterprising aenoughSwedes healthy and to sell conservative Samsons log, he checked that both Americans matchbooks t o aid them in time, date and position of the disaster their fight against socialism. coincided with their own observations.
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