Sinking of Titanic SS Californian

stanley lord, had commanded californian since 1911, captain when left liverpool, england on april 5, 1912 on way boston, massachusetts. not carrying passengers on voyage.

on sunday april 14, @ 18:30 ship s time, californian s wireless operator, cyril evans, signalled antillian 3 large icebergs 5 miles south. titanic s wireless operator harold bride received warning , delivered ship s bridge few minutes later.

californian encountered large ice field @ 22:20 ship s time, , captain lord decided stop ship , wait until morning before proceeding further. before leaving bridge, thought saw ship s light away eastward not sure not rising star. lord continued engineers cabins , met chief, whom told plans stopping. talking, saw ship s lights approaching. lord asked evans if knew of ships in area, , evans responded: titanic. lord asked evans inform californian stopped , surrounded ice.

titanic s on-duty wireless operator, jack phillips, busy clearing backlog of passengers messages wireless station @ cape race, newfoundland, 800 miles (1,300 km) away, @ time. evans message ss californian stopped , surrounded ice, due relative proximity of 2 ships, drowned out separate message phillips had been in process of receiving cape race, , rebuked evans: shut up, shut up! busy; working cape race! evans listened little while longer, , @ 23:35 turned off wireless , went bed. ten minutes later, titanic hit iceberg. twenty-five minutes after that, transmitted first distress call.

third officer charles groves of californian testified british inquiry @ 23:10 ship s time, had seen lights of ship come view 10 or 12 miles away, 3.5 points above californian s starboard beam. @ 23:30, groves went below inform lord. latter suggested ship contacted morse lamp, tried, no reply seen. groves, large liner, had multiple decks brightly lit. ship seemed stop , extinguish deck lights @ 23:40, same time titanic stopped engines. @ british inquiry, groves agreed if ship saw had turned 2 points port, have concealed deck lights.

slightly after midnight, second officer herbert stone took watch groves. testified he, too, observed ship, judging 5 miles away. tried signalling morse lamp, without success. apprentice officer james gibson, had been doing morse signalling, testified @ 00:55, stone told him had observed 5 rockets in sky above nearby ship. stone testified had informed captain lord, although british inquiry did not ask whether or not communicated number. lord asked if rockets had been company signal, stone did not know. lord , stone both testified stone reported not distress signals. lord ordered stone tell him if ship changed, keep signaling morse lamp, did not order contacted wireless.

gibson testified stone had expressed unease him situation: ship not going fire rockets @ sea nothing, stone said. looks queer out of water — lights queer. gibson observed, looks rather have big side out of water , , agreed not right her; case of kind of distress. stone, however, under questioning british inquiry became more , more incredulous, testified repeatedly did not think @ time rockets have been distress signals, , possibility did not occur him until learned titanic had sunk.

by 02:00, ship appeared leaving area. few minutes later, gibson informed captain lord such , 8 white rockets had been seen. lord asked whether sure of color. gibson said yes , left.

at 02:20, titanic sank. @ 03:40, stone , gibson, still sharing middle watch, spotted rockets south. did not see ship firing them, @ same time rms carpathia racing southeast, firing rockets let titanic know on way. @ 04:16, chief officer george f. stewart relieved stone, , noticed, coming view south, brilliantly lit, four-masted steamship 1 funnel; carpathia arrived on scene shortly after 04:00.

captain lord woke @ 04:30 , went out on deck decide how proceed past ice west. sent stewart wake evans , find out happened ship had seen south. subsequently learned frankfurt titanic had sunk overnight. lord ordered ship underway. californian s course took west, passing through ice field, after turned south. californian sighted @ 06:00 ss mount temple steaming north. californian passed carpathia east, turned, , headed northeast towards rescue ship, arriving @ 08:30.

carpathia finishing picking last of titanic s survivors. after communicating californian, carpathia left area, leaving californian search other survivors. however, californian found scattered wreckage , empty lifeboats.