History SS Californian

1 history

1.1 sinking of titanic
1.2 aftermath
1.3 world war i

history

californian british steamship owned leyland line, part of j.p. morgan s international mercantile marine co.. constructed caledon shipbuilding & engineering company in dundee, scotland, , largest ship built in dundee time.

she designed transport cotton, had capacity carry 47 passengers , 55 crew members. measured 6,223 tons, 447 feet (136 m) long, 53 feet (16 m) @ beam, , had triple expansion steam engine powered 2 double-ended boilers. average full speed 12 knots (22 km/h).

californian launched on 26 november 1901 , completed sea trials on 23 january 1902. 31 january 1902 3 march 1902, made maiden voyage dundee new orleans, louisiana, united states.

sinking of titanic

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.

aftermath

as public knowledge grew of titanic disaster, questions arose how disaster occurred, if , how have been prevented.

a united states senate inquiry sinking of rms titanic started on april 19, 1912, day californian arrived unnoticed in boston. initially, world unaware of , part in titanic disaster. on april 22, inquiry discovered ship near titanic had failed respond distress signals. identity of ship unknown.

the next day, small newspaper in new england, clinton daily item, printed shocking story claiming californian had refused aid titanic. source story californian s carpenter, james mcgregor, stated had been close enough see titanic’s lights , distress rockets. sheer coincidence, on same day, boston american printed story sourced californian s assistant engineer, ernest gill, told same story daily item.

captain lord spoke boston area newspapers. in boston traveller article dated april 19, lord claimed ship 30 miles titanic, in boston post article dated april 24, claimed 20 miles. told boston globe ship had spent 3 hours steaming around wreck site trying render assistance, third officer grove later stated search ended after 2 hours, @ 10:40. when reporters asked lord exact position night of disaster, refused respond, calling such information state secrets .

after newspaper revelations on april 23, u.s. senate inquiry subpoenaed gill, captain lord, , others californian. during testimony, gill repeated claims. lord’s testimony conflicting , changing. example, detailed 3 totally different ice conditions. admitted knowing rockets (after telling boston newspapers ship had not seen rockets) insisted not distress rockets, , not fired titanic small steamship, so-called “third ship” of night. yet testimony of captain j. knapp, u.s. navy, , part of navy hydrographer’s office, made clear titanic , californian in sight of each other, , no third vessel had been in area.

the so-called scrap log of californian came under question. log wherein daily pertinent information entered before being approved captain , entered official log. company policy of international mercantile marine co., parent of both leyland line , white star line, required scrap logs destroyed daily. official log mentioned neither nearby ship nor rockets. @ british inquiry, stone not asked recall notations had written in scrap log, during bridge-watch between midnight , 4:00 on april 15.

on 2 may, british court of formal investigation began. again, lord gave conflicting, changing, , evasive testimony. way of contrast, captain arthur rostron of carpathia, @ each inquiry, gave consistent , forthright testimony. significant that, during british inquiry, asked confirm affidavit had made united states inquiry. among other things in affidavit, confirmed daylight @ 4.20 a.m. @ 5 o clock light enough see around horizon. saw 2 steamships northwards, perhaps 7 or 8 miles distant. neither of them californian.

during inquiry, crew of californian, captain lord, gave conflicting testimonies. notably, lord said not told nearby ship had disappeared, contradicting testimony james gibson said reported it, , lord had acknowledged him.

also during inquiries, titanic survivors recalled seeing lights of ship after titanic had hit iceberg. titanic s fourth officer boxhall, other ship appeared off titanic s bow, 5 miles (8 km) away , heading in direction. californian s officers, boxhall attempted signaling ship morse lamp, received no response.

titanic s captain edward smith had felt ship close enough ordered first lifeboats launched on port side row on ship, drop off passengers, , come titanic more. moreover, lifeboat occupants reported other ship s lights seen lifeboats throughout night; 1 lifeboat rowed towards them never seemed closer.

both american , british inquires found californian must have been closer 19 ⁄2 miles (31.4 km) claimed captain lord, , each ship visible other. indeed, when carpathia arrived @ wreck site, vessel seen north; later identified californian. both inquiries concluded captain lord had failed provide proper assistance titanic, british inquiry concluding further californian s responding titanic s rockets , going assist ...might have saved many if not of lives lost.

in months , years following disaster, numerous preventive safety measures enacted. united states passed radio act of 1912, required 24-hour radio watch on ships in case of emergency. first international convention safety of life @ sea formed treaty required 24–hour radio monitoring , standardized use of distress rockets.

after publication of walter lord s book night remember in 1955, captain stanley lord sought re-hearing of inquiry relating ship, counter allegations made in book. petitions presented uk government in 1965 , 1968 mercantile marine service association (mmsa), union captain lord belonged, failed matter re-examined. however, result of ballard s expedition showing titanic not in position determined in original investigation, board of trade ordered re-examination.

the british government s marine accident investigation branch (maib) concluded reappraisal of evidence in 1992. conclusions of deputy chief inspector, james de coverly, stating: significant, however, no ship seen titanic until after collision...watch maintained officers on bridge , seamen in crow’s nest, , ship in grave danger lookout vessel come must have been anxious , keen. in view inconceivable californian or other ship within visible horizon of titanic during period; equally follows titanic can t have been within californian’s horizon.

the report went on: more probably, in view, ship seen californian another, unidentified, vessel.

the original investigator of 1992 reappraisal captain barnett, unlike de coverly, concluded titanic seen californian , indeed kept under observation 23:00 or after on april 14 until sank...[based on] evidence captain lord , 2 watch officers, mr. grove , mr. stone. after barnett s original report submitted captain de coverly given task of further examination. both barnett , de coverly had concluded titanic s rockets had been seen , stone , lord had not responded appropriately signals of distress.

the 1992 maib report concluded captain lord , crew s actions fell far short of needed . captain lord s chief defender , union attorney, leslie harrison, had led fight have californian incident re-examined british government, called dual conclusions of report admission of failure achieve purpose of reappraisal.

author paul lee accused captain lord of inability or unwillingness adjust entirely new situation. although lord had stopped ship upon encountering ice, british inquiry concluded if californian had acted upon rockets , pushed through ice, californian might have saved many, if not all, of lives lost . u.s senate inquiry critical of lord s inaction, final report stating such conduct, whether arising indifference or gross carelessness, reprehensible, , places upon commander californian grave responsibility. .

senator william alden smith, in speech u.s. senate inquiry, said: failure of capt. lord arouse wireless operator on ship, have ascertained name of vessel in distress , reached in time avert loss of life, places tremendous responsibility upon officer difficult him escape. author daniel allen butler wrote: crime of stanley lord not may have ignored titanic’s rockets, unquestionably ignored someone’s cry help.

others have suggested that, considering circumstances, there little if californian have done prevent or reduce loss of life. allegations have been made trade unions defending captain lord succeeded in influencing reports official investigations before available public. williams , kamps wrote in titanic , californian: bearing [the] distance in mind, , recalling mere fifty-five minutes had elapsed time captain lord first informed rockets moment titanic slipped beneath waves, have been nothing short of miracle lord bring ship titanic , effect rescue in such short space of time.

titanic historian tim maltin theorized californian s inaction result of cold water mirage, or superior mirage, arising differences in air temperature on warmer waters of atlantic ocean , colder waters of labrador current. maltin s suggested cause superior refraction, superimposing , stretching , distorting edge of sea , lifting images of objects, distorting appearance. explain why titanic s morse lamp believed flickering oil lamp on mast of smaller ship, , why capt. lord thought titanic different vessel. if correct, maltin s theory may further explain why titanic s lookouts did not spot iceberg earlier.

world war i







site of sinking (diamond), off cape matapan (red dot)

californian continued in normal commercial service until world war i, when british government took control of her.

on 9 november 1915, while en route salonica marseilles, torpedoed , sunk approximately 60 miles (50 nmi; 100 km) south-southwest of cape matapan, greece german u-boat u-35, killing 1 person. date, californian s wreck remains undiscovered. californian went down less 200 miles (170 nmi; 320 km) location hmhs britannic, titanic s sister ship, sunk mine on year later.