Titanic: A Very Deceiving Night

by Tim Maltin

  This confusion was compounded further because in these conditions the looming Titanic would also have appeared distorted, probably with her hull towering and superstructure stooping, adding to the confusion about her size, distance and identity:

  A distorting ship in a superior mirage, photograph by Pekka Parviainen

  Adding even to all these confusions is the fact that mirages are always very small. All the photographs of mirages in this book are taken with strong telephoto lenses. In reality, the actual angular width of the miraging strip is always less than half the width of your little finger extended at arm's length. Californian therefore had a very small canvas on which to make out features of the Titanic.

  As a result of all these factors, the observers on the nearby ship concluded that the ship they were looking at was not the Titanic:

  James Gibson, Apprentice, Californian:

  7728. (The Commissioner.) What was it made you think it was a tramp steamer? You saw nothing but the lights?

  - Well, I have seen nearly all the large passenger boats out at sea, and there was nothing at all about it to resemble a passenger boat.

  7729. What is it you expected to see?

  - A passenger boat is generally lit up from the water's edge. [Author’s note, this indicates towering of the lowest part of Titanic’s hull, where there were no lights, and this was possibly accompanied by a stooping of Titanic’s superstructure, which would make Titanic look like a small, tramp steamer].

  7705. You said you thought this was a tramp steamer?

  - Yes.

  7706. Why did you think so?

  - She had no appearance at all of a passenger boat.

  7707. What time did it first dawn on you that this was a tramp steamer?

  - As soon as I looked at her.

  7708. What time did you look at her first?

  - About a quarter or twenty past twelve.

  Herbert Stone, Second Officer of the Californian:

  8088. What kind of steamer did you judge her to be from the appearance of the lights you saw?

  - A smallish steamer.

  8089. Judging from the appearance of the lights, could she possibly have been the "Titanic" in your opinion?

  - Not by any means.

  Stanley Lord, Captain, Californian:

  1959 Affidavit: At 10.30 p.m. as I was leaving the bridge, I pointed out to the Third Officer what I thought was a light to the eastward which he said he thought was a star.

  I went down to the saloon deck and sent for the Chief Engineer. I notified him that I intended to remain stopped until daylight but he was to keep main steam handy in case we commenced to bump against the ice.

  I pointed out to him the steamer I had previously seen approaching from the eastward and southward of us and about 10.55 p.m. we went to the wireless room. We met the wireless operator coming out and pointing out the other vessel to him I asked him what ships he had. He replied: "Only the Titanic." I thereupon remarked, judging from what I could see of the approaching vessel, which appeared to be a vessel of no great size and comparable with our own: "That isn't the Titanic." I told him to notify the Titanic that we were stopped and surrounded by ice in the position I had calculated, and he left at once to do so.

  Later I noticed the green (starboard) light of the approaching vessel, also a few deck lights in addition to the one masthead light previously seen. [Titanic’s superstructure was possibly stooping, reducing the rows of lights which would normally be associated with a very large passenger liner].

  At 11.30 p.m. I noticed that the other steamer was stopped about five miles off, also that the Third Officer was morsing him. I continued watching and noticed that she didn't reply. [Author’s note, it is interesting that Titanic could not even see the Californian at this stage, let alone think she was close enough to Morse to and this is because the Californian was heading northeast by north at this time.]

  Captain Lord also described this to the British Inquiry:

  6749. Did you continue to watch the approaching vessel?

  - Yes.

  6750. Till what time?

  - Half-past 11. I was standing on deck watching it.

  6751. All this time you were stopped?

  - We were stopped.

  6752. What size steamer did she appear to you - can you give us some idea?

  - She was something like ourselves.

  6753. Something like yourselves?

  - Yes.

  6754. Medium size?

  - A medium size steamer.

  6761. What distance do you think she was from you when you could see the lights?

  - About five miles.

  6989. Does not it strike you now that that steamer you saw sending up rockets must have been the "Titanic"?

  - No.

  6990. Not now?

  - No, I am positive it was not the "Titanic."

  6991. Why are you positive it was not?

  - Because a ship like the "Titanic" at sea it is an utter impossibility for anyone to mistake. [Except in miraging conditions]

  6992. That must depend upon the distance you are from her?

  - Well, my distance, according to my estimate, is 4 to 5 miles. [Looming]

  6993. But might not she have been a good deal further off?

  - I do not think so. I do not think we would have seen her sidelights. [Abnormally clear air]

  Lord had first spotted the Titanic at about 10.30pm, when Titanic was 30-35 miles from the stopped Californian and he noticed that the light he could see right on the horizon [actually Titanic’s miraging masthead light at more than 30 miles distance] “was a most peculiar light”:

  STL227. – “When I came off the bridge, at half-past 10, I pointed out to the officer [Third Officer Groves] that I thought I saw a light coming along, and it was a most peculiar light, and we had been making mistakes all along with the stars, thinking they were signals. We could not distinguish where the sky ended and where the water commenced. You understand, it was a flat calm. He said he thought it was a star, and I did not say anything more. I went down below.”

  Groves later studied this strange light himself, just before Titanic’s collision, when she was still about 12 miles away and he realized that the peculiar-looking masthead light now in fact appeared to be two lights:

  8143. What lights did you see?

  - At first I just saw what I took to be one light, one white light, but, of course, when I saw her first I did not pay particular attention to her, because I thought it might have been a star rising.

  8144. When do you think you began to pay particular attention to her?

  - About 11.15.

  8145. About five minutes after you first saw her?

  - About five minutes after I first saw her.

  8146. Did you then see more lights than one?

  - About 11.25 I made out two lights - two white lights.

  8147. Two masthead lights?

  - Two white masthead lights.

  This could have been Titanic’s one masthead light, appearing as two in the miraging conditions. An example of this is seen in the following photograph where the single lights on the top of two aerial masts are each multiplied in the miraging conditions. One light above the other could also have been interpreted as the fore masthead and main masthead lights of an approaching ship:

  Two aerial masts, with just one light on the top of each, multiply in the miraging conditions in this photograph taken by Pekka Parviainen.

  Too near for Wireless

  Captain Lord gave more detail about this approaching ship in 1961, in the following transcript of a recorded interview with Leslie Harrison:

  ’I don’t know if either he or I, I think I did draw his attention to a small light approaching on the port quarter. And he saw it of course, and we looked for a while, and I said, ‘well there’s nothing in sight that I know of, only the Titanic.’ He said, ‘Well that looks like a passenger ship.’ I said, ‘to me it doesn’t look like any passenger ship. There’s n
ot enough lights, and there’s not speed enough on her.’ So anyhow I said I would go down and ask wireless.

  Went down, got hold of wireless, asked him what he had, he said, ‘I’ve only got the Titanic.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘There’s a ship out here, and he came out of the door of his room, with the ’phones on his head, and I said, ‘There’s the only ship going,’ and he said, ‘That’s not any Titanic ship, she’s not lights and not going fast enough.’ [inaudible. Probably: ‘Those were his very words.’]

  Q266. You had seen this ship for quite a long time… from somewhere shortly after half past ten, until when you went to lie down in the chart room?

  Lord: That’s right. Yes.

  Q267. And in your opinion, what sort of a ship was she?

  Lord: She was a moderately big, passenger steamer probably. But nothing like the Titanic or any large White Star or Cunard liner. She might have had a few passengers aboard, but she wasn’t steaming like a big ship.

  Then I went on the bridge again, to the third officer. And this ship was coming along. I said, ‘Wireless said he’d only got the Titanic.’ I said, ‘that’s not the Titanic,’ and he said, ‘Oh that looks like a passenger ship to me.’ But I said, ‘She doesn’t to me. I shall go along and see Sparks.’ I went along. He came to the door. The open door, with the things on his head, and I pointed out the ship. I said, ‘There’s a steamer coming along, what (ships) have you got?’ He said, ‘I’ve only got the Titanic.’ ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘that’s not her.’ ‘No, I’m sure it’s not. Not big enough or fast enough for the Titanic.’

  Q297. And she stopped there. Somewhere about half past eleven. How close would she be?

  Lord: She stopped. Well, I suppose, I said she was about five miles, didn’t I?

  Q298. And you couldn’t, or could you, have been mistaken about the largest ship in the world?

  Lord: I’m positive it wasn’t the largest ship in the world, or a large passenger steamer at all.

  The 883 feet long Titanic, 10 miles away, steaming along at 22 knots, had therefore looked like a ship about the same size as the 447 feet long Californian, 5 miles away, and steaming along at 11 knots.

  But the real tragedy of the mistaken identity of the nearby ship was that it caused Captain Lord on the nearby Californian to come to the incorrect conclusion that the ship they were watching did not have any wireless:

  Captain Stanley Lord, Captain of the Californian, at the British Inquiry:

  7093. What reason have you for thinking that this steamer, a steamer which you say was, at all events, as big as your own, had not got wireless?

  - At 11 o'clock when I saw her the operator told me he had not got anything only the "Titanic." I remarked then, "That is not the 'Titanic," judging from its size and the number of lights about it.

  7083. This steamer had been in sight, the one that fired the rocket, when we sent the last message to the "Titanic," and I was certain that the steamer was not the "Titanic", and the operator said he had not any other steamers, so I drew my conclusion that she had not got any wireless.

  Scintillating Morse

  Instead, Californian had been trying to contact the nearby ship by Morse lamp, even since before Titanic’s collision:

  Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian

  “She came and lay at half-past 11, alongside of us until, I suppose, a quarter past, within 4 miles of us. We could see everything on her quite distinctly, see her lights. We signalled her, at half-past 11, with the Morse lamp. She did not take the slightest notice of it. That was between half-past 11 and 20 minutes to 12. We signalled her again at 10 minutes past 12, half-past 12, a quarter to 1 o'clock. We have a very powerful Morse lamp. I suppose you can see that about 10 miles, and she was about 4 miles off, and she did not take the slightest notice of it. When the second officer came on the bridge, at 12 o'clock, or 10 minutes past 12, I told him to watch that steamer, which was stopped, and I pointed out the ice to him; told him we were surrounded by ice; to watch the steamer that she did not get any closer to her.

  At 20 minutes to 1 I whistled up the speaking tube and asked him if she was getting any nearer. He said, "No; she is not taking any notice of us." So, I said "I will go and lie down a bit." At a quarter past he said, "I think she has fired a rocket." He said, "She did not answer the Morse lamp and she has commenced to go away from us." I said, "Call her up and let me know at once what her name is. So, he put the whistle back, and, apparently, he was calling. I could hear him ticking over my head. Then l went to sleep.”

  Initially, Lord and Gibson thought that the nearby ship was answering them:

  Groves: 8169. (The Commissioner.) Would this be something after 11 o'clock?

  - Yes, my Lord, when I went down to him it would be as near as I could judge about 11.30.

  8170. (Mr. Rowlatt.) What did you say to him?

  - I knocked at his door and told him there was a steamer approaching us coming up on the starboard quarter.

  8176. (Mr. Rowlatt.) Did you say why you thought she was a passenger steamer?

  - Yes. I told him that I could see her deck lights and that made me pass the remark that she was evidently a passenger steamer.

  8178. (Mr. Rowlatt.) How many deck lights had she? Had she much light?

  - Yes, a lot of light. There was absolutely no doubt her being a passenger steamer, at least in my mind.

  8179. Could you see much of her length?

  - No, not a great deal; because as I could judge she was coming up obliquely to us.

  8182. Now is that all you said to the captain before he said something to you?

  - Yes. He said, "Call her up on the Morse lamp, and see if you can get any reply."

  8185. What did you say to that?

  - I went up on the bridge; I went away and went up on the bridge and I rigged the Morse lamp.

  8186. (The Commissioner.) How long does it take to do that?

  - It is only a matter of taking a key out of a locker up there and just putting the plug in.

  8187. A minute?

  - Yes, that is all.

  8188. (Mr. Rowlatt.) Did you get any reply?

  - Not at first, no reply whatsoever.

  8189. Did you afterwards?

  - Well, what I took to be a reply. I saw what I took to be a light answering, and then I sent the word "What?" meaning to ask what ship she was. When I sent "What?" his light was flickering. I took up the glasses again and I came to the conclusion it could not have been a Morse lamp.

  8193. (Mr. Rowlatt.) Did you go down again to the captain?

  - No, he came to the bridge.

  8195. Did you tell the captain about the Morsing?

  - Yes.

  8196. What did he say?

  - He saw a light flickering himself, and he passed the remark to me. He said, "She is answering you." This was just before I sent the word "What?"

  As well as firing distress rockets, Titanic also began using her own Morse lamp in a desperate attempt to communicate with the nearby vessel:

  Titanic’s Fourth Officer, Joseph Groves Boxhall:

  JGB1143. And you saw her no more after that?

  - No, sir. As a matter of fact, Capt. Smith was standing by my side, and we both came to the conclusion that she was close enough to be signaled by the Morse lamp. So I signaled to her. I called her up, and got no answer. The captain said, "Tell him to come at once, we are sinking." So I sent that signal out, "Come at once, we are sinking."

  JGB1144. And you kept firing up those rockets?

  - Then leaving off and firing rockets. There were a lot of stewards and men standing around the bridge and around the boat deck. Of course, there were quite a lot of them quite interested in this ship, looking from the bridge, and some said she had shown a light in reply, but I never saw it. I even got the quartermaster who was working around with me - I do not know who he was - to fire off the distress signal, and I got him to also signal with the Morse lamp - that is just a series of dots with short intervals of light - whilst I w
atched with a pair of glasses to see whether this man did answer, as some people said he had replied.

  15403. Did the ship make any sort of answer, as far as you could see, to your rockets?

  - I did not see it. Some people say she did, and others say she did not. There were a lot of men on the bridge. I had a Quartermaster with me, and the Captain was standing by, at different times, watching this steamer.

  15404. Do you mean you heard someone say she was answering your signals?

  - Yes, I did, and then she got close enough, and I Morsed to her - used our Morse lamp.

  15405. You began Morsing to her?

  - Yes.

  15406. When people said to you that your signals were being answered, did they say how they were being answered?

  - I think I heard somebody say that she showed a light.

  15407. Do you mean that she would be using a Morse lamp?

  - Quite probably.

  15408. Then you thought she was near enough to Morse her from the "Titanic"?

  - Yes, I do think so; I think so yet.

  Titanic's surviving officers from left to right: Fifth Officer Harold G. Lowe, Second Officer Charles H. Lightoller, Third Officer Herbert J. Pitman (seated) and Fourth Officer Joseph G. Boxhall.

  © Mary Evans Picture Library

  Boxhall’s account of people on the Titanic thinking they saw a reply from the Californian, which he was unable to read, is strikingly similar to the Groves Lord testimony, above, and the following testimony from James Gibson, the Apprentice on the Californian, who thought he saw Titanic signalling, though he could also not read the Morse signals:

  James Gibson, Apprentice, Californian:

  It being my watch on deck from 12 o'clock, I went on the bridge at about 15 minutes after twelve and saw that the ship was stopped and that she was surrounded with light field ice and thick field-ice to the Southward. While the Second Officer and I were having coffee, a few minutes later, I asked him if there were any more ships around us. He said that there was one on the Starboard beam, and looking over the weather cloth, I saw a white light flickering, which I took to be a Morse light calling us up. I then went over to the keyboard and gave one long flash in answer, and still seeing this light flickering. I gave her the calling up sign. The light on the other ship, however, was still the same, so I looked at her through the binoculars and found it was her masthead light flickering. I also observed her port sidelight and a faint glare of lights on her afterdeck. I then went over to the Second Officer and remarked she looked like a tramp steamer. He said that most probably she was, and was burning oil lights.