by Senan Molony
The Mount Temple says she was many miles to the other side of the ice barrier at the time, and in any case Chief Officer Stewart certainly later saw the Mount Temple, as he knew the difference. He implies here that in his opinion she was not the yellow-funnel ship he saw at 4 a.m.:
8851. What kind of a steamer was she [at 4 a.m. to southward]? — A four-masted steamer with one funnel.
8852. Have you been able to ascertain what her name was? — No.
8853. …Well, we never knew what ship that was that we saw to the southward.
Chief Officer Stewart’s use of ‘we’ seems to imply that others were involved – himself as well as Lord maybe, or perhaps the entire ship’s company? And Lord, who had also studied the yellow-funnel steamer by 4.30 a.m., using glasses, later saw the Mount Temple on the other side of the icefield and drew no connection between them:
6998. …I only saw one steamer, passenger steamer, of any size that day, and that was the Mount Temple.
6999. Is the result of your evidence that you cannot suggest the name of any other passenger steamer that was in the neighbourhood of your vessel at about midnight on the 14th April? — No, I cannot.
Californian later passed the Mount Temple at about 7.30 a.m. in the vicinity of the SOS position (7014–5). She was stopped. Neither Lord nor Stewart equated her with the earlier yellow-funnel vessel. There is another four-mast yellow-funnel vessel which moved into the vicinity. She was the Birma, which arrived only at 8 a.m., having reported herself by wireless earlier in the night as 70 miles from the SOS position. The Frankfurt, of Norddeutscher Lloyd, had a yellow funnel, but only two masts instead of the necessary four. We need not be detained further by speculation, except to rely on this yellow-funnel vessel of 4 a.m.–4.30 a.m. for what she can tell us: firstly, that there were more vessels in the immediate locality – and at an early stage – than is commonly imagined; secondly, that she was visible to the Californian at 8 miles away at that time, and the Californian saw no other ships at this time – certainly not the Carpathia. The Californian, therefore, was over the visible horizon from the red-funnel Carpathia and must have been at a considerable distance from her.
FINDING OUT
Stanley Lord came back on duty at 4.30 a.m. ship’s time on 15 April 1912. Stewart briefed him, just as Stewart had previously been briefed by Stone. Stewart’s information from Stone was that Stone had seen a ship 4 or 5 miles off when he first went on watch, and at 1 o’clock had seen some rockets. Stone did not say how many (question 8578). Stewart asked Stone what he did and was told by Stone that the moment the ship started firing rockets she had started to steam away. Stewart then formed a belief, based on what Stone told him, as to why this ship should be firing rockets:
8586. …I thought what had really happened was she had seen a ship firing rockets to the southward, and was replying to them.
Stewart repeated his conviction to Commissioner Mersey, who then asked:
8588. Replying? Do you reply to another ship by firing rockets? — Well, my Lord, he told me he had called him up repeatedly by the Morse lamp and the ship did not answer.
8589. But I do not understand this replying by means of rockets. Did you ever hear of such a thing? — Well, I never heard of such a thing, but he might have replied [with rockets] to let them know he had seen them.
Stone had told Stewart that he did not think these were distress rockets being fired by the ship to the southward. Stewart said: ‘I asked him during our own talk were they distress signals, and he said he did not think they were. He said he had informed the Captain on three occasions at intervals’. Stewart added that Stone had given him three reasons for his belief that the rockets were not distress signals: ‘They did not make any noise or report’ (8860); ‘They did not leave any trail in the sky’ (8864); ‘They did not seem to go any higher than the observed vessel’s masthead light’ (8864). Stone also reported that he thought the rockets might have been ‘replying to somebody else to the southward’ (8862). And Stewart says:
8868. Did he [Stone] state any opinion to you? — He said he thought she was answering to somebody else.
And then:
8884. When he reported that the vessel had steamed away, what did you gather from the way in which he made his report of what he told you that had happened to this steamer? – That she had gone down to the other ship.
Stewart then picked up his glasses, spotted the four-master to southward and had the exchange with Stone in which the latter denied she was the ship he had seen. Stewart privately concluded that this may have been the same ship – which he believed could have cruised off but found no way through the ice, and so returned some of the way to her original place (questions 8641–43):
I thought she might have come back, or she might have known something about the other ship. I thought all the time that that ship [the yellow-funnel four-master] had something to do with it or knew something about it.
But on the morning in question Stewart did not mention his hunch or theory to Stone or to anyone else. Stewart may even have tried to call up the stranger with the Morse light in the early after-dawn: ‘I saw a ship to the southward there, but she would not answer’ (8917). A little later on, Stewart called the captain. It was about 4.30 a.m. when he did so:
8616. I told him that the Second Mate told me he had seen rockets in the middle watch…
8618. [Lord replied] ‘Oh, yes, I know’…
8619. Is that all he said? — He said: ‘Yes, I know, he has been telling me’.
Captain Lord told the British Inquiry he was called by the chief officer at 4.30 a.m: ‘He [Stewart] told me it was breaking day and the steamer that had fired the rocket was to the southward’ (6875–6). The issue was pursued:
6880. Did you know she had fired a number of rockets? — I did not.
6881. According to you did she fire only one rocket? — Only one rocket.
This initial wake-up call by Stewart – a knock at the door, a few words, the chief officer leaving Lord to dress fully – may have involved the two men talking at cross-purposes, Lord still thinking only one rocket had been fired during the night. It is for the reader to judge.
Lord’s account states that he slept through Gibson’s visit and had no recollection of Stone’s 2.40 call by speaking-tube. The captain duly came on the bridge. It was now getting on for 5 a.m. Stewart takes up the story:
8622. You were still stopped. Did you hear from him what his plans were? — He talked about the possibility of going through the ice and proceeding on our voyage.
8623. I asked him if he was going to the southward to see what that ship was.
8625. He said, ‘No, I do not think so; she is not making any signals now’.
Lord is still blissfully unaware. The questions continue:
8629. Did you and the Captain look at this other ship together? — Yes.
8630. Did you tell the Captain that Mr Stone, who had been on watch, thought this was not the ship that had thrown up the signals? — No.
8631. You did not? — No. [Perhaps because Stewart had come to a different impression from Stone as to whether she was that original steamer or not]
8632. Did the Captain say this: ‘No, she looks all right; she is not making any signals now?’ — Yes, I believe those were his exact words.
8633. When the Captain said: ‘She looks all right’, what was he referring to? — She just looked like an ordinary steamer stopped.
8650. [The Solicitor General] Anyhow, you and the Captain at half-past four in the morning were talking about this steamer as though it was this steamer which had thrown up the signals, although the Officer of the Watch who had seen the signals told you it was not? — Yes.
8651. And you never told the Captain of that mistake? — No.
It appears that Stewart now injects a bit of urgency into the conversation by getting it across to his captain for the first time that a number of rockets were fired during the night. Lord says it was half an hour after he was awoken tha
t he first learnt this important fact: ‘The Chief Officer told me, about 5 o’clock, that she had fired several rockets’ (6885). This is Lord’s account of a casual discussion that suddenly turned deadly serious:
6961. Let us go back to the story. At half-past 4 in the morning, when the Chief Officer called you, do you remember saying to him that the Second Officer had said something to you about a rocket? — Yes, I said that.
6962. Did you then go on the bridge? — Yes.
6963. Do you remember just before 5 o’clock a conversation with your Chief Officer? — I do.
6964. About the steamer? — About this, which he said was a yellow-funnelled steamer…
6968. I only want the substance of it? — Well, I was conversing with him about the probability of pushing through the ice, to commence with. I was undecided whether to go through it or to turn round and go back, and we decided to go on, so I told him to put the engines on and stand by. He did so. [The Californian’s engines were started up at 5.15 a.m.]
Lord continues:
…Then he [Stewart] said, ‘Will you go down to look at this steamer to the southward?’
I asked him, ‘Why, what is the matter with it?’ He said, ‘He might have lost his rudder.’ But I said, ‘Why? He has not got any signals up’. ‘No’, he said, ‘but the Second Officer in his watch said he fired several rockets’. I said: ‘Go and call the wireless operator.’
6967. Did he? — He did.
6968. Did he go to the wireless operator? — Yes.
Stewart knew Captain Lord had been under the impression that the steamer they had just been observing was the same one seen by Stone. He knew Lord was also unaware that Stone denied this was the same vessel – because he, Stewart, did not mention this disavowal to the master. But what Stewart did not know was that Lord was under a significant misapprehension – that only one rocket had been fired instead of several. Yet when the decision was being made to continue the voyage to Boston, Stewart was keen (from what he had himself been told by Stone) to ensure that at least a check was made. He then tells Lord that several rockets had been fired. And finally, as the penny drops with the Master, the response is decisive and immediate: ‘Go and call the wireless operator’. Stewart is questioned on the issue:
8757. You went in to see the Marconi operator, didn’t you? — Yes.
8758. Try and remember what it was that you told him? — I told him to get out and see what the ship was to the southward.
8759. I want you to be as accurate as you can. Do you think that is all you said to him? — I think so.
8760. What this ship was to the southward? — Yes.
8762. The ship that Mr Stone had already told you was not the ship that had sent up the rockets? — Yes.
8763. You think that is what you asked him? — Yes.
8764. I must just put it to you. Didn’t you go to his [Evans’] room and didn’t you say to him that rockets had been seen during the night? — I do not think so, Sir.
8765. You do not think you did? — No.
8766. And didn’t you ask him whether he could find out with his Marconi apparatus whether anything was amiss? — I told him to call up and see what that ship was to the southward. I remember that distinctly, Sir.
8767. Didn’t you ask him whether he could find out whether anything was amiss? — I do not think so. No, Sir; I do not remember that.
8768. Did you at that time think that anything was amiss? — I thought something had happened, yes.
8769. But you do not think you said that? — I do not think so, Sir.
Cyril Furmstone Evans, Californian wireless operator, had this to say to the US Inquiry (p.736):
Evans: He said, ‘There is a ship that has been firing rockets in the night. Please see if there is anything the matter.’
Senator Smith: What ship’s officer was that?
Evans: The Chief Officer of our ship, Mr Stewart.
Sen. Smith: He said rockets had been fired during the night?
Evans: Yes, sir.
Sen. Smith: And he would like to have you see if there was anything the matter?
Evans: Yes, sir.
Evans said the same thing to the British Inquiry:
9059. Just tell us carefully, if you will, what it was he said? — He said: ‘There’s a ship been firing rockets. Will you see if you can find out whether there is anything the matter?’
9060. [The Commissioner] Find out what? — If there is anything the matter.
There is a silly controversy over what time the wireless operator was woken. Opponents of Captain Lord would like to believe he delayed as long as he could, perhaps arguing for another option. But this jaundiced view is based on a clumsy misinterpretation of times; we must now examine the subject in order to dismiss the claim. Evans told the British Inquiry he was roused at 5.35 a.m. or 5.40 a.m. Californian time. At the US Inquiry he cited times equivalent to 5.20 and 5.30 Californian time by Captain Lord’s navigation (3.30 & 3.40 NYT). There is a difference of twenty minutes in the spread of times, from first to last.
Yet Evans was also unaware of any clock retardation on the Californian overnight. As he said himself (US Inquiry, p.742):
I do not know. I have not worked out the ship’s time. I do not know if the ship’s clock was changed during that time.
When Evans called other ships seeking information, his first response was from the Mount Temple. Her wireless operator, John Durrant, said he received the first message from the Californian (9574) at 3.25 a.m. New York time – corresponding to 5.11 a.m. Mount Temple time. This would independently tend to show that Evans was summoned much earlier than he specified in his British evidence.
The wireless log of the Mount Temple is helpful in that she was one hour forty-six minutes ahead of New York time. Californian herself was one hour fifty minutes ahead of New York, according to Captain Lord. This would mean that 5.11 a.m. Mount Temple time equated to 5.15 a.m. on the Californian. Evans testified, however, that his ship was one hour fifty-five ahead of New York. His basis for this claim is unclear, but it is wrong in relation to longitude (this would make the time he was transmitting 5.20 a.m.).
The Californian’s engines were first started at 5.15 a.m. ship’s time. Lord states: ‘5.15 we moved the engines for a few minutes’ (6713). This is Stewart: ‘What time did you start moving? — 5.15’ (8778). And Captain Lord said in his US evidence (p.717): ‘We moved the engines first at 5.15 on the 15th of April, full ahead’.
The two events – starting engines and rousing Evans – simply must have been very closely related in chronology. Lord said of his conversation with Chief Officer Stewart that he ordered him to put the engines on and stand by. Stewart immediately raised the issue of the steamer to the southward and mentioned ‘several rockets’. Lord grasped the point and said: ‘Go and call the wireless operator’.
An indication of this is that Evans says the ship was not moving when he was woken: ‘When Mr Stewart came to your cabin was your ship moving? — No’ (question 9162). Evans’ times are self-admittedly approximate, but there does not appear to have been any undue delay in seeking answers through the wireless operator. Stanley Lord now tells what happened after he sent for the Marconi man to be roused:
6969 Did the wireless operator come back or did the Chief Officer come back? — The Chief Officer came back some time after.
6970 How long after? — I suppose 15 to 20 minutes.
6971 And what did he say? — He said: ‘There is a ship sunk!’
GETTING GOING
Here is Evans (US Inquiry, p.738):
…we never lock a door on the ship. [Chief Officer Stewart] came into my room, and I did not wake up and he caught hold of me. As soon as he touched me I woke up with a start, and he said, ‘Wireless, there is a ship that has been firing rockets in the night. Will you call and see if you can find out what is wrong – what is the matter?’ I slipped on my trousers and called at once. Within five minutes I knew what had happened.
During t
hose five minutes, Evans somehow had the idea that a vessel might need to be towed (US Inquiry, p.748):
Two or three days before that I got word from another operator that there was [a] boat wanting to be towed, an oil tank[er]. She was short of coal, and wanted to be towed, and I believe he [Stewart] thought it was her, I would not say. He did not happen to mention it to me; he has not mentioned it to me.
Evans specifically said he was told about rockets when he was woken, contradicting Stewart’s account of asking the wireless to find out about the ship to southward:
9164. Did he [Stewart] say anything to you about a ship being to the southward, would you find out what she was? — No, not to my knowledge.
But the news was altogether more grim than a vessel merely needing a tow:
9072. [I heard from] the Mount Temple first.
9073. That is a Canadian Pacific vessel, I think? — Yes.
9074. Did you get any information from her? — He said, ‘Do you know the Titanic has struck an iceberg, and she is sinking’, and he gave me her position.
Wireless Operator John Durrant of the Mount Temple recalls the following:
9579. Californian calls CQ [all stations]. I answer him and tell him the Titanic has struck an iceberg and sunk, and give him her position.
9580. That was 5.11 by your time? — Yes.
Incidentally, Durrant later conceded in evidence that he presumed the Titanic had indeed sunk by then.
Lord resumes the narrative (US Inquiry, p.730):
The first report I got to the bridge that morning, after I had sent down and had the operator called, the Chief Officer came back and said, ‘He reports a ship sunk’. I said, ‘Go back and wait until you find out what it is. Get some more about it’. So he went back, and I suppose 10 minutes afterwards he came back and said, ‘The Titanic is sunk, and hit an iceberg’.