J,
Thanx for this. Yes, Kendall was quite impressed with himself for his role in the Crippen arrest in his later years. A year before he died in 1965, he not only put it down to his keen eye and the latest newspapers on board the Montrose, he said he could sense a "heat" (meaning love) between the two fugitives.
As for fault, there are obviously two views. The "official" inquiry, the BofT Mersey hearing, cleared him. The Norwegian one, not surprisingly, didn't. That fact should be presented and the reader can draw his or her conclusions.
Yes, I am aware of the Eastland. Didn't it sink in Chicago? But the three disasters I mention have many similarities that the Eastland doesn't. They were all British flagged vessels, all had the home port of Liverpool, all were essentially immigrant ships in the North Atlantic trade, and all were lost with a great loss of life. After each disaster, Lord Mersey examined into the matter and, interestingly enough, Butler Aspinall, the shrewd English barrister, appeared before Mersey in all inquiries. This is not to belittle the Eastland disaster at all, quite the contrary. But it does not fit into this "BOX" as it were.
Talking about ships sinking in minutes: Did you know that HMS Hood, the UK battleship sunk by the German battleship Bismarck 60 years ago this month, went down in only 3, yes, 3, minutes with the loss of over 1,400 men. Only 4 men (I belive off the top of my head) survived.
Finally, thank you for your kind comments on my efforts. I do have another one in the works. Like you, I am a lawyer and while I do much legal writing, especially in UK (see www due ac uk/Law/deli/publications), I have never managed to link legal writing to T writing......until now. I am hoping to do an article on the USA/UK/CANADA/FRANCE international agree't to protect the T wreck site. Conveniently for me, a colleague down the hall with DoJ is working on it for the Cdn. gov't. Stay tuned, etc.
Kind regards,
G