Is it possible more than one ship saw Titanic????

[JMGraber]

I have seen the debates over and over about if the ship was Californian or Mount Temple or Samson, but here is my theory. Instead of one ship, why not all three? OK, yes I know the passengers and crew on the Titanic saw one bright light and do believe it could have been any of these three ships, but maybe the two other ships saw the Titanic and they just had all their lights turned out or the people on the Titanic simply did not see any other lights. It seems perfectly natural for the Californian to have all her lights out because she had stopped for the night, so that gives one ship having her lights out and maybe the Samson was in the same condition and thus the Mount Temple was the one with the lights on that made the failed attempt to try to get to Titanic.

With all that aside, I know this may should belong in the rockets folder, but I would also like to ask if there was a such thing as firing rockets for partying? Also if white rockets, just as any color, meant distress then maybe all these ships and their captains are responsible for not taking initiative.

 

[Scott Mills]

You might as well add the Almerian to your list. It was a Leland liner and the most likely candidate for Captain Moore off the Mount Temple's black funneled steamer. It was also seen by Lord and recognized on the morning of the 15th and probably the Carpathia. While it is true that her log reports her as too far away to be the mystery ship that night, she is another case her reported coordinates on the 14th are impossible given where she ended up in the morning. And the master of that ship reported to Lord later that he saw Mount Temple that night and rockets he attempted to answer with rockets (Almerian had no wireless). Many people will dispute all of this, but as long as were talking ships that could have been there, you might as well include her.

As for the Samson, she was in port in Iceland a few days after Titanic foundered. Given the type of ship she was, this eliminates any notion she was present for Titanics foundering. Lastly I will just add my opinion that Captain Moore's testimony about a schooner in the are that night was a complete fabrication--even if he is innocent of all else. And really it is this testimony that led to people even considering a ship like Samson might be the "mystery" ship.