De Vliegende Hollander comes to mind as a good candidate.
The Samson theory has been pretty well debunked over the years. Besides whaling wasn't illegal in 1912. The first whaling regulations that had any force behind them didn't come about until 1946. There was an agreement for fur seals in 1911 but my understanding was that was for the pacific northwest as many countries were arguing over who had fishing and sealing rights for that area. The Atlantic seals weren't really protected until 1972 with the Marine Mammal Protection Act from my understanding. Plus from what I've read Titanic was in area that was outside of the seal ranges. Cheers.
Precisely. That and other similar candidates. Defenders of Captain Lord have come up with pretty ridiculous theories and even written books about it. You only have to read Leslie Harrison's A Titanic Myth to realize that. The book often meanders around issues that are completely irrelevant to either the Titanic or Californian and pretends to make some sense out of it.
Yes. Pretty much agree with what you wrote. I would only add that any of the bridge officers could have had the sparks get up to have a listen. They didn't do a good job in that respect. Not that it would have made any difference except the optics would have looked better in them trying. As for them trying to cover for themselves that's understandable once they realized they were being made the designated scapegoat. Titanic sank because of what Titanic did that night. Nobody else was the blame. But before this turns into another Californian thread did any of the crew members of the Samson ever say later that they were there? It's been awhile since I looked into her. I recall someone made a good case that she was in port at the time of the sinking.
Absolutely agree. But believe it or not, there are people here, one of them a retired Master Mariner, who argue why it was "unnecessary", "uncalled for" etc for crew or anyone else to have woken Cyril Evans to check what was going on - and that after a point was made about the several distress rockets that the Titanic sent-up.
True, but in doing so, they inadvertently pointed the finger at their own Captain. Marine hierarchy being what it was in those days, a ship's captain was forced to accept responsibility for what happened on board his ship, even if it was something not entirely under his control.
I believe that you are right. I cannot recall the specific references off the top of my head, but I have read in several sources that the Samson was in port at the time the Titanic had its fatal encounter with the iceberg.
So I went and looked around. From threads on this site and others here's a few points I found. A lot came back to me that I had forgotten as I read them.
I can very well believe that. In the immediate aftermath and probably till before WW1 started, the Titanic disaster did make a lot of headlines and was extensively talked about because of the scale and circumstances involved. Therefore, it is not surprising if the crew of the Samson (and probably Delilah as well
) wanted to be 'in' on it. But thereafter the two World Wars, the depression in between etc took over public interest till Walter Lord and others renewed the interest in the Titanic in the 1950s.Yes, I have read about that too, probably in an older thread in these very forums. The so-called 'Mystery Ship' has been discussed quite extensively. IMO, the only 'realistic' candidate for that is the ship that I mentioned above in Post #2 of this thread
Given the area (shipping lanes) and at night you would think there would be all kinds of ships sightings going on that people weren't sure of who they were. That's not proof but highly plausible as for your question. Plus I don't know how the fishing industry was in 1912 but being close to the grand banks one would think there would be fishing boats out chasing the cod. If they went that far out that is in 1912.
No it isn't. As for Captain Lord, he might well have seen another ship but when, where and in what direction? By the time he ordered his ship stopped, throughout the time it took the Titanic to sink and for over 2 hours afterwards, it was a dark, moonless night. So, how could Lord or anyone else make-out a ship with a "pink and black" funnel unless it was much earlier or later when there was daylight? If so, it would have been irrelevant because ships of various sizes and descriptions were passing through that part of the Atlantic Ocean and what Lord saw - if he indeed had done so - would have had no relation to the time of the sinking of the Titanic.
Thanks Sam. Would I be right in thinking that a ship in that position and heading could not have been between the Titanic and Californian at any stage earlier that night?
