Samson

[Anita Dahlberg (Anita)]

I've been reading about the seal hunting ship Samson on this web-site and in Sebak's book "Titanic - 31 Norwegian destinies". Sebak writes about Eno's work (from 1991)who says that there's no doubt about the mystical ship in the horizon; it was Samson. Sebak's book does however say nothing about this evidence in Eno's work. Where can I find it?

 

[Tracey McIntire]

Dear Anita,
You might be interested in reading evidence that Samson WAS NOT the mystery ship and in fact there was no mystery ship at all--just the Californian. I highly recommmend "The Ship That Stood Still" by Leslie Reade for another viewpoint on this continuing debate.
Sincerely,
Tracey

 

[Dave Gittins]

In case you can't get Reade's book, which is exceptionally thouroughly researched, let me sum up.

The Samson story surfaced in Norway, very early, but was largely unnoticed. It contained obvious twaddle, such as placing the scene of the action off Cape Hatteras. Over the years it turned up in various forms.

Port records in Iceland show that Samson made two visits to Iceland at the time of the disaster and could not have reached the scene and returned to Iceland in the time. In any case, why should Samson have dashed at great expense to the Grand Banks area and back again?

It's simply a case of somebody with a big mouth trying to have his 15 minutes of fame.

Have look at Dave Billnitzer's fine site about the Californian affair for lots of good information. http://home.earthlink.net/~hiker1217/titanic