I do not know that he did. I do know that, given Moore's stated position at, or
very near, Titanic's distress position, he absolutely should have seen them. Particularly given that, not only does he state that he has extra eyes in the crows nest, but that he actually states he has someone hauled up to the top of his mainmast. Senan, in the book you hate so much

, does a pretty good job of showing the intervals and times Carpathia fired her rockets, and compares that to Mount Temple's stated position during those times. Mount Temple could have not been more than a few miles away from Carpathia, and assuming Carpathia's rockets went to an altitude of 300 feet above sea level, they should have been visible for 24ish miles.
On top of that Mount Temple's third and fourth officers claim at some point to have seem rockets and colored lights. Julian suggested that what they were seeing was Carpathia's rockets and Boxhall's flares--so assuming this is the case, then Moore
must have been informed about them, yet testifies twice (not counting his multiple press statements) to have seen nothing all night, except of course a schooner, which suicidally maneuvers in such a way to cause Moore to have to execute emergency measures to avoid a collision
AND the tramp steamer, that Moore states stayed ahead of him all night headed in the same direction as Titanic's distress position, despite Mount Temple making 11 1/2 knots.
It is
very difficult, for me at least, assuming that Mount Temple was not the mystery ship, that: given her stated positions and the statements from some of her crew (including officers)
did not see Carpathia's rockets.
Given this, I ask the question again,
why does Moore not only fail to acknowledge this, but clearly testifies under oath that it did not happen at all?
For many reasons:
- No other ship in the area that night, or the next morning, sees the schooner;
- Moore states the schooner has a steam fog horn. Pretty odd for a sailing ship;
- The behavior of the schooner is rather suicidal, almost as if she is trying to collide with Mount Temple;
- The schooner, after having barely missed Mount Temple, turns of her lights, despite the other 'tramp steamer' in the close and immediate vicinity of Mount Temple;
- Moore's stated start position when he responds to Titanic's distress call, and his end position, it seems to me just cannot be account for is Moore has to run his engines in reverse, and violently maneuver Mount Temple to avoid the schooner; ergo, if he is not lying about the schooner, he is lying about his actions in response to it.
Correct, however, this occurred during Mount Temple's first, and only, attempt to respond to Titanic. After which, all through the night Mount Temple's wireless operator testifies to
hearing Titanic communicating with other ships--back and forth--and chooses not to chime in. Durrant later testifies that 'he does not want to interrupt' so says nothing;
however, Sam, you must at least admit that this is odd since Durrant
knows that Mount Temple is the
closest ship to Titanic. So while he is listening to Carpathia, the Virginian, Frankfurt, and others continually updating Titanic on their positions and progress towards rescue, Mount Temple's wireless operator "does not want to interrupt."
Then Mount Temple is
the first ship to arrive at Titanic's distress position. They arrive there encountering no sign of Titanic, wreckage, or lifeboats. Indeed, even Captain Moore testifies that he had no inclination Titanic had actually foundered at this point, yet
still Mount Temple does not try to raise Titanic, nor does Mount Temple fire rockets.
Not only that, but he fails to contact the other rescue ships he
knows are headed straight for Titanic's distress position to say, "we are here and see nothing." This is even more problematic for Moore and Mount Temple, because Moore testifies that he does not fire rockets because "he does not want to have other rescue ships come to him instead of Titanic." Moore also states that, on finding nothing and being stopped by ice, he is
certain Titanic was further east than the reported distress position--incidentally, this is absolutely correct. So...
- He does not attempt to raise the other rescue ships to tell them, "we are at, or very near, Titanic's distress position. No sign of Titanic and there is thick pack ice here. Titanic probably to the east of reported distress position;
- He does not fire rockets in fear that "he will bring the rescue ships to him;"
- Yet, he already knows the other rescue ships are heading towards him because he is at Titanic's distress position, and has not bothered to tell the rescue ships via wireless that neither Titanic, nor wreckage, nor lifeboats can be seen in the vicinity and that the pack ice would indicate Titanic is further east of her distress position.
Now this does not do anything close to proving Senan's thesis that Mount Temple was the 'mystery ship;' however, Sam, if you are not bothered by this, or do not feel that this behavior is quite odd, I am unsure what further to say.
More later. I have a meeting to attend, and like the responsible government employee I am, I am writing this while at work.
Best,