Hello Adam.
I can just see others looking in on this and thinking "here we go again". This as you probably know already, is one of my favourite threads on this site. I'm glad you challenge..as you should. I will go a little deeper into your reply if I may.
"ships really did not and do not fire rockets and appear to be at weird angles for no apparent reason."
No they do not Adam, nor did they back in 1912. Nowadays, there is no way you can mistake a distress rocket for anything else. We can in part, thank the Titanic disaster for that. Back in 1912, it was a completely different kettle of fish. There were many reasons for firing off a rocket. As with today, sinking was the last resort but running out of coal or a damaged rudder were two of the lesser reason. If you search the Inquiry transcripts, you will see a constant thread running through them regarding a 1912 deck officers' perception of rocket-firing at sea. In fact Boxhall of the Titanic had never seen a distress rocket fired in anger. Up until he fired the ones from Titanic, he, like any other deck officer of the day simply knew that they were to be fired at short intervals, could be of any colour and gave off a very loud BANG.
However, if you carefully read the evidence, you will discover that Captain Lord was not told that the nearby vessel had fired any rockets at all. In fact, he was told that the rockets seemed to come from beyond that vessel. As a result of that, he told 2nd Officer Stone to call the other vessel and find out if he knew anything.. not if he was in any sort of trouble.
Now for the 'weird angle'.
Every one of Californian's officers estimated that the vessel stopped nearby was between 4 and 7 miles away. Lord, the most experienced seaman on the bridge,estimated it was 4 miles away.
They all viewed it with the naked eye and with assisted vision, i.e. binoculars. With binoculars, there was only one way that they could have made a mistake about their estimation as to how far away it was.. lack of experience.
With the naked eye, they would not have been able to see the horizon. However with binoculars they would clearly see it as well as the position of the ship relative to it. They would see that the red side light and accommodation lights were below the line of the horizon and that the masthead light was above it. If it had been 9 miles away, all the lights would be seen above the horizon. Significantly; at such a close range, any concentration of lights would be reflected on the surface of the flat-calm sea.. the "Sea of Glass" which a recently published book title refers to. Such sights would be seen through glasses as 'weird'.
As for the indication of a list;the red light being higher than seen before; that suggests a list to starboard. for it to be discernable at that distance due to the change in position of a coloured navigation light, it had to be a very heavy one indeed. Titanic never did take a heavy list to starboard. These lads were seeing distortion due to reflected light. This is what I mean by being able to interpret evidence properly. Moving on.
"I'm afraid I don't understand why rousing the wireless operator is "nonsense"
When the other vessel stopped near the stopped Californian, the latter's 3rd Officer attempted to contact her. His action was a normal one. This was at about 11-35pm., an hour and 10 minutes before the other vessel seemed to fire a rocket. The 2nd Officer did the same until seeing what seemed to be a 'flash' at 12-45am.
Although Californian had a very powerful signalling lamp, the attempts of her officers to call the other vessel long before the first clearly identified rocket was seen were totally ignored.
Bear in mind the attitude of 1912 seamen to the sight of a single rocket being fired. It did not necessarily mean something was wrong but obviously it was done for a reason.
If a captain had been told that what seemed to be a rocket or rockets in the direction of, and beyond, a vessel stopped at night so close to his own, he would have told his officers to call it up by light to find out if the other vessel knew anything about such rockets. He would know that if the people on his vessel could clearly see the nearby vessel then those on that vessel could clearly see his vessel and her powerful signal lamp. Like his officers, he would also know that a distress rocket produced a 'BANG' which could be heard over 10 miles away. Since no such sound was reportred to him, he would naturally assume that the rocket or rockets were either not distress signals or, as his officer reported, seemed to be fired from a great distance beyond the nearby vessel.
It seems on the face of things and according to Lord and Gibson, Captain Lord had been told that a white rocket had been seen in the direction of and beyond the vessel nearby and that it was not a distress rocket. After an hour and 10 minutes, he was told that the vessel nearby had moved-off and that a total of 8 pyrotechnic signals had been seen in the direction of and beyond that vessel while it was stationery. No more signals had been seen.
This was a vessel which had ignored all attempts to contact her. The rocket or rockets seen in her direction did not make a sound so they were not signals of distress. Besides; if the other vessel had been in trouble and the distance of separation was so small; why didn't she answer continued attempts to contact her? Additionally; since the Wireless Operator had not heard her transmitting, it was highly likely that she did not have wireless apparatus so why call the wireless operator to find out why a nearby ship which had disappeared and which might previously have fired pyrotechnic signals which did not seem to be ones of distress?
There is one very simple mistake that everyone makes about Californian going to the rescue. It is based on what we know today rather than what was known in 1912.
In 1912 an right up until the wreck was found, all positions of potential rescue vessels were related to Boxhall's distress position. This includes the position of Californian. If, when the rockets were reported to him, Captain Lord had called his Wireless Operator, as some people think he should have done; the latter would have been given the distress position coordinates being transmitted by Titanic. Lord would then have been in a quandry. The distress position was in the direction of South 16 West from where Californian was stopped yet his officers had seen the white rockets in the direction of South 45 East. Lord would have asked himself three questions;
1. Are there two vessels in trouble.. one with and one without wireless apparatus?
2. Which one will I head for?
3. Have Titanic's people made a mistake with their distress position?
What would you have done dear reader?
Jim C.