To my knowledge pertinent questions about the Log Books like the one’s asked here on our forum were not pursued at either Inquiry. We essentially have two Log Books that no one seems to have given instructions about or attempted to save in the sufficient time before the bridge went under, or for that matter within the entire two hours it took for the whole ship to sink! Doesn’t the absence of information on this matter from surviving Officers and lack of strong questioning at the Inquiries strike anyone else as extremely odd, maybe raise a red flag?
Personally, I suspect that both logs were deliberately destroyed in order to ensure confusion and doubt over the culpability White Star Line could be responsible for. The person responsible for the deed couldn’t have known that the movements on the bridge leading to the collision would be pieced together rather easily from the testimony of surviving Officers, and died probably believing they did what was best for all concerned.
My theory is; if Captain Smith did indeed meet his death inside the bridge as it plunged underwater (and that is still the best guess to date), then it was because the logs were there and they were his principal reason for remaining inside. Being a good “company man” it seems logical, and since he knew he had to die anyway, to stay near the books he would have placed out of sight in order to make certain even the slightest evidence they might contain would go down with him.
Are not most of the Captains movements after the collision assumed or unknown? Were there not ‘chunks” of time where no one saw him or could account for his whereabouts? My guess is he was making arrangements at least during one of those missing time periods. After the bridge was clear of personnel it would be an easy thing I think to move the books to his cabin, lock it and return to the bridge to die, feeling in a way, heroic for removing unnecessary grief for his crew members and their families in the inevitable public examination to come---and perhaps at the same time insure a noble epitaph from his employer.
If the books were deliberately destroyed, only the Captain, and the crew on watch at the time had a motive for gain, and I doubt if any of the Officers would have considered so magnanimous a gesture because they didn’t possess the scope of the situations entirety that Captain Smith did . Ismay is out of the question, even now, with all the evidence in, it still appears that ‘Yamsi’ couldn’t find an excuse to exit fast enough or he would have made an even earlier lifeboat. (Though on second thought, he might have given some advice to E.J. before leaving, something like; I’m sorry but someone has to stay, you know what you have to do.)
This is all speculation of course, based on evidence I’ve gathered through the years, but mainly it’s based on the evidence that isn’t there and should have been.
