John,
With all due respect, I don't think it is fair to conclude that Captain Lord was not an "exemplary human being", based on crew accounts from the time immediately after the Titanic disaster. Whether or not he was "beloved" by his subordinates cannot be ascertained with any level of accuracy. And I would not think that Lord or many captains believe that their job is to be "beloved".
The comments made by a handful of crewmembers, either in newspapers or in the hearings cannot be said to reflect the opinion of each and every crewman. The only thing that can be said with any certainty is that the comments made reflected what that particular person felt and believed at that particular moment. I imagine that emotions were running high right after the Titanic incident, most likely affecting what was said. We cannot know that even these crewmen would have said the same thing much later after the furor had died down and they'd had a chance to think about it in more depth.
So far as what Lord himself said to the newspapers, we cannot know if he was quoted with complete accuracy. Newspapers covering the Titanic disaster were not known for completely accurate reporting....I'm sure you'll remember the Rigel the dog story, the story of Bride decking the Black stoker who tried to steal Phillips' lifebelt, and so on. It is quite possible the newspapers "jazzed up" Lord's comments in order to sell more newspapers. As Mike Standart said on another thread, if they were called on it, they could always print a retraction buried on page 8.
I agree that there is much information that seemingly points to his guilt, but there is also much information pointing in the other direction as well. But based on his entire life and career, I've chosen to give him the benefit of the doubt. The idea that he didn't come to the Titanic's rescue becuase he couldn't be bothered to get out bed just doesn't make sense when you look at the rest of his career, both before and after. He'd worked very hard to achieve command at the early age of 28, and to think he'd throw it all away like this just doesn't wash. There are missing pieces to this puzzle and I hope to find them one day.
I find it significant and indicative of Lord's basic character that he had nothing but commendations before and after the Titanic disaster. No one in his professional life who knew him well believed that he was guilty of what he was charged with.
Captain J. MacNab, a member of the Executive Council of the MMSA, put his own reputation on the line when he wrote a letter to the Liverpool Post on August 2nd in defense of Captain Lord.
Similarly, Frank Strachan, the American agent for the Leyland Line, stuck his neck out when he helped him get hired by Lawther,Latta, vouching absolutely for Captain Lord's character. Strachan stuck by Captain Lord for the long haul, arranging for a sympathetic article in a Savannah, Georgia newspaper in 1914. At that time, Strachan made the comment to Lord that, "They wanted a bloody goat, Lord, and they got you!"
A person knows who his real friends are when the chips are down, and a man without good character simply does not gain the type of friends Captain Lord had in Captain MacNab and Frank Strachan, among others.
Mike,
Butler said that Lord's commands got <FONT COLOR="ff0000">progressively smaller and slower, indicating to me that each command was progressively smaller and slower than the Californian, not that he'd ruined his chances at a passenger liner command. Considering that none of the surviving officers of the Titanic ever achieved commands at all, Lord came out better all around.