SS Californian was a British Leyland Line steamship. She is thought to have been the only ship within sight of RMS Titanic, or at least her rockets, during that ship's sinking. The crew took no action to assist.
The United States Senate inquiry and British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry into the sinking both concluded that many or all of the lives lost could have been saved, had Californian responded promptly to Titanic distress rockets. The U.S. Senate inquiry was particularly critical of the vessel's captain, Stanley Lord, calling his inaction during the disaster "reprehensible".
Despite this criticism, no formal charges were ever brought against Lord or his crew, with Lord disputing the findings. In 1992, the UK Government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch re-examined the case and while condemning Lord's inaction, held that because of the limited time available, "the effect of Californian taking proper action would have been no more than to place on her the task actually carried out by , that is the rescue of those who escaped... [no] reasonably probable action by Captain Lord could have led to a different outcome of the tragedy".
Californian was scuttled in the Eastern Mediterranean during World War I on 9 November 1915 after being critically damaged by the German submarines and , while serving as a transport ship.
Building and early career
Californian was a steamship owned by the Leyland Line, part of J.P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Co. She was constructed by the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Dundee, Scotland, and was the largest ship built in Dundee up to that time. The ship was built to the maximum dimensions that were allowed to moor and outfit her in the Dundee Docks. The ship's size and importance to the local shipbuilding industry meant that there was a lot of local interest in her construction as it progressed. There were also some problems – when both of the ship's boilers were being transported through the streets from a foundry to the shipyard the weight of them (carried on a wheeled bogie) caused considerable damage to the city's roads, as well as breaking a number of underground water pipes. Later when a crane was being used to rig a spar on one of Californian four masts, the spar became tangled in nearby telephone wires and severed them.
She was designed primarily to transport cotton, but also had first class berths for 35 passengers. By offering comfortable cabins at affordable fares; £10 per crossing in the direction Liverpool — Boston, £50 in the opposite direction; Leyland Line secured an additional income. Nonetheless, she was still primarily a cargo ship. She was named Californian according to a tradition specific to the company which gave its ships the name of one of the 46 states of the United States at the time. She measured 6,223 tons, was long, at her beam, and had a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine powered by two double-ended boilers. Her average full speed was . The accommodation of most of the fifty or so crew members was below the foredeck. They slept in cabins designed for four to eight people that were quite uncomfortable, poorly ventilated and lit. In all, the crew included the captain, four officers, a radio operator, and 49 crew members (able seamen, stokers, trimmers, etc.). The cabins were located in the superstructure. The officers of the crew resided on the starboard side, and the passengers on the port side. Passenger facilities corresponded to the second class of most ships of the time. Although the cabins were not of high quality, they were comfortable, and had electric lighting, which was not the case on all contemporary ships. Californians passengers also had use of a smoking room on the upper starboard deck, decorated with oak panels and linoleum, a novelty at the turn of the century. The dining room was also decorated and comfortable.
Californian was launched on 26 November 1901 and completed her sea trials on 23 January 1902. From 31 January 1902 to 3 March 1902, she made her maiden voyage from Dundee to New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Subsequently, she made transatlantic crossings, generally carrying around thirty passengers in addition to her cargo. In 1902, she was chartered by the Dominion Line for five crossings to Portland, Maine. She then returned to the Leyland Line service to serve the southern United States. From 1901 to 1911, she was commanded successively by four captains before being finally put under the command of Stanley Lord.
Between late 1911 and early 1912, Californian had a Marconi wireless apparatus installed in a refitted cabin. Her first radio operator was Cyril Furmstone Evans.
Sinking of Titanic
On 30 March 1912, Californian made a stopover in London on a trip to New Orleans during which she had to face a storm which damaged part of her cotton cargo. Stanley Lord, who had commanded Californian since 27 March 1911, was her captain when she left the Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool, England on 5 April 1912 on her way to Boston, Massachusetts. She was not carrying any passengers on this voyage. On the navigation bridge, Lord was accompanied by three officers and an apprentice: George Stewart (second in command or chief officer), Herbert Stone (second officer), Charles Groves (third officer) and apprentice James Gibson.
The first week of the crossing was uneventful. On Sunday 14 April at 18:30 ship's time, Californian only Wireless operator, Cyril Furmstone Evans, signalled to the Antillian that three large icebergs were five miles to the south. Titanic wireless operator Harold Bride also received the warning and delivered it to the ship's bridge a few minutes later.
Californian encountered a large ice field at 22:20 ship's time, and Captain Lord decided to stop the ship and wait until morning before proceeding further. Before leaving the bridge, he thought he saw a ship's light away to the eastward but could not be sure it was not just a rising star. Lord continued to the engineers' cabins and met with the chief, whom he told about his plans for stopping. As they were talking, they saw a ship's lights approaching. Lord asked Evans if he knew of any ships in the area, and Evans responded: "only the Titanic." Lord asked Evans to inform her that Californian was stopped and surrounded by ice. Lord ordered Evans to warn all other ships in the area, which he did.A Night to Remember p.24
At the time Titanic on-duty wireless operator, Jack Phillips, was busy clearing a backlog of passengers' messages with the wireless station at Cape Race, Newfoundland, away. Evans's message that Californian was stopped and surrounded by ice was heard very strongly on Titanic due to the relative proximity of the two ships and drowned out a separate message Phillips had been in the process of receiving from Cape Race, prompting Phillips to tell Evans to stop transmitting in the straight diction of wireless operators: "Keep out; I am working Cape Race." (or, in morse code, "DDD"). Contrary to common belief, Evans was not offended nor did he take the common code for "stop transmitting" to be an insult. Instead, he listened in for a while before he switched off his wireless equipment and went to bed. A few minutes later, at 23:40, Titanic hit an iceberg. Shortly after midnight, she transmitted her first distress call.
Third Officer Charles Groves of Californian testified to the British inquiry that at 23:10 ship's time, he had seen the lights of another ship come into view 10 or 12 miles away, 3.5 points above Californian starboard beam. At about 23:30, Groves went below to inform Lord. The latter suggested that the ship be contacted by Morse lamp, which was tried, but no reply was seen. To Groves, she was clearly a large liner, as she had multiple decks brightly lit. The ship finally seemed to stop and extinguish her deck lights at 23:40, the same time Titanic stopped her engines. At the British inquiry, Groves agreed that if the ship he saw had turned two points to port, it would have concealed her deck lights.
Slightly after midnight, Second Officer Herbert Stone took watch from Groves. He testified that he, too, observed the ship, judging it to be about five miles away. He tried signalling her with the Morse lamp, also without success. Apprentice officer James Gibson, who had been doing the Morse signalling, testified that at 00:55, Stone told him he had observed five rockets in the sky above the nearby ship. Stone testified that he had informed Captain Lord, although the British inquiry did not ask whether or not he communicated the number. Lord asked if the rockets had been a company signal, but Stone did not know. Lord and Stone both testified that Stone reported they were not distress signals. Lord ordered Stone to tell him if anything about the ship changed, to keep signalling it with the Morse lamp, but did not order that it be contacted by wireless.
Gibson testified that Stone had expressed unease to him about the situation: "A ship is not going to fire rockets at sea for nothing", Stone said. "She looks very queer out of the water—her lights look queer." Gibson observed, "She looks rather to have a big side out of the water", and he agreed that "everything was not all right with her"; that it was "a case of some kind of distress". Stone, however, under increasingly incredulous questioning by the British inquiry, testified repeatedly that he did not think at the time that the rockets could have been distress signals, and that the possibility did not occur to him until he learned the Titanic had sunk.
By 02:00, the ship appeared to be leaving the area. A few minutes later, Gibson informed Captain Lord as such and that eight white rockets had been seen. Lord asked whether he was sure of the colour. Gibson said yes and left.
At 02:20, Titanic sank. At 03:40, Stone and Gibson, still sharing the middle watch, spotted rockets to the south. They did not see the ship that was firing them, but at about this same time RMS Carpathia was coming quickly from the southeast, firing rockets to let Titanic know that help was on the way. At 04:16, Chief Officer George F. Stewart relieved Stone, and almost immediately noticed, coming into view from the south, a brilliantly lit, four-masted steamship with one funnel; Carpathia arrived on the scene shortly after 04:00. Captain Lord woke up at 04:30 and went out on deck to decide how to proceed past the ice to the west. He sent Stewart to wake Evans and find out what happened to the ship they had seen to the south. They subsequently learned from the Frankfurt that the Titanic had sunk overnight. Lord ordered the ship underway. Californian course took her west, slowly passing through the ice field, after which she turned south. Californian was sighted at 06:00 by steaming from the north. Californian actually passed the Carpathia to the west, then turned, and headed northeast back towards the rescue ship, arriving at 08:30.
Carpathia was just finishing picking up the last of Titanic survivors. After communicating with Californian, Carpathia left the area, leaving Californian to search for any other survivors. Californian however, only found scattered wreckage, empty lifeboats, and corpses, and continued on its route to America. Upon arrival, several key crew members, including Lord and Evans, were summoned to give evidence at the American inquiry. Evans also gave evidence at the British inquiry into the tragedy. Like others involved in the disaster, he was offered large sums of money from newspapers for his story, but he refused it.
Aftermath A United States Senate inquiry into the sinking of the RMS Titanic started on 19 April 1912, the day Californian arrived unnoticed in Boston. Initially, the world was unaware of her proximity to the disaster. On 22 April, the inquiry discovered that a ship near Titanic, whose identity then was unknown, had failed to respond to the distress signals.