by Senan Molony
6831. And did you say to him: ‘The only passenger steamer near us is the Titanic’? — I might have said that with regard to the steamer, but he did not say the steamer was a passenger steamer.
It will be recalled however that Groves claims (question 8484), passenger steamer or no, that he can see the stranger’s port side light. Lord too could see a side light, a different one, a green one, when he believed the stranger stopped at 11.30 p.m., fifteen minutes earlier. Yet, whatever their colour, side lights are to be visible under regulation for 2 miles. They might be seen at much greater distance, especially on a clear night such as this. And if Californian witnesses can see the side light of their nearby vessel – and if that vessel is the RMS Titanic – then surely those witnesses cannot miss that vessel’s immense size? Read Groves again; what impression of size does he have? Groves mentions only (question 8178) that his steamer had ‘a lot of light’ – a claim he allows to be retracted by the doubt-ridden circumstances he subsequently describes. Furthermore, would a sudden turn by the largest moving object ever made really be missed by both Groves and Lord and, secondly, result in her closing in all her main lights to appear as a small steamer?
Another point to note in this context is that Captain Lord had previously seen the Titanic’s sister ship, the RMS Olympic, from a distance of 5 miles (US Inquiry, p.724):
Senator Smith: Have you ever seen the Olympic?
Lord: Only at a distance; about 5 miles away.
So, of the two men, Lord is the only one we know had seen a Titanic-class ship at the relevant range. Would he know what he was looking at? Would Groves?
Of course it might be contended that the vessel turned while the two men were discussing her down below. But this does not assist Groves, because he strongly suggests that he saw the lights go out on the strange steamer while he was watching her, having come back from talking to the captain:
8211. He [Lord] said to me: ‘It does not look like a passenger steamer’. I said, ‘Well, she put her lights out at 11.40 – a few minutes ago that was’.
If Groves seemed, by the time he reached the witness box, to be in two minds about this ship (‘a lot of light’ versus ‘a few minor lights’), his captain was in no doubt at any stage. Here is further evidence from Lord:
6989. Does not it strike you now that that steamer you saw sending up rockets [NB: Lord saw the steamer, but like Groves never personally saw any rockets; counsel is being sly] must have been the Titanic? — No.
6990. Not now? — No, I am positive it was not the Titanic.
6991. Why are you positive it was not? — Because a ship like the Titanic at sea is an utter impossibility for anyone to mistake.
6992. That must depend upon the distance you are from her? — Well, my distance, according to my estimate, is 4 to 5 miles.
6993. But might not she have been a good deal further off? — I do not think so. I do not think we would have seen her side lights [if that were the case].
A good point, perhaps…
All the Californian witnesses, including Groves himself, could see a side light with their naked eyes – again confirming their average distance of around 5 miles, or 4 to 7 miles as would be specified by later witness Gibson. Groves thought she was ‘about five to seven miles away’ (question 8385).
Yet the Californian’s powerful Morse lamp (Lord’s US evidence: ‘I suppose you can see that about 10 miles, and she was about 4 miles off’) had meanwhile gone unanswered or proved ineffectual at this intermediate range. After Groves went off watch at midnight, Californian’s Apprentice Officer James Gibson and Second Officer Herbert Stone watched their mystery ship for two hours. Both thought she was a ‘small’ to ‘medium’ steamer. In other words, they agreed with Lord. Not with Groves.
Let the question be asked again: is the RMS Titanic, at an estimated distance of 4 to 7 miles, going to look like a small coaster with a few minor lights? Her size in tonnage is eight times that of the Californian (Titanic 46,000 tons, Californian 6,200 tons). Surely the Titanic would indeed have been ‘an utter impossibility for anyone to mistake’?
Groves became convinced, from what he learned subsequently, that the steamer he saw was the Titanic. Gibson and Stone would take a contrary view; they stood on the decks of the Californian and watched a nondescript tramp steamer 4 to 7 miles off, using glasses on and off for more than two hours, whereas Groves noticed her casually for only an hour at most. Are these next two men mistaken?
Groves said (question 8241) Lord remained on the bridge for three minutes at the outside, meaning the Captain descended again at 11.48 p.m. Groves stayed for the short remainder of his watch, adding (question 8244): ‘After I had tried ineffectually to Morse her I did not pay any particular attention to her’. But Groves, before he goes off watch, has one more strange tale to tell. It concerns the attempt to Morse the stranger:
8188. Did you get any reply [to the Morse lamp]? — Not at first, no reply whatsoever.
8189. Did you afterwards? — Well, what I took to be a reply. I saw what I took to be a light answering, and then I sent the word ‘What?’ meaning to ask what ship she was. When I sent ‘What?’ his light was flickering. I took up the glasses again and I came to the conclusion it could not have been a Morse lamp.
8190. [The Commissioner] Is the long and short of it this, that you did not get a reply, in your opinion? — In my opinion, no.
8191. You thought at first you had? — Yes, I thought at first I had.
8192. But you satisfied yourself that you were wrong? — That is so.
8193. Did you go down again to the Captain? — No, he came to the bridge [11.45pm].
8194. Was there anyone else there except you and he? — Not on the bridge.
8195. Did you tell the Captain about the Morsing? — Yes.
8196. What did he say? — He saw a light flickering himself, and he passed the remark to me. He said: ‘She is answering you’. This was just before I sent the word ‘What?’
8197. After that was done, did you have any more conversation with the Captain about the steamer? — When he came up on the bridge he said to me: ‘That does not look like a passenger steamer’. I said: ‘It is, Sir. When she stopped her lights seemed to go out, and I suppose they have been put out for the night’.
Groves is now telling a different story of how those lights, formerly ‘a lot of light’, had suddenly become much less. He now says they were ‘put out for the night’, a very different explanation to his previous agreement with counsel’s clever suggestion that they had been obscured by the vessel making a turn. We can see how Groves is being led by counsel. We know that the Titanic, unlike some passenger liners, did not put out the lights in her public rooms before midnight. Groves meanwhile is also talking of an alleged incident during his Morsing when Lord was standing beside him on the bridge and both men fancied they saw an answer! Yet Lord does not recount such a dramatic episode. And counsel clearly did not dare ask him…
THE SPEED THAT’S TOO SLOW
Groves says (question 8241) he did not think Lord remained ‘up there with me’ on the bridge for more than three minutes at the outside. So the captain descended again at 11.48 p.m., by Groves’ account, leaving the third officer on the bridge for the short remainder of his watch. Groves added (question 8244): ‘After I had tried ineffectually to Morse her I did not pay any particular attention to her’. Second Officer Stone would soon arrive to take over watch, appearing shortly after midnight. Meanwhile the mystery ship wallowed, perfectly stationary. Now that this mystery ship is stopped however, we can take stock of her progress to date.
Lord saw her at 10.30 p.m. and watched for another hour, on and off, until she stopped. The limit of Californian’s visible horizon from the bridge is estimated at 7.8 miles. This would be increased by the height of the far-off light (on the masthead of the visitor). But her progress, in Lord’s hour of observation, is slow.
The Titanic was speeding at 22 knots!
The Titanic’s speed is twi
ce that of the Californian (11 knots) for the hours up until the Leyland liner stopped. This other vessel was ‘something like ourselves’, said Lord. And Lord does not mention the light’s extraordinary rate of progress if that light is indeed the Titanic.
Yet if the light was the Titanic, then she would have been out of sight across the horizon in far less than an hour! Yet Lord saw her first at 10.30 p.m. and could still see her at 11.30 p.m., when he judged that she had stopped.
The light does not make any impressive progress at all. Quite the reverse. In fact, her speed is so ‘unremarkable’ that neither Groves nor Lord have reason to make remark. Groves believed subsequently that the ship he saw was indeed the Titanic. It is not only Lord who indicates that the light did not move significantly; look at Groves’ own testimony as to the rate of progress of the ship he saw. He noticed the ship advancing obliquely for half an hour in total. From 11.10 p.m. (question 8135) when he first noticed her, until 11.40 p.m. when he says she stopped. Those are the bookend times in his evidence. At 11.10 p.m., when he noticed the ship first, Groves said it was ‘ten to twelve miles away’ (question 8160). By the time she stopped however, Groves said she was ‘five to seven miles’ away from the Californian. He revealed this in later examination (question 8385): ‘When she came to a stop what was the distance? — Well, I should think about five to seven miles’. In other words, Groves has seen that steamer approach his own vessel by 5 miles in half an hour. From 10 or 12 down to 5 or 7. And 5 miles in half an hour is a speed of 10mph. This is 10 knots. Not 22 knots. This is Groves’ own testimony! How can this ship be the Titanic? The Titanic was charging along at 22 knots before she was stopped. Abruptly.
This is indicated by several members of the Titanic crew. Here is Fourth Officer Boxhall’s evidence:
15643. Can you tell me what speed you assumed as between the 7.30 position and the time you struck? — Twenty-two knots.
15644. Twenty-two knots? — Yes.
And here is Second Officer Lightoller (US Inquiry, p.64): ‘How fast was the boat going at that time? — About 21½ or 22 [knots]’. Similarly, Quartermaster Robert Hichens, who was at the helm at the time of impact (US Inquiry, p.462) states:
At 9.45 o’clock p.m., Sunday, the ship was travelling at that rate and going full speed when the log was taken at 10 o’clock.
Senator Smith: You mean by full speed, 22½ miles per hour?
Hichens: Yes, sir.
The Californian was no Atlantic greyhound. She was a tramp, with a tramp speed of 11 knots, which was actually more than respectable. The ship Captain Lord regarded as ‘something like ourselves’, a medium steamer, crossed the horizon to stop below them at a rate of 10 knots or slightly less. Groves agreed with this. He inadvertently calculated her as travelling at 10 knots. She looked like a tramp – to Lord, if not Groves – and she moved like a tramp.
7
GROVES AND THE SHIP UNSAID
Groves handed over the watch to Second Officer Herbert Stone at some time (question 8250) between 12.10 and 12.15 a.m. This is Groves’ evidence regarding what happened next:
8255. Did you point out the steamer to Mr Stone? — Yes.
8256. Did you tell him what you thought she was? — Yes.
8257. What did you say? — I pointed out the steamer to him and said: ‘She has been stopped since 11.40’; and I said: ‘She is a passenger steamer. At about the moment she stopped she put her lights out’.
We have already seen that Captain Lord denies being told by Groves that the stranger was a passenger steamer (question 6830): ‘Did he say to you [at 11.45 p.m.] that she was evidently a passenger steamer? — No’. In Groves’ version, he maintained his position in the teeth of the captain’s disbelief, even though there were only some minor deck lights showing to both men at the time. So what does Herbert Stone now say about Groves handing over the watch and telling him about the vessel lying near-to? We see another account contradicting Groves’ evidence; Stone never suggests that Groves pointed out a ‘passenger steamer’, but merely talks of ‘the steamer’. Here is Stone being questioned:
7822. I suppose you relieved the other officer and took charge? — Yes.
7823. Did the Third Officer make any communication to you about this steamer when you relieved him? — He told me the steamer had stopped about one bell [11.40] and that he had called her up on the Morse lamp and got no answer.
Just before going on the bridge, Stone had met Lord, who pointed out to him the steamer. It looked to Stone to be about 5 miles away, much the same as both Lord and Groves had judged it to be:
7814. He [Lord] pointed out another steamer. What could you see of the other steamer? — One masthead light and a red side light and two or three small indistinct lights [author’s italics].
Stone next left Lord and went on the bridge and had the same steamer pointed out to him again by Groves. Stone might have been surprised to learn that the steamer with ‘two or three small indistinct lights’ was in fact a passenger steamer! He gives no indication of ever having been told such astonishing news by the third officer.
8088. What kind of steamer did you judge her to be from the appearance of the lights you saw? — [Stone] A smallish steamer.
8089. Judging from the appearance of the lights, could she possibly have been the Titanic in your opinion? — Not by any means.
Stone was asked at the end of his evidence (question 8108) whether he knew any means by which, on a dark night at sea, he could tell the nature of a light – that is, whether it be ‘a very powerful light some way off’, or alternatively, ‘a less powerful light not so far off’? He replied that he did:
8109. How would you do it? — A powerful light generally throws a glow around it, into the surrounding atmosphere. The more moisture there is in the air the greater the glow you will see around this light.
8110. How much glow was there round these lights? — Very little.
Groves, meanwhile, the man who says he insisted on a passenger steamer to his captain and colleague, despite both Lord and Stone appearing not to have heard this comment, had now gone off duty. What did he do?
8271. You went off the bridge? — Yes.
8272. Where did you go? — The Marconi house.
8273. Is the Marconi operator, Mr Evans? — Yes.
8274. Did you find him there? — I did.
8275. Was he asleep? — He was asleep.
8276. He had gone to bed? — He had gone to bed, yes.
8277. Did you wake him up? — Yes.
8278. And have some conversation with him? — Yes.
8270. What passed? — The only thing I remember asking him was ‘What ships have you got, Sparks?’
8280. ‘Sparks’? — Yes.
8281. Is that his name? — No, it is the name he gets on the ship.
[The Commissioner] Seeing he is the operator, you know why he is called ‘Sparks’.
8282. [Mr Rowlatt] You asked him what ships he had got. What did he say? — Only the Titanic.
8283. Did you take his instruments and put them to your ears? — Yes.
8284. Could you read a message if you heard one? — If it is sent slowly – yes.
8285. Did you hear anything? — Nothing at all.
8286. How long did you listen? — I do not suppose it would be more than 15 seconds at the outside –well, 15 to 30 seconds. I did it almost mechanically.
8287. Did you do anything more before you turned in? — I may have said a few more words to him, but I have no recollection. When I left his house I went straight to my cabin.
8288. And went to bed? — And went to bed.
8289. [The Commissioner] What time was it you were talking to this man whom you call Sparks? — As near as I can judge it would be between 12.15 and 12.20 a.m.
So Groves was told by the wireless operator that he, Evans, ‘had’ the Titanic. Groves now, incredibly, says nothing about his ‘passenger steamer’. Nothing at all – despite in the previous half an hour repeating to both the captain an
d the second officer that the vessel lying near them was a passenger steamer, which — if he did say it — neither apparently believed. Yet Groves was seized with no urge to expound his convictions to Evans, despite the latter’s offer of at least one passenger steamer – Titanic – to back up his apparently strongly-held deduction. It is the ship unsaid; Groves finds himself saying nothing about a passenger steamer at a crucial moment according to the express testimony of a third crew member, wireless operator on the Californian, Cyril Evans:
9037. And he [Groves] came in you say at about a quarter past 12? — He stopped up on the bridge, I think, for 10 minutes until 10 minutes past 12 with the other officer to get his eyes in.
9038. When Mr Groves came into your room, what did he do? — He asked me what ships I had got; if I had got any news.
9039. Yes, what did you tell him? — I told him I had got the Titanic. I said: ‘You know, the new boat on its maiden voyage. I got it this afternoon’…
9044. Did anything more happen then? — I do not remember Mr Groves picking the ‘phones up, but Mr Groves says so.
9045. That he picked them up and put them into his ears? — Yes. Of course, I was half asleep.
9046. Did he tell you, as far as you recollect, then at a quarter-past twelve of anything that he had seen since the ship had stopped? — No. [author’s italics]
9047. He only came in and asked what ships you had got? — Yes. He generally comes in my room and has a talk.
9048. He generally does that? — Yes. He comes and has a chat.
9049. Just to find out what the news is? — Yes.
9050. And then. I think, you went to sleep? — Then I went to sleep. He [Groves] switched out the light and shut the door.
Groves then went to bed, and thereafter his involvement ends. The summary of his evidence is that he saw a passenger steamer which came up and stopped 5 miles off at 11.40 p.m. He Morsed her, but got no reply.
