by Senan Molony
10
A FLICKER OF DOUBT
We have already seen how Groves said he and Lord thought briefly they were being answered when they attempted to Morse the nearby vessel with their powerful lamp. Groves said:
8189. I saw what I took to be a light answering… 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…
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?’
Groves says both he and Lord saw a ‘flickering’ light on the steamer (although Lord, it must be pointed out, makes no reference to any such conversation in his evidence, and never made any mention of such an incident for the rest of his life). Groves says he came to believe it was not a Morse lamp responding to him after studying the light through binoculars. He may indeed have seen a flicker, and if so, who else saw a flickering light on the stranger? Gibson did:
7441. Did you notice anything about her masthead light, her white light? — Yes.
7442. What was it? — It was flickering.
7443. Did you form an opinion about it; what did you think she was doing? — I thought it was a Morse light calling us up…
7451. When you tried to call up this steamer with your Morse signals, could you get into communication with her? — No, Sir; the lights were still flickering…
7455. Could you read it if it was clear? — I could have done if it was a Morse light, but I looked at her through the glasses afterwards, and found it was a masthead light.
7456. Then the light went on flickering, did it? — Yes.
7457. And did you look at it then through glasses? — Yes.
7458. And when you did that, you say you made out that it was a masthead light? — Yes.
So both Groves and Gibson, on either side of midnight, say they experienced the same thing. Both saw a flickering light but conclude that it is not a signalling Morse lamp after looking carefully through glasses. Gibson goes further – he says the flickering is from the masthead light. He says it three times. Stone agreed about the flickering, according to Gibson:
7792. Had you a discussion with the Second Officer as to whether this vessel was a tramp or not? — Yes.
7793. And did he [Stone] agree with you? — Yes.
7794. [The Commissioner] Did he give his reason? — That she was probably burning oil lights; that was the cause of the white masthead light flickering.
And Stone himself talks of the stranger’s masthead light flickering, when questioned by the Commissioner: ‘What do you mean by all her lights? — The deck lights, which were in view. The masthead light would be shut in except for a slight flickering…’ (question 7958). Now here we have at least three Californian witnesses (Gibson, Stone, and Groves) in a rare degree of unanimity. All directly or reportedly saw flickering. A reasonable person would conclude there was some actual flickering. Gibson and Stone both referred to flickering coming directly from the masthead light. Steamers commonly carried two such lights. Some carried only one masthead light, although they might have had two masts or more masts. There is an unresolved dispute as to whether the Titanic carried one or two masthead lights. Blueprints for the Titanic do not show provision for a light on the after-mast, although one could, arguably, have been added at the building stage, and there was certainly equipment to hoist an arc light there by halliard. She certainly had one light, on her foremast. How many masthead lights did the Californian witnesses see on their nearby stranger? Here is Groves:
8396. You did see two masthead lights? — Yes, I did see two masthead lights…
8484. What lights was she then showing? — Two masthead lights…
Lord says:
6733. …I saw one masthead light.
6805. Can you tell us whether you saw one or two masthead lights? — I only saw one.
6806. You only saw one? — The Third Officer [Groves] said he saw two.
[The Commissioner] That is very important, because the Titanic would have two.
6807. [The Attorney General] Yes, that is it – two masthead lights. [To the Witness] You only saw one, but the Third Officer said he saw two? — [Lord] And the Second Officer [Stone] said he saw one.
Here is Stone:
7814. What could you see of the other steamer? — One masthead light…
8098–9. If she had had a second masthead light could you have failed to see it? — I think not; I was bound to have seen it.
Gibson similarly saw only one:
7787. Had you a good opportunity of seeing whether she had two masthead lights or not – I understand you only saw one? — I only saw one.
7788. How long had you the one masthead light under observation? — From the time I first saw her to the time she disappeared.
7789. How long would that be? — A quarter past twelve to five past two.
7790. And during that time were you using glasses? — Yes.
7791. Do you think you could have missed the second masthead light had it been there? — No.
The Board of Trade Inquiry certainly expected the Titanic to have two masthead lights – whether she had or not. Groves obligingly sees two masthead lights, whereas each of his three shipmates sees only one. This perhaps says more about Groves and his ‘passenger steamer’ than anything else.
Steward Leo Hyland, in an eyewitness drawing of the sinking, shows the Titanic with two masthead lights. Robertson Dunlop, counsel for the Leyland Line, stated confidently to the British Inquiry: ‘Witnesses from the Californian saw… only saw one masthead light; the Titanic had two’ (p.835). Californian herself had two.
If Dunlop, Lord Mersey and the Attorney General are right about the Titanic having two masthead lights, and Stone, Gibson and Lord, the Californian observers, similarly right about their own nearby ship having only one, then the steamer seen by the Californian was not the Titanic. It therefore follows that the mystery ship seen by the Titanic was not the Californian. But if the Titanic in fact had only one masthead light, it is noteworthy that the widespread and authoritatively-stated impression of there being two was never corrected at the inquiry by any of the many naval architects and representatives of the builders who attended. Nonetheless, the Titanic certainly did have a light on her foremast, the mast containing the crow’s nest where the lookouts kept watch. The Titanic had a total of 10,000 electric lights, according to the ‘Description of the Ship’ in the British Inquiry Report (p.20). She did not burn oil lights. The same section of the report again refers only to a light on the foremast: ‘A look-out cage was fitted on the foremast… An iron ladder was fitted… [leading] to the masthead light’ (p. 18). The light on Titanic’s foremast was electric, as befitted a state-of-the-art brand new steamer. Yet Stone said, in Gibson’s original statement for his captain: ‘I then went over to the Second Officer and remarked that she looked like a tramp steamer. He said that most probably she was, and was burning oil lights’. And there is no doubt that Gibson is talking about the foremast of his mystery ship in this extract:
7780. Was the glare of light which you saw on the after-part of this vessel forward or aft of the mast head light? — Abaft the masthead light [behind the mast].
7782. The glare of light which you say was aft, was aft of the masthead lights? — Yes.
If it is flickering at close quarters, it almost certainly is not electric. Titanic’s foremast light was electric. The Californian’s nearby ship had a flickering light – ‘she was probably burning oil’, as Stone put it. Therefore, on the sole question of her flickering masthead light, she was more likely to be a tramp than the largest modern vessel ever constructed.
In other words, she was likely a small to medium tramp steamer, as Lord, Stone and Gibson all surmised. Only Groves would later declare her to have been a ‘passenger steamer’.
&n
bsp; WHAT STONE SAW – ROCKETS
Second Officer Herbert Stone was now alone on the bridge. It was after 12.25 a.m. Californian time, and apprentice officer James Gibson had gone below to stream a new patent log (the distance-meter trailed behind a ship), the original log having been cut by ice when the Californian swerved sharply to avoid the ice floe she had spotted ahead of her some two hours earlier. Presumably this severed patent log is still on the sea floor. If ever discovered, it would establish exactly and beyond all reasonable doubt as to where the Californian came to rest that fateful night in far-off 1912.
Creating a new log was Gibson’s job. Stone’s job had been spelt out to him by the captain just before he went on watch:
7815. Did he [Captain Lord] say anything to you when he pointed her out (the steamer lying nearby)? — He asked me to tell him if the bearing of the steamer altered or if she got any closer to us.
In other words, Stone’s sole watchword that night was to tell his captain whether the strange steamer, which Stone thought to be ‘approximately five miles’ away (question 7819), should ever move. Stone himself tells what happened next:
7832. …First of all, I was walking up and down the bridge and I saw one white flash in the sky, immediately above this other steamer. I did not know what it was; I thought it might be a shooting star.
7833. What was the nature of the flash? — A white flash.
7834. You did not know what it was? — No.
7835. How long have you been at sea? — Eight years.
7836. You know distress signals? — I know what they are, yes.
7837. Was it like a distress signal? — It was just a white flash in the sky; it might have been anything.
7838. I know, but what did it suggest to your mind? What did you say to yourself? What did you think it was? — I thought nothing until I brought the ship under observation with the binoculars and saw the others.
7839. Then you took up your glasses, apparently, and looked? — Yes.
7840. And how many more did you see? — I saw four more then.
7841. What were they, rockets? — They had the appearance of white rockets bursting in the sky.
7842. Did they come in quick succession? — At intervals of about three or four minutes.
7843. Now what did you think they were? — White rockets.
7844. What do you think they meant? — I thought that perhaps the ship was in communication with some other ship, or possibly she was signalling to us to tell us she had big icebergs around her.
This then, is Stone’s impression: the steamer is in communication by rocket signal with some other ship. He cannot be sure the rockets, whatever their purpose, are intended to contact his vessel. If read carefully, his testimony does not automatically link the origin of the rockets to his near ship, at least until the latter part of his response to question 7844. It may be that Stone did not think the first rockets were from that close steamer because he goes on to say: ‘Possibly, what else? — Possibly she [it is not clear whether Stone is referring to the nearby ship or the rocket-origin ship] was communicating with some other steamer at a greater distance than ourselves’ (7845). There are two interpretations here – that the intended recipient was a greater distance to the northward than the Californian, or at a greater distance to the southward, over the horizon and unseen by the Californian. But the Californian saw no lights to her northward at all, and they should have been visible to Stone if they were visible to the stranger. Stone likely suspected that the rockets were communication with Californian by the near ship, or communication by her with another vessel, unseen by Californian, even further to the southward. In other words, Stone is already conveying at least the possibility that an unseen steamer to his southward might separately have been firing rockets, while also saying clearly that he believed rockets were being fired by the nearby ship. The Commissioner continues to question Stone:
7846. [The Commissioner] What was she communicating? — I do not know.
7847. Is that the way in which steamers communicate with each other? — No, not usually.
[The Commissioner] Then you cannot have thought that. Just attend to the question.
The Commissioner’s interruption is hardly helpful here. Stone merely states that he does not know what the stranger was trying to say. He says it is not usual, but the Commissioner reacts as if it is not possible!
7850. Now, what did you think at the time? — I knew they were signals of some sort.
7851. [Commissioner] I know of course – signals of what sort did you think? — I did not know at the time.
7852. [The Commissioner] Now try to be frank? — I am.
7853. If you try, you will succeed. What did you think these rockets were going up at intervals of three or four minutes for? — I just took them as white rockets, and informed the Master and left him to judge.
7854. Do you mean to say you did not think for yourself? I thought you told us just now that you did think? — [No answer].
7855. [Mr Butler Aspinall] You know they were not being sent up for fun, were they? — No.
7856. [The Commissioner] You know, you do not make a good impression upon me at present.
7856a. [Mr Butler Aspinall] Did you think that they were distress signals? — No.
7857. Didn’t that occur to you? — It did not occur to me at the time.
7858. When did it occur to you? Did it occur at some later time to you? — Yes.
7859. When? — After I had heard about the Titanic going down.
Stone has been legally ‘monstered’ in this excerpt. But he reiterates what he thought at the time – that these were rockets of communication, signals of some sort. It simply did not occur to him that they were distress signals. But Stone’s state of mind that night is of less importance to the court than establishing that they could have been distress rockets:
7860. So throwing your mind back [the next morning] after that information [that Titanic had sunk] then you thought they were distress signals? — I thought they possibly might have been distress signals.
7861. [The Commissioner] From the Titanic? — No, not necessarily.
7862. After you had heard that the Titanic went down, then it occurred to you that those might have been distress signals? — Yes.
7863. From the Titanic? — Not necessarily. They may have been from some other steamer. I did not think that vessel was the Titanic.
Of course, what Stone thinks the next morning is entirely irrelevant. What is important is what he thought at the time because this necessarily informed his communication to the master, Captain Stanley Lord, which shall be examined in a moment. For now, however, just absorb the confusion in Stone’s mind, even after learning of the Titanic sinking. He says that the nearby steamer was firing rockets, but that the nearby steamer was not the Titanic! It still does not seem to him that the nearby steamer was in distress, but if not in distress, was communicating with another ship. But it may be that the other party to such communication was not in distress either… So, possibly, a yet different ship, not the nearby vessel and not her unseen partner, was in distress. If another ship was firing distress rockets, how would Stone know it was the Titanic? But it might have been…
When we look at it, Stone’s puzzlement the next morning and thereafter is consistent with two certainties in his own mind: that the ‘smallish’ steamer that he saw (question 8088) simply could not have been the Titanic and that he didn’t think at the time that any vessel was firing distress rockets. Let us proceed:
7664. [Mr Butler Aspinall] Your vessel had stopped, had she not? — Yes.
7865. That was on account of the danger from ice? — Yes.
7866. Did that fact help you at the time to come to some conclusion as to what these signals meant – danger from ice you know, I suggest, followed by distress signals? — I kept the ship under close observation, and I did not see any reason to suppose they were sent as distress signals from this ship.
7867. You communicated the
fact to the Captain? — Yes.
7868. Through the speaking tube? — Yes.
7869. I think you said you left it to him to judge. Did he answer back? — Yes.
We are now at a crucial conversation. It is right that it should be examined in great detail. What we know, however, is that Stone did not communicate to his captain that a nearby ship was firing distress rockets. That was emphatically not Stone’s own impression, and his voice would therefore have conveyed no sense of urgency – because there was none. In Stone’s mind, let us reiterate, he was only seeing unusual signals. But what prompted him to make that report? The puzzle itself, or some other motive? And when did he report it?
WHAT WAS REPORTED – AND WHEN?
There is an enormous issue, all too often overlooked, about the exact time when Stone reported by speaking tube to Captain Lord, and what he could have told him.
At 12.40 a.m. Californian time we know there was a preliminary conversation between Stone and Lord, half an hour after the second officer had taken up the watch. This was initiated by Lord. Nothing had been seen by this time. Lord is asked about this first conversation with Stone:
6785. Then did you speak to him through the speaking tube? — [Lord] At 20 minutes to 1.
6786. …I asked him if the steamer was the same. He said it was the same; he had called her up once [by Morse lamp], but she would not reply to him.
6787. Then you went to lie down in the chartroom? — Yes, I told him I was going to lie down in the chart room then.
