by Senan Molony
Nothing then happened until the other ship was about two points on the starboard bow when she fired another rocket. Shortly after that I observed that her side light had disappeared but her masthead light was just visible, and the Second Officer remarked, after taking another bearing of her, that she was slowly steering away towards the SW.
Between one point on the starboard bow and one point on the port bow I called her up on the Morse lamp, but received no answer.
When at about one point on the port bow she fired a rocket, which, like the others, burst into white stars. Just after two o’clock, she was then about two points on the port bow, she disappeared from sight and nothing was seen of her again.
The Second Officer then said, ‘Call the Captain and tell him that that ship has disappeared in the SW, that we are heading WSW, and that altogether she has fired eight rockets’.
I then went down below to the chartroom and called the Captain and told him and he asked me if there were any colours in the rockets. I told him that they were all white. He then asked me what time it was, and I went on the bridge and told the Second Officer what the Captain had said.
At about 2.45 he whistled down to the Captain again but I did not hear what was said.
At about 3.20, looking over the weather-cloth, I observed a rocket about two points before the beam [port], which I reported to the Second Officer.
About three minutes later I saw another rocket right abeam, which was followed later by another one about two points before the beam.
I saw nothing else and when one bell went, I went below to get the log gear ready for the Second Officer at eight bells.
James Gibson, apprentice
APPENDIX 3
MYSTERY SHIP CLAIMS
Over the years there has been no shortage of nominations for the identity of the Titanic’s mystery ship. There have been far fewer suggestions as to the identity of the Californian’s nearby stranger. The hunt began in 1912 when the British Board of Trade and other arms of HM Government launched a determined attempt to track down one particular candidate they deemed worthy of attention. Harbourmasters, port authorities and customs agents in several countries were contacted to establish whether any vessels matching a ‘Wanted’ description put in or out of port around the time of the disaster.
The steamer they were looking for was one mentioned in evidence by Captain Moore of the Mount Temple. Captain Moore said that he encountered a steamer crossing his bows to the southward at a time between 1 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. as he made his way to the SOS location:
9257. …I saw her afterwards in the morning, when it was daylight. She was a foreign vessel – at least, I took her to be a foreign vessel. She had a black funnel with a white band with some device upon it, but I did not ascertain her name.
9260. Was she going west? — She was going east.
The British poured huge resources into ascertaining the movements of any vessel matching this identification. Moore at the US Inquiry had estimated her to be a tramp of 4,000–5,000 tons, specifying once more the ‘device’, but this time saying the funnel was black, not mentioning a white band. He also said he could see this steamer at 9 a.m. on 15 April 1912.
Saturnia
It has been suggested that this vessel was the Anchor-Donaldson Line’s Saturnia (8,611 tons), which indeed had a black funnel with a white band. She was westbound from Glasgow to St John, New Brunswick, when she heard the Titanic’s distress signal and turned around. She was later stopped by heavy ice, supposedly 6 miles from the scene.
It may have been a pointless hunt by the British authorities however, because Moore’s steamer was to the west of the ice barrier, whereas we now know the Titanic sank to the east. Whomever she might be, if the black-funnel steamer (with the device in a white band) was indeed heading east all the time, as Moore said, then she is likely not the Titanic’s mystery ship.
At the British Inquiry, counsel for the Leyland Line, Robertson Dunlop, named other vessels likely to have been in the vicinity, not by way of accusation, but to illustrate that the net for a culprit could be widely cast, citing westbound ships from Lloyd’s Weekly Shipping Index.
Trautenfels
The Trautenfels was a two-masted black funnel steamer (‘with red stripes’, added Mr Dunlop, meaning hoops around a white band in mid-funnel) belonging to the Hansa Line of Bremen. A petroleum carrier, she had no wireless. Her registered tonnage was a mere 2,932. She was bound from Hamburg for Boston, the same destination as the Californian.
Dunlop read into the record of the British Inquiry (p.838) a report to Lloyd’s saying the Trautenfels on 14 April was in latitude 42° 01’N, longitude 49° 53’W, when she sighted ‘two icebergs fully 200 feet long and 50 feet high’ (a latitude within 4 miles of the Californian’s stop position).
The report added: ‘Soon after, heavy field ice was encountered which extended for a distance of 30 miles and made it necessary for the steamer to run in a south-west direction for 25 miles to clear it. In the field ice 30 bergs were counted, some very large. In the Northward no clear water was seen, so that the Captain estimated that the ice in that direction must have extended fully 30 miles’.
Dunlop declared: ‘We do not know at what time she was in this latitude. All we do know is she was there at some time on the 14th April, and she did what the witnesses from the Californian described the vessel which they saw did. They saw a vessel encounter ice and then run in a SW direction until she went out of sight’.
The Attorney General spoke up at this point to say that the British authorities had been making some enquiries about the Trautenfels in consequence of the colour of her funnel. A letter from the US customs at Boston to superiors in Washington, dated 23 May 1912, stated that the Trautenfels arrived in port early in the morning on 18 April. The Californian got there a day later.
In a report to the US Hydrographic Office, received on 19 April, Captain Hupers of the Trautenfels stated that he had passed two icebergs of 200ft in length, mentioned at the British Inquiry, at 5.05 a.m. on 14 April. Over the next three hours, to 8 a.m., the Trautenfels moved south-west, ‘passing along a field of heavy, closely packed ice, with no openings’. The icefield could be seen extending far to the northward. During this time she sighted thirty large bergs.
Lindenfels
The Trautenfels and Californian were followed into Boston by a sister ship of the Hansa Line vessel. The two-masted tanker Lindenfels (built 1906; 5,476 tons) made port on 20 April.
She was reported to the British authorities by US customs at Boston because she was deemed to have a funnel resembling that specified in the alert – black with a white band – while she also fulfilled another part of the description by having a heraldic device in the middle of the band in the shape of a Maltese cross.
The Attorney General said he had been informed that the voyage from the SOS location to Boston took from three to five days. He opined that the Trautenfels would ‘probably not have been in that locality on 15th April’. Captain Hupers’ ice report said she had been there on the morning of 14 April instead.
Clearly however, the timeframe may have suited the Lindenfels. No statement is known to have ever been made by her captain or crew.
Paula
Mr Dunlop also cited the Paula, a three-masted oil tanker of 2,748 tons gross with a black funnel with a yellow band upon it containing a red R. She belonged to the Deutscher–Americana Petroleum Company of Hamburg.
Oil tankers of the time often had their superstructure aft, behind the funnel. Gibson of the Californian suggested the ship he was observing had shown a glare of light in her after-part. There was this exchange about the Paula (British Inquiry, p.840):
The Commissioner: She is a petroleum ship?
Dunlop: Yes.
The Commissioner: She is not likely to look like a passenger boat?
Dunlop: No, she would look more like what the Master and Second Officer and Gibson say, a medium-sized vessel, apparently a tramp, not having the appearance of a passen
ger steamer.
The Commissioner: Would she have her funnel aft?
Dunlop: That I do not know, my Lord; I think not. [In actual fact she did]
The Commissioner: I am told a tank steamer always has its machinery and funnel aft?
Dunlop: Well, your Lordship is informed about that.
The Paula reported being in the locality at some time on 14 April. Dunlop argued that she too was a steamer going to the westward and then apparently steaming in a south-westerly direction in order to avoid the icefield.
The Attorney General once more offered information. A reply to enquiries by the Board of Trade on 27 May from the US customs revealed that the Paula, skippered by a Captain Rieke had put into Sabine, Texas, on 29 April. The report declared: ‘The Master stated that he passed through the icefield on Sunday a few hours before the Titanic, and finding the ice cutting worse, changed course directly to the South for 25 or more miles’.
An ice advisory had been received from the Paula by the US Hydrographic Office. She reported that on 14 April at 5.30 p.m. she saw heavy pack ice and thirty large icebergs in one field, from latitude 41° 55’ N, longitude 50° 13’ W, to latitude 41° 40’ N, longitude 50° 30’ W. She was still in the area when the Titanic sank.
In addition to the above vessels, Dunlop also drew the court’s attention to the Memphian (6,833 tons, Leyland Line), the Campanello (9,291 tons, Harding Line), and the President Lincoln (18,168 tons, Hamburg–Amerika Line). He put his estimates of their positions on a chart submitted to the British Inquiry. The Campanello and the President Lincoln both had Marconi apparatus.
Yet another German oil tanker, the fourth associated with the tragedy, would make her way into the reckoning in 1938. A first mate named Hoffman claimed that the vessel Niagara, owned by the same company as the Paula, had been journeying between New York and Hamburg when he and others saw a passenger liner to the north-west on the night of 14/15 April 1912.
As they passed some distance away, they saw lights at a tilted angle. They later saw rockets and formed the impression they were witnessing ‘a celebration on board’. It was thought to be nothing unusual. On reaching Hamburg they learned of the disaster.
The similarities with the Paula are striking, but in fact the Niagara at the relevant time was operating in the Far East. Hoffman is either mistaken about which German tanker he was aboard, or was inventing the story – which formed part of an unpublished manuscript before the Second World War. The account was finally published in a German maritime magazine in 1976.
The number of ships investigated by the British in 1912 meanwhile grew to bewildering levels. It is pointless to list them all. But some, like the Parisian (5,395 GRT, Allan Line) and Etonian (6,438 GRT, Leyland Line) passed over the Titanic’s route.
As set out earlier, the Dow Jones news agency of New York reported before 9 a.m. on 17 April that the Etonian, not equipped with wireless, had docked in the North River the previous night. She reported that ‘a number of fishing boats were in vicinity of the disaster at the time’. So too did Ultonia.
Interestingly, sealing vessels also operated in the vicinity of the Grand Banks. These had a custom of firing rockets and blowing whistles to summon back their dories from clubbing seals on pans of ice. Such a vessel, seeing rockets, or even hearing Titanic steam blown off, might imagine it was another sealer recalling hunting parties.
Parisian
The Parisian passed virtually over the spot where we now know the Titanic sank. Bound for Boston via Halifax, she was ahead of the Californian and in wireless contact with both that vessel and the Carpathia.
The Parisian, on the afternoon of 14 April, passed on to the Californian the message: ‘41° 55’ N, 49° 14’ W, passed three large icebergs’. The Californian would later herself see those bergs and record where they were at 6.30 p.m.
Captain William Hains of the Parisian sent a later report to the US Hydrographic Office at Boston in which he described his whereabouts:
April 14th, 4.30 p.m., latitude 41° 55’ N, longitude 49° 02’ W, passed first iceberg, 8 p.m. Latitude 41° 42’ N, longitude 49° 55’ W, passed last iceberg. Between positions passed 14 medium and large icebergs and numerous growlers.
It can be seen that the Parisian moved south of west. As she travelled fifty-three minutes further west, she also dropped 13 miles down from the north.
Her latter position is virtually on the exact spot where the Titanic’s wreck was found seventy-three years later. Ironically, it can be seen on US hydrographer Knapp’s chart, labelled ‘6.12 p.m.’ to reflect New York time.
The wording of the Parisian report is unclear, but if the last position was taken at 8 p.m., it would mean that six hours before the Titanic went down the Parisian was at 41° 42’ N, 49° 55’ W. The Titanic sank at 41° 43’ N, 49° 56’ W. Thus the Parisian was only one minute of longitude further east and one minute of latitude further south than the Titanic. If she had still been there five hours later, she would have been a model for the mystery ship.
The Parisian at 8 p.m. was less than a mile from where the Titanic would eventually sink. She had been travelling that day at 12 knots. Her top speed was 13 knots, which she apparently ran to after 9 p.m. If she then encountered no ice to slow her, it would appear she was 55–60 miles from the Titanic at the material time when the mystery ship was around. The Parisian learned of the disaster only next morning when Wireless Operator Sutherland resumed duty.
Frankfurt
Almost every ship in wireless contact with the Titanic during the disaster has fallen under suspicion at one time or other. They include the La Provence, Mount Temple, Baltic, Amerika, Antillian, Ypiranga, Caronia, Celtic, Virginian, Mesaba, and Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm. Most can be discounted, but the number and names of ships in the vicinity was never properly established.
As early as 24 April 1912, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Boston and Portland dispatches indicated that besides the Californian, ‘the freight steamship Lena and the tramp steamship Kelvindale and other ships were at points ranging from 20–30 miles from the ill-fated White Star liner [meaning the SOS position, possibly far less from actual site]’.
One writer stretches credulity to blame the Frankfurt, a Norddeutscher Lloyd vessel of 7,431 tons. The drawback is that she supplied her position to a sinking Titanic very early in the night – and could not have been preparing an alibi in advance. This transmission was overheard by the Caronia, Mount Temple and Carpathia at around 12.38 a.m. Titanic time, according to the British Inquiry. From that position, the Frankfurt was a monumental 140 miles away. Although she turned around, Captain Hattorff did not reach the disaster scene until all was over. The Californian met her the next morning as Captain Lord’s vessel was leaving the vicinity.
Victorian
The Victorian was an Allan liner of 10,757 GRT. The following letter appeared in the members’ forum of the April 1986 issue of the National Geographic:
My father, now almost 89 years of age, left England in early April 1912 to come to Canada aboard the liner Victorian. He claims, and has claimed for years, to have witnessed the flares from Titanic. This ship may well have been the mystery ship and closest witness to this tragedy.
Geraldine Hamilton
Calgary, Alberta
This interesting statement follows a mere snippet in the New York Times of 21 April 1912, about the Victorian, which was indeed westbound to Canada from Liverpool at the time:
KEPT BAD NEWS SECRET
Victorian’s Passengers Not Told of Disaster Until They Landed
HALIFAX, N.S., April 20 — Not one of the 1,424 passengers on board the Alan [sic] Line steamer Victorian knew of the Titanic disaster until they reached here today. The Victorian sailed from Liverpool April 12. The reason given by the officers for keeping back the information was the fear of causing uneasiness on board.
The news of the disaster was received by the Victorian eight hours after it occurred. The persons on board who knew of the message received were
the wireless operator and Captain Outram. The news was received from the Carpathia, via the Baltic, on Monday, and the dispatch gave the number of lost and saved.
Captain Outram said no bodies or wreckage were sighted, although a lookout was kept. He said he had to go very far south to avoid collisions with icebergs. Thirteen large icebergs were passed at one time, and an apparently limitless stretch of heavy field ice.
Samson
The case of the Samson is a candidature that has provoked much discussion and controversy.
She was a barque of just over 500 tons, and 148ft long – or just one-third the length of the Californian. Featuring an impressive bowsprit, she was essentially a sailing vessel operating from Norway, although she did have auxiliary donkey engines and a funnel on her deck amid the masts.
Author Per Kristian Sebak in his book (Titanic: 31 Norwegian Destinies) tells how the story of the Samson is essentially that of one man – ice pilot and officer Henrik Naess, who was aboard the vessel in 1912.
In May and June 1912, a rumour started to circulate that the Samson had seen the Titanic’s rockets and had left the scene. Commodore Sir Ivan Thompson of the Cunard line remembered hearing the story in a Texan port at this time. It grew in the telling until an American newspaper account dismissed it as a ‘Norwegian fairy story’ in 1913.
Naess would later declare however that he had told a Norwegian consul in Iceland that the Samson had been operating as a sealer off Newfoundland on the night when the Titanic went down. During his watch he noticed two big stars to the south which looked peculiar. A lookout on the masthead reported that they were not stars but ‘lanterns and a lot of lights’. A short time later several rockets were seen.
