SS Californian

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,[8] and was the largest ship built in Dundee up to that time.[9][10] 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 the Californian's four masts, the spar became tangled in nearby telephone wires and severed them.[11]

She was designed primarily to transport cotton, but also had the capacity to carry 47 passengers and 55 crew members. The primary clientele was those passengers with too limited the means to travel on board large liners. By offering them comfortable cabins at an affordable prices (£10 per crossing in the direction Liverpool — Boston, £50 in the opposite direction), Leyland Line was able to secure some profits this way.[12][13] Nonetheless, the ship was still primarily a freighter, as evidenced by her massive bunkers. 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.[14] She measured 6,223 tons, was 447 feet (136 m) long, 53 feet (16 m) at her beam,[10] and had a triple expansion steam engine powered by two double-ended boilers. Her average full speed was 12 knots (22 km/h).[15]

The accommodation of most of the fifty or so crew members was located below the foredeck. They stayed there in cabins designed for four to eight people that were quite uncomfortable, poorly ventilated and lighted.[16] In all, the crew included the captain, four officers, a radio operator, and 49 crew members (sailors, drivers, trimmers, etc.).[17] The cabins were located in the superstructure. The officers of the crew resided on the starboard side and the passengers on the port side. The facilities for passengers corresponded to the second class of most ships of the time. Although the cabins were not of high quality, they remained comfortable and had electric lighting, which was not the case on all contemporary ships. The passengers of the Californian also had at their disposal 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.[13]

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.[18] She then returned to the Leyland Line service to serve the southern United States.[17] From 1901 to 1911, she was commanded successively by four captains before being finally put under the command of Stanley Lord. By his young age (he obtained his captain's certificate at 24, a very early age compared to many of his colleagues) and by his spirit of initiative and his skills, Lord indeed promised to become a major captain in the British merchant fleet.[19]

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.

On March 30, 1912, the 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.[20] She was not carrying any passengers on this voyage.[12] 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.[21]

The first week of the crossing was uneventful.[22] On Sunday 14 April at 18:30 ship's time, Californian's only wireless operator, Cyril Furmstone Evans (born 1892 in Croydon, Surrey, United Kingdom), signalled to the Antillian that three large icebergs were five miles to the south.[23] Titanic's wireless operator Harold Bride also received the warning and delivered it to the ship's bridge a few minutes later.[24]

Californian encountered a large ice field at 22:20 ship's time,[4] and Captain Lord decided to stop the ship and wait until morning before proceeding further.[25] 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.[26] 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.[27] Lord ordered Evans to warn all other ships in the area, which he did.[28]

Titanic's on-duty wireless operator, Jack Phillips, was busy clearing a backlog of passengers' messages with the wireless station at Cape Race, Newfoundland, 800 miles (1,300 km) away, at the time. Evans's message that SS 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, bringing Phillips to rebuke Evans: "Shut up, shut up! I am busy; I am working Cape Race!".[29][30] Philips never passed this message to the bridge, but in his defence, Evans had not prefixed the message with the letters, "MSG", which stood for Master Service Gram, as was customary for all messages intended for the bridge. A little bit later Evans, feeling that he had done his duty despite Philips's rude rejection of the message, switched off his wireless equipment and went to bed.[31][32] One hour and 10 minutes later, at 23:40, Titanic hit an iceberg.[33] Shortly after midnight, she transmitted her first distress call.

Third Officer Charles Groves of the 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's starboard beam. At about 23:30, Groves went below to inform Lord.[34] The latter suggested that the ship be contacted by Morse lamp, which was tried, but no reply was seen.[35] 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.[34]

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.[36] 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.[37] 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.[26][36] 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.[38][39]

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."[37] 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".[40] Stone, however, under questioning by the British inquiry which became more and more incredulous, testified repeatedly that he did not think at the time that the rockets could have been distress signals,[41] 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.[26][37]

At 02:20, Titanic sank. At 03:40, Stone and Gibson, still sharing the middle watch, spotted rockets to the south.[37] 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.[42] 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;[43] Carpathia arrived on the scene shortly after 04:00.[44]

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.[45][46] Lord ordered the ship underway. Californian's course took her west, slowly passing through the ice field, after which she turned south. Californian was sighted at 06:00 by SS Mount Temple steaming from the north. Californian actually passed the Carpathia to the east, then turned, and headed northeast back towards the rescue ship, arriving at 08:30.[47]

Carpathia was just finishing picking up the last of Titanic's survivors. After communicating with Californian, Carpathia left the area, leaving Californian to search for any other survivors. However, Californian only found scattered wreckage, empty lifeboats, and corpses,[48][47] 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.[49]

Site of sinking (diamond), off Cape Matapan (red dot)

On 2 July 1913, Californian was docked in Veracruz when a fire erupted in her nos. 3 and 4 holds, sustaining serious damage to herself and her cargo.[81][82]

Californian continued in normal commercial service until World War I, when the British government took control of her. She was responsible for transporting equipments and troops for the Allies mired in the Battle of Gallipoli.[83]

At 07:45 on 9 November 1915, while en route from Salonica to Marseilles at a speed of 12 knots, with a French torpedo boat escort,[84] she was torpedoed by the German U-boat SM U-34. The escort tried to take her under tow, but the tow rope broke at 13:20. During a second attempt at 14:15, she was torpedoed again by sister SM U-35 and began to sink quickly. The crew evacuated onto the patrol boat, and finally Californian[85] sank in 10–13,000 feet of water, approximately 60 miles (50 nmi; 100 km) south-southwest of Cape Matapan, Greece. Fireman Richard John Harding[86] was killed during the first torpedo attack, and two other firemen were scalded.[81] To date, Californian's wreck remains undiscovered.[87] Californian went down less than 200 miles (170 nmi; 320 km) from where HMHS Britannic, Titanic's sister ship, would be sunk by a mine just over a year later.[88]

The involvement of the Californian in the sinking of the Titanic is examined in the 2012 BBC TV drama SOS – The Titanic Inquiry. The drama tells the story of the original British Inquiry into the sinking of Titanic, which decided, using the facts that were available at the time, whether the Californian was in near enough proximity to the vessel to rescue some, if not all, of the 1,500 lives lost.[89]

The 2016 novel The Midnight Watch by David Dyer explores the Titanic tragedy from the perspective of the crew of the Californian. The narrative centres around a fictional American reporter who tries to uncover what really happened on board the Californian that fateful night.[90]

• "Caledon Built – Dundee Ships" (PDF). Friends of Dundee City Archives. Friends of Dundee. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
• Butler, Daniel Allen (2009). The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian and the Night the Titanic Was Lost. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-935149-02-6.
• Chirnside, Mark (2004). The Olympic-class ships: Olympic, Titanic, Britannic. Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-2868-3.
• Codet, François; Mendez, Olivier; Dufief, Alain; Gavard-Perret, Franck (2011). Les Français du Titanic (in French). Rennes: Marine Editions. ISBN 978-2-35743-065-5.
• Lee, Paul (2008). The Titanic and the Indifferent Stranger. Paul Lee. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-9563015-0-5.
• Lord, Walter (1955). A Night to Remember (2005 ed.). New York, New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-8050-7764-3.
• MAIB. Titanic: Reappraisal of Evidence (PDF).
• Tennent, A.J. (2006). British Merchant Ships Sunk by U-boats in World War One. Cornwall, U.K.: Periscope Publishing. ISBN 978-1-904381-36-5.
• Piouffre, Gérard (2009). Le Titanic ne répond plus (in French). Paris: Larousse. ISBN 978-2-03-584196-4.
• Riffenburgh, Beau (2008). Toute l'histoire du Titanic. Sélection du Reader's Digest. ISBN 978-2-7098-1982-4.

• Californian Crew List with Biographies
• Captain Stanley Lord
• SS Californian
• A PV Solves a Puzzle by Senan Molony
• The Californian Incident, A Reality Check
• The Titanic and the Californian

35°32′30″N 22°06′06″E