In the summer of 1912, one man on the Earth was despised as a thousand-fold murderer. He was Stanley Lord, the Captain of the freighter Californian. Two courts of inquiries found that his ship had sat and watched the 'unsinkable' Titanic fire distress rockets and finally watched her slip under waves, while the Californian's Captain and sole wireless operator slept, and an impotent bridge crew pondered that 'a ship is not going to fire rockets at sea for nothing...it looked like a case of distress.'Failing to impress their suspicions on Lord, the crew stood and watched the strange rocket-firer disappear into the night...In accordance with the basic dictates of maritime law, Lord and his crew should have responded to the rockets. They didn't. And 1500 people died in the frigid waters that night. Although Captain Lord was treated as a pariah and forced to resign from his shipping company, he soon found employment elsewhere and he prospered. After nearly 100 years, debate still ensues as to whether his ship and the Titanic were in sight of each other, but attempts to re-open the case to exonerate the crew of the sleepy tramp Californian in 1965, 1968 and 1990 simply resulted in the original findings of the courts being largely upheld. Basic questions about the case remain. Why did the Californian crew not give more impetus to the rockets? Were they afraid of their Captain? Why did they not wake up the wireless operator? Why was the crew not prosecuted for negligence? Why do so many people believe that the Captain was a scapegoat in 1912? Why is this one issue the most divisive aspect of the whole Titanic story?And more importantly, could the Californian have saved any of the victims, or would they have arrived in time simply to pluck a few half-dead bodies from the water
About the Author: Dr.Paul Lee obtained a first class degree in Physics from Southampton University in 1993; four years later, he graduated with a PhD in Nuclear Physics from York University. He has held an interest in the Titanic since 1985, when the wreck was found. This is his first book. His website is at http: //www.paullee.com "[This] is an extremely well researched investigation into the mystery of what ships were in the vicinity of the stricken White Star Liner TITANIC the night she sank. I have a strong interest in this aspect of the TITANIC story - this book kept me up until 3 o'clock in the morning reading it! [This is] one of the Best TITANIC books I've read."
- Steve Hall, Co-author, "Titanic The Ship Magnificent" & "Titanic and Olympic: The Truth Behind The Conspiracy."
"There have been hundreds of books written on the Titanic but few have looked at the disaster from this angle. The author focuses on the mystery ship that was seen on the horizon and whose presence could have saved many more lives. The inquiry pointed the finger at Captain Lord of the Californian, but was he really to blame? The author goes into intricate detail to examine the facts from a scientific viewpoint to endeavour to establish who the mystery ship was, and his findings are very interesting ...the content is fascinating and extremely well researched and well written. Very highly recommended."
- Nigel Lawrence, Editor and Reviewer, "Shipping Today and Yesterday"
"For anyone interested in the Titanic, this book belongs on the shelf ... Though no Titanic explorer or researcher will agree with all of the conclusions, the evidence on which the conclusions are based has been very, very well researched."
- Dr.Charles Pellegrino, Titanic writer, researcher and wrecksite explorer
"This book is well-researched and written, and I doubt that much more can be said about it's subject. I recommend it to ardent Titanic fans."
- William A. Fox, reviewer, "Steamboat Bill", the journal of "The Steamship Historical Society of America."
"Thank you, Paul--you've made a genuine contribution to the Titanic story. You have every right to be proud of it ... I HIGHLY recommend [the book]"
- Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable: the Full Story of RMS Titanic" and "The Other Side of the Night"
"Paul's work is indeed impressive"
- Mark Chirnside, author of "The 'Olympic' Class Ships: Olympic, Titanic and Britannic" and "RMS Olympic: Titanic's Sister"
