SS Californian

Rare card · No. 70765

SS Californian was a British passenger-cargo steamship of the Leyland Line. She is thought to have been the only ship within sight of RMS Titanic, or at least her rockets, during that ship's sinking on 15 April 1912. The crew took no action to assist. The United States Senate inquiry and British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry into the sinking both concluded that many or all of the lives lost could have been saved, had Californian responded promptly to Titanic's distress rockets. The U.S. Senate inquiry was particularly critical of the vessel's captain, Stanley Lord, calling his inaction during the disaster "reprehensible". Despite this criticism, no formal charges were ever brought against Lord or his crew. Towards the end of his life, Lord sought to clear his name with the help of Leslie Harrison, a union attorney, and his son Stanley Tutton Lord. In 1992, the UK Government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch re-examined the case; they condemned Lord's inaction in responding to the distress...

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