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Having been through at least two or three big Titanic phases in my life, (sharing the last one with the rest of America when the big over blown and somewhat cheezy Leo DiCaprio flick took the nation by storm about 20 years ago) I continue to be drawn to material about this much mythicized disaster. I read several non fiction accounts of the event back in the day and have pretty much exhausted the standard narrative. I have perused many chapters about the captain, the ship's designer, the various A-list/plutocrat passengers who either lived to tell their tale or went down with the ship and even some little bits of information about the lower class passengers who died like corralled animals in an underwater cage.
What the world needs now is a fresh take on the popular tragedy. David Dyer has provided an angle in The Midnight Watch which is less often explored and rather fascinating. It is the story of the Californian...a smaller steamer that was probably the nearest ship to the Titanic on the night that it did the unthinkable and sunk. The Californian was moored for the night because of the treacherous icy conditions that doomed her more famous counterpart. Had Captain Smith of the Titanic shown the prudence and caution of Captain Lord of the Californian, very likely the Titanic would be just another interesting footnote in the book of 20th century maritime history. Smith, however, was pressured to prove the mettle of his 'unsinkable' craft and had 'veddy, veddy important people' on board who may not have thanked him for holding them up for a trifle. Like everyone else in the sailing world, Smith had been assured that his was the sturdiest and safest liner on the water. The idea of such a deadly disaster would have been too incredible for words.
Still, the conditions were terrible. And warnings had been attempted. The Californian's Marconi Man (in charge of radio signals and telegraphy) had issued such a message to his counterpart on the Titanic. "We are jammed up in ice, old man, and stopped for the night." The Titanic's man was busy sending messages for his wealthy clientele and brusquely cut off the Californian's wireless man.
Dyer's fictive account is provided through the point of view of the crew of the Californian, especially through that of Second Mate, Herbert Stone, who was on watch the night the Titanic sunk. In this affecting rendering of the story, Stone is a bookish and timid man, who is intimidated by his stony skipper, Captain Lord and who has an uneasy relationship with his career as a seaman. (Stone had hoped to become a school teacher.) When Stone first sees the white flares exploding over the liner he is watching on the horizon, he is not as assertive as he might have been. Although doing nothing 'wrong', Stone is portrayed as a sympathetic ditherer who watches for a bit longer than he needs to before making the decision to alert his captain. Once Stone does call down to Lord to inform him of the presence of potential disaster flares over the other ship, he is disappointed by Lord's response. Lord fails to 'spring into action' -- instead asking Stone if he has followed procedure and attempted to Morse the ship. Stone most certainly has, but is getting no response. Lord basically tells Stone to keep trying and to let him know if a response is received.
Meanwhile, the disaster is happening so late at night (or, perhaps it is more accurate to say so early in the morning) that Cyril Evans, the Californian's young Marconi operator, had turned off his headset and gone to bed. Therefore he was unaware of the increasingly frantic messages the Titanic was beginning to convey into that frigid and dark night.
1500 souls lost in the space of an hour or so. Such a heavy cosmic burden to bear for anyone who had to spend the rest of their own life wondering if some little action on their part -- staying up an hour later on the wireless, being more forceful with your boss about what you though you saw, or leaving your chart room below and taking a walk up on deck to see what your Second was going on about --might have made a difference.
In Dyer's poignant but restrained telling, Captain Lord is not sympathetic. He is, however, very realistic. We generally do not recognize the moments when we are living big history. For Lord, the early hours of April 15, 1912 were just the end of another tiring day at sea. He had stopped his craft and seen that his crew and cargo were safe for the night. He had a man on watch and this man was following procedures to contact the other ship. In the devastating aftermath of the disaster, Lord was made into a villain by the press. Certainly these horrific events usually require a person or persons to blame. Why did Lord do nothing? Why did he not steam as quickly as possible toward that ship on the black horizon and mount a rescue? These were good questions at the time and they have been explored in historic accounts. Reading this fascinating fictional account has prompted me to read up a bit on Lord. And history acquits him a bit better than his contemporaries did.
According to many who study the rules of the waves and who are well versed in the construction and design of the Titanic and the Californian, Lord acted (or, in this case did NOT act) within his rights. Because the ice conditions were so treacherous, his first duty was to his crew and to his ship. Lord knew he would be sailing blind into the sort of waters that buried the Titanic, a much larger 'unsinkable' ship. According to Maritime Law, every effort must be made, while on the waters, to aid another ship in trouble. However, one's own safety and that of one's crew takes precedence. In other words, two ships should not go down because one is trying to save the other in an impossible situation.
In the wake of history and the unravelling of over 100 years of time, it is a bit easier to view Lord through impartial and rational eyes. At the time of the tragedy, people were too blinded by rage and despair to understand why he might have responded as he did.
I hope to learn more about Herbert Stone through some non fiction reading about the Californian. In contrast to Lord, he WAS a sympathetic soul in this story and one who bore the burdens of over a thousand dead throughout his life.
Readers who are interested in all things Titanic and who appreciate well rendered historical fiction should run out to pick up a copy of The Midnight Watch, if they have not done so already. It is a marvellous story in its own right and will prompt more research in those who follow news of this historic disaster.
What the world needs now is a fresh take on the popular tragedy. David Dyer has provided an angle in The Midnight Watch which is less often explored and rather fascinating. It is the story of the Californian...a smaller steamer that was probably the nearest ship to the Titanic on the night that it did the unthinkable and sunk. The Californian was moored for the night because of the treacherous icy conditions that doomed her more famous counterpart. Had Captain Smith of the Titanic shown the prudence and caution of Captain Lord of the Californian, very likely the Titanic would be just another interesting footnote in the book of 20th century maritime history. Smith, however, was pressured to prove the mettle of his 'unsinkable' craft and had 'veddy, veddy important people' on board who may not have thanked him for holding them up for a trifle. Like everyone else in the sailing world, Smith had been assured that his was the sturdiest and safest liner on the water. The idea of such a deadly disaster would have been too incredible for words.
Still, the conditions were terrible. And warnings had been attempted. The Californian's Marconi Man (in charge of radio signals and telegraphy) had issued such a message to his counterpart on the Titanic. "We are jammed up in ice, old man, and stopped for the night." The Titanic's man was busy sending messages for his wealthy clientele and brusquely cut off the Californian's wireless man.
Dyer's fictive account is provided through the point of view of the crew of the Californian, especially through that of Second Mate, Herbert Stone, who was on watch the night the Titanic sunk. In this affecting rendering of the story, Stone is a bookish and timid man, who is intimidated by his stony skipper, Captain Lord and who has an uneasy relationship with his career as a seaman. (Stone had hoped to become a school teacher.) When Stone first sees the white flares exploding over the liner he is watching on the horizon, he is not as assertive as he might have been. Although doing nothing 'wrong', Stone is portrayed as a sympathetic ditherer who watches for a bit longer than he needs to before making the decision to alert his captain. Once Stone does call down to Lord to inform him of the presence of potential disaster flares over the other ship, he is disappointed by Lord's response. Lord fails to 'spring into action' -- instead asking Stone if he has followed procedure and attempted to Morse the ship. Stone most certainly has, but is getting no response. Lord basically tells Stone to keep trying and to let him know if a response is received.
Meanwhile, the disaster is happening so late at night (or, perhaps it is more accurate to say so early in the morning) that Cyril Evans, the Californian's young Marconi operator, had turned off his headset and gone to bed. Therefore he was unaware of the increasingly frantic messages the Titanic was beginning to convey into that frigid and dark night.
1500 souls lost in the space of an hour or so. Such a heavy cosmic burden to bear for anyone who had to spend the rest of their own life wondering if some little action on their part -- staying up an hour later on the wireless, being more forceful with your boss about what you though you saw, or leaving your chart room below and taking a walk up on deck to see what your Second was going on about --might have made a difference.
In Dyer's poignant but restrained telling, Captain Lord is not sympathetic. He is, however, very realistic. We generally do not recognize the moments when we are living big history. For Lord, the early hours of April 15, 1912 were just the end of another tiring day at sea. He had stopped his craft and seen that his crew and cargo were safe for the night. He had a man on watch and this man was following procedures to contact the other ship. In the devastating aftermath of the disaster, Lord was made into a villain by the press. Certainly these horrific events usually require a person or persons to blame. Why did Lord do nothing? Why did he not steam as quickly as possible toward that ship on the black horizon and mount a rescue? These were good questions at the time and they have been explored in historic accounts. Reading this fascinating fictional account has prompted me to read up a bit on Lord. And history acquits him a bit better than his contemporaries did.
According to many who study the rules of the waves and who are well versed in the construction and design of the Titanic and the Californian, Lord acted (or, in this case did NOT act) within his rights. Because the ice conditions were so treacherous, his first duty was to his crew and to his ship. Lord knew he would be sailing blind into the sort of waters that buried the Titanic, a much larger 'unsinkable' ship. According to Maritime Law, every effort must be made, while on the waters, to aid another ship in trouble. However, one's own safety and that of one's crew takes precedence. In other words, two ships should not go down because one is trying to save the other in an impossible situation.
In the wake of history and the unravelling of over 100 years of time, it is a bit easier to view Lord through impartial and rational eyes. At the time of the tragedy, people were too blinded by rage and despair to understand why he might have responded as he did.
I hope to learn more about Herbert Stone through some non fiction reading about the Californian. In contrast to Lord, he WAS a sympathetic soul in this story and one who bore the burdens of over a thousand dead throughout his life.
Readers who are interested in all things Titanic and who appreciate well rendered historical fiction should run out to pick up a copy of The Midnight Watch, if they have not done so already. It is a marvellous story in its own right and will prompt more research in those who follow news of this historic disaster.