Were there any ships closer to Titanic than the Carpathia?
Many vessels heard the SOS transmitted by the ship’s powerful wireless set. Even Olympic picked up the message but Carpathia was much closer and made a full steam ahead dash to Titanic’s position arriving two hours too late. Most controversy surrounds the steamship Californian which was stopped in the ice relatively close to Titanic. Regulations did not require ships to have 24 hour manning of their wireless and Californian’s set had been switched off just minutes before the collision and first SOS call. Crew of the Californian reported seeing a large ship in the distance firing off rockets until it disappeared around 2.00am. This was interpreted as the ship sailing away and the rockets as company signals to other ships. The Californian’s master, Captain Lord, was blamed for not going to Titanic’s rescue but even recent investigations by the Marine Accident Bureau were inconclusive, as to whether Californian was as close to Titanic as was believed in 1912.
