"The Indifferent Stranger"

As the Titanic lay mortally wounded, the passenger's and crew's hopes for survival were buoyed by a mysterious ship that lay just a few miles ahead of the dying leviathan. Despite distress signals being sent up, the stranger lay still, ignoring the pleas for help. Salvation eventually came from a ship that had steamed for hours through an ice infested area.

Who was this mysterious stranger that left the Titanic to die? Why did she not respond? The 1912 inquiries pointed an accusing finger at the steamship Californian, under the command of Stanley Lord. He always denied and resented the charges that his ship had willfully neglected calls for assistance.

The charges were dredged up again by author Walter Lord in the 1950s, forcing many reassessments of Captain Lord's case. Was he and his ship to blame? Or did an unknown vessel leave 1500 people to die in the frigid North Atlantic waters? This e-book discusses the evidence and accusations, and includes new information obtained from a number of sources, some of which have never before been perused.

The Californian incident has caused more division within the ranks of Titanic researchers than any other matter. Was Lord to blame, ignoring distress signals and failing to wake up his wireless operator to investigate; or was Lord not to blame, seeing another vessel firing rockets that steamed away - during a time when the Titanic was undoubtedly stopped? Were the Titanic and the Californian in sight of each other?

• 329 A4 pages in length
• 12 main chapters, 5 appendices and 339 footnotes.
• Chronological discussion of the entire case, from first reports of the disaster to the present day.
• Fully illustrated, with many sketch maps and diagrams.
• Brand new material, gleaned from a variety of sources.
• Navigational details on many supposed "mystery ships" in the area of the Titanic disaster.
• The ultimate fate of some of the crew of the Californian after the Titanic disaster.
• The internal deliberations behind the 1965, 1968 and 1990s MAIB considerations of the Californian affair.
• Details some of the dishonest methods used to promote one viewpoint over another, and the legal methods used to stifle debate.

The book will display on any operating system with Adobe Acrobat reader installed.

Delivery of the product will be via e-mail, or (if the purchaser desires), on CD.

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.