As the Titanic lay mortally wounded, the passenger's and crew's hopes for rescue 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. His ship had seen a strange vessel and rockets which, superficially anyway, seemed to mirror those desperately sent up by the Titanic. But Stanley Lord 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 new 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?
"Dr. Paul Lee’s "The Indifferent Stranger" 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! The Best TITANIC book I’ve read." Steve Hall, Co-author, "Titanic The Ship Magnificent" & "Titanic and Olympic: The Truth Behind The Conspiracy."
"This is the first e-book that I have had the pleasure to review and I imagine it will be the shape of things to come in the future.
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 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.
I am still old fashioned and would have preferred a good hardback book than having to read it on a computer but the content is fascinating and extremely well researched and well written.
Very highly recommended."
- Nigel Lawrence, Editor and Reviewer, "Shipping Today and Yesterday" (September 2008)
"For anyone interested in the Titanic, this book belongs on the shelf right alongside the recently published (and also highly recommended) "New Forensic Discoveries: What Really Sank the Titanic," by Jennifer Hooper McCarthy and Tim Foecke. 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." "This book is well-researched and written, and I doubt that much more can be said about its subject. I recommend it to ardent Titanic fans." - William A. Fox, reviewer, "Steamboat Bill" (December 2008), magazine of "The Steamship
Historical Society of America." - Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable — the Full Story of RMS Titanic" and "The Other Side of the Night" - Mark Chirnside, author of "The 'Olympic' Class Ships: Olympic, Titanic and Britannic", "RMS Olympic: Titanic's Sister", "RMS Majestic: The 'Magic Stick'" and "RMS Aquitania: The 'Ship Beautiful"
Samples of sections of the book can be found by clicking on the links below:
Price: £30
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 | 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. He has lectured on the Titanic at the White Swan hotel in Alnwick which houses fittings
from the Titanics sister ship, the Olympic, when she was scrapped in the 1930s. He is
also due to lecture on the Titanic Voyages trip to the wrecksite in 2012. This is his first book. |
(above)The author holding the completed book, in front of the Espresso Book Machine in Blackwell's Charing Cross Road branch in London
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