Sinking of the Titanic: Difference between revisions

Much nearer was the SS ''Californian'', which had warned ''Titanic'' of ice a few hours earlier. WaryApprehensive ofat his ship being caught amidin thea icelarge field of drift ice, herthe ''Californian's'' captain, [[Stanley Lord]], had decided at about 22:00 to halt for the night and wait for daylight to find a way through the ice field.{{sfn|Butler|1998|p=159}} At 23:30, only 10 minutes before ''Titanic'' hit the iceberg, ''Californian''{{'}}s sole radio operator had shut his set down for the night and went to bed.{{sfn|Butler|1998|p=161}} On the bridge her Third Officer, Charles Groves, saw a large vessel to starboard around {{convert|10|mi|abbr=on}} to {{convert|12|mi|abbr=on}} away. It made a sudden turn to port and stopped. If the radio operator of the ''Californian'' had stayed at his post a mere fifteen minutes longer, hundreds of lives would have been saved.{{sfn|Butler|1998|p=160}} A little over an hour later, Second Officer Herbert Stone saw five white rockets exploding above the stopped ship. Unsure what the rockets meant, he called captain Lord, who was resting in the chartroom, and reported the sighting.{{sfn|Butler|1998|p=162}} Lord did not act on the report, but Stone was perturbed: "A ship is not going to fire rockets at sea for nothing," he told a colleague.{{sfn|Butler|1998|p=163}}