Californian
1912
(Vanner VM-11)
- Type: Passenger / general cargo
- Displacement: 6,233 tons
- Dimensions: 447.6 x 54.2 x 30 ft.
- Machinery: Steam triple-expansion engines, single screw = 13.5 knots
- Passengers: 410 (60 first class, 350 third class)
- Crew: 50
- Builder: Caledon Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Dundee, Scotland, 1902
- Service: Built for Leyland Line's service between England and the Caribbean and Gulf Coast, occasionally sailing on North Atlantic routes. On the evening of 14 Apr 1912, she was en route to Boston when she hove to in a massive ice field in the North Atlantic. She observed a large well-lit ship in the distance which she tried to contact by wireless to warn of the ice conditions, but received only a dismissive reply from what was the Titanic. She later observed the large ship to stop and fire off an occasional rocket - a possible sign of distress - but had already turned off her wireless set for the night before the latter sent out a distress call. She did not investigate and only discovered the next morning that the Titanic had sunk a bare 15 miles away and the liner Carpathia had arrived too late to save many of the passengers and crew. Captain Stanley Lord was greatly criticized for his failure to assist and resigned his post in Aug 1912. Californian continued in service until she was torpedoed and sunk 9 Nov 1915 in the Mediterranean south of Cape Matapan by the German submarine U-35.
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