Another point to ponder:
2nd Officer Stone was adamant at the British Enquiry, that the "other" steamer he saw
started steaming away slowly to the SW at the time of the first rocket being fired. However,
it is generally assumed that he was mistaken, as Gibson (even though he had been off the
bridge for a while trying to ready a new logline for the morning) didn't see their strange ship
moving away.
However, looking at their accounts given to Captain Lord on the 18th April, Stone was pointed
out the other ship by Groves when he came on the bridge at 12.08am. The Californian was
heading ENE and the other ship was SSE, dead abeam. Gibson also saw this ship on the
starboard beam when he came on the bridge at 12.15am.
It is hard to reconcile Gibson and Stone's ship bearings from their accounts - for one thing,
Gibson was away for some little time, and he tended to give relative bearings (relative to
the Californian's head or beam), whereas Stone would give bearings by the compass (and,
as was said at the enquiry, he was constantly taking bearings of the other ship).
However, there is one point in their accounts that does allow their memories to be compared.
At 1.50, Stone recalled that the Californian was heading WSW, and the other steamer was
about SWxW; Gibson also made a note of the other ship's position, as he relayed Stone's
information to Lord in the chart room. Gibson saw the last rocket fired when the ship was one
point on the starboard bow.
Now, by Stone's account, with the Californian heading WSW, and the other ship bearing SWxW,
this would be S 56.5 W, or, as Gibson says, 1 point on the port bow. Now, it is possible that Gibson
was told the other ship was this bearing off the bow, but why would he have said "1 point on the port
bow", rather than SWxW in his written account.
How can a stopped ship go from SSE at 12.08, or whenever she stopped, to SWxW at 1.45am?
Cheers
Paul