Titanic and the Mystery Ship

Book excerpt: What fascinates most people are the conspiracy theories that abound about her. Was she switched for her damaged sister Olympic, did Captain Smith really ignore the ice warnings that flooded into her wireless room, or was there some fabled treasure on board when she went down? Perhaps one of the most enduring tales of Titanic is the mystery ship, the fabled vessel seen in the distance that could have saved all her passengers from freezing or drowning. But what was the mystery ship, and was she the Californian, a cargo/passenger ship that according to her captain was stuck in ice over the horizon. At the enquiry into the sinking, Captain Lord of the Californian was castigated and blamed for the loss of life on Titanic, but for ninety years, there has been proof that his ship could not have been the mystery ship.