A new documentary has revealed the untold story of the Dundee-built SS Californian – The Titanic’s controversial ‘nearby ship’

Andrew Batchelor
Sep 19
2 min read

The SS Californian was launched in Dundee in 1901, the same year as the RRS Discovery and made her maiden voyage in 1902.

A new documentary has just been released uncovering the dramatic final years of the SS Californian, a Dundee-built steamship long associated with the Titanic disaster.

Constructed in Dundee and launched in November 1901 before making her maiden voyage a year later, the Californian has been the subject of debate for over a century due to her role on the night the Titanic sank in April 1912.

While the Titanic struck an iceberg, the Californian was famously within sight, sparking ongoing questions about what more could have been done to save lives.

What was the SS Californian?

The SS Californian was a British Leyland Line steamship built at the Caledon Shipyard in Dundee in 1901, eighth months after the launch of the RRS Discovery, before officially making her maiden voyage in 1902.

She gained notoriety for being the closest ship to the Titanic when it sank on 15 April 1912, but failed to come to its aid in time.

The ship’s captain, Stanley Lord, later became a controversial figure as debates raged over whether more lives could have been saved.

After the Titanic disaster, the Californian continued in service until she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in 1915 during the First World War.

The documentary, released on YouTube channel The Steam and Splender Network, and narrated by historian and researcher Joshua Andersen-Raymer, it delves into previously unexplored aspects of the Californian’s history – not only her controversial link to the Titanic, but also her service during the First World War and her sinking in 1915.

“This is the first time since her loss that the story of the Californian’s final years is being properly told,” said Andersen-Raymer, who worked with a group of leading Titanic historians on the project.

The film marks the first in-depth look at this chapter of Dundee’s maritime history, shedding new light on a ship that has too often been remembered for a single tragic night.

Andersen-Raymer is also due to publish a detailed article on the subject in the upcoming issue of Voyager, the quarterly journal of the Titanic International Society.

The documentary is now available to watch here on TSaSN’s YouTube channel.