When Flying Saucers Attack!

[Mayerling]

Mr. Lord's Letter

Hi Celesta,

Now it gets on.

In October 1986 I wrote to Mr. Lord about the theory that Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian was unfairly stigmatized by the Attorney General of England (Sit Rufus Isaacs) who was currently involved in a scandal dealing with England's Marconi Wireless Company. I also discussed (negatively) a legend about a crewman who was supposed to have survived the Titanic, the Empress of Ireland, and the Lusitania.

"November 19, 1986

Dear Mr. Bloomfield:

Belated thanks for your letter of October 3. I am just not set up for the volumes of mail coming in.

As for Peter Padfield's theory that Sir Rufus Isaacs was simply trying to improve his image in the wake of the Marconi scandal, you've already gone to the heart of the matter. The case against the CALIFORNIAN is not based on anything that happened in London; it is based on what happened on the North Atlantic that night. The man on the Californian's bridge saw the rockets, knew they resembled distress signals and suspected that the ship firing them was in trouble, yet the Californian did nothing.

Yes, I knowall about "Lucky" Tower and am highly suspicious of the story. He is not included on any list of the Titanic's crew. Including what is called the "payoff list", which the surviving crewmen had to sign to get their
pay. If he existed at all I think he would have at least signed that!

Thanks again for a fine letter.

Sincerely


Walter Lord

P.S. Excuse the reverse of this sheet;
the carbon paper somehow got into the
typewriter backwards.

W.L."

The letter's back is darker over the letters as a result.

I think this letter will be valuable. I also have letters from George MacDonald Fraser (the Flashman novels) and Jack Finney (TIME AND AGAIN)

Best wishes,

Jeff

[Celesta]

Hi Jeff,

I have been having the same problem with posting and it seems mostly to be on this thread, although it happened to me earlier on the East End Photo thread. I have been writing the post, copying it, then hitting the back button, logging in again, and then pasting the post in a new message block then submitting. It seems to work.

That is a fine letter, and you may be correct in that people interested in his work would think it valuable some day, esp. as he put the carbon paper in backwards! I had read about the Californian's captain and the wireless, or lack of wireless. It was my understanding that the captain more or less blew off the distress signals. Although I believe it was this incident that brought about the requirement that all ships have the wireless, wasn't it? I'm not expert on the subject of the Titanic. I have read a little though and find it fascinating. I have been reading Colonel Gracie's book, but that came out too soon after the sinking to comment on the seaman known as Tower. I've read a reference to this person, but I didn't remember his surviving 3 ship wrecks. Now, I can't even remember what source I read about him in. I'll have to find these books you are talking about.

While I am thinking about it, the book I mentioned earlier, Passage, was not strictly about the Titanic. Other ships also appear in the book. The ships are a metaphor for something else. The story is about near-death experiences. I got so tied up in it that I was reading it while my dentist did a crown prep on me! He doesn't use an assistant, so he does all the work himself. He keeps leaving the room and coming back. Like me, he is a book nut, so every time he left the room, he'd reach over and take the book off the counter and hand it back to me, then do the reverse when he came back in. It was a hoot! I just didn't want you to get that book thinking it was about the traditional story of the Titanic. Thought I had better tell you!

Have you seen those wonderful pictures and illustrations of the Britanic? It looks like it just float up to the surface and steam away.

[Celesta]

Hi Jeff,

I know now why I was confused about the number of ship sinkings the crewman was supposed to have survived. I have him confused with a woman who is said to have survived both the sinking of the Titanic and the torpedoing of the Britannic. I knew there was a reason three ships sounded wrong!

[Mayerling]

Hi Jeff,

I have been having the same problem with posting and it seems mostly to be on this thread, although it happened to me earlier on the East End Photo thread. I have been writing the post, copying it, then hitting the back button, logging in again, and then pasting the post in a new message block then submitting. It seems to work.

That is a fine letter, and you may be correct in that people interested in his work would think it valuable some day, esp. as he put the carbon paper in backwards! I had read about the Californian's captain and the wireless, or lack of wireless. It was my understanding that the captain more or less blew off the distress signals. Although I believe it was this incident that brought about the requirement that all ships have the wireless, wasn't it? I'm not expert on the subject of the Titanic. I have read a little though and find it fascinating. I have been reading Colonel Gracie's book, but that came out too soon after the sinking to comment on the seaman known as Tower. I've read a reference to this person, but I didn't remember his surviving 3 ship wrecks. Now, I can't even remember what source I read about him in. I'll have to find these books you are talking about.

While I am thinking about it, the book I mentioned earlier, Passage, was not strictly about the Titanic. Other ships also appear in the book. The ships are a metaphor for something else. The story is about near-death experiences. I got so tied up in it that I was reading it while my dentist did a crown prep on me! He doesn't use an assistant, so he does all the work himself. He keeps leaving the room and coming back. Like me, he is a book nut, so every time he left the room, he'd reach over and take the book off the counter and hand it back to me, then do the reverse when he came back in. It was a hoot! I just didn't want you to get that book thinking it was about the traditional story of the Titanic. Thought I had better tell you!

Have you seen those wonderful pictures and illustrations of the Britanic? It looks like it just float up to the surface and steam away.

Hi Celesta,

Judging from past incidents I will make this a shorter message than it should be.

The woman who was on board the Titanic and the Brittanic published her memoirs in the 1990s before she died. I think her name was Viola Allen, but I am not quite sure. Whatever her name was, she was the genuine article.

I've seen photos and videos of the Britannic, and it is in far better shape than Titanic is. But it rolled over in less water - it wasn't a two mile fall in the ocean, with internal pockets of air breaking apart the ship. They still are not sure if it was mined or torpedoed, but most feel that it was mined.

You are right that the issue of the Californian's failure to contact the ship with the rockets led to 24 hour wireless service at sea. But the irony is that by 1912 wireless had proved itself at least twice at sea. In 1909 when the White Star Liner Republic was rammed and sunk off Nantucket Island by the steamship Florida, the telegraph operator Jack Binns became an international hero by sending the CQD distress call that brough help that saved about 1,600 lives. Then in 1910 Captain Henry Kendall of the Canadian Pacific steamship Montrose contacted Scotland Yard that he had Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen and Ethel Le Neve on board (so that Inspector Walter Dew caught a faster vessel and was in Canada to arrest them. The two incidents (especially Crippen) demonstrated the usefulness of the wireless. But still the Californian closed down while it's wireless operator slept, and the Titanic's
operators were swamped with personal messages from millionaires while possibly missing those distress messages. The new technology had not gotten properly understood yet (except possibly by Binns).

Best wishes,

Jeff

[plang]

sdreid, almost completely forgot The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Julia Adams in her old style bikini provided me with many a good w**k.
Doubt any remake can top that.
Plang

[Celesta]

I talked a little with my husband about this last evening. He is a ham radio operator. He reminded me that the wireless operators on the Titanic were employees of the Marconi company. That in turn reminded me that the wireless operator was heavily involved in sending personal messages for the big wigs, when the question of ice came up. I'll have to go back and scan this again. I have been reading about the Titanic over the last year or so, but need to reinforce the information. My husband also said that after the Titanic, the wireless operators were expected to maintain a radio silence for certain periods of time, in order to listen for distress signals.

I read the book about Crippen, Ethel, and Inspector Dew! It was quite the story at the time.

[sdreid]

My dad is W9RWD but he hasn't been active since lightning struck his rig.

I think Marconi Corporation eventually became RCA and NBC which is now run by GE.

[Mike Covell]

My dad is W9RWD but he hasn't been active since lightning struck his rig.

I think Marconi Corporation eventually became RCA and NBC which is now run by GE.

And I used to enjoy the old days when Mulder and Scully from the FBI, fought the CIA and NSA, there was even an episode regarding NASA, but I nodded OFF!

The weather is ok here, it settled down enough for me to go and buy American Gangster stariing Russell Crowe and Denzil Washington, anyone seen it??

I also got Jackass 2.5 which i watched earlier, it was an afternoon of guilty pleasure, and my son asking, "why is that man sticking a kite up there daddy!!"

[sdreid]

Hi Mike,

Yes, I saw that at the theater a few months back. It's good.

Good that the weather is moderating. I guess the North Atlantic Conveyor must be grinding again.

[sdreid]

Hi Jeff,

I see that you have crooked governor now. Who do you think you are, Illinois?

[Mike Covell]

Morning Guys,

The weather here this morning is lovely, and a part of me keeps thinking that it was all a scare mongering tactic to ensure panic buying and add a little boost to Britains failing economy.

Since they banned smoking in public indoor places, publicans have been reporting incredible losses, with an average of 1 pub a week closing its doors for good.
Not to mention the number of people giving up smoking because of this.

No Booze, no Smoking, so what are they going to tax to raise money for the economy.

I would suggest legalising drugs, taxing them, but lacing them with rat poison, thereby raising money, killing all the addicts, and putting dealers out of business.
This would surely then have a knock on effect on crime.

They could take all the dead bodies, cremate em and use them to fill in pot holes and build levee's.

Another idea I had was to bring into force chain gangs, having the prisoners do improvements to roads etc, they could be watched by our soldiers after we pull them out of all the war zones!!

I think I should run for parliment. Rant over!

[sdreid]

And of course bring back the death penalty.

[Celesta]

My dad is W9RWD but he hasn't been active since lightning struck his rig.

I think Marconi Corporation eventually became RCA and NBC which is now run by GE.

Hey Stan,

My husband is not very active anymore either, although he is getting more into it now that he is retired. He is boning up on his morse code also. He has created little lessons for himself and put them into an mp3 player and listens to it as he rides the exercise bike. He does hit the ham fest once a year, and may go to more now that he can make the time. He has been looking for a cd Morse code tutor thing for both of us to use. They are expensive! I may end up studying Morse code. Might be pretty cool.

[Celesta]

Mike, RE: that East End photo thread. Did you really not see that picture of the brick wall with the little white sign and the number 13, in blue paint sitting right in the middle of the wall? The first thing I thought of was Mary Kelly. I guess I shouldn't bother people with posting links there, anymore.

Glad the storm was less severe than you expected.

[sdreid]

Hi Celesta,

I got up to 5 words per minute when I was kid but I didn't take it any farther.