9 Films "Based On True Stories" That Missed Out The Best Part

6. The Californian - Titanic

Everyone knows the story of Titanic; big ship hits iceberg and sinks, killing most of those on board. There's a long sequence of events leading up to that, with a lack of binoculars for the lookouts, small number of lifeboats and weaker rivets being used to make the ships bow all contributing to the tragedy. But there's one big element that often gets overlooked; there was a ship within sight of the sinking. The Carpathia turned up at the site of the sinking hours after Titanic had slipped towards the bottom of the ocean, but the Californian, a small steamer, was close enough that it could see the rockets firing from sinking ship. It's a popular "what if" to suggest that had she moved to the doomed liner straight away then more people would have survived. Why she didn't was a subject of major conjecture at the time, with new wireless tech, the colour of rockets and pure bad luck in sleeping times all building to the crew not realising what had happened until it was too late. The Californian's captain, Stanley Lord, was the focus of much controversy in the months after the sinking, with him taking much of the blame for the severity of the disaster. Given the level of contention of his parts in events many films steer clear of the whole Californian issue, including the biggest of the lot. Scenes set on the ship were shot for James Cameron's Titanic, but where cut to keep the running time down, which is a shame as it would have brought the whole issue to a massive audience.