h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...were the French so interested in the ship? is there any explanation as to why they wanted to get to it so badly?

In a word: loot.

It's the same reason that Texas tycoon was interested in it, and why I'm so happy neither of them found it... though the French did come back and did some real looting, and destroyed the mast.

yeah i read about that the swines i studied the Titanic in my spare time when i was still at middle school. words really can't explain the fasination some people get for it can they. it's as if something special (although disastrous to those 1500) happened to it and it has been overlooked.

i think a big chunk of the answer lies in why that ship ignored the distress flairs and took its time getting there when it was finally ordered to do so. what do you think?

The only explanation I can think of that makes any sense is this:

The Californian sent the message about the ice field and then turned off its engines, and probably dropped anchor. They were on the eastern edge of the ice field when Titanic collided, though they'd been there for several hours. Perhaps the captain decided to stand down the watches and they all got drunk that night.

It's the only thing I can think of to explain the poor decisions made. The captain saw the signal flares with his own eyes, but didn't do anything. The wireless operator was asleep. And when they woke up in the morning, turned on the wireless, and finally got the message, they steamed west and made it through the ice field before turning south, and then going back east through the ice field a second time to reach the Titanic.

Another possibility is they were carrying contraband, and the possibility of discovery was too high if they allowed the passengers and crew of Titanic aboard. The "poor decisions" were just poor lies.