Another odd theory I’ve read concerning the “Titanic” is that the mystery ship that could be seen in the distance but did not respond to the distress flares and calls may have been a schooner engaged in illegal whaling and its crew may have avoided “Titanic” out of fear of being reported for such activity.
The ship in the distance was the Californian, stopped dead in the water due to ice, and with her wireless shut down at midnight. Titanic’s first SOS went out around 12:20 a.m.
Californian reported seeing eight distress rockets being fired “from a large ship” but her captain did nothing.
... was no "mystery ship" but the S.S. California. And she didn't respond to the wireless because her communications crew had shut down for the night after working Cape Race traffic. The few who observed the flares and rockets thought it was some kind of celebration. So she sat 10 miles away while 1,500 people drowned.
Today it would be called global warming that caused the iceberg to break off the polar icecap.