The Californian, another ship in the area, could have steamed to the rescue. Below are the events that kept the Californian from the Titanic's rescue.

In the radio room, Harold Bride was exhausted. The two operators (Jack Phillips included), were expected to keep the radio working twenty-four hours a day, and Bride lay down to take a nap. Phillips was so busy with the passenger messages that he actually brushed off the final ice warning of the night. It was from the Californian. Trapped in a field of ice, she had stopped for the night about nineteen miles north of the Titanic. She was so close that the message literally blasted in Phillips' ears. Annoyed by the loud interruption, he cut off the Californian's radio operator with the words, "Shut up, shut up, I'm busy."

The radio room had received a total of seven ice warning messages in one day. It was quite clear that floating icebergs lay ahead of the Titanic.

From the bridge of the Titanic, a ship's lights were observed not far away, possibly the Californian's. Captain Smith then ordered white distress rockets fired to get the attention on the nearby ship. They burst high in the air with a loud boom and a shower of stars. But the rockets made no difference. The mystery ship never answered.

Not far away, the radio operator of the Californian, possibly the "mystery ship", had gone to bed for the night and turned off his radio. Several officers and crewman on the deck of the Californian saw rockets in the distance and reported them captain. The captain told them to try to contact the ship with the Morse lamp. But they received no answer to their flashed calls. No one thought to wake the radio operator.