Stanley Lord, English captain (d. 1962)
Stanley Phillip Lord (13 September 1877 – 24 January 1962) was captain of the SS Californian, the nearest ship to the Titanic on the night it sank on 15 April 1912, and, depending on which sources are believed, likely the only ship to see the Titanic, or at least its rockets, during the sinking.
Lord, and the Californian more generally, have been criticized for the fact that the Californian did not render timely assistance to the Titanic despite being between 5 and 20 miles away according to various witness testimonies and the only ship that could have reached Titanic before she sank. Two official inquiries were critical of Lord, but did not recommend criminal charges. Subsequent authors have offered differing opinions on Lord's actions, with some defending, and others criticizing him. The passion among the two factions has resulted in the labels of "Lordites" and "Anti-Lordites" being applied to the two camps.
Central points of debate typically include the appropriateness of Lord's response to the rockets, whether the Californian and Titanic were in fact visible to one another (and additionally the visibility of the rockets), the possible presence of one or more "Mystery Ships" that may have been the ships seen by either the Titanic or Californian (assuming they did not in fact see each other), and whether or not the Californian could have saved any additional lives had it attempted to render assistance more quickly.