The City of New York was a steam barquentine best known for being Richard E. Byrd's flagship on his 1928–30 exploration of Antarctica, mistakenly for the rescue of Shackleton in 1915, and most infamously for possibly being the ship that failed to come to the aid of the in 1912. Her name was changed several times; originally named Samson (1885–1914), she was renamed the Jacobsen (1915–1919), and then the Belsund (1919–1926), and back to Samson (1926–1928), before being finally dubbed the City of New York in 1928.
Description
As built, the ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She was rigged as a barque and had an auxiliary two-cylinder compound steam engine of 70nhp, 350ihp. The steam engine could propel her at .
Early career
She was built by Tjøstolv Bastian Larsen in Løgebergskåret, Arendal, Norway in 1885. Byrd tells us in error she and her boiler were built in 1882. The keel was laid in March 1884, the launching took place on 15 July 1885, and the construction certificate was dated 19 February 1886. Her port of registry was Trondheim and the Code Letters LFVB were allocated. Her Norwegian owner was (T. Thommesen & Søn) who operated her as a sealing ship in arctic waters, with a crew of 45, and with 8 seal-hunt boats on board. Thommesen sold her to her new owner Auguste Fosse in 1908. Her port of registry was changed to Trondheim Her captain at that time was I. E. Samuelsen.
Titanic
Her crew is under suspicion of covering up a part of the story. The BBC in 1962 issued a scoop in a television documentary commemorating the anniversary of the sinking by releasing internationally a news item based on the deathbed statement of Henrik Bergethon Næss. Næss had been the first officer on the Samson in 1912. He claimed to have seen on the horizon in the vicinity of the Titanic's sinking, mast lights and distress signals on the night of 14 April 1912. The story goes that the Samson with no wireless equipment, had some 3000 pounds of illegally hunted frozen seal meat taken from Canadian waters in her hold, and fearing discovery from the coast guard or boarding by the Royal Navy, she chose to ignore the unknown ship's (the Titanic) distress signals and steam away from the scene. Titanic lost 1517 lives and a ship with the Samson's capabilities could have rescued the majority of them. This story would seem to corroborate testimony given by members of the crew of the of their sighting a mystery ship during the disaster.
Doubt has been cast on this confession. Næss had actually made the claims in print before in 1912, 1921, 1928 and again in 1939; each version different in some way. Nevertheless, in his part of Norway, he is regarded as being "a man of substance and credibility". However, against that Næss was the last of the crew to still be alive. The Samson's captain Carl Johann Ring never passed comment on the story. He had died in the North Sea on 22 June 1918, the day after his ship, the Eglantine (built 1866), was torpedoed by German submarine . Ring despite being on a liferaft with two other survivors of the sinking, for at least an entire day, did not take the opportunity as he lay dying of his injuries to confirm or deny the story.
In the crew's defence, critics maintain that the sealer would not have operated anywhere near Cape Hatteras where there are no seals and a 1000 miles from its Arctic hunt area. In addition, there are official Lloyds and Icelandic records of when the vessel was expected to arrive in Isafjordur in May 1912. While the records cannot prove the vessel was indeed there, The Washington Post researchers have discovered two eyewitness reports of the vessel's crew being involved in a drunken "spree" almost wrecking the town during the key dates. In summary, the only thing that is certain is that this mystery may never be solved and put to rest either way.
Rescue of Ernest Shackleton
What is true is that she was not involved with the rescue of Ernest Shackleton, hers is a case of mistaken identity with the coincidentally named Norwegian steam-powered whale catcher Samson. It is the other Samson, based out of Montevideo, which in 1916 was notable for rounding South Georgia, retrieving Shackleton's beached whaleboat the James Caird, and rescuing his men McNish, McCarthy, and Vincent.