Edward Smith

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For other people named Edward Smith, see Edward Smith (disambiguation).
Edward John Smith
Born January 27, 1850
Died April 15, 1912, age 62
Atlantic Ocean
Occupation Ship captain
Spouse Eleanor Smith
Children Helen Melville Smith

Captain Edward John Smith, RD , RNR (January 27, 1850 – April 15, 1912) was the captain of the RMS Titanic when it sank in 1912. He and his wife Eleanor had a daughter named Helen Melville Smith. There is a statue to his legacy in Beacon Park, Lichfield in the UK.[1].

Contents

[edit] History

Born in Well Street, Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of Edward and Catherine Smith, he attended Etruria British School and was a member of the Etruria Methodist Church[2]. After leaving school, he worked briefly at the Etruria Forge, but seems to have decided from an early age to go to sea. In 1867, he signed on as 'Boy' aboard the Senator Weber, owned by the Liverpool shippers Andrew Gibson & Co., and commanded by his half-brother Joseph Hancock. These early voyages aboard the Senator Weber took him to Hong Kong, San Francisco, Callao and Yokohama. In September 1870, he left the Senator Weber and over the next few years served aboard several other square-riggers, sailing mostly to North America. Serving initially as an able seaman, he gained his 2nd mate's certificate on 12th August 1871 and his 1st mate's certificate on 8th April 1873. Smith finally gained his master's ordinary certificate on 26th May, 1875, at the age of 25. He was given his first command the 1040 ton sailing ship Lizzie Fennell, in 1876 and spent the next couple of years transporting cotton and assorted goods to Britain from southern U.S. ports such as Savannah and Galveston.

[edit] White Star

Smith joined the White Star Shipping Line in March 1880 as the Fourth Officer of the Celtic. He served aboard the company's liners to Australia and to New York, where he quickly rose in stature. In 1887, Smith received his first White Star command, the SS Republic. In 1888, Smith earned his Extra Master's Certificate and joined the Royal Naval Reserve (thus enabling him to append his name with "RNR"), qualifying as a full Lieutenant. This meant that in a time of war, Smith and his ship could be called upon to serve by the Royal Navy.

[edit] Bigger commands

Smith was Majestic's captain for nine years commencing in 1895. When the Boer War started in 1899, Smith and the Majestic were called upon to transport troops to Cape Colony. Two trips were made to South Africa, both without incident, and for his service, King Edward VII awarded Smith the Transport Medal showing the "South Africa" clasp in 1903. Smith was regarded as a "safe captain".

In 1904, he was given command of the largest ships in the world at the time, White Star's new Baltic. Her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York, sailing 29 June 1904, went without incident. After three years with the Baltic, Smith was given his second new "Big Ship", the Adriatic. Once again, the maiden voyage went without incident.

During his command of the Adriatic, Smith received the Royal Naval Reserve's "Long Service" medal along with a promotion at White Star to Commander. He would now sign his name as "Commander Edward John Smith, R.D., R.N.R.", with "R.D." meaning "Reserve Decoration."

[edit] Olympic Class command

Smith had built a reputation as one of the world's most experienced sea captains, and so was called upon to take first command of the lead ship in a new class of ocean liners, the Olympic — again, the largest vessel in the world. The maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York was successfully concluded on 21 June 1911, but as the ship was docking in New York harbor, it experienced a small incident which would foreshadow future events. Docking at Pier 59 under command of a harbor pilot, the Olympic was being assisted by twelve tugs when one got caught in the backwash of the Olympic's starboard propeller. The tug was spun around, collided with the bigger ship, and for a moment was trapped under the Olympic's stern, finally managing to work free and limp to the docks.

[edit] The Hawke incident

On 20 September 1911, Olympic's first major mishap occurred during a collision with a British warship, HMS Hawke, in which the warship lost her prow. Although the collision left two of Olympic's watertight compartments filled and one of her propeller shafts twisted, she was able to limp back to Southampton. At the resultant inquiry, the Royal Navy blamed Olympic for the incident, alleging that her massive size generated a suction that pulled HMS Hawke into her side. At the helm during this incident was Captain Smith.

The Hawke incident was a financial disaster for White Star, and the out-of-service time for the big liner made matters worse. Olympic returned to Belfast and, to speed up the repairs, Harland and Wolff was forced to delay Titanic's completion, in order to use her propeller shaft for the Olympic.

Back at sea in February 1912, Olympic lost a propeller blade and once again returned to her builder for emergency repairs. To get her back to service immediately, Harland & Wolff yet again had to pull resources from Titanic, delaying her maiden voyage from 20 March to 10 April.

[edit] Titanic

White Star's most prized captain was yet again at the helm of the greatest steamship when Titanic left Southampton for her maiden voyage. Although some sources state that Smith had decided to retire after commanding the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage, an article which appeared in the Halifax Morning Chronicle on 9 April 1912 stated that Captain Smith would remain in charge of the Titanic "until the Company (White Star Line) completed a larger and finer steamer". At 11:40 P.M. on 14 April the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The ship sank two hours and forty minutes later killing an estimated 1,500 people. Smith refused to be rescued and went down with his ship. His body was never recovered.

[edit] Death

It is not known how Smith died on the night of the sinking. Some survivors reported seeing him in the water with a life jacket, while others reported seeing him on the bridge as it flooded. In Robert Ballard's book, The Discovery of the Titanic, he claims that Captain Smith went into the bridge to await his fate at 2:17 AM, three minutes before the final sinking. This idea is reinforced by the 1997 film.

[edit] Trivia

  • In the 1997 film Titanic, Captain Edward Smith was portrayed by Bernard Hill.
  • According to his daughter, Captain Smith loved cigars and the smoke from them. He wouldn't let anyone into his study while he was smoking because he didn't want the ring of smoke to be disturbed.
  • Also in question was his last words. They might have been "Be British Boys, Be British!" Or they might have been "Every Man for Himself!" Or, after supposedly delivering a baby to a lifeboat, he refused to be brought aboard, saying "Good-Bye Boys, I'm going to follow the ship!".
  • Some Titanic survivors reported that Smith arrived at a lifeboat, though not rescued, some reported that he rescued a baby.
  • Walter Lord mentioned in A Night to Remember that one passenger heard a swimmer cheering on and encouraging those struggling to survive the freezing night. Then the unknown swimmer died. That passenger always thought Captain Smith was the man who urged him to live.
  • Captain Smith has a cameo appearance in the Star Trek novel series The Captain's Table. In the novel Once Burned, written by Peter David, Smith appears in the Captain's Table - a bar which can appear in any era of history, and which only ship captains can enter. Smith is seen, clutching a drink and repeating "Damned iceberg. Damned iceberg," over and over, by Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, who takes pity on Smith and gives him his communicator.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Smith information at Titanic-Titanic.com
  2. ^ [1]

[edit] External links

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Officers on the RMS Titanic
Captain Edward J. Smith • Chief Officer Henry T. Wilde • First Officer William M. Murdoch • Second Officer Charles H. Lightoller • Third Officer Herbert J. Pitman • Fourth Officer Joseph G. Boxhall • Fifth Officer Harold G. Lowe • Sixth Officer James P. Moody
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